Noon Hour Bliss

Working downtown has it's perks, one being a beautiful harbour within walking distance...

Bird's Eye View

My sister is visiting for the week... we ended up at the North Island Recovery Centre, which is a non-profit organization that looks out for the Vancouver Island wildlife who are injured, orphaned or otherwise ill....


Albino Raven...

"NIWRA became internationally known when a local farmer unknowingly left a euthanised cow in a field for the eagles to eat. The cow had been euthanised with a barbiturate and should have been buried. Neighbours of the farmer began calling NIWRA when they discovered eagles lying lifeless on the ground. Due to the tremendous community support and the media, NIWRA, volunteers and veterinarians were able to save and release 25 of the 29 eagles that were found."


These eagles will eventually be released into the wild...


Teeth & Bone...

Silhouette...
Emily... what a cutie.


My own little wild animal...


Parksville Beach...

A Three-Legged Dog Day Afternoon

While hustling around my usual neighbourhood loop yesterday - tunes cranked, the sun warming my white legs, enjoying the early "everybody's still asleep" kind of Saturday morning - I came upon a three-legged Shepherd sniffing grass at the end of a driveway. He was so cute and I had a sudden notion to pick him up, toss him over my shoulders, gallop back to the house where we would be good friends and live happily ever after. Of course, I realized the error of my thinking ...1) I don't have the space for a dog right now, 2) my cat would probably tear his other three legs off and 3) he probably lives there and is taken care of by really nice people. So I carried on and that was that.

Later that afternoon, I noticed a post on a page that said to keep an eye out for a three-legged Shepherd that was spooked by guns at a firing range and went missing 2 weeks ago in Chemainus - which is about 35km from where I was contemplating the dognapping. 35km? A long shot, especially for a dog missing it's front leg. But 2 weeks ago? He could have made it up here, hobbling along. I mean, it's far, but not that far.

With this thought in mind, I was on the phone in a flash...however, after a few moments of trying to verbalize my excitement and the man on the other end trying to contain his own, we came to the conclusion that it probably wasn't the right dog. One was missing the back left leg, and the other, the front left leg. We discussed the absurdity of the situation...two very similar dogs, black, Shepherd, with brown legs, in the same vicinity and both of which who were missing a leg. I mean, what are the chances?! I told him I'd have another look and we hung up, hopeful yet disappointed.

Driving around the neighbourhood was futile. I considered soliciting houses of random strangers in hopes of finding this three-legged dog, but I was already running late for dinner. After asking everyone there if they knew of any such dogs in the neighbourhood, I found out that there was indeed a three-legged dog living at the very house I passed that morning.

Such is life.

I hope they find their dog.

Swy-a-lana Lagoon

Plush white figures grace
Cerulean skies
silhouetted by hungry gulls
on the qui vive

Asian fisherwoman
beneath fushia bonnet
casts her rod delicately
while fish scatter

The Godfather theme
its sombre strain
departs violin fingers
aged like Dom Perignon

Lucy paddles in
dangling salmon her lure
gaping nostrils eat air
wondering eyes examine


Dragon boats glide
guided by rhythmic cadence
reminiscent of Viking fleets
commencing battle

Child holds melted rainbow
while frolicking magic kingdoms
ignoring sand-filled shoes and
kisses from the sun

Old friends laugh
contagiously
sprawled casually
across Emerald carpets

Eccentric drunk babbles
to his bored cat
as the Hoity-Toity averts
embarrassed

People gather
united by curiousity
as unsuspecting Dungeness
enjoy Last Supper.

The Get Out Migration ~ April 23-May 8... is a walk for wild salmon, happening on Vancouver Island now - to bring awareness to the Canadian government that we need to get salmon farms out of our BC waters. Farmed salmon are destroying our salmon.

Wild Pacific salmon are "anadromous", meaning born in fresh water. They migrate to the ocean, then return home to spawn and die. They can travel thousands of kilometres in their lifetime and still find their way back to the place they were born. Many don't make it back.

There's a wild salmon fish hatchery (more than one obviously) on the island where you can go and see all these salmon pooling in the fall; they've found their way back to their home waters and are at the end of their life. There's a viewing room where you can look at the salmon floating around half-dead. They slice open the bellies of the female and bucket the eggs in order to keep the cycle going. Gory, but necessary! The whole life cycle of the salmon is fascinating.

The biggest issues with farmed salmon are sea lice, which attack the baby salmon as they head out to sea...killing them off before they even have a chance, and competition. These Atlantic farmed salmon are escaping into our BC waters and out-competing our fish for habitat and food.

We need to do something about it before we lose all our fish.

Farmed and Dangerous - Educate yourself

Get Out Migration Itinerary - Join in on the fun

Stop buying and selling industrial farm fish.

Fish Farms Get Out of our Oceans!

The Eggs Are A-Cookin'

A man by the name of Doug Carrick mounted a camera at the top of a Douglas fir on Hornby Island, looking down upon an eagle's nest. Since then, he's broadcasted the daily lives of two Eagles... including three successful hatching of little Eaglets. Totally cool! Apparently, the Eagles did notice and were caught candidly scrutinizing the camera (picture ©hornbyeagles.com) Ma & Pa Eagle are right now incubating two eggs and they are expected to hatch this weekend!

Being the animal-lovin' nut that I am, I must say I find this completely intriguing:

The Hornby Island Eagle's Webcam

“With the camera, we could see every detail of their behaviour. I knew right away that this was really something remarkable. There were a lot of things I saw for the first time, especially the relationship between the two eagles. The female is the boss of the nest with the male rather timorous when near her. She is the larger of the two, tougher and more aggressive. He would bring a branch to the nest and she would grab it from him and put it in place. But he wanted a say in it also and would tug on the other end of the branch. Such tug-of-war contests would happen often and sometimes for as long as ten minutes. It wasn’t all marital harmony.” ~ Doug Carrick

Anarchy on the West Coast

What is up with this rainstorm?
Why did I go out?
Why did I come home?

The power was out all morning. Pretty much across town, all day. I don't like peeing in the dark. My cat went insane. I've never seen the wind blow so hard in all of my twenty nine years. It blew me across the street and into a pile of water. The ocean is alive with angry waves.

The traffic is nuts. I took the inner route to avoid the highway winds, but everyone else had the same idea. People can't drive worth shit. Everyone in town went shopping. Chapters was a zoo. Thank GOD for Starbucks in every store, not so much the lineups, but I bought a book.


Had to feel my way to the checkout in the grocery market in pitch black while everybody ran around screaming bloody murder, stuffing their pockets and knocking aisles down (ok that part didn't actually happen, but it would be fitting) I've never been in a grocery store without the glaring lights and hum of refrigeration.

I couldn't see through the windshield and hydroplaned all the way home to find the boat shed whatchamacallit had done a sommersault into the neighbour's house, was flipped right over, ripped to shreds, banging against their siding...the garbage can halfway down the street along with everything that was under the shed. All I could say was HOLY. SHIT. as I sat there in the truck stunned. It was a beautiful sight of pure destruction by the queen bee herself: Mother Bloody Nature. I called some strong men to please get the hell over here before that damn shed chisels a hole in that damn blue house and as I write they are out there in the pouring rain dismantling the flimsy giant.


My cat is under the bed licking himself dry and I, with my wet feet, will be changing my socks, making some tea, curling up under a blanket and reading my shiny new book. This rain and wind better let up or I'm not coming out.

Cops Gone Bad

Just because you wear a uniform and carry a gun...doesn't make this right. I mean, these guys weren't even resisting. It's a case of the asshole cop with something to prove. I hope there are consequences for your actions. This is no way to uphold the law. What a joke.

Extreme Storm Surgin'

Now here's a sport I think I can do...too.

Changing the way you look at the world. I like that. I like the entire concept. No two people have the same experiences. We are restricted to our own consciousness. Confined by our paradigms. We need to break out of these molds and live.

Live fully.

Life is short. We need reminders, because so often we forget. To look and see the world and experience the moments it offers. Dare. Dream. Laugh. More importantly, laugh at yourself. Give. Give to the world, your heart, your soul, your voice ~ in whatever way which makes sense to you. BE. Be brave. Be who you are. Be different. Be present. Be open to new ideas. Be willing to run, to leap and land on our feet or fall flat on our face. We need to have more faith in ourselves and more faith in others. Because we get each other through. We need to live a life congruent to our values, ideals and dreams. To never cease to wonder. To imagine what will be. To see all possibilities, when no one else will.

This is nothing new. But it never grows old.

Think about it.

This is your life.

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

~ Steve Jobs

Here We Come

But not quite yet... I (and who knows who else will have committed to the insanity by then) will be taking on the most famous hiking trail in BC.

75 kilometres (47mi) of isolated, natural Canadian wilderness including caves, coves, cliffs, surge channels and coastal geology. Ladders, bridges and suspension cables add to the fun. Somewhere I read there are approximately 50 ladders to climb! And who wouldn't want to spend a week with Mother Nature. I can already smell the fresh rainforest air. There is so much preparation to do for this trek, both physically and mentally, but it has begun.

The history of the trail is filled with tragedy. Many ships have gone down along this western shoreline, known as "The Graveyard of the Pacific". Two lighthouses and a telegraph wire had been installed along the coast in the 1800s to aid navigation, in an attempt to prevent this from happening. In 1907, after 136 passengers aboard the Valencia perished in a fierce storm in 06, the old telegraph route was upgraded to a lifesaving trail eventually evolving to what it is today: the West Coast Trail.

It sounds like a freaking blast, albeit an incredibly arduous & treacherous undertaking. I'm up for a challenge.

Blue Peak Travel Photography has some awesome photos of the trail:



What's your most memorable hiking experience? What do you consider to be the most important advice in preparing for a long trek? Things you can't live without on the trails?

See The Forest For The Trees

A lake, a book, a fire, some film. Sounds like serenity to me...