Summer Solstice

It was Mary Jane who propelled us into action. Last night at Yoga she said, "Its the solstice tomorrow are you doing anything? Remember Tom and Pat said that the sunrises on the petrogylphs at Grassi Lakes."

A persistent ringing summoned me from a deep sleep. I grabbed the alarm clock only to realize it was the phone. I looked at the clock it was 4.15 am as I picked up the receiver. "It's Pat. Are you going?" I pulled my brain into focus. "I'll pick you up in a bit." "Remember to dress warm. It's cold in there."

The eager Harper family were waiting for us in the parking lot and we proceeded to sprint up to Grassi Lakes rushing in case we were late for the sunrise on this the longest day of the year.  We sped past the rushing waterfall, perfectly formed yellow Lady's slipper, violet clematis and reached  the perfectly still lake, listening to the beat of Kendra's and Sabrina's drums. Once in the canyon the drum echoed back to us. Up ahead there were some people. Andrew Shona and some others were there to greet the sun with us.

Pat told us this had been a First nations trading route and back then the access was challenging. They came here to dream and leave their figures on the rock.

We began by calling in the 7 directions and Kendra called in the Goddess and honored her parents as "life givers." As the drummers beat out a rhythm we silently named our intentions, what we wanted to let go off, what we wanted blessings for. Kendra sang. An osprey flew overhead. It was amazing to see the sun rise over the shoulder of Lady Macdonald and warm our by now cool bodies.


We finished by singing  "How can anyone ever tell you your anything else but beautiful.."

And I read my favorite quote.





“There is a light in you which cannot die; whose presence is so holy that the world is sanctified because of you. All things that live bring gifts to you, and offer them in gratitude and gladness at your feet. The scent of the flowers is their gift to you. The waves bow down before you and the trees extend their arms to shield you from the heat and lay their leaves before you on the ground that you may walk in softness, while the wind sinks to a whisper around your holy ear.” Course in Miracles


Shona's shadow on petrogylph rock. 

With deep gratitude for a solistice to remember.

Bits and Peices

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.  Lao-tzu

It is finally summer here, the rain has stopped, the snow is definitely creeping further and further up the mountains and I am trying to plant my pots, with sweet peas, nasturtiums, lobelia, geraniums. My nails are clogged with dirt. I like it that way. It tells me it is planting time. Our valley looks green, the wind whistles through the aspen leaves that flutter like shiny green medallions and the sun is warm on my skin. I wrote that yesterday and 24 hours later the rain is torrential and the thunder reverberates around the mountains.

Clive left on Friday for Resolute Bay - apparently it was about 7 hours of flying time from Ottawa. It is that far north. He phoned yesterday the weather was not so great and their is more snow than they expected so they need to rethink their plan. Still with lots of dried food like muesli, potato power, couscous, lentils, macaroni, humus and the highlight 10 kilos of my spectacular tararua cookies; well biscuits for the brits and the kiwis, stuffed full of butter and soy flour and other goodies he is not about to starve. He is away for 8 weeks on a 1000km crossing of Ellesmere Island. He and his buddy John hope to fly to Eureka tomorrow morning and begin their adventure.

Meanwhile back in Alberta I participated in a great two-day workshop on editing my prose. It was very helpful although contributed to my workload of re-visioning my memoir. I am learning oh so much and encouraged by this quote, “The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.” Robert Cormier.
Saturday night I celebrated my friend Elissa Oman’s graduation with a degree in English. It was a beautiful event at her friends place on the edge of the Bow River. The weather cooperated. Many people included my self gave wonderful tributes to Elissa and it was a great occasion.

                                             Courting loons on the Bow River.

Imagine That!

Richard Armstrong and members of the Introductory Voice Workshop in the Banff Center. This was an amazing experience. In three days I moved from croaking to singing solos. I sang Imagine and Summertime in front of the entire group. Who would have thought? It was major fun.







Only in a National Park!

Frisky Loons on the Bow River. They sang to us but I can't upload the little video.

Marmot on the Sulphur Mountain trail. What a poser!