In Canada
Herewith some snaps of plant-life in our garden – enjoying the early summer weather. From what I hear Europe (and the UK) is currently burning up in an unexpected heatwave. Our sympathies. We do feel even more blessed than usual at simply enjoying normal May/June style weather.
I do hope that everyone is doing alright…
Herewith a follow-up to my last post… on the subject of the recent tree-work that we had carried out ‘chez nous’.
There follows a brief hiatus to allow for the cracking of any lumberjack jokes – as in:
“Paddy and Mick are walking along a logging road in British Columbia…” – and so forth!
All done? Thank you. Onward!…
The photos that I posted last time out should give an idea of just how much extra light we get at the front of the house as a result of the removal of the self-willed spruce. The images also suggest, however, that planting something more to scale is definitely in order to define more appropriately the interface between house and garden at that point. The search for the right arboreal embellishment may well take some time.
These photos show how the raised bed that had accommodated the spruce was left after the felling of the tree.
The photos also give an idea of just how much stump remains in the ground when a tree is removed. In other instances we have left the the protruding stumps as a feature (almost). In this case, because we want to plant another tree in the bed, we were obliged to hire the service of our arborist’s stump grinder, who – in command of his impressive array of machinery – made short work of the remains of the spruce.
This thing is definitely a bit of a beast!
One sizeable hole – tree-planting for the use of…!
“Choose a place where you won’t do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine”.
E.M.Foster – ‘A Room with a View’
The Girl and I are fortunate enough to live in a home that is a fair bit more spacious than is strictly necessary for us. Now, it may well prove in the long run that we are no longer able to manage the ‘estate’ and down-sizing will become the order of the age, but in the meantime we are enjoying having the room to pursue our various interests without having to make too many compromises.
Before coming to Canada The Girl and I lived for a decade and a half in average sized apartments (average for the UK, of course) and are thus much relieved at not having to suffer the same constraints now. We have both worked from home a fair bit (particularly during the pandemic) and are most grateful for having the wherewithal so to do.
The Girl has an office at the front of the house which is of a decent size and is reasonably quiet. It faces south west, however, towards Mount Newton, so it doesn’t get the best of the day. The situation was made worse by the presence without of an unfortunately placed pine tree, the which had grown out of proportion whilst resisting all attempts to reign in its over-enthusiasm.
A conversation with our neighbours – who were looking to get some tree work done themselves – planted the idea in our heads that the best thing to do might just be to dispense with this tree entirely. This is not a thing that we do lightly – always endeavouring to honour living things – but in this case it was not possible to preserve this tree in a reasonable form. We will plant some more compact replacement when the works are finished.
Meanwhile – take a look at these ‘before and after’ images…
From our slider windows here on the Saanich peninsula we have views to the east, looking out over the Haro Strait towards Pender Island. We also get to see further islands in the Gulf and San Juan groups the which are – on clear days – set-off nicely by Mount Baker looming in the background.
Given that we live in the land of the rain forest it should be no surprise that we also get to see much mist and cloud – not to mention plenty of days when nothing can be seen at all.
There are, however, plenty of days on which – with the sun following earlier rain – we get to see beautiful rainbows such as that in the image below. Sometimes we get double rainbows and – very occasionally – triples!
I had never, however, until very recently seen a horizontal rainbow such as that in this second image. Wikipedia helpfully informs us that this is a rare occurrence called a circumhorizontal arc that only appears in specific exceptional circumstances.
Wow indeed!!
“I killed my ex lovers and buried to my memories’ grave.
It is January and I am tired of being brave.”
Arzum Uzun
It occurs to me that the month just finished was the first January (with just a couple of exceptions) during which I had not worked since way back in the 1970s. Strangely – and slightly guilt-inductively – it has zipped by and disappeared over the horizon with nary a second thought. How odd!
It helps, of course, that though we have been watching avidly the reports of terrible weathers afflicting different parts of the globe, here – on the west coast of Canada – it has been merely wet… not icily, gustily, torrentially or anything else like that. Just wet!
Yesterday – however – there was sunshine as well – and we marvelled at how the shafts of sunlight pierced the forest at Centennial Park.
Naturally, pictures were taken:
Hey guys – it’s still the middle of winter!!
“Late afternoon on the West Coast ends with the sky doing all its brilliant stuff”
Joan Didion
Last time out I posted a cluster of images of the driftwood that accumulates above the strand line on our beaches here on Vancouver Island – and of the structures that our fellow humans feel compelled to build using it.
I thought I might now just add a few further photographs taken on the same sunny walk. The motivation so to do is in part the fact that the weather has comprised nothing but rain since that most pleasant day and I would like to be able to contemplate other more cheerful moods.
“She stands in tattered gold
Tossing bits of amber and jade
Jewels of a year grown old:
November.”
Zephyr Ware Tarver – “A Queen Makes an Exit”
November is upon us!…
“There’s something about the sound of a train that’s very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful”
Paul Simon
It occurs to me that in the course of these extensive prolixities I must at some point have explained that – during my adolescent years – my family was really quite different to many (if not most) others such. That we did not have a television during the period (the 60s) that that infernal device was the be-all and end-all of many folks entertainment (and indeed, education) is simply down to my father’s notions as to what was (and what was not) good for our minds. That we did not have a car was more prosaic, ruled out by my father’s weak eye musculature (the which resulted from a childhood illness). The thought of my mother in charge of a motor vehicle scares me even now – and it is no surprise that the very notion scared her too.
I do know for sure that I have previously recounted tales of my father’s strong pride in his Scottish ancestry and his desire – just as soon as we young ones were old enough to travel – to visit the land of our forefathers. Such was the draw of the highlands that, for the best part of the next decade, we holidayed nowhere else.
Not driving (and certainly not flying, back in those inceptive days) meant travelling by train. It is a truism that rail travel was somehow more elegant back then. The place settings in the dining cars were of porcelain, damask and silver plate; we slept in bunk beds in twin-berth sleeper compartments, waking in time to see ourselves safely across the border and into our native land.
Further, back in 2016 I wrote the following in a post entitled, “Steam“:
“In a way my first introduction to Canada came through the railway magazines that my father collected from his early life right up until he passed away. I gazed in awe at the black and white photographs of enormous North American steam engines hauling trains of apparently endless length through the staggering Rocky Mountains. I recall also being astonished that there could be a place on this earth called ‘Hope’ – and when it came to spiral tunnels and avalanche sheds… my eyes bulged and my jaw dropped in disbelief! Could I ever hope(!) to see such wonders?”
All this, of course, by way of a fanfare for perhaps the most anticipated part of our recent sojourn in the Rocky Mountains; our train journey from Jasper to Vancouver.
Here be pictures. Enjoy!
This is the Canadian National station at Jasper:
These sights may be seen from the train: Mount Robson – the highest peak in the Rockies
Pyramid Creek Falls – in the Pyramid Creek Falls Provincial Park
A brief break in Blue River to stretch our legs:
Whenever I inform folks – here in Canada and elsewhere – that The Girl and I spent a couple of nights in Jasper, their first instinct is to enquire about the residual damage from the 2024 wildfire. For those readers who know nothing of this dramatic event this brief detail comes from the Jasper Travel website:
“In July 2024, Jasper, experienced a historic wildfire, the largest in the past century, affecting over 32,000 hectares and causing significant damage to homes and businesses.
Despite the adversity, the town’s spirit remained strong, and recovery efforts have been swift and collaborative. While some areas were affected, much of the park’s breathtaking landscapes remain untouched, and the resilience of our community shines as we rebuild and welcome visitors back to our beloved destination.
Jasper continues to be a place of awe-inspiring wilderness, and we invite travellers to experience the beauty, adventure, and warmth that define our town as we move forward together”.
It is true that should one look closely one can plainly make out evidence of just how close the fires came to the centre of the town; in some cases into it. There is also no avoiding the sight of the temporary housing for those whose properties were sadly lost. There are also extensive ‘portakabin’ villages housing the construction crews that are rebuilding the affected parts of the community.
Whilst in Jasper we went on an evening wildlife bus tour, guided by local conservationists. These good folks were surprisingly up-beat about the damage done, explaining that such events are natural and that nature itself is capable of recovering surprisingly rapidly.
Some evidence of this positive news may be discerned in these images:
Following the three day sojourn in Banff concerning which I posted last time out, our small band of intrepid travellers mounted a different bus for the transfer to Jasper – this latter being the location of our rendezvous with the train that would transport us through the Rockies.
This bus was another of The Girl’s excellent finds. Rather than sprint the relatively short journey from Banff to Jasper this excursion would take a leisurely whole day to complete the trip, enabling us to see an additional range of unmissable sights en route.
One of the promised – and perhaps the most dramatic of these sights – featured a visit to the Icefields.
I have walked on a glacier before – in Alaska – but there we were whisked onto the ice in helicopters. Here we were actually driven up onto the ice in the most extraordinary all-terrain vehicles. The pictures must be seen:
This extraordinary glass bottomed structure – the Jasper Skywalk – enables one to walk on air high above the deeply carved canyon:
Additional stops before a late afternoon arrival in Jasper were Peyto Lake (which everyone agrees is shaped like a wolf’s head!) and the spectacular Athabasca Falls:
