These woods....

The other morning we had a very frosty one. 

The sun came out a bit and showed off the workings of cold and nature...

Look how sporty Jed looks!!

Ready for some duck hunting bud?

Another perspective on wabi sabi...the beauty of the decaying...acceptance of the imperfect...

I have a never ending fascination with moss...thick, thin, feathered, velvety, fluffy, trailing...

Remnants of the old farm that used to be here many years ago...

And then there are These Woods.

Growing up in Victoria I had a love for Garry Oaks.

There ecosystem is restricted to a small area on the Southeast part of our Island.

Nowhere else in the world do these gnarly, craggy ones grow...

The very bones of them in the winter, the loving dappled shade in the summer.

But for eighteen years when I lived in Sooke I had a relationship with the coniferous

evergreen forests that surrounded our house.

The deep, tall woods of the west coast are a spiritual place for me.

A free and open place of worship where quite often I was alone with my thoughts and prayers.

So now I think among these different beings...some tall, some short and scrubby. 

But a place like this is my tall drink of water in this sad and beautiful world.

I can sit and wonder and grow along with the moss and the lichen.

Invent my own stories of the things I find.

Like this simple wooden cross I found lying at the base of a big oak.

I wondered...what lies beneath?

So I propped it up against the great tree, stood up some of it's meaning again...

So I will wander these wiry meadows now.

They are new kin to get to know.

I find comfort when I drive up our road, past the subdivision, entering our block

 where the oaks still line the sidewalk-less street. 

Some parts around here were left to be.

For that I am grateful.

Variations on a theme...black and white

Alright, so everyone in the East and up North can stop laughing now.

Yes, Victoria has snow in February.

Our days of bragging about walking by the water in our shirt sleeves

whilst everyone is shovelling their walkways are over.

At least for now.

So, lets embrace this stuff called snow!

This is my street this morning...

Of course Lil' Jed was ready for some snow action!

Although he wasn't impressed with the tiny snowballs gathering on his legs and feet...

"these things are really starting to annoy me" 

Aside from the ornaments, he really had a great time out there plowing with his wee snout...

I live in an area filled with Garry Oak trees and they really lend themselves beautifully

to shadows and light and general perfect silhouette specimens...

The paths are no sooner trod with footprints then are covered up just as quickly...

Wild roses and blackberries preparing for spring have put their plans on hold...

The bright green lichens and mosses have been subdued by falling snow...

And so we trudge through our unpredictable season, 

embracing what may come, being grateful for the warmth of a good fire when we return home...

High in the meadows...

Yesterday I went into the city to visit my mom in the hospital (hip surgery)
 and since I had Griffin with me, I took him for a walk up to Summit Park.

It's a small patch of land on top of a hill in the core of the city.

There's a radio tower up there and a water reservoir...

...but there's something else here that's quite unique to this area...

A Garry Oak meadow...

4.5 hectares of scrubby, gnarly 'storybook' trees...

I think of Winnie the Pooh or Wind in the Willows or any number of

magical, childhood tales involving the woods...airy and open with just a trace

of things hiding in the shadows...

We are able to call this unique because the Garry Oak only grows in certain parts

of the world. They range from Southwestern British Columbia to Southern California

and Southwest B.C is the only place in Canada where they exist.

The grass is brown and dry now and the leaves are folding up and floating

to the ground, but in the spring there are wild flowers and birdsong everywhere up here.

In fact, these small patches of conserved land are sanctuaries to city birds.

 the Barred owl, who searches out mice and voles for food

under the light of the moon.

Downy woodpeckers, juncos, white crowned sparrows, hawks and nuthatches.

These trees are the stuff of spooky shadows and of limbs which seem to

reach out for you on a blustery night...

It gives city wildlife a quiet place to rest amongst the cars and people and lights and noise...

Garry oak ecosystems are home to more than 90 species that have

 been designated at risk in British Columbia.

Flowers, trees, reptiles, mammals and birds call this home.

But they aren't the only living creatures who depend on such spaces.

On a busy afternoon, it is humans who need to connect on these patches of high meadows.

 To take a breath and touch the earth beneath us.

To reinforce what's fundamental in life.

 To be aware of this fragile ecosystem.

 

"Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow."