Chilliwack, BC

The Hope Slough is an amazing series of meandering waterways that drain the area between Chilliwack and Rosedale. The sloughs run primarily through private property but where the road crosses or parallels them, there's some amazing wildlife....Habitat includes Coho and Chum Salmon...

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The sloughs are visited by waterfowl through the year... Watch for American Wigeon, Wood Duck, scaup, Bufflehead, mergansers and Mallard AND from spring to fall, Great Blue Herons are a common sight!

Recently The Fraser Valley Regional Watersheds Coalition has completed its work at Hope River - Funded by the Pacific Salmon Commission Southern Fund, instream work to restore fish habitat in Hope Slough was conducted. A viewing platform and trail allows has been added and allows for public access to the site. This project was a cooperative effort between Fisheries and Oceans Canada, City of Chilliwack Parks, Fraser Valley Regional District and the Chilliwack Fish and Game Protective Association. Many salmon returns were observed this October!

Check out Hope Slough Habitat Restoration Project

When we first moved to Chilliwack - this gift of nature was one of the reasons we chose a house right across the street on Berkeley......

So pack a picnic lunch, grab a book - bring your dog and pick your favorite bench......or ...throw down a blanket....and just savor the waning days of autumn...........but do it quick - because they're predicting snow on Friday!

How to Get There? - From Highway 1 take the Vedder Road exit (Exit #119) heading northward. The road becomes Yale Road. At Young Road turn left and continue to a bridge crossing the Hope Slough. Its bordered by Berekley and Riverside on the South and Hope River Rd on the North side......Best place to park is on Berkeley - follow the markers to the park...:-)

Wondering where Chilliwack is? Click here......! :-)....Where is Chilliwack?......Map of North America

If you or someone you know is thinking of buying or selling property in Chilliwack or the Fraser Valley Area of B.C. -Please give Liz Moras, Associate Broker & REALTOR® a call! Call Liz at 604-799-0459 or e-mail at lizmoras@shaw.ca. Be sure to check out Liz's website www.lizmoras.com and blog at www.lizmoras.activerain.com.

Copyright © 2008 By Liz Moras, All Rights Reserved - Chilliwack Real Estate Blog - *Chilliwack's Hope Slough - the Heart of Fairfield Island*

Its always interesting to know how the rest of the world sees your country..........With the election of Obama....and the world-wide media attention -I think we're more aware of how the world is watching - and that we do live in a Global Community........What touches one country effects another.....especially when we share a border.

Anyhow I recent came across this article written by a British writer.......in the Sunday Telegraph......and it was about Canadians........I thought it was intresting how it took someone from England to put into words what we outselves haven't been able to...

... Sunday Telegraph Article From today's UK wires:

Salute to a brave and modest nation - Kevin Myers, 'The Sunday Telegraph' LONDON:

Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region.

And as always, Canada will bury its dead, just as the rest of the world, as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.. It seems that Canada 's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its' friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored.

Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped, glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States , and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts.

For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.
Yet it's purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, it's unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the 'British.'

The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attacks. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.

Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.

Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.
So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, John Candy, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British.

It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces.

Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia , in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan ?

Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families know that cost all too tragically well.

If you or someone you know is thinking of buying or selling property in Chilliwack or the Fraser Valley Area of B.C. -Please give Liz Moras, Associate Broker & REALTOR® a call! Call Liz at 604-799-0459 or e-mail at lizmoras@shaw.ca. Be sure to check out Liz's website www.lizmoras.com and blog at www.lizmoras.activerain.com.

Copyright © 2008 By Liz Moras, All Rights Reserved - Chilliwack Real Estate Blog - *How the World Sees Canada ...Today on Remembrance Day*

Last weekend I took my five year old niece Carmen...... to her soccer game at Fairfield Island. My brother and sister-in-law were working and I volunteered....I'll tell you - I'm not sure what the score was but I was mesmerized by the concentration, intensity and passion that I saw ...and was lucky enough to capture a couple of expressions of it...

 

Make a Smilebox slideshow

 

Oh to have that kind of drive and single-minded focus' eh?  It brought back memories of my daughter Sarah 10 years ago........same game, same determination........

I felt energized and inspired......To give WHATEVER it is that you're doing at the time Your Complete Attention.......to be Present to the Moment....one Moment at a time.......Savor it, Enjoy it........Give it all You've Got! :-)

So you've heard this story from me before....How do you live in a town for so long and yet there are so many things you still haven't seen.........so many places you haven't gone? Well yesterday morning I met my friend Tana and we grabbed a Starbucks and decided to go for a walk down the Rotary Trail........It was a gorgeous Autumn day - With fishermen casting their lines........the rushing Vedder River humming its autumn sonata......

This trail is wonderful not only for the scenery but for the great accessibility to the Vedder River for fishing. Sockeye and Coho are regular catches of the day...

Forget your weights? No problem just use your bike to do push ups ! :-)

We're not the only ones that enjoy the fishing!

The coho fishing continues to get better until it peaks in late October. It's still possible to get a bright coho in early December, just when the steelheading is about to start :-)

TheFall foilage takes 'picturesque' to a whole new level!

The Rotary Vedder River Trail was a joint venture with the Rotary Club of Chilliwack, the Canadian Forces Base of Chilliwack and the City of Chilliwack.

So grab your Ipod, take your dog., find your fishing rod........invite a friend.......but please don't wait as long as I did...as my friend Tana said........'you'll fall in love!'...

Track the trail map....

If you or someone you know is thinking of buying or selling property in Chilliwack or the Fraser Valley Area of B.C. -Please give Liz Moras, Associate Broker & REALTOR® of Re/Max Nyda Realty, a call! Call Liz at 604-799-0459 or e-mail at lizmoras@shaw.ca. Be sure to check out Liz's website www.lizmoras.com and blog at www.lizmoras.activerain.com.

Copyright © 2008 By Liz Moras, All Rights Reserved - Chilliwack Real Estate Blog - *Chilliwack's Rotary Trail - An Autumn Rush!*

Are you mesmerized by the magic of books? Do you have a passion for books....for reading and literature? Many of us have been moved and touched by the books we've read. Lives have been transformed by the books read!

I don't know about you....but I remember loving to go to bed early so I could....

snuggle under and....... my Nancy Drews ... Later when I had girls of my own ..........I searched the used books stores and bought the whole series again.....and read them to my girls........reliving the excitement of childhood mysteries...

The value and magic of a book is tangible - with its smell .........

Dog-eared pages & indelible inscriptions...there is nothing like a book!

Well, thanks to our neighbourhood Used Book Stores we can walk through aisle upon aisle of Books including, mysteries, science fiction and fantasy, modern lit and metaphysics, children's lit, history, rock, classics, Canadiana, cookboosk, film, music, art, romance, poetry, plays, military, horror, transportation, true crime and Antique books...

With the downturn in the economy and people searching for more ways to save.....the Used Book store offers books at a fraction of the cost.....

Now to the point of this Blog! - I wanted to share with you MY NEIGHBOUROOD Used Bookstore! Some 12 years ago David Short decided to turn his passion for books by opening up his own bookstore - His own 'Little Shop Around the 'Corner...The Book Hunter became the The Book Man! It wasn't long after...that his daughter Amber Short...

...joined the family business and added her passion and ingenuity - not to mention her Internet Savy to this Family Venture!

The Bookman - is truly with over 5,000 square feet of books, records and periodicals........located on Wellington in the heart of historic Chilliwack. This store has more books in the storage room then most book stores have on the shelves! In a very short time - it has become Second only to Penticton's Books n'things - as the largest Used bookstore in Western Canada.

The books are selected for quality and condition and to compliment their collection and hopefully yours! The staff is amazing - and with over 40 years of combined experience in the used books business......these people provide exceptional service, and are a super resource!

There's a large children's area - with over 5,000 books......and a delightful little play area...

And One of my Favorites...........the BookMark Bathroom! :-) We all know where most of the reading is done for some of you!

For those that say that Computers and the Internet have changed our reading habits....its true........but here it is being utilized to keeping the store diversified and expanding.....Both David and Amber subscribe to the belief that computers will never replace books....! Internet sales have opened the store to readers from around the world as far away as Australia and Europe........They even sold an obscure photography book to the Metropolitan Museum of Art not long ago!

Who hasn't seen You've Got Mail........?

It's the saga of the small bookstore forced to shut down because of the mega bookstore.....and yet Amber Short and her father David Short, the owners of the The Bookman somehow have defied the odds..

Book lovers are a special breed....and there's a certain thrill to be had when discovering a book you've been looking for for a long time. This is an experience that both Amber and her Dad get to experience and share with their customers, time after time...

Come and visit, browse....pull up a chair.....and travel through their collection and hopefully you'll find something special to add to yours!

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Check out their Trading policies at - http://www.bookman.ca/5-Trading-Policies.html

Looking for that Special book? - Fill out Request forms at http://www.bookman.ca/2-requestform.cfm

How does The Bookman Pay it Forward?

The Bookman collects world globes....and donates them to the Chilliwack School District classrooms.......creating 'global' awareness..;-)

The Bookman donates boxes of children's books to schools as anincentive for in-school-reading programs.

Literature Lovers Scholarships - are given to both Chilliwack and Sardis Secondary honoring those that love books - applicants write letters explaining how ‘books' have changed their lives -

The Bookman participates in many fund raisers and supports local Community Service Organizagtions and Programs through donations.

The Book Man's Motto - "So Many Books - So Little Time!"

45939 Wellington.....Chiliwack, B.C.

Open 364 days a year

604-792-4595

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If you or someone you know is thinking of buying or selling property in Chilliwack or the Fraser Valley Area of B.C. -Please give Liz Moras, Associate Broker & REALTOR® a call! Call Liz at 604-799-0459 or e-mail at lizmoras@shaw.ca. Be sure to check out Liz's website www.lizmoras.com and blog at http://lizmoras.activerain.com.

Copyright © 2008 By Liz Moras, All Rights Reserved - Chilliwack Real Estate Blog - *The Book Man - in Historic Downtown Chilliwack -B.C. - The Pied Piper of Books*