Hockey at its roots.

Surfside RV Resort, Parksville BC (2 stars)

Lee says that hockey starts with those games in small rinks all over Canada. Parksville is one of those places. The Howie Meeker Arena holds a few hundred fans. At today's game, there were 127 of us. As is typical in leagues well below the best, the game is full of mistakes, full of goals and just plain fun to watch from about two or three rows above the team benches. And it's eight bucks to get in and you can park less than 50 meters from the door even if you come a little late.

In today's game, the home team wins 8-0 which is a follow-up from the 8-1 win over the same team a few days earlier. At one point, one of the players got into a real screaming match with the ref. His coach took him aside after his shift and had a chat with him. And then at the end of the period the player went over and apologized to the ref. Small town hockey is always entertaining.

Lez notes FOG - there is no apparent world beyond the boardwalk again. No Parksville, no trees, no ocean. The estuary ended right across the water leg at the back of our site. Spent more time working on a Power Point presentation of my sewing and quilting and how that all led up to Quilts of Valour - Canada. It was an interesting step back in time as I culled through many photos of sewing and quilting projects. Just had to share our high school grad photos.

It lightened up as the day ended, but still a spooky ride home from the Generals hockey game. A game against the Nanaimo Buccaneers again. This one did end in the Generals goalie's first game and not letting the Buccs on the score board. He was player of the game.