COME HELL OR HIGH RIVER

Well no, I didn't make up that title. It's the slogan on the fundraiser t-shirt I bought today in High River, Alberta. I'm here, staying in Calgary but working by day in High River, with a great volunteer team from BC Disaster Psychosocial Services to assist with emotional support of flood survivors and field workers.

High River was not the only Alberta town devastated by the huge floods nearly a month ago, but it is definitely one of the hardest hit, if not the hardest hit, of the affected towns. It is a privilege for our team to be asked to come here to assist and it is the first time that DPS has deployed outside of BC. There are no words to adequately describe what is happening here. And of course this is not a usual travel blog. But I will try to give you a quick picture.

Picture a small rural town situated along a picturesque river. Friendly people, lovely scenery, blue skies and field after field of golden canola crops.

Now picture entering that same town and seeing lovely homes with people just living their lives. At least some homes and some people . And nearby there are homes almost lying on their sides, mud up the walls, windows broken, basements full of mud and sewage. Big industrial machines are everywhere washing streets, pushing away mud, clearing mud piles where there was once a family garden, and driving Bobcats into car ports to clear out the sludge. And then there are the big trucks loaded with flood-destroyed home appliances, motorcycles, cars, and other debris.
And there are people everywhere digging , clearing, throwing out, sweating, helping each other, often resilient and cracking bad jokes, often angry, sad, frustrated and devastated. And all is decorated by pungent smelling dried dust from the mud and raw sewage, And hidden in the air are the invisible hazards of mould, bacteria and other spores. Town services are stretched to their Limit. People live in motels, trailers, and any accommodation they can find.

Now picture the helpers. Neighbours, Salvation Army, Mormons, Hutterites, Mennonites, Red Cross, our own DPS, firefighters, RCMP, McDonalds coffee van, health inspectors, environmental services, Mission Possible (Google these amazing people), and ordinary people of all ages from all over.

That is the picture in High River. And I am so privileged to be given the chance to be here and to help support the emotional needs of this community. And I am blessed. I get to go home to my intact house with all my treasured photos and family memorabilia. My pets are alive and well. My car has not disappeared into a river of mud.

I am grateful. If you are grateful also for all that you have please go online or call the Canadian Red Cross and donate to the Alberta Flood Appeal.

And just a footnote - my photos do not include any people. After what has happened here I cannot invade anyone's privacy just for the sake of this blog.

GETTING READY FOR MY 2014 ADVENTURE

I am so very excited to be journeying to Antarctica next year for two weeks.

I will be travelling with Quark Expeditions and getting to tick off another destination from my "bucket list". We will see so much amazing sea life, explore ashore almost every day, and take in spectacular scenery. And not only that, but we will actually know what we are experiencing thanks to Quark's 'experts in residence' who will educate us and guide us. This is all so exciting that I just couldn't wait until next year to share it. The photos above are from Quark's website.

Experts-in-Residence traveling with Quark the 2014 season are:

·         Jonathan Shackleton  

·         Falcon Scott

Both of the above are descendents of the famed Antarctic explorers Shackleton and Scott.

·         Patricia Schultz, author of "1000 Places to See Before You Die"

·         Dr. Tom Hart, Penguinologist

·         Sue Flood, Photographer

WILDLIFE IN THE CITY - A SHORT JOURNEY TO MY OWN NATURE PARK

I don't like zoos. I never visit them. I love to see wildlife and I do this by travelling to where they are and seeing them in their own environment. Living in the centre of the city I am in an environment where wildlife is rather scarce. However, I have no lawn at my home. I have planted my yard with dense shrubs and trees in order to make it a hospitable ecosystem for birds and anything else that cares to visit. I have no bird feeders but I always have birds. And then there are squirrels, racoons, skunks and the rare coyote that travels down from the park. I love having all this nature around me and all I have to do is to travel outside my door. Of course occasionally my friendly environment backfires on me and I have to live with the consequences.
I have a guest. A very cute, furry guest about the size of a 3-month old kitten. In fact it is a kitten - a racoon kitten. He/She is living under my deck and I didn't even know he was there until today. I came home to a raucus noise that only a demanding baby could make. At first I felt sorry for him but now I'm feeling sorry for momma. They usually have multiple births but momma has just this one kitten. I'm sure the others had a sad end - possibly that visiting coyote. And the baby, like all little ones, just can't do what he is told. I watched as poor momma rounded baby up from the next door neighbour's back yard. Baby would not follow so poor momma had to chomp him at the neck and carry him up and over a tall fence and back to under my deck. Then a few minutes later momma was trying to coax the little one out of the shrubs in my front yard. She finally succeeded and last I saw they were both settled back under the deck. Now normally I would call pest control and have them relocated. But this is only one baby and as soon as he moves out of his birth home I will be totally emptying everything from under the deck and it will not be a secluded, comfy place next year for momma to use as a birthing room and nursery. The last time this happened there were five babies and they were very tiny. Disturbance from the pest control guy caused mom to relocate them in the neighbourhood and I watched their furry little butts trundle through my side yard daily with mom until they were totally grown. That's wildlife in the city. Now I wonder where my resident skunk is this year?

A SUMMER EVENING

Sometimes we don't need to go very far to feel like we are on holiday. Just relaxing in a local park on a warm evening is enough to make our world bright. It's even better if you can relax with a friend like Kiko sitting beside you. I will never underestimate the power of the company of a furry friend and a summer evening.