, 28 ~ Sunday, September 25, 1994 ~ North Shore News A grand time on the road to Grand Forks Eleanor aoe THE VINTAGE YEARS ON TRE road again. After the adventure of tracking the Duffey Lake Road inte the Cariboo a couple of months ago, I'd rather expected to be grounded for the rest of the year. Oh, we talked, about the Okanagan and the Kootenays, but I'd not pinned it to my petticoat. My bold an.” handsome driver had a lot on his plate this summer and | wasn’t sanguine of seeing him scrape it clean before Christmas. He did, though, and for . four days last week we went roam- ing through Keremeos and Whipsaw Creek and Bromley Rock and over the Richter Pass to Osoyoos and beyond. Our first night, from a standing start on Keith Road, was spent in Grand Forks! I was astonished. Gosh, when I was a girl that would have taken at least two days from Vancouver, I couldn't get over the improve- ments on the highways — often there are four lanes, very classy. I'd ng idea so much had been done to widen and straighten. I'd also for- gotten that the horseless carriage is a good deal faster and more com- fortable than it used to be. There are other changes apart from the road-beds, of course. improvements in communication and land-management, that kind of thing. But say you should just take a drive over there to Greenwood and Trail and Rock Creek and Midway for the pleasure of seeing the parts that have avoided so- called improvement. You'd be enchanted by the beautiful old houses and church buildings and commercial buildings that have been lovingly cared for or rehabili- tated. As for Grand Forks, where the highway is still the mainstreet, there are several houses open for those with memories. You won't find patios here, just old-fashioned porches and verandas plus the friv- olities of pergolas and cupoius and widows’ walks, and bay-windows with elegant curtains. And Hedicy’s handsome old Colonial Lodge sports a sign saying “Horses wel- come”. September is a great time of year for this kind of tour of course, because of the profusion of color on the hill-sides — the vine-muaple is glorious — and the country-gar- den bloom. Vines and fruit-trees alike are laden and there's a general joy in the benediction of nature's abun- dance. The hay’s being gathered in. the corn’s ripe, voluptuous open- handedness reigns. Every now and then there’s a one-time farmstead falling to pieces, poplars growing through the roofs, the shoulders of the barns collapsed on themselves. You have to wonder why. There are few signs of the Doukhobor houses, too, those four- square log edifices of rigid design, always in twos, that used to be so evident around these parts. We guess it’s because the children have grown up Canadian, but surely the land they stood on had some valuc. Were their holdings gifts from our government? It seems an unnecessary waste, -when there are people everywhere without the comfort of a home- place. Odd, too, that even the farms that show prosperity — handsome houses have replaced the original hovel, and there is evidence of trea- sured machinery — you'll still see the old out-buildings standing, roofless and mossy. What are they keeping them fer’ Reminders? You don't see old sulkies and wagons standing around, or old Ford irucks or hay-rigs. Stuff like that would bring cash maybe. You can teli I'm not doing the driving on this safari — I'm just in charge of pensive conjecture, as well as the cookies and milk. A constant conjecture has to do with the miles and miles and miles of forests we're passing through. !f those forest protectors on the coast would get around to seeing this province, not just the parts where they're sure of publicity, they would surely be rendered speech- less by the evdiess crowding trees. There are mountains here. bills too, but real mountain after seal mountain, and each one of them is smothered in trees. Mostly conifers, pine. spruce, balsam, but millions of them, so densely growing one literally can't see through them. Our wildlife count was exe- crable — one sour-faced coyote. Ada Leung Pharmacist Chacking your medication histo- ry before we fill any prescription for you is one of the many jobs our pharmacists perform. We believe it’s important. It helps us help you better. Regarding calcium intake: 1500 mg per day through diet and supplements is important. This should happen all through a woman's life. Hf you feel you need a caicium supplement. our pharmacists can help you make the right choice.