Golden Girl

Who wasn’t excited last week when Kelsey Serwa landed a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics?  

Her thrilling victory was the crown on her stellar career and without a doubt will help foster more Olympic hopefuls from in the Okanagan.

Our local pride came shining through on Friday morning when I witnessed a parade of Canada flags on skis as it made its way around Big White in honour of Kelsey’s medal in South Korea.  

I also took a speedy run down Big White’s ski run Serwa’s with local country music radio personality Casey Clarke where we tried to match Kelsey Olympic speed.

Casey beat me, but we didn’t come close to her record. Kelsey will be the first to tell you that it takes a team of heroes to win a gold medal — family, friends, coaches, sponsors, teammates and more.

She is the sum of the greater parts that made her win even sweeter for all the locals who have supported her amazing career and rise from the slopes of Big White.

For you kids out there and parents supporting their dreams, keep up the hard work, commitment and you can always overcome obstacles.

As Serwa knows, you can come back from anything to be on top of the world.

Doggy Dog

Stop barking, no biting, down boy.

Likely everyone with a dog tends to say these words fairly often. But when was the last time that you stopped to think what your furry friend really does for your family and even the community.

For our family, it hit home the other day as we walked our son to school.

In the five-minute walk, 15 kids must have said hi to the unofficial mascot of Kettle Valley.

Buddy, a 22-month-old golden retriever, seems to have struck a chord with the kids.

When I asked them why they liked Buddy so much, almost all of them said because they always see him around the neighbourhood and in front of the school. He always seems to be smiling.

I am not sure if dogs can smile, but it makes me think of those olden days where everyone looked out for each other and all it took was a cute dog and a wagging tail to get kids excited.

Here’s to local pooches everywhere, strutting their stuff and making us all smile.

Chill out

We love the work going on down on or maybe better said going on in Okanagan Lake.

Led by Manitoba born, but now Kelowna’s own Kendra McFarland the #lakedipchallenge is where kind hearted souls with an ability to brave the freezing winter have gathered to take a dip in cold water to push past their limits and to empower each other to really feel alive.

Those participating have decided to fundraise for charity and have a great time in the process.

Maybe the Manitoba blood made it easier for McFarland to launch her and her friends into this icy challenge, but we think it’s a great idea to take advantage of a long winter to do something fun and for a good cause.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.