“Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow.”
Edmund Hillary
Freshly failing snow, winter waves and mountain peaks are an irresistible and breathtaking combination. Nature is a humbling, exquisite and generous, and a far greater artist than I could ever hope to be.
“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”
Herman Melville
There is something magical and calming about the rhythmic, undulating salty sea which never fails to summon me down to the shoreline to groove with the motion of the ocean. The challenge of timing my shots to capture the crash of the wave exploding on the surface is always good fun and like Melville did I believe doing this helps keep me healthy. And when you know something is good for people it is traditional, in many cultures, to share it so they can feel better as well.
“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath.”
Herman Melville
For those of you who cannot physically get to the seashore to enjoy a minutes peace and relaxation by without being soaked through by salt water and rain while being blasted by frigid wind gusts this video is for you.
Be good to each other!
Filmed during a storm in Sechelt (shíshálh) BC, Canada with a Campark trail camera, video edited with kdenlive.
"Resourceful, powerful and tougher than me, Tiny birds foraging is an incredible sight to see."
It was the dishevelled state of the ground and needles on the walkway during a recent snowfall alerted me to this being an excellent area to monitor for ground feeding birds.
The birds who visited this site to forage were the varied thrush, black eyed juncos, sparrows and spotted towhees. You will see that these ground foragers are very aggressive with each other, preferring not to share even with their own kind. We are pretty pleased to be able to share this for those who love birds and nature to be able to enjoy. Moments like this are medicine, they help strengthen our spirits and our souls which we all need a steady supply of.
Be good to each other!
“Minnie’s a hep cat now.”
Cab Calloway
No one I know is aware of Minnie’s background but I met this particular Tabby not that long ago when the kitty was homeless. Homelessness is not only a human affair, pets share these realities with their owners and perhaps it is easier to discuss this problem using a kitty as the subject rather than a person.
When I first became acquainted with Minnie, she was officially Skinny Minnie having been out on her own for who know’s how long but she hadn’t eaten properly for some time by the looks of her. A little girl who lived in the community let me know of the kitties plight. Little girls are often kitty sensitive but this kitty would not eat the food she left out. Minnie was not a Moocher, she was definitely a Hep Cat so it was not until I made friend with her that she would come and dine on the kibble I brought her. She was also very fond of Cab Calloway tunes which we found we both had in common and we became fast friends.
After that it whenever I went out Minnie tagged along, she was outdoorsy and rather proud, the question was would she adapt to being inside or would she freak out and run away. I carefully brought her inside, prepared to be ripped to shreds. Fortunately for all parties she did agree to indoor life and a lovely widow adopted her and the two of them are very cosy and happy today.
Homelessness, inflation and despair is now the norm in western cultures. For many years now housing insecurity and ever growing numbers of people being left homeless for no fault of their own and with no end in sight is adding to the ever increasing stress in our communities. The homelessness crisis is largely ignored by governments and the media but we all know it is very real and it affects all of us daily. It is important not to add to the despair by being unnecessarily cruel to those who are truly vulnerable and instead put energies into working together with others to fix the systematic and legislative ills that are creating these hardships for all of us.
Thousands of years ago ancient people’s looked up to the stars and created some fairly interesting myths and stories to accompany the celestial sight. Overtime individuals known as astrologers mapped the heavens about and divided them into twelve equal sections. Further they insisted that the position of the stars when a person was born would determine the personality of that individual and this idea caught in a big way and started trending, and despite its lack of scientific basis, most modern people around these parts, believers or not do know what their astrological sign is.
Sechelt Artist Charlie Craigan is creating the zodiac in his traditional pacific west coast native style. He has chosen to start the introduction of this series with the tenth and his own star sign, Scorpio. The only requirement for being a Scorpio is being born between October 23 and November 21. And if you were blessed with this star sign you allegedly have a forceful personality with a bit of a stinger, but are also brave, loyal and honest.
Whether you are a believer or just like the zodiac for fun Charlie Craigan’s Scorpio Design is available for purchase at his T-spring Store.
'Wandering on a snowy day, Wondering which way, To go and play!'
Snow is incredibly delightful but fairly rare so when it falls it is like magic. The only trouble is deciding which way to go exploring before it melts.
Down at the sea shore it began to snow heavily and was very cold but the seagulls and geese didn’t mind. It is at this time that rational people go indoors and wait for the weather to break, I however opted to pull out my sweet little wildlife camera and tripod and record a bit of the storm for everyone to enjoy.
It is always amazing to me how incredible and different the snow makes everything look, it is like taking a holiday without going anywhere. The hush and silence that the snow brings with it is just as brilliant and also a welcome change. It was a wonderful day tromping around in the snow and photographing lovely sites and getting soaked and cold. On my way back I took another short video of the same location, albeit shot from different vantage point of the same region that the snow had been falling on shortly before, what an incredibly difference and a perfect ending to a wonderful day.
The University of East Hastings 