Wordless Wednesday...

Secrets of the 'hood...

Have you ever been in a neighbourhood and wondered

what treasures may be lurking?

What secret places the burbs keep to themselves?

The area around my friend Regina's is just that sort of place.

Oh sure there's the famous Sooke Harbour House Inn

and the lovely stretch of beach Whiffen Spit,

but not too many 'outsiders' come across this little gem.

Down at the end of the cul de sac, where the road seems to end...

...there's 109 steps ...

...down to a less frequented beach...

the rocks are big and worn from the tumble of the tides...

the cliffs block the morning sun and hide scurrying, little mink under logs...

on this day the dogs chased one up along the big log and sent it

running for safety somewhere into the bushes...too fast for a photo...

Back up top of the 109 steps (yes we counted them!), we were treated

to more spectacular views...

We wandered back along the trails...

Said our good mornings to the neighbours...

And took another trail through a little patch of big trees...

So next time you're going through an unknown neighbourhood,

have a gander around.

You might be surprised at what you can discover...



Song for Friday...hello summer!

My sister's girls are here for the month and with them they brought the sun!

We have been to the seashore, walking horses and riding bikes down country roads.

I've been telling them lot's of funny stories from when Tracy and I were girls like them.

Sisters who fought, did naughty things behind parents backs, did silly things

and always there was the AM radio...CHUM 1050 Toronto.

So for this week it's a summer song from those days.

Have a great weekend all!

Wordless Wednesday...

P.S...

This just in from Australia!

My second cousin, Ellie who lives there just sent me this email...

Did your Mom tell you that I've had my mitochondrial DNA identified by the National Geographic Genographic Project? I don't know that much about genetics, but from what I do understand, the female side of our family have the same mitochondrial DNA. So, Granny Cairns, her mother Melissa (Cusick) Oviatt, Marge and my Mom, your Mom, Therese(don't know how to spell her name) and her daughter, Maggie and me, you and Tracy, your daughter and Tracy's daughters all have the same mitochondrial DNA because it is passed through the female line. We all have Haplogroup U (subclade U4), 16356C, 16519C. You can do a google search on Haplogroup U4 and will probably find that one of the places where there are a lot of people with U4 is Finland and where our ancestors came from (Northern Ireland as well, but via Finland.)

I have just read in Wikipedia that most Sami are U5b and U5b1 but a small number are U4.

Who knew?!



My inner Sami, and then some...

A while ago I posted about the Sami people here.

It was their relationship with the reindeer, the land

and their Northern environment which inspired me

in a needle felting project.

The reindeer became more than I had planned and my imagination

blossomed...

Here sits Finn, a fox lies sleeping beneath his chair in the moss...

Perched above Finn, witness to his dreams, sits an owl...

The woodland birds making a home with the reindeer...

Silently, Finn has drifted off to the land of the Sami...

This piece was so much fun to do and probably my most elaborate to date.

As an added bonus, it will be one of the chosen pieces for the

Sooke Fine Arts Show this summer!

If you're in the area, the show runs from July 28th - August 6th.

For more info you can have a look here.



ey!

Lacrosse

 winter

 lakes

touque

Kraft Dinner

toboggan

The Canadian Shield

Canada Goose

The railway

Hockey

cottages.

It's all about being Canadian.

Happy and proud.

Happy Canada Day!