hewers of wood

my trip to cranbrook was AMAZING and filled with side trips to kimberley (thurs) and fernie (friday). which is good since it took about 9 hours to get there. sure, the calgary airport is nice, but i would have prefered to spend less time there than i did.

i have to say up front, though, that the happiness of the trip is muted and muffled by the sadness of the fact that when i came home last night, i found out that my grandad died on friday night. and now i am numb and struggling to express all of the wonder i felt when i was away.

so here's the short version - i'm sure there's more in my head, but that's been erased or at least painted over by grief.

* industry - again, the resource economy is nuts and out in the kootenays, there is the lumber industry and the mines. sure those rockies are beautiful, but people are still working so hard to get by. one of the women i worked with is essentially a single mom since her husband works 4 days on, 4 days off, and yet, if he works overtime, which happens often, he's only home for a day and a half.
* speaking of industry - the interplay of nature and man is pretty evident. (i.e. huge mills set against the backdrop of the rockies)
* i'm not surprised too that these folks sometimes identify more with alberta since the landscape is pretty much the alberta flag (plus cows in the field).

that's all i've got right now, which is more than i thought i would have, frankly. i'm going to post the photos and then i'm off to ontario for the week.

love to all.
j. xoxox