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Regular readers of this cybernated chronicle will be aware that I like – on occasion – to share experiences of the interface between (wo)man and nature that inevitably occur as a result of living in this verdant wilderness.

In other words – I post stuff about the wildlife that we see in our garden!

Having a decent sized plot and being surrounded by trees we are routinely visited by all manner of birds. I posted earlier in the year on the subject of some of the more annoying of these, but we are also graced with visits from larger and more impressive avians. I recorded, for example, the visit of this eagle back in 2017 – a vulture last year and this blue heron earlier this summer.

Our most recent visitor was this beautiful owl – who decided to rest for a considerable period in one of our trees before heading off again to get on doing whatever it is owls fill their days with. Now – owls have virtually no natural predators and thus are afraid of practically nothing – particularly aging gentlemen armed with nothing more offensive than a camera, so this one just sat and watched me whilst I meandered ever closer – taking snaps of him/her.

And now – as is my wont – here are some examples for the gentle reader’s edification. Click on the images for the bigger picture.

Enjoy:

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Photo by Andy Dawson ReidSome odds and ends from the garden…

We have recently been getting help from a couple of chaps (who were recommended to us by a good friend) with one or two of the larger tasks of which our garden was in need. Such jobs included removing five years worth of un-composted garden detritus – trimming back some over-enthusiastic trees – and (the one pictured here) trimming back a large growth of ivy that covers a dead but strategically placed tree, the which forms a most useful screen that shields our garden shed from the outside world.

As the photograph here shows – cutting back the ivy has left the whole thing looking somewhat ravaged but it will, of course, be no time at all until it has filled in again.

Our garden help – whom I shall call Gordon (for that is his name!) – advised me that we had a nest – complete with young ones – right at the top of the ivy growth, but hidden well inside it. He had left them well alone…

…as shall I – for this was no bird’s nest – but a raccoon’s! Bet you didn’t see that one coming. I did not know that raccoons made nests and certainly not so far off the ground.

Well – that certainly explains the close attention that they have been paying to our kitchen waste bin.

Anyway – here are a couple of other pretty images from the garden:

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid
What do you think this little chap is waiting for?

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid
Perhaps he has heard that the Snowbirds (the Canadian equivalent of the Red Arrow – for UK readers) are about to fly-over…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidWoah! A bit too bloomin’ fast for me to get a decent shot. By the time you have heard them – they’re gone!

Oh well!…

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Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe last two days of our brief but highly pleasurable visit to the mainland were dedicated to visiting some of The Girl’s family – for the first time since the pandemic began. On the Sunday we had a most enjoyable dinner in Port Moody with cousins and then on the Monday retraced our footsteps to North Vancouver to pay a call on The Girl’s ninety five year old aunt. It was wonderful to sense just a glimmer of normality after such a long time with little but our own company – vastly pleasurable as that always is.

We had made only the most tenuous of plans for the last day so had not booked a place on a ferry crossing to the island, guessing that the Monday would be fairly quiet and that we could just pitch up and jump aboard.

Wrong!

As The Girl negotiated the maze of routes out of Vancouver towards Tsawwassen I looked up the status of the sailings on the InterWebNet. At this time of year ferries depart hourly – on the hour – but we could see that the 1 o’clock and 2 o’clock sailings were already full. As The Girl put the ‘pedal to the metal’ (she likes that!) we watched the rolling updates from BC ferries indicate that the 3 o’clock was filling rapidly and that the 4 o’clock was not far behind. When we finally reached the terminal at Tsawwassen we we told we might be on the 4 pm or it might be the 5 pm!

Having not yet had lunch and mindful of the long wait to come we headed for the terminal building to source ourselves some victuals – only to discover that a power failure had resulted in all of the concessions being closed – barring the confectionery stand and they were only able to take cash as all of the machines were ‘hors de combat’.

Bah!

That was not the most healthy repast that we have ever consumed.

No matter – we were determined not to let such small things spoil a most enjoyable trip and we were soon home again.

A final flurry of images from the journey home.

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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The third day of our sojourn in and around Vancouver was dedicated to seeing again the dear friend who lived with us for a period at the start of 2020 and is now based in North Vancouver. The limitations imposed by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic – and in particular the need to restrict oneself to strict social ‘bubbles’ – have meant that, though some of our dear friend’s furniture yet lives with us, we have not been able to see her since she moved out last summer.

Now that the restrictions have been eased we very much wanted to get together again – and we duly set off across the Lion’s Gate bridge in the directions of ‘North Van’.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe form for the day was a drive up the southern half of the ‘Sea to Sky Highway’ to Squamish for a spot of lunch. I have not previously traveled this route (which starts off along the east coast of the Howe Sound and which leads ultimately to Whistler) and looked forward to enjoying its beauties. The nature of the day and the sheer weight of traffic meant that stopping to take photos along the road was not realistic, but should you be interested this website gives a good and detailed introduction to the route.

I did snatch a couple of shots in Squamish but lunch and catching up were a far higher priority.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidAfter lunch we visited Shannon Falls, which are but a stone’s throw from Squamish (should you be an Olympian and possessed of a very light stone). Shannon Falls is one of the highest in British Columbia – with a drop in excess of 800ft – and is classified as a horsetail fall, with multiple elements fanning out (like a horse’s tail) and with the water making frequent contact with the underlying rocks.

I have read subsequently that Shannon Falls – along with other similar types of waterfall – can be difficult to photograph convincingly – which explains (I hope!) why none of my shots really does it justice or truly captures the scale of it.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThe standard of the photography aside – a jolly good day was had by all…

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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Two things occupied our time on the first full day of our recent visit to Vancouver.

The first was a visit to the Vancouver Convention Centre to view the ‘Imagine Van Gogh‘ exhibition, the which is described by the promoters – appropriately in our view – as an ‘immersive’ exhibition. This event has popped up in various places in North America and in all probability in other parts of the world also. We enjoyed it – particularly as one is able to see detail of the genius’s work in extreme close-up. I took these photos, which should give some idea of the scale of the thing. Do click on the images to see them on the largest possible scale…

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 ReidIn the evening The Girl and I dined at a rather lovely bar/bistro called ‘Tableau’. Though a week in advance of the actual date we had decided to treat this as our anniversary dinner and duly indulged ourselves in a thoroughly decent bottle of Chablis. The evening was considerably enhanced by the excellent service (and the complimentary fizz) provided in particular by the restaurant manager/sommelier who hails – as it turns out – from Chalfont St. Peter – a village within about five miles of where we used to live in South Buckinghamshire in the UK.

We thoroughly recommend Tableau should you find yourself in Vancouver.

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid

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I have not of late had much opportunity to take photographs with my new camera (new this year!) other than in our garden or on walks in the locality. This is, of course, one of the many side effects of the pandemic. On our recent long weekend break in Vancouver I determined that I would rectify this and duly snapped away to my heart’s content. The results should offer a visual record of our few days away.

The best way to get to Vancouver from our home on Vancouver Island is to take the ferry from Swartz Bay (but a stone’s throw from where we live) to Tsawwassen on the mainland and then to drive into the centre of the city from there. This is not the only possible route but it is the most efficient.

The ferry journey takes only around 90 minutes but is a particularly pretty crossing, passing as it does through the Gulf Islands. At about the halfway point the ferry route passes through a narrow and fast flowing tidal passage, between Galiano and Mayne Islands, which is called Active Pass. At this point the ferry crosses the equivalent sailing going in the opposite direction, but I have of late noticed that it also coincides with other smaller ferries serving the Gulf Islands themselves.

Here we are in a dance with three other ferries in Active Pass:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidAs I described in my last post, The Girl had found for us a splendid 23rd floor apartment at Carmana Plaza in Coal Harbour which is not only extremely comfortable and well equipped but which also has excellent views of the West End and English Bay:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidThe first day on leave was inevitably much occupied with travel, settling in and eating, but we did also have the opportunity to get a little shopping in. This example (replenishing my much loved Molton Brown hand-wash at Holt Renfrew) gave me the opportunity to play with another acquisition – a new macro lens that I picked up on the way into Vancouver.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPretty neat, huh?

More pictures next time…

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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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“Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think”

Robert Henri

The weather has finally turned warm and pleasant, having for a long time remained stubbornly overcast and chilly. It was thus clearly time to visit our nearby shoreline – Island View Beach – to breath deeply of the ocean air and to ‘think things we like to think’!

For those unable to reach the coast for the moment perhaps these images might act as an aide memoire…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid
Nature – flora and fauna – naturally abounds…

Photo 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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“Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.”

Rudyard Kipling

I make no apologies for posting more photos of the garden. This is – after all – its very best time of the year…

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 Reid

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