Ella Does Squamish

There is always some excitement each week in a small town.  This week it was a 77 year old male found floating in the Mamquam Blind Channel.  The office where I work was all a buzz for an hour as this is two blocks away.  Emergency workers revived him and last I heard he was still in hospital.  Local gossip is that it might have been a suicide attempt as rumour has it that he wanted to return to India but his family was against the move.  Who knows! 

I also heard about the genesis of Rose Park and Lily’s Garden here in town.  Rose was at one time editor of the local newspaper.  When she died the house she had lived in on the river was razed and the property was donated (I presume) to the city.  From what I heard, a competition between Rose and and a woman named Lily existed and when Lily died her family did not want to be outdone by Rose having had the park named after her.  They proposed a public garden and shrine to Lily and her family which now exists in Rose Park.   It is a very lovely spot though I expect was even nicer in the old days before the highway was built nearby.

Another bit of news was that the Squamish council voted to make owners financially responsible for grow-ops and crystal meth. labs found on their property.  This strikes me as quite a bizarre way to deal with an issue.  Crystal meth. labs, in particular, can cause alot of contamination and are a fire risk.

You, too, can keep up with Squamish news (sans local lore and gossip) by following The Squamish Chief at http://www.squamishchief.com/madison/WQuestion.nsf/SCnews/C6C3CA997975842888256E240001F4B0?OpenDocument

It is 30 or so here this weekend, sunny and not a drop of RAIN.  I drove up to Pemberton yesterday and took some pictures of the gorgeous scenery.   Since I do not know how to download pixs on the computer (I will try this evening), I found these pixs of a trip Chris and Irene took to this area in July 2003 (see http://www.cmkl.ca/gallery/v/bchikes/?g2_page=2) on Chris’s site.  Gives you an idea of the geography less than an hour away from Squamish.

Here is Mallory, the sweetie pie of Irene and Chris (see Chris’s pix at http://www.cmkl.ca/gallery/v/mallory/DSC_0016_002.JPG.html).