Richard Nixon, Donald Trump & Seb
Bob Woodward; the Seb Connection
Sunday April 9th
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| Sunset over Van Island rarely disappoints |
What is he on about you might ask? Well, ever since I first saw the movie 'All the President's Men', and later read the book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, I have followed Bob Woodward's writing. Both his political analysis in the Washington Post and his books. I read his three recent books on Trump, 'Fear', 'Rage' and 'Peril'.
Seb, during his Easter visit was close to devouring 'Peril', literally. I thought it important he developed his breadth of reading material! I snapped a picture which was posted to Instagram with the appropriate hashtags, including #bobwoodward.
One of the 'likes' was from a name I didn't recognise. A quick Google search later and it appears that it was Bob Woodward's wife; columnist and writer Elsa Walsh. So young Seb has made it into the Woodward household. The surprising connections of social media!
One of the reasons for Seb's visit (he brought Nick and Lizzie as well) is that this year, Easter Sunday coincides with Fred's birthday. Being a long weekend, it rained, sadly! A jolly time nevertheless, absent only Ros, down in NZ. Fred's post hip progress continues apace. She is now driving, walking and the hip is largely forgotten. A return to tennis remains on track for June.
Close friends from the UK rang Fred recently while she was out on a morning walk and I was sitting in the dentist's chair. Do I have writer's block they enquired? It was lovely to hear from them and catch up on their news. With mobile phone-calling apps now ubiquitous, one wonders how telcos are filling their revenues. As for me, no writer's block, just not a great deal of news. But it spurred me into action.
Speaking of dentists, Jack is off to have two teeth out next week. He has broken two, a top and a bottom one in the front. No idea how he did it, but as they have broken at gum level they have to come out.
For those that spotted the deliberate mistake two blogs ago titled Snow Arrives, Power Departs you will have missed the lack of an explanation on the 'Power Departs'. Mea culpa, editing error. Soon after the snow arrived some 9,000 properties between Sechelt and the middle of Gibsons had a "power outage". Several hours later the power came back on, only for it to trip out again in our local area of Elphinstone affecting 2,000 homes. It was finally restored late morning.
On the subject of publishing errors, and having criticised the typos and spelling errors on the BBC News website in my last blog, which appear to be a more regular occurrence , I found a few of my own. Glass houses and stones spring to mind. My chief sub-editor is on a final warning!
My morning walk the other day, was interrupted by a pair of noisy Bald Eagles doing what Bald Eagles do in Spring. If you've seen the size of the talons on a Bald Eagle you can understand why Mrs Bald Eagle was making such a noise! This was taking place right next to their aerie on their beachside Douglas Fir. Inevitably I didn't have my camera with me!
With Fred back behind the wheel, I got her to drop me off at Camp Byng so that I could walk back through the forest and along the shore to home. A beautiful and peaceful walk, with only two other people and their dog on the trail.
Other wildlife is making its presence felt. A coyote crossed the road as I was driving out of Bonniebrook the other day. Pileated Woodpeckers are happy to make holes in trees a few feet away from the edge of the road. The Northern Flicker has discovered one of our feeders and has been pecking its way through the food. One of the local Cougars has been spotted with two cubs. We've yet to see the resident Black Bear. The Barred Owl in the local forest continues to keep an eye on Jack while we are passing through, but no owlets yet.
Pileated Woodpecker
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| Yams or Sweet Potato |
Jack and Seb continue to enjoy each other's company. The first thing Jack does when he hears or sees Seb, is to rush off and get one of his many balls. It sets the scene for the rest of the day. Seb looks at Jack, Jack looks at Seb, the ball gets nudged a few feet, Jack retrieves and so it goes on. With Seb now crawling, bum shuffling and nearly walking, there is no hiding place for Jack. They both go to bed knackered!
Coyote Crossing - best on a larger screen
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| Barred Owl |
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| Cliff Gilker Park boardwalk |
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| Pine cone remnants from local Douglas Squirrels dining out |
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| Bonniebrook in black and white |
Your first full spring season in the house. Enjoy it. Great piccies. The "Wood-Stein" book on Nixon "the final days" is worth a read as is the Woodward book on Mark Felt aka Deep Throat if you've not.
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