New directions!

I have decided to start a new Wordpress blog to go along with my new podcast
Kelownagurl's Adventures: Travel and Fitness into Retirement.

Check it out here!

http://kelownagurl.wordpress.com


The new podcast can now be found on iTunes. (Just search Kelownagurl in podcasts and it should pop up).


You can also listen on my Spreaker account if you're not into subscribing to podcasts.

Or check out my Youtube channel here.


As always, thank you!!!!

~ Barb  aka Kelownagurl

:)

April 5, 2015

Well as of today, I am now officially a member of the 55-59 age group and I even qualify for the 55+ senior discounts.  I don't know if I should be happy or depressed but I figure if I am still here, it can't be all bad.  :)

Once again, it's been awhile since I blogged but I'm not going to spend a bunch of space making excuses about what I have or have not been doing. Suffice to say, I'm still 10 lbs up, and haven't been running much since last summer, although I have been walking home from work, 3-5 km a day, 4 days a week, since January.  However, I have only been on a bike twice in the past 12 months.  Sad?  Maybe, but it is what it is, and the past really doesn't matter. I'd rather focus on the here and now.

I have a pretty awesome 2015 lined up actually.  I just got home from a 2 week trip to New Zealand to meet Erik's new grandson, and to tour the North Island for 10 days.  It was beautiful and I really enjoyed the trip, even though it was a short one (I only have a 2 week spring break).

Erik and I have a 3 week trip to Italy planned for the end of August and we will spend some time in Rome, Tuscany and Umbria, and finish up with 5 days on the Amalfi Coast. I love Italy and I'm really looking forward to the trip.

We will get back a week before school starts up for my last year of teaching. Yes, I am going to retire.   I am almost 100% sure it will be at the end of March 2016.  We plan to take off for a 2-3 month stint in Europe in mid April 2016.  We don't have all the details nailed down yet, but the plan is to spend about 2 weeks in Portugal or Greece, then walk the Camino de Santiago for 35-40 days (500 miles/800 km), and then spend a month in one place - either Provence or Tuscany. I have always wanted to go to Europe and try to live like a local.  Our dearest wish is to be invited to a typical family dinner somewhere.

I am so excited about this trip but it is also a bit daunting so I have decided this Tuesday will be the first day of a year's worth of training. In this case training means losing 5-10 lbs, and regaining my strength, fitness, and stamina.  I will go to the gym, walk lots, get back to running, ride my bike, do the physio and yoga and core work, and eat healthy so that I am in top form by next May.  Hiking 500 miles with a backpack is a big challenge but 1000's of people do it every year, so I know I can be one of them.

So - that's  my life in a nut shell.  I plan to revitalize my blog and share my travel planning tips, give regular updates about my "training" progress, and talk about the next transition in my life.

Stay tuned!

December 5, 1975

Memories of a December Day
 

It started like any other day,
and could have ended in the usual way,
and almost did.
Except for one incident,
warranting nothing more than a brief mention,
on the radio news.
(after all, it was a gory…
story).
But it meant more to me.

Time moves in a blur in my memory,

then reaches a point in time,

a day, an hour,

and slows suddenly, excruciatingly slowly.

Each minute as clear and painful as if

it happened yesterday.

And then a blur again

of sudden torture,

emotion, agony,

like a dream,

no,

like a nightmare.

We had a game that night,

basketball I think.

Erica and I,

in our skirts and sweaters,

jumping, shouting,

cheering on our team,

as if it really mattered

whether we won or lost,

as if it would have made a difference.

I remember I glanced at the clock.

It was 10:30 pm.

A critical time,

if I had only known.

But an unimportant time,

because I didn’t.

“Is that your Dad over there?”

Erica asked breathlessly.

My eyes strained across

the roaring gymnasium floor,

to the stands.

I picked out the figure,

similar, but…no.

A man in his late forties,

dressed in the blue shirt and pants

that identify the working class.

He’s carrying a steel grey lunch box.

Looks like Dad,

but no, it’s can’t be him.

It’s only 10:30.

He won’t be home till midnight.

Or so I thought.

I could have said

No, I don’t have a father…

if I’d known.

Our team scored,

we jumped into action.,

but the game was over.

I looked back to the stands to check again.

A chance to see.

Maybe he’s off early?

(He was)

Maybe the mill broke down?

(It did…

but not in the usual way.)

He was gone.

In more ways than one.

And at that moment, I knew only one way.

Probably someone else’s father,

picking up his son, or his daughter,

taking them home, congratulating,

or not,

weary from work,

happy to be home with his family.

We went home.

It was 10:50 pm.

Mom, my sister and brother,

watching a movie on TV.

“It’s Planet of the Apes,

come and watch”

So I sat,

half changed into my jeans.

The phone rang and I answered it.

“You get it, Barb, this is the important part.”

But so was the phone,

if they’d known.

It was for Mom,

but it was late so I lingered near,

to hear,

to be sure.

I watched my mother’s eyes grow wide with terror.

“It’s Daddy—“

I ran to the neighbours.

Banging on the door, my blouse.

half buttoned, screaming.

They thought I’d been raped

If it had only been that,

instead of…

Daddy.

Back to the house,

me and my support team.

I knew that Mom would need someone,

that I wasn’t going to be able to help.

The police were in the driveway,

when we arrived.

Mom collapsed when she saw

“N.O.K.” on the young officer’s clipboard.

Next. Of. Kin.

“This is the second time I’ve had to do this tonight.”

He was apologetic, uncomfortable.

My mind was spinning, everything became a blur.

I don’t remember someone actually saying the words,

that he was dead,

not even the usual euphemisms.

All I heard was “freak accident”,

“He never knew what hit him”

“Thank God there was no pain.”

But how did they really know?

“It happened about an hour ago.

about 10:30 pm”, they said.

What took them so long?

I still don’t’ understand.

There was an inquest,

to determine who was to blame.

After all, he had asked repeatedly for his “box” to be raised.

It’s not safe, he’d said.

A log could just split,

and come flying through the glass and…

…and crush a man,

his family,

his friends,

his community,

and

his daughter.

They decided it was no one’s fault,

but they raised the box,

just in case.

By Barbara Park

Dedicated to my father, Mel Park, who died in an industrial accident on December 5, 1975. I was fifteen.

ETA: I can't remember when I wrote this.  I think it was within a few months after he died but i tmay have been any time in the first 5 years.

November 30, 2014 - Best Laid Plans

As you know, the motto of my blog is "It's never too late to be what you might have been".

I was watching a movie I purchased online this month that follows six people walking the Camino.  It's called "Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago" (As an aside, it's an excellent movie about the Camino and as a bonus, one of the older guys is from Kelowna - click the link for more information and learn how you can purchase the video here for a paltry $12 and help this independent film maker.) 

Anyway, the final song of the movie is called Best Laid Plans by a singer-songwriter from Portland OR, Tyler Stenson.  I loved this song, I love his voice, I love the harmonies, and I love the lyrics.  They speak to me.  They invigorate me.  And they allow me to forgive myself when I fail.

"That which might have been, can yet still be"  ~Tyler Stenson




Best Laid Plans
by tyler stenson © 2010 -- ASCAP

Best laid plans fail
And wrong winds catch sails
But that don't mean you lay down
And lose your boat to the treacherous sea.
No, you must believe:
That which might have been, can yet still be.

I've seen a beautiful sky turn gray
As I stood by watching weather change
But that don't mean the Sun is long-gone
And all of our Hope should leave.
No, you must believe:
That which might have been, can yet still be.

The greatest place ever known fell down.
It was the Fall of Rome--
But I've seen the Vatican and Coliseum
Under a summer's gleam
(And it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen)
So, I'm telling you,
That which might have been, can yet still be.

Those best laid plans fail
And those wrong winds catch sails
But that don't mean you lay down
And lose your boat to the treacherous sea.
No, you must believe:
That which might have been, can yet still be.

Twofer - November 22/23, 2014

So I forgot was too busy lazy to post yesterday.  I was actually too "busy" most of the day and then I finally remembered I hadn't blogged just as I was going to bed, and that's when the lazy part kicked in.  I had nothing to say anyway. I figured I would run today and then post about that instead.

Except I didn't. Run that is.

So the weekend went like this - I was really really tired all week, fighting a cold that the rugrats are spreading around the classroom. On Saturday morning, I had a sore throat and swollen glands, so I stayed in bed until noon and read one of my books. (The Rosie Project - which is hilarious, and an easy read, and reminded me a lot of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory).  I finally got up and ate around 1pm and then went out and ran some errands.  When I got home, I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening reading.  I finished Rosie and started The Secret Life of Bees - another page turner.

Last night I slept like a log (which is rare for me) and managed to sleep in until 9:30.  The sore throat had more or less disappeared but I took it easy for the morning and then I went into work for about 3 hours. By the time I got home, I didn't really have time to go for a run because I was taking my daughters out for a birthday dinner. 

Now it's almost 9pm and I am going to settle into bed early, watch Homeland and get a good sleep so I am prepared to fight the bugs this week. I am hopeful that I will go for a run tomorrow.