Expedition Canada

Still feels like Summer Mon Oct 3rd Sunset over Van Island - still warm enough to eat outside Message from the editor:  Technical glitches in the last blog update email, lost the formatting and didn’t save the changes after the typos were corrected.  Guardian readers may not have noticed.  The forecast rain reported in the last blog never arrived, water restrictions remain in place and the Sunshine Coast Regional District has convened their Emergency Committee.  Although it’s cooler at either end of the day, temperatures have been in the mid twenties which is 6c - 10c above average for this time of year.  The rain forecast set to swamp the Public Holiday next weekend  (Monday Oct 10th is Thanksgiving in Canada) is also looking less likely, maybe a few showers.  The coast has gone 80 days without any significant rainfall.   Some are speculating it may lose its status as a temperate rain forest. Canadian Thanksgiving is a celebration of th...

Hot News Mon Jul 19 One of the many tugs taking aggregate up to Port Mellon Tue Jul 20 Not so much a new game, but a new club, as Fred had her first proper ladies doubles match at the Sechelt Racquet club on Monday.  The invitations are flowing in thick and fast.  Some good competition; she is going to have to up her game, which is already pretty good!  A second invite for a game on Monday, one on Wednesday and another on Thursday.  All but the second afternoon session on Monday accepted.  Next week is filling up! We are going to need a second car!😀 Eel or Garter Snake for breakfast? While Fred was tennising, I was Jack sitting and working out the layout for the new cronkoak.ca workshop. I was due to collect the lathe on Tuesday morning.   The Monday morning walk to Hopkins Landing produced two interesting images.  The first was one of the many Great Blue Heron, about to down an eel or garter snake (they swim quite well) for breakfast. The second...

Global Warming? Ribbon Cloud in front of the mountains Fri Jul 16th The title is not meant to be flippant.  With disastrous floods in Western Europe, heatwaves in BC two weeks ago and forest fires still burning in BC 's interior and Western North America, we were not expecting to have to break out sweaters today where local temperatures only touched 20 C. The idyllic setting we have painted is not without its own problems aside from the forest fires that have received international attention. A number of local beaches around Gibsons have been closed due to E-Coli levels that exceed the minima.  See news report .   We are based just north of  'Langdale' on the map, just where the grey band stops. Some of the regular swimmers are still taking their morning dip, but fewer of them.  The Hopkins Landing and Langdale areas north of GIbsons are quite spread out and the majority of properties will be on septic tanks rather than mains sewage systems. ...

Coincidence Tue Jul 13  Wed Jul 14 Needless to say, the tires were not delivered  to the repair shop  on Tuesday and only two were delivered on Wednesday.  That meant Tuesday was an enforced local day, not wanting to drive around on a 'donut' spare and not have a spare. We explored the local area, bought a Basil plant from someone's front garden, met locals Madeline and Vern who live behind us and were invited to pick raspberries from their garden.  Very welcoming. Most of the update/news is Wednesday driven.   This morning I was checking the UK bank account only to find those lovely people at Sky UK have continued to deduct our DD since we left the UK and returned our Sky Q box, three months ago.   A note to their email complaints department (I wasn't planning on ringing from Canada) and we wait to see how quick it's resolved.  Any senior Sky directors  reading this (you know who you are), expect an email if they don't sort it out ...

And Peaks Sat Jun 19th Capt Jack It was something of a motorized day on the water in the morning and up the mountains in the afternoon. John Henry's does boat hire and the archipelago of islands and inlets around the Pender Harbour and Garden Bay areas of the Coast would offer a different perspective to looking at it from atop a mountain. Safety demo complete, gear loaded on board, Jack wrapped around my knees, we headed out of the harbour. Nick took in the view from the foredeck and once Jack was peeled away from me he rather got the hang of watching the birds, seals and general flotsam and jetsam. Hugging the coastline of the bays and avoiding the flotilla of racing boats heading out to the Georgia Strait, we followed the coastline around Pender Harbour. The black line shows the route. It is a fantastic way to get a better view of the area, but not always easy to locate the familiar areas we know so well on land, from the water. Jack was clearly taken by the seal but resiste...

Beach Camp Fire Sunlight on ferns Tue May 18th A grey start to the day though it cleared quickly.  Across the strait, Van Island remained covered in cloud and rain which lasted most of the day.   To my surprise (but not Fred's) Nick pitched up just after breakfast with a birthday cake.  What a delight.  It was raining in Vancouver as well we learnt from Nick, such are the micro-climates around this part of BC. In between his work conference calls we reviewed our figures on the property we're interested in, before going back to the agent confirming we are sticking with the last offer.  We wait to hear.   Late morning Nick and I took a drive out to Sechelt for him to see the house.  A we drove out I was pleased to see the Telus (local BT) cable team working on the overhead fibre cables that serve the house we are in.  Whatever had been the problem was fixed by early afternoon.  The TV was no longer a jumble of colour and the internet ...

That is the Question Jaws or something else Mon May 17th I'd like to be able to say that we have done lots of interesting walks today and taken lots of pics of the wildlife that puts on a daily show for us on the water's edge. There was an early beach walk, but only after getting up at 'dark o'clock' to speak to our UK bank.  The size and timing of moving money for house-purchase in Canada, the banks says is very simple.  On-line banking!  We'll see. The walk, provided a few Bald Eagles, an otter, seals and two other dog walkers.  I've got enough pictures of the wildlife.  One curious sight was the fin in the water - see picture.  No thrashing sharks taking bits out of boats or boatmen, but a Sea Lion.  They like 'sailing', sculling along with their other appendages with one fin out of the water.  After a brief bit of research, it is apparently their way of managing body temperature, a bit like a radiator.  It seems a shame tho...