In the garden...

I was out wandering around the garden yesterday and took some shots of what's going on...

Have you ever seen a bug like this on your plants?

 Never fear!

It's just a baby lady bug...they are especially fond of hops.

Yup, the stuff you put in beer.

You can see them in all different stages of development...

 Already working hard at keeping the bad bugs away...

And working on growing some spots too...

There's still a little cluster of bees leftover from the big swarm we had on this post in the garden.

I'm working on 'adopting' them and getting them into a hive of my own for the winter.

Sunflowers always make me smile.

They have such individual characters...

There's a reason they call it a butterfly bush...

 Even though we just had a week of extremely hot weather, today there is a coolness about the air...

the season is definitely changing.

I absolutely  love autumn.

Pulling on my Aran sweater, crunching through piles of leaves, canning and thinking of projects for those rainy days in the studio...

Sometimes change feels good.

Old and older...

Along with the lovely water of Sproat Lake, are some historical points of interest.

One of them being so ancient that no one knows much about them.

They are the petroglyphs known as K'ak'awin.

 This panel of rock wall is about 30 feet long by 12 feet high and comes straight up out of the lake.

The carvings are of mystical sea creatures...perhaps ancient lake monsters?

Carved into the stone, probably with other stone tools. 

They stand the test of time and hold the mystery of tales told long ago.

As we were walking towards them, I heard a little boy say "why didn't they just use paper?".

The father started to explain....."no paper in those days".

So after a long hot day of swimming and hiking we headed to the other side of the lake...

 This pub and marina was probably built in the 30's and is home to some really sweet, rickety old cabins...

One of them, obviously houses a creative gardener...

or perhaps just a giant spider lives here...

The lady in the pub said that the owner of the marina and their families take up residence here for the summer.

Sounds like a pretty sweet way to spend a summer...

Where the big one lives...

When it's 34 degrees celcius (about 100 degrees fahrenheit)

and you have a big black dog, 

you want to find somewhere cool, shady and preferably with a body of water somewhere near by...

Past the town of Port Alberni is Sproat lake.

Home to the Mars water bomber.
An incredible forest fire fighting machine.

Where else would you keep a water bomber?

Built in 1935, this monster was used as a transport aircraft by the U.S Army...

I've seen this thing in the air. It's like a bumble bee. You wonder how it even gets up in the air because it's so huge and it seems to fly very slow.

FYI...
It's one of the largest active propeller driven water bombers in the world and is based right here on Sproat Lake. This thing can carry 7,200 US gallons of water, taking only 25 seconds to pick it up from a lake and can make a drop every 15 minutes. It can be in the air within 10 minutes of a call.
Check out this video of its capabilities.
It's really spectacular!

Another marvel on Sproat Lake.
The Tom-o-matic.
He can be at the dinner table within 10 seconds of a call.
Can consume enormous amounts of food,
 still be able to float,
And does the dishes!

Here's his trusty side kick Griffin, who will search out and find any body of water within a 100 miles

as well as sniffing out food anywhere within 50 feet!

Dog cookies are his specialty.

Marvels of the world.

Song for Friday...just havin' fun

 Hope this makes you smile like little Charlie...he's my 3rd cousin...

Have a great weekend from a great band who come from Seattle...

Are they having fun or what?!

More thoughts on camping...

Why is it everything always tastes better when you're camping?

Is it all the fresh air? 

Maybe it's the labour intensive process to cook things in a makeshift kitchen..

Maybe it's our primitive love affair with an outdoor fire...

I'm not sure but I do know that the smell of bacon cooking, wafting through the air in the woods is enough to turn a vegetarian back to a carnivore.

From our campground, heading west you go through the small logging, fishing town of Port Alberni...

That's Mount Arrowsmith which towers above the valley...

At this time of year, on the outskirts of town, the local native band is selling fresh sockeye salmon...

We stopped at one place and talked a while with Jimmy, whilst mending his nets...

He said it's been the best sockeye season in 28 years.

So we brought back to our camp a lovely fillet.

My new favorite way to eat salmon is on top of a really good salad...

Any kind will do...in this case it was a Greek, green salad with maple balsamic vinegrette...

Pan fried and served up warm on a plastic plate...yum.

Wash it down with a tumbler of cold white wine and what could taste better!

And although the dishes are a bit of a chore when camping...

Even that can be fun with the 'Tom-o-matic'...

Busy playing...

My sister and her three lovely girls came from the mainland for 5 whole days...

We ate,

We drank, 

We watched movies,

We laughed,

We danced,

We played....

Mostly we played!

 At the birthday party...

Home made teeter totters on the beach...

Looking for fossils...

With the dogs...

On the logs...

Picknicking on the rocks...

Being watched...

But the best part was discovering that my middle niece Rachel has a gift...

For foot massages!!

...and Stephie's pretty good with the neck as well...

You know that saying "You can pick your friends but not your family"?

I wouldn't pick anyone else but them!