saving a stamp
Jebs is busy writing postcards so I thought I’d be lazy and do one big one to you all - filling in a few gaps in what we have been up to so far …
You’ll be pleased to know vicars do go to church when on their hols - always feels a treat for Jebs & I to sit together. On Sundays so far we have worshipped at Anglican churches in Banff and Jasper, both worryingly small & elderly congregations but wonderfully friendly
Both times the Spirit was at work with fluorescent highlighter, making bits of the standard service leap out as often happens - so for example hymns I’ve sung a million times (and become bored by frankly) suddenly had words that were just spot on. In Banff this meant discovering Graham Kendrick had been reading my blog 30 years before I wrote it :
“As we gaze on your kingly brightness,
so our faces display your likeness,
ever changing from glory to glory,
mirrored here may our lives tell your story” …
And in Jasper how did they know just what we’d been doing all week?
“When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur :“
"Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee …”
“How great Thou art!”
After church last Sunday we discovered what to do when there’s freezing rain & electric storms in the Rockies - the answer is ditch Evensong (& robes in particular) and head for the nearest open air swimming pool …
Miette Springs are the hottest in Canada and as we basked in the steaming water (keeping shoulders well under from the rain) and gazed at the fir covered mountainside somehow there was childhood Christmas magic in the air, and a beautiful serenity descended
Strains of my sabbatical song (see opening post below) ran again through my head : “We have come to Mount Zion, city of the living God …”
Driving back afterwards in high winds & pelting rain we rounded a corner to suddenly meet the cutest black bear ever
He panicked in the road like a cornered squirrel, darting this way & that desperately trying to escape our headlights, before bounding back up into the forest with a hilarious loping gait
We think probably a juvenile, he was all ungainly like an overgrown puppy - with a beautiful thick fur coat that didn’t quite fit his body yet … just the perfect teddy bear encounter
Sadly no moose meetings yet though, but I’m always hopeful (they are my favourite and I have bought a fine moose t-shirt that Jebs says I’m only ever allowed to wear as a vest)
Nor indeed any sightings of cougar, wolf or grizzly either - all of whom can stay nicely hidden away in the forest, no problems there thank-you
We have however seen plenty more elk & caribou, of whom there are three roaming herds in the Rockies. You know where they are thanks to fellow motorists who all pull over & get cameras out at every opportunity.
This chap accompanied by his personal harem had clearly had enough of the paparazzi treatment, and after bellowing a couple of times, put his head down & sent us all scuttling for cover to our cars straight after this shot :
In Jasper we were staying at a motel called Marmot Lodge which turned out to be a most appropriate double-entendre, when we visited the beautiful Mailgne lake nearby …
… for there by the cafe was a quite literal “marmot lodge” - in the form of a bear-proof bin Jebs found had been colonised by this pesky little critter :
Finally, other recent causes of Bridgewater over-excitement have included :
White-river rafting through deep forest canyon which was just fantastic - we saw bear hibernation caves, eagle’s nests, red sock-eyed salmon finishing their spawning journey from the Pacific …. plus both got totally soaked riding crazy waves with huge silly grins on our faces, and yelling “woo-hoo!” all the way down …
The historic Canadian Pacific railway, which trundles patiently 2500 miles from Montreal to Vancouver (& originally opened up the settlement of all western Canada) … why can’t English trains also have that fabled lonesome whistle, that calls so evocatively of journeys & adventures far away?
Climbing up to one glacier known as “the Angel”, hanging above us with wings outspread (a crack of what sounded exactly like lightning overhead was actually a small avalanche, so we beat a hasty retreat - sometimes angels are scary)
… and being driven up onto another huge ancient glacier, also left over from the ice age (in company with hundreds of happy Chinese tourists all well equipped with their selfie sticks)
Meanwhile Canadians have completely lived up to their friendly reputation, being warm, helpful & chatty everywhere you go. My diet is struggling a bit due to some fantabulous burger joints - but I am grateful to Natalie who (naturally worried I might not find the low cal corn cakes I usually live off) kindly recommended Canadian bran muffins - yummy as well as healthy!
In the last couple of days we have left the Rockies behind as such, and are gradually travelling towards Vancouver through hills of mere Lake District calibre, having now reached the Canadian wine region ( … me neither)
Tomorrow we are nobly doing a tasting tour of Okanagan lake vineyards, having spent this afternoon wandering along its gorgeous empty beaches :
Okanagan is also famous for its orchards & fruit-growing, in honour of which I invite you to please tick your preferred caption below :
- What a peach
- Spot the peach
- Other witty fruit reference of your own choice …
Finally - huge and warmest thanks to all who have already been in touch with leads for me to follow on my search for holiness … many of you are so much further along the way than I, and have such inspiring things to share from your own thinking, reading & experience.
I’m particularly indebted to Jebs’ brother David for sending the helpful meditation on being holy below. Dave has just finished his academic theological training at Oxford, and I know you too will be so grateful to him for sharing the fruit of all his scholarly research :
Wishing you were here … with lots and lots of love to all, as ever xxx