Another Craig Bay Interlude

The creative juices aren't flowing.  I have eagle photos and eagle stories but that spark of inspiration that enables me to pull them together has been elusive.  I'm not a disciplined writer who sits at the desk at the same time each day and pounds out words on the keyboard.  More often, I wake up with the words just flowing from me, or I'm out walking and the story swirls around in my head.  I just can't write on demand.  So, one day, you will get to read the story and see the photos of the eagles - or many stories of many eagles - but as I haven't blogged for awhile I shall just post some photos of our wander through Craig Bay Heritage Park from a couple of days ago.  

We love this park because it is quiet, level, alongside the ocean, lightly forested, grassy, with pockets of wildflowers that change weekly.  And it is never, ever busy. In fact, many times we don't see a soul.  Peaceful is the singular word that describes it.  

A light breeze blows the tall grasses as we stroll through the trees.

Maggie stops for a rest near the wild rose bushes that line the shore.

Closer picture of the roses.

And closer still.

I spy splashes of red amid the grasses.

Oriental poppies! One of my favourite flowers, so big and bright. 

Maggie posing near a mass of daisies.

Some crows were hopping around us and making a racket. 
I soon spotted why - Junior had just fledged!

Mama and Papa Crow were encouraging him to fly, but he just wanted them to feed him.
After we moved further away, they indulged him with a bug or two.

Maggie, pose for me!
Not now, Mama, I's napping!

Fooled ya!

And, as it will likely be Father's Day by the time you see this, Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.  My own dad passed away nearly 45 years ago, and I miss him still.  This is one of my favourite photos of him, doing one of the things we enjoyed doing together when I was just a kid:

My dad - always loved, never forgotten. 
Happy Father's Day in the Great Beyond, Dad. 

A few photos from last week

 The days seem to be getting away from me - as is my energy - and by evening I'm too tired to blog.  So here's just a few of my favourite photos from this past week, lest you think I've forgotten you. 

Bee in flower at Craig Bay Heritage Park

A crowd of what seem to be white daffodils at Parksville Community Park

A very young eagle - they were only about 15" tall and appeared to be this year's hatch, though it is still early for them to fledge.  There was a young adult supervising from a nearby rock, chatting and encouraging as the youngster looked for tidbits to eat.  The young adult was twice the height of this one but hadn't yet earned his white head.  

I haven't forgotten about all the hundreds of eagle photos of the past month.  There are stories to tell!  This is one of a series that I haven't written up yet, but will get to it soon!

And we finally had a day that was warm enough for a long walk on Eaglecrest Beach, paddling in the water and soaking up the sun. Doesn't Maggie look happy?

Happy Mother's Day, by Maggie

 Hi everyone! It's me, Maggie.  I have a pretty nice Mama, so today I told her she could take the day off from editing about a zillion eagle photos, and I'd take her to the park instead.  

I would have made breakfast for her, since it is Mama's Day, but I'm not allowed to use the stove.  Or open the fridge. Or order delivery on the phone.  Okay, I'm not only 'not allowed' but as I don't have opposable thumbs those things are pretty tricky for a sheltie.  I'm smart, but not THAT smart!

So, I suggested we have a nice walk in the park.  Craig Bay Heritage Park, to be exact.  It's always quiet, and there's grassy paths, and a bit of beach, and lovely views, and now that it is spring there are also flowers and lotsa birds.  So I even suggested she bring her camera along.  And I promised I wouldn't hog the lens. 

I think she had a nice time.  These are some of the photos she took.  I dunno the names of all the flowers but I know a couple of them.  Mama probably knows the others but she's asleep already 'cause I wore her right out!  

This is camas lily I thinks.

And these are some type of blue bell.

These are rhodos.  Mama said they might be wild ones, but most 
likely they were planted many years ago when the property used to
be a homestead or later a campground. 

We saw birds too - some heron and something flying in the sky:

And guess what else we saw?  A bunny!  But he runned away when I shouted hi to him.  Mama said I should use my indoor voice when we see other critters. I forgots.

We saw a little humming bird on the end of a bare branch.  He is always there, every time we go. But he is real because he moves his head to look at us sometimes.  I think he just likes to watch the ocean and listen to the waves - just like my Mama does.

I kinda forgot I said I wouldn't hog the lens,  and when Mama was trying to photograph a flower I kinda got in the way - hehehehehe!

This was the flower she was trying to get before my snout got in the way:

So I think Mama had a pretty nice day.  Maybe tomorrow she'll get back to editing the kazillion eagle photos she took on Friday.  Don't tell her, but I'll give you a sneak peak at one of them:

I hope you gave your Mama a nice Mother's Day too, or if she's gone to the Rainbow Bridge, I hope you thought of her today.  

I love my Mama.  Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! 

Love, Maggie.

Wordless Wednesday

Flowers , Flying Flowers and a Cheeky Sheltie

 Maggie hasn't been feeling too well the past couple of days, but prior to that she had several outings with me to local parks and beaches.  She is on the mend now, I think, though her arthritis is giving her more trouble than usual and her tummy is still a bit out of sorts.  As I'm resting her at the moment, I'll post some of the photos I took last Wednesday at Craig Bay Heritage Lands here in Parksville.  We often go there as it is always peaceful and is a short, easy walk along the ocean's edge.  

We usually start from the main parking lot, down a short trail through the trees.  Along the sides of the trail are clusters of snowdrops, and now masses of crocuses are also in bloom.  Maggie was quick to show me the photo opportunities.

Hey Mama - there's some snowdrops and crocuses in here!

Here, I'll pose with a crocus at my butt and snowdrops behind me. 
I won't crush any flowers, Mama, I sits carefully. 

Mmmmmmm - the dirt smell goooood in the spring!

Once down in the flat ocean-side heritage lands, we were quickly inundated with bird calls from the clusters of brush - sparrows and juncos, towhees and robins, and an eagle high in a tree.

My favourite birds on that visit, though, were the Anna's hummingbirds who were flitting and zooming around everywhere.  They perched on a bough or a shrub just long enough for me to raise the camera to my eye before flitting and zooming off to the next shrub or bough before I could focus the lens.  Anna's hummers stay on the island year round, but their activity now is partially fueled by mating instincts as the males flash their iridescent scarlet and green feathers at nearby female hummers. It is no wonder Anna's hummingbirds have sometimes been nicknamed "flying flowers". 

Maggie and I spent a while resting on the many benches, watching for geese and ducks on the waters, and just enjoying the fresh air.  Maggie, of course, posed any time she saw a location likely to net her a treat from the pouch on my hip.  

She's such a cheeky girl - she's even learned to smile on command!

I swear there's a glint in her eye, cheeky little girl!

As we headed back up the hill, we spied more crocuses in the woods, and a large patch of snowdrops at their peak.  A few more photos, a few more treats, and it was time to go home. 

This Time Last Year

 On our walk around the neighbourhood yesterday, I spotted several signs of spring - two clumps of yellow crocuses just opening their sleepy heads, a half dozen dandelions decorating the boulevard, dozens of robins singing as they flew from treetop to treetop, one small daisy standing amid the grass by the sidewalk, and countless new shoots poking up through the cold dirt.  

My intention was to go back and photograph them today for a blog post, but a bitterly cold wind and a forecast of snow and a still-sore back led to a chance of plans.  And a week filled with appointments and other commitments has meant little time for photography.  And then it hit me - I hardly posted anything last year yet I had taken photos with good intentions to do so.  And so I went back to this day last year and sure enough - there were the spring flowers, and the birds, and a even a few beach shots.  

So....in the interest of giving you something to read with your morning coffee, here's what we saw on our neighbourhood walk this time last year:

Apparently, we also walked down to the community park and along the beach that day too, for the file also showed gardeners working on the beds in the aboretum, crows clustered on a tree, plovers fishing along the shore and.....a happy Maggie on the sand.  

It couldn't have been as cold then as it is today, for I also photographed a woman walking barefoot along the water's edge - though her very pink feet suggest the water was chilly for sure.

And apparently this gull had chilly feet too (and from the out-of-focus photo, my hands were probably cold too):

Spring was a little further along last year, but we will soon catch up, I hope.  The forecasted snow for today did not materialize (yet!), and  the crocuses and dandelions and robins and daisy and countless new shoots are harbingers of that wonderful reawakening of nature.  If my back and the weather cooperate, I'll be out there capturing it with the camera.