Chilling out on Cortes

Enjoying some time alone on Cortes Island where there’s enough snow to make everything very pretty. However, last night’s minus 10 Celsius played havoc with my water system and I spend most of today thawing it out. Finally, it got going about an hour ago and I was able to have a nice hot bath. Today was also the Christmas Craft Fair in Whaletown and what a lovely event it is. Lots of beautiful arts and crafts and lots of friendly faces. When I mentioned my water problems, the typical response was “welcome to Cortes”. I am definitely not alone on this one. However, it is a good reminder that I need to rebuild my pump shed so that all the pipes are properly insulated and protected. Other than the water problem, our house is very cosy and welcoming even after being empty for a month or so.  Tonight… a nice fire, a glass of wine, dinner and music.

October mists and magic

 Up here on Cortes for a few days. The fog is still lingering and I took this shot on my way to do some winterizing work on Gwneth this morning.







 While fixing a leak in the roof of the trailer I realized it's a fine vantage point for a shot of the property. The black plastic in the garden was the potato patch this summer.






The small tree behind the trailer yielded this crop of apples. They reminded me of Joni Mitchell's lyric, "give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees."
I took them to our local you-brew to be made into cider.





This is the pile of wood chips from our huge pile of branches. Now they can be used for pathways etc.

The Walnuts are Flying

 This has been a great year for our walnuts trees and now it's harvest time. The wind is blowing a gale and the nuts are flying off the trees. I gathered these nuts yesterday and this morning and as you can see from the bottom pic, there are still lots on the trees.

The squash are from our garden too, grown by our friends Ragu and Elissa.

I love fall!

Don't Fence Me Out

 This is our future lawn, seeded yesterday. Should be good for croquet, bocce and just hanging out.









My friend Rick Bockner rewrote the old cowboy classic Don't Fence Me In from the point of view of a deer. It's a funny song. Anyway, here is our new deer fence designed so we can see them but not have them eating our plants.






A beat up old farm gate will do good service until I get around to making a prettier one.










 On the west side, the deer fence ends with a wooden fence & gate.

Landscaping

 This morning, looking at one our piles of dirt, sitting there since excavation.









 And here's the other one, with a big scoop out of it where we dug dirt for the new flower bed.









And here's Robbie's Tohatsu machine at work...










And voila, a nice smooth area for our lawn.











Some fine tuning still needed, but no more dirt piles!











Yeah!

Summerfun

 Last week we had the whole family here, including Miriyan. Here she is having a pool party with her chum Theo.








Hague Lake is wonderful for kayaking and swimming. Warm water and wonderful scenery. This was our chosen swim spot today.








These bluffs are a favourite diving spot for young folk. They are just one of many amazing and beautiful rock bluffs on this island. I am thinking of putting together a photo exhibit called "Beauty In The Bluff". What do you think?

A moving experience

 When I was a kid in England I used to marvel at how the local fishermen could move big heavy boats using levers. Some of that came back to me today as I moved our BIG cedar slab table from the trailer site to the house.








With the help of a come-along, ropes, ratchet tie down straps, my pick-up truck and a bit of sweat labour it all came together quite smoothly. (I drove verrry sloowwly).








Taking the weight off right in front of the house, this lovely lady begged to have her photo taken:)

Canada Day 2013

 Summer is here! The patio is ready to use. Once again the old cable reel makes a great table, even supports the sun umbrella.










 ... and the ladies go into zero gravity zone for a chat.










momma doe and fawn, through our dining room window yesterday evening.








Splitting a large round of douglas fir using the pneumatic manual splitter. It can produce 10 tons of force! The woodshed is now pretty full -- enough for next winter anyway.

Patio reflections...

 

Today I was working on the finishing touches to the patio in front of our house. It involved several walks through the cedar grove behind the house to my workshop, and back. Each time I walk through those trees I feel loved. I breathe the air and savour its sweetness and coolness. And I reflect on how fortunate I am to live in a place where my environment offers me these feelings. I think about those who endure the mean streets of cities. I think about those who live in paradise but don’t recognize it. I think about the choices each of us make and how we rationalize them. I see now that there is no sanity without an ongoing, harmonious relationship with nature. For all the brilliance of intellect displayed so dramatically and abundantly around this world of ours, to me it all looks suspect unless rooted in a deep, constant, breathing, oneness with the plants and animals and insects and rocks. And soil.

Who do we think we are that we can imagine a life without living close to the soil?  We have been living in an ego-bubble. It just burstJ

Namaste

Andy:)

Patio started!

 After waiting a month, the patio pavers finally arrived today. (The manufacturer apparently has 8 molds and I needed 200 pavers). Anyway setting them in place is going well and I hope to be done in a couple more days.






 The new woodshed extension is now comp-lete and I added a divider to make a section on the left for kindling. Our tenant in the trailer, Dale, likes chopping wood so he's been splitting and stacking to fill the new section.






This guy has been hanging around with his lady friend for a few days. My eco-friendly, super-quiet, no-cost grass trimmers:)

June 16th - wasps, lizards and lumber

 A coat of cedar-tone finish works wonders for the deck. Here you see the work in progress with the steps done and the top deck not yet done. The end result is a big improvement.









Last night I became a mass murderer and blasted this nest with an insecticide foam. This morning the occupants were no more and I safely removed the nest.










I'm extending the woodshed and today got a good start on the frame. The floor is made from recycled shipping pallet lumber. The rest is local cedar.








 I watched while a blackbird chewed a piece off the tail of this little lizard. When the bird flew off I went outside and checked on the victim. He was lying upside down looking pretty dead, but when I flipped him over, he woke up and scurried under a leafy plant for cover. Once his tail grows back he'll be as good as new and much more careful around blackbirds.

A Walk In The Park

 Honeysuckle has to be the sweetest fragrance on Earth! We are blessed to have this lovely bush on our place. And the bees love it!









K'was park swamp is a magical place, especially at dusk when the beavers like to put in an appearance. Tonight I played my flute for them until the reflections demanded my photographic attention...


















This daisy forgot to close at the end of a sunny day. Just having too much fun...