Minus some months living in Japan and Spain, I have lived most of my life in Canada. Yet I have never seen the aurora borealis. Well, I may have but thanks to a rather impressive astigmatism, it was probably all a blur to me. I did eventually get corrective lenses but also moved to Vancouver around the same time. From time to time the northern lights do make it down that far south, but generally they are very faint and one is never quite sure if she is indeed seeing what she is seeing.

If you have been reading along then you know I have recently relocated to northern Alberta, just in time for one of the largest solar storms in recorded history.

I was stoked and ready. Being so far up north, I had some pretty high expectations, but I had to wait for it. We are so far North, the sun sets quite late. It was after eleven before the show started. But finally the sky was darkeded and streaks of colour began to dance in front of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). I had it in mind that I would enjoy the show for hours and to entice Minime to join me, I offered up some buttery popcorn. I went inside to make it and ten minutes later when I came back out, it was all over. Smoke from the BC fires had rolled in and not a flash of color or star could be seen. Super bummer. Fingers crossed for a longer show and sustained clear skies next time.

I managed my move so that I got two Springs this year. Vancouver's tree blooms came early in 2024, and I got to enjoy our pink snow season before pulling up stakes. There are not as many cherry blossoms as Vancouver up in Peace River country, but there are some, and they are still as pretty and smell as sweet. These beauties were snapped this weekend on a drive through the country. The skies were clear and the weather fine this Saturday, so we took the Shaftesbury Ferry across the Peace River and set out to see what we could see. The blossoms, for all their spectacular pink, were perhaps the most mundane of what we found.

You never know what you will see on a journey you have yet to take. Aliens and astronauts lost in the Borealis forest. What else would come from the Big Skies. We got lost, or as lost as you can get on a single road that goes nowhere until it does. Turning around was always a possibility, but the boring one. Good thing we didn't too because when we finally stopped being lost, we collided with the largest bee in the world.

Meet Mr. Buzz-a-Lot. Actually I have no idea its name, but it hovers abover Fahler, Alberta. Fahler boasts French Canadian heritage, and is pronounced flare. Fahlerians claim Mr. Buzz-A-Lot is the biggest bee in the world. For certain, it is the biggest bee I have ever seen and certainly the biggest to be seen in Norhern Alberta. We found Major Tom, his little grey friend, cherry petals, and a giant metal bee. I would say our quest to see what could be seen was a buzzing success.

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