The Searchlight of Insight

Terrace Mountain forest fire out of control - Tess & family evaced

This is hot off the press as of about 6 PM PST Vancouver time Saturday. The Terrace Mountain forest fire jumped the fire guard on (I assume) the east side of the fire. According to some news and twitter updates it is "heading down towards the lake." In addition, according to the online news, there were "fire blasts" associated with this jump. I think that means fire explosions that are a result of intense heat, smoke and the right kind of forest floor fuel. Tess and gang (12 of them - add Tess' sister and friend, and two friends of Tess' parents, to that list) have been evacuated for the second time. This time it was more chaotic since the emergency crews wanted people to leave immediately. Unfortunately there were valuables left behind but Tess assures me she has everyone's passports! (Tess is being wonderful and has everything as much under control as humanly possible given the circumstances.) There is now a much greater probability that the cottage where we stay will be destroyed. I am about to fly to the US and won't have any updates for another 12 - 15 hours. Attached photo courtesy of Charity Joy off twitter.

Fintry forest fire update - July 30

At 8 AM this morning, Kelowna-time (PST), the government will change the Fintry evacuation notice from "Evacuate" to "Alert." This means that the gang can head home if they so chose. The Terrace Mountain fire is about 85% contained but fire fighters claim the fire is still "active and out of control." Therefore, even if the family returns to Fintry they need to be prepared to leave again on a moments notice. Many fire fighters have flown in from across Canada to assist with the blaze. In a strange twist of "six degress of separation" it turns out that one of those individuals is my niece's boyfriend from Ontario! Hopefully when the whole thing is over we'll be able to offer him a cold beer and home cooked meal! I am currently in Hong Kong, will be in the US next week for business meetings and then head to Fintry for one week. At the end of that week we return to Hong Kong. (At left, picture of  "La Casa," an area ten minutes from Fintry where we can pick-up milk, eggs etc when in a pinch. Picture courtesy of Kelly Hayes - Castanet.com.)

We're back & we're tired

Well folks, we are finally back in Hong Kong... arrived last night after the 12.5 hour flight from Vancouver. Kids were generally okay on the plane. We had a total of 14 pieces of checked luggage and seven or nine carry-ons (roughly, can't really remember anymore) including car seats for the triplets. Had a few snags getting everything home but eventually we all settled in. We ran the kids at full speed as much as possible until we put them to bed at 12:30 AM. Believe it or not, that bedtime was their first in "big beds" with Sebastian on the top bunk of new bunk beds for the first time! Stand by Tess' or this blog to hear more about that exercise. Triplets were irritable during the night, waking and eventually getting coaxed back to sleep every hour or so. We finally had to get them out of bed at 6 AM. When I left for work at 7:45 AM, Sebastian was still sound asleep. (Tess & I at left prior to a class reunion... more details in a future blog to follow.)

We arrive into Hong Kong with mixed feelings about what the future holds. Jasper's breathing was immediately a problem. By the time breakfast was over this morning he was wheezing quite badly and needed ventolin therapy. We will give JJ a few days to rest and settle before assessing the situation. In addition, each summer I always return from Fintry with some sort of "resolve" for the year ahead. Call it a form of a New Year's resolution. Well, none this year came to be. While the holiday was great, it was also not so great. Work encroached more than ever before. (For example, last Friday morning I was up at 5:45 AM preparing for two, one-hour conference calls that finally finished at about 10:10 AM). There were also logistical activities made things a lot more tiring than usual. Getting the gang from Okanagan to Vancouver and then Hong Kong was quite an operation and effort. (But WOW - are DVD players in cars ever a good idea!) Therefore, it was hard to disengage, to let go and give the resolve a chance to emerge. Close friends will ask, "Did Chuck get his groove back?" Answer: no... but we did do a time capsule and contained within mine are two committments. Watch this space for more details because to be truthful, I wonder if maybe God is intentionally holding back any resolve to test me. (At left... Anne Fox, Sebastian and I make the annual jump from the Fintry Lighthouse... see the glee on Seb's face?)

But don't get all gloomy by the above... we have loads of fantastic pictures, lots and lots of fun stories, (some of which may go down in family history), and all sorts of interesting tidbits to be shared (will tell you all about the time capsule but not the contents!) in the coming days and weeks. For now it is full speed ahead but I have to ask... did we ever slow down? (Left: Lake Okanagan as seen from Fintry at dawn.)

How about you... have you got your groove back... did you ever lose it?