Tasty dinner at Blue Eyed Marys

Blue Eyed Marys is my favourite dinner spot on Bowen. Every month Carol and Stephen design a new menu, emohasis on the seasonal and local with nothing bought off the Sysco truck that idles in the Cove. The menu is small the bread fresh baked and the deserts lovely and rich. This month they are rotating a tasting menu every week - a hearty three course dinner for only $25 which is insane value. Tonight Caitlin and I escaped the clutches of our crazy kids and we settled in to see what was on offer. We started with a beet, fennel and apple soup which was spiced with black pepper. The vegetarian main was an incredible roasted cauliflower and cheese pie baked in a grated potato crust with winter veggies and leek chutney. For desert, a slice of moist carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream. This is no mere comfort food menu. Carol trained at Bishop's in Vancouver and brings a deft hand and a regional eye to her cooking. Stephen runs the room with banter and non-sentimental approach to quality assurance. The place was buzzing tonight - full of locals trying to stay out of each other's way but still offer greetings. It's hard in a small community to get out for a date when you are surrounded by friends. You get the feeling some nights that we'd be better off just pushing all the tables together and having one big party. If you haven't been for a while now is the time to give BEM a try and see what's cooking this week. http://www.blueeyedmarys.com/

Winter colours in the meadow

At the close of the day, mist hangs over the meadow in Crippen Park and the colours wash a winter pastel.

Dolphins in the sound

Via my friend Wynn Nielsen: "Large pod of beautiful dolphins racing the ferry to Horseshoe Bay this morning. What a gift to see up so close. Makes me happy to live here!"

New buds on the salmonberries

Things are warm and moist and spring is nascent on Bowen even in late January. The robins and chickadees have changed their calls and the salmonberries are setting their buds.

Coming into Snug Cove on the Bowen Queen

I love this old ferry.

Life and death

Apropos of this time of year, o walked to the Cove this mining in thin grey morning light. The robins were in their spring song mode already and the dawn chorus has begun its first few movements of its annual concerto.

Down on pebbly beach, lying flat on the gravel by the waterline was this headless deer. It's too freshly dead for me to poke around with and see why I can't see its head. The eagles and crabs have cleaned out its insides and it won't be long before the flesh is gone and the sea carries away the bones. Death and rebirth as we head towards a full moon and the light noticeably begins to return.