BACK TO BLOGGING... HOPEFULLY

The past few weeks have again been a bit hectic, so I've not been able to blog much. Plus, at home, we've been having connectivity problems with the internet so we've not been online there. We hope to get high-speed internet soon, so that will seriously help things. Then I'll be able to update this site far more frequently with the tedious, inconsequential information you've grown to love.

ANNIVERSARY TRIP A SMASHING SUCCESS

Jill and I travelled to British Columbia for our 6th anniversary. Most of you already know that BC is our absolutely favorite place for long weekends and Vancouver is arguably our favorite city - though Queretaro and Guanajuato in Mexico are up there. The diversity of recreation, cuisine, the scenic beauty and the overall international atmosphere is a lot of fun to dive into.

After a long drive the first night (Thursday), we spent the night in Surrey just across the border from Washington. Then we headed up to Hope, BC along the famous Fraser River east of Vancouver.



Hope is an old mining and lumber town at a large, undisturbed elbow of the Fraser River. The town is not that impressive, filled with nothing more than old motor lodges from the 1950s and decaying restaurants "Chinese and Canadian Food -- Down Home Cooking", but the town is surrounded by imposing mountains rising steeply for hundreds of feet from the river valley floor. It's quite a sight to behold.



About half an hour south of town are both the Harrison Hot Springs and Harrison Lake. We visited both, the latter during the day for stunning views of the mountains and a Canadian air show - largely fire-fighting planes that dropped water into the lake near the viewing area to thrill the locals. The only military planes were transport and old biplanes, largely because Canada hasn't had to spend their own money on defense for the last 90 years. But that's another story.

Harrison Hot Springs used to run into the lake, but now they're funneled into a public soaking pool (covered, unfortunately) that was very warm and pleasant for an hour or so. No overwhelming stench of sulphur characteristic of hot springs further north in Canada.

The next day we drove through the Fraser River gorge north to Lytton.



The climate grew warmer as we ventured north and higher in elevation. Douglas Fir, cedar and ferns were replaced by pine and sagebrush. The climate was naturally warmer, but less scenic in many ways given the lack of deciduous trees and their presently changing colors. The views were still gorgeous all the same. Here we turned around and headed back south on Highway 1 for Vancouver.

I won't go into details of Vancouver because we pretty much stuck to old haunts. Here's a link to an old entry about Vancouver and a host of links to information about places we enjoy visiting, including on this trip Van Dusen Gardens and Granville Island market.

JOHN AND JUDY SETTLING INTO NEW HOME

The Korynasz's are getting their new home in order now that we've moved most of their belongings up to Hillsboro. Their new place larger than the home in Eagle Point, so they'll better be able to utilize their furniture and decorations, etc. It's slow-going for them, however, as they've not been feeling well of late.

I think the move really exhausted them this time given that it was a long-distance affair rather than cross-town. Besides, both of Judy's feet now are deteriorating so it looks like she's going to need two surgeries instead of one. It's getting to be excruciating for her to stand on her feet for very long, possibly even worse than it was for her knees before she had both of them replaced. But, they seem to be pleased by Hillsboro's warmer climate and the fact that we're nearby has been a big plus for them. Come time for surgeries, that will be even more important.

Plus, I get to borrow their second car quite a bit for trips to the vet with Sundaye and odd trips for work...

EMAIL FROM OUR MEXICAN FAMILY

Pepe and Hilda Munoz, from Queretaro, QRO in Mexico emailed us last week to say hello. We have been terrible about emailing them back (or anyone really, for that matter) so they were concerned about whether or not we had received their last message. Jill is planning a long email soon.

Pepe and Hilda are our Mexican family. Jill stayed at Hilda's house in Queretaro back in 1994 when she was an exchange student learning Spanish. Hilda owns a women's clothing store that she and her sister, Licia, manage. The store is located next to Licia's beautiful house, which was designed by her son, an architect.

Pepe is an appraiser, musician, raconteur and all-around great fellow. When he's not busy with work, he's busy recording and archiving traditional music played and sung by members of his family. We have two of his recordings, one by his late uncle with Pepe and a second with vocal tracks by his late aunt. I have some digital photos of the family that I'll put on here soon from our 2001 trip. Meanwhile, here's a map of Queretaro relative to the rest of Central Mexico and then a great shot of Queretaro, the birthplace of Mexican independence.. kinda like the Boston of Mexico.





A la familia mexicana: se miran este website, Hola y Saludos desde Oregon! de Bill y Jill y nuestras familias gringas! (y lo ciento para mi Espanol malo!)

BILL REID, TV STAR

Monday night, I was on TV in Josephine County, Oregon. I testified before the Josephine County Planning Commission regarding potential new revenue sources (read: taxes and fees) to pay for maintenance of their sadly underfunded rural roads. I felt good about my performance, but it was a bit of a distraction speaking while on the wall to the right of the commission members was the broadcast itself. Try talking to a group of policy-makers about a boring topic while being self-conscious about keeping them awake AND seeing your own ugly mug the size of computer monitor up on the wall simultaneously. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.

As soon as the recording goes on-line, I'll try to have a link posted!