Touring Paradise

Well, OK, so right up front let me confess, today it’s not paradise.  Here we are in July, the 4th of July no less, and I’ve lit a fire in the woodstove to ward off the damp chill of another rainy gray day…but I’m reliving the happier days we’ve had this week…

Company rarely comes this far off the beaten path.  But this week we had a second cousin visiting from England—his first visit to Canada.  So we had to do the royal tour of Powell River and surrounds…
We squeezed in all the adventures we could starting with a tandem ride around Inland Lake.  Yes, we have more than one tandem so we in fact double tandemed around the Lake on a brooding-but-not-yet-raining morning, stopping for snacks and stone ‘skimming’, finishing the 13km. circuit just before the rain began in earnest.

On a fine windy day of mixed sun and cloud (and a bit of spitting rain) we headed off under full sail to find sanctuary in our beloved Copelands.   With just enough wind and mishap to make an adventure we had a full day of it---the motor quit at an important interval, but was readily diagnosed and put right.  Jim’s long beloved hat went overboard, and then the pike pole that was to retrieve it!…The pike pole was retrieved despite high winds ably manipulated by Captain Jim.  Unfortunately the old felt Fedora was lost from view in the scuffle and likely sank. sigh.

But the islands were lovely as always…

On the lee side, out of the wind I wandered on a cliff among the treetops where little birds flitted and tweeted about finding refuge from the wind.  Hummingbirds came diving to spin in space staring at this new sight—an interloper in their private arboretum…

We had a campfire and introduced our company to the marvels of roasted marshmallows and the sticky sweetness of some-mores…And ‘smokies’ too were a first… Hotdogs never taste so good as roasted on a stick over a campfire.

Tromping about we looked at oyster beds and found these strange mysteries recently sprung from the earth… not iron at all, but some sort of fungi…

And eventually, when we’d eaten, napped, hiked about and generally delayed as long as seemed feasible waiting for the wind to die down a bit, we headed homeward the long way, tacking,  into an only slightly diminished Southeaster.  My captain was in his element; I was glad to get back to finish that piece of the tour!

And so goes life in paradise—much like where you are…not all sunshine, but always an opportunity for adventure of some sort…

--LS

Blooming Beauties

We took a jaunt up to ‘our’ best loved islands one sunny afternoon this week…

The slopes are abloom with ‘lemon chiffon’ flowers…

But we weren’t the only pair enjoying a get-away….

Meet the Mergansers, diving fresh-water fish ducks trying out the salt-water chuck, just back from wintering in Mexico…

Mr. Merganser…                                       and the Missus taking a look back at us…

 

                                        What a hair-do she sports eh?!

 

And in our ramblings we were secretively surveilled by this SKINK until Jim noticed him and called me back to see what I had walked right past…. 

Then it was our turn to do the staring.  He refused to give us the time of day, just stood (yes, he has feet) motionless hoping we really didn’t see him as we got closer and closer with the camera lens… till we were only a couple inches from his face—then he relinquished his spot in the sun and slinked off…

I did a little reading up on this fellow later.  Glad not to have tried picking him up.  Apparently young skinks do bite and then they drop their BLUE tails to squiggle and squirm while they run for cover!  The tails grow back but usually not blue…thus this stoic camouflaged fellow—older and wiser.

 

But back to the blooming beauties of the place…

…a trailing blackberry(?) gets its start on a rocky ledge…

…and tiny wild things bloom underfoot, miniature bouquets for the passersby…

…tokens of God’s glory,

…and His Love.

--LS

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (I Jn.4:19)

Wind-whipped days

Emerging from the shadow of cedar and fir to the seaside road, faces flushed with the vigor of the walk and the briskness of the wind…we paused to take in the glory of the wind-swept ocean reaching away to the snow-frosted mountains…



…the gulls wheeling and playing in the invigorating rush of wind…



…our placid strait, transformed into a sea of bedazzling diamonds…



…the white caps surging in to lend their froth to the wind-driven sand and reckless abandon of a wind-whipped day!


It was glorious!

The following day, when wind and wave had subsided substantially…we took “Chase Me” for a sail to our best-loved island with kids and friends in tow…


It was my first sail since the balmy days of summer…and what a sail it was!  Heeling in the wind, tacking back and forth into a lively Northwester, we did at last arrive at our quiet haven…had a jolly wiener roast, a ramble about, and a quite nap nestled close to rock and moss…



And somewhere along the way my camera battery died… I leave you to imagine the rest ( ;

--LS


“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” Ps.16:6

Life as we know it...

My trails of late have mostly ended with water.  We've had a record breakingly wonderful hot summer-- the likes of which we have never known here in Powell River.  It has brought back memories of summers growing up when days were hot and corn grew tall...
So, we've been heading to the water a lot to brave its chill and celebrate its getting warmer with each successive week of sunshine.  The day I want to highlight here was an all-girl adventure.   We set out with our bikes to fetch a friend's boat out of Okeover Inlet...  The tide was w-a-y  low so the ramp to the dock was rather precipitous...
But we got the bikes all tucked in at last and donned our ill-fitting life jackets for the cruise out to sea...



We picked our way along slowly, sharing the job of deciphering  the charts and determining which rock was which!  We missed them all (whew!) and here's the view--the gateway to Desolation Sound.



But we were headed the other direction--towards Savary Island, fabled land of  white sandy hot beaches,  home to summer cottages for people from far and near...

But first a stop at the Copelands--designated a 'marine park' and more affectionately known as the Ragged Islands.  We tucked into a little cove there for a picnic lunch and swim in the brisk ocean water! (brrr! good thing the sun was hot at least).  This cove was the first one we discovered as a family in our sailboat so it's full of happy memories...

(in the cove...)

(looking out to sea)


Then we were off to Savary Island...dropping our bikes off at the dock,  anchoring off shore,  waiting for our 'captain' to swim in, and then setting off for the little wee church to have some focused time to pray... (this was in fact the purpose of our trip)

Next notion was to pedal to the end of the Island; not sure how far that was going to be we took our cue from signs (and passersby) along the way.  The island was all set up for a triathlon on the coming weekend so we had the bonus of mileage signs to count down our distance.  It was about 8 km. to Indian Point, the island's westernmost tip.  And it was all adventure, esp. the running out of water and the prospect of no stores on the island-- but surely someone would give us some water?...

Had to pause for a photo of this whimsical knight adding decor to someone's private drive...
 
And then there was Indian Point--snack time with what we could scrounge.  It was now actually supper time  and time to get going home but first one last dip in a very cold ocean...


Oh, and we did find water at last--a tiny house store with a shingle out-- the price? $2.00 a bottle.  But what's a little money when you're going to die of dehydration otherwise?!  And somehow the pedaling back seemed shorter than the coming and the hills not as foreboding as we'd thought.  We arrived safe and sound at the dock and after fetching the boat and loading the bikes we headed off across the sea to the dock at Lund just down the highway from home.  We were met by our gracious escort with not only the boat trailer but watermelon and Sesame snaps besides--sweet pleasure to end a sweet adventure. 

"In [His] presence is fullness of joy;  In [His] right hand there are pleasures forever..." (Ps.16:11) and to think we haven't seen anything yet!!