on tuesday i caught a greyhound out to pemberton (next town up from whistler). i came on a whim - had a couple days to kill and an invitation from my friend brad. heard it was beautiful here.
it is beautiful. maybe the most beautiful place in the world. the town is super super cute.
brad has been working on an organic potato farm and living in a cabin. he called me last week from his manager's house in town, and said i was welcome to come but have absolutely no way of contacting him.
so when i decided to come i called the root house manager, andrew. he was amazingly nice and excited for me to come visit and said he would bring brad into town to meet me at the bus.
brad and andrew did meet me, and took me to andrew's place where andrew and his girlfriend leah made us a delicious supper of moose meat tacos.
i sang for my supper and brought wine and cheese to share. brad and andrew were both super pumped that i brought my guitar - brad in particular as he left his guitar in vancouver thinking he was just going for a short vacation trip up to prince george when he stumbled upon this job and decided to stay.
andrew and leah are wonderful people and wonderful hosts. andrew visited pemberton from australia 6 years ago and just stayed (a story that you hear a lot around here) and leah is the niece of the owner of the farm where andrew and brad work. she works in whistler, in a restaurant i believe. after dinner, andrew gave us a ride back to the farm, about 10 minutes outside of town.
i spent the next two nights with brad in his cabin. it's a cute little space with a wood stove for heat, coleman stove for cooking and not too much of anything else. expect insects and mice. despite the unwanted tenants, the place is really cozy with lots of interesting things passed on from previous visitors.
i was hoping to get a day's work on the farm, but in the end the day i was there was quite frantic at the farm and no one was able to send for me to come help out. it would have been tough for me to jump in with no training and mess with the rhythm of the workers already there. brad gave me a tour a little later on and showed me all the fancy machinery used to harvest and sort and clean and package all the potatoes. this fascinates me. i wish i could have seen it all in action, but oh well, i'll get another chance to get my hands dirty on a farm another day.
so instead i spend my day on the farm around the cabin. it was a beautiful day and i went for a great morning walk in the sun. the mountains in the area are just getting their first snow fall and everyone is really excited about it. here, winter is when work slows down and play happens. i cleaned and tidied the cabin and felt like a good old farmer's wife. i played lots of guitar and sang my heart out and napped and read and all of that great stuff.
when brad came home he was pooped for a hard day of work and we cooked a delicious meal of couscous cooked with lentil soup and fresh carrots and kale from the farm, with grilled sandwiches of cheese, steamed kale and tomatoes. yum.
today i had to figure out how to get back into town to catch a bus back towards the city. it's generally pretty easy to hitch a ride around here and the people are friendly and neighbourly. unfortunately it was raining, but not too hard. in the end i walked to the farm and left my bags in the barn and waited on the road with my umbrella for a ride.
i got a ride from the second car that passed, a super nice guy with a farm just down the road. he knows the owners of the farm where i was staying and was happy to help me get into town, even though he was running late for a meeting. we listened to an audio tape of the bhagavad gita and he pointed out places in town where i could kill time until my bus left. at the end of the ride he handed me handfuls of organic fruits from his farm. what a magical place.
now i'm in the pemberton library and community centre, where people continue to be ridiculously nice and helpful. i'll catch a bus in an hour and a half that will take me to horseshoe bay, just west of west vancouver, where relatives trish and bill mclachlan will meet me and put me up for the night. we've never met but have graciously invited me to stay with them. there daughter will be there for dinner as well. they will help me catch a ferry to nanaimo tomorrow where sue ronson, my dad's cousin who hasn't seen me since i was a baby, will meet me and put me up for a couple days.
wow i feel so fortunate and lucky and well connected and well taken care of.
magic.
will update again soon,
jacqueline.
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