A Weekend Away

These Northwest beaches are nothing like the ones I knew when I was young.  My family would drive down down down the mountains to scorch our feet on the blistering hot sand and frolic in the frothy waves.

Here there are more rocks than sand and the water is cold enough to freeze the breath inside you.  Even so, the sea is seductive and I am very happy to don windbreaker and rubber boots for a walk on the beach.

G and I did lots of beach walking this weekend.  We drove just far enough up the west coast to lose cell coverage and feel distant from the every day.  The shapes of the trees suggest that a bracing wind is the norm here.

But we escaped the worst of it by sitting right down on the rocky beach.

Selfie time.

The waves blow in then roll the rocks around on the inhale.  My favorite beach sound.

This big guy flapped past, harried by some seagulls.  Was he stalking their nest?  Stealing their fish?  We stalked him back -- through three perches until the light and angles were right for portraiture.

A rope swing on the beach.  Oh yes!  It was an erratic ride between the bouncy tree branch and all that wind, but no one smashed into the tree trunk so it was fun.

Finally a cozy retreat.  Rustic but comfortable.  Close enough to the water for the waves to flood our dreams.

The Amazing Thing About Spring

The amazing thing about spring is that it comes whether you want it to or not.

When the inner landscape is grey and drizzly, spring explodes in sunshine and cherry blossoms.  It's a good thing too, because it's hard not to be drawn out, to feel the warmth and smile at the exuberant green.

I took a walk, yesterday, past a naturalized lawn all a dazzle with blue Scilla, spotted with pink Shooting Star.  The flowers and the beautiful morning sang together of fresh beginnings.  Miss S and her Nana walked ahead of me here, hand in hand, seeing the world together.  The loveliest sight of all.

Bird Seed

I'm curled up by the fire with a nice hot honey and lemon drink, reviewing the last ten days of pictures.  Christmas.  Then Christmas again.  Happy, wiggly kids hyped up on sugar and festivity.  A few walks to the park or the beach.  Not represented on the memory card: lazy days of reading books and taking afternoon naps.  Tomorrow real life resumes.

One of those little outings included a container of bird seed.  Just shake it and the ducks look up.  Pop the lid and they paddle to shore.  These ducks know the drill.  Tossed seed bounces off their backs.  Soft quacks.  Bobbing heads.  Wagging tail feathers.  The party grows.

Then it's not just ducks.  Seagulls watch from a distance.  This Canada Goose makes his way to the front of the line and sticks his head right into the container of seed.  Bold.

Shoo!  The last sunlight of the day glints off his dark beak and he gives me the stink eye.

I'm linking, with these few precious rays of west coast winter sun. to Sunlit Sunday hosted by Karen and My Little Home and Garden.

Cold and Sunny

It's finally turned cold here -- and beautifully bright and sunny.  There's frost in the mornings and I've revived my winter ritual of sitting in front of the pellet stove in the mornings with a cup of coffee.  Ah, the little pleasures!

Other little pleasures:  fresh air and a glimpse of the world through a toddler's eyes.  We've been collecting sticks lately.

This deck of this boardwalk was slick with frost in the shady spots but thawed and dried instantly when the sun hit it.

Miss S's older cousin sometimes visits for the morning, so we had company on this walk.  The girls got their gum boots wet in the lake then sat side by side on the dock for a snack of oranges and almonds.  There are some very sweet pictures of them together, but I try not to post other people's children here.

I'd be interested to know what others do with photos of other people, especially kids.  Do you get permission, completely avoid posting them, or just go for it?

Finally, I have finally posted these new placemats in the shop.  It took longer than expected to finish them off, but here they are.  I think they're perfect for winter -- not overtly Christmas-y, but filled with mountains and forests and woodland critters in cool snowy colours.  

Thanks for visiting, and please remember to leave me a comment if you have thoughts on the photo issue.

A Personal Photo Challenge: Trees

The vibrant fall colours that I was hoping to show you never materialized.  As more and more leaves skitter ahead of me down the sidewalk, I'm beginning to realize that they aren't coming; they've passed us by completely this year.  In exchange for those reds and oranges, we've enjoyed a warm autumn.  No frost yet.  Cherry tomatoes and zucchini are still ripening in my garden (in November).  The days are shorter, yet wool coats languish in the back of the closet while we enjoy more than our share of sunny Sunday afternoons.

Taken with my Nickon 1 J2:  Aperture Priority,  f/10,  1/100 sec,  ISO 200

I took these photos on one of those unexpectedly sunny weekends.   What started as a family walk turned into a family frolic.  We chased each other around tree trunks and twirled until we fell over.  We collected acorns and dueled with sticks.  The silliness that a two-year-old brings out is amazing.

Taken with my Nickon 1 J2:  Aperture Priority,  f/10,  1/125 sec,  ISO 200.

I even took some pictures.  for these first two I was experimenting with sun stars and perspectives on those long tree shadows.  These Garry Oak trees have already dropped most of their leaves and I like their bare, linear look.  The black and white treatment accentuates this.

Taken with my Nickon 1 J2:  Aperture Priority,  f/10,  1/125 sec,  ISO 200

Finally, looking straight up into the sky.  I especially like the bits of sunlight on the centre tree.

Challenges during this photo shoot had to do, for the most part, with doing two things at once.  Let's just say that camera settings for trees against bright sky are very different from those for family silliness among falling shadows.  I was going back and forth, wishing for more efficient controls, and not always getting it right.  Oh well.  The fun far outweighed the camera frustration.

Linking to Donna's Personal Photo Challenge, and looking forward to seeing everyone else's trees.

Walking

This fall has been so gloriously warm, so summer-like, that I'm only now catching the feelings of fall.  The comforting hug of sweaters and scarves.  The damp smell of the forest.  The shiver of joy when rain falls hard on the roof at night.

I'm rediscovering my favorite walking trails.  They're less busy during the day now, the domain of dog-walkers and mothers with pre-schoolers.  Kids and pets.  They get us outside rain or shine.

Boardwalks are damp, the light oblique.

Everything grows green again.  Even the puddles.

I play naturalist with Miss S, walking at toddler speed and noticing everything.  Translucent mushrooms erupt from tree trunks.  Why have I not noticed them before?

Banana slugs abound, another sign of the season.  Watch them.  Poke them.  Photograph them.  The world is full of wonders.  

What have you been enjoying lately?

Colour

I expected to feature bright spring colour for Donna's current photo challenge.  My garden is full of bold reds and blues just now, not to mention that spring-fresh hue of green.  But an anniversary get-away drew me into the smoother, softer tones of the sea.

Standing on the beach, I thought of these two vistas as monochromatic.  It wasn't until I increased the contrast a little (as I do with most of my photos) that I really saw the depth of blue in sky and water.  Inspired (intrigued?) I bumped up the saturation the tiniest little bit.

This was the view from our private hot tub.  We watched the blue blue blue of sea and sky and missed a certain little girl with blue eyes, who kept her Nana and Grandpa very busy.

This picture is a couple of months old, but I love the colours.  Red.  Pink.  Blue.  All very saturated.  I used a vignette tool in Picasa to darken the edges of the photo a little and draw greater attention to Miss S's face.

Linking to Donna's Personal Photo Challenge.  To be perfectly honest, I'm scrambling a little to get this up today.  My mind has been full of other things this week, but it's been fun to browse through my pictures and think of colour.  I'm looking forward to visiting your colour too.

A Walk on the Beach

A fight to the death.  Seagull and crab.  G and I delay our progress down the beach to watch.  We're interested, curious, but not emotionally involved, and certainly not naive enough to root for the underdog.  

It's a good thing too, because when the gull has flown our inspection of the scene turns up nothing but scattered legs and a fragment of exoskeleton.  Not every walk on the beach yields such epic entertainment, such hard evidence that life is not all sparkling sun and lapping waves.  Nature -- and life -- has a dark side.

I feel the fundamental tensions these days.  Light and dark.  Celebration and sorrow.  Life and death.  Young green shoots stretch for the sun.  Spent tulips discolour, crumple.  The neighbours have a new baby.  Cancer has interrupted.  Too soon.  More cancer.

In case you're wondering or worrying, I'm celebrating right now.  An anniversary.  A birthday.  The richness and deepness of my life.  But when someone celebrates, someone else is grieving.  Tension.

A Personal Photo Challenge: Up Close

I've been noticing some teeny tiny blooms this spring.  Lichens and mosses cling to rocks and walls and trees and put on their own itty bitty displays of colour.  They also sit still longer than my toddler so they make excellent subjects for a little camera experimentation.  Specifically, I'm learning how to control depth of field in Aperture Priority mode. 

These lichen were tricky to photograph, partly because they're so small (about a centimeter tall) and partly because I had to all but crawl off a rock face to get down to their level.  No tripod here, but I think I held my breath while I squeezed the shutter.

These ones where more accessible.  In fact, they appeared right at eye level as I came around a corner in the trail.  I really like all the different textures and colours here.  I count at least four (maybe five) different kinds of lichen and moss.  Does anyone know what they're called?

Finally, a satin flower from my recent wild flower spotting expedition.  I especially like this picture because it includes a sense of the flower's setting.

All photos are taken with my Nickon 1J2 in aperture priority mode.

I'm participating again in Donna's Personal Photo Challenge.  Every month I learn something that helps me take better pictures, and it's fun, of course, to see what others are up to.

Wildflowers

The wildflowers are blooming on M Hill.  That's what a friend tells me.  So I scramble over rocks and up dry stream beds.  I have a camera around my neck and a toddler on my back -- a bit ambitious perhaps, but how else will I see these seasonal beauties?

From the parking lot I start along a forested trail, but it doesn't take long to climb up from the fir canopy into meadows of moss, punctuated by outcroppings of bare bedrock.

There's little soil here, so trees grow small.  Arbutus, twisted and red, was the first coastal tree that I learned to identify.  Garry Oak are less showy, but utterly unique to this region.  These trees are survivors.  Stunted and gnarly, they look it.

But it's the flowers I came to see.  They're subtle, small enough to be missed.  

 

Fawn Flower.  Shooting Star.  Satin Flower.  They sprout from the shallowest of earth and fling their fragile hearts open to the spring blusters.  What brave souls.

I lean over a rock, sprawl on the damp ground, contort myself around a shrub to meet them.  They drip dew and quietly conjure the sun out from behind the clouds.  Hello spring.


Linking, for the last time this season, to Sunlit Sunday at My Little Home and Garden.  Thank you for hosting, Karen.

A Slow Start and Seagulls

I'm enjoying a slow start to this Monday morning -- reading blogs, reading the latest from Ukraine.  I'm drinking coffee and looking out at the drizzle while Miss S brings me pieces from her puzzles.  It was one of those weekends that need to be recovered from.  Instead of lounging at home with a tummy full of pancakes and a tall stack of story books, I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to volunteer at the high school Provincial Debate Tournament.  The weekend also included a late night chatting with out of town friends and our regular Sunday morning commitments at church.  It was all enjoyable, even exhilarating, reminiscent of a different life stage and some joys and sorrows past.

Life is a little simpler now and a lot slower, centred on family and home.  It's also a season, one that will be gone before I know it, so I'm enjoying the opportunity to start my Monday slowly.  

Switching topics, these pictures were taken late last week when very spring-like weather beckoned us to the beach.  We walked along the rocky shore, watching seabirds circle and swoop.  Miss S coined a sound effect for the slight splash and bob when a seagull lands on the water -- Boing!  We waded in to the tops of our gum boots and ignored the evil eye cast by parents of less suitably clad children who did the same.  Spring was here for a full afternoon.  

Sunny Day

Sunshine is good for the soul, and more so in the winter.  A couple of days ago I opted to forgo my usual suburban stroll to the library or playground in favour of a nature walk with the Little Miss.  We have lots of options for walking around lakes, along beaches, through forests, but they all require a short drive.  Some how that presents a mental hurdle.  I made the leap and, like always, it was worth it.  

My Little Miss moves at a burst and bust pace with unending commentary offered in single words -- run run, water, tweet tweet.  That leaves me plenty of time to notice things with eyes and lens.  Shadows.  The violent green colour of moss against a washed-out winter world.  The changing sky.  Red wing blackbirds.  Reflections on the lake.  We're not far enough away for true quiet, but city sounds fade and leave space for wind in branches and hidden birds.  Little Miss delights in the sound of her feet on the path -- walk walk, stomp stomp.  Love her.  I unwind.  For a moment, I live in the moment.

Then it's snack time.  

Something about the fresh air and the sunshine (weak and fleeting as it was) produced a tingle in my soul -- a rush of vitamin D, a smile -- and wakened a longing for more.  

Have the winter blues hit you?  What gets you through?

Enjoying the View

The view from BC Ferries is always a treat.  This time was no exception.  By seven o'clock I was up and dressed.  I had already entrusted a sleepy Little Miss to her Nana, made my way to the terminal, bought my ticket and boarded the boat.  All was dark on the water, so I treated myself to coffee and eggs in the cafeteria and watched the other passengers -- mostly business people and other locals who, like me, had their own reasons to rise early and visit the mainland.

An hour into the crossing, the sky began to glow and I hit the deck with my camera.  It was cold, just above freezing.  The boat hummed beneath me and the occasional cry of a seagull pierced the salty wind.  All else was quiet.  Sky and water blushed pink, then orange as we turned through Active Pass and pushed into the open straight.  In an instant, the sun rose.

I passed a lovely day in Vancouver with my sister.  We talked and drank tea and walked through Gas Town.  Wonderful but short.  Before I knew it, I was back on the boat.

By the last light of the day I got off a few shots of the container loading port across the bay.  All was dark again before the ferry left its birth.  I don't know if I've ever savored sunrise and sunset of the same day.  Have you?

Getting Out

Every weekend Gary and I push off indoor projects in favour of a walk outside.  We tell each other that this could be the last nice weekend for a long time.  But so far the nice weekends keep coming.  

These photos show last weekend's excursion to one of our favorite parks.  It's a bit of a drive, but well worth the effort.  Rocky shore lines and the occasional sandy beach.  Bright ocean and bright sky.  Loose forest filled with life and filtered light.  

 

We spotted this woodpecker high up, noisily mining for bugs, raining chunks of bark on the forest floor.  It's not the best picture, but I was pleased to catch him at all with my little point and shoot.  Notice the run of exposed wood in the bottom left.  He's been busy.

The forecast for this weekend is mixed, but we're still hoping to get out.  Fall is such a good time for rediscovering favorite places.  Will you get out this weekend?