Your Cruise Directors

About Sue

Of Finnish descent, I was raised in Hope from the age of 9. We lived in town, and kept our horses out here from the time our family acquired “the Othello ranch” in the late 1960's. Having lived here as a child and again as an adult, I've known all three families that have owned this wonderful place since it was ceded from the Kettle Valley Railway (CPR) in 1923; their stories; their histories.

For love of food, I have spent my life learning to cook and bake nutritious, delicious, food. I have early and fond memories of baking bread while standing on a chair, with my mom and my grandma. My mom's disease brought a dedication to organic health food learned in my childhood .

Several times in my life I have turned to vegetarianism, and veganism so I appreciate the needs of those that aspire to these out-of-the-norm food preferences. Currently omnivorous, I love the variety of organic foods we grow and are able to obtain from other area producers.

My family's love of good food steered me to gardening at an early age, and I continued to garden throughout my life whenever I had a square of ground to dig in. During years of urban, apartment dwelling I had planter pots on decks or in windows. We now have wonderful organic vegetable gardens, herb gardens, and a modest fruit orchard all expanding yearly.

Along with my love of food has been a tendency to carry extra pounds. So, early on in my adulthood I became a fitness instructor (after hours) to discipline me to keep those extra pounds at bay.

The pursuit of fitness started from the age of four dancing ballet with the Royal Academy of Dance. In my early teen years my mother became ill and, in combination with many alternative medicines and organic, healthful eating, she introduced yoga to my world. I became a student of yoga then and found it to be a a good fit with my continued pursuit of dance. I practiced both for many years.

As a Certified BCRPA fitness instructor, I volunteer time to teach at the YMCA. I also hold fitness certificates in Yoga and Pilates.

During the last six years my earlier love of yoga has been rekindled; first as a fitness pursuit, and in the past three years, more holistically with Iyengar yoga. I am still very much a student of the latter, and I do not purport to be an expert in this field.

What I have found and wish to share with our guests is a unique blend of yoga, Pilates, stretch, and relaxation practiced out in our natural environment: I have found this blend to be so enriching that I am compelled to share it with others.

As an important part of my professional fitness certification and as an important part of our guests' safety and security, I also hold current Red Cross First Aid and CPR designations.

I speak a little bit of Finnish from my childhood, and I have a passing knowledge and ability to speak a little Spanish from my university days and from my travels.

Combining my various life experiences, with our wonderful, natural surroundings is an provocative mix to offer our guests.

Enter Henry

I met Henry after deciding to downsize my career in favour of a transfer to my hometown, Hope.

We took our time exploring how we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together building on our mutual love for the land and for simple living. We got married, I retired at 40, and Henry continues with his career in telecommunications while we continually develop our eco retreat.

Former careers as firefighter, fire chief, and ambulance attendant provide Henry with an extensive background in fire safety, personal safety, and first aid. He holds Provincial Government Water Systems Certification to ensure the safety of our on-site water supply which is tested weekly by the Provincial Ministry of Health.

Henry is also a professional baker by trade and lends his culinary baking skills often.

An outdoors-kind-of-guy, Henry has lived and explored in the area for 15 years. He is the cruise director for chopping wood, starting campfires, hot tub fires, and sauna fires, for building projects, and for other ”guy” stuff including maintenance of an ever-clean kitchen.

As a Master Hammocker, Henry gives cruise direction is this activity as well.

Born in Holland, Henry has lived in Canada since he was 4. His Dutch is a little rusty and he is shy about speaking it, but he manages well with our guests from Holland.

From a large family of 10 children Henry has always known what simple living is all about.

We arrived at the perfect number of 6 guests by averaging the size of Henry's family (12) with the size of my family (5) to arrive at a total of eight comprised of six guests, Henry and me.

Here's Max

With a self-given moniker of “third hand”, Maxine is a woman of many talents. She gardens, cooks, cleans, paints, landscapes, builds, and has probably done just about everything at the retreat except lead guest physical activities.

As one of our closest rural neighbours, Maxine is often on hand at different times throughout the day. Max can move you with a story about just about anything so guests are warned if they wish silence, not to provoke this cruise director...some of her stories are rather lengthy. On the other hand, if you are interested in knowing anything about anything, a question to Max may keep you entertained for hours.

About Rambo

Named for the movie character, Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone in “Rambo: First Blood”, our faithful retreat companion was born February 14, 2003. He is a vivacious Black Lab/Australian shepherd dog we trained specifically to assist with the eco retreat.

Rambo has been trained to “herd” our guests on bushwalks, always checking on each participant. He guards us from unwanted approaches and warns us of changed circumstances.

Rambo has his own back pack, as he is responsible for carrying the first aid kit and extra water while on the trail.

Jackie White

Jackie was our first cruise director. Inspiring us all, she was an integral part of our original vision and composer of our eco retreat.

Having lived a few more decades of life than either Henry or I, Jackie set a jaunty pace along the trail, never missing an opportunity to say “will you look at our mountains”, or ”I wonder what that beautiful flower smells like”.

As a part time cruise director, Jackie enriched us with her many, many, decades of local outdoor experience in the area. A great cook, an outdoor enthusiast, and a dear friend, we have missed Jackie since her passing in the spring of 2005, and often find ourselves looking upward, feeling her near.

Harold Blackdog

Our faithful old dog, Harold, passed in the summer of 2005. Harold Blackdog was an ancient 15 when he moved on, having led an active and full life here by the river.

Despite physical infirmities during his last summer, Harold, incredibly, followed and caught up with us at the peak of the Hope-Nicola Valley Brigade Trail one day: He had not participated in this hike for over a year.

His ever watchful eye and welcoming bark always let us know when visitors were approaching. We miss him dearly and know that he still watches over the entrance to our retreat.