Some Spring time Pictures and The Common Cold, Disguised.

It seems that you can turn any corner, unawares, and be floored by the Common Cold, disguised as a slight headache and a scratchy throat. Once it has you in its throes it diabolically expands into a full blown sinus event, with all the symptoms....headache, sore throat, achy ears - and then everyone whispers at you to make life even more miserable.

This has been a busy week during which I held the cold at bay, but when we came home last night and I relaxed it moved in for the kill....

We have been traveling, - once to the south-east over the Richter Pass to Osoyoos, to have a delightful lunch with our friend, who turned 101 at the end of December.

And yesterday we took a different route into the Okanagan Valley, over the Yellow Lake Pass to Penticton to attend the funeral of a dear friend, and later to have a glass of wine with other old friends from Charles' school days.

Let me share with you some of the pictures we took on Tuesday from the moving car as we went whizzing through the countryside, late leaving and hurrying like the White Rabbit.

As we passed through the Valley far off in the west the peaks of the Cathedral mountains poked their head inquisitively over the shoulders of the Similkameen Hills.



And Chapaka, off to the south and still topped with snow, straddled the border with the U.S.A.



We skirted the river, around the cliffs high above it, and then turned to the east, up the winding Richter Pass road.



The road cuts through the Elkink Ranch, - green grass dotted with hundreds of contented cows and calves. They have built ingenious corrals from old tires, - sturdy and ecologically friendly.



The Ranch lies in a lovely narrow valley, and within the circle of slightly lower land if the water level is high, some years there is a small pond.



The road gets steeper as we continue up, and I am delighted to see on the hillsides great swathes of black eyed susans....lovely to look at, but a danger to pick in the spring because of the ticks who find them delicious too.



We come to a small benchland, and off to the right is Spotted Lake, long valued by First Nations for its healing qualities. Its colours vary, - sometimes it is shimmering and rainbow hued, but today the circles are quite a lovely shade of green and grey.



Here are the two sweet gentlemen I lunched with.



And on the way home we confined our picture taking to capturing the hillsides of Olalla (Saskatoon) bushes, more interesting snaps of Chapaka (where the snow makes slightly menacing primitive faces) and a nice country view of the farms closer to home.




_


From yesterday I can only offer a picture of the gorgeous blue of Skaha Lake, lying to the south of Penticton.



Well, I am off now to steam my poor head, have some hot water, honey and lemon, and perhaps a dash of rum........