More scenes from the lake

Very much enjoying the ritual of canoeing on Kilarney Lake in the evenings.  Last night the lake was glassy, and we quietly cruised along the east side, coming near to many families of mallard ducks and Canada geese.  Vaux swifts on the air and some scaups flying circles around the lake too, and a small flock of common mergansers were seen.  As the sun crept down over Mount Elphinstone, just barely visible to the west, two barred owls began hooting and calling, echoing over the still lake.  

Black Sheep on tour

OUr very own Black Sheep Morris Dancers on tour in the UK.  We are so lucky to have this legitimate village side in our presence.  The Sheep return this week from their first world tour.  

Paddling

First canoe day of the year. I'm determined this year to get out in our little green boat as much as possible. Tonight, the kids and I went to Kilarney Lake and paddled around. There was lots of action on the lake: small trout jumping for bugs, a large flock of Vaux Swifts hunting the same, bitterns booming in the reeds and the beaver out for a swim. Goslings are hatched too. Out in the lake is magical. You can only see about six houses up in the woods, so the whole place has the feel of being in the middle of the wilderness. Mount Gardner dominates the view to the south, with tendrils of cloud clinging to the peak. The water was like glass, with a little mist in the sheltered bays.

And speaking of fish jumping, this afternoon, walking home from the Cove, I noticed many many coho fry feeding in the Lagoon. Good journey to those little guys and hopefully we'll see them in four years or so, bright red and desperate to get home and spawn.

Touch the rock

Twenty days on the road and back for an afternoon. Tomorrow I leave for Vancouver island for a couple of days.

It's raining hard tonight.

A sweet day

Such a sweet day on the island yesterday. Finished work around 2 and together the four of us walked down to the Cove. We did it my favourite way, along the foreshore, starting at the north end of Pebbly Beach where a trail from Miller Road leads down to the water. The air was clear and still and there was much life in Mannion Bay. Saw the first seal I have seen in ages, a grey harbour seal that was drifting around looking at what was happening. Lots of birds down there as well, including migrating common goldeneys, scaups, buffleheads and a lone merganser. Pelagic cormorants, and flocks of white-winged scoters zipped around the mouth of the bay. Mew gulls and oystercatchers patrolled the beach with the crows, herons, geese and mallards.

At the Cove, we stopped for a bit at The Snug and had a game of chess on Bob Bates`big chess board. Noticed that VONIGO had closed up and announced a move, although I'm not sure to where. Ai, at The Snug said they were thinking about expanding into the VONIGO space somehow for the summer.

Walking up Trunk Road to Village Square, we stopped in a Phoenix for books and some collectibles that the kids are acquiring with their allowance. Picked up fixings for dinner and then walked home again along the foreshore, the beds of barnacles and mussels with ochre sea stars scattered about, and the first salmonberry blossoms opening.

Made a fire in the fire pit when we got home and the kids explored various kinds of tinder and kindling, from dry bracken to dead salal to small twigs of pitchy Douglas-fir. Barbecued some veggie burgers and sat around the fire as the sun went down and the stars came out. Finished the evening by pointing the telescope at Saturn and noting the side on view of the rings, different this year than it was two years ago, when we saw so much more of the rings.

Our gate is finished in the garden and all is well here. I'm heading off island for a spell now, and cannot think of a sweeter way to leave than the spring day we lived yesterday.

The rhythm of the morning

Another beautiful morning here: clear and still.  In the dawn chorus, there are a pair of chickadees nesting across the road from us that are the champion singers.  They are doing their little call which is a two note descending tweet-tweet.  One chickadee does it and the other follows on with the same song, but sung a note lower.  Their rhythm is steady, and when they get out of synch, they stop and start again.  

In the meantime, the crows and ravens are cawing, the flickers are drumming, towhees wheezing in the undergrowth.  The nature of spring means that everyone is repeating their various sounds on a regular interval, and the forest is full of rhythm.  Once in a while, warblers and wrens let loose with solos over top of the whole thing.  It's as if someone has sampled all of these birds and put them into a bed track.  You could rhyme over top of it easily.  The rhythm shifts and changes subtly but it is so engaging that I lay in my sleeping bag for a full hour listening raptly to the chorus, and feeling all of these beats beneath it.

Where did David's bench go?

QUite a while ago, David Cameron designed and built a bench at the Causeway that was the best bench in the world. The other day as I was walking along the Causeway I noticed that the bench had gone. I posted a thread on the forum to see what had happened to it and we're investigating. When the GVRD offices open up on Tuesday I'll make some inquiries.

That is/was a great bench...a comfortable and beautiful bench. a bench unlike all of the uncomfortable memorial monstrosities that no one sits in because they don't HOLD you like yours did/does. I've sat in that bench facing the lagoon while a vicious southeasterly gale was blowing and I was warm and sheltered from the driving wind and rain. The thing didn't NEED a roof...it was built aerodynamically enough that it was impossible to get wet on it!

When I die, I hope someone will build a bench like that to remember me by, with the option to look forward or back, as the weather or mood warrants.

David has offered to recreate it if it has gone missing for nefarious purposes. Let's see what we can do to get it back.

UPDATE: Good news! Kevin Huskison called from GVRD Parks to let me know that the bench is being refurbished and will be back on the Causeway in 2- 3 weeks.