Maureen Bush

Are We In Narnia?

An early hike after an overnight snowfall (Fenlands Trail near Banff).

Maureen

Snow In The Rockies

We drove to Banff to hike and have lunch out (at Coyotes, our favorite). The mountains were stunning, deep in white with every angle emphasized by snow. We watched light play across the mountains, as clouds and mist settled low and then cleared. The snow vanished as we drove home in what seemed more like a September scene, the foothills golden and the clear blue sky huge above us.

Maureen

Our Quiet House

After all our chaos, this has been a remarkably quiet week. My husband and older daughter are in Ontario, getting her settled for university in Ottawa (they flew to Toronto first to watch a Blue Jays game.) My younger daughter and I are rattling around the house, which suddenly feels much larger.

We’re putzing slowly, as she waits for university to start next week, and I get settled back into my large project that’s been pushed aside by editing and renos and packing and…. well, all that summer chaos. I’m starting by thinking about the things in the story that have been nagging me, that I know I need to pay more attention to. I’m sorting through notes, working out details for my story world, organizing myself so it’ll be easy to integrate these details into the manuscript.

I’ll be working on this story in Banff, in another week, so my goal until then is to organize all my bits and notes and nags, so I’ll be ready to launch into writing again.

Maureen

Banff Springs Snail

The Calgary Herald published an article on the endangered Banff Springs snail, which I wrote about in Crow Boy. Here’s a video clip, including some great pictures of the snails and the Banff Springs cave.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/videos/index.html?v=1850683080

Maureen

Storm Mountain

We spent two nights at Storm Mountain Lodge, near Castle Mountain, in Banff National Park. Sunday night – a huge thunderstorm, rain hammering the metal cabin roof. We heard about a huge grizzly wandering through that morning, scattering the cleaning staff. Dinner was amazing, buffalo tenderloin and a great wine.

At breakfast, we overheard the waitress advising a couple about her favorite all-day hike. “Do you have bear spray?” she asked. They didn’t, so she replied, “We have some. I’ll lend it to you for the day.” The question used to be, “Do you have bear bells?” Now they’re considered dinner bells.

We saw all the traditional sights – hikers standing behind their cars changing into or out of hiking boots, everyone layering up in all their clothes and still shivering, hikers huddled around wood fires indoors as the rain poured down, a few flakes of snow in the air, fresh snow on the ground at higher elevations.

From the front of Storm Mountain Lodge we could see Castle Mountain to the north, in the Bow Valley, right down to the Rockwall to the south, on the road to Radium. This is the range of my third Veil of Magic story. I wish I’d brought the manuscript to read while I was up there.

We climbed up Marble Canyon in a dry interlude. It’s not a tremendous achievement unless you’re three, or have exercise-indused asthma, as I do. It felt great to make it to the top.

The hike is more beautiful every time I go up. The canyon itself is fascinating, but it’s the burn I love. A forest fire killed almost all the trees within view, leaving standing dead trunks in a surreal sculpture in black and white, and an astounding view – high mountains in three directions. Pre-fire you couldn’t see anything beyond the dense forest. Below the dead trunks new growth is springing up, lush and green and bursting with energy.

I wasn’t so pleased to have made it to the top by the time I was half way down. Lack of oxygen to the major muscles in my legs turned me into a raggedy doll, struggling to keep my knees steady on the down hill. Two days later I’m still a little staggery. No, I haven’t been drinking! But I am very happy.

Maureen