Living on the Edge

Extended Warranty.....

2012-01-06T22:43:00.001-05:00

On November 16, 2011 I awoke to a group of symptons most woman my age are all too aware of and never want to have... but denying them can kill you so I got myself down to Emergency. With my blood pressure through the roof and symptons of a STOKE I was MediVac'd to Prince Rupert for a CAT SCAN, echocardiogram and ultra sound of my neck arteries!

Within an hour of stablizing my blood pressure I was loaded into an surface ambulance and then an air ambulance for the one hour trip to the mainland and from there depended on what my tests disclosed.

Nothing devasting showed up on the tests so after a night in emergency because there were no beds in the hospital I was on my way home.

Leaving Prince Rupert.
Prince Rupert does not have a walk-in clinic so everything goes through the emergency room....it was a busy night.

I was expecting to stay an other night in Prince Rupert because of weather however they(the helicopter pilots) said there was a window of opportunity....I didn't see it!

Fog over Prince Rupert Airport(the planes were grounded!)

Heading out across the Hecate Strait in the fog.

Never let someone look at your camera if you don't want your picture taken!

I could at least smile as I was heading home with some things to work out but generally a clean bill of health.

(I also always travel with a camera in my hand or my pocket!)

The skies cleared but the seas where still pretty rough.

Finally the shores of home.

A welcome rainbow over Skidegate.

My ride!

In Canada we have universal health care. It varies a little from province to province but if you need care you get it. That trip there probably used up all my premiums to date and then some!

I am eternally grateful to the doctors, nurses and staff of Queen Charlotte and Prince Rupert General Hospitals and the EMTs and pilots of BC Ambulance Service for their care and compassion.

11.11.11 ~ Lest We Forget

2011-11-11T10:10:00.001-05:00

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

Watery Wednesday ~ I am always amazed...

2011-11-08T13:35:00.001-05:00

I am always amazed at the simple beauty that surrounds us.

Check out other great watery places at

Watery Wednesday

Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections

2011-11-06T16:10:00.001-05:00

A mercury sky on an outbound tide!

More beautiful scenes and reflections at

Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections

SkyWatch Friday ~ Morning Skies

2011-11-04T19:56:00.001-04:00

Each morning I wake and if it is not raining or blowing too hard I take myself out to my meditation bench about 50 steps from my cabin.

Even though there is a temporary protected porch on the cabin

the bench on the dune always draws me that extra few steps...

to witness the beginning of a new day

and another

and another.

Each different and each so beautiful!

Some of you have asked about the progress of the cabin......all I can say is slow and sometimes very frustrating!

The stove is a tiny but very efficient Jotul, the floor is 11/2" tongue and groove pine with a built in ceramic tile stove pad. This was the first fire!

The insulation is here, the outside is sided, wiring is in for solar power and wind power

the scaffolding sits waiting for the pine siding to be milled and plained so sometimes I sleep out here and sometimes I come out and vent my frustration with a glass of wine and a warm fire....the stove needs to be broken in!!!

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Scenic Sunday ~ There are days when ...

2011-10-30T14:29:00.002-04:00

There are days when Mother Nature just takes your breath away!
(These were all taken on the same day!)

Visit

Scenic Sunday

for more breathtaking photos

SkyWatch Friday ~ Extreme Weather

2011-10-28T22:20:00.002-04:00

Last night, this was the weather system sitting over top of us. Winds blowing 70 to 90 km/h with gusts to 130 km/h and I can assure you there were lots of gusts at 130 km/h. Despite the winds the cabin remained sound.

This mornings sunrise(?) saw the tailend of the overnight hurricane force winds but brought with it an unstable southwest weather system.

We are also experiencing extreme tides. Yesterday we had a 25' 3" high tide (about 16" over our usual high tides and the low was a "0" tide(usually it is 3 to 4 ft.)

High tide was at 2:53 PDT today. If we had been experiencing last nights winds during this tide there would have been a 1 to 3 ft surge and the waves would have breached the dunes.

As it turned out the winds calmed before high tide and the waves just scoured the beach of logs.

Still photos do no justice to the power of the ocean. Tlell is on the east side of Haida Gwaii about 100 km from mainland British Columbia so we don't get monumental surf but watching these waves form and watching what they do to the beach gives one a glimpse of what being on the ocean is like.

By the time the tide started to ebb and I headed back to the cabin there was no time to lose as another weather system was moving in. This is my Friday skywatching!

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SkyWatch Friday.

Our World Tuesday ~ Agates

2011-10-25T15:41:00.001-04:00

One of the many activities that visitors and Haida Gwaiians like to do on island is to search for agates. "Agate is a microcrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are classically associated with volcanic rocks and can be common in certain metamorphic rocks."(from Wikipedia). Agates are a result of gas bubbles in lava. As the lava cools the gas escapes leaving a cavity.

Silica in solution seeps into the cavity and forms layers, gradually filling the cavity. As erosion by wind and water occurs the agate or nodule is released. Agate is translucent and relatively hard.

It shows up in various sizes and colours here on Haida Gwaii. In the photo above the big rock is opaque while the agates are translucent. The density of agates is considerably lighter than "normal rock".

Most agates found on Haida Gwaii are the size of the little ones in the forground but occasionally after a good storm some big ones will wash up on shore. The agate on the left weighs in at 6lb 2 oz and is currently being looked at for possible cutting to see what is inside. (My orange crock is size 11 for size comparison!)

This beautiful opal geode(a form of agate and quite possibly what the other big agate is) I found last week after one of our big storms.

In this case the nodule did not fill with silica before it was released from it's birthplace so crystals formed in the open space. You can see the layers of silica that formed to make this the agate.

The is the source of most of agates found on Haida Gwaii, Tow Hill. Tow Hill is the the lava flow of an ancient volcano. The left side of the volcano has eroded into the sea exposing the dolomite columns. As the sea batters and erodes the exposed dolomite nodules or agates are released to be tumbled and washed ashore on the beach.

This beach, within Naikoon Provincial Park is called Agate Beach for a reason! The two large agates I found come from ancient volcanic activity south of Tlell.

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Our World Tuesday

SkyWatch Friday ~ Some mornings....

2011-10-20T15:09:00.000-04:00

Some mornings are just too beautiful for words....

Balance Rock is an erratic deposited by a glacier thousands of years ago.

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SkyWatch Friday

SkyWatch Friday ~ Deceptive Beauty

2011-10-01T13:58:00.003-04:00

C. Honisch

Despite the beautiful sunsets, we continue to be battered by amazing storms.

C. Honisch

On Haida Gwaii we experience some of the highest tides on the west coast. Tides are influenced by the phases of the moon. The highest tides occur on the new moon and full moon. The above sunset shots were taken from the sea bottom on the opposing low tides that accompany the extreme highs.

C. Honisch

This was the first time in 24 hours that the wind had settled enough to get near the beach on a 24' foot tide. The danger of these high storm driven tides (besides the obvious!) is that they scour the beaches of protective logs that keep shorelines from eroding.

This is the same shoreline as above but before the storm.

This video was shot at high tide after 20 hours of 80 km winds. This beach was scraped clean of logs. Not sure why there is no sound which is unfortunate.

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Rough Seas

2011-09-27T13:54:00.004-04:00

There are rough seas on the horizon as we head into what so far has been a record autumn with five storms bearing hurricane force winds in eleven days. Since Labour Day the ferry has been cancelled twice and delayed five times. These are the type of statistics we are used to in the middle of winter.

This is the weather satellite capture from this morning showing the tail end of a strong storm that grounded us yesterday(Haida Gwaii is on the far right and Russia is on the far left of this capture). Our weather systems orignate in the North Pacific circulating in a counter clockwise direction. Haida Gwaii's main weather comes from the southeast. Winds coming across the warm Japanese current pick up moisture and speed, as they meet the coastal mountains and the high pressure system that sits south of us they create the spiral that brings us our weather. If the high pressure system is weak our low pressure system will overwhelm the high and the system will move south over Vancouver Island, if it is strong it keeps the system north and we get wet and wind blown.

These two photos were taken from the deck of the cabin. The wind is blowing salt mist which plays havoc with camera lens. The grasses have already gone brown and are showing the direction of the wind and blowing sand. Even Marley is willing to watch from a distance!

SkyWatchFriday on Haida Gwaii

2011-09-16T19:53:00.001-04:00

Click on any photo for some remarkable detail.

I consider it a privledge to be up early enough to watch the sunrise and on this particular morning you could actually see the mainland coast of British Columbia(100km away) from my meditation spot.

Clouds don't always need to be ominous!

And then the day begins.

My morning meditation bench.

During the afternoon this beautiful cloud formation moved in.

This kind of cloud formation is ususally the precurser of change

but it seems the change was for the good

as a subtle sunset introduced the last full moon of summer!

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SkyWatch Friday.

SkyWatch Friday and Weekend Reflections

2011-07-29T14:51:00.000-04:00

A beautiful sky over the prairies as the west coast suffers through endless gray skies.

And a little history as Canadians move into a long weekend.

Rather than rewriting an excellent article from the Ottawa Citizen I will just share it below:

Know what we celebrate on Aug. 1? You should

By Dan Gardner, Ottawa Citizen July 29, 2011

Monday, August 1, is a holiday in Canada. Everyone knows that. But what is the name of the holiday?
Most of us call it "the August 1 holiday," or "the civic holiday" or some other placeholder. Of course these are not its official name, which varies across the country.
The imaginative legislators of New Brunswick dubbed the holiday "New Brunswick Day." Showing equal verve, legislators in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, respectively, named the holiday "Saskatchewan Day" and "British Columbia Day." Alberta's legislators, being the bold mavericks they are, called it "Heritage Day."
In Ontario, until recently, there was no provincial name, and municipalities honoured local heroes - "Colonel By Day," "James Coburn Day" - with proclamations which everyone ignored. But three years ago, a private member's bill finally gave the holiday a name that manages to be provincewide without being provincial, in that other sense.
Know what it is?
Of course not. This name is deeply rooted in the Canadian past. It commemorates one of the greatest struggles in human history. And when people hear it - which they likely won't since no one uses it - they have no clue what it means.
It is "Emancipation Day."
You're scratching your head, aren't you? Don't be embarrassed. Be angry - angry that you have been denied a truly majestic story all Canadians should know and cherish.
On August 1, 1834, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. "Emancipation Day" has been celebrated ever since in Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, and elsewhere.
Now you're wondering what slavery has to do with Canada. We are the nation of the "Underground Railroad," which brought runaway American slaves to freedom here.
"Emancipation Day" can't be relevant to Canada because there were no slaves to emancipate. Right?
Go back to the beginning of the abolitionist movement, in Britain. The year is 1787.
"If, early that year, you had stood on a London street corner and insisted that slavery was morally wrong and should be stopped," wrote Adam Hochschild in his uplifting book Bury the Chains, "nine out of ten listeners would have laughed you off as a crackpot. The tenth might have agreed with you in principle, but assured that ending slavery was wildly impractical: the British Empire's economy would collapse. The parliamentarian Edmund Burke, for example, opposed slavery but thought that the prospect of ending even just the Atlantic slave trade was 'chimerical.'"
Four years later, Upper Canada - Ontario - became the newest jurisdiction in the British Empire and John Graves Simcoe was installed as its first lieutenant-governor. Simcoe, an army officer and veteran of the American Revolution, spent most of his early time in Upper Canada preparing for an apparently imminent war with the republicans to the south.
But Simcoe had another passion. He was an abolitionist. And he was offended that there was slavery in his new colony.
In 1793, a free black man named Peter Martin - who had served with Butler's Rangers in the American Revolution - told the legislature of the abduction of Chloe Cooley, a black slave who had been bound, gagged, thrown in a boat, and taken to the United States for sale. Simcoe seized the opportunity and moved to immediately abolish slavery.

It was a radical, audacious move. And it was too much. Wealthy slaveowners in the legislature resisted and Simcoe was forced to compromise: Existing slaves would be denied their freedom but the importation of slaves would stop and the children of slaves would be freed when they reached age 25. In effect, slavery would slowly vanish.
It was not the sweeping victory Simcoe wanted. But it was the abolitionists' first legislative victory anywhere in the British Empire.
It made the "chimerical" look considerably more possible.
And it was possible. In 1807, the slave trade was abolished throughout the Empire. In 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act was passed and, on August 1, 1834, it came into force.
And the celebrations began, in the Caribbean and elsewhere. "During the two and a half decades before the American Civil War," noted Adam Hochschild, "free blacks in the Northern states celebrated not July 4, when they were at risk of attack by drunken whites, but August 1, Emancipation Day in the West Indies, a date Frederick Douglass called 'illustrious among all the days of the year.'"
For generations, African-Canadians also celebrated Emancipation Day. But the memory faded in recent decades. The Ontario Black History Society is working to change that.
"We were able to get, first Toronto, then various cities, including the City of Ottawa, to recognize Emancipation Day," notes the society's president, Rosemary Sadlier. In 2008, a private member's bill passed the Ontario legislature and the generic August 1 holiday became Emancipation Day.
Not that the government bothered to tell anyone, which is why the reader has almost certainly never heard of this before.
It's also disappointing - and depressingly Canadian - that the holiday continues to go by a patchwork of other names across the country, most of which are devoid of even the slightest meaning. At the federal level, Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai introduced a private member's bill to mark Emancipation Day in 2001 but it didn't receive unanimous support and that was the end of it.
"This is the first global human rights legislation," marvels Sadlier. "How can people not know about it?"
In part, it's because politicians and popular historians have jettisoned the British elements of our national story, and if you conceive of "Canadian history" as only the history of what happened within our present borders, you won't see the connection between Simcoe's courageous efforts and the triumph of August 1, 1834.
But it's also because this is a country where politicians think it's a good idea to call a holiday "New Brunswick Day" or "Heritage Day." Or "Canada Day," for that matter.
The generic celebration of heritage has replaced real heritage. And politicians - whether from ignorance, risk aversion, or a simple deficiency of soul - are quite happy to let a magnificent, inspiring story like that of John Graves Simcoe and the abolitionist movement be forgotten.
Or perhaps that is too pessimistic. I'll let Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Heritage Minister James Moore, and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney decide.
Dan Gardner's column appears Wednesday and Friday. E-mail: dgardner@ottawacitizen.com.

Have a wonderful long weekend and weekend everyone and may we give gratitude for what we have.

SkyWatch Friday ~ First night in the Cabin

2011-07-01T16:42:00.003-04:00

As many of you know I started building a cabin on the dunes on Haida Gwaii, B.C. this time last year. Several of us worked dilligently on it over the summer learning some lessons as we went along. Getting supplies here and not being able to do everything ourselves were some of the lessons. When I left in September to visit my grandson and family we were still waiting for the tin for the roof. It was never our job to do the roof and it finally got put on with little time to spare. Windows still hadn't arrived.

When I first saw the above picture I thought it was someone's hut in the Alps(a friend had just come back from visiting family in Austria) until I realized it was our cabin! Snow like this, we never see on Haida Gwaii!

So this spring we were back at it. The lower windows arrived back in February however the big plate windows front and back for the loft just arrived.

With the help of a friend who also just arrived back on island we moved the big plates of glass into place and secured them.

Between putting in the lower windows and the loft glass we sided the cabin in cedar and trim out the windows.

Some of you may remember our beautiful driftwood posts on the deck. We thought they were great but anyone who built things said "take them down" so unfortunately down they came.

So even though the doors were not in I decided to spend my first night in the cabin. The cabin faces eastsoutheast so I had to get my first sunrise from the cabin. When I first awoke it was just after moonrise at 2:52 a.m. (this photo was taken at about 3:30 a.m.)

The night sky had been clear and full of stars as it neared new moon however as the sun began to dawn the clouds moved in. Sunrise was at 5:10 a.m.

Daybreak was beautiful...

and reflected a rising tide.

So we are waiting again, for insulation to arrive on island so we can complete the inside and I can move in and enjoy more of these beautiful sunrises!

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SkyWatch Friday.

MyWorld Tuesday ~ Potlatching

2011-06-22T02:00:00.002-04:00

If you are reading this blog from most recent backwards you might want to go back two posts to fully appreciate this post.

Smiles Carolyn

Chiefs waiting for the procession of chiefs to begin at the potlatch.

After the raising of the totem pole everyone is invited to come to the potlatch where the business is carried out. The carvers will be "paid", adoptions will be held, and any other business that requires witnessing. For those who stay for the potlatch there will also be payment for witnessing.

I was serving at the feast which lasted six hours, so my pictures were catch-as-catch-can. This chief is wearing a Chilcat blanket with an eagle headdress. The spiny things sticking out of the headdress are sealion whiskers and it is where eagle down is placed when the chiefs do the welcome dance. If you get eagle down on you it will bring you luck. This is also an eagle chief in Skidegate. There has been animosity between the two eagle clans and Chief Wiigaanad made it his business to make peace between the two at this potlatch. Traditionally, each village would have one eagle chief and one raven chief however after the smallpox devastated the Haida villages in the 1860's the remaining individuals where brought to either Skidegate in the south end or Old Masset at the north end of the Islands so now there are often multiple eagle or raven chiefs in the villages. I am sorry I can not spell his name so I will not try!

Each chief is announced and takes their place at the head table in order of importance to the hosting chief.

Ladies-held-in-High-Esteem, Chiefs and Guests are welcomed to the feast by an opening prayer and dancing which is presented by Haida of all ages. The large standing box at centre back and the smaller one to the right are cedar drums.

Several dance groups accepted their invitations to come and dance for Chief Wiigaanad. These are the Vancouver Rainbow dancers.

The regalia at the potlatches is more beautiful each time I attend. This photo I did not use the flash so it is digitally enhanced which is why it is grainy. This is a very elaborate design and the only thing I recognize is the dogfish which is the small fish in the design.

As I mentioned I served at the potlatch. There were over six hundred people present and two people served each table. This is my table, absolutely dead centre of the head table. You are asked to bring your own dishes and cutlery to a potlatch however there are paper plates if you forget or are a visitor.

Potlatches consist of singing, dancing, speeches and eating in no particular order lasting upwards of eight hours. This was the dancing of a new carved mask. It is a dogfish. A dogfish is a type of shark.

Potlatches are times when adoptions are held, it could be a non Haida who has married a Haida, it may be someone who has contributed to the well being of the Haida Nation i.e. David Suzuki or the well being of the Island community i.e. a nurse or a doctor. Once the new adoptees are given their Haida name which they must pronounce three times in public they must dance their name. That is what is happening here.

This is the Chiefs' Welcome dance.

Finally it was time to eat. When you sit down at your table it is usually around 3 or 4 p.m. there are always nibblies on the tables, things like "gow" (herring roe on kelp) and before you go "eewwwuu" it is quite delicious and one of my favourites, crunchy and a little salty, dried seaweed which we eat like potato chips, dried halibut and smoked salmon. Then everyone is served a fish chowder made with halibut, salmon and prawns or a venison stew around 6 p.m.

And then the main course is served around 8 p.m. This is all from the waters of Haida Gwaii. If you don't like seafood there is more venison stew!

Salmon, smoked salmon, halibut, prawns, black cod, octopus, dungeness crab legs, crab cakes and gow.

After supper there are more speeches...this is the Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson and his wife Amy presenting Chief Wigaanad with a basket she wove.

Clan song...

New masks must be danced to bring life to them....

I do not know who this is supposed to be....it is a woman as there is a labaret in the mouth and she has an extraordinary number of breasts!

Chief Wigaanad spent a lot of time thanking others, now was the time for him and Cindy to accept the gratitude of his people...it was very emotional.

As I mentioned in the previous post, "coppers" are a form of currency for chiefs along the coast. Both to give and to recieve a copper is a huge honour. Here Sid is honouring his Uncle who named him to be chief rather than his older brother. In all, Chief Wigaanad gave away three coppers.

And like everything else, they must be danced! Heaven help you if you lose something at a potlatch and have to retrieve it from the master of ceremonies because you will have to dance it when you retrieve it!

This is the "blanket dance" for Matt, the nurse who was hurt at the pole raising earlier in the day. The drums beat, the singers sing and you dance your money to the blanket....$2,000 was raised in five minutes!

An update on Matt, his injuries included a broken shoulder/collar bone, broken wrist, three broken ribs and a punctured lung. He spent three days in Vancouver and is now recovering at his home in Queen Charlotte. It will take four to six months for his injuries to mend and for him to be back to work. Beside the money collected the night of the potlatch a $10,000 Bingo was held with the proceeds going to Matt and his family. Matt has been very humble and Syd and Cindy visit him weekly. Unlike elsewhere in the world there is no ill will and no law suits!

For other great places from around the world why not join us at

My World Tuesday.

The First Chief's Pole in A Hundred Years

2011-05-30T16:39:00.003-04:00

I travel with a camera attached to my hand always! So on the single most important day in Skidegate's history I forget my camera! I made a quick stop 30 minutes before the pole raising and a friend loaned me a camera. The camera was new to me so I didn't realize it was set on video mode so the first 18 shots are actually mini videos. When I tried to download the photos to my computer the camera batteries were dead, no problem I always carry spares, oops wrong ones! I take the chip out of the camera to download from it, my computer or my lack of knowledge doesn't allow the download! Return the camera to charge the battery, the charger can not be found, two days later I get a call the battery is charged! I also had to learn how to capture still photos from video. I hope the wait was worth it!

The totem pole was moved to the sight where it was to be raised the day before the pole raising. The pole was going up in front of Chief Wigaanad Sid Crosby's home. On the porch are five "coppers" which in the Northwest Coast Native culture is a symbol of wealth.

Chief Wiigaanad Sid Crosby(second from right), his wife Cindy(right), Cindy's brother Master Carver Tim Boyko(centre) and other family members.

The "Boss Lady" and her auntie. The Haida are a Matriarchal society so Cindy really is the "Boss Lady". If you are Haida you are either an Eagle or a Raven and if you are one you must marry the other. Chief Wiigaanad is Eagle and Cindy is a Raven. Children follow the mother's moiety so the next chief of the Skidegate Gidins would be Cindy's brother's first born son. Cindy is wearing a beautiful interpretation of a "button blanket".

Another beautiful eagle blanket and cedar hat. Cedar bark is stripped from the Western Red Cedar or Yellow Cedar, peeled into thin strips, soaked and woven into these beautiful rain proof hats. The flare on the hat sends the rain off the shoulders. Red cedar bark is strong with long fibres and was/is used for making baskets, rope, hats and when felted capes, leggings and aprons and was also woven with mountain goat wool for additional warmth and beauty.

There is strong tradition in the raising of a pole. Diane Brown is blessing the pole, next the carver and his apprentices will dance around the pole and breath life into it, family members will be invited to place trade beads in the hole(rumour has it that in the old days they would place a slave in the hole!) and the chief's permission is asked to raise the pole.

Traditionally the pole would be raised with four to six ropes and upwards of 25 to 50 or more people on each line. Because this pole was going up between two houses a block and tackle system was used with the additional help of people. As the pole is slowly raised a timber crib is created to support the pole as it goes up. On the right hand side of this photo just above the rope pulley(orange tape) you will see a piece of 2x4. Just after I took this photo that rope broke and the piece of 2x4 and the whipping rope struck two children and an adult. The kids where more fightened than hurt however the spectator/photographer/nurse was struck with the 2x4 breaking his arm, camera and several ribs. He was stabilized on scene by no less than 3 doctors and 3 fellow nurses, taken to hospital in Queen Charlotte and then air medivac to Vancouver where he is recovering well.

An hour and a half later the pole was raised(the yellow rope is the new line) without further incident.

The pole is forty feet tall with the Wasco(sea bear) holding a killer whale on the bottom, a raven representing Cindy , a dog fish(where the blankets and ropes are) and an eagle on top.

Once the pole is straight, the hole is filled in with rocks(the pole is buried 15' deep) and sand.

Throughout the pole raising Chief Wiigaanad watched ...someone is hired to raise the pole.

Cindy and friends watched and waited from a respectfully distance.

When it was finally raised there was a collective sigh of relief and cheer!

If you look carefully you will see five eagles. If I had not been there to witness this I would not have believed it. As the pole was being raised the eagles sqawked and made a ruckous as if in support of Chief Wiigaanad. When the rope broke everyone, including the eagles fell silent. When the pole was finally raised not only did the eagle ruckous continue but eagles flew in to join the celebration...it was really quite amazing to witness.

There was support from every where in the form of prayers

and song.

I will continue this tomorrow with the potlatch.

To visit other fascinating places from around the world by not join us a

My World Tuesday.

Totem Pole on the Move

2011-05-22T18:40:00.002-04:00

photo by Jessica Reid

Chief Sid Crosby's totem pole is complete and ready to be raised but first it needs to be moved.

photo by Jessica Reid

Now it is time to move it, the preparations begin.

photo by Jessica Reid

This pole will be moved by human power

photo by Jessica Reid

to it's destination just over three kilometers(1.8 miles) away

photo by Jessica Reid

with all kinds of support....more to come!

Scenic Sunday

Wordless Wednesday ~ A picture perfect evening...

2011-05-18T12:27:00.000-04:00

Picture perfect evening!

Wordless Wednesday

My World Tuesday ~ Potlatching

2011-05-17T20:54:00.001-04:00

This weekend the Skidegate Gidins will host a pole raising and potlatch to honour their new chief.

Potlatch, from the Chinook word(a common trading language of the Northwest coast indigeneous peoples) means "to give away" or "a gift" and was a social gathering by a hereditary chief or family in their house(longhouse) to establish or uphold his/their status position in society and to redistribute wealth. In a culture where history is passed on in an oral tradition potlatches were mainly winter cermonies to mark a significant event such as a son's marriage, the passing of a chief, the birth of a child or the installation of a new chief. Potlatches are distinguished from feasts in that guests are invited to a potlatch to share food and receive gifts or payment for witnessing the event. Potlatches were also the venue in which ownership to economic and ceremonial privileges was asserted, displayed, and formally transferred to heirs.

This beautiful pole, which was commissioned by Chief Syd Crosby from Master carver Tim Boyko will be raised outside of Sydney's home in Skidegate. (In older times it would have been raised in front of the clan longhouse.) Following the pole raising in which everyone is welcome to help raise the pole the potlatch will be held. The story of the pole will be told and the carver will be honoured and paid along with his apprentices.

The top figure on Syd's pole is an eagle and the post with the two rings on it represents the two potlatches that Sydney has/will host. There are old totem poles with many rings representing many potlatches. The photo below from BC Archives shows a memorial pole to a chief who in his life time hosted 10 potlatches.

The potlatch was seen by the church and the government as "the ritualistic act of giving away nearly all of one’s hard-earned possessions as a sign that the indigenous people were ‘unstable’". Yet the potlatch was the First Nations primary connection to their culture and the redistribution of wealth among their people. Your wealth was determined by how much you gave away not by how much you had! In 1880 an amendment was made to the Indian Act of Canada that banned the potlatch and proclaimed that:

"Every Indian or other person who engages in or assists in celebrating the Indian festival known as the “Potlatch” or in the Indian dance known as the “Tamanawas” is guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than six nor less than two months in any gaol or other place of confinement; and every Indian or persons who encourages… an Indian to get up such a festival… shall be liable to the same punishment."

This Amendment to the Indian Act was meant to assimilate the First Nations people into the European culture however without the support of many of the Indian Agents it was a hard law to uphold. Some First Nations willing let the potlatch go however those like the Haida and the Kwakwakaʼwakw continued to practice the potlatch however in a much simpler form. The Anti-Potlatch ban was repealed in Canada in 1951 and the potlatch has become an important part of the resurgance of the Northwest culture. It is full of song, dance, regalia, food and pride and I will post lots of pictures next week!

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"Blue Skies Do I See, Nothing but Blue Skies Do I See...."

2011-05-08T00:04:00.000-04:00

Like much of the North American continent it has been a cool spring. Here we have been hard pressed to get into double digits on the thermometer and grey skies, rain and wind have been the norm.

Today was "Move For Health Day" in British Columbia and it seems the weatherman was on our side with beautiful blue skies, big fluffy clouds and warm temperatures for our community hike!

On our way back up the coast we stopped for Chai and to see if we could spot the gray whales that come to visit every spring.

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Weekend Reflections and Scenic Sunday.

SkyWatch Friday ~ If you don't like the weather just wait 15 minutes!

2011-05-05T15:24:00.001-04:00

There is a saying on Haida Gwaii that is frequently repeated and very true.. "if you don't like the weather just wait 15 minutes".

Haida Gwaii is a place of micro climates and influenced largely by the winds and the ocean so change is rapid and frequent.

Our daily walks are generally an hour long and cover a three kilometer circuit travelling north along the beach to Naikoon Provincial Park, walking inland through Misty Meadows and

then coming out to return along the edge of the dunes. In the course of the walk we went from ebbing cool overcast skies to warm blue skies and then it rained all afternoon and evening!

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SkyWatch Friday ~ Why am I here?

2011-04-29T21:32:00.001-04:00

In 2002/2003 I sat at the table with 20 other islanders and worked on what was to be known as the Heritage Tourism Strategy. Often when traditional economies fail(in our case logging and commercial fishing) communities often turn to tourism as their panacea. However tourism can have the same devastating affects as commercial logging and/or over fishing, turning once liveable pristine places into overrun seasonal landscapes gutting them of core services and long term viability.

The fella who helped our group through this process, Robert Sandford told us something that has never left me..."Each day remind yourself why you choose to live here and never let anything else get in the way of that." What he wanted us to remember is the essence of why we live where we live so that when we are called upon to make choices we will make the right choices. If we do not remind ourselves every single day change will happen for the wrong reasons.

I came to Haida Gwaii fourteen years ago but I had known since I was nine that I would come here! It took half a lifetime to get here but everyday I know why I am here. It is not always easy, work can be sporatic, family is half a continent away and some of them really don't understand "why" and the cost of everything going up can be daunting but I still know that this is where "my puzzle piece fits"!

It is when I take my morning walk along the beach

and see the incredible beauty that surrounds me

that I am reminded why I am here.

The human race have a tendancy to not do things in moderation, it seems to be all or nothing. We were reminded while working on the Heritage Tourism Strategy that if there were special places on these islands that we wanted to keep special we should think long and hard before identifying them or risk them becoming our "best kept secret" that everyone knows about!

Where ever you choose to live, honour it, be a part of it and remind yourself daily why you are there...a job(money) should never be the primary reason.

For me it is the connection to the land, to walk on Mother Earth and to know that we are all connected,

to appreciate the incredible beauty that surrounds us everywhere if we just take the time to look

and give thanks!

Out side of the first four photos(the beach at Tlell) these where taken on North Beach in Naikoon Provincial Park on the northeast corner of Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands. Although others had been on the beach we were the only ones there on this beautiful low tide. The view through the cracked windshield is the stunning drive through what the locals call the "Magic Forest", a protected Ecological Zone.

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Weekend Reflections

Watery Wordless Wednesday!!

2011-04-27T13:09:00.005-04:00

My only words to you is click on either of the logos to view more Watery or Wordless Wednesdays!

SkyWatch Friday ~ Good Friday

2011-04-21T23:41:00.000-04:00

This feels like a Good Friday sky.

Have a wonderful long weekend everyone.

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SkyWatch Friday.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Beach love

2011-04-20T23:54:00.001-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

My World Tuesday ~ the wild southwest coast

2011-04-18T14:59:00.008-04:00

I am back on Haida Gwaii after six weeks in Victoria, British Columbia doing training and housesitting. I have been to Victoria several times but only in the area of the Inner Harbour, the area the tourists visit. I knew of places like Esquimalt, Metchosin, Sooke and Port Renfrew but had never experienced them. What amazed me the most about the Greater Victoria area was their public transit system that lets you get to some pretty wild places for a mere $2.50 bus ride. One of these places was East Sooke Regional Park located on the extreme southwest tip of Vancouver Island and a beautiful 30 minute drive/ride from Victoria.

East Sooke Regional Park is the largest park in the Capital Regional District of Victoria covering 1422 hectares(3512 acres) of westcoast wilderness. There are over 50 km(30 miles) of trails through old homestead orchards(above) and farmland(below), dry bald moutain tops(didn't make it) with panoramic views and wild west coast trails(what this post is about!) that includes 10 km(6 miles) of permanently protected virgin coastline.

A friend and I entered the park at the old Aylard Farm homestead in search of the T'Sou-kes(pronounced Sooke) petroglyphs. We thought we had walked the whole ten kms of rugged coastline however if you notice on the map above we barely made a dent in the trail system(our route is marked in red)! It sure felt like 10 kms!

The vistas were breathtaking!

Isolated anchorage at Campbell Cove

It has been a cool spring but some flowers were in bloom.

The climbs were not always easy but the payoff was worth it...

Sometimes you got a surprise

and always a great view such as this one at Creyke Point

There are lots of beautiful pocket beaches(high tide) with crystal clear water,

air plants like "old man's beard" and the red barked Arbutus trees,

wind swept spruce and douglas fir

and amazing geology everywhere you looked.

Rock sculpted by water.

Art created by nature!

Ring necked seal petroglyph "bruised" into the rock at Alldridge Point which was designated a Provincal Heritage site in 1927. There was a second petroglyph but I could not find it! These were "bruised" into the rock by the Coast Salish (the T'Sou-kes, prounounced Sooke) thousands of years ago and was a technique unique to the Strait of Juan du Fuca.

The power of mother nature was evident every where. Some of these stunted coastal pines were 300 years old!

The view across the Strait of Juan du Fuca at the Olympic Mountains of Washington State.

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SkyWatch Friday ~ Change

2011-04-01T03:50:00.000-04:00

When I left the house this morning to a hike the skies were clear blue. A twenty minute drive to East Sooke Regional Park and the skies were already changing.

The blue sky was quickly covered and snow covered mountains and clouds were hard to seperate.

The weather and the skies are truly fascinating.

(All photos are looking southeast across Juan du Fuca Strait.)

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Wordless Wednesday ~ Beauty

2011-03-30T13:27:00.002-04:00

What I wake to every morning...

Wordless Wednesday ~ Yellow Submarine

2011-03-25T16:17:00.000-04:00

While visiting the Emily Carr exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC with a friend and her little friend we came across

John Lennon's Yellow Submarine!

SkyWatch Friday ~ finally the skies clear

2011-03-24T16:11:00.000-04:00

My view from here faces almost due east and this is the first morning in five weeks that I have had a almost cloudless sunrise and isn't beautiful?

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Watery Wednesday ~ The night the ferry sank....

2011-03-22T16:04:00.003-04:00

View The Night the Queen of the North Sank in a larger map

The marker on the right is where the Queen of the North sank and the marker on the left is where we were.

On the night of March 21, 2006 I was on board a 52' schooner called the "Anvil Cove" riding out a storm at an insecure anchorage just off Limestone Island on Haida Gwaii. I was part of a team of volunteers who were delivering supplies, building a cabin and setting up the 2006 Limestone Island research camp. We had travelled from Queen Charlotte City to Limestone Island earlier in the day towing a herring punt full of lumber and supplies. We had off loaded the supplies, anchored the boat and headed ashore to join the rest of the team to start opening camp, build a new cabin and make supper. As the day wore on the winds picked up and created some rough seas.

Photo: Anvil Cove Charters

The Anvil Cove is a steel hulled boat built on the Island and she is heavy. This night we also had a 25' aluminium herring punt tied up along side and her anchorage was not as secure as her captain would like. I offered to stay aboard with the captain the night of March 21/22, 2006.

When you work and live on the water your radio is your lifeline. It is on all the time and this night was no exception. I was sleeping in the midship bunk and Barb was in the aft bunk. It was a noisy night as the herring punt slammed up against the boat in the rolling sea and high winds. Around 11:30 p.m. the weather started to settle and we could begin to relax. There was chatter on the radio with captains talking between one another or to their loved ones at home. I had dozed off when I heard Barb say "did you hear that?". It was about 12:30 a.m. on March 22, 2006. I hadn't, but I was now awake when another call came over the radio. It was broken and full of static but we got bits of it...."Queen of........hard aground.........", "vessel calling in please repeat.." came a voice from Traffic(like air traffic controllers), a few minutes later we heard "Queen of the North hard aground and taking on water, standby for coordinates" from a calm but abrupt voice. "Are you calling in a mayday" came a voice from the Coast Guard listening in, there was no response that we heard. By this time Barb and I are bolt upright and listening to the conversations. On some radio channels you only get one side of the conversation and for much of this event that is what happened.

Photo: BC Ferries

The Queen of the North was built in Germany in 1969 and bought from her original owner in 1974. She serviced Vancouver and Vancouver Island until 1976, was decommissioned until 1980 where, after an extensive refit she began servicing the Inside Passenge and Queen Charlotte Islands in May of that year. She is/was 125 m(406 ft) long and could carry 700 passengers and 115 vehicles. She was stable in the water and handled the rough winter weather of the Hecate Strait with ease. She had just come back from her yearly refit only a couple of weeks earlier.

The chatter went back and forth on the radio but we only got bits and pieces of it. About 40 minutes after the first transmission we heard "109 all clear". Barb and I talked for a bit and then went to sleep. We had no idea she had sunk! In the morning all was calm and we headed to shore to have breakfast with the rest of our crew. When we asked if anyone else had heard the radio chatter, they said "no". There is no power on Limestone island but we did have a battery and a transit radio, so as we prepared breakfast the boys connected the radio. Most of us did not eat. What we heard over CBC Prince Rupert left us speechless. The stories coming over the radio were harrowing and heart breaking and had not been censored by BC Ferries yet. How in a country like Canada could a ferry sink, our ferry? It was just unbelievable.

I could not find a credit for this photo

Taken as the Queen of the North was sinking on March 22, 2006

There are all kinds of stories about what happened but the end result was "human error". There were 46 crew(crew do two weeks on and two weeks off and live aboard so there are two complete crew shifts on board) and 51 passengers when she ran into Gil Island at 17.5 knots. Two people were missing and have been declared dead. The ship sank in 427 m(1387 ft)of water and remains there to this day. It sank in less than an hour. We now know that that last transmission we heard was the time that all passengers and crew where clear of the Queen of the North(just over 40 mins).

The fifth anniversary of this terrible accident is today and it is one of those events that you know exactly where you were when it happened.

P.S. For anyone who would like to read more just google "Queen of the North". I actually found the visual simulation of what happened that evening with the actual radio transmission..."the voice was not as calm as I thought".

Scenic Sunday ~ If I didn't know better...

2011-03-19T22:55:00.002-04:00

I'd think Mt. Baker in Washington was getting a little restless! Click the photo for a better view.

(Taken from the deck of the house I'm looking after at 6 p.m. March 19, 2011. Mt Baker is approx. 150 km east of here and can be seen on a clear day!)

Sunday weather watching...

2011-03-19T22:47:00.000-04:00

Watching the wild weather on Sunday!

(click the logos to participate in these memes)

SkyWatch Friday

2011-03-17T14:16:00.000-04:00

It seems of late that our daytime skies have been grey and heavy

and then as dusk arrives the skies clear to expose a beautiful evening sky.

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My World Tuesday ~ Housesitting

2011-03-15T14:51:00.001-04:00

As some of you may know, I am a wanderer. I have lived on Haida Gwaii in British Columbia since 1999. One of the "rights of passage" when you are new to the islands is to be a housesitter while you decide whether you are going to stay(island living is not for everybody). This lifestyle turned out to be a good fit for me and I became a regular house/pet sitter on the island. One day in 2005 I "googled" housesitting and found Housecarers.com a great housesitting site orginating in Australia.

A homeowner can post a request for a housesitter for free and a housesitter creates an ad which costs them $50/year. As a housesitter you can check off the areas you are interested in visiting and when a housesit comes up in your area of choice you are sent an email. This is a worldwide housesitting site.

Homeowners are also able to contact you directly through the site. For those like me who enjoy travelling and spending time in areas this is such a great opportunity. Housesitting in it's true essence is looking after someone's home in the manner in which they would like in return for free accommodation. The site is full of great information for both the homeowner and the housesitter. As with everything, it is buyer beware. Do your homework and don't be afraid to ask questions and always follow your instinct. I have had nothing but great experiences(one housesit cancelled last minute but that's when your resourcefulness as a housesitter comes in!)

This is my most recent housesit located on southern Vancouver Island. Housesits can be just that, looking after the house or it can involve looking after pets, animals and plants.

These are two of my charges. Pets are not always a housesitters choice. They require schedules and looking after. For me I love to walk (8 to 15km/day) and I prefer to do it with a dog. In this case the cat is more willing to go for a walk than the dog!

These are some of my other charges. I have housesat chickens before but usually in small numbers, here I have about 100 of them. It has been an interesting experience and I am surprised how much personality these birds can have. The roosters like to take my ankles out but the chickens are actually quite friendly and enjoy talking to and stroking!

There are "ordinary chickens",

handsome chickens,

exoctic chickens,

and stunning chickens!

The dog who is a Kuvasz which was originally bred as a Hungarian livestock guard dog prefers it's new role as a house pet! So this handsome group are the "watch" geese for the livestock who stand on guard and send up the alarm against raccoons and these....

eagles, who scope out the area several times a day for any stray birds.

One of the assets of this housesit was the proximity to walking trails. At the base of this property there is gate access to the wonderfully maintained Galloping Goose Trail that runs for 60 kms from Victoria, BC to Sooke BC.

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SkyWatch Friday ~ Weather

2011-03-11T01:26:00.000-05:00

Ever changing weather over the Strait of Juan du Fuca between Canada and the USA.

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Water Wednesday ~ Juan du Fuca Provincial Park

2011-03-09T15:07:00.001-05:00

I am spending some time on southern Vancouver Island and made a trip to Port Renfrew, BC. This remote community on the southwest coast of the island is the starting place for the world renown West Coast Trail and some lesser known but no less stunning Provincial Parks.

Botanical Beach is one of the most stunning and diverse tidal areas along the west coast, formed by tides and wave action against sandstone, basalt and tumbling rocks.

This area has so much diversity that the University of Minnesota established a marine research station here in 1900. Researchers continue to travel here under special park permits.

Tidal pools formed by rocks tumbling over the soft sandstone by tide action are full of unique marine life which have to be capable of surviving the extreme conditions of tides, temperatures and predation. (Some of these tidal pools, which look like puddles are over six feet deep!)

There is a saying on the west coast..."when the tide is out the table is set!"

Mmmmm....Blue mussels!

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Watery Wednesday

SkyWatch Friday ~ City Blue

2011-02-25T14:49:00.000-05:00

I am not particularly happy in the city however I do enjoy visiting or stopping over.

When I passed through Edmonton, Alberta the temperature was -37C, clear and cold so the last thing I wanted to do was explore!

However when I returned two days later after an avalanch prohibited my progress to the west coast the temperature was +6C sunny with remarkable blue skies.

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Wordless Wednesday ~ What a difference a night makes!

2011-02-23T13:18:00.000-05:00

I took this picture to try and catch the sunset last night where I am staying on Vancouver Island.

I did not realize that what I captured late afternoon yesterday over Victoria would lead to this...

about seven inches of beautiful light fluffy snow!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday ~ Oh give me a home....

2011-02-09T02:33:00.000-05:00

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam....

Wordless Wednesday

Into Each Life......

2011-01-31T16:12:00.005-05:00

Be still sad heart and cease repining;

Behind the clouds the sun is shining,

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life a little rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

~Longfellow~

but the blue sky and sunshine do return...

I am back!

Smiles

Watery Wednesday ~ calm

2010-11-24T12:43:00.002-05:00

A recent visit to the Grey Bruce Highlands and the Bruce Trail for an afternoon walk left me with this beautiful memory before winter embraces us....I am wandering, I will be back!

Smiles

For other watery vistas why not visit

Watery Wednesday.

Lest We Forget....

2010-11-10T17:36:00.000-05:00

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields"

by
John McCrae, May 1915

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T18:09:00.001-04:00

My camera and computer have been ill, the camera is better the computer is borrowed...

I will back to blogging soon. In the meantime Happy Halloween to you all

From me and my grandcub!

SkyWatch Friday ~ A Day in a Life

2010-09-24T03:17:00.000-04:00

araneus diadematus or common garden spider with a body the size of my thumb nail!

Ferry gull, not sure who he/she is meant to scare off.

This 47 foot Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) washed up on the beach last Friday(more about him next week)

Six jets flying in formation at over 30,000 feet heading south...the noise was deafening.
(click on any of these photos for more detail.)

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SkyWatch Friday ~ "Not a Sky in the Cloud"

2010-09-16T03:36:00.001-04:00

The calendar says it's summer but the weather definately has an autumn edge to it and in Tlell, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia the weather is in your face! Located on the west coast of Canada our weather is wet and moderate with temperatures ranging between 0*C and 20*C year round. Being located on the east coast of Haida Gwaii means you get the full force of our prevailing weather which blows out of the southeast. As you can see "Tlellians" have a sense of humour when it comes to the weather.

View Tlell, BC V0T in a larger map, the blue thing is where the cabin is located.

Tlell(a Haida word meaning "where big waters meet") has no real town centre, it is a collection of homes and properties stretched out along Highway 16 for about 20 kms. There is a post office, a small store that sells groceries, liquor and rents videos, a bakery/cafe, three artisan shops, a prize winning cattle breeder/ranch/feed store/veterinary and a collection of about three hundred eclectic souls.

As you can see from the map it runs along the coast with the Tlell River and Skidegate Plateau covering its back to the west. The road along the coast has been eroded away in places several times however there are no plans to replace it should it wash away. The one thing you learn when you live on the coast is that you can not beat Mother Nature!

We are waiting for the tin roof for the cabin which has to come from "off" island so work is at a stand still. This photo is taken from the beach overlooking the dunes. The cabin is backed by a mature spruce forest and nestled in the new growth or "regen" at the edge of the forest. The weather comes in from where this photo is taken. Yesterday morning there was a fog dome over the cabin!

Morning sun burning of the fog

The Tlell River is what is known as a tidal river. We have two high tides and two low tides every day. On the new and full moon we can have tides as high as 24 ft and low tides below sea level, known as minus tides. Several times a year we have these extreme tides and this new moon brought 24 foot tides. The picture above is the Tlell River when it is flooded by a big tide, which reverses the flow of the river for several kms up stream. The actual river bed in this photo is right along the tree line. If you look carefully or enlarge the photo you can see the fencing for the cattle and if you look at the map you can see where the flooding occurs on the river . If these high tides occur when we are having "weather" surges can add several feet to the tides and cause homes to be washed away, extreme shoreline erosion and road loss. Last big storm when that happened was Christmas Eve day 2003.

The weather has been chaotic this week with a huge southest storm on Friday/Saturday that saw driving rains and winds gusting to nearly 90 kph. With the winds come huge surf which tears up the bottom of the ocean and brings all matter of things ashore. In this case it is seaweed which we will harvest for the garden. This was taken Monday just after the big storm.

The clouds they are a building!

As the day wore on the weather moved in, bringing amazing clouds, sheets of rain

and amazing colours. The previous photos are looking north along the coast.

Despite the weather fisherpersons where out in full force to try there luck at catching coho salmon. This is the most people I have seen on this beach ever! This is looking south.

More rainbows this week than I have seen in all my time on these islands. Looking north.

At the end of some days there were these beautiful sunsets with amazing colour.

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SkyWatch Friday ~ Autumn evening

2010-09-09T15:25:00.000-04:00

I was sitting at the window table answering emails last evening when I looked up and saw a beautiful sunset evolving.

It was a beautiful evening for a walk, 18*C and calm. From the dune the northeast sky was just starting to colour and a loon was calling from the ocean.

I walked through the forest to the road to witness the last of the setting sun.

From the dark the sound of geese and sandhill cranes lingered on the air....migration has started.

A walk back to the dunes through a neighbours property offered this wonderful view and the view below is the view in front of the cabin. (For more detail click on photos, especially the bottom one, to see the whale eye!)

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SkyWatch Friday ~ The tin is next

2010-09-03T14:31:00.000-04:00

The Yoga Retreat is over so cabin building started again however the weather has been a little wet and stormy.

We did get the sheathing on as the weather started to change.

We never got the rain but we got the wind and rainbows!

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SkyWatch Friday ~ All in a day

2010-08-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

Taking a break and visiting a friend.

The weather for the day seemed to represent how I was feeling....

sometimes calm and peaceful, sometimes chaotic and grey....

but always greatful for where I live

and for my friends and family.

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SkyWatch Friday ~ A perfect day

2010-08-19T17:56:00.000-04:00

The weather has been stunning the past three weeks, with blue skies, warm temperatures, and refreshing ocean breezes.

The tides have also been great for swimming, high in the middle of the day. While relaxing on the beach between swims I looked sideways and was overwhelmed by the simplicity of my view! I can still feel the warmth of the sun and sand on my body.

We are hosting a ten day silent yoga retreat so cabin building is on hold for another seven days!

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Come on in the water is wonderful...

2010-08-18T01:15:00.003-04:00

Just floating around in the ocean on a warm sunny afternoon...

what could be better?!?!

My World Tuesday ~ Fish and sail boards

2010-08-17T02:41:00.000-04:00

My World revolves around a little community on the east coast of Haida Gwaii (aka Queen Charlotte Islands) called Tlell (pronounced tell-lell), meaning "where big waters meet".

However several times a week we travel to Port Clements , twenty kilometers NW on Masset Inlet to shop, pick up wood from the mill and take the dog for a walk on a different trail!

Friday when we went to "Port" we walked out on the newly redecked dock as we had heard the salmon were running.

Everyone was out trying their luck.

Some were luckier than others.

I was thrilled to see that all the little ones on the dock were wearing life jackets properly done up.

Then this fella put his fishing rod away, went behind his truck and put a wetsuit on and prepared to sail board.

When I turned around he was throughing his sail off the dock.

and then the board....it was about 30 to 40 feet down!

And then there he was, he didn't jump he went down a chain ladder!

He managed to clear the dock and the bull kelp.

He did get wet but the amazing thing was this was the first time he had tried this kind of launch and he is a new sail boarder....have to admit it looked like fun and the day was spectacular!

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Sky Watch Friday ~ Summer on the Dunes

2010-08-13T15:21:00.001-04:00

It has been a warm, busy week here with some beautiful sky in the clouds!

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My World Tuesday ~ Big Trees!

2010-08-10T15:18:00.002-04:00

Walking the Old Growth Alley Trail

This past week has been full of activity on Haida Gwaii with the Tlell Fall Fair on August 1st (I know, I know.. FALL fair? The Tlell Fair is an ajudicated fall fair but the only time they can get a judge on the island is the long weekend in August, so we are famous for the earliest fall fair in British Columbia!) and last weekend was the Edge of the World Music Festival also in Tlell.

A survivor of the Great Fire

As we run a bed and breakfast it was very busy here, so when you can take a break you do.

Dwarfed by big trees

Thursday we took a walk on the Old Growth Alley trail along the Tlell River. The forests of Haida Gwaii are a mixed forest of Sitka Spruce, Western Red Cedar and Hemlock, with Western Red Cedar considered the Tree of Life by the Haida and the "money tree" by the loggers. In 1840 a huge forest fire swept through the southern part of Graham Island and destroyed most of the forest and much of the monumental timber was burned to the ground. The new forest is mostly Sitka Spruce.

Western Red Cedar

Along the Old Growth Alley Trail there are the remains of some beautiful old Cedar.

Nurse Stump

Most trees when cut start to decompose, Cedar on the other hand will stay sound for 100s of years. There are huge trees that were cut down a 100 years ago but where too big to move which are now being removed from the forest and being used to make those expensive cedar shakes you can buy for your home! This stump may be hundreds of years old, birds drop seeds or the winds blow cones into the raagged top and the stump becomes a nursery for new growth, hence "nurse log". As the cedar finally goes back to the earth the roots of the Sitka Spruce are exposed.

Remains of poles at Skuung Gwaay, A World Heritage Site

The Haida used the remarkable Western Red Cedar for carving their Totem Poles

and their 50' and 60' ocean-going canoes. The above photo is what is known as a canoe blank. The tree would be cut down using fire and stone/shell instruments and carved into its basic shape where the tree was felled. It would then be carried to the river or ocean and carved out and steamed open with hot rocks.

When complete they are beautiful and surprisingly light.

The Sitka Spruce where used during the Second World War to make the Mosquito Aircraft. The tree is now considered a trash tree by loggers.

They are some of the largest trees found on Haida Gwaii now. The one above is 17' in diameter and it is considered small!

They never fail to impress. One of these huge spruce could supply enough timber to frame a whole neighbourhood of appropriately sized homes!

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SkyWatch Friday ~ A beautiful morning

2010-08-05T15:17:00.002-04:00

There is a show of the Aurora Borealis(northern lights) over most of Canada this week so I decided to sleep out and catch a glimpse of them. I managed to see the moon rise at 1:30 a.m. and then promptly went to sleep until just before sunrise at 5:50 a.m.! I went to make a coffee and by the time a got back the sun had risen!

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Wordless Wednesday ~ The Building Inspector!

2010-08-04T00:30:00.000-04:00

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My World Tuesday ~ Finally the roof goes on!

2010-08-02T15:03:00.001-04:00

When I last posted about the Dune Cabin here, we were taking a breather as we discussed how we were going to make sure this little place does not end up on the west coast of the island during one of our winters storms!

In the interim we built a wood shed and as you can see there is plenty of wood waiting to be split and stacked!

Finally....solutions worked out the trusses begin to go up.

Trusses up(had to use all our decking material!) the perlins and strapping goes on. For the high up work we let the pros due the work!

The neighbours came to watch the progress and give advice!

We recycled more hand hewn timbers from the old dismantled wood shed on the property.

More discussion on whether there should be a wrap around deck.

The post go in for deck on the north side of the cabin...so there will be a deck on half the cabin!

The rafters are on over the deck and the sheathing is going on the cabin.

The next step will be the sheathing on the roof, the ice and rain shield and the tin!

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MyWorld Tuesday ~ Sun at last

2010-07-27T14:06:00.000-04:00

We have had a cool, grey spring and summer to date. You can count on one(maybe two) hands how many warm days we have had.

When the high tide and the sunshine arrive at the same time, swimming is the order of the day.

As we have shallow sandy beaches you wait for the tide to come in over the warmed sand which in turn warms the water, it also shorts the walk to the tide line.

Marley waits patiently while we swim. With the warmer weather and water come jelly fish. The small dollar size ones are not a problem but yesterday we encountered large egg looking jelly fish which have dangling, stinging tendalls.

As I was wading(I did go for a swim) into the water to take this photo I was stung on the ankle by one of these new comers to the beach. A great swim despite the new visitor. We are on day three of seven days of clear skies!!!

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Scenic Sunday ~ Could I be any luckier.....?

2010-07-25T14:42:00.001-04:00

Didn't know Crocs came that small!

Grandson Hudson Daniel....loving his baths (his mom is the photographer)!
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SkyWatch Friday ~ Dramatic skies

2010-07-23T04:46:00.000-04:00

When we get weather out of the southwest anything can happen....estuary of the Yakoun River at low tide.

I was walking out to the beach when I turned around and captured this....

when what I was going to capture was this!

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Wordless Wednesday ~ Walk in Peace Barry

2010-07-21T13:14:00.000-04:00

As I was catching up on my blog reading last night I was saddened to read about the passing of a fellow blogger, Barry Fraser at An Explorers View of Life. I came to his blog through someone else's about a year ago and found it poignant and candid as he shared his life through the eye's of his dog Lindsay and by the time I started reading his blog his fight with Esophageal Cancer. He was a very special person, an amazing story teller and a wonderful example of a humble and loving human being.

May the bells ring loud and long for you Barry and for all of those who fight this menacing disease.

Wordless Wednesday

My World Tuesday ~ Make sure you want the answer

2010-07-20T00:01:00.001-04:00

Having coffee just after sunrise from the deck of the cabin yesterday.

So we have a good friend who is a building contractor and is building a home a couple of kilometers down the road and beach from us. As you know we are very proud of what we have accomplished on the Dune Cabin so far. We invite Phred and his family over for supper and to show off what we have done. As we walk out to the building site, which he likes there is silence, a long silence! I don't have to look at his face, I know what he is thinking..."what the heck are they doing!"

Let me put this in context. We all know what happens when people build homes on cliffs overlooking the ocean, or up the side of mountains or too close to the water.... Mother Nature is the great equalizer!

The prevailing weather for these islands is out of the southeast, the winds that come with this weather are warm, wet and feasome strong. From October through March "southeasters" can be an almost daily experience with sustained winds anywhere from 80 to 110 kph. You can lean into the winds and not fall over!

The cabin has been built on the edge of the dune along the tree line. The site and cabin face directly into the southeast but is set back into the trees...just barely. It is sitting on pads and posts on and in the sand and has a loft overhanging the four foot front deck. The ability of the wind to get under the cabin and the "kiting effect" caused by the loft over the deck CAN (but may not) put the cabin at risk of no longer being where we built it! So we are taking a break from the cabin building for bit while we anchor it more securely and are building the wood shed.

Despite not wanting to hear what Phred had to say I personally am very grateful for his input..I really like terra firma!

The wood shed

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The Loft

2010-07-15T02:55:00.001-04:00

We worked hard today even though the weather was not promising. The view from the loft looks east across Hecate Strait towards mainland British Columbia.

Todays project was to get the floor in the loft installed so that meant putting in the the floor joists.

Can you tell how professional we are....Work Safe BC would have a field day!

"Now where did that nail go?"

Finally the loft floor was installed, 9 p.m. Wednesday evening! There are three of us working on this cabin....Cacilia and myself and Peter who is a WOOFER from Switzerland who is pictured in the previous post. It has been an interesting excerise at times as we are working without plans, by consenses and in two languages!!!!

Celebrating with friends who are building a real home down the road.

The cabin as we left it tonight! We were exhausted but extremely satisfied with our accomplishment.

My World Tuesday ~ The Dune Cabin

2010-07-12T23:53:00.001-04:00

I have been going on about cabin building so I figure I had better show you what we are doing. This is the site location....

on the edge of the dunes.

We asked Donald if he would cut down some "regen"(regenerating new growth) and level the site. His little hoe just picked the trees out of the sand. We harvested the new spruce tips to make beer, tea and cough syrup and burned the trees.

The levelled site.

We mixed and poured concrete pads and drove the three front posts into the ground.

These old hand milled timbers are from a garage that was taken down on the property.

This is the "critter proof" floor, tar paper was placed on the timbers and then a sub floor was pieced together with old 3/4" plywood....recycle, reuse, reduce! Another frame will be laid for the installation of 1.5" tongue and groove pine flooring and insulation.

Celebrating the completion of phase one. The cabin is 12' x 16' with a 4' deck. As the weather comes directly at the front of the cabin from the southeast the door will be to the left(north side) with firewood storage. The cabin will be clad inside and out with red cedar.

Our stash of locally cut and milled dimensional timber.

The documentation of each days progress with the walls was lost when my Olympus camera died.

It took five days to put up the walls under the watchful gaze and attack of "no-see-ums" and "black flies"!

The best part......the view!

There are wall to wall windows in the front and around the corners overlooking the dunes and the ocean.

Several days ago we headed to the beach to look for some character wood for the porch supports.

The choice was a little overwhelming!!!!

Trying out the pieces we found.

I think they add character...

Looking towards the southwest from the dunes.

Looking northwest from a higher dune. In the forground is a picnic shelter and campfire.

And the cabin as we left it tonight. The roof line is temporary to see if the pitch is what we want and the rafters won't be that long. There will be a sleeping loft over the deck, wood heat, composting toilet, cystern for water collection and outdoor rainforest shower.

P.S. To those who stop by my blog for the first time or those wonderful regulars I apologize for not visiting your blogs as regularly as I would like. Out on the islands we have to "make hay while the sun shines" so between cabin building, painting contracts and technical difficulties I haven't had much time or energy to connect but this to will pass!

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SkyWatch Friday ~ Changing Weather

2010-07-09T03:28:00.001-04:00

Heading up the coast from Skidegate/Queen Charlotte, Skiass Island(prounounced "sky ass"!)

I finally got my computer back (no worse for wear and bless computer techs!) and a camera however my ten days without all my tech stuff showed me how much time I was spending on the computer. I actually read two books and we got the walls up on the cabin. The time really gets away on me!!! Anyway, the weather has been clear and hot the past couple of days but there is change in the sky.

It was still warm when I got home so we headed out for a swim in the ocean at 10 p.m. with a beautiful sunset evolving.

The ocean is warm and very refreshing as we slip through unusually warm temperatures for these islands...but you won't hear me complaining!

Heading back after our swim at 10:28 p.m.....the days are getting shorter!

And change is on the horizon....looking northwest.

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Watery Wednesday #95 ~ Cooling Off!

2010-07-07T21:23:00.000-04:00

We went hunting for drift logs for the cabin today on the second day of clear blue skies. Marley cooled off while we heated up.

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SkyWatch Friday...Happy Birthday Eh!

2010-07-01T15:26:00.001-04:00

May the skies be blue over both our fine countries on this our birthday weekend! Have a wonderful weekend everyone...still no camera and computer and we ran out of nails on the cabin building!!!!

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My World Tuesday ~ My World!

2010-06-28T13:53:00.003-04:00

Photo credit: Cacilia Honisch

The universe is trying to tell me something! I went to a pole raising and feast got almost all the photos I wanted and then my camera stopped working...it has been sent off to the Olympus camera hospital. I was able to download my photos to my laptop but then I got the dreaded blue screen (with a message). I am an optimitst so I am hoping my tech can fix it. I am showcaseing a beautiful photo of my friend and using her computer and will try to keep somewhat up to date.

We are building a cabin on the dune at tree line so maybe this is a message to focus more on the cabin building rather than the recording of the process!

Any way this is my world this week! All the best to everyone and have a great week.
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MY WORLD TUESDAY.

SkyWatch Friday ~ Some blue sky with our clouds!

2010-06-24T14:13:00.000-04:00

Low tide in Queen Charlotte.

We are having a very, very wet spring and summer so far on Haida Gwaii. So when you get a sunny day everything stops and you get out and enjoy it!

Jungle Beach on the east coast of Haida Gwaii.

All blue skies are best but we will take "some blue sky with our clouds"!

The beach is the best place to be these days as the "no-see-ums" are horrific!

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and remember you can click on any photo to enlarge.

Also please remember to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle...the earth is depending on us.

My World Tuesday ~ With Respect

2010-06-22T22:22:00.006-04:00

New globe presented to all schools in British Columbia with the name change.

Before explorers, most places had names, often very practical names like "island of the people" however when people took to the seas and found new places they named them in honour of their motherland, ship or wife! And so it was with Xaadaa Gwaayaay (Haida Gwaii).

The islands were first visited by Juan Perez in 1774 and Captain James Cook in 1778. In 1887 the Islands were surveyed by Captain George Dixon and he named them after one of his ships, the "Queen Charlotte" which was named for Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III of the United Kingdom.

Through the Council of the Haida Nation, the Haida have lobbied to have the Islands returned to their rightful name and on June 3, 2010 Bill 18, the Haida Gwaii Reconcilliation Act was passed by the British Columbia Legislature and signed into law.

Premier Gordon Campbell with the bentwood box containing the name "Queen Charlotte Islands".

The Haida have never used the name Queen Charlotte Islands and in a ceremony on June 17th they respectfully returned the name to the Queen's representative in British Columbia, Premier Gordon Campbell.

Button blanket

For the Haida who have never lived anywhere but here and who never signed a treaty with the "white man" this was a time of great celebration.

Nearly a 1000 Islanders shared in the celebration with singing and dancing

feasting and speeches and

photo ops! Press photo

Totems carved by Jordon Seward and Cooper Wilson at entrance to Old Masset

On June 21, National Aboriginal Day in Canada the Haida celebrated by raising six 10 foot totem poles in a day called A Splash of Art.

Watchmen totems carved by Todd White and Derek White

These two were carved for the Entrance into the Greater Massett area.

Detail on the poles is quite amazing.

Carver Vern White

Pole at the Family Centre in Old Masset.

The poles are carved from Western Red Cedar and are not treated with anything, they will eventually turn the colour of the building.

The "Jasper Totem" February 28, 2009 on my trip east.

The last act of this busy week was the repatriation of what is known as the Jasper Pole. For 94 years the magnificant Raven totem pole stood proudly in the Town of Jasper, Alberta. The Raven Totem was carved sometime during the 1870s-1880s in Masset on Haida Gwaii. The pole was originally 18-21 meters(60-70 ft,) in height however during the course of two moves within the town of Jasper, the pole was cut to its current height of 12 meters(40 ft.)

Masset circa 1890-Raven pole seventh from right Courtesy BC Archives

The original pole was plain cedar with no paint on its surface. During its lifetime in Jasper, the pole was painted several times to make it more "attractive" to park visitors!

The pole the day before it was cut down for the final time April 2009.

On the Pacific Northwest coast, most totem poles last 60 to 80 years. Once a pole has fallen, it is left to return to the earth. Wind, weather, fungi, insects and plant life all contribute to the decay of the old pole. The Jasper Raven Totem stood tall for over 130 years due to the drier climate of the Rocky Mountains, as well as the conservation efforts that have been made over its lifespan.

The Raven Totem Pole at home in Old Masset, June 21, 2010

After being cut down in April 2009 the Raven Pole travelled to Vancouver, BC to have lead paint removed, restoring it as best as possible to its natural state. It will never be raised again. It returned home to Masset where it will be housed in a new Long House.

Food was burned to pay tribute to the Ancestors while the Great grandson of the original carver looked on.

Click on any photo for more detail.

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SkyWatch Friday ~ Low tides and dramatic skies

2010-06-18T03:04:00.000-04:00

This weeks new moon has brought low morning tides and a weather system out of the southwest has given us dramatic skies.

Intertidal at the edge of the low tide.

On an extreme low tide the tide will go out over a km, on our beach it is about 1/2 a km.

Yesterday the weather was more menacing than trouble.

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My World Tuesday ~ One person's interpretation

2010-06-15T03:32:00.003-04:00

To appreciate the detail in this post please click on the photos to enlarge.

The circle of life....we are all one!

This is a pretty busy week on Haida Gwaii, with the returning of the name "Queen Charlotte Islands" to the Crown (Canadian Government) on Thursday officially returning these islands to their original name, the returning of a totem pole from Jasper, Alberta which was removed from the islands in 1931, the raising of six (6) totem poles (including the returned one) on Saturday and the celebration of National Aboriginal Day and the first day of summer on Monday, June 21.

So I thought I would start the celebrations with some remarkable wall "graffiti" I discovered in Prince Rupert on my way home to Haida Gwaii in May. The work was painted on the back of a building covering a full city block. It has taken the artist several summers to complete the work and when it starts to deteriorate he will be back to paint a new story on the wall!

DFO is the Department of Fisheries!

The artist is Tsimshian from the Terrace, BC area and his work is truly remarkable. I can interpret some of it but not all....I would love to meet the artist so he could share his story.

Some of his designs are so very obvious

I wish I knew what this meant

and others you have to think about.

The butterfly represents the wandering or lost spirits of those who died at war or away from home.

Some tell the First Nations story,

The missionaries had the First Nations cut down and burn their totem poles.

and some tells ours.

Many chinese immigrants were brought to Canada to build the railway.

Some you just have to wonder about.

Detail

This one I can't begin to explain but it absolutely captivates me.(make sure you enlarge)

Paddling into the after life(these are life size)

The great canoes

Spirits leaving(note the detail in the smoke of the long houses)

The wolf and the raven (note the detail in the mountains and the grass is real!)

The mighty bald eagle.

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