Brushing those winter doldrums away!

 The days have been gray and dreary for a couple of weeks and I do not cope well with that.  But today, the sun tried hard to emerge and pops of blue appeared in the sky.  My back has been bothering me this week so I had called off my usual Friday hike, but nothing, nothing was going to keep me indoors. So swallowing a few pain pills, grabbing my new camera, and leashing up Maggie, we headed to Craig Bay Heritage Park, where we could walk on soft surfaces, find lots of places to sit and rest, and enjoy the ocean view. 

As we headed down the trail, we saw the first signs of spring - masses of snowdrops in bloom.  If snowdrops are blooming, crocuses will soon follow, then daffodils, then tulips......oh, my heart rejoices in the thought of spring flowers and blossoms everywhere. 

As we neared the water, we heard an eagle cry.  There in the trees, high above us, the eagle sat gazing out to sea and telling the world all about it.

Perhaps the eagle was reminding us that it is nearly time for the Brant goose migration - a time when our beaches are closed to dogs for two months to allow the geese to regain their energy and fatten themselves on their long journey from Mexico to Alaska.  The closures don't start for a couple more weeks, but the geese apparently didn't check the local bylaws because there were plenty of them in Craig Bay today.

Maggie and I wandered the shoreline, stopping frequently to take photos. Maggie has a favourite boulder on this beach - it is low at one end, high at the other, so she can easily access it but still be elevated enough to survey her world.  This day, however, someone had made stone piles on the high end, and Maggie was too respectful to knock them over, though she certainly had something to say to them.

What're you doing on MY boulder?

But once she had said her piece, she settled down and enjoyed the view for awhile.

Is someone gonna move these things for me, please?

I guess I can share. 

They're kinda nice.  Very quiet. Pretty, too.  Just like me. 

I persuaded her to walk a bit further, and we investigated sea shells and rocks and interesting bits of roots along the beach.  

This was part of a tree root that had washed ashore.
I liked the swirls and colours in it.

When we stopped for another rest, we were entertained by crows who chattered away as they explored logs for whatever it is crows find in logs.

We moved back from shoreline to trail, and stopped to rest once more on one of the wood Adirondack chairs that have been placed along the edge where one can watch the tide ebb and flow. Maggie sat beside me as I played with camera settings and snapped away at my perfect model.

And soon the sun was dipping down behind the treetops and the air was getting chilly and Maggie's tummy clock was saying "It's dinner time - let's go home!"

And so we did.