France - Les Bourdas

If you want a truly relaxing, delicious, picturesque and entirely French vacation Les Bourdas is the perfect destination. Majestically situated overlooking a bucolic valley, this charming house with a very well-appointed guest house, is the product of many years of renovation and good taste by our friend Alison Bridger. After 3 days of planes, trains and automobiles, (not to mention a taxi and a funiculaire), we arrived in the dark, exhausted at Les Bourdas around midnight. We were delighted with the house, but too tired to really absorb anything. The four of us, my wife and our two boys collapsed into bed for 12 hours of sleep. At noon the next day, I woke up, swung my legs out of bed and opened the windows and the shutters to gaze out at this scene.The accomodation at Les Bourdas was lovely. Beautifully modernized, yet retaining an antique and rustic charm it was really the perfect home for our time in this region of France. We spent two fabulous weeks of exploring the Southwest of France. Les Bourdas is situated in the northern reaches of the Haute Pyrennees region. CLose to the mounains and only and hour and a half to Biarritz on the Atlantic coast, it was a great spot for day trips. I think we most enjoyed taking the short journeys to the local villages for market day.
At the market we would be the local cheese, perhaps a fabulous chevre, a pheasant and cognac sausage, a pain de campagne. Anyway the food was unbelievably good. It is amazing the difference between the industrial approach to foof production that we favour in North America versus the artisanal approach in France. If you are interested contact:

TERRACARTA, Landscape Design
Alison Bridger, 604 294 4864
abridger@shaw.ca

France - The Sud-Ouest

I have just returned from 3 weeks in France with my family. This was my first trip to France and only my 2nd visit ever to Europe. The last time being in 1971! It was our first major overseas family vacation. Our journey began with a flight from Vancouver to Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris and an overnight stay in the Montparnassse district of that great city. This part of the trip was a bit of a blur since we spent only a few hours in Paris the afternoon of our arrival before tucking in for the night into our tiny but clean and well-appointed Hotel Mercure on Boulevard Raspail. The next morning we walked to the Gare Montparnasse to take the TGV (the French bullet train)to Pau, the capital of the Haute Pyrenee region we would be exploring. From Pau we rented a car and drove 45 minutes to the northeast to our destination, Les Bourdas in the village of Vidouze. We spent the first 2 weeks in a beautiful home in the Southwest of France. Les Bourdas is owned by our friend and neighbour here in Burnaby, Alison Bridger. Alison and her family have spent the last 4 or 5 years renovating an old country house with an accompanying guest house (called a Gite in France). She has done a wonderful job, creating a sense of tradition with style and all the mod-cons. More on that later. This region in which it is situated is bordering several areas comprised of the Midi-Pyreneees, the Haute Pyrenees, the Pyrenees Atlantique, and the Gers. It is a marvelous tapestry of rolling hills and valleys, turning into the snow-capped Pyrennes to the south, the Atlantic seaside resort of Biarritz to the west and the Armagnac region to the north and more rollimg hills to the east. It is very rural, in fact what struck me about France is what a great agricultural nation it is. From Paris south, there is vast agricultural development. What we found most outstanding about the Southwest was the food. The cuisine of this region is simple and the secret is quality. We went to many of the small incredibly picteresque towns near Les Bourdas on market day to buy cheese, sausage, produce and duck directly from the producers. Of course as throughout France, the Boulangerie and Patisseries create deicious bread and pastry. Our days focused around finding food, preparing food and eating food. And the food was fantastic.

Cedar Waxwings Take up Residence

A flock of Cedar Waxwings arrived a few days ago to dine out on the abundant holly berries in the backyard. I counted about 30 birds this evening as they roosted in the pine tree while they rested from gorging on the red berries. A week ago the holly tree was festooned with thousands of crimson berries. Now it has been stripped bare, so I suspect that they will move on. It's been a treat to see them, they are remarkably beautiful birds with the silkiest plumage imaginable.

A Trip to Alberta

I spent last weekend visiting family in Edmonton, Alberta - my hometown. As per usual, I trekked down to the river valley in search of rocks and despite the river being very high, was able to find some cool stones. No dinosaur bone this time because the area where I usually find it was under water. The weather was mild, cloudy with sunny periods and alternating between warm and cool. The area I like to explore is a big bend in the river with a cut bank on the far shore. When I started going there 20 years ago, I was usually pretty much alone except for the occaisional dog and its owner..
Now it is replete with mountain bikers, dogs galore and scads of people. Being selfish, I liked it better when there was no one there. However, it's still a great place to go for a walk, very level and easy hiking and very pleasant country. It lacks the majestic drama of British Columbia, but the beauty is there in a gentle way. I came across a drama in miniature as some red ants had captured an emerging damsel fly. This life and death struggle was taking place among the detritus of the river bank, unseen by the cast of thousands except for one who was peering intently at the rocks and stumbled upon it.

Run, Do Not Walk to Vandusen Gardens

You will rarely see anything as breathtaking or as beautiful as the current display at the Vandusen Botanical Gardens. Located between Oak St. and Granville St, with access from 37th Ave, this is one of Vancouver's great treasures. Right now there are two displays that are worth dropping whatever you are doing, and run, do not walk to see the Laburnum walk (pictured on the left) and the Azaleas now in their full glory. The azaleas in particular present an overwhelming assault of beauty on the senses. The colours, the scent, the sheer extravagence of this display is so intense as to be hallucinatory!
Short of tripping on peyote with a shaman diguised as a runaway dog, this is as close as you'll ever get to a true psychedelic experience. So take my advice and run, don't walk to Vandusen Botanical Gardens in the next 5 days, because something as beautiful as this, cannot last. Admission to the Garden is $8.50 for adults. With a display like this, it will be the best $8.50 you ever spent. Ask the staff about the secret pathway through the azaleas, once you are in that Secret Garden, you'll feel like you've walked through the looking glass and stepped into a world of overwhelming beauty.

Great Mystery Gemstone Caper Clue # 3

This is for all the gem sleuths who are trying to figure out the Great Mystery Gemstone Caper. The third clue is geographical. The mystery gem was named after a river in central Oregon which provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many of the tributaries that descend from the eastern, drier flank of the mountains. It provided a major route to and from the Columbia for Native Americans and later pioneers on the Oregon Trail. It flows mostly through rugged and arid country, and its valley provides a cultural heart for central Oregon. Today the river provides irrigation and is a popular in the summer for whitewater rafting and fishing. In the early 1800s, French fur traders plied these waters and named it - the "river of falls." If you have stumbled across this entry and are curious about where it comes from, check out: http://www.rareandprecious.com/

Bonefishing - The Most Fun You Can Have with Your Pants On

So here is a picture of me in 2004 fishing for bonefish in Ascencion Bay, Mexico. I have to admit, I do not look cool in this picture. That is not a kilt I'm wearing but a very baggy pair of shorts that were in style about 15 years ago. A kilt would have been cool. The hat's OK, but those skinny white legs poking out from the baggy shorts is very dorky! Oh, well. My mahogony coloured guide was a Mayan named Carlos and he was trying to point out the 'nervous water'. I couldn't figure out what the hell he was talking about for the first 3 days. Notice the clouds in the background. Bonefish are very hard to see under the best of conditions and the best of conditions include bright sunny skies and light winds. The sun illuminates the white sand below and you are able to see the shadows of the ghostly schools of silver/white bonefish as they maraud for the crabs hiding in the sand. When it's cloudy like this, all you see is the surface and being somewhat windy, the surface is all chopped up with waves.We spent a lot of time looking around for the elusive bonefish. Ocassionally, we would get out of the panga and wade. That's what my friend Karl is doing in the 2nd picture. Karl always looks cool! Eventually, after about 3 days, we started to be able to see the fish. You could sometimes see their tails as the nose around in shallow waters. The 'nervous water' the guides kept talking about was the faint v-shaped ripples on the surface created by one or several fish as they cruised just beneath the surface. Finally, on Day 3, the sun came out , the wind died down and a school of bonefish were moving in the direction of my panga. I laid out a perfect cast, about 5 feet in front of the lead fish and he took it! then I found out what catching a bonefish was all about. A screaming run which takes out all of your line to the backing. You fight the fish back in and it takes another heart-pounding run. It is a lot of fun. One you land it, you might have someone take a photo, just to prove that you went 3 thousand miles and spent 3 days flailing away but you did catch a bonefish. Then you want to do it again. That is a genuine bonefish smile right there.