Almost Summer

My schedule here keeps filling up with amazing opportunities, and I am falling more in love with this place as the weeks pass. It seems that the spring brings the town of Bralorne alive, and I have had no shortage of evening and weekend plans playing rugged par 3 golf, mountain biking, hiking, going to friend’s places for dinner and horseback riding. I feel like I am doing all the activities that I have always wanted while spending more time in the great outdoors than I ever have; living in such a small town has certainly had its challenges, but I am rapidly finding my place in this community and in the mountains here and I am absolutely loving it!

Things at the school have been busy as well! A few weeks ago I hosted a BBQ and School Grounds Clean-Up, which was extremely well attended. It’s a goal of mine for next year to involve the community in the learning and in events at the school, and the turn out at the Clean-Up showed just how many people are in support of our little school. There are about ten kids under five years of age living in the community, so if we can just ensure that the doors stay open then enrollment will be up over the next few years.

Look at all the people who turned out to clean up the schoolyard!

I couple of weeks ago I took the kids out to Lillooet to the Walking with the Smolts event, held along the Frazer River in Lillooet. It was AWESOME! Tons of hands-on learning experiences about the water shed, the importance of maintaining a healthy spawning habitat, and about the life cycle of a salmon and about other inhabitants living in the river and in the area. It fit well with our ecosystems unit in science, and it was great to be with such a small group of kids, because it meant that they stayed more engaged than they probably would have with 25 peers standing crowded around each display.

 Learning about the types of salmon and bottom feeders that live in the water shed habitat.

 Liam holding a snake. There was a snake guy named Ruth there who had a class set of thirty snakes with him! I asked about getting a pet snake for my classroom next year and he is going to get me a rescued snake!!! I've wanted one for years and think the kids up here would love to have one around!

We skipped rocks and dipped our feet in the Fraser River after lunch. We had time to spare because things are much faster with such a small group of kids :)

This past weekend I spent a couple of nights out in the mountains with cowboy Barry and his horses. We each rode a saddle horse and led a couple of packhorses. It was such an amazing experience, although I was certainly glad to have my warm winter sleeping bag and down coat! It’s been FREEZING here! I helped him clean up one of the camps that he uses for guests, and we bucked up some wood that had blown across the trails up to Spruce Lake. I’m learning how to use a chainsaw, which is a good skill to have if one plans on living a rural life. It’s just the start of the busy summer season here, so we were lucky to be the only ones around, other than a couple of mountain bikers who stopped to chat with us at the top. Barry said that some summer days he can pass up to forty mountain bikers and a couple of strings of horses all with the same desire to get away.

Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries very early on in the trip, so I only have a few pictures; luckily these few basically sum up the trip: stunningly beautiful and peaceful.

 Me wearing the chaps Barry leant me, with my saddle horse and pack horse.

Walking through the meadows. It's been so cold here, so the wildflowers are a few weeks late this year.

Looking towards Gun Lake Road, where Barry's ranch is. The view was of the entire valley, except looking the other way there were our horses grazing quietly in the meadow. The flower is a balsam root, one of the first to flower in the spring.

We saw a couple of bears that were eager to get out of our way, and at one point my horse, Tyax, smelled something, and Barry saw a cougar dart across the trail in front of us. Pretty amazing stuff! It was nice to have his dog Bert around at night. It certainly made me feel more comfortable than if I would be camping with just another human being.

In the evenings we fed the horses some oats and turned them out in the meadows to graze. One of them, Molly, wore a bell so that we could hear if she was nearby, and the lead mare, Ellie, was tethered by a long rope to a stake so she wouldn’t stray too far; since she is the leader of the group, the other horses will always stay close. Another horse had to have its front legs placed in hobbles, which is a rope that is kind of wrapped around the legs to prevent the horse from running away. This particular horse has a habit of taking off and last year it resulted in a serious injury to her leg when she was kicked by a horse in another herd. She can still move around well with the hobble, which was my primary concern before witnessing it. She has to hop her front legs forward together and then walks her back legs to catch up, and she does it like a pro!

Today I took my intermediate students in to Lillooet to spend the afternoon at Cayoosh Elementary for their Aboriginal Day festivities. We sampled soap berry smoothy and ice cream, which is whipped soap berry juice frothed with sugar added (delicious!). We also played lahal (pronounced as it sounds, la-hal), which the kids weren't that keen on but I thoroughly enjoyed. It's an aboriginal guessing/gambling game with drums and singing led by my roommate from when I was living in Lillooet who now lives elsewhere. We made sage bundles, carved soap stone, beaded necklaces and key chains, and the kids and I caught up with the students and teachers we have come to know over the past couple of years.

 Sampling the salmon cooked over a fire, as well as wind-dried salmon which is a traditional method of preparation in Lillooet and Lytton, where a hot summer wind blows the racks of salmon along the river dry in a matter of hours. 

Liam and his soapberry smoothy moustache.

It's hard to believe that the year is over next week! We have come so far as a little school family, and being out on the field trip today made me think of just how close I have become with all these kids. I really am going to miss them, and even though that say "yeah right" when I say it aloud to them, I know in their hearts they know it's true, because I'm sure they are going to miss me too... at least a little bit :)