Trail, home of 'Fluff n Stuff' and The Colander!

Here is Donna with Aunt Dora outside her church, the Family Worship Centre, Trail, BC. Below is a picture of the street the church is on. You can just make out on the photo (if you zoom in) that the church is right across the street from Fluff n Stuff: Adult Boutique!

It brings to mind the childrens hymn we sang at first school:

"Cross over the road my friend, ask the Lord his help to lend..."

Indeed. Your own jokes in the comments please...

We stopped here overnight to visit with Bob and Dora, Donna's aunt and uncle and we ate, ate, ate. It started at the infamous Colander. Here they just serve you spaghetti, meatballs, chicken and potatoes till you can't reach the table because your gut has pushed it further away during expansion. I have to admit though, it's great food!

Comments Anyone?

I'm taking off the private message function at the bottom of the page.

Instead, at the end of each post there is a link which is unhelpfully titled "0 comments" which then incrementally increases with each comment left.

Just click on the link and leave your message in the box, for all to see, including Wes and Donna. This way, it's just easier to respond to specific posts (and correct me for being an ignorant Brit).

Happy commenting!

Cranbrook to Trail

A turn-of-the-century mill grain elevator in Creston, which is pretty cool. I wonder if Canada has laws like England that list protected buildings? A country as large as Canada would probably be able to do it and still look good, in contrast to England, with lots of small crappy buildings and crappy streets which have trouble accommodating 21st century transport and housing development.

Below is a stream that runs parallel to Highway 3. I have no idea where it was we stopped. But I just had to get a shot. Raw, natural beauty.

Wild mountain goats we ran into on the Skyway between Creston and Trail. I think the largest free roaming animal we have in England is a badger or a fox (we do have boar apparently but they are rarely spotted). You would never see goats mountain sheep, moose or bears roaming wild around the English countryside, so to see it is breathtaking.

And they just don't care, they don't run away, they just ignore you as you drive on up, pull out your camera and start taking shots. I actually have these guys on video so when I work out how to edit it on the puter, I'll upload for all to see.

Edit (16/5/07): Doh! Elsie wrote to correct me:
"Sorry Wes More editing ! Donna is not doing her job. The buildings in Creston are not mills, but grain elevators. The pictured animals are not goats but Rocky mountain sheep. We do often see goats on that route, but those were sheep."

Editorial Correction

Mike Moskal from Cranbrook writes...

Hi Wes, hey one super important thingy that you have to fix on the website.

Erik is with a K not a C. <- that was from Erik.

Cya

Mike and Erik

Wes says...

But does he want it to be a C? that's the question, because, here's a chance to be known as Eric with a 'C' ! Just think about it... that's all I ask...

My apologies to Erik- the site has been updated but really.. you should be blaming my editor- your Aunt! I mean, I've been in this family, what, like 4 months, she's been there all along and she didn't even think to correct me?!

What kind of a family have I married into?? Where you like to play tricks on people so they get your name wrong huh?

Seriously though, sorry Erik!

Bringing Us To You

Ok, I know some of you just want to see photo's of the wedding. I know because you've been emailing for them. They are coming, so relax and enjoy the journey.

We have experienced a bunch of setbacks since we got married. We spent the first 2 months of married life apart because of British Immigration refused to let Donna into the country. After that we found we couldn't celebrate in England as we planned, because most of our money has gone on the costs of moving to England, paying London prices for a one bedroom flat and settling. We haven't seen friends in Bedworth for 4 months. We hear from Canada more than England.

So we still want to do our celebration/reception in England. If we can finally get settled in the church we have begun to attend, and find cheaper accommodation, we plan to do a reception for the English people for our 1 year anniversary. Invitations will be sent out.

Check this: To make it easier to keep up with this blog, find this icon on the sidebar and click on it to subscribe to the Atom feed:

If you use a feedreader you can then see any updates as they come instead of loading the webpage. If you've never heard of Atom or feeds, there is a great video tutorial from The Wrong Advices: An Introduction to RSS In Plain English.

Pumpkins

We stopped off in this small town called Creston(?) on the way to Vancouver. Elsie was having a meltdown because the car was having trouble starting. She'd just spent $1000 (£~500) on a new transmission on her van. Turns out they had left the battery cables loose is all.

This is the biggest pumpkin I have ever seen. I think there was a competition to guess the weight and you could win it. I think the competition should have been eat it in one sitting and you don't have to pay for it.

Ha, check out that witch, Canadians have a terrific sense of humour.

Photo's on Facebook

Saying Goodbye To The Nephews

From the left: Ryan, Kyle and Erik.

Ryan and Kyle weren't smiling, I think they we're sad to see us leave, they were holding back the tears. I must have had such an affect on them. It's ok guys, you'll see us again soon.

More Hidden Cranbrook History

Here's Donna standing on the wrong side of the bridge that leads from Cranbrook to Kimberley.

Donnas Dad helped build this bridge, she showed me his initials (AM) in the cement overlooking the beautiful valley.

Photo's on Facebook

Crows Nest Pass

A large crow guards the entrance to Crows Nest Pass.

On the right, a picture of us standing outside the smallest chapel in the world(?). I had the camera on a flash with slow shutter since it was getting dark but we moved before it had finished capturing. Looks kind of spooky.

Tony (Anton) Moskal Ranch

Donna writes:

I brought Wes to this place on one of our last nights in Cranbrook. No trip to this area was complete without seeing the farm that my Dad built and which was the last place where he had lived. I felt it was a way that I could introduce Wes to my Father because it still bears witness to the perfectionist that he was as well as showing Wes a little of how I grew up on "the farm".

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the house that he built but we viewed it from a distance as we drove onto the property turning around at the lower barn area. We sat down at the old out buildings for a bit while I rattled on about the place and all the memories it held.

As we were leaving I asked Wes to stop and take a picture of me at the gates to the property. I was overcome with sadness standing there. The gates were still unfinished and looked exactly as they looked so many years ago. I felt they represented my father in a way. He too was taken from us far too young and left us... unfinished.

I don't know if the present owners ever intend to finish these gates but part of me doesn't want to know. For me they will always remain like this, waiting to be finished, wondering what they would've looked like if they had the chance... just like my Dad.