Tag: Outdoor Magazine

This Old Barn

There is something deeply nostalgic about old farm houses and barns.

From the moment you see their neglected lane-ways, now covered with wild grass and weeds with only a hint of the paths that lead the family home each day…to that next moment, as your eyes are drawn to the byres and ranches that have long since been forgotten.

That feeling of wistfulness for a place that I never knew….

I can imagine when this place was full of life….

Hard working families and children with chores, who have risen with the first sign of dawn to tend to their animals and fields of plenty. 

The family dog dutifully next to his master as he watches over his homestead, hands calloused, skin weathered and darkened through season after season, year after year of hardships and elation for the masterpiece of existence he has created.

I can imagine the home fires burning, smoke billowing out of stone hearth chimneys, dinner on the table as mama, the matriarch, calls her family home to her.

The laughter, telling of stories and adventures, everyone eager for their chance to share the happenings of their day, as the food that was harvested by the hands of the family is passed from one to another.

I can imagine as the children grew and began to pull from the roots that once grounded them, on to other quests, the draw of the city, the dream of something bigger or just different. 

Their aging parents slowly letting pieces of their homestead whither and age in time with themselves. The animals and fields either passed on or sold off, the homestead no longer a homestead.

The barns have aged, sun, rain and years of weather have transformed them into productions of art. Stunning reminders of what they once were.  Nature taking them back to the land  

This Old Barn

Thank you for reading

Live Love & Laugh

Catherine

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A Special Place I Call Home

A Special Place I Call Home

My special place, that I call home, for when I am there I feel more at home then anywhere.  I am far from family and friends, surrounded by strangers that do not seem strange or distant at all, but rather like long lost kin folk that I am sure my past spirits have known.

My special place that I call home where eagles soar in such abundance that I sit in awe and disbelief to be so blessed to live among them   Their calls to one another from tree top to tree top or the power of their wings as they fly at breakneck speed to pluck their prey from the sea.

My special place that I call home, watching shore birds do their rhythmic dance, sheets of white moving and flowing so in sync with one another, their reason for their frolic or the purpose to their moves I am not aware but I can imagine the timing of their dance with a symphony of music

My special place that I call home, staring out into the sea waiting for a glimpse of the mighty Orca,  but just as excited to see sea otters, seals and sea lions. I love the bark of the sea lion, sounding so grumpy as they roll along through the tides but having such silly grins on their faces.  as if they are amused at something only they can see.

My special place that I call home, following deer tracks as they show their path from bush to shoreline and back again. Perhaps they too like to watch the sunrise and sunset to reflect on their day as it ends and their morning as a new one begins.  

Waking and sleeping to the sounds of the waves, 

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from raging  pounding surf to calm lapping waters, the sounds lulling you to slumber but then rousing you with anticipation.

Every day, every moment something to see, to believe in, to remind me to live to breath to love to laugh.

My Special Place

Thank you for reading Live Love Laugh,

Catherine Deslippe

Rain

In the still of the rain we found some peace today. A week of stress and uncertainly gave way to playing in puddles. The air so crisp,  fresh and quiet and the presence of people absolutely nil.

Just Maggie and Me forgetting all the woes of the week, walking in wonder through raindrops.

So cold,  the rain teetering on the edge of turning to ice, laughing and running with reckless abandonment.

Remembering that life just is, people are just people and letting go every now and then is a must

Our day, our rain, our story

Catherine

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Taking a chance on the sun

The weather called for all day showers but Maggie and I had other plans so we demanded the sun to shine ….

 We saw a sliver of light on the horizon, our sign the universe had listened 

 While everyone was tucked away preparing for the expected wet day, we ventured out and were blessed with glorious moments 

 We saw rays hope and stole the moment …. we chased and followed the sun 

 Today was about merriment and marvel, it was about being silly and finding quiet 

 A great day to recharge, re energize and enjoy time my companion, my Maggie, my friend 

 To being silly and to finding the sun

 My Saturday, my Maggie, my story

Catherine

 

Is it Haunted here?

Is it Haunted here?  It opened in 1904 and was revered at the time as the asylum for the mentally and criminally insane. As medicine and research evolved over the years the name and the direction of the Riverview institute transformed into hospital that specialized in mental health issues, until it closed in 2012  

Let me take you back to the 1900″s.  Imagine this place perched high on a mountain side. With trees of all species that have never been logged, that have been here since birth. Such history in the pristine and raw forest.  Such strong forces of energy still at play all these year’s later

 Now imagine, still standing but crumbling, some of the original buildings that housed some of the most mentally ill people that were cast out from society

Witchery and barbaric methods thousands upon thousands of misfitted people locked away behind bars longing to touch what only their eyes beheld them through their windows

As I walk amongst the buildings, windows still barred holding in the spirits that walked the halls. I imagine the hand prints on grimy moss covered windows and the echoes of their screams and laughter as they struggled in their existence

This place is magical but eerie and haunting…. hairs stand on end as you peak through an open window to halls of emptiness but beauty in the building remains

Then out of nowhere a crack of thunder so loud we jump with fright followed by hard rains that send us the message we have over stayed our welcome move on now let us rest in the peace that we had longed for

My spooky Halloween 

Catherine

 

 

A Perfume Called Fall

Two of the greatest smells of all.

When you combine the smell of decaying leaves after a rain storm and campfires burning you have a collision of fall scents that awaken every sense of your being.

Taking deep breaths to try to take in as much of the aroma as possible hoping that if I hold it in, the smells will stay deep within my soul.

Bottle this and call it fall for these two smells can calm the most erratic mind and elevate mood to the point of elation

How is it that two means of ending, wood burning down to ashes and leaves decaying into dust can create such an alive feeling?

 Strange what nature has to offer, leaves, fire and life …. a perfume called fall

My Story My Fall

 Catherine

In awe of the fall

 There is something healing and energizing about sitting under a tree with the wind blowing through the bows just enough to drop pine needles and coloured leaves all around you, hiding out from the rain but still immersed in nature…..  Everyone has long since run indoors, even the chipmunks and squirrels have taken coverimg_6571.  But here we sit in awe of the sounds……

The birds have stopped chirping so the only echoes we hear now is the heavy rain as it picks up energy and moves through the trees The rhythm of drops that slip down between the branches, landing on exposed skin and rain jackets, one drop then two then a few more creating a steady beat,  a drumming sound

Listening with all senses the sounds of the rain, the wind through the trees the rhythm of escaped rain drops, a small miniature outdoor orchestra of music

 A sense of letting go, of releasing thoughts, worries and troubles if only for a moment….

The quiet and the peace, simply in awe of the fall

Catherine

Conquering Hiking Solo # 2- Hicks Lake

Well Maggie and I did it….. 2nd solo hike, Hicks Lake, Sasquatch BC  Holy freaking out fear but we did it.

Hicks lake is a nice easy  walk about 2 hours (we speed this up quite a bit )….. So today was not a vertical challenge but was more a deep forest bear country sort of challenge.

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This lake is located about 10 km down a dirt road to a place called Sasquatch Provincial Park. Yes this is the place where the infamous spooky siting of the half man half animal” Bigfoot” has been known to reside

 However it was not this mystical creature that I feared, are you kidding there were a few times that I would have welcomed the Sasquatch, just for the half human side that it possesses. It was being in bear country that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

But I love the forest and there are times when you have to go it alone …this was one of those times.

 The start of this trail runs along the lake and the campsites for a short bit and the smells of the camp fires helped to fill my senses and bring in some elements of calm. And the first half of the trail travels along Hicks Lake, the views through the fall coloured trees was pretty and relaxing so I was still feeling pretty composed, in the moment….  Maybe even a little over confident……

My senses were on such high alert that I swear I could hear the mushrooms popping up from the soil but I was enjoying this feeling of freedom.

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I should have counted my blessings with this part of the trail and doubled back the way I came…The second half of the trail took me down an old logging road which I now know most people do not choose to take. But I was determined to overcome this self-inflicted fear. So Maggie and I decided to take the “road less traveled”

Hmmmmm …..  This logging road took me away from the placid calling of the lake and the comforting  smells of the campfires and left me with what felt like endless kilometers of logging road,  no one around but  me and the dog….

After a short realization on the decision I made, it was time to put on some load music to help drown out my crazy thoughts and what ifs., thank you Pat Benatar and Queen.  With an ocean rock in hand ( to stay grounded you see) and music on , we decided this part of the trail was going to be more about exercise then exploring and increased our walking pace .

After a few kilometers of  way to much self-awareness , lots of self-talk about pulling myself together, we get what we put out there,  the law of attraction and so on .We were starting to get into the fast past grove of the hike. My new positive affirmations were bringing me back to tranquil

And then we saw it….. A big pile of bear scat. Still fresh and buzzing with flies…. If you ask me I swear it was still steaming…. We were 3 quarters of the way around the lake so it make no sense to turn back and besides it is not like the poop was pointing in what direction the darn animal was anyways 

Where in the heck were all the humans?

Squeezing and rubbing my ocean rock so hard I do believe I have turned it to a diamond, we did the next best thing, we ran and ran until I saw our first humans

I greeted them with such enthusiasm, with the look of fear on my face and Maggie’s tongue dragging along behind us.  They must have thought I had been in the forest for years and they were my first glimpse of humanity 

 Ah thank you to the humans….. I was now confident again, for if there was a bear still around it would focus on the new people ……. We calmed down and finished our walk through BC bear territory….

 Feeling a little braver and very proud

 Thank you for reading Live Love Laugh

 Catherine

 

 

 

 

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