Lions and Tigers and Bears,

Oh, my.  I finally had a day off, and so did Robin, so we decided to have one of our walk/cycle outings. Robin dropped me off at the Harewood Mines Road entrance to the Parkway Walkway, and I walked from there to the bottom of the trail - about fifty minutes away. As I got out of the car, Robin warned me that if I saw a cougar or a bear, I should run out onto the highway. (I'm still wondering which would be the most dangerous -- a bear, a cougar, or an 18-wheeler.) At any rate, I set off on my walk, smiling to myself and chanting "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!" That lasted about two minutes, until I heard a noise behind me. It was sort of a "Thwump" sound -- a growl? Something landing hard on the ground? I wasn't sure. Whatever it was, it caused my blood pressure to soar. I whirled around to face my attacker, who turned out to be a pleasant young man walking his German shepherd.

"Oh, my god -- you scared me out of my skin!" I said, smiling to take the sting out of the complaint. I couldn't stop my voice from shaking, so the poor fellow started apologizing. "I'm so sorry -- I was talking to my dog," he said.

I guess he had said something to the dog to keep him from running up to me, which was just as well, as I'd probably have dropped dead from fright if I'd seen a large furry thing appear beside me just then.

We walked along together for a few minutes, chatting about how having a dog by your side is great for keeping bears and cougars at bay. "However," said my companion, "if you want to see any wildlife at all, you're out of luck if you have a dog with you."  He and the dog turned off the path soon after that, but I still didn't see any wildlife on my walk except for one poor slug that was making its way across the path. I am pleased to report that it didn't attack me, either. Oh, and there were a few dragonflies, but they wouldn't stay still long enough for me to photograph them.

There were wildflowers everywhere -- this is summertime in paradise, after all. The pea plants dominated, but there were also various yellow flowers -- buttercups, dandelions, and so forth --  and these lovely blue cornflowers.

Best of all, there were the blackberries - greenberries, I mean, but soon-to-be-black berries -- all along the path.

Soon it will be time to walk and glean, walk and glean, turning the 50-minute walk into a one-hour-plus adventure.

About halfway down the walkway, I saw Robin approaching on his bicycle. He had left the car at the bottom for me and cycled up. We chatted for a moment, and then he rode on home while I finished my walk.

I was nearly at the bottom of the walkway when I saw something that is new this year. Someone has posted a sign to guide the weary (hungry, thirsty) hiker to the great Canadian watering hole, Tim Horton's. (Oops, sorry. Tim Hortons. The doughnut shop chain has lost its apostrophe somewhere along the way.) In case we can't make it all the way to the bottom of the trail and back along the highway to Timmy's, somebody has helpfully cleared a trail through the forest, complete with a sign. 

I am finally getting serious about taking off the weight that has been creeping back (Nasty, sneaky stuff, that weight. It's so hard to get rid of it, and so easy to get it back.) so I ignored the sign and the seductive trail, and finished my walk.  When I got home, I finally had my wildlife sighting for the day -- there were a couple of young deer wandering up the alley behind our house.

They didn't attack me, either, and one of them even allowed me to take her picture. Actually, I think she was too busy munching to pay any attention to me.

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In preparation for this  post, I went hunting for a photo of Dorothy and her pals, or maybe a You Tube video of the "Lions and Tigers and Bears" song from The Wizard of Oz (the movie) -- but I didn't find those. What I did find were videos of several stage presentations. I thought you might enjoy this one. I do love the Cowardly Lion.

Jet-lag Sunday

Jet lag is becoming a weekend tradition for me. I change shifts between Friday evening and Saturday morning, and it isn't until Monday that I really start to wake up. Thus, I still haven't got back to see all the Theme Thursday blogs yet -- but I trust that I will do so tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I've had a lovely, dreamy sort of weekend. The grandbabies came for a visit yesterday afternoon. We went out to a nearby water park, where  Robin discovered that one of the benches along the edge of the spray area had a kick to it. He nearly discovered it the hard way, when he went to sit on it. Fortunately (or unfortunately, because it would have been very funny to watch) the bench started spraying as he approached it, and he managed to avoid a drenching.

Jujube, the taller-and-willowier-every-time-we-see-her granddaughter, didn't mind getting wet, though. She ran around and around the park, engaged in a (water cannon) shooting war with a couple of boys, checked out the shower bench, and finally had to don her father's dry t-shirt in order to get warmed up. After that, she looked like a large bat. Meanwhile, her brother (Jumping Jack) had to be torn away from the playground equipment, but once he discovered how cool the water was, he had a wonderful time.

After the park, there was dinner at the Fox & Hounds, and then there was me falling into a deep slumber that lasted until the alarm rang at 4:45 this morning. Have I ever told you how rude I think alarm clocks are?

Okay! Okay! I get it!

Sometimes it feels as though the world is trying to tell me something. I shot the photo above while I sat at a red light yesterday. Well, I had errands to run, so I kept going anyway, finished my errands, then went home to cook a bit of salmon on the barbecue and serve it with new potatoes and peas. After supper, Robin wanted to go out for a ride, just to feel a breeze on his face -- so off we went, through Cedar, into Yellowpoint, and around a circle that brought us back to the Crow & Gate

for a quick pint before heading home. There was one point at which I had to brake because I couldn't see anything except the sun. I half expected to hear a voice saying "Sandra, go into the light."  If there had been anything on the road right there, I would surely have hit it. I was glad to pull into the parking lot at the Crow & Gate.

Even in the pub, the sun was right there at eye level, reflecting on this painting beside the bar.

 We bought our beer and took it out into the garden. Do you remember how I talked about English country pubs and how lovely it was to be able to sit in a beautiful garden and enjoy a quiet beer? The Crow & Gate has brought that tradition to Cedar, just south of Nanaimo. Since the last time I was there, they have expanded their garden They've even added a palm tree and a banana tree - with a label in front of it for the benefit of those customers who've never seen a banana tree before. I ended up abandoning my beer (and Robin) in order to wander around the garden, camera in hand. Robin didn't mind. He had his pint and a beautiful view.

I saw three women taking photos at one part of the garden, so I wandered over to see what all the fuss was about. It turned out that there were two hummingbirds engaged in a bit of a fracas in the middle of a flower bed.

I did manage to photograph one of the birds. I hope you can find him (just to the left of the main group of flowers).

After that I just walked around, admiring the display, thankful that somebody takes the time to build such a beautiful garden for me to enjoy.

When I got back to our table, Robin nodded toward the edge of the garden, where we saw Trevor and Jane, the proprietors of our local, the Fox & Hounds. It turned out that they live in Cedar, and the Crow & Gate is their local!

I suggested to Robin that we just camp out in Cedar for the night, but since we didn't have The Turtle (which  is in the shop, by the way, having some work done in preparation for our trip to Ontario) we decided to head for home. I'm glad we took our drive, though. The farmland was lovely in this sudden, exuberant summer we're having, and the fragrance of fresh-mown hay was everywhere.