a peek inside the fishbowl

I am not done writing about our trip out west! I didn’t want to skip over our visit to Jasper. This was one of my favourite stops, and if you ever find yourself planning a trip like ours (Calgary, Banff, Lake Louise) I definitely recommend including Jasper on that list even though it’s farther afield. It’s a really nice town, and we snagged some great accommodations, possibly the best during our entire trip. I will write about that later, but first I wanted to tell you about one place we stopped on our way to Jasper: the Columbia Icefield. Did you know it’s the largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains? Mark and I took a tour here 20 years ago and were eager for the girls to see it.

The drive up the Icefields Parkway was 100x smokier than anywhere we’d been. We were hoping the skies would clear but the smoke from BC forest fires was denser than ever. The only thing we could see clearly were the trees closest to the car:

This was the view from one of the many scenic lookouts by the side of the road!

Not much of a view, eh? Anything in the distance was a smoky wash or entirely invisible.

The ghosts of mountains looked down upon us as we drove, headlights on.

Here’s something else: there’s no cell service along that road either, so we were pretty much in the dark regarding our distance from our next destination, which was the Columbia Icefield. We had booked a tour and were anxious about making it on time. As it turned out, we needn’t have worried. All of the tours were cancelled due to the poor visibility. (!) We obtained our refund ($400 back in our pockets!) and were starting to make our way back to the car when we decided to strike out on our own.  It was the best decision we could have made.

But first, this was our view from the main building of the Columbia Icefields Discovery Centre, looking towards the glacier. (It’s there, I swear.)

We walked across the highway and found a little trail that looked promising.

It was very pretty, in a strange and eerie kind of way. I felt like we were walking on the moon. What’s more, we were practically the only ones there.

We ended up at a more established part of the trail which had a few more people on it.

We followed the path to the toe of the glacier. Ropes and signs forbade access without a guide, so we held back even though we saw many people striking out on their own. (I was not about to risk anyone falling into a hidden crevasse.)

We followed a path away from the glacier and when it was safe to do so we ducked under the ropes to explore another area.

We poked around for a long time, following the rushing water and filling up our water bottles with glacial water. It was utterly gorgeous.

Soon it was time to head back. We still had a ways to go before our final destination (which was Jasper)!

Although we were a little disappointed the glacier tour didn’t work out and the view wasn’t what we knew it was behind all that smoke, I chose to look on the bright side. We saved a lot of money and had a great little hike across some really interesting terrain…  and had a lot of fun doing it.

We ventured forward instead of turning away. There’s a lesson there, I think.

Related: My cheer that day, or really, the whole week, was “TEAM TOMKINS wins!” and “GO TEAM TOMKINS” and other variations of this, always accompanied by high fives. Another frequent refrain: “WE ARE TUFF STUFF” which had more to do with our aching legs, which never really stopped aching the whole time we were there. I was very proud of us. I still am.

?? ?? ?? @UnitedWayOttawa is working with the @redcrosscanada and other partners to address immediate and long-term needs after the #OttStorm. Read more and give right here: https://t.co/0Cvb0oppEd pic.twitter.com/fKUSIU3VUF

— andrea tomkins (@missfish) September 27, 2018

• The rape culture of the 1980s, explained by Sixteen Candles, vox.com
• The Existential Void of the Pop-Up ‘Experience’, nytimes.com
• How to stay fit forever: 25 tips to keep moving when life gets in the way, theguardian.com
• A day in the life of a social media influencer, mcsweeneys.net
• Why the Internet Wants Your Baby to Fail, nytimes.com

On the nightstand: The Lost Boy (Patrik Hedstrom and Erica Falck, Book 7)

Back in May, when the Kitchissippi Times changed to a monthly community news magazine format, I was asked to write a letter from the editor in each issue. I scoffed at the idea a bit at first. I mean really, do MORE people really need be exposed to my random thoughts? As it turns out, it was a solid idea and I’ve been receiving positive feedback ever since. My photo is published there as well, so more people are recognizing me and stopping to chat AND I’m getting more emails from readers. It’s all good!

I know some of you Fishies live here in Ottawa and have heard nothing but Storm News for the past six days, but a bunch of you are scattered around the world and may not know that the Ottawa/Gatineau region experienced six tornadoes last Friday. (!) I didn’t see the point of duplicating my efforts so I’m sharing I wrote in the October issue of KT (which you can read right here, if you like)!

—

I think it’s safe to say that the summer of 2018 went out with a bang, not a whimper, and that it won’t quickly be forgotten.
I am writing this column, longhand, with a pen and notebook by early morning light. I’ll transcribe this all later, when my family and I move to my in-laws place in Kanata for the day.

The house is silent. The normal “house” sounds – hot water heater, fridge, air exchange, phone ringing and devices buzzing – are totally absent. I have really enjoyed the silence of a power-free weekend. Other than the flurry of activity surrounding some lost branches in our backyard and the hum of a neighbour’s generator, it was blissfully tranquil.

At this point, our home has been without power for 36 hours. The contents of the fridge are warm and I’m afraid to open the freezer, but overall, we fared well. For this, I am grateful.

When the power went out, our candles, flashlights, and emergency radio were within easy reach. We learned that our hot water heater is more efficient than we thought and we were able to have a hot shower 24 hours after the power went out and wash a sinkful of dirty dishes.
According to public health, perishables will only last for about four hours in a non-working fridge, so, like many of you out there, after it was clear the power wasn’t coming on any time soon, we tried to use up whatever food we could. Thankfully we were able to cobble together hot meals on our gas-powered stove and BBQ. (Please don’t ask me about the Costco-sized box of tempura shrimp we ate for lunch on Saturday.)

I learned a few practical lessons during our “tornado weekend”:

• I thought our landline and analog phones would work during a power outage. They didn’t.
• Had the water stopped flowing we would have been in big trouble.
• A better stock of dry goods in the pantry (including chocolate) would have been welcome. There’s only so much peanut butter one can consume.
• Driver etiquette is never better than when the stoplights are out at four-way intersections. I’ve never made such a smooth left turn on Island Park!

As I said to our daughter with a thought back to the ice storm of 1998, times of crisis bring out the best in people. This is what I saw this weekend. I saw the best people rise to the occasion in Kitchissippi and beyond. A community is only as strong as the people who live there – and that’s what I saw this weekend – a strong community.

Extending a hand when one was needed – this is what living in a community is all about. I saw neighbours helping neighbours, checking in on one another and making sure no one went without hot water, good meals, and a cup of coffee. I saw strangers offering baby formula to families who were caught short, and pancake breakfasts … delivery available! It did my heart good.

A special shout-out to James Thompson on Gainsborough, who shared his household power by way of a number of extension cords snaking across his front lawn. Through a Facebook post, he extended an invitation to anyone who needed power to charge their phones or even “blow dry” their hair, as he put it. It’s times like this that one realizes that dry hair and a hot cup of coffee or tea can be the most precious and valuable things.

Thank you, Kitchissippi. I am so glad to be a part of this wonderful, caring, community.

p.s. Related to this, check out this article about a local business that went above and beyond the call of duty!