Our trip to Avatar Grove (and Ditidaht and Pacheedaht Territory)

Today, Glen and Janet were visiting.  When asked what adventure he might like to have for the day, he said he wanted to go see "Avatar Grove". 

Rebecca, Janet, Arta and Glen enjoying the beauty of the Sea near diitiida

I knew of the movie, but not the Grove.  Glen told us it was a protected area of old growth forest up by Port Renfrew.  A bit of google searching told us to plan on 2.5 hours of driving, followed by beauty. 

We decided that, if we hit the road early, we could take the trip, and then be back in time for Glen and Janet to head off to their "previously scheduled celebratory evening"  :-)  

So that is what we did!  We followed the #14 highway towards Sooke and then past: French Beach, China Beach, Point No Point...it was just an amazing drive.   Our first stop (aka the moment where I say "Stop!   This is too beautiful... lets just get a selfie!") was near Diitiida (or, 'Rio Jordan' according to the erstwhile colonial Spanish explorers of 1790, spreading their own names across their maps).  

It was lovely to see the waves slowly rolling in, a group of sea birds hanging out, and a sign indicating appropriate surfing behaviour!

The waves slowly rolling in

A bird party?

No way anyone is getting ME on a surfboard..  But still...it IS nice to be 'au current'  (pun intended) on the etiquette!

Back in the car, we kept travelling.   

What a fun trip to with Glen, and to have all his years of Forestry knowledge being brought to bear as we drove, with him filling in details about forest literacy as we went.  The big question was how to learn to listen to what a forest has to tell!

Arta and I soaking in the unexpected warmth and beauty

I had to stop again for a selfie with Arta as we passed the Pacheedaht Camp Ground.   

I don't know what to say other than, Glorious!

The water on the small lake was absolutely still, like a mirror for the universe.  

Birds were congregating on an old log lying on its side in the middle.  The relations between water, land, and sky were stunning.  It was almost like there was a world above and a world below...

The land seemed to be floating in the space between water and sky

And then, it was back in the car for the final leg of the trip. 

As we drove, Glen told  us that he was looking for Marbled Murrelet habitat.   The Murrelet is an endangered species, a flagship species for the forest protection movement. They are a smallish seabird (like an Auk), who only lay their eggs in the moss that hangs from branches high up in the canopy in old growth forests.   This is the kind of moss and tree that Glen was pointing out to us.

Pre-Avatar Grove, Glen crawls into a ravine to look more closely at habitat.  We had to restrain Arta, who tried to scramble in after him.  We told her we would need a helicopter airlift to get her back out!

moss covered branches providing space for other things to grow, and for birds to nest

ferns growing out of the moss on a tree

 In the last part of the drive, we left paved roads behind.   

The water capturing the clouds

We drove across a narrow bride, left the pavement, and traveled the rest of the way on a gravel logging road.  I don't know that to say "gravel logging road" quite captures it.   haha.   I would say 7 km, driving at perhaps walking speed, taking great care to neither fall into a pot hole, nor take out the undercarriage of the car.   What an adventure!

It was a wild ride, but so worth it.

We finally arrived.

Upper or Lower?   Which path for the 78 year-old explorer?

I loved the "warning signs" (watch out for shattering trees?!)

We chose the lower grove walk (it was easy to medium, according to the sign).  On a longer trip (we only had an hour to spend, since Janet and Glen had to be back in Victoria for a big event at Government House --- his 25 years of govt service evening!)

Starting our descent to the forest floor (photo credit: Glen)

Wow.    There is so much to say, but it is almost impossible to capture the beauty, sound, or scale, let alone the joyful conversations!   

So... here are some photos.   

Janet and I trying to capture the greens

I love the roots crawling like fingers on the forest floor

Even standing right against the tree, you can't capture their size

Each tree has its own character and soul.  We loved coming for the visit.

Glen standing there to give me a marker for scale for the huge cedar behind him!

It doesn't matter if you look up, down, left or right, there is something amazing to see.

here, you can see young trees growing out of the side of older (still standing) trees

So much to enjoy in all the textures spread out around us, as we try to identify the trillium 

You can see the Nurse Log on which this huge cedar grew... can you imagine it picking up its roots and walking off?

a broken branch that looks to be a "forest guardian" (like the Green Goblin?)

Perfect nesting tree for Murrelet, says Glen!

Moss covering all the branches below the canopy way up above

The group of us spending time on the forest floor

Can you see the Candelabra and new growth at top where the bole had broken?

young and old trees living aside and amongst each other

Another nurse log sustaining the tree above.  This one looks to me almost like a sea creature grasping a log/rock.

Janet along side this amazing tree

The bottom of the tree seems like a mass of ruffles on a skirt

such beauty in the burls, a face seemingly hiding in one

The tree dressed in a swath of mossy green fabric

We decided that if there is a heaven, its colour palette will not be white, but will be the lush greens and browns we saw in the forest.   

Truly, heaven.

My Trip to Quebec - Pt3

5.  Lunch at the Museum

 Marie-Claire and I took a break from the Miro exhibit to meet Claire L'Heureux-Dube for lunch at what she told us was one of her favourite restaurants... which happened to be in the museum!   

So.   

She sat me at the best chair: one that faced the glass wall. 

This meant that I had an amazing view of the grounds outside.  

It was a sky full of clouds, constantly moving and creating a series of amazing tableaux for my viewing pleasure.  It was a piece of art in and of itself.  Nature is amazing.

yes, this is the soup!

Because the world was all brightness and light, it also made it impossible for me to take a reasonable selfie of the three of us (the backlighting... bleech).   

Instead, I took photos of the meal (or at least, of the last three courses)!  hahaha   

I will say, the food was worth taking photos: truly delicious!    

As to the conversation, we stayed in French.  

candied bacon?!  Yum.

Good practice for me, through there were also several weird spots in the conversation (for example, when I was responding to a question about "du vin" with answers on about my Keto-based thoughts on "du pain".  

A seriously dense carrot cake!

It was a bit confusing.  And left me laughing at myself.   

Still lots of language learning for me to do (and I again was reminded of the need to honour those around me speaking constantly in their second or third languages).

6.  More Museum time with the Inuit Art Collection!

 On the top floor of the museum, one can find the Broussard Inuit Art Collection.   

Wow!   

I happily spent the rest of the afternoon there. 

Amazing art and artists, and a wonderful series of short videos (on iPads) strategically placed around the room.   

I wanted to run my hands over just about everything.  

Amazing stuff!!!!  I didn't get the names of each piece, but will try to track them down.   

this piece is a miniature marvel

Swimming caribou?!  Wow.

Emily Pangnerk Illuitok's "Igloo and Bear Hunting"

Manasie Akpaliapik's "Self-Destruction"

The carvings on each side invite you to move and discover new things

7.  Dinner with Marie-Claire and Valerie

I think it has been

Trip to Quebec - pt2

So... to continue with my list of memories from my whirlwind drip to Quebec? 

3.  Saturday lunch with Claire L'Heureux-Dube

Birthday flowers from her daughter Louise

Saturday, it was the judge's 92nd birthday (her birthday is a week before mine!).   

What a treat to go spend the lunch time hours with her.  

We spent it in the most relaxed of ways:  doing the business of ordinary life.   We walked down to the shopping street in her neighbourhood (she has a lovely place looking over the Plains of Abraham), where the local tailor sewed a button on a blazer for her, and we picked up her dry cleaning.  We wandered over to the grocery store for figs and bananas, wandered past a bunch of lovely shops, and headed to her preferred patisserie for coffee and croissants (and a yummy lobster bisque).   

Choosing a birthday necklace

She is a most perfect and entertaining host, and started up conversations with people sitting at the tables beside us.   We met a lovely woman who was originally from Peru, and a man who is a professional translator in Montreal, and who had driven up to Quebec City for the last day of the Miro exposition (see below).   

Ah, she chose from the cedar series! Like Arta!

So much fun!  It was a holiday of sorts, so the streets were also closed to traffic.   A stage was set up in the middle of the street, where a group of musicians played a host of wind intruments.  

My only moment of sadness is that I had mistakenly left my phone at her apartment during our stroll, so did not have access to my camera to take pictures of all the activities of a perfect and relaxed day wandering in the neighbourhood. 

On our return, it was time for her to pick a birthday necklace.  I was a bit bummed out that my original plan did not work out:  I had brought enough for the 12 of us who were scheduled to have dinner together after the talk.  I had thought it would be fun for us to share a gift for her birthday, but my lost luggage made that impossible.  Ah well.   Since my primary target was HER, that just meant a shift in plans.  :-)   I loved it that her choice was from the same Cedar series that Arta had enjoyed (and indeed, had smuggled a bunch of them out of my hands and into her jewelry box!)  

4.  Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec - Miro!

Sunday was the final day of the exposition on Miro in Mallorca.  We got there first thing in the morning, so we could register for one of the guided tours:  we spent the first 1.5 hours wandering on our own, and then spent another 1.5 hours with an artist taking us through, and talking about Miro, his life, his studio, his art.  It was amazing.   Here are some photos from the show.

An explosion of a canvas.  Leaves me thinking of "traces"

detail of a handprint on the canvas

The eye in the middle of the painting

work influenced by Gaudi!

Paintings and Poems printed together

the lithographs turned into tapestries!

Our guide... who looks remarkably like my PhD student Mark!

The influence of japanese calligraphy is palpable

the sculptures are as fun as the paintings

from the blue phase?

the other 'blue' painting!

One in copper, the other a mixture of materials

I adore how the horizon continues through these three paintings

The black and white paintings really grab me

and a touch of red to send us back out the door.

  

My trip to Quebec - pt1

 A whirl wind trip to Ville de Quebec.   Here were some highlights:

Each island has a name, and many stories of relationships

1.   The flight.   

As ever, it is magical to have the opportunity to see the beauty of the Salish world.   

The islands (the SENCOTHEN name for which is 'ancestors of the deep') were laid out below, nestled in the water, and holding stories.  

It is an astonishing 13 minute ride.  Beautiful.

comparing the colour of the land and sky

On the Vancouver/Toronto flight, I was on "The Dreamliner".   

Last time I was on this plane, it got rerouted to Yellowknife, and I ended up with a stay in the hospital.   Blech (to the need for the hospital visit, that is.  Not blech to Yellowknife, which i love, and to the medical team, who were wonderful).  

It was great to be able to enjoy the flight and the wonderful views from the window.

And even better, on the plane, the movie choices included "Edge of the Knife" (the first feature film totally in the Haida language). 

the film choices!

Gwaai Edenshaw (who was part of the Testify! project) is one of the directors.  Arta and I saw it at the Victoria Film Festival last year.  It is such a gripping film.  If you are flying in the next month, check it out!

2.  Le Conference annuelle Claire L'Heureux-Dube

On the less positive side of things, on my travelling day, my luggage did not run as fast as I did in order to catch the Toronto/Quebec connection:  it thus remained behind, and I got to spend my day at the Conference annuelle Claire L'Heureux-Dube in the same clothes I wore to travel in.   

Ah well.   

At least I was in the traditional 'all black', and wasn't wearing sweatpants!

a gang of former clerks:  Renee Theriault, Marie-Claire Belleau, Francois Lacasse, Eric Marcoux [Claire L'Heureux-Dube], me and Andrew Lenz

Marie-Claire and I enjoyed a lovely morning brunch that morning with Claire and Marie Deschamps, France Thibault, Renee Theriault, Julie Lemay-Lafleur and CJ Richard Wagner (who was to give the lecture later in the day).   

The lecture itself was interesting (on minority language rights), with significant discussion of the importance of indigenous languages to the work of justice.   

Arriving at the Reception, in the new Military College edifice

My french being what it is, I know that many of the nuances were beyond me, but it was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to really try to drop myself deep into my second language.   

Lots of opportunities for me to really process at an embodied level why languages matter not just for 'transmitting information', but because of the way they enable you to experience the world, others and yourself.   

I also got to attend the Rentrez des Juges that evening at the Courthouse.  Quite something.  

On the Wall at the Military College: a Carte du Canada circa 1760?!

It is not something that I think we have in BC:  quite an evening of ceremony, speeches and honours given.  

Again, a reminder of all that I do NOT really know about the shape of bi-juridicalism in Canada, and that there is so much more for me to learn and grasp about the history, nuance, structure, and ceremonies of the civilian legal traditions.

The luggage arrived in time for me to change shirts before the reception!

And of course, after such an event, there has to be a party!  The party was at the old military college.  Amazing food and drink, lots of people and conversation, and a rocking live band.  On wall, as we left, I took a few minutes to study an old "map of canada".  It reminded me quite a bit of the mural at the legislature in BC.   Interesting thinking about how to begin to change our stories of ourselves and others!