When the Grateful Dead released American Beauty in 1970 I was in San Fransisco (their home base). I went into a record store and bought it and brought it back to Vancouver. It has remained a favorite over all these years. Ripple is the opening song, here redone by an ensemble group:
Continue reading →The Searcher is a modern-day western set in Ireland. Cal Hooper is a divorced, retired American who has moved to rural western Ireland, looking for peace, trying to leave behind a lifetime of police work and a broken marriage. He picks a run-down house on the lower slopes of the mountain and sets about to fix it up, go fishing, … Continue reading →
A Drink Before the War was Dennis Lehane’s debut novel, in which he introduced detectives Kenzie and Gennaro. His later novels are highly recommended – Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island. With the strengths of these novels I decided to try his first, published in 1994. Lehane is a fine writer who provides wonderful local color, strong characterization, … Continue reading →
Near the end of her life Shirley Jackson had become homebound and felt isolated. Her last novel was published in 1962 and instead of another Gothic horror story she created a story about the unusual Blackwood sisters living in a rural home, away from town, but isolated because of the mistrust and hate of the villagers. Constance, Mary Katherine (Merricat), … Continue reading →
The Ruin is a crime story set in Ireland. The story starts strong with a young policeman (Cormac Reilly) investigating the death of a woman who appeared to have killed herself with an overdose of heroin. He takes the two apparently-abused/neglected children into custody. The main story shifts to 20 years later when Jack, one of the children sent to … Continue reading →
The Syncline Trail is a loop route in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The trail does a loop around Upheaval Dome, a unique geological feature. A new video is now available on YouTube: Click the YouTube link for more KamloopsTrails videos. More information on the Syncline Trail can be found at this link – Syncline Loop [usr 4.5]
Continue reading →A new video is now available on YouTube: Click the Youtube link for many more KamloopsTrails videos. [usr 4.8]
Continue reading →We hiked over the west side of Kenna Cartwright Park to enjoy the hike, the summer weather, and the flora and fauna along the way. We hiked a combination of trails, including Big Pine to do a loop route of about 5 km. Some of the things we saw along the way are captured in this YouTube video: We will … Continue reading →
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is a Norwegian crime novel in which Detective Harry Hole investigates and tries to find a serial killer dubbed The Snowman. The novel follows the police procedural model/format, and the plot has many twists and turns, false leads, and it develops into a thriller in the last chapters. There are some clever sections and … Continue reading →
The City and the City is mainly a murder mystery, but is also a fantasy or sci fi story. Most readers would edge toward fantasy, but quantum physics ideas could make this sci fi. Two cities are both adjacent and overlapping in space and time. Beszel and Ul Qoma are cities in the southeastern part of Europe and the citizens … Continue reading →
A new video is now available on YouTube: Click the YouTube link for more Kamloops Trails videos.
Continue reading →We sometimes stay on one of the Gulf Islands and hike all of the trails over a few days. On a holiday on Galiano Island we hiked the trails to Mt. Galiano, the highest point on the island. The trails are on the southwest corner of the long island. We hiked through the cedar – hemlock forest to the top … Continue reading →
A new video is now available on YouTube: Click the KamloopsTrails YouTube videos link and/or use the Search Bar on Kamloops Trails to find posts on Zion National Park.
Continue reading →On a windy June day I hiked a loop route from Rose Hill Park. I hiked on single tracks west toward Juniper, then over ridges back to Rose Hill Road, then up Joyce Gulch to find an old homestead. The open hills were green and inviting. From the ridge overlooking the Lower Rose Area, there are wide-open views down to … Continue reading →
On a rainy, grey day I looked for a shorter hike and decided to do the Doc Findlay Loop. While hiking, I wanted to experiment with various video and photo options with the DJI Pocket 2 camera. In addition, I tried to get some close ups with a GoPro Hero 10 with a macro lens. Grey, flat light and some … Continue reading →
By mid-June the early flowers have passed and mid-season flowers are emerging. In the vegetable and herb garden a a few flowers show on arugula, radishes, mustard greens, chives, thyme, chamomile, and others. The radishes will soon become woody, the spinach and arugula will bolt and produce seeds, thyme and chamomile will continue to flower all summer, tomatoes will set … Continue reading →