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Vista

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These long days and concomitant short nights give us opportunities aplenty to observe from our deck the ever changing evening light upon the waters of Bazan Bay and the Haro Strait. We find ourselves particularly enjoying the varied spectacles that are the sunsets which are a feature of the season. It occurred to me that the gentle reader might care for the chance to do likewise – however vicariously…

As ever – click on the images for the full effect!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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“I’m a very early riser, and I don’t like to miss that beautiful early morning light”.

David Hockney

I was up early yesterday and this was the view from our windows. Just had to take a shot (or two)…

Not bad…

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Some days – particularly at this time of year – the cold morning air is so clear that we get a quite startlingly sharp vista of Mount Baker and the mountain ranges that surround it.

At such time – even though my humble camera is unable to do the prospect justice – I can’t resist photographing it…

…or posting the results!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Never too busy

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid“Have you noticed that even the busiest people are never too busy to take time to tell you how busy they are?”

Bob Talbert

Well, it has – of course – been busy. It was, after all, the first week of term… the first week of exclusively online teaching (for me – as I did not teach during the summer). As it happened it didn’t go too badly. Fingers crossed that this is a portent for the remainder of the course and that we will sail through it serenely – without alarums or excursions – and that everyone gets an A+ (well – all those who deserve so to do anyway).

On Friday we were also washed – and by ‘we’ in this case I mean ‘the outside of our humble abode’. I mentioned in a relatively recent post that we we finally getting the outside of the house painted; a thorough wash and brush up being the first step in that process. We now wait for a week for the dust to settle (metaphorically, I assume) before the actual business kicks off.

The crew that washed the house were all personable and strapping young chaps and it took The Girl all of about a minute to determine that they play rugby together for one of the Victoria clubs. I can’t tell you how much confidence it fills one with to know that one’s treasured property is in the safe hands of those who participate in that most excellent of sports. The Rugby ethos forefronts the core values of Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship – and what’s not to admire about that!

The image at the head of this post marks another development this week. Back at the start of June – in this post – I celebrated the fact that for the first time since the start of the pandemic I had been able to purchase a large container of Lysol disinfectant wipes. At the time I posited that this might indicate a change in the air with regard to the progress of the pandemic. As it turned out that was the last time that I saw the wipes, though not for want of looking. I asked one of the grocery chaps and he told me that they do come in from time to time, but that they usually arrive on a delivery at 11:00 at night and are subsequently and rapidly cleaned off the shelves by the old folk who habitually do their grocery shopping at 7:00 in the morning.

This week – finally – Thrifty (our local grocer) had a consignment that must have arrived during the hours of daylight. I scampered home with my allotted single container, to be met by The Girl who had – naturally – just found one somewhere else. We now have a pleasant surfeit of disinfectant wipes.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidMy very recent post concerning the wildfire smoke from Oregon and California crowed somewhat prematurely at the rapid disappearance of the noxious fumes. Naturally the very next day they returned with a vengeance and have settled in for the duration. We now have no vista at all, though that does not in any way compare with having no home – which is what happened to one of The Girl’s acquaintances from Oregon.

Looks as though this unpleasant stuff is going to be with us for at least a few more days and I feel suitably humbled.

Now what do they call that? Hubris? Amour propre? Smug-bastardry getting its due comeuppance?

Take your pick…

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What a difference…

Just the other night I took this picture in the gloaming as we entertained a dear friend to a garden-based repast. It was Sunday evening and it was a good way to end the weekend. The Haro Strait obliged us – as it often does at this time of year – with a spectacular array of subtle tones and changing light – and very beautiful it was too.

We discussed the weather forecast that had been circulated during the day that had threatened the first (and really quite early) of the coming season’s fall winds. The Haro Strait seems to attract them but – as I say – not usually for another month or so.

Sure enough, the following day was blustery to a fair degree. Not a winter storm for sure, but certainly a ‘promise’ of things to come. What made it particularly unusual is that the temperatures here are still comfortably well into the twenties (Celsius) so the winds were more like those encountered in desert lands – hot and dry.

They also blew in from the South – which had another un-looked for outcome… On the Tuesday morning we awoke to a very different view.

Yes – that fuzz in the middle of the picture is smoke… wildfire smoke!

This season has been mercifully free – thus far – of serious wildfire smoke here on the Island, but these winds had blown this lot up the coast from the fires in Washington State (and elsewhere) that you may have read about on the news. Not good – and those with chest ailments were particularly unhappy.

The good things with winds, however, is that they just keep right on a-blowin’… Come this evening the view from our window had reverted to that of Sunday evening.

Thank goodness for that – say I! (With apologies – of course – to those of you who are still under the cloud!).

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High time for some more shots of things growing in our garden!…

…and possibly some other random images that I have overlooked throughout the last couple of months. Let’s see what I can find…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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I have to admit to feeling somewhat guilty. Living in (semi) lock-down is tough – but it is clearly a lot tougher for some folk than for others. Some countries have much tighter restrictions than others to start with – and for those who live in urban environments with little room and limited opportunities to get outside – or for those who live alone in very rural areas and are keenly feeling the isolation… I can offer only my sympathies and support.

Here on the southernmost tip of Vancouver island we have good reason to feel fortunate. BC has done as well as anywhere to keep people safe during the crisis and our caring professionals are – as elsewhere – doing a fantastic job. Up here on the peninsula we live in a very beautiful place and have an abundance of space. We also have each other – which is the ultimate blessing.

I thought I would post some pictures from this neck of the woods. I hope that they give pleasure to some of you. Double-click for the full effect.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThis little chap was outside my bathroom window for a couple of days. With the afternoon sun behind him he threw this silhouette on the frosted glass. I thought I should take his picture. No – I didn’t have a camera with me in the shower. That would just be weird! I fetched one afterwards…

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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A nip and a tuck

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidOur arborists paid us another visit last week, in part to remove the remains of a Doug Fir branch on the boundary between our humble abode and that next door to one side, the which had been broken in the bad weather last spring. During the year there was little danger of it coming to harm but the season of winter storms is upon us and we must needs be prepared.

The other apparently trivial task that we sought of them was to restore one of the two openings through which we are lucky enough to have distant vistas from the back of our house. This is the one through which Mount Baker may be seen (on a clear day!) and a determined cedar – which has clearly been cut back many times before – was making multiple skyward bids from the various shoots that had emerged after previous none-too-clever hatchet jobs.

Like the forest fight for sunlight, that takes root in every tree” – as Genesis would have it…

These operations are always delicate, not because of anything forestry related but because of the necessary interaction required with neighbours. In this instance the tree concerned was not on our property and – having been the subject of attention in the past – there was the possibility of an awkward history to be considered. This neighbour’s property is, however, probably going on the market in the New Year and we estimated that only minimal resistance might be encountered, which fortunately proved to be the case.

As can be see from the composite image below the the works were relatively subtle, though a surprising amount of foliage was borne away to the chipper. The picture does not do justice to just how much difference restoring the bottom right of the opening has made.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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I really do hope that I am not going to turn into a massive bore about this, but one of the most splendid features of our new North Saanich home is the view from the reception rooms and the master bedroom of the sea and the mountains. Just to clarify with regard to our location – we are on the east side of the Saanich peninsula – facing east. Our view is of Bazan Bay and of the most southerly of the Gulf Islands, and thence on to the American coast beyond the Georgia Strait.

The garden is well screened by trees and mature shrubs which gives the property a blissfully private feel, but there are also two significant openings through which the vistas are revealed. Through the southern of these can be seen Mount Baker – more than 70 miles away on the American mainland. If – when I get up in the morning –  the sun is showcasing the mountain in glorious silhouette it is virtually impossible not to want to take yet another picture of it…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThe northern opening looks out over Bazan Bay, with Sidney to one side and Sidney Spit to the other. This view is also extremely pretty in the morning light, but also regularly features the Anacortes ferry – threading its way from Sidney out through the islands to the American coast – and flotillas of yachts of a wide variety of sizes enjoying the sunshine and the peaceful waters.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson Reid Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe full moon a couple of nights back demonstrated that it is not only the sun that can reveal this landscape in all its glory.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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I am one of those people for whom a vista – a distant prospect – is of considerable import, whether I be in my own home or off traveling. For as long as has been possible – in other words, ever since I could afford so to do – I have chosen to live in a domicile with a view.

I feel sure that someone, somewhere, has written a learned treatise on just why human instinct seems – for most of us at any rate – to be thus inclined. I would be surprised if this disquisition did not posit the survival instinct as probable cause – the desire to live on a hilltop that one might better recognise approaching danger.

The poet’s cynosure might lie elsewhere – perhaps on the notion that gazing upon a distant panorama is in fact emblematic of our longing for the unobtainable – for that which is beyond our reach – and that the resultant wistful longing tugs at our heart-strings in a manner that we find strangely gratifying.

As I say – I am sure that there have been studies of this phenomenon. I – however – could not find one and you will have to make do instead with one of my favourite poets…

Into my heart an air that kills,
From yon far country blows.
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?

That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain.
The happy highways where I went,
And cannot come again.

A. E. Housman

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

 

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