That's Where Fall Starts

Technically, Kaslo beaches have a 'no beach fire' rule, but I don't think the 2 cops in town (only one on duty at a time) really mind.

This week in wildlife news (this is becoming a regular thing!):

1. Nico (our doggie friend) was out in his backyard the other evening, dug himself out under the fence, and ran into the orchard out back to 'settle the score' with two big black bears. Nico barked and barked, the bears growled and growled. Eventually when Nico came back inside, I'm told, he had a little 'chunk' taken out of his nose. I guess he got swatted!

2. As I was pulled over on the side of a very cute little street in an even cuter little town (New Denver, BC: more on that later), an extremely industrious chipmunk ran from one side of the street to the other. 'Ha,' I thought. 'Collecting nuts, are we?' He zipped back and forth from one yard on one side of the street to the other. He was tiny. He was on a mission. And he was the fastest thing in New Denver (it's a very small town).

3. I love dogs, and I always want to pet them. So when my friend in Salmon Arm (more on that later) told me not to pet her dog, warning me, 'She'll pee,' I kept wanting to give her a little pat on the head anyways. 'She'll pee!' I was warned again. I managed to not pet her for the whole weekend, instead letting her nuzzle up to me when she wanted, and letting her 'corn-bite' (this is what it's called, apparently, when a dog nibbles at you, because it looks like they're eating corn on the cob). Finally, on my last day at the house, I gave in, and gave her a big pat and some love. We had been nuzzling all weekend, I thought. We're good now! But then...my feet were wet. She peed.

4. Jordan went on a camping/hunting trip this weekend and said he saw a ton of wildlife (elk, deer), but his favourite was the little chipmunk eating a blueberry. He said the blueberry looked so big in the little guy's hands!

Sheree (my sister-in-law) and I took the kids to Buddy's Pizza one evening for, you guessed it, pizza. Oh, the wonders of a good pizza place. I think the 'Alla Rustica' was my favourite. Buddy's has a piano in the corner, it's cozy, and I always forget it's only open from 3-8pm. After Buddy's, we all wandered down in the chilly, chilly wind to the Angry Hen brewery. Kaslo (remember now, it only has a thousand people) has a craft brewery on the main drag. Pretty great. At the Angry Hen, there was a jazzy duo (a singer and a guitar player) serenading the crowd (about twelve people makes a lovely crowd in the Hen). I ordered some cider and beer for me and Sheree, and some 'shrub' (this is a new word I've learned since I've been here) for the kids, each little glass with a little paper straw. You're allowed to bring in your own food at the Angry Hen-how great is that!-but they do sell some little nibbles: beer candy, trail mix in tupperware containers, homemade cookies. The musicians played old jazzy tunes like 'Dancing Cheek to Cheek' and the mountains out the window overlooking Front Street were topped with snow for the first time.

While Jordan was away on his hunting trip (it was very cold and snowy for the guys), I took myself on a little adventure to Salmon Arm to visit my cousins, and then to spend a few nights in nearby Canoe (the place names!) with my friend Dana. Visiting family is always such a treat for me, something I always look forward to. We chatted, laughed, had a deeeelicious beer with clam juice and roamed the property, sampling apples from the different apple trees. When I arrived in the evening at Dana's house in Canoe (!), we drank wine, laughed and reminisced, and then both of us realized we were getting sick. The dreaded cold. The next three days were spent almost entirely on the couch, the two of us blowing our noses, watching movie after movie, in our pajamas all day long. My back hurt from sitting/laying down for too long, but it was the first time I ever remember being sick for days with a friend. Laughing, drinking way too much coffee, not keeping yourself up to normal standards of hygiene. Highly recommend it!

On the way home from Canoe, I was feeling a little better, and I stopped in New Denver to grab some lunch and wander around a bit. New Denver is a delightful little town (population: around 500, surrounding areas included) about 50km from Kaslo, with a lot of the same history. It was a site for Japanese internment during and post-WWII, and there was also a Doukhobor residential school in the town in the 1950's. The main street in New Denver looks similar to Front Street in Kaslo (but on a bit of a smaller scale), complete with beautiful old wooden buildings turned into modern businesses. Apparently New Denver was founded in the late 1890's as a mining town, and they called it 'Eldorado City' in hopes that the town would be full of gold. No dice on the gold, and the next year at a town meeting, some guy who used to live in Denver, Colorado suggested calling it 'New Denver.' Really creative! But seriously, I love this town. They even, like Kaslo, have a police station, a BC Liquor store, a post office and a bank. Oh, and a sewing store. Not the most necessary of businesses, when you don't even have a pizza place, but hey, you gotta get your thread somewhere! Side note: Kaslo has no place that sells thread.

Last on my mind this week: cute BC place names. Here are some I encountered:

Blanket Creek

Frisbee Ridge (really it's spelled 'Frisby Ridge')

Yard Creek

Shelter Bay

Arrow Lake

Do these remind anyone else of Super Mario World names?! You know, Donut Creek, Chocolate Island, Forest of Illusion. Anyone?