Expedition Canada

Sort Of Sat Jun 25 Sunset Over Van Island For a few hours on Friday the complete Cronk dynasty were all on the same continent, the first time in probably six years.  Rosalind had arrived from NZ and at the same time she was heading away from the airport in a taxi, the Norfolk branch were going in the opposite direction for a flight back to Blighty.  The clan didn’t actually meet, but a rare occurrence nevertheless.   Shortened Veg Bed The Norfolk branch left the Coast on Tuesday and spent a few days exploring Vancouver and catching up with the Kitsilano (Kits) Cronks, now including 2-month old Sebastian.  We started catching up on jobs unattended since the move.   On Monday the septic tank was emptied.  Not something you’d normally expect to read in these pages, but we discovered the previous owners had built raised veg beds over the main hatch which required some excavation by the ‘technician’. As a result two days were spent remodelling the midd...

Things not to do Naked Tue Aug 10th Sunrise Wed AM Wed Aug 11th Our local radio station, CKAY Coast FM, ran a feature this morning on things one would not want to do naked.   Picking blackberries was one of the suggestions.  Not that it would ever cross my mind. I mention this as two young Black Tailed deer, worked their way down the steep bank of our front garden grazing on the still plentiful supply of blackberries and young shoots that grow throughout the summer. They must have very thorn proof lips and mouths.  I was going to pick those same blackberries tomorrow morning - dressed! What did you think my reference to nakedness was going to be all about?   Coast FM serves the Sunshine Coast and eastern side of Vancouver Island, particularly around Nanaimo where many of the advertisers seem to be based.  They are a bit like Planet Rock in the UK, but do a good local news bulletin at the top and bottom of the hour as well regular updates of t...

Summer Solstice Mon Jun 21st Turkey Vulture - Stunning but not pretty! According to the Government of Canada Twitter account for the June 21st,  " I t'll officially be Summer in the Northern Hemisphere!  The #SummerSolstice means early sunrises, late sunsets, warm weather, and a whole lot of outdoor activities. "  I thought the whole point of a solstice, was that the days started getting shorter and the nights longer in June, or the other way around in December.    So as of today the days start getting shorter than the nights.  That said, as we are not yet Resident in Canada, I am not about to start being pedantic about the wording of their Twitter account. Yesterday and today had temperatures about 10c above normal.  An early morning dog walk was followed by a dip in Mixal. There was sighting of the rare Grey Dipper again!   It was amazingly warm.  The dockside thermometer was registering a water temp of 22c.  Five m...

Legal Eagles.... & Wildlife Wed Jun 9th Black Tailed Deer We awoke this morning to a couple of Black Tailed Deer grazing out back (garden/back yard as you refer!).   It now explains the 'scats' we found near the smaller pond a week back. The pictures were taken through the double-glazing rather than disturb them, so not great quality.  Today was a PC day.  As in computer, not 'politically correct'.   We had the lease agreement through for the 'log-cabin' in Langdale, which we reviewed and agreed.  The rest of the day was  spent looking at the basic fitting out for the house before our stuff from the UK arrives.  So Fred was behind her PC (MacBook) most of the day. A local day, apart from Fred's brief supermarket shopping 'jaunt' down to Madeira Park. Jack and I took a stroll down to Mixal Lake and saw waterfowl on the lake.  It has been surprising how few of them there have been.  A lone non-breeding, male, Hooded Merg...