Living With Distance

    There is a reason why I often refer to McBride as “an isolated village”, it is because it is.   There is only one highway that connects McBride to the rest of the world.  As you can see by the sign, if you are traveling west, you have to travel 202 km (125 miles) before you come to another filling station.  

    Going east on Hwy. 16, you only have to travel 166 km (100 miles) to get to Jasper, Alberta for more gas, unless you turn off at Hwy. 5 and drive south to Valemount, BC which is only 84 km (54 miles) away.          

    There are no service stations (and little other signs of settlements) until you get to either Prince George, Jasper, or Valemount.  If you have an electric vehicle, an are traveling to Prince George, you are able to plug in and recharge at the Slim Creek Rest area, which is only 85 km (54 miles) from McBride.  On the drive to Prince George you don’t even see a house along the way until you get there.

    Those of us who live here are used to living with the long distances between places, but visitors get the real feeling of being in the “middle of nowhere”.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

    

     

 

The Rest of the Story

    When something happens in a small town that you don’t quite understand, eventually you will hear the rest of the story.  I thought of that yesterday when I finally heard what was going on with Dr. Cowburn’s old Tiger Moth bi-plane that was once again flying around in the Robson Valley.

    When Dr Cowburn owned the plane, I used to love watching the antique yellow aircraft sputtering across the blue sky of the Robson Valley.  The vintage plane was the joy of the Valley’s only doctor and he would take it out periodically to fly it around.  Before he died, he sold it to a person who grew up in Crescent Spur, a nearby hamlet.  That new owner moved to Prince George, so we didn’t see the Tiger Moth again except once when the new owner had it doing cartwheels in the sky above McBride during one year’s Pioneer Day parades.

    Over this past weekend, the Tiger Moth suddenly was all over the skies of the Robson Valley.  It buzzed low over our house a couple of times, and each time I raced out with my camera in an attempt to get a photo.  I didn’t really know why the plane was around again.

    Yesterday when I was at the grocery, Pat the cashier, knower of all things local, told us that the plane’s owner was in town because he was getting married.

     “Okay, now I know,” I thought, but there was more information to come later in the day.  

    At meal time, when I went to pick up some food at the Chinese restaurant, I ran into Charlie Leake, an aviator who used to live in McBride.  From him I got more information about the Tiger Moth’s  return to the Valley.

    He was in town for the wedding and the ceremony was going to take place at one of the hangers at the McBride airfield.  When I mentioned how I kept seeing the plane zipping around, flying low, and seemingly tearing around all over the place, Charlie told me that the pilot was practicing all kind of flying maneuvers because he was working toward getting a license so he he perform tricks at air shows.  

    After hearing Charlie, I was satisfied that I knew “the rest of the story” about the why the bi-plane was here again, and why it was buzzing around so much.  Little by little I had been given the explanation.

View my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Lupine Blooms For Canada Day

    Today is Canada Day.  I have always been afraid of nationalism, but I have a profound appreciation of Canada, my adopted homeland.  While I have always been happy with our difficult decision to immigrate to Canada, I am especially happy now, whenever I see what is happening in so many countries in the world.  With the help of all the craziness and propaganda on social media they are able to manipulate enough public opinion to get elected, then once in power, they proceed to eliminate the free press and stack the courts to get rid of humanitarian and liberal ideals and practices.

    I am not blind to Canada’s faults, especially when it comes to the environment, Canada always talks the green talk, but then doesn’t carry through, but on the whole, I am very happy to call myself a Canadian.

    Happy Canada Day.

 Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Mountains Peaking Through

    It was pouring rain yesterday morning, but by the afternoon the thick clouds were starting to break up and beginning to give us some glimpses of the mountains.  Here are two photos I took as the mountains were just beginning to show themselves again.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Rain For a Thirsty Garden

    While we have been getting a lot of showers off and on, things have been fairly dry.  The showers didn’t really penetrate deeply into the soil of the garden.  The plants have been doing okay, but they really needed a good rain, and over night and continuing this morning, we have gotten one.  

    Of course despite the lack of rain, the garden was looking pretty tidy, mostly because the dryness prevented a lot of weeds from growing.  Now, I fear, the weeds will explode in growth, but hopefully so will my vegetables. 

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca 

    

Backlit Nasturtium

    I am attracted to plants being backlit by the sun.  Yesterday afternoon when I looked out of the living room window I noticed that the only Nasturtium flower that is presently blooming in our window box was brilliant in color because it was being backlit by the afternoon sun.  I took the photo above and then noticed how the backlighting was really making the veins in the Nasturtium leaves stand out so I took the photo you see below.

Take a look at my painting of Nasturtiums entitled "Bucketful":  

http://davidmarchant.ca/Color_%26_Light/Aspen_%26_Bucketful.html

 

Loving The Warm Sidewalk

     Yesterday evening when I was in the kitchen putting water in the sink to do some dishes, I glanced out of the window and saw our cat Lucifer, deep in sleep on our sidewalk.  All day long that sidewalk had been in the sun absorbing heat.  In the evening when it no longer was in the sun, it retained that heat, and our heat-seeking cat stretched out on it and fell asleep, happily re-absorbing that heat.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca