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I remember tripping over the first step and then a few bumps and thumps, and the next thing I knew, I was laid out at the top of the stairs, wondering what happened. Things like this don’t usually happen so I knew I had been involved in a very out of the ordinary event.

A miracle was my first thought but I soon dismissed that on the grounds of not being able to find any meaning in the occurrence. God uses miracles to convey a message of some sort to mankind and I really don’t think it’s his style to communicate in this fashion. Besides, what on earth could he be trying to tell us by unexpectedly propelling me upstairs.

After eliminating all other possible explanations, of which there were very few, I was left with the only plausible answer: A phenomenon, I had been the subject of a phenomenon. Phenomena come in various degrees of inexplicability and on a scale of one to ten I would rate this one at about five.

I never mentioned my experience to anyone as I don’t like being laughed at, but then I started to wonder how many other people have kept quiet about such incidents. Maybe phenomena are going off all over the place and people are too embarrassed to talk about it, I can’t see why it would just be me.

The reason I have now decided to share my own phenomenon is that, by doing so, perhaps it will prompt others to do the same. I hope so because I don’t much like the thought that I’ve been singled out, for some reason. Are there any other phenomenon victims out there?

Waking to smokey skies yet again, I decided to head out to another community to ride my bike, hopefully under clear skies. I'm beyond fed up with the smoke this year, and am seriously considering selling my house and moving to Panama if this is going to be the summer normal.

It's very difficult to exercise at all when the smoke is so thick one can hardly breathe, and the stench of smoke permeates the house, along with ash that manages to work it's way inside. I'm guessing that the smoke and lack of oxygen is the reason I was so unmotivated this morning, rather than a low iron count. I made a quick lunch to take with me, along with a couple of bottles of water.

I headed out to the Rotary trail that follows the Vedder River, about a 20 minute drive from my community. Arriving, it was slightly hazy there from the smoke, but nothing nearly as bad as where I live (oh, lucky me). I haven't been to the Rotary Trail for years, mainly due to the fact that it gets super busy. I figured with kids back in school, a weekday before school got out, that it might not be too busy - and I was right!

I didn't take a lot of photos due to the haze, but thoroughly enjoyed my ride through the trees as well as the open areas with vistas of the river and Vedder Mountain on the other side. I followed the trail in a loop, taking the dike part way back, an area I hadn't ridden before.

The dike might not have been a great idea as it was quite hot and I could feel the heat beating on my bare head. Thankfully there was a breeze, but that can be a bit disconcerting sometimes. Thinking that my ride hadn't been long enough, I circled back to the main river trail (with shade), and rode back down the river trail to a bench I'd seen overlooking the river.

Taking my water bottle out of my lunch bag, I realized that one of them had leaked quite severely. Ack! Fortunately, my wrap had not been completely soaked. Munching on it while I surveyed my surroundings, a sandpiper pecked at something in the water. Of course, I'd left my camera in my bike bag and by the time I got it, the sandpiper was gone. Grrr. I know better and I even thought of taking it out while I grabbed my lunch bag.

I've been looking for carbohydrate reduced wraps, as regular wraps are as high in carbs as bread is. I was delighted when I found them the other day, as I really enjoy a wrap. It's an easy way to fill it with a salad, but be able to eat it on the go. Perfect for my lifestyle, and especially great for bike rides. My other go-to's are the Wendy's grilled chicken wraps, but I'm trying to stay away from fast food.

Seagulls circled and called in the river bed while I ate, the water levels exceedingly low. Families with little children dotted the river beds, splashing and playing in the shallow pools. After a significant rest, and downing most of my water from both bottles, I headed back.

I realized how close I was to getting heat stroke when I got back to my car and loaded up my bike. Dizzy, I had to go sit in the car and finish off the rest of the water so I wouldn't pass out.

I did take some photos of a heron on a stump in the middle of a slough, as well as the first red, yellow, orange and green turning maple leaves. It's a bit soon to see the colour, but with the heat we've had, it's no wonder the leaves are turning already.

By the time I headed home, the smoke had almost completely cleared from the valley, and I was more than glad to see the mountains again (obscured this morning).

All in all, a very good day, with plans to ride another rail trail in the near future. Of course, I'll be taking my lunch with me, along with more than two bottles of water.

And... that's a wrap!

Monday night at the BBQ for the executive for photo club, I indulged in a half cup of coffee. Oh yeah, not a good thing. I got home about 11pm, totally wired and awake. Rather than lay in bed and toss and turn, I grabbed my camera gear and headed out to a nearby village that used to be THE commerce site for shipping goods and people down the river.

Standing off the highway on a wide shoulder overlooking the river, a 20' drop to the boulders below reminds me not to get too close to the edge. The full moon is incredibly bright, reflecting off the river and making the shadows seem even darker.

As I was shooting, my tripod set up for a long exposure, a motorhome rumbled by, very close to the edge of the road. At the time, I thought, hey bud - you're awfully close. Once he'd passed me, I didn't think any more of it. A short time later I heard an odd 'pop' and a crash. My first thought was that it was a car accident, but not metal on metal. Again, I didn't really think any more about it.

Eventually, I got into my car, parked down the shoulder on a pull out, and headed home. I passed the motorhome that looked like it was parked on the side of the road until I reached the front end that was very obviously hanging over the ditch at an odd angle. No one was about, so I phoned the local RCMP, realizing that was the crash that I'd heard.

I have no idea what happened. The guy might have blown a tire or fallen asleep at the wheel.

After two hours sleep, I was, once again, up and out to the same area to take more photos in the early morning light. The motorhome was gone, and the light was absolutely perfect for taking photos. Numerous photos later of the setting moon, the speed boats on the river zooming past a watching heron on a piling, and hours later, I was headed back home.

The cooler weather is a welcome respite from the intense heat and forest fires we're in the throes of currently. The recent rain has helped to curb the forest fire near me, thank goodness, and has me craving hot soup rather than cold salads. As yesterday was too nice a day to spend making soup, and a late morning rain today increased that hankering for something warm, today was soup-making day.

A quick trip into town to get my oil and coolant changed and purchase some chicken breasts for the soup, and to buy a zucchini and I was ready! As a side note, I have three zucchini plants and not one of them has a zucchini ready at this time! Thus, I had to purchase one for zoodles.

I've just had a bowl of my home-made Chicken Zoodle soup and it's delicious, as usual! What makes the soup, Imo, are the zoodles and fresh dill. Mmmm mmm! I added some of the frozen zoodles I'd had in the freezer, and there's no difference between those and the ones I cut today. I love the olive oil drizzled over the top of the soup and the fresh lemon squeezed into it. Between that and the fresh dill - YUM!

I'd bought all kinds of veggies on Monday for juicing to try to get more iron into my system, and have, as yet, to juice any of them. Dinner will include some kind of iron-rich juice - and maybe just another bowl of this delicious soup before I freeze some of it.

Next up to make, carrot ginger soup.

Soup's on!

Don't you love it when you find you can put more into a day? Due to my low iron count, my ability to cram my day full has been severely compromised. I had no idea why I was falling asleep all the time and had so little energy to do even the simplest of tasks.

It hasn't been that long, but I'm already feeling more energy. The past two days I've been at a craft fair up at the resort, where I made lot$ this summer. This weekend wasn't as good as July, but it wasn't shabby. The great thing about it was that it was close (only a 15 minute drive), and didn't start until 11am. That allowed me to get in an early bike ride as well as get everything ready for the fair. Woohoo!

Yesterday was not as lucrative as Saturday, but it still wasn't too bad. I'd woken at 3:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so by the time 5pm rolled around, I was done. On my way home, sure enough there was a car accident blocking the entire road on the one road into and out of the resort area. I thought of turning around and having dinner at the resort, but I was like 3 cars away from where the cars were in the ditch. I opted to just wait it out. (Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but two fire trucks, an ambulance and two tow trucks attended). About an hour later, the ambulance and the fire trucks left, allowing traffic to get moving. Traffic was backed up right to the resort, trying to get out. That's the reason I don't travel on long weekends.

This morning, waking at my usual 5:00am, I snuck a peek out the window and noted it was heavily overcast, with clouds shrouding Mt. Cheam. I opted for going back to sleep for a bit. Three hours later, Sadie kitty was most vocal in her demand to be fed.

As morning morphed into lunchtime, with dull overcast skies, I decided to take my bike to the Browne Creek Wetlands and ride it from there to the Heron Reserve on the other side of the river. According to Google, it was about a 11km ride each way. I remember asking someone how far it was one day, and they told me it was a long, long way. Well, walking, maybe. I ride my bike 15km almost every morning, so 22km seemed pretty doable.

Riding through the wetlands, I hadn't realized how much my fitness had increased, and how much easier my new bike is to pedal. It was a breeze riding through there, where, on my old bike, I'd struggled to ride up some of the inclines.

Once through the wetlands, it connects to the dike on the west side of the river and travels about 7km up the river to a main road and bridge. After crossing the bridge, a dike on the east side of the river runs down the other side and curves around to the Heron Reserve.

I was delighted when it took me only an hour to get to the Heron Reserve, and rode past it to explore the dike further. I took the first cut off to the Rotary Trail that follows the river, only due to time and not being sure how long it'd take me to get back, or even where I was exactly.

I found my way back with no problems and rode the dikes back to my starting point. I'd programmed map my ride to let me know exactly how far I'd gone. Getting back to the fork in the trail, I made an extra loop up to the river, and then back along the same trail, to ensure that I'd get in 25km. I planned that well! On the trail back to my car, the disembodied voice of the app told me I'd cycled 25km. W00t!

But the best thing that I realized on my ride, that I haven't been able to do, is I can now stand on the pedals to cycle. I haven't been able to do that for a long, long time. It was an absolutely perfect day for a bike ride, as the sun dissipated the clouds and it was a perfect September day - cool enough to enjoy the full day outdoors, but warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt.

Speaking of which, you know you've lost weight when you unbutton and unzip your shorts and they literally fall down to your ankles. Entertainers get unplugged - I get unzipped.

Turns out that communicating with others literally affects our health more than diet, exercise, even our addictions.

Seeing my interaction in Spain mainly consists of a cheery 'hola!' and cheesy grin while I'm marching my dog round the streets, or going into shops with a hesitant 'necesito ...' + point / mime, I guess I am stuck with popping in here every now and then. Biggest incentive I have yet for learning Spanish and getting out and meeting more people, mind



I will be logging back in to make health-improving comments (#HIC) at regular intervals on this and other blogs. I wonder what the best dosage is? Make 3 comments, 4 times a day?

Here's that study


If you don't or can't follow the link - the lassie postulates that social intergration is more important to longevity / quality of life than family, quitting smoking / drinking, de-stressing, doing exercise, maintaining healthy weight, diet, even clean air. Scary thought.

One of the most dreaded phone calls you get are from the doctor's office after you've had a battery of tests. Friday I went in to have all my blood work done and whatever other tests he'd recommended.

Yesterday morning I got a call that the doctor wanted to see me either yesterday or today. Wow. That was fast. Of course, your brain says, that's not good news. What can be wrong? Is it cancer? Why does he want to see me so urgently?

I booked the appt for today seeing as I had orders to deliver to the US yesterday and tried to be nonchalant about it, taking my bike south with me in hopes it'd be less smokey there. Looking for the rail trail, I couldn't find the trail head and after some time searching for it, then going to the bike store for help, I decided it was too late to ride it anyway.

So off to Giuseppe's, my favourite restaurant for a delicious salmon meal overlooking the harbour and all the sailboats. Unfortunately it was very smokey there as well, and even though there were some great photo opportunities with the smoke among the masts, my chest was so tight from lack of oxygen that I opted for just returning home.

Of course, in the back of my mind was still the question of why the doctor wanted to see me so quickly. A restless sleep last night, the air was a bit clearer today and off I went for my bike ride. It's become almost an addiction to need to ride it every day.

Finally, my appt time arrived and I waited somewhat apprehensively in his office. He came in and assured me it wasn't anything really bad, but I had an infection that needed immediate attention. Phew! He also asked if I'd ever had low iron.

I almost laughed when he asked me that, as a little girl (about 5 or 6) I used to fall asleep on my friend's porch waiting for her. In fact, I fell asleep just about everywhere, I was so tired. I had to go on some huge iron pills (I called them horse pills, they were so big) for months to bring my iron up. Even as an adult I had problems with my iron and wasn't allowed to give blood because my iron would be compromised.

Obviously the answer was yes, and he advised me that if I didn't start taking iron right away that I'd soon be anemic. No wonder I've been falling asleep in my chair several times during the day, and some days I'm just wiped out. He said three months of iron supplements at least. Alrighty then. I'm just waiting for some clients to pick up their orders from me, and then I'll head out to the pharmacy to get my prescriptions filled.

Thankfully, there was nothing to worry about and he wants to see me next week to ensure the infection is cleared up. I'm just thinking it'll be really nice to have some energy again, and not feel like I'm dragging my arse on a 6' leash behind me.

It feels good to have a doctor that's making sure everything's taken care of, but I can do without getting dreaded phone calls.

I am inspired to write this blog because a friend of mine told me that there are indeed known benefits for being a smoker.

He said and I quote: It calms him down and that is a very good benefit.

I respect that.

Note: I lost 3 good friends from this habit and it was very sad, they were all under the age of 55.

Question: Are all smokers enjoy this benefit? Are there other benefits that you know of?

Are there hardcore smokers that you know of who would want to quit but can't?

Thanks all for reading and or comments if any.

Waking to the acrid smell of smoke and the *tic*, *tic*, *tic* of the blinds against the window sill, I dreaded what today would bring. The wildfire burning only 6 miles from me continues to rage in steep terrain, making it difficult for firefighters to combat it.

Yesterday afternoon at 4pm an evacuation alert was issued for the houses in that area due to the spreading fire. Concerned, I asked my daughter, who works in operations for Emergency Management (on loan from her regular job), what to pack in a go-bag. She advised me her home was also on evacuation alert, although she herself was in another city. She gave me a list of a few things and sent me a link as to what to pack.

My entire province is under a state of emergency due to the number of wildfires burning up our forests and threatening cities. Over 50% of the fires have been human caused, either by tossed cigarette butts (I can't believe they still sell those friggen things with the amount of damage and devastation they do) or campfires despite a campfire ban.

The one near me was caused by some idiot driving his motor home with a flat tire on the rim. Sparks from the rim hitting the pavement started the fire. Yes, that makes me mad. In fact, totally pissed off that someone was so stupid to drive their vehicle like that, putting others at risk.

One person on a fb post said lots of people didn't have the money to put new tires on their vehicles. Really? Then maybe they shouldn't be driving it, putting their own families at risk, and now due to their selfishness, putting everyone else in the area at risk.

They can't afford new tires? Well, I hope someone got their license plate and let's see how well they can afford to pay the fine for starting the wildfire. Stupid a-holes. I'm really pissed off about this, mainly because it's so preventable if people had any sense these days.

Yes, I'm worried about the fire getting closer and I'm sick of the smokey skies that we've been under for the past two weeks, when we should be enjoying blue skies and sunshine. We see grey skies all winter, and the past two years we've lived in it half the summer (which is only two months long), due to wildfires.

I didn't go for my usual bike ride this morning due to the heavy smoke and have decided I'll pack up my bike and head south again to find clear skies. I'm not on evacuation alert yet, but I fear it's imminent as rain is not in the forecast for at least two weeks - and then only a shower. Unless we get a significant amount, it won't make any difference to the current fire situation.

So that's my rant for today. Trying to find somewhere to go that isn't inundated with smoke. And please, no defence of stupid people that drive their vehicles on the rims. Nothing's going to make me believe there's any kind of reasonable excuse for that kind of abject stupidity.

Today's 'D' day - or better known as the day I return to my doctor for him to give me a physical and check my blood pressure readings. Fortunately, for the most part, my blood pressure has been 'normal' - spiking only when I ate some liquorice. I knew that would happen, but hey - liquorice. Black liquorice. mmmm.

Although it's still smokey here, it's not as smokey as yesterday, and it cools off nicely at night. With the cooler temperatures, I decided yesterday morning to use some of the zucchini that are growing fast and furiously in my garden. Baking a cheddar & bacon zucchini loaf for the first time, it's delicious and just great for breakfast or snack. While making it, I'd been torn on whether to add green onion or not (the recipe did not call for it) and in future, I definitely will, and possibly some oregano or something. Maybe some red pepper too.

I've collected numerous zucchini recipes and it's a darn good thing I did as I can see these darn things are going to overwhelm me. Thank goodness Fay advised me that I could grate it and freeze it for future use. I'm thinking I could probably also make zoodles and freeze them as well. Sweet! Hmmm... reminds me that I have some cooked chicken in the fridge and adding it to some peanut satay and zoodles might just be dinner tonight.

Although I have all the ingredients, I still haven't made the low carb lemon ice cream, so I guess I'm not that enthused. I should make it today some time, as tomorrow, my plans are to go south across the border and go for a bike ride in a new area along a rail trail. One of my fb friends is biking the old Kettle Valley Rail trail, and I'm so envious of his trip as I'd love to do that. He's tenting overnight on the ground, and I have no intention of doing that, so I'll book a trip with one of the outfits where they come and pick you up and take you to a B&B for the night. I've spent more than my fair share of nights on the ground in a tent - no more of that for me.

Between the garden and biking, life is busy and I've forgotten to take my blood pressure a few times in the past two weeks. However, as it's been 'normal' much of the time, I'm not terribly worried about it. The times it has been high are inevitably when I've had a lousy sleep due to rental neighbours behind me that have no concept of consideration at 2:30 am that others are sleeping (or when I ate something like liquorice).

Oh yeah, or when my external hard drive can't be read and it has over 200,000 photos on it. I took it in to the computer place yesterday and I'm hoping they can retrieve the data on it as I don't have them anywhere else. All my photos from 2017 to date, although the ones from 2014 are already on another file. How many places do you have to have these damn things, just in case?

As fall is more and more imminent, evidenced in the cooler temperatures in the morning, I'm actually a bit relieved as this year it's been a struggle to keep my garden watered enough. Between dead-heading petunias first thing in the morning, watering the plants, and picking whatever 'fruit' is ready, (right after I get home from my bike ride), it's no wonder breakfast isn't until 10:00 am or later. The one tomato plant that is still in the planter is suddenly not doing so well and I think I've over-watered it. That's surprising, as it's been so hot. It was only put in a planter as I had bushes in the garden when I bought it, and I didn't transplant it after the bushes were pulled out. I'm thinking now, that I should have.

The other tomato plants are doing exceptionally well, (in the ground), so next year I'll either put something else in the planters, or find another home for them.

Not many photos taken since we've been inundated with smoke, unfortunately. That's why I'm heading south and east, in hopes of getting away from it. Also, to take my bike back to the store and have them give it a once over as I've ridden well over 10 hours since purchase.







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A song for you.