GROUNDHOG DAY in BRITISH COLUMBIA - February 2, 2018

'The unprotected border'

No sun to create a shadow, but no groundhog either here in Hazelmere, British Columbia near the Peace Arch border crossing.

However, eastern fox squirrels, introduced from the Atlantic coast via Washington state, descend en masse from the venerable cedars that line the Campbell River and are foraging relentlessly among the RV sites.

From the puddles left from last week's flooding, the cheerful chirping of the first spring peeper frogs brighten the cool, grey day.

Spring without winter has a dark side though as both my man and my beast have succumbed to seasonal allergies. One requires hot toddies and extra antihistamine. The other almost daily baths because his skin itches and his ears and face stink. The cause of their misery is the flowering trees around us; alder, both tree and bush, birch, poplar and hazelnut. Their golden catkins dangle enticing to the eye, but waft clouds of pollen with every breath of wind. The rain and mild temperature encourages rapid decomposition of leaf litter from which the same wind raises up a miasma of mold spores.

Still, I checked the Thunder Bay weather, -21C and snow expected, so I have no complaints.

Loving the Life!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FIRST SHIPS of the SEASON -

A rite of spring for my husband and me involves waiting in Thunder Bay to greet the first ship of the season, then dashing down to Duluth to see the first ships loading there. This past weekend, we were lucky enough to catch the arrival of the John J Munson in Two Harbours on Friday and the the Edwin H Gott in Duluth on Sunday. However, the absolute highlight of our trip was meeting both Terry White and Paul Scinocca out doing what they do best, photographing and recording ships of the Great Lakes. It was an honour to meet you both and to put faces to the names from our favourite FB group. "She is turning in. Oh my goodness. She is turning in!" So says my honey with the delight of a schoolboy as the lake freighter, John G Munson, hoves to outside the Two Harbours break-wall in preparation to enter the ore dock for loading. We have followed this ship since we left Thunder Bay finally catching sight of her at Split Rock Lighthouse but were unsure of her...
Read more

CARL`S 80TH BIRTHDAY BASH - Varadero, Cuba March 2018

Image
"Miss, you want cold beer. Six for $20." Cervasus cold from the can in the midday heat on the macadam of the airport welcomes us to Cuba as we stand round the bus that will take us to our resort. The drive through Varadero is stunningly beautiful; red earth, aquamarine sea, golden sand, flowering plants and waving palms. The vintage vehicles we came to see parade by us, as well as horse and donke y carts and bikes of every kind, motorized and peddle. Nodding pump jacks draw crude from the ancient seabed, storing it in oil batteries that dot the arid plain, and at one point our guide points out the Cuban Eiffel Tower - an oil drilling rig. One hotel we stop at reminds me with its dark wood plantation shutters, cane furniture, inward opening library windows and lazily turning fans that this island inspired Ernest Hemingway's writings. Our Caribbean-style hotel has an open air lobby with courtyard pools in which cichlid fish swim lazily and a night heron stalks small mi...
Read more

WARNING TO DOG OWNERS - March 11, 2018

Image
Today we were camping in Kootenay National Park. Carl had just come back from hiking down to photograph Marble Canyon and I sent Manny, our French bulldog, out to join him for a quick walk. Carl came back furious at Manny for eating something he found on the trail, but I wasn't really concerned because he often tries to get away with eating wild animal scat. I fed him his d inner and then we sat down to eat ours. Manny was dozing off, so I lifted him up onto the bed where he wouldn't be underfoot, but when I went to get him a couple of hours later, I couldn't wake him. I lifted him up and he went rigid in my arms, head thrown back, eyes staring and front legs extended. He seemed to be having some type of neurological episode and I have seen these type of symptoms in dogs that have been poisoned. There was no cell service where we were in the mountains, so while I held Manny quiet on the bed, Carl drove us down to the highway junction. From there I called a vet in B...
Read more