Our new Gate Keeper - John

We decided that we needed a Gate Keeper so we have have hired this ``Gabriola Hippy`` to do the job. He is a bit wooden but seems to enjoy his role. At least his heart is in the right place.

More from the eelgrass survey

Happy hungry eelgrass  mappers gather at Raspberry’s Jazz Café. From Left to Right: Nikki Wright from Seachange Marine Conservation Society, Raquel, Frances, Christine , Tom , Charlotte , Tessa , Cameron and Lawrence   If you are interested in becoming involved, please call Laura-Jean at 250-247-9720.

Street Art Festival Gabriola August 22nd

We spent the afternoon at the Street Art festival. Tessa bought the singing frog print (Romeo sings) from Diana Bonder. He is the hero of the illustrated children's book Leon's Song. That's it being guarded by a sleeping golden retriever puppy.

We also bought some new purses at the leather stall.

You are going to have to guess why I bought the wooden toilet seat

I bought this wooden toilet seat for a non toilet project and the only way to get it home was to sit on it, on top of the scooter. Everyone who saw me got a really good laugh.

Dress Rehearsals for "In Juliette's Garden" were held last night.

Queen Elizabeth I

Nurse, Kate and the bard's literary agent

Drowned, stabbed, smothered

Juliette

Desdemona

      The rehearsal was at Anthony's  Theatre Centre. All the shots were made without flash at very high iso. Juliet Capulet invites four other heroines of Shakespeare's classics - Katharina, Portia, Ophelia and Desdemona - to lunch in her favorite garden in Verona to discuss 'issues' they all have with their plots And each of the ladies has suggestions how these issues might be remedied! Shakespeare, therefore, has also been invited But instead, the Bard sends an envoy, his literary agent and editor Jacqueline de Boys, who attempts to save the day with the help of Juliet's Nurse! This lively fifty-minute one-act comedy sparkles with wit and an in-depth understanding of the characters of these indelible ladies, and their effects on playgoers over the centuries A cameo appearance by Shakespeare at the end is optional. Tessa was responsible for costumes for the Bard, Desdemona and Portia.

William "the bard" shakespeare

Home Share Adventures in Cedar

Michael arrived home in great shape and has been telling us all about the great weekend he had with Teresa in Cedar. He liked her son and daughter and especially her cooking. Teresa tells us the weekend was a big hit! If all goes well Michael will move on September 4th. He is really excited about the move, but anxious at the same time. The weekend visit helped him calm down a bit.

Gabriola Lace and earthquake fault lines

Eelgrass Mapping Project

Actual Eel Grass in Taylor Bay

The ever present starfish

Eelgrass is an important part of a marine environment and there is a big project ongoing to map the eelgrass on both coasts of Canada. They serve as a haven for crabs, scallops, numerous species of fish, and other wildlife, providing these creatures with habitat, nursery grounds, and food.So about 12 of us walked and kayaked the shoreline at the north west end of the island, clipboard and GPS in hand. Team Spero saw more kelp, starfish, mussels and barnacles than anything else. Nice walk on the shoreline and a pretty good after event lunch at Raspberries.

The Lady with the chart

Concert on the Green - Timebenders

Charlotte and our al fresco dinner

The King came to Gabriola

Concert on the Green raises funds for the Lions Club and is a major source of funding for organizations on the island. Not sure of the amount but $22,000 is about right. There were 10 of us enjoying a picnic - mostly vegetarian - I forgot there was some pate.








It started with a group called the twisted solicitors who were interrupted by of all things an island wide power outage. Next year BC hydro will be a sponsor and know not to schedule a service maintenance break during a concert. Fortunately it only lasted for 15 minutes. Probably the hottest and most humid day of the year so far and the haze from the BC fires added a weird light to the sky.

The Timebenders did hits from the 50's through to the 90's and got a lot of people dancing from kids to adults. A good time was had by all. The evening ended with YMCA (bottom picture).

Yes we did dance - that's both me and Tessa

YMCA

My green tree frog has turned grey - living on a blue barrel will do that!

July 20th - anual pot luck with Amy and Paul at Drumbeg

Tessa's cake

 Tessa made this great cake from Brunetti's cookbook. Almond meringue. We left it on the patio table while we fetched plates. We heard a chair move then watched lucky running off with bits of meringue - he had got up on table. He doesn't usually go that far - must have been a good cake.You can see how dry the grass is, the drought is beginning to bite. We have just emptied the first cistern watering the vegetable garden. Everything is coming from the well now.

Day II of the Camping Trip - Little Qualicum falls & Cathedral Grove July 29th

Upper Little Qualicum Falls

Lower Little Qualicum Falls

 Day II breakfasted and packed up by 11:30am. Drove to Little Qualicum Falls and walked for a few hours before picnic lunch. Shared our left-over bread with a bunch (about 20) of eco-tourists who didn't have enough bread. Decided not to go home too early so went to Cathedral Grove and spent a pleasant hour or so. Home by 7pm.

Cathedral Grove

Lucky likes walking on walls(big trees) just like Rowan did.

Day I of the Camping Trip - Englishman River Falls July 28th

Englishman River Falls

What is holding this tree up?

Really, it had been spotted earlier in the day

Smurf canons

 Tessa bought a tent at a charity sale for $15 so we spent $600 on sleeping mats, stoves etc so that we could go camping. Actually it was a lot of fun and since we had the car carting all the camping paraphernalia wasn't hard. Englishman River Falls is near Errington about 45 minutes from Nanaimo. The camp site was quiet well supplied with toilets and water etc. After lunch we walked around the falls (there are upper and lower) for a few hours made supper then walked for an hour or two. Mostly second growth but some old growth trees. Cooking on two propane stoves worked well and the food tasted OK. Tessa's chocolate cake for dessert - haven't had that since Cleveland House holidays with the kids. Next time though I am not going to marinade then freeze - the flavors got rather strong.  The dog was exhausted. Lots of room for the two of us in the tent but lucky couldn't get comfortable because he slipped on mat/sleeping bag. In the end he crawled into the sleeping bag with me.

Relaxing before bed!

Harvest Time

Gabriola Hard Neck garlic

Our garlic was harvested today. Now drying on the rack for a few days.The garbanzo beans are nowhere near ready.The sunflowers are beginning to flower.

sunflowers from Jane's seeds

 Garbanzo beans from saltspring island seeds