October 2019

I don’t think it matters where you are in Canada, but Fall is a beautiful season.  Here in the Okanagan, you don’t get the same in-your-face colours as you do in Ontario, but there are still a lot of photo-worthy landscapes.

As you might expect, generally colours in our part of the country are the more muted greens and browns associated with aridity.

A calm day on Lake Osoyoos can lead to this relaxing scene.

There can be more arresting pictures when you get precipitation on the heights. We have had snow on the mountaintops that has endured through the month.  This is Mount Baldy, our local ski hill about 45 minutes from our place.  Although this picture only hints at the future, the larches turn bright gold against the greens of the Yellow Pines and Douglas Fir, providing striking views.

You sometimes will get a little red (especially if someone plants a variety of maple) but even more interesting is the variation of colours in the orchards which turn out to be showpieces in themselves.

On October 6, we decided to take an hour’s drive east to Greenwood, on the Crowsnest Highway which is practically at our door.  Greenwood was a mining town that was huge in the early 1900’s with a large pit mine delivering silver and copper.  The mine is no longer operating but it had a huge impact at its time.  The town highlighted that mining history with a good museum, local sculptures featuring mining activities, interesting dining establishments (like the Mine Shaft Café—very good!) and a walking tour highlighting some of the important buildings in town.

The City Hall was at one time a very luxurious home, while across the street the Fire Department is housed in a typical wooden building of the time. 

The names of the streets are interesting and apparently there is very good water at Greenwood (so they say!)

One of the most poignant attractions was a park featuring Japanese-Canadian friendship.  Apparently, Greenwood was chosen as an internment camp for the BC Japanese during WWII.  Unlike some communities, Greenwood welcomed the Japanese, put them to work wherever possible, and generally gave them respect not necessarily found elsewhere.  Although many Japanese returned to their original locations at the end of the war, a significant number stayed in Greenwood and continued to be contributing citizens.  This park is a reflection of that spirit.

On the Thanksgiving weekend, we flew out to central Ontario to see a special ceremony for his brother, who had been appointed President/Principle of King’s College in London, an affiliate of Western University.  I didn’t take enough pictures of the ceremony, which was held in a large beautiful chapel nearby.  (King’s College is a Catholic college; while Dave is not Catholic he was hired because of his expertise in philosophy as well as his huge contributions in his position at the University of Regina.)  To my amusement, the induction process is called an “Installation” which makes me think of an assembly plant process.  Not in any way, shape or form!  

The formal ceremony, held in the chapel, featured a string quartet, a wonderful choir and a soloist as well as various clergy decked out in clerical splendor.  Even more striking were the robes of the various scholars from different academic institutions who presented Dave with certificates of acknowledgement.  (This is really where I missed the boat…)  The robes of many colours were only surpassed by the hats, many of which resembled large squashed pancakes perched on top of the head with a large silver or gold tassel hanging off the side.  (I talked to one woman afterwards who said these robes often cost $1500 to $2000.)  No signs of poverty here!

One of the nicest parts of the event was that all four Malloy siblings were together at one time, which hasn’t happened for many years.  My photography skills were nowhere to be seen—when I finally chose a picture that didn’t have terribly weird expressions on at least one face, I merely put a large lamp behind Brian’s head.

Another nice event was having many of us together for brunch before the ceremony.  On the front right of the picture you can see Dave, Val (his wife) and Bronwen, one of their girls.  On the left are Brigid (second girl) and Gaelen behind (one of two sons (the other was in Mongolia I believe and couldn’t get out easily.).  Various outlaws and spouses lurk behind.

On the way back, we saw my oldest brother Jim, who came out to the Edmonton airport when we had a couple of hours waiting for our flight back to Kelowna.

As enjoyable as this was, we did almost 2000 km of driving that week, from Toronto to Port Dover (sister Barb) to London for the ceremony (Dave) and then to Ottawa to briefly see his mom (Mary, who will turn 100 in early February).  With 5 beds in 7 days and 3 hours of jetlag, this is less appealing to us old farts, and we have vowed not to do any more of this nonsense for a while!

Brian’s oncologist has decided to stop all treatment because he was suffering a rare reaction to it that affected his glands in nasty ways.  The fatigue and lack of appetite that plagued him in Wales are still major setbacks to overcome.  My mission in the next few months is to try to get him back into a “Chubby Chicken” status as soon as possible.  Well-rested Chubby Chicken.

Thanks for checking in, and hopefully November will be a fascinating month for all of us!!