Bard on the Beach, Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare

What a wonderful mid week lark! I was so glad I bid on Bard on the Beach tickets at the Turning Point Recovery Gala this year.  Laura and I loved the show. The venue is worth the outing.Vanier Park, usually a site of kite flying, is one of Vancouver’s prettiest places.  The very clever set designer left the back panel open at times as a window onto English bay with sailboats passing by.
I remember first going to Bard on the Beach in the 80’s. It was horrible. Great theatre but these god awful folding metal chairs, lousy acoustics and leaky tents. I remember sitting with my feet in a pool of water windy rainy nights at the outdoor theatre. I love Shakespeare.  King Lear is the greatest play of all time. Among other masochists and enthusiasts we attended this incredibly daring audacious event that has just grown and grown since it’s early creative days. .
Now the tents are the best.  I think of Persian nights as these tents are the stuff of Sultans.  The acoustics are great and the seating is almost comfortable.  The acting direction and plays have just got better and better and better.
Much Ado About Nothing directed by John Murphy

was a splendid romp.  Shakespeare modernized.  The language retained, but the storyline moved to a 1959 Italian movie set.  Hilarious props and marvellous slap stick moments. I’ll forever remember the Vespa chase as the audience burst into spontaneous applause.
Well done Bard on the Beach.  I loved Andrew Wheeler as Leonato and Amber Lewis as Beatrice. What a crazy adorable love story with all the twists and treats of the greatest playwright of all time.
Bard on the Beach goes from June to September and I really do hope to see  Merchant of Venice.  Shylock, A Winter’s Tale, and Two Gentlemen of Verona are also being performed. Thank you Christopher Gaze and Claire Sakaki.

Kamloops and Beyond: quadding, boating, hunting, fishing, ball chasing

July long weekend and I had a hankering for camping. I had the new Honda 500 side by side Pioneer ATV from Honda Centre and the AB Profile hard bottomed inflatable with the Honda 30 hp Outboard.  Tom was keen to experience the new side by side "hunting mobile".  While I’d loved the Yamaha 450 quad when we got the two of us on and had to get off quickly to shoot game it was a regular Monty Python crazy dismounts with guns that didn’t work so well.  All round this new Pioneer side by side was the ticket.
After working till Friday afternoon I met up with Tom who’d come into Vancouver.  Thursday night I’d driven by the storage locker to gather guns, fishing rods, and camping gear.  The last time I’d camped other than on motorcycle had been before I bought my RV. It was hit or miss finding stuff packing it in the little Miata with Gilbert excited the whole while.
I’d earlier in the week looked for Provincial Campgrounds on line but found the ones I considered already booked.  People can book on line a year in advance. I wanted to be right on the water so a motel was out. I’d consider a lodge another time but this time the plan was to tent.  Suffering is good for the soul!
We had the Honda 500 Pioneer on the back of my skookum Ford F350 Harley Davidson 4x4 diesel Truck, with the back seat full of gear. (Tom says my F350 should be described as ‘packing a 6.0 Litre power stroke, turbo charged, at 20 psi boost, turns out 325 horse power and hauls ass.)
At Tom’s we added the boat and trailer after Tom and I got the turning lights working.  I cleaned connections while Tom replaced a bulb.  Then we were off.  It was already night when we pulled into the Superstore to get supplies.
“You must have gone without food sometime in your life,” Tom said after we’ loaded on a weeks supply of food for the weekend, just in case.
“I have,” I said.  When Tom and I sailed back from Hawaii we had at least a week or two canned goods left.  I always figure, we can use the left overs when we come back but there’s no shopping malls in the middle of the ocean or in the backwoods wilderness.  $50 worth of steak was typical male fare but we also had to have the specialty coffee to go with the Stainless Steel French press. Then there was cream and honey and watermelons and zucchini and jams and peanut butter, yoghurts, deli light rye and the other items one absolutely needs for truly roughing it in the backwoods.  When I’m motorcycle camping I haven’t room but this truck camping gives one a lot of space.
"We didn’t have a lantern so I said , "I could get a new generator.  One never has enough power. "
I’d  sold Tom my Honda 3000 watt when I bought the Energy RV with its built in Cummins 4000.
“What happened to the Honda 1000 watt we had sailing back from Hawaii?” Tom asked.
"The little Honda lives  on the sailboat.”
Maple ridge Motorsports, advertising Honda Power tools,  just jumped out at us then as we were tooling up the #7. Amazing store. Great staff. Sure enough they had a sale on Honda generators.  The new EU 2000i was even quieter than my 1000 and only $200 more than the new 1000, a little bulkier but about the same weight.  We now had a generator I could charge my computer and iPhone with as well as use to power Tom’s  work light as a lantern. It was all we could do though to get out without buying a KTM enduro. They had a street legal 500 enduro on sale that was to die for. We were lucky we had no room for it.
We then stopped at the incredible new Cabelas in Abbotsford because I no longer had a two burner stove.  Naturally we needed to get a new higher quality stainless steel "Leatherman Charge", a camping chair with attached table.  Tom got his fishing license, and I got a new telescoping rod with skookum case.  I’d just broken another rod so was adamant about a carrying case.
Gilbert was happy when we stopped at a Macdonald’s.   He gets his little prime burger paddy while Tom and I had quarter pounder combos.  After that Gilbert and I dozed as Tom drove us up the Coquahalla to Merritt.
All the motels in Merrit were full so we drove onto Kamloops.  We didn’t actually have a destination. Just an idea of a lake and there were a whole lot of lakes around Kamloops.  At 3 am we booked into a motel on the #1 east side leaving Kamloops.  We had to haul the food and guns and valuables into the motel. I locked down everything I could as well then slept  till Gilbert woke us around 8 am.  Normally he’d wake us at 7 but he seemed to know we needed our sleep.
Great A&W egger and sausage breakfast. I filled up the thermos with coffee.  Tom filled the truck with fuel but we both forgot to fill the gas jerry cans.  Lucky enough I had a full can  in the boat locker.  I had thought to bring my BC Back Roads Map Book for the Thompson Nicola so while Tom drove I  was checking out lakes heading towards fabulous Shuswap. Laura and I had been up that way for the First Sturges North Motorcycle Ralley and loved it. The Anglican Church has its Retreat Centre at Sorrento.
At Chase we pulled off and checked out the Little Shuswap.  It’s a lovely tourist lake which I described to Tom as not quite what we were looking for but a great place to ‘water ski’.  Nearby  Adams Lake was just too big, a sailboaters windy dream lake. Pretty though with lots of lovely campgrounds.
We drove on to the provincial park at Niskonlith Lake.  The road in is over First Nations Land, with unfriendly signs, "no stopping vehicle without permission’.  Very private.  Niskonlith Lake and the Provincial Park were lovely.  Great campsites on the lake, nice size of lake, wilderness, all round, perfect. Except they had rules ‘all provincial camps, dogs must be on leash at all times.”  Gilbert didn’t like that.
McGillivray Lake looked more appealing on the map, if only because I know a legendary Druid, Canadian folksinger poet of that name and was reading a history of Scotland at the time.  We didn’t make it to McGilvrary which we learned from a couple of good guys we talked to from Chase was full.  We did find a little lake and bit of back woods grass in the environs though which Gilbert thought was perfect.  Considering we’d brought guns to target practice this way out of the way not on a map place we had to 4x4 into was just perfect.
So that’s where we’ve been these last two days.
That first day was hot, the sun shining with blue sky all round. First task was to set up tents.  I had the MSR 2 man tent I’d bought at MEC. I’d  packed the Eagle’s Camp gazebo instead of my other old 5 man tent.  Tom decided he’d use the gazebo, preferring space to comfort.  The gazebo reduced the mosquitos but didn’t keep  later rain out.  He was thankful for a ground tarp I found stashed under the seat in the truck.   Gilbert and I were snug in the little orange MEC mountaineering tent.  In the middle of the night I felt his little body pressed up against mine, shivering with his summer hair cut. I’d forgotten his sweaters so just wrapped him in the extra mommy sleeping bag I had.  The shivering stopped and we both went back to sleep.
That first morning Tom was up and had the coffee ready.  I liked that.  Nothing like the smell of brewing coffee to get a aching body out of a tent.  Gilbert figures Tom is his personal yellow tennis squeaky ball thrower as Tom good naturedly threw the ball countless times for the excited little dancing dog to fetch.  Bacon sandwiches followed. Nothing like bacon sandwiches and fresh coffee to make one feel sorry for oneself.
We used the Pioneer 500 to haul the boat down to the little lake.  Tom tried fishing. While he was doing that I was exploring all over the country side, loving my Pioneer.  Gilbert wasn’t supposed to sit on the seat beside me. The plan was that he’d stay on the floor but sometime  that day he was in his normal spot on the seat beside me.  He intently watches as we drive along and sometimes sees game before me. He alerted Tom and I to a rabbit when we were sitting in the truck in the camp waiting out the rain.  He began grunting and pointing his nose till we saw the invader.  it escaped before either of us could shoot it.  Gilbert took off full bore after it and made sure it didn’t come back this way.
At the camp we had targets out and sited in my stainless steel Ruger semi auto 22.  Nice feeling, getting that perfect pattern around the bullseye.  I’d sited in the Ruger mini 14 223 the week before so I just shot up cans for a bit with that. Tom had his SKS and was enjoying target shooting as well.   Tom and I took the Pioneer 500 out for a ride around the logging roads really enjoying it’s performance, 5 gear performance.  We checked out getting in and out of it, each with his own rifle, and sure enough it was better than a truck.  Gilbert loves when he’s part of a pack.  We just drove around exploring and adventuring.
Rabbits were everywhere.  We checked the hunting regs and sure enough these european cottontail were legal.  Little bunnies. I missed a couple, going only for a head shot, worried, what the 223 would do.  They are really fast and when I missed them Gilbert was ecstatic chasing them like a little locomotive. He actually brought one around so it passed back by me surprising me so I didn’t get a shot but figured my smart little dog had just herded game home.  Shinto, my other hunting dog, had figured out working as a pair like that. Now here was Gilbert doing the same.  The intelligence of dogs just amazes me. Unfortunately some people don’t measure up.
I eventually hit one. Back at the camp I skinned it and rinsed it by the lake. Tom brazed it then made  a new creation, “lapin superduty stew”.  While it simmered, we had to sit in the truck  and  let the thunderstorms roll through.   The first was  particularly as it dumped a shitload of hail.  The others were just  quick rainstorms that passed over.
That rabbit stew was something I’d been thinking off for some time. It’s been years since I shot a rabbit and had rabbit stew. This was just perfect.  Delicious. The meat flaking off the bone.
“A pressure cooker would be better for tenderizing,’ Tom said.
“This is just perfect!” I answered, savouring every bite of meat. The stew itself was onions, potatoes, tomato and ginger beer.. I shared a taste of meat with Gilbert who then looked at Tom with awe.  .
Tom and I shot several more rabbits up the hill behind our camp.  There were fields of daisies.  I  saw several dear driving around and got a picture of a particularly grand doe. . There was bear sign but no bears came round. I’m fastidious about cleaning up the camp and making sure all the food is in the truck before we sleep.  Having Gilbert along also keeps bears away.
The generator worked just as we hoped.  Quiet as can be, charging my iPad I was using for reading Scottish and Irish history while we waited out the rains in the truck.  At night before falling asleep I enjoyed reading too.  Nice that the iPad has its now built in light for kindle reading.
Today I was up first.  I made the coffee, then we had yoghurts.  Tom mixed his with the left over apricots. He’d brought along a jar he’d picked by St. Matthew’s Church then canned.  Another taste treat.  Tom’s gone off now exploring on the Pioneer taking Gilbert. I charged the computer and transferred the photos I’d taken with the iPhone. I had my Nikon camera along but the iPhone was always handier.
Now Tom’s back and I’d best begin cleaning up camp and stowing. A lot of people have been doing the same thing as we are, maybe not the hunting part but everything else. We're all heading  back to the city after too short a time in God’s Country, BC. Can’t wait to return.
Thank you Jesus!

 

Bungalow Motel Cabins, Harrison Lake and the new Honda 500 Pioneer Side by Side ATV

I love Bungalow Motel at Harrison Lake.  They are a set of rustic cabins off the main drag in Harrison going towards the East Harrison Road across from the Church, right beside the boat launch. I’ve been staying here now for a quarter century, every year.  Some years I can get away more other years work has won out and I’ve only been able to get there for an overnight.  Every time has been special.  The owners are magnificent.
I purchased a Honda 500 Pioneer Side by Side ATV trading in my former quad.  With the new machine, Laura would be able to sit beside me and Gilbert, my dog, had a place to sit on a blanket at her feet.  We’d not all three been able to ride the quad and after Gilbert hurt his back last year I didn’t want him jumping up and down as before.  My hunting friend’s all approve of the ‘side by side’ seating arrangement because none of them wanted to ride in the quad’s  ‘bitch’ seat.  I’ve done it and frankly by the time we'd untangled and dismounted and got our rifles out  the game we’d seen was long gone.  The ‘side by side’ is simply the best way to go if you’re not always planning on being alone.
We drove the short ride from Vancouver to Harrison’s Friday night after picking up my new Honda from the awesome folk at Honda Centre at Boundary and First. I’ve been doing business with them for a decade at least and buying Honda for my back woods off the grid camping, hunting and exploring needs or for off shore sailing use for at least a quarter of a century too. I’ve had outboards, generators, scooters and motorcycles and now this incredible Honda 500 Pioneer. The beauty of the machine is that it’s narrow enough to sit in the truck box like a regular quad.  The minor disadvantage for hauling purposes is that like a ski doo, the length requires the gate of the truck to be down.  That’s going to affect how I hitch the RV to the truck when the Honda Pioneer is on board though it will fit in my RV Toyhauler’s garage.
Laura loves the Bungalow Motel.  When we arrived it was about 7 pm. We’d stopped in A&W in Mission where there was 50’s hot rod car rally with Elvis music going on.  We ate burgers and onion rings as we drove up the beautiful #7 highway to Harrison. Gilbert loves getting the A&W beef paddy though his favourite is MacDonald’s.  .
The particular cabin we were put up in this time has the best view of all.  It looked out on the park where Canada Geese had collected and beyond to Harrison Lake where the BC Sailing races were going on all weekend.  At the other end of the town by the Harrison Resort, the Dragonboat Festival was taking place as well.  Harrison Lake is a hopping place in the summer with bikinis galore and all the muscle men out, along with a full array of outdoor activities going on.  It’s the most interesting place that way, with a near by provincial park that caters to the outdoorsy set, the marina for sailors and all the fishing and guiding activities, and nearby backwoods. Meanwhile there are luxury hotels for those who just want to drinkie poo on balconies in the sun.  The Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa we enjoy most mid winter for the ‘waters’ is always a going concern.   The town has really built up since I began coming here in the 80’s.  The golf course is especially popular now and there are so many great restaurants.
Laura and I like the Bungalow Cabins for the rustic charm. Each has a little patio and we enjoyed sitting outside reading and drinking coffee.
After arriving and settling in and eating pizza we walked Gilbert in the park and had a fairly early night in the ultimate quiet of the surroundings. Outside the sky had cleared and the billions of stars were radiant without the city lights obscuring them.  I love sitting outside at Harrison Lake and looking across the great expanse of water to the mountains beyond.  It’s the most meditative place.
In the morning Gilbert, as usual, got me up so I took him for a walk in the park.  He loves all the scents and was the happiest I’ve seen him in months this weekend.  
Then we  walked the short distance to the down town mall where Chuck and Kitty’s cafe is. They serve the best morning coffee and egg cheese and bacon buns to die for.  I carried all this back. The dragon boat folk were gathering at this early  hour while those who’d danced up a storm in the pub were probably sleeping in.
Bringing a beautiful girl breakfast in bed definitely gets one brownie points.  It was about 11 am before we got ourselves organized to head back country.  I’d brought my Ruger Mini 14 semi auto 223 shell rifle for back woods target practice so confirmed with the "in the know” Bungalow Motel folk that the top of the lake would be the best for off the grid 4x4 ing. There’s a whole lot of logging roads up there with gravel pits where you can set up targets without fear of disturbing vegetarians.
We drove the Ford F350 with Honda Pioneer in the back past the Sasquatch Provincial Camp and the Bear Creek Camp and the Cobalt Point campsites. They were all full of young people and I remember when years past I had the last, a long beech area, all to my self, mid summer. Now they’re all full and I believe some have to booked ahead.  They all even have facilities and there’s lots of picnic tables that never existed years ago.  The Harrison east road is gravel but so good that all manner of cars and trucks and bikes had ridden up there parking along the road to access the beach.
We found a great hill to off load the Honda Pioneer at. I am always anxious at the loading and off loading phase where there’s that moment of commitment when I can’t help but fear I’m going to fall off the end of the truck or flip somehow.  I love ‘terra firms’.  As always, the unloading went just fine.  We then locked up the truck and Laura and Gilbert and I set out to explore.
What a glorious little machine!!!.  There’s an advertisement Honda uses of a man and woman, admittedly half our age, really enjoying driving along a narrow wooded trail in their Pioneer 500..  Despite their perfect hair and teeth, I thought we looked just like them and definitely were having twice the fun.  Honda’s advertising really is truthful.     I looked over at Laura and she was beaming.  I just loved driving this little mini jeep and it’s perkiness.  Lots of gears.  Great clearance.   Gilbert had lots of room on a blanket at Laura’s feet.
We even had a couple of doe cross the road in front us and I had time to find my iPhone in the pouches set under the roof and get a shot with the camera. This machine is going to be a great hunting platform for my friend and I come fall.
After driving for a bit on the main logging road we took a sketchy little road off to the beach.   Laura squealed when we slid sideways in a muddy stretched.  I noticed she had her seat belt on and at times had a hand on the bars holding herself in on turns.  This was a truly off the grid place where what we think of as kids had set up tents and were quadding and off road motorcycle camping along the beach.
“We’re not old people police! Continue what you’re doing.  We’re just stopping for coffee”.  I called out to this group of 20 year old whose youth space we’d obviously invaded.  They laughed, but clearly were at ease with the idea we’d not be staying.  At the end of the beach we stopped and pointed the Honda at the lake. I got out a thermos of coffee while Laura shared some cheese slices with Gilbert.  I sat in that perfect little Honda Pioneer 4x4 side by side looking at this most wonderful of lakes with the sky clearing, a beautiful girl beside me and Gilbert chasing bits of wood in the sand.  Life doesn’t get any better.
We drove back to the main road and took some side roads before heading up into the mountains where we found a narrow bridge which could only be crossed by ATV’s.  We were off the grid there and had a lovely drive up in  the hills. We picked berries along the road and the wild flowers were lovely   We crossed a little mountain stream by a waterfall and stopped for selfies.  Then I  set up targets and got out the Ruger Mini 14.  We’d earlier seen bear scat and as usual Laura was concerned so I’d said she needn’t be because I had the rifle.
Well, it turned out the rifle was jammed and it took me all of 10 to 15 minutes to get it working.  Naturally Laura figured a bear would have had more than enough time to eat her so I had to reassure that  Gilbert would have protected her as bear hate barking little dogs.
While we were driving up there she’d suddenly started flailing about with her hands. I stopped to see if she was alright and she said . “A great black spider landed on me.”  We couldn’t find any evidence of this hallucination but when I put on my Sturges North Hoodie I felt a crawly in my sleeve.  I won’t say I flailed about but rather that I had the hoodie off with some alacrity.  It turned out that our guest was not a big black spider but rather a very large black cricket.
We both admitted we loved crickets and enjoyed watching it fly away.  I’d turned the vehicle around using the reverse several times in the day but suddenly without any warning the reverse function didn’t work.  Laura got out and helped me push the little thousand pound machine around so I could drive a hundred yards back from the targets. I couldn’t think of any reason the reverse wouldn’t work as all the other gears did and didn’t figure on figuring out backwoods repairs. The lovely little machine would still get us back to the truck.
So I shot off 20 or 30 rounds till I was getting a good grouping in the centre of the target all the while Gilbert was ecstatically hoping that grouse would start dropping out of the skies.  Gilbert absolutely loves grouse hunting. While I was practising target shooting he was practicing sniffing and weaving and pointing. Laura was waiting patiently while the boys were having all the fun.
On the way down we had to cross the bridge.  While the one side was an easy rise the return side was a steep ramp.  Laura and Gilbert got out and I gunned it.  I remembered hearing the word ‘commitment’ from the Gaylor at Honda and from the owner of Bungalow Cabins when we’d discussed steep ramps.  I gave her and Laura said it was a thing of beauty.  “You were air born and landed perfectly.” My heart was in my throat but I only could have been a foot off the ground yet being as it was over a roaring river it all had lots of psychological significance. I swaggered with my chest out after that maneuver though it was something I’d done countless times and with much more air on my former quad. This is just what my friend Dave lives for when he goes quadding. I was even thinking of backing up the steep except with the loss of reverse I had little choice and could see nowhere to look my winch too. In for a penny in for a pound. I committed. And it was glorious!.
We drove down the mountain from there  and got the Honda Pioneer situated on the little hill for loading, having to adjust the truck to the quad because without reverse,  I couldn’t position the quad. Laura shouted directions to me watching for alignment and it was good.
With the Honda Pioneer on the back of the Ford F350 I just had to tie it down.  Then we drove back to Bungalow Motel.  We’d been riding about for maybe 6 or 7 hours and I was exhausted.  I loved the shower and Laura ordered pizza.
There was nothing on TV even though they had cable.  Both of us read and we all loved the ‘meat lovers’ pizza with cold coca colas.  Gilbert thought we’d chosen well.
We slept in.  My body is still aching.  We packed up and headed home after another magnificent weekend at Harrison’s.  I’ll get my Honda fixed this week and maybe next weekend we can do it all over again.  We were lucky to get into Bungalow with a few days notice because of a cancellation.  I can’t wait to return.  I always feel like I’m in one of those grand little places I stayed at near Boston or outside of San Francisco where movies are made of  artists who go to get close to nature.
They have an outdoor swimming pool we’ve enjoyed in the past getting a bit of that Palm Spring lying around in the sun  pool experience. It was really hot this weekend.  I did think of walking over to the beech and diving into the lake. The water is perfect this time of the year.  But there’s never enough time to do all the things you want to, as the Jim Croce song goes. I didn’t even get to the hot spring pool in town like I usually do.  It such a Gordon Lightfoot John Denver getaway.  The town is definitely becoming more a Beach Boys scene.
Back in Vancouver I feel rather than two nights away  like I’ve been away for a week. Heaven would be staying there for a week or two.   Bit I have to get back to work having had the very best of breaks.  It’s hard to believe it’s only an hour a way.