I was summoned to Edmonton just before Christmas to be a Bear Guardian for a day. Our Environment Minister (also in charge of Parks Canada) was visiting several Edmonton elementary schools, and we were spreading the good word about National Parks. My job was to talk about bears and administer the "Bear Care Swear" - it was so cute! Each kid got a "Bear Guardian" badge for taking the oath. I absolutely loved talking to the kids. They probably know more about environmental issues than their parents!  

My cat will do anything for food. Just look at the belly on that one! I think she got a bit of finger in that bite...  

This is from a recent snowshoe excursion into the wilds of Kootenay National Park with Ronni and Lu. Since we're us, the lovely ruby liquid coming out of that thermos is mulled wine. Fine, so we didn't clock more than 2 km but we know how to live it up! 

At the end of November I went to Toronto for a whirlwind weekend to do a show for the Alpine Club of Canada. It was a great time! I managed to skip the coldest weather in the Rockies (-38 C) and skip straight to the balmy Toronto climes (+11 C). Hee hee. My hosts in The Big Smoke did their utmost to keep me entertained. Many thanks to Ian for his couch, and Paul and Sandra for the chauffeuring and trip to the Science Centre (geeks! we're all geeks!) We saw an exhibit based on the science of Marvel Superheroes (X-men and the Hulk, among others). It was vaguely interesting, since they were trying to explain how Spiderman could climb walls and how mutations work, etc. But the whole thing fell flat somehow. Maybe because some of the hands-on stuff was broken. Maybe because there were hordes of screaming children everywhere. Maybe it was a good concept gone wrong. Hm. Anyhoo, the pic is of me being "Storm" from the X-men. Woot. 

In late September Mom & I went on a road trip to the West Coast. On the way, we stopped in at the Adams River in BC to witness the salmon run. I caught this pic of a sockeye salmon in full spawning mode. They turn bright red when they're "in the mood" then once the job is done they turn patchy white and expire. Ahh, ain't love grand?