July 15 ~ 19: A Special Visitor

Great horned owls can hear the heartbeat of a mouse 30 feet away. They can tell exactly how far under the snow a mole is tunnelling along before they blast through the crust layer and grab it in their talons. They can also swoop so close to the head of our special visitor that the power of the encounter brought shivers to her body and tears to her eyes.

...and being buzzed by a great horned owl was just one of many surges of life we experienced while our special visitor—my mom!—came and spent 3 days, including her birthday with us.

Tuesday morning Margo and Quartz (our car) waited in the passenger pickup area at YVR while I snuck through the "Do Not Enter" doors into the baggage pickup area to help her get her bag—I hadn't seen her in 14 months, and was excited! We went straight to Lighthouse park for a picnic, because after flying across the country there is nothing we would want more than to walk through an old-growth forest, sit on massive rocks overlooking the ocean, and eat healthy food.

When people are landing from a flight, I like to let them notice their surroundings and come into the present in their own time, even though the person may be a bit "flighty" and discombobulated and I am wanting to connect. Gratitude to my mom and this tree, a few hundred feet into the park, for offering its medicine and quickly calling us all into reverence and presence.

Unfortunately this was the only picture of our picnic... 2 people, 1 eye.

We wanted to show my mom all the wonders of the north shore, so we took her to the suspension bridge at Lynn Canyon. See if you can tell from the photos if she liked it…

...We learned that a swingy, high-traffic foot-bridge, 160 ft. above a rushing river is not everyone’s cup of tea.

She is a fan of tours though! Margo and I laughed as she slipped right in with this bus tour to learn about the salmon hatchery and the flora in Capilano canyon. She was a bit disappointed when I wouldn't let her stay with the tour for lunch...

...because I knew the Wonder bread egg-salad sandwiches they were likely serving would never match the gluten-free crepes at the Bluhouse Café in Deep Cove.

En route to Deep Cove we stopped at Mountain Equipment Co-op so my mom could get some nice new clothes and other things she needed, which are hard to come by where she lives in the east Kootenays at Yasodhara Ashram.

Here she is testing out a nice pillow for the flight home... pure satisfaction...

Thursday was her birthday and when we emerged from our bedroom in the morning she released balloons she had been blowing up, kicking off the festivities as they flubbered around the room. We promptly followed that with a dance party and lent her Margo’s cape while we sang and she circled the birthday flame.

Later in the day we took the gondola up Grouse Mountain, which offered one highlight after another.

Grinder and Coola, the 1000 pound Grizzly bears who have been living in the sanctuary on top of the mountain since they were rescued as cubs almost 20 years ago.

A hike to the peak!— overlooking West Vancouver, Vancouver harbour filled with anchored international freighters and the UBC peninsula, home of the famous nude beach, Wreck Beach... if you look very closely...

The birds of prey show, where we took the pictures of the great horned owl, blew us all away big time. I think at some point each of us were overtaken by emotion as one of the birds flew right over our heads.

For me it was the Peregrine Falcon, who is the fastest animal on earth, reaching speeds of well over 300 km/h. The trainer lost the falcon in the sky for a while as it gained altitude and then someone yelled, “there it is!” and it flew right over my head before slamming into the “target” the trainer was twirling around, simulating the smaller bird that it would kill on impact.

I was surprised about the wave of emotion that this little maniac brought over me. It was similar to the experience of being emotionally disarmed that has happened listening to exceptional musicians, or watching incredible athletes.

For my mom the emotion came when the owl pictured above flew over her with its silent flight, because of its special feathers.

For Margo is was a visit from this bald eagle that brought her to uncontrollable tears.

In gratitude to our friend Tianna, who lives on top of Grouse and who's husband is the operations manager, for inviting us into the wonders up there. And gratitude to our special visitor for rerouting her trip from Ontario back to the ashram to include three unforgettable days with us on the north shore. It is always a blessing to spend time with my mom, mostly because she is so great, but also because being around her helps to bring attention to some of my unconscious behaviours :)