We have had a relatively tame November thus far. Only one big wind storm some rain and a 15 cm snowfall earlier this week. But mostly it's been clear and cool with lots of sun this week and the mountains sporting their coat of white down to the 1000 meter level.

The salmon have been having hard time of it this year. Only seven chum have shown up and no coho yet. That's the poorest return in all the years I have lived here. It doesn't necessarily mean anything - salmon are notorious for being unpredictable - but it's a little sad nonetheless.

Stats from yesterday's storm are in. We received more than 60 mm of rain and the winds gusted upwards of 90km/h, which was my guess.

Today is beautiful, a crisp and clear fall day. Finn and I went down to the golf course to play his first ever full round. I shot a 56 despite bogeying two holes (I'm not shy! Tough greens again...), and he beat me on bingo, bango, bongo by one point. That's where you receive a point for the first on the green, closest to the hole and longest putt. With three points available on each hole, it doesn't matter much what your stroke score is. He beat me on the ninth hole when I misread the distance and lofted a six iron over the green. He had a beautiful 30 yard approach shot end up about 15 feet from the pin. I pitched on, closer than him for the point, but then missed my putt by a hair. He putted out with a six incher and won the game. His short game is pretty good for a seven year old and he hit his stride with his five wood on the fairway.

Paul Hoosen's trouble continues. For want of a 4$ fare, the Crown has now added charges to Paul's assault by tresspassor charge, and he is facing an obstruction of justice charge.

Nice. Just makes me want to scream out "It's Paul Hoosen for crying out loud!" He is one of the most gentle men I know.

And as part of my Hoosen solidarity campaign, I am taking extra special effort to connect with the BC Ferries employees we ride with every day. It is important that there isn't any souring of that relationship. We need each other too much. We need them to save our lives an dget us home in a friendly and timely manner, and they need us for their livelihood. Let's remember that we're in a relationship here, and it demands respect and courtesy on all sides.

Our first big blow of the year. Yesterday afternoon the wind built in the southeast and by nightfall the rain and wind were lashing the house. We managed a soak in the hottub at midnight amongst the swaying giants around us, and we retired to sleep in the howling gale.

All night the wind built and at one point I felt spray on my face as rain was being forced through the windows above our bed. In the morning the downstairs windows on our protected frontporch were sprayed with rain, something that only happens when the wind gusts towards 100 km/h. I have only seen rain on these windows a handful of times since 2001.

In the morning we lost power at 8am, and there was nothing to do but boil water on the wood stove and drink tea while we awaited the day. It was Finn's birthday party today and after carefully considering what to do, we decided to go ahead, making a fun day out of a powerless holiday Monday. By the time folks arrived at 12:30, the sky was clearing and we heated a massive pot of chili on the barbeque, finishing it just as the power came back on at 2:00pm. After lunch we all went over to the school to play capture the flag and soccer in the cool crisp sunshine.

There is a lot of duff on the roads and trees down all around the island, but most are in good shape.

One addendum. While I was away last week, my friends Martin Clarke and Leah Cline had a fire in their house. It seems they have saved some of it, but the damage is massive. Martin and Leah are great kitchen junket hosts, and great lovers of community culture. We'll do what we can to help them out.

Video of this year's Hallowe'en fireworks.

More Bowen Island food news...

Michelle Pentz posted a Bowfeast roundup on the OneDayBowen site. I was bummed to have missed it this year. Carol Wallace from Blue Eyed Mary's had a funny letter in the Undercurrent this week about the steady nature of BEM's menu and status. Ninety six menu changes since 1999 and counting.

And in more local news, I ate a breakfast of toast with salal jelly this morning. Still got about three cases worth of blackberries in the freezer for making Christmas jam with and to get us through until salmonberry season again.

Meanwhile, down at the lagoon, the relatively peaceful fall has meant that the salmon aren't back yet, and there is no snow on the mountains to speak of, which continues to provie my theory that the chum retunr when the snow comes to stay in the uplands. There were all sorts of duck though out there, including a flock of western grebes, some buffleheads and scoters.

It's an interesting time for Bowen's eateries. Almost all of them are going through some period of change at the moment. So, starting from the top of the hill and working down, here's what's up...

The Galley at Artisan Square has changed its menu and is now serving a lot of pasta dishes. Still very few vegetarian entrees and not so much on the moderate ricing although their portions are large.

Further down the hill, the Pub (careful with that link - they have thoughtfully embedded some horrible sound) changed it's menu back in the summer and I like it. I really like the pub. It's just a great pub. I don't go there enough. Anyone want to go for a beer this week?

Moving on down, Tuscany is up for sale as Julie and Christoph, who bought it from my friend Sarah Allen a few years ago have big dreams of travelling Europe together. They would like to sell it to an islander if possible, so get on it if you're interested. And if you buy it, please bring back the Apulia pizza. Please...

BowMart is under new management and also experimenting with a new menu. They've scaled back on the diner vibe, with more contemporary music and less burgers. They have steaks and stuff now too. We were in there this weekend between lunch and dinner and had a limited choice from a small menu. Chili was good though.

The big news though, has been the surprise closing of Doc Morgan's. I really have no idea what happened there but it seems unseemly. Doc's is a Bowen landmark, and the food was pretty good this summer. Something weird happened there though and now the place is shut down and everyone is scurrying around trying to figure out what to do next. I have no details, but if you are a visitor and planning on coming over for a supper there, forget it, at least for the next little while. Head to Blue Eyed Mary's instead, which continues to offer up a monthly variety of seasonal west coast food with nice wines and effervescent service.

As for the coffee shops The Snug, The Happy Isle and The Village Baker are all going great guns, with The Snug still pulling the most consistently great espresso shots. And Cocoa West is still just brilliant.

If none of that appeals, there is always the do-it-yourself local fauna. Good to know that in a pinch, we could all survive on our indigenous bananas...(but yuck anyway!)