Fun in Fernie, B.C.

Summer has arrived and it's time for R&R. Larkyn is doing a French Immersion Program and staying on campus at Laval University in Quebec. Tyler is working construction in the effort to raise enough money to defray the costs of studying fashion design in Milan this fall. His Italian class starts at the beginning of September and his full program starts in October. His flight has been booked and the first installment of his tuition paid - he must really be going!

Brad and I made the 12 hour trek to Fernie, B.C. to enjoy a mountain retreat. Although I was reticent about this small dot destination on the map, it has turned out to be quite fascinating. Brad's maternal grandfather took refuge in the coke mines outside of Fernie with his family to esape the Fernie fire of 1908. Apparently the coke ovens had been newly built by the Crow's Nest Coal Company and not yet used for processing the coal from the mines. Five hundred Fernie residents survived the fire by taking refuge in the City Hall. It begs the question, who decided who could seek the safety of City Hall? Who's idea was it to take refuge in the coke ovens 6 km outside of town. Brad's maternal grandmother described her mother in law in less than favourable terms. Could the cantankerous aspects of this woman's character also have been responsible for the quest for survival. It came from somewhere and that split second decision in the time of crisis was responsible for perpetuating many generations to come, including Brad's and our childrens. Quite wild.

The other morning, Brad and I headed to the much recommended Blue Toque Cafe. It is located in the town Art's Centre that was previously the site of the Railroad Station in town. The coal industry is alive and well in Fernie. Trains regularly travel through the historic town centre loaded with coal and blasting their whistles. Our new friend, Nick Guiliani, assured us that nowadays it is very clean coal and expounds the virtues of the Shell Corp. In the 1902 explosion in the Coal Creek Mine, apparently an entire shift of 128 men and boys died. True enough, the modern open pit mine has a vested interest in ensuring that is not repeated.

We met Nick in the town museum, always a guaranteed place to meet interesting people with interesting stories. He came from Italy in the 50's to work in the sawmills. The recession of 1981, resulted in his being laid off from the Shell Corp lumber division. Although he lost his benefits, the Shell Corp did rehire him in their mining division to drive trucks and maintain equipment. He is very impressed with the generosity of the Shell Corp donating so much of the land to wildlife preserves and the historic buildings to the community. His wife, Mary, also popped in and we had a good discussion about Italy. Interesting enough, he brought up the whole issue of language. When he left Italy in the 50's the internet explosion hadn't occurred. Him and his wife do not know thousands of words that didn't exist in Italian in the 50's. His wife was speaking Italian to a tourist in town and she complimented his wife her attempts to speak Italian-her native tongue. Too funny.