Fry Creek Canyon
(Feb – Apr 2013)

The front cover is a photo of the Fry Creek Canyon in the West Kootenays. This photo show the water level at its lowest, before the spring run-off covers much of the rocks you now see. Water always finds the lowest point to flow back to source. Slowly it erodes everything in its way, but it can also move tons of soil in a few minutes, as the Johnson’s Landing landslide proved last July. After one of the wettest springs ever, the land could no longer hold the extra water and let go. Even if there are more mud slides this spring, the path to the lake is so cleaned out that it should not overflow its banks again. The road crew put in huge culverts where the creek crosses the road, allowing for the spring run-off and extra mud to keep moving down the mountain to the lake.

The bridge in the photo allows people to walk to Birchdale, which is the mound in the middle of our logo-photograph. Several families access Birchdale by boat, but once upon a time, sternwheelers stopped there, then Johnson’s Landing and at Argenta. These thriving communities had lots of children and a musical program that is still reflected in the entertainment occasionally offered for a night out. The trail to Fry Creek was originally carved out by miners seeking gold in the late 1920s. The bridge was helicoptered into place as part of the upgrade when the Fry Creek Canyon got included in the Purcelle Wilderness Conservancy provincial park. The bridge is less than an hour’s hike from the Retreat Center, where you can hike for days up into mountains.

If you look closely at the photo, you will see a few trees growing in the cracks of the rock, where water and dirt collect. Trees grow in places that amaze me. If there is not enough soil to support the tree, a wind storm will blow it over and the cycle starts again, building humus for the next growth. Nature is constantly rebuilding and now that 2012 is complete, another cycle is beginning for humans. The vested interests of the old, unsustainable corporations that want control and use manipulation for their gain are crumbling. Large groups of people are realizing that the chemical companies control much of our government and this is not a sustainable system. The power needs to go back to the people and there are many internet sites that support the idea, including the Idle No More movement and www.WiserEarth.org. The natives have stood on firm ground for over 200 years, asking that the people and government co-operate with nature.

Did you know that we just completed the 333rd consecutive month of above-average temperatures and that half the Arctic ice has now disappeared into the ocean? It seems we are past the point of no return. More earthquakes and natural disasters, as well as man-made calamities, will continue to occur. The environment reflects the internal struggle that is occurring as we, the human race, distance ourselves from nature and try to dominate her. As below, so above.

In Jungian dream work, water represents emotions and these days, even talk show hosts talk about feelings, but as a human race, people generally do not understand why they or other people do certain things. The Art of Intimacy is a book that I value as it has the best understanding of emotions I have read. It speaks of the nature within ourselves and the nature of families and why it is so difficult to understand ourselves unless we learn the difference between closeness and intimacy. True freedom lies in the ability to be our self, to understand our self, but from a very early age we are programmed by society to accept rules that we do not always understand. Obedience does not assure humanness. If I have to negotiate my behavior to be accepted by another person, that is called closeness. Closeness allows for socialization and civilization. To feel intimate, I must be naturally myself.