I don’t know what blew me away more,
the smell of the sage after I crushed a leaf between my thumb and forefinger,
or the aroma of peach, green apple, and melon
(and wasn’t there a hint of vanilla as well?)
as I swirled my glass of Pinot Gris at the Hillside Winery on the Naramata Bench.
Both are symbolic of my little space in the Okanagan Valley,
and both provide me a feeling of home.
I’ve been hiking with colleague and friend, Tara,
a new arrival from Brandon, Manitoba.
Like many health care professionals,
she has given up significant income to come live
among the sage bushes, California quail, and Ponderosa Pines.
The weather is nicer here;
the scenery is better as well.
The sacrifice of income for landscape and good weather
is called the ‘sunshine tax’.
We are all paying it.
When we were well into our 7.5-kilometer hike
from the library in Penticton to the Hillside Winery in Naramata,
I asked Tara why she had done it.
Why had she given up so much income to come to the expensive South Okanagan?
She stopped,
hooked her hiking poles into the crook of her elbow
and turned west into the sun
from our vantage point on the Kettle Valley Railroad trail.
She looked past the sage-filled slopes
over the pristine Okanagan Lake
to Mount N’Kwala and Giant’s Head Mountain,
and then to the blue skies beyond,
her perpetual smile unfaltering.
“I came here to breathe.”