SUMMER

Hurray, it's the last morning of school before the summer holidays!

Okay for the kids, that is. As a parent I am faced with the dilemma of balancing the fact that the kids are at home and I am at work.

My older daughter is working full time - which is really a great thing, but I have lost my in-home daycare worker. For the most part anyhow. She works shifts, so can be home at times while my husband and I are not. The two younger ones are still enjoying their childhood, so putting them to work is totally out of the question...

I love the summer and all that it has to offer and our mountain lifestyle embraces these months wholeheartedly. We are a five minute walk to the lovely public beach where there is a small playground, as well as an excellent swimming location with a diving raft just off shore.

There are world class downhill mountain biking trails at Panorama Mountain Village where several events and competitions are held each year. As well, many biking trails undulate throughout the forests lower down in the valley.

Hiking trails wind throughout the trees above the lake and there are many more excellent hikes through nearby Kootenay National Park. The mountain scenery is enough to bring one to their knees in awe.

We spend many of our weekends camping at a favourite site on a small remote lake. It's a forty-five minute drive into the backcountry along a logging road. The lake is cold, deep and an has an excellent supply of large trout - if one can catch them! The fish are so well fed that a tiny morsel on the end of a fishing line holds no attraction for them at all.

I used to ride horseback, but now my horse is retired to pasture across the lake. He is old and living out his days in luxury with his buddies, as a horse should. Once my kids are grown I will take up riding again. It is my passion - or rather - one of my passions!

To say it all, we have some friends from the city who have a cabin around the corner from us. They laugh and say, "What do you mean you're going camping? This is camping."

It's all relative, I guess!

Photo: Lake Windermere, British Columbia