Carter-Johnson Life on an Island: The Jarvis Family returns for a visit

Duncan, Thomas and two Rebeccas

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 so that gave Duncan and I an opportunity to share our experience with being at the top of the hill when the name PKOLS was returned to it during the summer of the Idle-No-More protests.

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.