The Owl woke that woke us up this morning

Barred Owl (Strix varia)

Barred Owl (Strix varia)

Barred Owl (Strix varia)

I heard two screeches and though it could be the alpacas (who do make some very weird noises) but on the third I looked out of the window. The owl was at least 20 inches high with 40-60 inch wing span. It was very poor light so all of the shots were f2.8 at 1/320s. First shot was the 100mm lens that happened to be on the camera, the rest are the 300mm. The owl was very polite and waited for me to change lenses. He knew I was there - in the laundry by the clearest window and only flew off after about 10 minutes. Then we went back to sleep.

3 nights camping at Horne Lake

A really nice spot to camp. Its west and north of Qualicum, 30 minutes down a gravel road from the main highway. Not too many people at this time of year and the weather was spectacular. Its best not to swim in the lake as you can get swimmers itch but that may reduce the number of small kids who camp there. We went for one longish walk and a few short ones. Not a lot to do but chill out, read a book eat and sleep. The more adventurous can visit the Horne Lake caves.  We are going car camping more often much less stress than kayak camping.

http://www.hornelake.com/caving_programs.htm

Michael and Lawrence's grand attempt to make pickles

I have never made pickles before but we had so many cucumbers that we decided to try. We will try them next time Michael comes to Gabriola. They look pretty good and are the right sort of color. Hopefully they taste really good.

The food had better be good

Red Fish, Blue Fish is supposed to have the best fish and chips in Victoria. The line-up seems never to be shorter than 20 people. It took us 1 hour to get from here to our food. Was it worth it, well yes the fish and chips was good but that was a very loong wait. We felt like the stupidist people in town when we were at the end of the line but felt better when people came in behind. Everyone was saying the wait was worth it and after 10 minutes we couldn't bring ourselves to find another restaurant.

Victoria Classic Boat Show

Went to Victoria for the wooden boat show. SBBS had a booth with 3 boats and a great model boat on display. An amazing number of people who truly and compulsively love wooden boats. One woman talked to us for ages about dories and then it turned out she lived at Silva Bay in 1943 and remembers the Silva's and the Japanese steam baths where Pages is now. Also the son of one of the original owners of U&I, the school mascot boat. He couldn't believe he was seeing his Dad's Old Boat. Many of the owners are as old or older than their 80 year old boats especially the guys on The Master - the last steam tug (http://www.granvilleisland.com/event/ss-master-steam-tug) whose loud steam whistle was always answered by many smaller toots from around the harbor. Who knew that steam boats have attached espresso machines.

Concert on the Green 2011

Naomi created an extreme haiku (longer than 3 lines) for the occasion.

Michael seemed to have good time

The Fab Four

Michael actually was in to the music

A small part of the crowd

Everybody dance

Tessa and I dancing - see the shadow!

Sergeant Pepper anyone?

A record number showed up. Love to know the age distribution because more singing and dancing from this crowd. Maybe the Beatles era lasted longer than I thought. Sun made pictures a little difficult as it was behind the crowd on the green. Great music and Michael even came down to dance area to see what was happening.

New Macro's Set.

Tweazle plant and friend

Visit to Toad's Landing near Sidney BC

Went to visit a boat designer's workshop at Toad's Landing - a small island near Canoe Cove. Very interesting and a big part of the history of boat building on the west coast.

Finally get to Kayak this year - Bath and Saturnina Islands

We have rented a kayak spot at Silva Bay Inn. Tessa has used a few times for kayak yoga. This was my first time getting in to kayak from dock. Not the easiest thing I have done and getting out wasn't much better. Worked best without my glasses so I couldn't see! Great trip though and at least it didn't rain till after we got home. Interesting light too. All pics taken with Lumix TS-1.

Its been a long time since the last posting.

We were in China for 16 days at the end of May and into June. More to come and pictures will be on smugmug. Got pneumonia on return and managed to rip an intercostal muscle as a result of the associated coughing. Back to normal now.