Expedition Canada

Happy New Year Ok, OK, I know I do a lot of sunsets (and sunrises) - but they are so beautiful Sunset over Vancouver Island (iPhone) Well, as feared in the last blog, it turns out that coming from a new joint email address our festive messages ended up in a lot of folks junk folders. W e sent e-Christmas cards as Canada Post were on strike for several months before Christmas.   So if you were thinking "we didn't get a card from the Cronks this year", check your junk email.  If it isn't there, then our email list was clearly in error (or you have changed your email address)!   It seems e-Xmas messages are starting to replace snail-mail (not surprising if you go on strike before Christmas) and probably arrive nanoseconds after they were sent. We had several.  Our first batch of the more tactile traditional cards arrived from the UK Fri Jan 10th, apart from a couple that must have been posted last summer, or maybe even Christmas 2023! Winter seems to have bypa...

A Coyote Sun April 28th Jack was distinctly unimpressed by the lunchtime visitor, the Coyote was underwhelmed by Jack's objections We were so preoccupied enjoying the first decent bit of snow this year when we went up to Whistler, that it completely slipped our minds that April 3rd was the 3rd anniversary of our arrival in Canada, and therefore didn't make the last blog.   While in Whistler, we did go out to our favourite Creekside restaurant ( The Red Door Bistro ) to celebrate Fred's pending birthday and might have had an extra bottle if we'd remembered our Canada anniversary.  The reason for the early birthday celebration was primarily because there are no fine-dining restaurants on the Coast, and we like the Red Door Bistro.   I  am not sure q uite why April 3rd passed us by.  Maybe it's because being here has become the norm.  It hasn't lost any of its beauty and we still marvel at our luck at being able to live here.  Whether its drivin...

Beans Means Heinz Thu Oct 19th But which ones?  An excursion to our local supermarket the other day left me curious about the difference between the original Heinz Baked Beans sold in Canada and the British Style sold alongside.  After a bit of research it appears it is not limited to just to basic styles and the original baked beans in Canada may be different again to those sold in the USA.   One video I stumbled across Original v British Baked  beans suggested the British Style had less sugar. It went on to say that the British Style were different to the original beans sold in the UK. Commentators in the USA indicated their 'original beans' were darker, sweeter and had a more smoky flavour through the addition of pork.  By this stage I decided I'd bean dwelling on this far too long, and gave up! Turnstone In the last blog I posted a picture of what I thought was a Least Sandpiper.  My personal birding advisor (PBA), who I worked alongside ...

Orcas off Camp Byng Fri March 3rd Our Bonniebrook Beach Day 18 post op, Fred's rehab goes from strength to strength.  Crutches have been cast aside and a hiking stick is only being used when out and about.  Whilst not rushing up and downstairs, she's now climbing up and down pretty normally, the one thing she could not do before the hip op.  The medical team from Calgary are keeping in regular contact and the local GP is impressed with progress.   Physio phase 2, as distinct from home physio exercises, starts Mon 13th, exactly one month after the op.    A long weekend of Sebby-time when we got back from Calgary was good Fred therapy. Camp Byng - Quite different to the other Hammersmith!  As I have been doing two walks a day with Fred out of dog-walking action, I've been varying the routes.  My local favourite is Camp Byng; a 210 acre Scouts of Canada campground.  Closed up this time of year and slightly overrun/rundown after Covid; it is...