|
Peace Descends Once Again |
|
|
|
2006-09
It was fun, wasn't it? The music, the colour, the new faces and the energy in the towns. Even the terrible traffic was bearable, as we all knew it wouldn't last. All the local drivers I spoke to had their two routes, the summer and the 'not summer' ways of getting from here to there. The summer routes meant driving a zigzag pattern that took advantage of those intersections with advanced greens. We knew which would let us turn east/west and which only got us through going north/south and we plotted accordingly. The summer guests that we chauffeured around might have thought us a bit eccentric, but they soon saw the logic. Much better to drive an extra block or two than to try to make a left turn against summer traffic - life is too short for that aggravation!
But now the valley is ours again and we can settle down and get ready for what fall will bring. Fall Fairs, for example. There is scarcely a city or town that does not do something special to celebrate the autumn harvest. If you like a small community based fair you'd enjoy what Rock Creek has to offer. This autumn festival began in 1945, which makes it now 61 years old, going strong and getting stronger. This is a true community affair with the focus on agriculture and home crafts with a very strong 4-H participation. There is still time to enter the baking, crafts and produce competitions as this year's fair runs Sept 16-17.
The grandfather of Interior Fairs is the one at Armstrong, of course, now in its 107th year, and running Aug 30-Sept 3. There is something for everyone here but those folks who love horses will especially enjoy what the IPE has on show
Closer to home the senior centres are starting up their new fall schedules and the SLR, for one, is drawing many seniors back to the classroom to study new ideas and to follow interesting paths they did not have time for before. It's nice to be in a classroom where learning and laughter go hand in hand and everyone passes!
As the tourist season winds down there is one observation that we have heard time and again this summer, 'there are very few American cars in the valley'. Floods of Alberta license plates, but very few from south of the border. We all follow the news, of course, and are not unprepared for change, but I don't think most of us expected the change to be so sudden and so drastic. A border that has been a non-issue for all of our lives is suddenly a very big issue indeed and life has become much more complicated.
Well, from an important complication to a trivial one - follow me through the complex world of TV. Once upon a time we bought a TV set, plugged it in and sat down to watch. Those were the days! Then we got these VCRs which meant we could rent movies, which was good. We could also tape shows which was confusing. Most of us gradually learned to set the timer and developed some skill at editing out commercials, if we were taping for friends and family. That didn't last, of course. Men in suits went ahead and 'improved' the VCRs so that we could program our machines to tape shows weeks in advance by entering in special codes copied from the teleguide. This seemed to require more than one control, as the TV listened to one set of buttons but the VCR listened only to another. At one time we had 3 on the go, one of which seemed to only control the volume! Then the tapes were replaced by DVDs and all our painfully learned skills became redundant. Now we have the bigger, better, improved TVs with enhanced picture quality. This is why furniture stores are now selling special 'entertainment units' that are getting bigger and bigger….not just to hold the bigger TV sets but to store all the supporting machinery! We have the TV set itself, fast becoming the least important item in the whole array of wires and connections. We need the box that plays the tapes and DVDs. Then we wanted some additional channels in order to justify the larger screen, so that is box number two. Then we were sold on the 'enhanced' picture quality (even though very few channels offer this yet) and this brought in box number three. Each of these mysterious boxes seems to have at least 3, if not 4, cables attached to the back. This means 10-12 cables, plus 2 for the TV. You see why entertainment units need to be so large! Now, did you know that if the power goes off you need to reboot these systems, just like a computer? I didn't. It isn't possible, for me at least, to trace back the one wire out of 14 that does this, so I just unplug the whole power bar and hope for the best - and that works just fine. (My technical tip.) Also, if you are part of this new world of electronic madness please get yourself a good surge protector, it could save a world of heartache and frustration.
In the meantime I hope everyone gets to at least one fall celebration and that we all come home with bags of fresh produce, jars of homemade jam and at least one old fashioned fruit pie. Enjoy September!
- Pat Archibald, Editor - |
