Wild Highs & Quiet Lows

Arriving at Vancouver airport means stepping into clean lines, soft light, everything calm and welcoming. For Chop Suey, British Columbia isn’t just another stop. It is home turf, nine years deep, with countless returns layered into the longing for this special place.

The Haida art, carved in stone and cedar, illustrates how traditional symbols transform into striking contemporary forms with the help of modern technology. The lines, the symmetry, the importance of it, it is history retold. It carries meaning: clan, lineage, memory. Ravens, bears, spirits stacked in cedar, telling ancient stories.

Fraser Valley Memories

As the familiar rhythm of arrival settles in, the memories come rushing back. The adventures, the people, the moments that shape Chop Suey’s path in unexpected ways. Late nights, long roads, faces that stay and some that don’t. Love that burns fast, and lessons that stay longer.

Meeting best friends means warm hugs. It always starts with the table set, a welcoming meal waiting, a bottle of wine ready to uncork the evening. At a musician’s place, the home studio waits in the background to be heard. It is easy to settle into it, the familiarity, the joy. After dinner, new tracks begin to play, fresh compositions straight from the heart, the same sound fragments that drift through Chop Suey’s website clips. More originals sit waiting on his channel, but here, now, they feel almost private.

Maples - Music & ShuHaRi

Later, the garden becomes the stage. Wine in hand, conversation flows without effort. The music from earlier still lingering in the night air, present without needing to be heard. Winding paths and carefully placed stones and low shrubs, with the Japanese maples. as the real stars. Dozens of them, in every shape and shade, fiery reds, deep purples, soft greens, glowing softly in the fading light.

The music never really leaves this place. The host carries that quiet passion for guiding others, either in music or maple care. Starting with what moves the student, a favorite sound, a simple melody, something familiar. From there, a patient built up, turning technique into something personal.

Trails into the Greens

Morning starts with an early rise, ignoring the jet lag. Boots in the truck, an excited dog bouncing in the back, and a quick pit stop at old-school Tim Hortons for the ritual caffeine top-up.

This first hike is just a Fraser Valley warm-up. Tomorrow stretches steeper, then longer, then harder. The goal is Gloria, the trail that calls for lungs and legs.

For now, Chop Suey follows a different part of the Cheam First Nations forest trail. The forest breaths a deep, rainforest atmosphere, thick moss clinging to trunks, ferns covering the edges of the path, the air heavy with moisture and earth.

Now and then, the trees open just enough to reveal sweeping views over the Fraser Valley, wide and quiet, a contrast to the closeness of the trail. Then it closes in again. The path winds deeper into the forest. Creeks cut across their steps, cool and clear, and every so often, the distant roar of a waterfall breaks through.

The dog trots ahead, tail high, pausing at secret spots where she knows the water runs clear and cold. A secret hope for that flicker of wild; bears, cougars, coyotes, deer. They’re surely out there beyond the silence, but no encounters today.

After a happy downhill, Chop Suey tumbles back into the truck, boots muddy and mind clear. Exhausted but deeply satisfied. Shinrin-yoku, Fraser Valley edition.

True Canadian Pioneers Spirit

From May to September, the kitchen counter turns into a working dock. Pressure canners click, jars seal, alder smoke drifts from the smoker. By autumn, the shelves are heavy with salmon preserves.

Sockeye, often called red salmon, begin their lives in British Columbian and Alaskan rivers and lakes. They migrate to the ocean to mature, this can be a 1600 km trip, to return to their birthplace to spawn. They live in fresh and in salt water, which contributes to biodiversity and an ecological balance. In the ocean they are silver, but when they turn homeward, up the long rivers to spawn, their bodies turn into an amazing red. They fight their way upstream, every leap improving the flavour of the wild.