It’s definitely spring here. We returned to our VRBO in Maple Ridge at the end of April to nine straight days of rain, living up to the Vancouver area’s grey and wet weather reputation.

---

Fortunately, we had a few things to do indoors, besides just lots and lots of reading, and working on a couple of jigsaw puzzles. Staying put for a while means grocery shopping (ordered online and delivered to our door), cooking healthy meals to help both of us lose the extra 5 pounds we’ve each gained on 2 long cruises (40 days on ships already this year), and doing laundry, but I also wanted to do some further suitcase culling.

I haven’t broken myself of my lifelong passion for new clothes (the biggest hazard of being “home” for a month or more is that I can so easily online shop), but now buying a new item means getting rid of a piece that I already own, since we’re definitely not buying more suitcases. It’s a one-in-one-out process. I had bought a few new things for our just completed transatlantic cruise, and just picked up a couple of ankle-length sundresses for our upcoming trip to Italy, so it’s time to get rid of several pairs of too-tight pants, some too-short dresses, tee shirts that have seen better days but won’t be seeing any more, and the formal wear I’ve hung onto thinking I “might” use it for New Year’s Eve parties on cruises. It doesn’t make sense to keep things I’ll only wear once per year. Similarly, if I haven’t worn it in 2 full years it’s time to make it available for someone else to use. There are a number of local charity shops that will be happy to get clean good quality items, and recycling programs for things too worn to pass along but which can be recycled into rags (did you never wonder where those big bags of “industrial” rags available in hardware stores and automotive shops came from?).

So goodbye lovely green Italian-made blazer purchased for £8 from a posh thrift store in Greenwich to wear to Cabaret in 2022 and never worn again. In hindsight, I should simply have donated it right back after wearing it.

Now that Ted has invested in merino wool tops, we can also donate his bulkier pullovers and cardigans; they take up a lot of packing room despite providing less actual warmth and being harder to launder on the road than his merinos.

With chores done, and the rain finally abated, it was time to enjoy the glorious BC nature that surrounds us. This is the kind of beauty that greets us every day when we walk around our neighbourhood:

---

---

Just a 10 minute stroll away is a fish fence on Kanaka Creek. The creek itself is a tributary of the Fraser River, with its source in the Coast Mountains. It is incredibly twisty, sometimes almost crossing over itself in huge loops, creating gorgeous green islands along its route.

---

The fish fence only operates in the fall when the salmon are spawning. In effect, all but one “lane” of the river is “fenced” off with grating too small for the fish to pass through, so they’re all forced to one side through a designated channel. It’s a way of counting salmon populations, as well as a way to capture some of them so they’ll spawn in local hatcheries instead of the river. Hatcheries then release the salmon fry back into the river when they’re large enough to have a better chance of survival, thus helping preserve wild salmon populations. The rest of the year, the fish fence area is just a pretty part of Kanaka Creek Regional Park, with some particularly nice murals.

---

Being back in BC for a few weeks meant being able to get my annual bloodwork done to check my thyroid hormone levels.

In British Columbia, as in much of Canada, there is a shortage of family doctors (“general practitioners”). It would be easy to blame that on our socialized medicare system which limits how much doctors can charge for their services, but there are other factors at play, including an aging population with more GPs retiring than graduating, and medical students leaning toward specialization as opposed to family practice. All of that is a preamble to the fact that I don’t go to see “our” doctor (something that’s hard to have anyway with our lifestyle, even if there were lots of GPs) but rather whoever is available in the local clinic. I’ve never had a bad experience in almost 14 years of getting my healthcare this way – and am fortunate to be pretty robustly healthy other than my thyroid – but this particular interaction was notable for how great it was. Dr. Bayly at our local walk-in clinic was personable, professional, and thorough. He took his time listening to my concerns, and ordered a battery of tests akin to an annual checkup in acknowledgment of the fact that I don’t have a family doctor. Of course, he prioritized my thyroid hormone test. Too bad he’s old enough to be retired and is only working part-time at the clinic because he really just loves his job.

Anyway, the bottom line was that all my tests came back within normal parameters. Good to go for another year!

---

Our youngest grandson turned 8 while we were here. He’s always been attracted to wild birds – he was one of those toddlers who chased and tried to catch wild ducks to play with every time we went to the lake! – so Ted found what we hoped would be the perfect birthday outing: a close-up discovery experience at Raptors Ridge Birds of Prey. We asked our grandson to choose a friend to come along for the raptor experience, followed by “birthday burgers” at Red Robin, an iconic west coast dine-in burger chain founded in Seattle Washington in 1969, and franchised in 1979. Although the chain has since spread to 44 U.S. states, the bulk of its locations are along the west coast, and in Canada it is currently only in British Columbia. Our grandson commented that we “had to” eat at Red Robin since it I’d told him it was his “birds-day” (coincidentally, the way my Dad used to pronounce birthday, since he couldn’t make the “th” sound).

---

Kim Kamstra, who has been running Raptors Ridge for decades, clearly enjoys working with his birds, whether they’re monitoring airports, keeping scavengers out of vineyards, chasing unwanted pigeons from worksites, or just showing off their skills to people like us. (You can see his video “Falcons for Hire” on their website.) He also clearly enjoys teaching people about these amazing birds: the peregrine falcon (fastest animal in the world), the owls (with their superpower of completely silent flight), the beautiful white gyrfalcon and snowy owl, and the masterful soaring hawks.

---

---

Avro, the peregrine falcon shown below, was named for the Canadian Avro Arrow jet. Commercial jets fly at between Mach 0.74 and Mach 0.85 (480 to 575 mph or 770 to 930 km/h). A peregrine falcon’s diving speed during flight can reach 240 mph/390 km/hr.

---

---

Chico, the barred owl, “talked” at us much of the time we visited him.

---

We learned about the difference between the wing shape of soaring hawks (wingtips reaching just to the end of their bodies) vs speeding falcons (wing tips that reach all the way to the end of their tail); got to feel the difference between hawk, falcon, and owl feathers; and felt the way each type of feather creates air currents. We couldn’t feel anything at all from the incredibly soft owl feather – demonstrating how adapted owls are to sneaking up on their prey!

---

On May 10th, geomagnetic storms sparked widespread auroras – the “Northern Lights” phenomenon – across Canada and parts of the U.S. While Ted and I didn’t see any from our place (looking north our view is obscured by 60-80ft tall trees), son #2 was able to capture some beautiful photos from his second floor deck just a few blocks away.

---

Mothers’ Day and Ted’s birthday also happen in May, so we had plenty of reasons to celebrate with our BC family. I even had time for lunch with my new-found cousin Susan! We’re still trying to find that elusive actual connection 5 generations back that links our DNA.

---

Ted’s mid-month ophthalmologist exam meant a 90 minute bus ride into Coquitlam, but came with the bonus of some of our favourite BC pizza, featuring a signature laminated crispy crust and TONS of meats! We get a kick out of the restaurant’s name, too, since Ted is actually an Edward and was always “Ed” to his school and work colleagues (only Ted to family until after retirement).

---

Between being dragged around with me to the doctor, the lab, and the hairdresser, repairing my favourite sandals, and his own eye exam to ensure his eye pressures were stable and not putting him at risk of glaucoma, Ted also had a project to work on: continuing to edit all our travel and nature photos. He’s got some really amazing software that allows him to further sharpen photos that are already pretty incredible. I’m always blown away by the things revealed by zooming in further on his high resolution pictures. The photos that go into this blog are much lower resolution in order to save media storage space, but you can get an idea of what Ted can do from these pictures taken on our day in the Azores. The top photo in each duo is what I’d normally use in the blog before Ted has a chance to look at them; the bottom one shows the kind of detail Ted can zoom in on, the way colours can be brightened up, and how things like a washed out sky can be “retrieved”. (All these photos are from our April day in Furnas on São Miguel Island in the Azores.)

---

---

---

My project is looking WAY ahead at 2025’s post-world cruise accommodation. We’re considering spending the entirety of the balance of 2025 (after the end of the cruise in May) in BC, interspersed with just a couple of short trips – one of which will be the late fall Nile cruise that we’ve already booked. That unusually long stay will allow me to work on some fairly complicated 7-month self-guided travel plans for 2026.

As we look at potential apartments, our biggest decision will be location: amenity-rich downtown Vancouver vs. a quieter setting like beachfront White Rock. Although neither would be particularly close to our kids (an hour’s drive either option), we’re not seeing any attractive rentals where we currently are in Maple Ridge (our current one will not be available next year), and we’re not sure we want to be this suburban again anyway.

---

As the month comes to a close, I’ll finish packing for our week in Italy. Once we’re back, there’ll be just a 3 week turnaround before we head into a busy July of travel within Canada, followed by the exciting process of researching and booking the excursions for our world cruise itinerary, which has been revised to bypass the conflict-ridden Middle East and instead go around Africa!!