Skip to main content

Winter Tribute


Our recent trip to Manning Park was supposed to happen on December 24th, 2022, but we did it during the first days of January because we could not do it then. We remembered, honored, and shed some tears but also had a great time playing in the snow, and sharing time together as we have always done. BC Hwy 3 was absolutely beautiful to travel on. I never had a complaint, well maintained. We love to explore British Columbia in all weather!

The picture in this post was taken at Lightning Lake, very close to the shore.  The tracks leading to the roses are my own, I selected that spot because it was intact, as nature intended it to be.  The next day, early in the morning, we returned to the lake; I wanted to see the roses before starting our road trip home.  The air was pure and cold and as I looked up into the sky as if looking for something I could see the low clouds moving slowly, pushed by a calm breeze, knowing exactly where they were going.  It was very peaceful.   

The roses were now surrounded by many tracks revealing other witnesses who are now, inadvertently and anonymously, part of these memories.  Before leaving I sang for my wife, "He venido" (I've come) with all the strength of my lungs and it echoed in the snowy mountains the same as when I sang it for her on December 24th, 2020, the last time we were both together at the lake.  To complete the magic moment, the blanket of clouds opened up in patches over the mountains showing the blue sky to give an opportunity for sun rays to bathe the frigid lake.    

I have no doubt in my mind that my wife was kissing me, but I did not want to share that thought with my daughters for them to make their own interpretation.

The trip home was beautiful.  The weather forecast was snow along the way and freezing rain in the area of Hope, British Columbia.  However, non of that happened and it was blue skies with cloudy patches.  I know who made that happen.




Related Stories


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Planner 00Iren

When I tell my daughters that their mother was amazing, I am not sure they grasp the magnitude of her stature. They tell me – “Yes dad, we know”. I remember the day I saw Christina the first time. It was in the halls of the chemistry department of Simon Fraser University. We both entered this long hallway at the same time, in opposite directions, in white lab coats, and we had the opportunity to take a good look at each other. When we passed our eyes crossed. She kept walking without turning but I looked back to see her disappear into one of the laboratories. “ Wow, I do not have a remote chance with that girl! ” Years later, after we reunited in Vancouver, she told me that she thought the same "- He is going to make a woman very happy one day"  - She told me that she had no idea that it was going to be her. After I received the ultimatum letter from Canada Immigration, I was left with no option but to escape to the United States and avoid deportation and possible impriso...

A Thousand Pictures, Three Remain

A thousand pictures, scattered wide, Moments frozen, side by side. Laughter, sunsets, faces bright, Fleeting echoes caught in light. Yet in the haze of time's embrace, Only three still hold their place. One of love, so pure, so true, One of loss, a tear in blue. One of hope—a flame so small, Yet the dearest one of all. Yes, you have guessed right; I was not having a perfect moment then I discovered these pictures in my Blogger picture drive; fresh air from the past.  I will sleep with a smile tonight.

Our Charlie, Hegel

It was 1981, and I had barely survived my first year at the University of Havana, where I was studying chemistry. The leap from high school to university had been a huge adjustment—not just for me, but for many others. In the fall of 1979, about 250 of us began the program together. By the second year, fewer than 50 remained. That year we were introduced to a new subject: Philosophy. Every subject has to start somewhere, and we began with the classics—their ideas, their conflicts, their strengths and weaknesses. But one question weighed heavily on us: why study philosophy at all? Shouldn’t we be focused on chemistry—the nature of substances, their reactions, the concepts of atoms, molecules, and bonds? That was the very first challenge we posed to our philosophy lecturer, and to us, it seemed perfectly legitimate. The answer, fittingly, was philosophical. In the Soviet context, philosophy was meant to train us in analytical reasoning and critical thinking—by grappling with big questi...