Knightmare

I had a 'knight'mare. I dreamt that I was on the grounds of a castle estate. I had a knife in my hand to defend myself against an evil force that was haunting the walls. Several times I thrust the knife into thin air but the evil thing eluded me. At the last it came out of a tree that grew very close to the castle wall and again I thrust my knife and the spirit flew forward and came right at me. That's when I awoke- screaming.

Later on when recounting this dream to my husband (who shook my shoulder that night and calmed me down) I told him what I had been researching- an old abby called Kloster Lehnin in Brandenburg that had a legend associated with it where the hero fell asleep in an oak grove and was threatened by an aggressive stag. The hero could not use his spear to defend himself until he prayed for help...something like that.

In other words, my not-so-original nightmare was the same as the hero's but there was no time to pray. I've obviously spent way too much time researching a project and it might be getting time to give it up. Namely, building a family tree that connects names from the 1700’s to the 1800’s. I’m missing family names that would connect those generations…don’t really know anymore where to take it as I’ve even checked the armorial archives for the relevant area. Oh well, maybe one day I will get to see Oberwart one day and ask what family is left if they know more.

That last picture is a photo taken by either my mother or father of my sister, brother and me when we were in our early teens. It's one of my favorite pictures and I'm feeling sentimental tonight. :)

Shana - a Film in Lower Nicola.

From the set of 'Shana - The Wolf's Music'. This movie was filmed for the most part in Lower Nicola and features a lot of local talent. I originally went to the set with my husband to show support for local events/doings and saw a lot of people I knew. Now looking at the photos I recognize other people who have since appeared in the talent show that went on in Merritt this past summer.

We had great weather fortunately and filming lasted into the evening. There had been a call for people to come out to be extras and I was surprised at how few people could find the time to do so but it has to be said people were busy getting the most out of their summer and the production people were trying to be low key about the whole thing. When we arrived they were asking people to call up friends to come down to the set...my husband and I actually became extras kind of out of empathy.

I would rather have taken more photos but we had to hide our cameras and water bottles when the cameras were rolling because the director didn't want it to look touristy I guess. In any case, it was still fascinating to see the workings behind a film production in this way. I know a little about the plot but won't say much because that's for the producers distribution team to take care of!

It's nice that our area is becoming more known in the filming world for locations and talent...I'm looking forward to seeing the film when it's eventually released.

NOTE: The copyright watermark is extremely visible to show that no rights are given to repost these images. If you want prints or other uses contact me via email.

Water Festival

Yesterday my husband and I stopped by Rotary Park to check out the Water Festival. This is kind of like 'Rivers Day' and was hosted by an organization called the Nicola Watershed Community Roundtable. The weather was really nice although a bit cool towards the evening. The first person we talked to was a man from Oceans and Fisheries Canada who showed us the display that was set up and then discussed fish farming and such topics. There was a tank of coho fry and a cute little display of the life cycle from the roe to fry stage. We had a hot dog after that and checked out the art on display which was themed on the subject of water naturally. The musicians were setting up as we wandered around the mostly educational displays and then I saw all the wooden fish laying on boxes on the ground. "Come and paint a fish!" they said so I picked up a fish and found a brush and went at it. There were lots of plywood cutouts of fish and birds and the idea was to paint both sides and then place them along either the Nicola or Coldwater Rivers in Merritt. I think these cutout will eventually be attached to the fence of one of the schools afterwards. I was really getting into it actually- after doing one I did two more! Othmar meanwhile had decided that the salmon dinner at the concession looked really tasty so got us some tickets and so with paint still on my fingers we chowed down on an absolutely delicious salmon dinner. Brambles Bakery ran that one and of course the little pastries for dessert were fantastic too. It was a good stop for Friday...we had to do grocery shopping afterwards and it's always better to do that on a full stomach!