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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Once around the lake...

The Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides have all gone home.
 Nights around the campfire and stories of strange noises in the night
fade into summer memories...
It's only Griffin and I who walk amongst these big trees...
The shouts and squeals of marching groups, hiking through
the woods are quieted now.
Cougar, deer and bear can walk more freely along the lake...
And in the curtains of the bull rushes, things that were hidden begin to show...
The red winged blackbird who worked so hard...
...gathering and weaving and raising their brood, have all flown away now...
...leaving this work of down and grasses as testament to a skill
I'll never master.
And who was the one who left my path strewn with little gold stars?
Maybe it was the fairy gnomes who made those noises in the night
with the full moon glinting off of their dust.
So long summer lake.
Close up and go to bed for the winter.
Let the leaves and snow cover the ground.
I'll be here when the birds come to wake you in the spring.
 


Thursday, October 25, 2012

Song for Friday...thinking back

I remember this image from when I was a kid...
I wasn't old enough to really know what it was about but I do remember
thinking that the woman was poor, sad and scruffy.
But I also thought she was beautiful in some way.
I thought that her children were embarrassed to have their photo taken,
especially since their clothes were in such bad shape.
They looked hungry too.
Years later I learned about the Great Depression, Share Croppers and so many
people who lost everything and had nothing, trying to find The American Dream.
In these days of unsteady economies, downsizing and political mayhem
it's not hard to think that the same issues are plaguing many
in the same manner as when this photo was taken in the 1930's.
Not just our neighbours to the south but all over the world.
I've been listening to Gillian Welch and have this
hauntingly, beautiful song to share with you.
Hope you're all warm and fed.
Have a great weekend all
 


Monday, October 22, 2012

Onward!

One of the nicest walks we had on Saltspring Island was in Duck Creek Park.
It was another soft, grey day and so the maples in their golden,
yellow dress showed up just right for some photos...
I'm unclear on the history of this place even though I searched for some
story to unfold. For now it's past remains a mystery but not it's beauty.
Off leash dog parks are hard to find in some places and Saltspring was
one of those. Understandably so, since there are numerous sheep farms and
everyone knows that vagrant and wandering dogs can cause a real
threat to sheep farmers (well, mostly to the sheep themselves!).
 Many have been shot on sight.
So Griff was happy to run through these maple laced,
 sand coloured fields without threat...
Down near the creek we found a big ant nest still bustling with activity...
 Into the woods we wandered and I took my cue from Ansel Adams
and set my camera on black and white...
 Tones, texture, light and shadow come forth with these trees...
 And then right in the bottom of the darkest spot of the creek I saw a flash of colour.
These tiny wild cyclamens were quite happy in this hollow, growing on
a big mossy rock. The only ones around. They were only about 4" high...
How brave and lovely they are! 



Friday, October 19, 2012

Thursday, October 18, 2012

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.