Kootenay Rememberance

This fall, the people of the Kootenay region of British Columbia took me into their hearts and homes and schools when I did a book tour through the area.














These are a few of the shots I took at the time.
















This past week the small town of Sparwood lost eight young men to an avalanche.










To honour their memories, a memorial was held earlier today in Sparwood, with thousands of the same warm hearts who welcomed me in attendance, to say good bye.













You can read about the memorial on the CBC news site HERE.
















Two trust funds has been set up for the young families of the men who died.















From the District of Sparwood website:

Two Trust Accounts have been set up for the Sparwood Avalanche Victims Families.

The accounts are both named "In Trust -- Sparwood Avalanche Victims"

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) 5080 003 5077425
and
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 03070 010 7573138.

Donations can be made at any branch of either bank, or by going on-line and donating to the above accounts.

My thoughts go out to all the people of this wonderful area -- and to the families and friends of those who experienced this terrible loss.







~kc

Clean Running Water

I've just had a shower. Pure luxury. Warm water, shampoo, shaved legs -- the whole bit. I've been without running water for 26 hours, due to a little problem re-routing the pipes on my street. Now, as is the case with these little problems, nobody knew about it before it happened, and thus I didn't leap into the shower in anticipation before-hand. Let's just say that at 9 am yesterday morning, after my exercise class with the incredible Stan -- I really needed a shower, but water was nowhere to be found.

In my little village on the side of the mountain, we've had our share of boil-water advisories, so dealing with bottled water is nothing new. But this time, I had no water at all, meaning that to flush a toilet, I had to go out to my rain barrel (which I thankfully didn't drain last week -- even though I intended to, as it was looking pretty grungy) and fill a couple of buckets to dump into the toilet tank.

But the pipes are now hooked up, the water is flowing and all is well. Even the toilets are merrily flushable, with clean water (and no leaves) shushing down the drain.

All I can think about are the people in Burma (Myanmar) post-cyclone and the others in China post-earthquake. Not many hot showers or flushing toilets being enjoyed there.

If you haven't made a donation yet, I'd like to make it easy for you. Here's a link to the Canadian Red Cross site.

https://www.paypaq.com/redcross/new/

From this single link you can direct your funds toward the campaigns they have for Burma, China and other areas in need around the world.

Another choice is Medecins Sans Frontieres, and once again from this Canadian site, you can direct your donated funds as you choose.

Enjoy your next shower!


***

While I was in the shower, I very sweetly left my dogs in the kitchen, since it is raining outside. They have lots of shelter outside, but heck, thought I, let 'em stay in. Now, as you, my cherished readers well know, I've learned my lesson with puppy Silas. I cleaned everything off the counters before heading upstairs. Both dogs were lying contentedly on their respective beds.

I came back down to this:





You will note Silas is still contentedly on a bed -- only it is Seamus's bed, since his own is now eaten. This is bed number 4 consumed by Silas.




Oh -- and I forgot my toothbrush, by the sink. Rather than lugging the water upstairs to my bathroom this morning, I brought the toothbrush down to the kitchen sink.

I call this shot 'Toothbrush Reconstructed'.





My dogs are now outside.

~kc