Over the Mountains to the Interior

28 Sep '07 4:12 am

Gordon! I do find exceptional, too, this special look interaction with the coyote!! Coyotes are small sort of wolves, non? Like doggies, or something...When you described your feelings about those moments as a mystical experience, exceptional, as all mystical experiences are, my mind ran to a book I had read in my early thirties, by Carlos Castaneda . I read this book in Greek , and the title was like this : "A Very Exceptional Reality"! The book was about the different realities the hero was experiencing, with the help of the Indian rituals, in South America somehere. I was SO impressed those days! Carlos Castaneda was so much loved those days in Greece!!

And , dear Gordon, how you expressed it right : "A person of the dry belt"!! I just feel deeply what you mean here : cause, I so many times wondered about myself, how on Earth I am SO mesmerized in experiencing a Forest, being in a Forest, smelling a Forest, listening to a Forest!! Me, born on a Greek island!! My parents were getting crazy with me , when I was telling them in my teens, "I wish to go away from this crazy world!! Whenever I can, I will go to live alone in a forest , like the Snowhite and the seven dwarfs!" Believe me, this wish has never left me, but at least I am living in a lovely country now, full of the most beautiful forests!!(And my heart has turned into tiny pieces , mourning for the destruction of the Greek Forests...)

Gordon, you are lucky you do not have parental responsibilities!!Just take your Joey and up onto the ...dry belt!! Magical belt , indeed!

28 Sep '07 1:22 pm

Dear Gordon, thank you for posting those beautiful shots of your trip to the interior. I do love visiting mountains, but I don't know if I would want to live among them in winter. Too much snow and ice for my old southern bones. The wildflower photos were very nice and I love that you included lichens and mushrooms. They have a special beauty to them. Glad you made it home safely and hope you are well rested now.

28 Sep '07 7:04 pm

Hi, everyone!

Thanks, Faith and Liza, for your comments about the last set of pictures. Liza, I think you understood me very well about "knowing" where one needs to live!

Tonight's pictures start at a large lake called Seton Lake, which has a large hydro-power station on it. This is located just west of the town ot Lillooet, which is a farming, forestry and mining town in the dry belt beside the Fraser River, B.C.'s longest river. A lot of the world's jade comes from this area, as well as much ginseng, which is grown with irrigation under huge mesh tents to shade it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to photograph any of these farms as the harvesting has been completed for this year, so there was nothing to see.

We then jump to the city of Kelowna, in the dry Okanagan Valley, since the battery on my camera died overnight in Lillooet, so I couldn't take any pics until I got to Kelowna where I could recharge it (and buy a spare battery so that wouldn't happen again!). Too bad, because on my second day out, the sun broke through the clouds and there were many wonderful shots that I missed. Oh, well, I managed to get some of them on the return trip!

Kelowna is the centre of British Columbia's wine country, since it has a climate conducive to growing good grapes. It used to be known as a rich fruit-growing region, but now many fruit trees are being dug up and replaced with grape vines, since they make more money for the farmers. The first few pictures show one of the many vineyards, as well as an orchard that now doubles as a golf course. There is a picture or two of a mountain called "Layercake Mountain" because of the horizontal rock layers showing on its sides, as well as one showing one of the many "monster" houses being built higher and higher up the mountainsides.

There's a picture of me and Joey (now you'll all see what an old guy I really am!! Very Happy

) and then one of a mushroom that I found.

28 Sep '07 7:23 pm

Gordon, so nice to see you & Joey.I love the pic of Joey rolling and that Mushroom. Incredible looks like coral.Ive never seen anything like that before.
Thanks for sharing.

28 Sep '07 8:07 pm

Hi, Goose!

When I first saw that mushroom from a distance, my mouth began drooling, as I thought that it was a cauliflower mushroom, which grow in the forests here on Vancouver Island. They are a very choice, edible mushroom that have a crunch when you eat them, unlike other mushrooms. They are my favourites and can grow up to 30 pounds in weight!

However, on closer examination, I discovered that it was not a cauliflower, but a coral mushroom! I think that some of them are edible, but most are not, so I left it where it was and just took its picture.

I've been wondering for a long time now - do mushrooms grow in the wild in Australia? I've never heard about any Australian ones, but if they do grow there, are any of them edible?

Cheers!

gordonf

29 Sep '07 1:34 am

Gordon, the additional pictures are fantastic. This looks a lot like the California wine country. I imagine the climate must be fairly benign year round, so I now "get" the attraction for living in this region. The mountains are so beautiful, and that lake with its brilliant blue waters. The photo of you and Joey is great too, although poor Joey just really doesn't like his picture taken does he? He looks so pitiful. Poor baby. I have the same problem with my Willie, although he just immediately walks away if he sees me pointing the camera his way.

29 Sep '07 2:10 am

Gordon, I haven't had a chance yet to read all your news, but I've had a look through your photos and it looks wonderful! Great to put a face to a name aswell, with your photo of you and Joey (amazing scenery behind you in that one too!).

I've printed the thread off and will read it over the weekend (along with Jack's recent posts) - looks like there's not going to be much actual gardening time over the weekend as the forecast is for rain, rain, rain!! Hee hee - I asked Faith to send some over and look what happened!! Rolling Eyes

29 Sep '07 8:36 am

I had a chuckle at your last comment in the latest photo post Gordon...
You know, I believe one is really only as old as one sounds, forget about 'as young as one feels'. I often feel like I'm 90 after a day of weed ripping! Very Happy

Ah but, when one talks you can hear the life and youth in the voice... thats where you will hear the exuberance of the mind, which is where it all starts Wink

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all your fabulous pix, especially you and Joey!
Your photos are quite lovely and a lot of the scenery reminds me of our awesome South Island, breath-taking!
I always find it so hard to capture the feel of jaw-dropping mountains and lakes.

This is one beautiful part of the globe I would love to see one day and figure by saving madly, may make it in 10 years time! Ha! Sounds hopeful, that of course means I would have to stop visiting the plant nurseries...

I hope you get to revisit and experience your new found community, it sounds special Cool

29 Sep '07 4:03 pm

Many thanks to all of you who responded so favourably to my last post of pictures! And, Faith, the climate IS quite benign in the Okanagan Valley, although they do get snow in winter and it does get to below zero on the Celcius scale. It has to be below -12 degrees (I think) for a week or so before they can harvest the frozen grapes used to make "Ice Wine", for which the fruit is pressed while frozen to give a distinctive, sweet dessert wine. Climatologists say that with global warming, this area could well replace California's Sonoma Valley as it becomes too hot there for the grape vines to do well!

My pictures tonight will focus on the REALLY dry belt, along the valleys of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers. The Thompson Valley is my favourite, with one main highway and several side roads going through it, and a few small towns that date from the early settlement and gold rush days in the mid-1800s. The town of Ashcroft is one of the main places in this part of the Thompson Valley, while Lillooet is the main place on this part of the Fraser Valley.

Here goes:

29 Sep '07 11:17 pm

Dear Gordon, all these photos -- beautiful landscapes and bloomers -- are SO exceptional for me, the non-Canadian! And the photo with you and Joey is lovely!The latest photos, of the Real Dry belt , remind me of some places I've seen in Greece up onto the mountains, where there are not any trees growing, and even up onto the Swiss Alps, near the bottom of the glaciers ! Do you think, that all these places were always tree-less, or they have been like this out of infertile and not enough soil, or fire destruction?

I forgot to tell you before, how I was captivated by the Saton Lake captures!! That water colour is so blue!! Again, I have experienced similar unforgettable lake spectacles up onto the French/Austrian/Swiss Alps! Certain of them, when found not so high up, surrounded by forests, serve for Summer vacations!

Over the Mountains to the Interior

Coyote!

Wonderful mountain scenes

More Pics

Great Pics

Mushrooms

More great pictures

Many Thanks to You All!

Thank you so!