Hitting the Heights

I laughed so hard today as we took a walk up Nottingham Drive.  These two streets are kitty corner from each other ...

The view from Arrow Way is really stunning.   This is shot from the driveway of the first house on the road, looking across Jessie Island which is out in the bay.  Bruce's Huligans quite often paddle out and around Jessie and have made friends ... okay, I mock .. with a dog Bruce has named Shep.  The dog follows them around the island barking the entire time and races down to the dock you see just to the right of the power pole in the foreground .. heaven help you should you want to set foot on Shep's docks.  Rawr!

 Just up Nottingham Drive a few more feet is Castle way, which comes with its own views of Newcastle Channel, right down to Cameron Island, which houses the taller building you see in the back.  In December, every apartment in that complex has a display of Christmas lights and the scene is spectacular seen from the water.

A bit farther up the road, we followed the driveway of a house that was torn down at some point long in the past .. tulips and daffodils have naturalized and tiny vibrant muscari pop up through the moss to sing their spring arias.   We had a good look down the hill to Prince John Way and ran into a postal carrier who had been following our progress and had some local pathways to share with us.  As we drove home, we took a peek at his suggestion from the road and will be following up tomorrow.

This first picture gives you a sense of the heights that Sherwood Forest sits upon.  This shot is very jigaw puzzle worthy.

I have no idea what these particular flowers are .. there were varieties of them in gardens up and down the road, most often in shades of lime green.  This was a fairly impressive bed on Crossbow.

The hazards of gardening in Nanaimo include the usual pestilences and herbaceous diseases .. but the number one problem out here can be seen quite clearly below.  This is part of a family of four that were happily grazing on newly budded branches and flowers.

And lastly .. this is for my constructiony type brothers who quite obviously need schooling in roofing.  This is a lesson in accessorizing ... now you can match your roof to your Dalmatian dog.  That's how we do it on the island. Eat your heart out.  :D

Where masts and streets collide

Blue Girl was the name emblazoned upon the back of the boat belonging to our much beloved and many times elected city mayor, Frank Ney.  You can read more about Frank by clicking my signposts link in the left column .. I've written about him before.  What in particular about this boat that caught his fancy forever, I cannot seem to dig out of Google.  I've tried.  I got lost surfing.  I don't know if that happens to you too ... you go looking for some particular tidbit of information on the interwebz and find yourself miles from where you wanted to be learning about native life of Australia.  Happens to me allll the time.

Annnnnnd getting back on track ... Blue Girl Way overlooks the Newscastle Island Channel and the Nanaimo Yacht Club.  It's a pretty spot ... a small street of stone pavers that houses one condo complex with "west coast" windows.  Meaning they are large and impossible to clean without a climbing harness and safety rig.  Window cleaning may actually be a bigger business here than car washes in Calgary.  Particularly since Nanaimoites also like huge balconies .. a predilection I can fully appreciate ... most often hung out over a chunk of property that falls away to the water or blackberry bushes far below.

Blackberries are a wonderful fruit in my opinion, but I have come to discover that unlike, their red Alberta counterparts, blackberries put their roots down into the very soul of the island.  Getting rid of raspberries does require a bit of tenacity, but it's doable. Blackberry removal may well a career choice - if the patch in the back between us and the neighbors' fence is a reliable indication.  Unlike more placid Alberta cousins who can be dealt with by wearing a sturdy long-sleeved denim shirt and leather gloves, the blackberry patches here require teflon and a flame-thrower.

While looking for Blue Girl Way, I happened upon this random patch of berry bushes (see, there was a connection between berries and Blue Girl Way) and thought I'd show you the wicked little stickers that make life as a city groundsperson one that requires danger pay.

Newcastle Island

Across a narrow channel from our shoreline sits Newcastle Island.  We pass by its rocky shores while we're paddling .. sometimes, the racoons or deer on the island pause in their routines to watch us float past, sometimes we point out Bald or Golden Eagles or even the swan that made her home there this year.

In July, Bruce and I took a the pickle boat ferry over to the island and spent a couple of hours tramping along the trails.  You can see that it's a beautiful walk.  The thing that made it especially noteworthy was not the  insects droning in the fully blossomed heat of the summer day, the fleeting flash of a sail as we wandered a coastal trail or the heart stopping boom of an elder tree falling in the forest near where we were walking, although they all contributed to a wonderful memory.

No .. the thing that made this so pronounced was that as we were walking along a trail in the middle of the island much like the one above, we came into a small clearing and Bruce and I were both hit with the same smell and we both commented in unison "that smells like home" and we stopped in our tracks to enjoy it.  The coastal air always carries the ocean tang ... every breath is a reminder that but a few feet away is one of the largest bodies of water on the planet.  However, at that moment, there was only meadow, sunlight pouring down in beams and spruce sweating sap to remind us of Alberta.  It's funny that we still think of it as home .. even after five years away.  I'm betting it will always be that way to some degree.