Reading week gave me an opportunity to escape to the Interior to spend some time with Steve and Alex. My last flight out involved clear skies and amazing views from the window. This time, the clouds were low and misty, with very few 'photo ops'. Still, the flight over the Salish Sea, and over the mountains is something amazing.
The word for 'islands' in SENCOTEN means "ancestors of the deep"
Arriving in Kelowna where Steve was waiting
A date night selfie while waiting in Salmon Arm for the car to charge
An inviting carpet of leaves waiting for us at the lake
Steve had to work the next morning, but there was still time for an early morning walk around the property. It is such a different view in the fall, both the colours and the vistas. Most of the leaves are down now, which means you can see so much further into the woods.
The taupe coloured ferns get a pop of green and white from the snowberry
The bears have now headed back up to the hills. No surprise, as the apples are now mostly gone. There was only one lingering on this tree (the plants are all packed down around it, as the bear spent some time laying around there.
The last apple, hanging on the branch like a Christmas decoration
Geese out on the lake...in no hurry
We walked to the beach via 'the healing circle', stopping to touch the poles. Still standing after all these years (though one of the poles is broken and will need replacing). I liked imagining getting the canvas up on the teepee poles one of these summers.
The blues, whites, and greys of the sky, water and hills were totally peaceful and calming.
I love all the layers of colour in the sky
Will I be able to turn this zoom-closeup into a watercolour?
I love how both Penny and the beach introduce a slice of contrasting colour!
While Steve worked, Wyona and I took a day trip to Vernon. What was totally surprising was how fast the sun goes down. By 4:30 or so, as I was driving back to Wyona's place, the dusk sky was already upon us.
The view from Wyona's deck as the sun begins its decline.
The view from Arta's deck (Doral's deck) a half an hour later.
And thus ended the first 24 hours of my November visit!
Thanksgiving weekend, I finally took my first steps back onto an airplane since the beginning of the pandemic.
I headed out to the lake to spend a few days with Steve and Alex.
Safety first... masks on!
It was not my first time back to the airport itself: when Arta was sick last year, I did get lots of stops at the airport to pick up siblings and 'piblings'. Piblings, it seems, is a good gender-neutral term for the siblings of a parent! I like how close Siblings is to 'Pillings'. lol.
This was my first time back there on my own account. It was interesting to find myself back in the airport considering what seems similar, and what has changed. Masks while flying is of course new. But what remains unchanged is the magic of that little 13-minute flight. I had my phone camera glued the window the entire time.
Here is some video footage of the takeoff (which flings you right out over the water).
And here are some views for me to remember:
Is this low tide or high tide? Does the beach expand or contract over the day?
I love the little puffy cloud in the corner, casting its shadow forward
I was on the lookout, but didn't catch sight of the ferry
The Tsawassen Ferry Terminal below!
The photo can't quite capture the shimmer on the water
And then suddenly, it is again a world of goods and warehouses
A mere13 minutes later, and I was in the Vancouver airport. I had fantasized there would be time to sneak over into the International Terminal to say "Hi!" to Bill Reid's sculpture, "The Spirit of the Haida Gwai", but there was not enough time. Instead, back onto the plane (the same plane as it turns out), with another window seat for the trip to Kelowna. Again, phone glued to the window.
Skyscrapers right to the edges of the water
With no clouds, it was just a carpet of rock and snow
If you want a few minutes of meditative mountain video, here you go!
After some debate, Duncan and I decided to head out to the Shuswap for some time with the extended family. This means, "The Ferry!" The masking protocols have only just changed, so that the outside decks are fully accessible again. While we were on the 9am ferry, Duncan spend the trip sleeping down on the car deck. Not surprising, as he stayed up the night before! I, on the other hand, spent the time up on the top sun deck. It was a truly spectacular trip. Here are some snaps, and videos (in reverse order, but... whatever!)
For those of you who like video versions, here are some clips from the trip.
This first one catches the sparkle on the water (as the ship moved out from the Schwartz Bay Ferry Terminal
This one might seem long (ie. 4 minutes). However, you get to see what it is like to be in Active Pass when the ferries pass each other going to and coming from Vancouver. It is a fab part of the voyage!
This week, 5/6ths of the Jarvis family arrived for 3 days on the Island (Katie was on another trip in the Interior this time around).
Monday night, as the sun was setting, and Hebe had crashed on the couch (yes, a three hour time zone change is hard to work around), I took Duncan, Thomas and Rebecca on what I promised would be a quick jaunt down to Caddy Bay to see the sunset.
I love the soft colours, though it was way more intense in person!
The sky was only beginning to darken, so the moon was still wrapped in a blanket of blue. We each took a turn trying to take a shot of the moon, a task made more difficult by the wind blowing in: when you are using 80x magnification, the slightest breath of movement shoots the moon out of the frame!
(old) Rebecca's 'left' orientation (in photography as in everything else?)
Duncan's top corner shot (did he 'choose the right' here?!)
(youthful) Rebecca finds a pathway through the middle
Thomas abandons all attempts to constrain the moon within the frame!
After a short stroll on the sandy shores, we decided to race to the top of PKOLS to see if we could also catch the sunset from the top of the hill.
A splash of pink still visible in the sky, as the night started rolling in on us.
Never a bad time for a selfie! (Duncan, Rebecca, Thomas, Rebecca)
As the sky darkened, we could see across the water to the lights of Port Angeles (on the US side).
There were also a set of lights further up the coast. We were not sure if it were another city, but the camera helped up sort it out. A ship!
A ferry? A cruise ship?
When the Jarvis's asked again what the name of the hill was, a fellow-traveller at the top told them it was "Mount Douglas" at the same moment I said "PKOLS". :-)
And that led to conversations about Treaties of Peace and Friendship, and powerful WSANEC stories about the creation of the islands, and of floods, and arbutus trees.
Such a beautiful night for sharing stories, and thinking about the amazing beauty of this island, and the power of past and present Salish practices, stories and knowledges.
[Imagine nightfall, and the transition from Monday to Tuesday]
Tuesday morning, while the young adults slept-in at both the Chateau Carter-Johnson and the Jarvis Air-BNB, Catherine and I took 13-year old Hebe off on an adventure to see two beaches (both on her bucket list).
"Hey! There is seaweed on my shoe!
First on the list, was Mount Douglas beach...the beach you can access close to the bottom of PKOLS.
Heron looking for breakfast
We headed down past the towering Douglas Fir and Cedar trees, towards the beach, salmon habitat stream to our right.
It is fun looking at the huge pile of driftwood logs blocking the entrance from the sea to the stream. On one trip, a guide told us that those logs protect the salmon from other predators, and that when the time comes, the tide will lift those logs just high enough for the salmon to swim safely under. What an adventure.
Our main goal was to see if we could walk across the kelp, find some stones with barnacles on them, and see if we could find any baby crabs hiding under stones. Success!
We found a little friend under a rock
Hebe not quite ready to have the crab on her hand... but the 'popper' was a midway step
And finally, Hebe was willing to give it a try!
Hebe and Catherine found some beautiful shells, picked clean by the hungry seagulls hanging around. Some of the now-empty shells were still wrapped in some 'scarves of seaweed.
check it out!
Is this the kind of scarf Arta would wear?
Hebe also learned how to see little holes in the sand, hinting that a clam might be hiding below the surface. She took a shell, dug down, and came up with a live one!
A true moment of excitement was had when Catherine, walking across the clam bed, discovered that clams can shoot up jets of water, hitting the unsuspecting traveller. It was like watching a clam-whack-a-mole. People should feel free to ask her about it! :-)
And finally, we headed off to Gyro Park, so Hebe could see the Octopus slide, and check out the sandy beach. There were so many kids on the slide that Hebe took a pass, and we decided to head for the water.
A flotilla of sail boats out on the bay
This catches only a hint of the sparkles seeming to dance on the water.
Hebe got brave and decided to go in for a swim. And yes... she decided to take the plunge! (of course, i haven't figured out how to do autorotate with my video, so you have to turn your head sideways to fully appreciate it!)
After Hebe took the plunge, she declared that sea water did not taste very good. She was also a bit chilly, so we let our feet dry off in the warm sand, sitting on a log, and watching the Crows work the beach. Even a crow, it turns out, likes a stroll on the beach.
