Expedition Canada

Earthquake Hits SW BC Friday Feb 21st earthquake - Cronk Towers the red dot The house shook and rattled after the initial thunderous roar, while birds scattered in all directions from the feeders and trees.  It took me a few seconds to clock that it wasn't a plane crash or other manmade disaster, but an earthquake.   A first, and quite frightening experience.  Jack was equally unimpressed and didn't know where to put himself.  The centre was 25k North of us (close!) on the northern edge of the Tetrahedron Provincial Park and registered 5.1 (later revised down to 4.8).  Tetrahedron is a popular hiking area and on a clear day can be seen from the Sea to Sky Highway that takes you up to Whistler.  It was also felt in Whistler, Metro and North Vancouver and Vancouver Island. BC's Emergency Notice When we first moved in to Bonniebrook Fred packed a 'grab bag', which is recommended for parts of the country that could be affected by forest fires, earthquakes...

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...

Jack Vs Car Sat November 9th Fall seems later this year and the deciduous leaves have been a lovely mix of golds and reds with the predominance of Maples in all of its varieties. After last week's storms, most of the leaves are now down along with quite a few trees.  Further up the Coast a tornado was reported taking out multiple trees that closed the main highway and took out power for local residents for around three days.    A local driver caught the trees coming down on video .  After two consecutive dry summers, 2024 has been wetter with no significant water restrictions on the Coast.  I assumed this was good news until reading an article in the UK press that suggested late autumns are just another sign of global warming. The storm left us without power for nearly 12 hours and a huge number of properties were similarly affected across southern and central BC.  Fortunately we had a good supply of candles and a gas lamp.  Some friends near the ...

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...