The Kilmorey Lodge burned to the ground!

A historic lodge and landmark in a southern Alberta national park burned to the ground Tuesday morning.

The Kilmorey Lodge in Waterton Lakes National Park caught fire at 4 a.m.

Everyone made it out safely, according to park officials. No other buildings were damaged.

"For a lot of people the Kilmorey was near and dear to their heart, so it's a very sad day for the park and for visitors," said Rod Blair, the park superintendent.
The Kilmorey Lodge in Waterton Park, pictured here before the fire, burned to the ground Tuesday morning.The Kilmorey Lodge in Waterton Park, pictured here before the fire, burned to the ground Tuesday morning. (Courtesy www.watertoninfo.com)

Blair rushed to the lodge when he learned about the fire and watched the engulfed and partially collapsed building burn.

The loss of the Kilmorey will have an impact on tourism in the village of Waterton Park near the U.S.-Canada border because it was a popular spot, said Blair, but not just with visitors.

Blair was among the parks staff who ate lunch at the lodge since it was the only restaurant open in the winter.

"It's sort of an icon in the community," said Blair. "It's a sad thing to see a beautiful old building like that destroyed.

Blair described the interior as "Victorian-style."

"I think it was the only place left that didn't have televisions, radios and telephones in the rooms. It was keeping in the era of the original rooming house," he said.

The lodge was built in 1926 as a rooming house by Ida Kemmis. It burned down in 1933 and was rebuilt and expanded in 1940.

The cause of the fire is unknown and fire officials are investigating.

"Hopefully the owner will rebuild," Blair said.

The story is from cbc.ca. This is truly terrible news, and I'm really saddened by it. The Kilmorey was always the last stop before driving to Lethbridge after a day in the mountains, for beer or a hot drink, and often for a delicious burger. Just this past December as we navigated icy roads to Waterton National Park, we couldn't reach the ranger's office to ask if the roads worsened ahead or to ask about trail conditions, so we phoned the Kilmorey. The lady at the front desk was so nice and answered all my questions to the best of her knowledge. Certainly not her job and she had no responsibility to help us out, but she was kind enough to tell me what she knew about conditions. We picked up hot coffees there after a wonderful day snowshoeing but unfortunately didn't have time to stop for longer. I'll sure miss this place!

God bless an inversion!

Last Friday, while the rest of Vancouver suffered yet another foggy, drizzly, nasty, cold day, Miranda and I took off up the mountain for a day of snowshoeing. It was beautiful! There was a full inversion and we could feel the heat rising forcibly almost off the snow. I even got a little bit of sunburn on my nose. Gorgeous day, good company, totally revived our spirits and vitamin D levels.

Did you know snowshoeing burns like 500 calories an hour? That seems absurdly high but multiple sites on the internet confirm it. And, as we all know, the internet never lies. No wonder my hips were sore and my legs were so tired after two and a half hours!

Conehead Boris

This poor little noodle gave himself a stress lick while we were away for the holiday. Licked his armpit (yes, that's right) raw, pretty much, so he had to be in a cone for a few days while we applied ointment and tried to break him of the licking habit. Oh my god he was so miserable! He would try to run away from it, hit the cone off a doorway or chair leg, freak out even more and try to bolt again! There was pee everywhere because he just couldn't contain himself. He took to lying on the couch with his cone and face facing the cushion, totally the most depressing sight. One upshot is that he really sought out comfort from us while the cone was on so we got lots of cuddle time with the usually reserved Boris. He finally kicked off the cone on day four and we think he's pretty much over the stress of it. Can you imagine if people had to be put in cones for various illnesses and conditions? The world would be a tragic place - and pretty hilarious.

Why not start the year off with a goofy cat?

Preparations nearly complete

It's not quite 9:30AM here in Vancouver and I've already got the squash and potato gratin in the oven that we'll take to Rocco's office holiday party tonight. I'm imagining other house dwellers waking up and wondering how they could have slept through the day to dinner, judging by the smell. But there was no other time to do it today as I've got a lunch date, an afternoon meeting with some Emily Carr University people, a gym date (yes, you read that right) and in there somewhere I have to figure out what to wear to this party. Our sixth. Yikes.

This is the last party before we get a few days to organize, then fly to Alberta. Last weekend it was madness - 5 parties in 5 days, and that was only the invitations we accepted. On Sunday we could have gone to a Hanukkah party (we did, good dreidling!), a tree trimming party, or a contra dance. Dueling traditions! By the end of it, though we were glad we made it to every party, we were totally exhausted, way over fed, and over-peopled, if you know what I mean. This week was much more relaxed socially but very busy professionally. But, moving on, the holidays are here!

You might remember that last year I had some trouble getting into the holiday spirit. Not so this year. Maybe it was the overflowing bounty of parties, or the act of sending little parcels to fabulous people in my life (one of you has already received yours, one of you should check your mail soon!), or just the anticipation of seeing friends and family at home. Whatever did the trick, I've been looking forward to the break for weeks now. So, a big shout out to those in Alberta or traveling there in the next couple days, call me! We'll ski! We'll snowshoe! We'll hold new babies (C'mon Dawnald, I know you can do it)! We'll get tipsy and wander the snow covered streets! Not at the same time, of course.

Oh man, that squash dish smells soooooo good. Oops, I haven't had breakfast yet! No wonder I'm salivating. Enough stalling, on to the rest of the busy day. I hope you're all ready enough for the holidays and that you get a chance to down tools, put your feet up, and enjoy it this year.

Lots of love,
Liminal Me

Think before you eat

I often visit Worldchanging to see what's up with those fine folks who think so clearly about how we live in the world, and to find out what others are doing about making the world a better place. Recently they posted this public service announcement produced for Japan about national food security and public health.


The original blogger' interpretation of the meaning and influence of the PSA is very clear, and I agree with her analysis, so I'm republishing it here:

If you haven't yet seen this video from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), you're missing out. One of the cooler PSAs I've ever seen, it offers an entertaining animated rundown of food security, though the concept is never mentioned in so many words (at least in translation).

The dilemmas: Japan's food culture is slipping away; it depends dangerously on imports from a very small group of nations; Japan's agriculture economy is suffering; and Japanese citizens are unhealthy from eating too much meat and greasy food.

The solutions: Japanese citizens should think before they eat; supermarkets should buy healthy, locally produced foods and label them as such; farmers should produce more of what people need to eat.

What's missing from the minimal dialogue, I think, is a mention of the substantial changes in policy needed to help make all of these good things happen (for a background on that, I recommend Michael Pollan's recent essay).

But effective public education like this very viral video is a great first start. And the dancing cows are wonderfully, weirdly mesmerizing.

Oh me oh my!

Make sure you have the sound on for this one!