No Place Like Home

Just returned from 3 days in the Okanagan (Kelowna, specifically). Nothing against Kelowna, other than their insane traffic problems and how crowded it is, but I'm really, REALLY glad that I live in the West Kootenays. I woke up this morning to the sound of a gentle rain and, othat than that, complete silence. Well, there were other sounds: a Pileated Woodpecker attacking a nearby tree, a Hummingbird zipping past the open window, and Powder Falls, a mile or so away on the other side of the lake. I suppose there would have been a time when the Central Okanagan would have seemed like a great place to live, but not to me, not any more.