Anyway, the sky is dull, but the cherry trees are bright.
End of the month. Wondering why this is not called April Fools Eve!?!
Anyway, the sky is dull, but the cherry trees are bright.
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Nice morning walk along the boardwalk at Parksville Beach. Snow geese grazing, buffle-heads bobbing, inuksuks rocking, but NO Brant's geese migrating. We went to the parking lot just outside of Parksville that overlooks a dump where bald eagles scavenge just to see if any big birds were about. They Were! Many of them! After lunch with family we decided to return home via some tourist routes. We didn't stop at Pipers Lagoon yesterday, so we stopped there on the way out of Nanaimo today. One lion (of the sea variety), one hummingbird, and one BC Ferry. Diverted off the big highway to see the murals in Chemainus, and discovered big changes to the public market since our last (pre-covid pandemic) visit. Noice! First morning walk was at Neck Point Park. Rugged coastline preserve mid-city. Managed to get a short video of a flock of white swans flying in the distance, with snow-capped mountains in the background. We did a short walk at Departure Bay, and then spent some time downtown at Maffeo Sutton Park. Jan got pics & vids of an otter on the dock - all I got was a still shot of wet otter footprints crossing the pier! Lunch with E & A, & then a walk around their neighbourhood. Spring seems to be a couple of weeks behind that in Victoria, but I did find one prime dandelion bloom! ;)
The mountains across the way, on the Sunshine Coast of BC, are clear & crisp. Not sure which yard wins the 'strange award' today - scarecrow or monkeys in a monkey-puzzle tree! The resident artistic director (yes, that would be Jan! ;)) decided to put this piece up on the fence rather than return it to the balcony gallery. Breakwater walk: Heron walks on kelp bed. Skinny armed starfish. Waterfowl - could be female hooded merganser. (??) Smoke on the water! Not really. Stranger than that - it is clear enough to see plumes from Port Angeles on the other side of the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Spill response team - it looked like two vessels were playing hide & seek (cat & mouse?) around the cruise ship berths. Clashing colours of Spring. Hillsides of daffodils vs streets lined with flowering cherry & plum trees, and magnificent magnolias, too!
Our big loop walk took us past the bottom of Beacon Hill, where a bald eagle was being harassed and landed atop The World's Tallest Totem Pole (that's its name!), and to the edge of Clover Point, where we could see the Off Grid coffee van. How windy & chill was it on the breakwater this morning? Enough to make a great blue heron look miserable!
The submerged orange blob is (I think) a type of sea-cucumber. We did not attend, but people lined up early for the big Marine Garage Sale at one of the cruise ship terminal & parking lot. Frugal fogie feast! As part of the Quality Foods (Vancouver Island grocery chain) special event, Five Dollar Friday, the deli has their angus cheese-burger & chips plate on for (you guessed it!) $5!
Our pretty little city has a full palette of colours on display, but the pinks of cherry & plum trees predominates at this time of year. We had a long walk today, through downtown, with a stop at Sally Bun to sample today's stuffed buns. Our return was down Vancouver Street & through Beacon Hill Park.
Orcas do swim close to shore in our area, occasionally, and we are always on the lookout for them while on our ocean-side walks. We have seen them in the distance, and closely missed a few appearances, but today was a once in a decade happy coincidence as two killer whales swam around inside the breakwater while we were right there! Pics & vids on FB proves it! ;) :) |
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January 2024
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