Visit to Victoria

We love going to Victoria for a week-end.  I especially like taking pictures of the totem poles.

Solar Power on Gabriola Island

People on Gabriola Island are keen to learn about solar power and the possibility to reduce their BC Hydro bills by producing their own power.  For a small rural community on an island they are totally aware of the importance of reducing energy demands.  Gab Energy is assisting Gabriola residents to source and install their own solar systems.

Rainwater Harvesting on Gabriola Island

Home Rainwater Harvesting - Shaw TV Nanaimo

Gabriola Island homeowner Michael Mehta relies completely on rainwater to provide all his household water needs.

WWW.YOUTUBE.COM

Quathiaski Cove, Quadra Island, B.C.

Today, we travelled up Vancouver Island to Campbell River.  The population of Campbell River is 35,000.  Here we boarded the ferry to Quathiaski Cove on Quadra Island.

Quadra Island is located across from Campbell River on the inside seaway passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland of B.C., on Canada's West Coast.

Quathiaski Cove is the main port for the island.  Quadra Island is the largest and most populated of the "Discovery Islands" with a population of 2,700 year round residents.

It's here that the tides of south and north Vancouver Island meet.  It's also the borderland between two First Nations groups with entirely different linguistic roots, the Kwakwaka'wakw and the Coast Salish.

It's a rainy day but the scenery is still beautiful.

Our Red Japanese Maple Tree on Gabriola Island

Our Red Japanese Maple trees seem to have liked the spot we had chosen for them this summer.  Now that it is getting a little colder at night and has been so rainy during the day, I have moved them under the roof to protect them from drowning.

I just love the color of these trees and their shape.

Coombs Market, Coombs, B.C.

Just off of the Alberni Hwy 4, a short drive from Parksville is the "Old Country Market at Coombs." For several years the market has been known for the family of goats up on top of the grass sod roof top.  It is a place that I have loved to visit whenever we are on the main island.  What started as a roadside stand selling fresh local produce has now expanded to offer delicious local foods, imports, souvenirs and crafts.

This is where I have come to love the Red Japanese Maple tree so much.  They have several for sale and growing in pots in the yard.

Change

They say "change is good".  

From where I sit up in my studio I can see the sold sign out on our driveway.  This is huge for us.  I have never lived anywhere but in Alberta.  We have lived in the Calgary area for the last 20 years and in this home for the last 13 years.  Now we are moving to Gabriola Island, BC.

I have spend many hours up in this studio, painting and writing.  This has been my retreat and I will miss it.

It is time for change.  To leap. To explore.  We are going to make a new home and so now we are in the process of moving.  What to keep and what to toss.  What treasures can we get rid of and not miss.  I have made some difficult decisions.  In one corner of my studio is a stack of canvases.  Work from the last 13 years.  Some finished, some not.  But not all will fit into the last load and so I take a sharp knife and slit a cross in each one.  Good-bye.  I should have painted over or tossed some of these years ago! There free at last!

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...

Sea Lions off of Gabriola Island

California Sea Lions frequent the coastal waters off of our island.  California Sea Lions differ from Stellar Sea Lions because they have darker pelage (which looks black when wet) and by their ridged foreheads. For the past months sea lions have been feeding on herring that come here to spawn in our bay.

California Sea Lions can weigh up to 850 lbs and grow up to 8 feet long.  Females are smaller at 210 lbs and 6.5 ft long.  You can hear the sea lions barking and grunting loudly as they are very vocal.

Sea lions have small visible flaps for their outer ears.  They have broad large flippers which they use to walk on land.  (Note:  Seals have to flop on their bellies when on land.)

Stellars are less plentiful than California Sea Lions and most are found off of the west coast of Vancouver Island.  Stellar males can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms and have thick gold manes around their enormous necks.

"Storm Tossed" New e-book, dealing with grief, published by Lynn Myette

Storm Tossed: A Mother's Journal About Suicide and Grief - More Than Just A Memory by Lynn Myette (Mar 13 2014)

Available at www.amazon.ca

 and www.amazon.com

CDN$ 9.99 Kindle Edition
Available for download now#1 Best Seller in Grief & Bereavement...

"Souls" Poem by Lynn Underwood

I like this poem written by Lynn Underwood and hope that she doesn't mind me sharing her great writing about our SOULS.  As many of you close to me know that we lost our son to suicide a year and a half ago.  Today is our son's birthday and this poem just happened to find its  way to me.  My son lived his life to the fullest and crammed everything that he enjoyed into the years he spent her with us.  Remembering...

All this talk of saving souls.
Souls weren't made to save,
like Sunday clothes that give out at the seams

They're made for wear; they come with lifetime guarantees.
Don't save your soul.
Pour it out like rain on cracked, parched earth.

Give your soul away, or pass it like a candle flame.
Sing it out, or laugh it up the wind.

Souls were made for hearing breaking hearts,
for puzzling dreams, remembering August flowers,
forgetting hurts.

These men who talk of saving souls!
They have the look of bullies
who blow out candles before you sing happy birthday,
and want the world to be in alphabetical order.

I will spend my soul,
playing it out like sticky string
so I can catch every last thing I touch.

-Lynn Underwood 

Rain on Gabriola Island

Heavy rain again last night.  The water is much needed after the dry summer here last year.  Because water is such an important issue Islanders are always talking about it.  Summers can be very dry here on this island.  Part of island life is living with the occasional uncertainty about water supply.

Winter and spring rains tend to replenish the ground water and fill the cistern tanks, too.  Water conservation is always good practice here on the island.  The only natural fresh water that arrives here on the island is rain water. There are really no rivers, streams or waterfalls - except those formed when it pours down rain for days.

The rainfall collects in wetlands and small ponds.  We have found Skunk Cabbage plants growing in these ponds today.  You can only guess why they are called skunk cabbage!

It is warm out but there is wood smoke in the air from heating our homes early this morning.

Warm again

The signs of spring are so welcome.  The birds have started their early morning chorus again.  So much is trying to grow.  Little buds on the red maple trees and new buds on the rose bush.  The robins that have hidden during the snow storm are out once again looking for worms in the lawn.

Water Tank is full...

March 8, 2014
Rain water has been cascading down and off our roof.  The eaves troughs are so full the water is flowing over top of them.  What a rain!

It has rained hard enough and long enough now that combined with all the moisture from the melted snow, our water cistern has filled.  We put this rain water collection system in last fall after seeing what the dry summer did to the plants in our yard.  We know we have a good well, but we were scared of pulling it to hard.  Our house has a steep large metal roof and is perfect for the collection of rain water.  In about 2 weeks the 1500 gallon tank was full.  We will use this water this spring and summer to supplement our well water to keep our plants and garden watered.

Rubber boots and rain slickers are now in fashion in the village.  The humidity right now is 100%.  You get wet just standing in the air.

Snowdrop Flowers ... Spring is Coming!

March 7, 2014
We have found snowdrop flowers in full bloom down by Degnan Bay this afternoon.

There is plenty of ivy growing wild down the banks on the side of the road and so we cut several pieces of it to take home and root.

I plan to plant this ivy in our yard so that it will grow up the fence and possibly the deck posts.

Daffodils are everywhere!

Daffodils and other flowering bulbs are pushing up out of the ground in South facing and protected areas. Spring is coming!

The garlic bulbs that had started to sprout before the snow storm seem to have either died or retreated into the ground again.  I only hope that they will rise again as soon as it warms up again.  The flowers against the front of the house have been blooming for awhile now.

The ditches are full and running fast from the melted snow and rains that we have been having everyday now. The fields are soggy.

Snow is all gone...

March 6, 2014
The snow is all gone and we are back to spring-like weather. The rain and the rise in temperature has depleted all the snow.  There is some sun, more clouds, and then rain.

George is training our dog Jake.  When they come in from their walks Jake will lay on the rug and wait till he gets his muddy paws wiped off now.  Hopefully this will save the floor from receiving dog prints throughout the day.  He is learning fast.

March 7, 2014
Once again, I am reminded we can't get overly anxious to get out in our yard.  Rain, low clouds and grey ocean make up the views outside lately.  Living on this small island has undoubtedly contributed to a calmness in our lives.  I find it incredibly comforting and relaxing just sitting and drinking my cappuccino in the morning while looking out the widows into the forest.  I never find this bores me.  There is a sense of constancy in nature that is comforting.  Too often we rush through our day anxious to complete long lists of tasks and work.  The pace of our society is frantic and there is always pressure to do things.  This is one of the reasons we have decided to move to an island.

"Sometimes taking it slow takes a lot of courage in our busy world."  SC Lourie

Metanoia (n) the journey of changing one's mind, heart, self or way of life.

Remembering that I always have a choice to find joy in my life.