Gabriola Island ...

If Once You Have Slept on an Island
If once you have slept on an island
You'll never quite be the same;
You may look as you looked the day before
And go by the same old name.
You may bustle about in street and shop,
You may sit at home and sew,
But you'll see blue water and wheeling gulls
Wherever your feet may go.
You may chat with the neighbors of this and that
And close to your fire keep
But you'll hear ship whistle and lighthouse bell
And tides beat through your sleep.
Oh, you won't know why, and you can't say how
Such a change upon you came,
But - once you've slept on an island
You'll never quite be the same.

- Rachel Field

Topography of Gabriola Island

The topography varies from the flat beaches at sea level to the forested hills on Stoney Ridge which are at 160 metres high in the center of the island.

There are 45 kms of shoreline, 3 provincial parks, numerous regional and community parks, and a nature reserve.

Gabriola Island in the far and Mudge Island near

Artists, Hippies and Eagles on Gabriola Island

Gabriola Island is vibrantly full of old hippies, young hippies and  artists.  You will also find retirees, red-necks, off-the-grids, cyclists and kyakers.  It is generally quiet and quaint.  Not much goes on, not any big time news usually.  It is in fact very peaceful but there is always something to do.

Today I sit and watch the eagles soar.  There are several big groups of eagles going right over and around our house today.  There are so many that I sit down on a lawn chair and aim my camera up into the air and take several pictures.  Once again I realize that I need a bigger zoom lens to get a good picture.  As some of you know, eagles will have a special place in my heart forever.

I also  hear the swoosh-swoosh of the raven's wings as they fly by in pairs.

Heather on Gabriola Island

Heather brings bright color into the flower beds in the early spring and late fall.  It is a compact shrub growing in low mounds or mats and is ideal for rock gardens and other spots with well drained acidic soil and full sun.  It will grow 10" tall and 2 ft wide.  Heather should be planted in a sheltered spot to prevent winter drying from the winter winds.  It flowers pink, white, red and purple.  Heather is an evergreen and requires low maintenance.
Heaths - similar to Heather.  Heaths have needle like leaves.  Heather has scale like flat leaves.

Azalea on Gabriola Island

Azaleas are a versatile shrub with beautiful, colorful flowers on it.  Depending on the type they will grow in the sun or shade and like moist, well drained soil.  Some will grow up to 15 feet tall.  Many deciduous azaleas from flowers before the leaves unfurl.  Some azaleas bloom twice a season, on old wood in the spring and then on new wood in late summer or fall.

Gates and fence on Gabriola Island

We have finished our fence and gates now.  It is so nice now not to worry about Jake running away or getting hit by the traffic on the road.

...and Jake is so happy outside now...

Chickens on Gabriola Island

Historically, backyard chickens where common.  They were an easy to keep food source and would eat foot scraps, bugs, grain or just forage.

Today, on Gabriola there are still a lot of chickens and roosters.  Currently, according to B.C.'s provincial legislation and regulations eggs can be sold legally to the consumer directly on the farm premises or from a farm stand for personal use.  They can not be sold off of the farm premises such as at a farmer's market as the eggs are ungraded and not inspected.

Roosters are known to be noisy.  The hens are equally noisy.  Our neighbors happen to have a few chickens on their property that tend to act up early in the morning.  As Mark Twain said "Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid."

Blue Heron on Gabriola Island

The Blue Heron stands quietly in the ocean watching for fish to catch.  Eventually he tucks his long skinny legs up and spreads out his wide wings, flaps and takes off.

Building our Fence on Gabriola Island

Geo and I have decided that building a fence around our yard is our priority now.  We need a fence so that Jake can spend more time outdoors and we won't have to watch him every single minute in fear that he will get lost or run over.  The fence will also serve to keep out the deer and then we can get on with our planting.

We've decided on a cedar fence across the front with a metal drive through and a metal passage gate.  Work is started on it now.   The posts are in but we are stalled off  with the snow storm!

... a few weeks later the crew is back to work...

Rhododendron on Gabriola Island

Larger leathery leaves that persist through winter distinguish a rhodo from the smaller azalea.  Clusters of bell shaped flowers often fragrant, appear in early to late spring on both plants.  All members of the rhodo family must have adequate moisture and well drained acidic soil to prosper.  They like part sun to shade.

We have transplanted one of the bigger rhodos from the area of the yard where we are building our pond.  It is now located just outside the patio doors of my studio and we are hoping it will give us a show of bright flowers through the window here.

... in June the rhodo that we transplanted was in full bloom!  Nice!

Beauty of the Humming Bird on Island

Rufous humming birds swoop down to our feeder and then vanish as fast as they appear.  They are so fast and it is hard to take pictures of them.

This afternoon we are visiting our friends in Parksville.  Shirley and Gary have a different type of hummingbird then we do on Gabriola Island.  Shirley's feeder has attracted the Anna Hummingbird which has a beautiful bright pink head on it.  She has made friends with the bird and takes this picture with my camera for me.  Beautiful!!

Entrance Island off of Gabriola Island

Entrance Island is about one mile off the North-east coast of Gabriola.  I love to take photos of this island with it's lighthouse and the mountains as a back-drop.  Today is the perfect day for this.

Beauty on Gabriola Island

We have discovered the fun of walking the beaches to discover treasures that the tide has brought in. Nothing can match our walks close to the ocean.  There is such a variety of beaches on this island;  from sandy, to pebbles, to rocky and to big boulders.  I breath deep and marvel at the scent of the air.  It is a clean warm smell today.  My walks are short as I am still out of breath from the pleurisy in my lungs but my priority is to stay outside as much as I can to soak up the vitamin D's in the warm air.  So I grab onto this season and all that it offers me.

George and Jake love to go on their walks several times a day, too.  George just needs to whisper the word "walk" and Jake turns all giddy and gets all excited to go.  I think beach trips are his favorite now, too.

Oh, Jake has a girl-friend next door.  Her name is "Annie" and she wants to play with him.  It's so funny to see her looking through the fence at him with her eyes shinning with adoration.  He just tries to be so cool, goes and gives her a quick hello and then turns away pretending he is not interested.

Building Pergola / Arbour on Gabriola Island

Geo and I have been busy building a pergola / arbour in our yard on the island.  We have decided to use locally grown cedar that has been cut on the island.

We've also started to build a solid cedar fence to enclose and hide the rain water collection tank  The posts are all cemented and Geo has started to put up the top pieces on the pergola.

UPDATE:
We have finished the arbor and it looks lovely with the flowers blooming.  We have also finished staining the fence, too.

Espaliered Apple Tree on Gabriola Island

March 20, 2014 
Geo and I purchased an Espaliered Apple Tree.  The tree has six different branches from six different types of apple trees grafted onto a main trunk.  I first noticed this type of apple tree last spring when we first moved to the Island.   For a small tree it was loaded with different apples.  The tree we purchased has a main trunk with 6 branches from 6 different types of apple trees grafted onto it.  It looks pretty spindly right now.

The term "espalier" refers to the practice of training a tree to grow along one flat vertical plane in a flattened fashion, such as along a wall or on the side of a house.  We plant our tree between our deer fence and the road that goes down to the back of our lot and will need to continue to train it so that it remains in a flat vertical fashion so that the branches do not grow out towards the road.

...and I recorded the different types of apples that are on this tree:

...and this is what we hope our apple tree will look like...