1999 to 2000

This month’s front cover photo is a picture of the Kalum valley from a point somewhere on Mount Goaty. It was where my family enjoyed hiking and my oldest brothers got to practice their shooting skills as mountain goats made great targets. I never climbed this mountain, for I didn’t like the killing and I found other things to do. This month’s Musings is about the mountain I have climbed to establish my business… Visions…Unlimited Network Inc., the legal company name for ISSUES Magazine and the Holistic Health Centre. After moving to Summerland from Terrace in 1980, I met Hugh Gibbs. He came to pick up the clothes that I had mended for him, he sniffed the air and said, “Smells good.” I said, “We are just about to have lunch. Would you like to stay?” He smiled and said, “You bet.” I liked his honesty, for most people would […Read More]

Growing up in a large family out in the wilderness with many brothers taught me many skills. Being productively busy is one of them, for it seemed the sun would go down before we finished all that needed doing. We did have candles and propane lights, but they were used sparingly. This month’s photograph is of me having my tenth birthday. I am the one behind the candle. I know this is my birthday party and not one of my brother’s because there are more girls than boys in the picture. Hazel, Gail, Sharon, Laurie and myself were the only girls living in our small community, so it was a special occasion when they all came over for a visit and cake. Presents were usually money or a gift made by themselves or their Mom. This year on Feb. 20th, I enjoyed having my 47th birthday gathering and I made […Read More]

Cooking comes naturally to me. As you can see from this month’s cover photo my Mom encouraged us children to help cook. Bill and Michael are my brothers and by the cans on the table I will guess they are preparing some baking soda biscuits for dinner. When I was a teenager, my girl friend and I were discussing what to do one Saturday afternoon, when I suggested making donuts. She grimanced and said, “I can’t.” I said, “Why not?” and she said, “Mom won’t let me get the kitchen dirty.” My eyebrows raised with surprise and I said, “Then let’s do it at my house.” I got the deep fryer out and found Mom’s cookbook. Half way through the recipe, we decided we wanted green donuts. I found the food dye and dropped it onto the dough in spots, but it was too late. It didn’t mix in and […Read More]

I smile as I look at this photograph, for it does bring back a lot of memories. I wonder what Michael is thinking as brother Bill carefully balances the load for him. It takes experience for both of them to know that this load will not get lifted, for Michael needs to get his feet under him. I am sure they figured it out for they both became great wood haulers. It took lots of cooperation to live in the woods and keep a family warm. I can remember doing my share of the wood hauling, there had to be communication between two people. When I was being loaded, I had to tell my brothers when my load was heavy or feeling unbalanced. With practice we all learned how much we could carry without either the arms or legs collapsing. A few times I lost my load because it was […Read More]

Finding time to put words to what is happening externally and internally and keep several businesses operating is a challenge. This Sunday I would have preferred to have caught up on some paperwork, but that can wait and deadlines can’t. I am glad when each Musing is complete and I trust that putting these words on paper as a record of my life as it changes is part of my evolvement. Mom preserved our heritage by taking pictures as a record of our homesteading days. I get to record history in a different way, but in essence we are doing the same thing. This month’s front cover is of me when I was ten or eleven years old, with two of my brothers. We are holding a picture that Dad framed with birch logs. He had cut and grooved them with his power saw, for he was a logger. It […Read More]

Life… what a wonderfully busy journey. As I flipped through the photographs, it was hard to chose a cover for this month. Do I want a busy photograph of a summer picnic with my Mom’s friends, the nuns from Terrace? Or do I want to focus on the quiet reflections of how the natives of northern Alberta lived in the summer? Deciding reminded me of the paradox of life that I am exploring… these two photographs offered the opposites of life as well. The Judeo-Christian beliefs of only one God and one lifetime, or the belief system that God is in everyone and everywhere and that we get many lifetimes to learn our lessons. As you can see I put the nuns on the front cover and here is the other picture, taken by my Grandad, near his hometown of Grimshaw, Alberta. With summer coming, I was hoping to get […Read More]

As children growing up we had four or five pigs, the long ones that produce the most bacon, and every spring they had piglets. They were so cute and they loved being scratched, but if you tried to lift one off the ground, it squealed so loud that Mama came running to find out what was happening. I found our pigs to be very sociable creatures with poor eating habits. They would oink and fight for best position in the feeding trough, slurping and dripping their food everywhere. In spite of that, they were quite clean and were trained very early to poop in the same spot in their outdoor pen. They loved to bury themselves in the dust or mud, depending on the season. They loved to root up the ground and once the ground was clear of weeds and roots, we would move the pigpen and plant a […Read More]

Whew! Finally a few hours to stop getting things done and get typing. Life has been feeling very full this past month but every night before falling asleep I say why I am grateful … it’s my form of prayers to the universe. Besides my usual job of making soup and cookies for the Juicy Carrot, occasionally attending to my store the Rainbow Connection and publishing ISSUES Magazine, this month I also organized the Wise Woman Weekend and helped my carpenter do some renovations and canned pickles, tomatoes and peaches. Teaching yoga classes two nights a week helped me slow down just a touch but it was busier than I liked. I am grateful that Jan and Marcel were able to keep up with the ad info and phone calls as the deadline for ISSUES happened at the same time as the WWW event. I am grateful that Nywyn, Samarpan, […Read More]

The mother bear and her two cubs on the front cover reminded me of a time that we fed a black bear cub. The mother was killed nearby and Grandad decided we would help the little guy out. Twice a day we would warm up some milk and leave it in an old pot. When the cub was hungry it would scurry down the tree and slurp up the milk and then hurry back up the tree. If we were nearby, fear overcame his hunger and he didn’t come down, so we learned to let him be. One day the Conservation Officer showed up and took the animal away and we were told that officers knew what to do with hurt or abandoned animals. Terrace, the town near where I was raised, is well known for the special white bear called the Kermode. My Mom has done lots of research […Read More]