Arrowleaf Cellars [pinot noir]

a journal of the year of fires

Indeed, the year of the mega-fires in West and East Canada, with Kelowna (and UBC Okanagan where BIRS 23w5106 took place) severely hit. Travelling through BC by car and plane, we saw several wildfire fume clouds, incl. a massive one from the Yellowknife region…

Read a few dozen pages of Gene Wolfe’s The Knight, in the fabulous Bacchus Books and Café of Golden, BC. Despite the positive vibes of the place, I could not engage with the story or the style, which I found quite disappointing given the earlier achievements of the author. There is of course the attempt at recreating an Arthurian tale, with its lack of temporal and logical coherence, but this fails short, in part because the narrator keeps jumping from a pre-teen to a much wiser adult and back. I thus replaced it within the shelf where I had found it, hopefully with no stain from the scone I enjoyed in the same place. A clear advantage of cafés within bookstores (the replacement, not the scone stains!) Also read Angel Six Echo by Robert Appleton, a short sci’fi’ story of the (very) military type, a mix of Warhammer 40k, Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series, Ender’s Game, and a few other space trooper novels. Pleasantly light as I was trying to read a few pages before fazing out after a day of intense activity! Realised as well that Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory was a very very short [almost as short as its long title!] story within the Murderbot Diaries, and not particularly interesting. Still waiting eagerly for the incoming (#8) System Collapse, a genuine novel.

Hiked inside and outside Yoho National Park (Emerald Lake, Mt. Hunter, Mt. Field), with varying success at avoiding the maddening crowd. And the drone of the highway below. Even 900m below. No wildlife encounter apart from the frequent mule deer, the few bighorns lost on Trans Canadian #1,  and the lightning fast chipmunks (except when they come begging for food). Despite bear warnings all around. Most days were above the healthy air quality limits, due to the numerous wildfires in the North-East BC, even though I did not feel any change when running or hiking. Made a night stop in Canmore to catch an early flight in Calgary, the place has gone surprisingly upscale from my earlier visits there!

 

smoky sunset [jatp]

Kelowna two weeks later

Golden dawn [jatp]