For the transition month of September, host PJ assigned “It’s Your World” as the Photo Blogging Challenge theme. In terms of being out and about, September is ideal for showcasing the world we enjoy while hiking, cycling and kayaking. And with our oldest son also back in the nest for a few months while his cross-border move for work is processed, it was also a month for family suppers, in-home movie nights, and for getting trounced by both kids in a game of Terraforming Mars!

1. On Top of Our World

At the start of the month, we were shocked to realize we hadn’t done a single real hike* all summer. On reflection, protracted home repairs and 4 or 5 weeks of wildfire smoke pollution in July and August kept us close to home. We made up for it by hitting the hiking trails 5x in September, logging over 100 km and 5000 meters elevation gain. This panorama is from our first hike, beyond Helen Lake (lower left). We summitted Cirque Peak (upper right) last year, so this time we hiked into the next valley (out the right side of the frame) past Lake Katherine. Check out our Relive video recap here. I took this photo using the pano function on the native camera app in my Pixel 4A phone.

2. Our World Includes Fording Rivers

A hike that includes fording the Bow River has to be timed well. Late spring/early summer snow melt can mean the river is too high/too fast. Even later in summer, a high daytime temperatures can change a river that’s passable in the morning to one that’s impassable in the afternoon (due to lingering snow melt/glacier melt). So we prefer late summer/early fall for hikes that require fording the Bow River. Here’s Mr GeoK wading across on our way back from Crowfoot Pass.

3. Our World Includes Homemade Ramen with Pork Belly

It’s about a 3 day process for us to make homemade ramen: the broth, the marinated “just right” eggs, the noodles, the braised pork belly. Our youngest young adult and I share the cooking duties. And the whole family enjoys the final product!

4. Our World Still Doesn’t Include Indoor In Person Visits

After Alberta’s #BestSummerEver (not), we’re in the middle of an absolutely terrible COVID 4th wave. So we continue remotely visiting with friends and family, with the occasional porch visit when we’re desperate for some IRL conversation. One day this month, we stopped by my brother/SIL’s place when we were out for a walk. They weren’t home. They thanked us for “leafing” our calling card at their door. 😉

5. Exploring Our World Sometimes Means Getting Lost

We did three golden larch hikes in September. Two were repeats. One was new-to-us. We kept going just a bit further, in search of a view from above the larch forest. We successfully found a ridge top with a bird’s eye view of the golden trees. And we knew where we needed to get back to – just there! But the trail we followed down from the ridge petered out after a while, and we ended up making a big loop through the woods before finally making our way back to the meadow at the tip of my finger! For more on this adventure, check out Mr. GeoK’s Relive video recap.

No surprise to long-time readers, Mother Nature plays a key role in our world. And family and friends. To check out what matters to other PBC participants, check out the link-up over at A ‘lil HooHaa.

How about joining the PBC fun? The October theme is Get Out and Play, which should be a great fit for readers of this blog. All you need are five photos. How much writing to go with those photos? Entirely up to you! Hope to see you in the link up a month from now.