The Monday morning short hike today was along the Cable Bay Trail just south of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The trail itself is a wonderfully immersive forest experience with huge trees, ferns, streams, rocks, fungi, moss, and birds. We breathed in more than our fair share of oxygen-rich forest air. The prize at the end […]
This morning, while out for a walk, I saw a man who was stylishly dressed in maroon and gold pants with a matching maroon hat trimmed with a gold band. He was tuning a guitar and then, just as I passed him, he sang “Why-y-y-y?” That was it. No additional lyrics. Just, “why”. As I […]
In between rain showers today I enjoyed a 5 km walk through Linley Valley Drive Park and part of the way into Linley Valley/Cottle Lake Park with my Monday morning hiking group. The trees were resplendent in their coatings of lichens and moss, and I also enjoyed seeing several nurse stumps. Nurse stumps are mother […]
When you visit the Surf Lodge Pub on Gabriola Island, you will be amazed by the massive size and beauty of the wooden joists and beams that support the roof above you. When you leave the Surf Lodge Pub on Gabriola Island, you will be in awe of the view of the Strait of Georgia […]
This morning I woke up to find this glorious sunrise outside my windows. This new year is looking very promising!
Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park on a frosty December morning.
This week’s hike with the Harbour City Newcomers was at Walley Creek Trail. It was a short but sweet walk, at first along a trail lined with aspen trees that were leaning in to reach for light. Then we enjoyed a surprise side-trek to an opening in the forest where trees had been harvested in […]
Tomorrow will be the start of Advent in the Western Christian tradition. That means you can start taking the chocolates out of the Advent calendar, and you can begin putting up Christmas decorations. Some of us use a different tradition and start putting up decorations as soon as Hallowe’en is over, which explains why some […]
This is for everyone who has experienced brain fog with Covid-19. Eventually, the fog lifts.
Roberts Memorial Provincial Park is in Yellow Point, British Columbia. It is a lovely short hike through ancient trees and abundant ferns to the coast where there is a view of Ruxton Island and Valdes Island. We also saw a sea lion and a loon that were happily ignoring each other and us.
Yesterday afternoon, after the heavy rainfall and before the strong winds came through, there was mist.
Today I went with two newcomer friends to this wonderful park. It has the best of everything; beach, ocean waves, enormous old-growth trees, bright ferns, geese, ducks, and even a seal sighting. The trails are very accessible with wide flat paths and there are several lookout spots with information on the land, sea, and wildlife. […]
After I read about a magnificent sculpture of a humpback whale made of driftwood, I was inspired to go out and take a few pictures of driftwood on the beach near me. There is a surprisingly wide variety of types of wood and textures, and some pieces look as though they have lived a very […]
Today it is raining and the rain is adding vibrancy to the fall colours. This morning I stepped out to mail a letter and noticed how lovely the garden wall looked. In case you were wondering, I don’t use those stairs because there is an elevator to get me to and from the ground floor […]
There is a very narrow and winding road down to this beach in California. If two vehicles need to pass each other, one of them has to back up to one of the occasional passing spaces. The beach is famous for the holes in the rocks that sometimes line up with the sun. Some determined […]
Yesterday morning there was a fog that obscured the view. When I went for a walk at about 9:00 I saw that the mist was just beginning to lift. I also saw, for the first time, not one but two Great Blue Herons. They were too far apart from each other to get a picture […]
I have joined a group that takes an easy hike (4 km or less) once a week. So far they have introduced me to three different parks, all within the city of Nanaimo. Today we went to Neck Point Park which is described on the city’s website as follows: “Neck Point is a destination waterfront […]
Snowbird of Paradise 