Song for Friday...feelin' Van

Just feelin' like listening to Van's smooth tones today...

have a great weekend all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BteIwbKU_iQ

The old and the weathered...

I am sitting in front of the wood stove, mug of tea at hand, and was pouring over the

photos I took at the old dairy barns on Saltspring Island...

I love to see them from a distance, coming up the narrow country road and

finding them just peeking out from between the maples...

But I also long to hear the whispers from the wood...

 

Echoes of the calls of the farmhands, loading in hay...

...the lowing of the cattle whilst milk maids clean the pails...

Early morning ,opening of the big doors as the day begins...

 The buzz of the summer heat, switching tails at flies in the shade...

 

...and at the end of the day, the gathering of the herd and the closing of the doors...

The sounds have quieted now.
The ghosts of a long ago way of life.
The imaginations of the wanderers keeping the stories alive.

 

 



Wordless Wednesday...



Saltspring Island revisited...

Last year around this time of year I made a pilgrimage of sorts to

Saltspring Island, the pioneer home of my Great Grandparents, The Cairns.

You can read about those adventures here.

Tom and I took a mini two day holiday there

a few days ago and found it as beautiful as ever.

The summer tourists have gone home now so the ferry ride

over from Victoria was quiet...

As we came into Fulford Harbour, you could see the maples already turning gold...

We booked a sweet little cabin called Spindrift on Welbury Point.

They are one of many holiday spots that take dogs. I think a lot of  people want

to travel with their pets and the owners of these places are listening to what the people are asking for.

 No phone, no t.v, no wifi...

 Fully equipped kitchen, books and CBC radio...

What more do you need?

First order of the day was a walk out to the point...

 Lovely trails through Arbutus and Douglas fir down to the water...

Two little sandy beaches, excellent for swimming in the warmer weather, I'm sure...

But some will swim at any time of the year!...

After our walk we decided to do a bit of touring around and ended up in one of the

Islands oldest cemeteries which has many of the first Japanese inhabitants buried there...

 I love these places...the history mixed with the mystery of those who've gone on long ago...

Next we went on to a place that Irma and I found last year on our pilgrimage.

This is a place I could spend hours taking pictures.

They are old dairy barns, falling to ruin but trying to be saved by the locals...

The area has been turned into a provincial park called Burgoyne Bay and when

budget allows, these barns will hopefully be preserved to help keep

the story of the pioneers alive and known to future generations...

 I believe I'll do a separate post just on the close ups I took of hinges and weathered

wood, otherwise this post will be VERY long winded with photos.

In the meantime, lets walk down to the bay...

 As we walk, I'm gladly haunted by the clip clop of dairy herds who used these roads.

Of now silenced flocks of chickens in the yard...

Up into the fields where cattle grazed out lazy, summer days on the island...

We'd been exploring and walking most of the day...time to bring some food back to the cabin and

plan our wanderings for the next day.

Stay tuned!



the miniscule and lovely...

I wanted to share with you this little beauty I found on my studio screen door...

It was about an inch long and I was so intrigued by it's wing pattern.

They almost looked filigree, as if they had been put together with tiny twigs.

The Latin name for it is Dragida Procinta or as us commoners

would call it, an olive green cutworm moth.

I found a picture of it's chrysalis. I know I've found these in the soil before and

always wondered what they would become...

They seem to be quite common from the east to the west but I don't think I've ever

really seen the moth this close...it was it's little face that caught my breath as well...

Sort of a mix of a wolf, owl and moth...

How fantastic is that?

For something so small, that lives for such a short time, it's immense beauty...

 ...once again I am mesmerized by the incredibility of the world of small.