The Great Gabriola Getaway



I don't know why we did it, but we went to Gabriola Island the other day. Starved for adventures, I guess. Gabriola is only a 20-minute ferry ride from downtown Nanaimo, but somehow this is - if I'm remembering correctly - only the third time I've ever been there.

This photo shows the southern(ish) end of Protection Island, its lighthouse, and the northern end of Gabriola. (One of these days, I'll take the ferry - a different ferry - to Protection and take some pictures there. I love that island.)



Perhaps the reason I haven't visited Gabriola more often is that as soon as you arrive on the island, you're faced with a hill that I would find pretty well unclimbable (is that a word?) without a motor vehicle, and I prefer to visit places that are either foot- or bike-friendly. I may have to drive to get there, but once I'm there, I like to be able to park the car and forget it until it's time to go home.




This time, we drove all around the island, visiting several of the parks, harbours and beaches that dot it. We enjoyed the tour, but most of the time, we were in the car.



I did pop into a little shop on a dock, where a young lady was selling incense, cards, candles, and beautiful Tibetan singing bowls. Even though I made it clear that I wasn't buying, she invited me to play with the bowls. If I were ever to collect something, I suspect that Tibetan singing bowls would be my choice. There was one in particular, in this shop, whose tone drew me in so deeply, I could have stood there all day, just playing.

We particularly enjoyed visiting Sandwell Park on Lock Bay. (For an intexed map of Gabriola Island, click here.)



At the bottom of this post, I've embedded a video I made at Sandwell Park. It's not exactly Oscar material, but I think it will give you a pretty good idea of the atmosphere. I'm glad we went. Some other time, we'll go back and pay a visit to the alpaca farm. If I'm feeling wealthier on that trip, maybe I'll go buy that singing bowl, bring it home, and let it sing to me.

Road Trip to Mt. Washington AND BetterU weekly report

We went for a drive up island this afternoon, hoping to find a beautiful view and some photo opportunities up on Mt. Washington. Along the way, Robin said "Look what's in front of us." It was the Google Earth car, heading north on Hwy. 19, filling in the blanks.




It turned out to be only 130 kilometers to Mt. Washington - we both thought it was farther - so even though it was after 1:30 p.m. when we left home, we arrived at the mountain with plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine and the view of everywhere. There was only one problem.



We were halfway up the mountain when we started talking about turning around because we could hardly see the road, much less anything else. There wasn't really any place where we could safely do that, so we kept going all the way to the Alpine Lodge, where I took these photos.




Oh,well. The best laid plans, and all that. We did enjoy our drive.



And then - and then - Oh, I wish you had been there with us. That way you could have seen something really cool.

This is what happened. I had one of my unusual and inexplicable moments of tidiness as we left the resort. I put my camera in its pouch and ZIPPED IT. Oy. Just over halfway down the mountain, as we came out of the fog, and while I struggled to unzip the camera pack, a black bear ambled across the road in front of our car and disappeared into a very deep ditch before, presumably, continuing into the woods. I did not follow him (her?), because I just don't need any picture that badly. Sorry.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, at least in that there were no more wildlife moments, and the sun shone all the way home. We stopped to pick up fish for supper, and I had my blood pressure checked - which brings us to Part II of this post - the BetterU report.

This morning's weigh-in was a happy event. My weight is now X minus 3.4 lbs. Hooray! Blood pressure is up to 125/76, but that is still normal, and my pulse rate has dropped from 79 to 69.

Meanwhile, I found this wonderful video, which I'm posting as a reminder to myself during this season of single-minded concern over the state of my body.

I found the video posted on Twitter by Virginia DeBolt. Thank you, Virginia, for a great inspiration.

Best Laid Plans

Today is Tuesday, the day when I go to the gym and weigh in, then blog about my BetterU progress. That's the plan, right? Right.

Not today. I ended up working, much to my surprise, so I didn't get to the gym and I didn't blog about it. I came home and fell asleep for a while, then got up and taught myself to make a 'movie', aka slide show and upload it to YouTube. Somehow, I had forgotten how, in the week or two since I did it before.

So not only am I running behind on my own posting schedule, but I haven't had a chance to visit anybody else. I'm bummed. I think I've caught whatever Reya had. The full moon cured her - maybe whatever it was bounced off the moon and hit me.

As I type, YouTube is still processing the movie, but I do believe I can post it now.



My trip to the gym and report thereon will just have to wait until tomorrow morning. I shall try not to answer my phone until I've gotten some exercise.

Another Bon Voyage

Yesterday, I boarded the Queen of Oak Bay and sailed to Horseshoe Bay (1 1/2 hours). Then I got on the Express bus to downtown Vancouver (1/2 hour), where I boarded yet another bus to get to my son's place in Burnaby (1/2 hour). We had a great visit that included lunch in a Mexican restaurant. That was a poetic touch, as we hadn't seen each other since before Robin and I left for Mexico in December. I was relieved to see that Bumble is living in a pleasant neighbourhood (he moved while we were away). We spent some time at his apartment, which has a great view of Vancouver,
then went for a walk down Hastings Street. I found a great mural, and Bumble says there are a lot of them farther along Hastings. Next time I'm over, I'll go mural hunting. Unfortunately, there was a pole in front of this mural, with an electrical box on it, so I couldn't photograph the whole mural - just a taste of it, along with its credit.

We strolled around the neighbourhood, seeing the sights, getting me my exercise. I had been feeling guilty because I'd got straight onto the ferry without going for a walk or to the gym, and then I'd had the delicious but fattening lunch. I needn't have worried. When I got home last night, I took off my pedometer. It had registered 15,305 steps. I felt, as I told my friend Jane this morning, as if I'd been hit by a brick. I am recovering, but slowly.

We were sitting at a picnic table, talking, watching kids kick a soccer ball around, when I panicked. I looked at my watch, read it wrong, thought I had to catch a bus right that minute in order to be in time for the 7 pm ferry home - so we ran for the bus stop, and I caught the bus right away. I was about ten minutes down the road when I realized I had read the clock wrong, and it was an hour earlier than I thought. Never mind, I said. This way I won't be rushing for the boat. When the boat was twenty minutes late leaving the dock - because there were stalled cars on the car deck - I rolled my eyes. That was another hour I could have had with Bumble. Again, never mind. I'll go back next month. We plan to stop for the night in Vancouver on the way to Wyoming in the Turtle.

After the first bus ride, I had half an hour to wait at Granville and Georgia in downtown Vancouver, so I entertained myself by taking a few photos. The



bus stop is right in front of the Hudson's Bay Company, whose windows were fun to photograph.



A block away is the art gallery. We considered visiting it yesterday, but we're both rather broke right now, so we decided to put that off for a while. It is a beautiful building, though, and there's an exhibition on that I would love to see before it goes.

I realize as I work here that I did take rather a lot of pictures yesterday, and if I keep posting them, I'll be here all day - and this post will be three blocks long. What I think I'll do is - some time in the next couple of days - I'll post a slideshow on YouTube and link it to another post. Not Theme Thursday, because that's Swing, and I can't figure out how to make that fit. Friday Photo Shoot-Out's theme is M - anything that begins with M. I suppose it would be cheating to post My Trip to Vancouver . I'll figure something out.



Meanwhile, though, this is the teaser. I enjoyed my visit, and I could feel the big city excitement, but I don't think I could live there. It was good to get off the boat in Nanaimo and be driven down our quiet streets. Vancouver is way too noisy - and it's just so shiny.

Friday Shoot-Out - Prodigal Summer


Boldly stealing Barbara Kingsolver's title, because nothing else adequately describes this week here in Nanaimo, I invite you to walk with me down the Nanaimo Parkway Walkway from Nanaimo Lakes Road to McKeown Road, a distance of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). Normally, this is a 40 to 45 minute walk. On Wednesday, I took my camera along, and the walk took 65 minutes.


I had my trusty Nordic walking sticks strapped to my wrists, a bottle of water in a holster strapped to my waist, and my camera in a pouch on yet another strap around my waist. In truth, it's a wonder I could move - but I did, sort of, taking ten steps, stopping to unravel myself and take a picture, girding my wrists and setting out again, rinse, repeat, for over an hour.


Everything that could possibly bloom was blooming. There were daisies - I had been wanting to take daisy photos, because my older sister, whom I'll be visiting in a few weeks, loves daisies. I want to get three really good shots - daisies and two other flowers - and make a framed set for her. Once I started taking pictures, though, I realized that I had been walking right past some lovely blooms - like these wild columbine.*


*Disclaimer: If I misname any of these flowers, please forgive me. I'm a walker, not a botanist. I once knew a man who called all flowers Roses and was quite unapologetic about it, so I don't feel too bad.


The funny thing about this walk is - well, there are two funny things about it. First of all, when the Parkway - which is a bypass - was put in, a great deal of effort went into leveling it. The Parkway is a beautifully banked, nearly hill-free stretch of freeway that stretches the length of Nanaimo, interrupted only by five traffic lights (but we won't talk about them. I don't even want to think about them). But anyway, a great deal of effort went into leveling the Parkway. At the same time, someone conceived of the brilliant idea of putting in a walking/cycling path right alongside the Parkway - but nobody thought about leveling that land. I remember when the Parkway was being built. We used to go walking and cycling on the highway itself - it was dirt and gravel at that point. It was great. Then they let cars onto the road (the nerve!) and we were relegated to the Walkway, which is about as level as your average roller coaster. There are parts of the walk that I simply refuse to use, because I'd be found in a state of collapse, halfway up one of the hills. This particular stretch isn't too bad - most of the really hilly stuff is right at the beginning, when I still have some breath left.


The second funny thing is that you are walking with woods or fields on your left, but on your right, cars and trucks are whizzing by at 90 kilometers an hour, making a lot of noise. They can't get to you, though, because there's a barrier stopping them. That's a good thing.


About halfway through the walk, there is a field, and in the field are three alpacas. The day before I took these pictures, the alpacas were in the field, quite close to the fence. They gave me their usual "Who the hell are you?" looks. This time, though, they were all huddled under a tree at the far end of the field, and I couldn't get a good picture of any of them. I tried to convince them to come closer, but they weren't having any of that. It was nearly noon, and it was hot outside. I really wanted to photograph them because they were freshly shorn. Freshly shorn alpacas have to be the silliest-looking things in the world.


Thwarted in my attempt to get photos of the alpacas, I went back to flower spotting. I was nearly too late to catch the wild roses, which seem to be blooming frantically. I fully expect that the next time I go for a walk, they'll all be gone.










Also here for the short term are the lupins, which grow all along the Parkway. They are so lovely - and like the ubiquitous hawthorn, they always catch me by surprise.


I was interested to see the thimbleberry blossoms, because that means there will be pathside snacks before long. There are both thimbleberries and Himalayan blackberries along my route.









But I think my favourites are the California poppies, whose brilliant colour pops up wherever there's a sunny slope.


When you've been walking for about 35 minutes, (or 50, if you're stopping every thirty seconds to take a picture) the landscape changes dramatically. The sunny, open countryside gives way to a little bit of rain forest - very welcome on a hot day.




And there, my favourite graffiti artist has been at work. I know that 'graffiti' is a bad word to a lot of people, but I try to take each instance on its own merits, and whoever is painting hearts all over Nanaimo has my full approval. I think of it as somebody's personal I Heart Nanaimo campaign. I look forward to finding hearts along my walk - and I get the impression that the artist was very grateful to get in out of the sun, because there are well over a dozen hearts in the five-minute stretch of forest.



And speaking of graffiti, we're coming to the end of our walk now. Just before we get to McKeown Road, we go through an underpass. The railroad tracks are on our left, and on our right is the concrete underpass, which sports a brand-new display of rather impressive graffiti.





Again, I know graffiti aren't everybody's idea of art, but these are rather cool, don't you think?






Well, here we are at McKeown Road. I hope you enjoyed your walk. As part of my BetterU campaign, (see Tuesday posts) I'm walking this path - or another of Nanaimo's many scenic walks - four times a week. I am a very lucky woman.

For more Friday Shoot-Out posts, please go here.

Scattershot -

Is that the term I'm looking for? I have several things to say today, and they don't actually fit together, so I'm just going to blather on in my usual fashion, hoping I don't lose you along the way.

First of all, I'll send you away. How's that for a plan? I recently discovered a blog that delights me. It's called First 50 Words. I went over there yesterday and kept playing until I got embarrassed about the post clump I was creating. Do, please, click here and check it out. It's great fun and, as I said to its author, Virginia DeBolt, it's great exercise. But don't forget to come back.

Next, I'll send you away again....hmmm. I see a pattern forming. This time, I would like you to check out something that's good for what ails you. Joshilyn Jackson of Faster Than Kudzu issued an invitation to all of us to join a program that starts on June 1. It's called BetterU and it is part of Go Red for Women. I won't try to describe the program. I'll just suggest that you go on over to Joshilyn's place and she'll tell you all about it. (That will be her May 12 post.) I told someone that I joined Joshilyn's posse because I figure I'll be laughing too hard to get hungry, so I'm bound to lose weight.

When you get back from Joshilyn's, you can check out my photos. I told you yesterday that I had found a companion for Wilson, and I have. Here he is. I found him languishing in a pile of stuffed animals at the supermarket. I thought I recognized him. "Steinbeck?" I said. "Steinbeck? Is that you?"

No, I thought, that can't be Steinbeck. He was much larger. This little guy must be.....Son of Steinbeck! I was wrong, though.

Steinbeck fixed me with his reproachful eyes and said scornfully, "Of course I look smaller. You're bigger than you used to be. It's still me, and I've been waiting for you for years, I thought you would never turn up."

Needless to say, I bought him. I brought him home and introduced him to Wilson, who welcomed him eagerly, delighted to have someone to pick on when I'm not home.

Today, the three of us took Robin out to Biggs Park, which is next to the Duke Point Ferry terminal, and we all went for a walk. The tide was very low, as you can see in this photo. You may also note that our window of opportunity for a walk was limited. The rains were coming. The rains were coming.

So while we could, we walked. The cannis was in
bloom - and that's mostly what we went to see.

The cannis comes out right after the bluebells, so for a while, each Spring, there's a whole lot of blue out here.

I took this shot of a bed of cannis on the edge of a cliff. Beyond the flowers, all that grey-whiteness is another bed - this one a bed of oysters.

We stopped to check out some wildflowers whose name I did not know, and my two little LM&TOs spent some quality time together.



Shortly after that photo was taken, it became uncomfortably wet out on the trail, so we got into the car and took a bit of a joyride before we came home to a nice cup of tea.

Altogether, a lovely day.

Springerville, Arizona, Elev. 7,000 ft.
And now for something completely different: Having complained about the heat in southern Mexico, I'm now ready to complain about the cold in Arizona. We are camped in an RV park, but we haven't hooked up to the water supply, because it's expected to freeze tonight, and the hose would likely split. We're running the little electric heater, and the central (propane) heating is set at 60F, in case the electric heater can't keep up.

So we left Alamogordo this morning, stopping first at a Kwik-Lube for an overdue oil change. That didn't take long, and we then headed for White Sands.

I posted a link to White Sands last night, didn't I? Well, that's not actually where we were going. We did stop there, but the wind was still blowing fiercely, carrying great quantities of sand with it. A visit to that park involves driving around in the middle of the sand dunes, which sounded pretty suicidal, under the circumstances - so we went on to the White Sands that Robin wanted to visit, which was this one. Oh, I said. A missile range and museum. Well, you have a good time, and I'll read my new book. So we drove to the museum parking lot, and Robin went to check things out. He came back a minute later to say that the museum isn't open on Saturdays, but they were going to let him look at the missiles sitting around outside (the ones on the website, I think). He went to look at missiles while I cooked breakfast.

Once we had eaten, we set out in earnest. We didn't get much over 50 mph most of the day, because of the wind. Oh, by the way, when we turned on the news last night, we heard that six people had been killed in a wind-related accident in the same area of New Mexico, at about 4:00 p.m., which is when we had just cleared the really windy area and were in the mountains.

So... At 50 mph, we made our way across the rest of New Mexico and into Arizona, climbed to 8,500 feet at Alpine, then slid down to 7,000. After this, the RV park situation gets pretty patchy for a while, so we thought it best to stop. It was supper time anyway.

Our itinerary keeps changing with the wind, the snow, whatever else is getting in our way. At this point it's looking as if we'll head straight over Hwy 40 to California before we turn north.

Meanwhile, my niece has kindly forwarded some pictures of our gliding adventure. I'll only show you a picture of me in the glider (proof!) and one of the glider landing - with me in it, I think
- as I forgot to ask permission to show anybody else. Tsk. That's Bill the pilot in the seat behind me.

Happy Boxing Day.

My pedometer worked correctly this morning. We walked to the rock, then upstairs to the cafe - 3,160 steps. By the time we got home, the count was well over 5,000. Since then, I haven't walked a lot, but R and I did cycle up to Looney Bean this afternoon, and cycling apparently activates the meter as well, because I now read 8,239 steps. That's better. By the time I go to bed tonight, I should have a respectable number there - Oops - I just glanced at the clock. It's time for the sun to set. Back soon......

There. One more ritual. I seem to have the need for ritual in my life - not routine, necessarily, but ritual. When we walk up the beach in the morning, Robin likes to cut diagonally across the last bit to get to the cafe steps - but I have to walk all the way to the rock and lay my hand on it, under the painted "Playa Bruja" sign. Otherwise, I haven't actually walked all the way to the end. As for the sunset, we both seem to require that. It's strictly a Mazatlan ritual, so far - though I don't know why, as they have sunsets in most every place we go!

I took several pictures today, all of the orioles feasting on the orange half that R put out for them. Last I saw, they were right down to the inner skin, so I think it's time for a new orange. After I took the photos, I got Robin's laptop down. I know I can't use my laptop to get pictures from the camcorder, so I figured I would use his. Well, no. His didn't appear to have the required software either, so I downloaded the Kodak Easy-Share programme - but for some reason, it won't recognize the camera. Well, poop. For now, I give up. 25 degree temperatures, sunshine, and leisure just don't mix well with frustration and frequent swearing. If I have to choose between them, I'll take the warmth and leisure, thank you.

Meanwhile, I can provide a link to another bird photo. This fellow, a yellow-winged cacique (Cacicus melanicterus) has been coming to the orange daily, and he's quite impressive.

http://www.vivanatura.org/Cacicus%20melanicterus%20ExtraPhotos.html

We plan a bus ride to Soriana tomorrow, but I'm hoping I can find out where the public market is and go there, too - though maybe Kris and I should do that together - now that I remember how much Robin enjoyed the Guaymas market! (not at all, if you'll recall)

Remember my Mexican cooking class? Chantal and I went together, and then we came back here to practise what we had learned. These are our chiles rellenos. Lotsa trouble, but tasty. I plan to try the recipe again, but with different fillings - chicken, tuna, maybe ground beeflike substance.

It's been a busy couple of days, and time seems to be rushing past. I want to grab it and hold it still. There are so many things still to do here, so many sunrises and sunsets to see, stones and shells to glean, so much Spanish to learn.



It's not even 830 in the morning, and I've been up for three hours. We have such a busy day planned, I think I started moving even before I woke up. I took a long walk on the beach, most of it before the sun rose. On the way back, I kept looking over my shoulder to see what was happening with the sunrise. Not much, as it turned out. There was a heavy bank of clouds clinging to the mountains, and by the time the sun worked its way over those, it had gone past picturesque. Yesterday's sunrise was prettier, and I got several pictures.


Chantal and I went into Guaymas early in the day yesterday, took the bus past the mercado to the town square. Town squares, as it turned out. There are several in a small area.







We found a wonderful statue of a fisherman right down at the harbour. After that we strolled around, visited the big church nearby, walked back to the mercado to buy a molcajete. I tried to take a picture of the woman who runs my favourite stall, but she was very camera shy. Chantal didn't mind posing, though.


After we finished our shopping in Guaymas, we took the bus back to San Carlos, where we did even more shopping. By mid-afternoon, I was truly worn out. The guys had decided they wanted to go to Froggy's for dinner, which was fine by us. Froggy's caters to tourists and specializes in pizza, so I was just a little apprehensive. I had pizza once before in Mexico, many years ago, and as I recall, it was dreadful. Fortunately, the pizza at Froggy's was much, much better. It had a thin, crisp crust, cheese, the usual toppings, and sauce - something that my first Mexican pizza lacked entirely. The pizza was baked in a proper horno, and both Chantal and I went into the kitchen to take pictures. The chef didn't seem to mind at all. It must happen a lot.


What's on for today? Robin and Roger are supposed to be paddling the canoe back from the estuary so we can put it up on the rig, but the wind has picked up, so I don't think that's going to happen.

I have to go in to the Ley for a few supplies, probably on the 900 bus (oops. Maybe not) , then come back to check out the Friday book exchange at the park next door. Then I have to start in on the Great Seashell Packing Chore, cook some beans, teach Roger how to use my camera so he can transfer some of my photos into his computer. See? Busy, busy.

Today started out warmer than usual, downright muggy at about 630-700 o'clock this morning, but then a breeze came up and the temperature edged downward. It's still overcast and damp, but it's much more comfortable.

Roger gave me copies of some photos he took out at the estuary and on the fishing trip the three Rs took the other day. There was a photo of me that I liked better than the Mazatlan shot, so I replaced my blog photo. Also, I'm wearing my Denizen hat in it. ;>) There are no palm trees, Marty, but there is a beach.

The photos are on a cd. I'm going to try to put some of them here. So - all the photos in this blog entry - and also the photo of me at the top of the blog - are the work of Roger Whitney. He takes better pictures than I do. So far, my system is choking on them, but I'll keep trying.

Today I'll be going to the last Mexican cooking class of the season. It's the Chiles Rellenos class - which was the first one I attended. I've got into a continuous loop. I never did get around to actually making the chiles rellenos, so I'll use this as a refresher, then Chantal and I will make the dish this evening.

When I went shopping up the road today, I had to think about buying things we would use up within five days, because then we have to cross the border. I am starting to feel very sorry for myself.

Oh, good. It looks as if My Pictures and Blogger are starting to communicate a little better. This first picture is one of Roger's heron shots. Either he has a much better zoom function than I have, or he is the Heron Whisperer. Every time I get close enough to consider taking a photo, the heron gets terribly agitated and takes off.










Note the colouring. There are also what appear to be white herons, as well as egrets - who have great hairdos. I don't think Roger has any egret pictures on this disk. Too bad.






These are the ibises I've mentioned seeing. I love those bills.






Then there are the spoonbills. I haven't even managed to see one of these yet. I think I haven't gone far enough into the lagoon. I'm saving them for next year.














And here are Robin and I, intrepid adventurers, off to explore the lagoon in our canoe. At times I've had doubts about that canoe, but it has really come into its own here. The lagoon is the perfect place to paddle around. That moment when you are out in the middle of the lagoon, there are birds dozing in the mangroves all around you, the hills are gleaming in the distance, and you just stop paddling to listen to the silence, is just about perfect.