Seaweed, Shells and Sand Dollars

Drayann (the wolfhound) and friends

This week's Wednesday Walk took us to Osborne Bay Park, an off-leash area just a five minute drive from my home. It is a beautiful park of over sixty acres, an old farmstead which still harbours many fruit and ornamental trees. The first section of the park is rolling fields, which is followed by a trail winding through tall trees and bushes, leading down to a wide expanse of pebbly beach just teaming with marine life.

I have had a love affair with the ocean ever since I can remember. Family photos show me playing on the beaches in England as a toddler, and later in the then-small seaside resort town of White Rock where I grew up. In my adult years, I have made a point of exploring isolated stretches of beach every chance I get. The tidal pools teeming with marine life, the soothing rhythm of the waves as they crash on the shore, the sense of wide-open spaces as one gazes at miles of sand and water - fascination, education, relaxation all rolled into one.

Osborne Bay is resplendent in sand dollars and shells of every colour:

White Sand Dollar

Purple Sand Dollar

Golden Sand Dollar

Tidal pool of dollars - riches of a different kind

In the pools, shells and sanddollars and seaweed formed a patchwork quilt for the tiny crabs and other sealife who resided there:

Shells and Sand Dollars

Sand Dollars in Water

Sand Dollars in Seaweed

Small Shells in Seaweed

Evidence of the circle of life is all around:

Broken Shell

Crab

Starfish on the beach and under rocks add another splash of colour to the already brilliant palette:

Starfish

Starfish under Rock

Higher on the beach, abandoned boathouses and old stairways to nowhere attest to the history of the area:

Old Stairs

Biodiversity, that interdependency of living things, is well represented here. A tree, long ago fallen from the cliff to the beach below, has become a home for the thousands of mussels that cling to its branches:

Tarben investigates tree on beach

Mussels cover the branches

I love this shot of the wall-to-wall shells on the beach. It reminds me of one of those very-hard-to-solve jigsaw puzzles I used to love to do (It looks a lot more striking when you click to enlarge it!):

A Landscape of Shells

The tide was out, a few people digging clams could be seen in the distance, but for the most part the beach was ours.

Happy Clammers

Tarben investigates

Sadie and Tarben resting for the climb back up

Charley and Sadie, Osborne Bay Park

Seaweed, shells and sand dollars - a beautiful setting for some friends and their dogs. Life doesn't get any better than this.

Paws for a Cause!

In tight economic times, many businesses and people struggle, but it is the humans and animals whose lives depend on the nonprofits who suffer most of all.

There are so many worthwhile nonprofit societies, all scrambling for funding, trying to keep themselves afloat so they can help the animals that humankind has abandoned, neglected, abused, or simply tossed aside. Rescue societies like Turtle Gardens and sanctuaries like Hearts on Noses, need and deserve our help. (To help either Turtle Gardens or Hearts on Noses, just click on their name in the preceding sentence to link to their website and look for the “donate” button. And don’t forget to vote daily in the Shelter Challenge – Turtle Gardens is now Number Three in Canada!).

Now that I am retired, my financial resources are significantly reduced so my ability to personally help such organizations is dependent on action – what I can do to help raise funds rather than what I can donate to them personally.

As part of my commitment to getting involved in my community and to helping local animals, I have registered for the SPCA Paws for a Cause. Sadie and I will be walking with a team of others in this province-wide event, and the funds our team raises will go directly to the Cowichan Valley SPCA. Contrary to what some people believe, the SPCA is not funded by government – it relies on donations and competing for grants like every other nonprofit animal shelter.

Allie came from the Abbotsford SPCA. Sadie came to me through the joint efforts of Okanagan Collie Rescue and the Quesnel SPCA. And my sweet Caleb came to me from the Cowichan Valley SPCA.

I have nothing but praise for the Cowichan Valley SPCA - the caring staff and volunteers give their hearts to the animals in their care, and the shelter is one of the best run, most active, dynamic SPCAs I have ever visited . But, like all shelters, they need funds.

And so I am asking you, my readers, to please consider reaching deep into your pockets to sponsor me for the Paws for a Cause walk, and to ask your friends and family to sponsor me also. You will find my personal page here, where you can sponsor me online and receive an immediate receipt for tax purposes. If you hesitate to make a contribution online, please email me at the link on the side of my blog and I can give you an address to which a cheque or money order can be sent.

Because I absolutely hate asking people for money, I have set a very modest goal for this walk, just $200, Please help me reach or surpass that goal by donating whatever you are able. Every penny is greatly appreciated.

Where we live

It is a peaceful night, the sky washed with multiple shades of pink, the distant mountains of the mainland and the hills of Salt Spring Island bathed in soft purples. I walk Oliver, then Sadie and Charley, and lastly Belle, and with each walk the sky becomes more beautiful and the town becomes quieter and quieter. The hush is broken only by the occasional motorbike or car without a muffler (there are some things about Air Care inspections that I now appreciate very much - the need for intact exhaust/muffler systems being one of them!) or the boom boom boom of a car stereo played too loud. But in between, silence.

As the dogs and I walk the beach, I see a mom and her daughters swimming slowly in the cool ocean waters, dad watching from shore. I hear a young child share with her brother the seashell she has found, and a group of young adults softly singing familiar songs around a campfire in the RV park – Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Kumbayah, songs from my own youth.

It has been warm this week – too warm for my liking – and dusk is my friend. The dogs and I meet other dogs and their humans on our walks – each stops to chat for a moment, to introduce ourselves, or simply to comment on the relief the cool night air brings.

Small town friendliness, small town peace. It is what I remember from my childhood in another small town, and it is what I moved here for.

The restful evening stroll is the perfect end to a day that began with another form of small town friendliness – Chemainus Days, an annual event in the nearest town to ours. Chemainus is also a small town, though not as small as Crofton, but unlike Crofton is famous as a tourist attraction with its many murals, its boutique stores, its incredible tale of survival from a town that was dying to a town that is full of spirit and life.

The main street was closed to traffic today, and all along its length and width were tents and stalls and street entertainers, as merchants and organizations and individuals sold their wares, their home crafts, their garage sale items.

Street market

Mural, with bike afixed to wall

People and dogs were everywhere, and yet it didn’t feel oppressive as crowds usually do. There was always an empty bench to sit on in a shady spot, a quiet path to follow through the nearby park, the soothing sound of the waterwheel and the bright splashes of flowers to enjoy. Else and I filled up on mini donuts and smokies and gelato cones, picked up a few treasures, and drank in the colours and sounds and scents of a welcoming, friendly town.

Waterwheel and flowers

Street entertainer with hammered dulcimer - with tones so clear and true!

A dog and his store

The Greeter

Love Cast in Stone

Next weekend is Crofton Days – definitely not on the same scale as Chemainus Days but still something to bring people out, a celebration of summer, a pancake breakfast and fun for the kiddies, a small market to sell or buy fresh produce and homemade goods.

Art tours, studio tours, beach and park events crowd the summer calendar in this beautiful area and yet always, always, there are deserted trails for dogs to run off leash, wonderful unspoiled parkland where solitude and nature go hand in hand.

It is a land in balance. It is a blend of the best. It is where we live.

It is home.

Babies!

I was sitting in the backyard with the dogs this morning, watching the sparrows come and go from the birdhouse that hangs under the eaves of the shed.

I suspected there were babies inside, as mama and papa have been busily flying back and forth and back and forth for a few days now. Sure enough, mama arrives with a wee worm for the little ones.

She feeds them, and flies off again. I move a bit closer to see if I can hear the babies chirping .......when all of a sudden, SURPRISE! Three little baby birds poke their heads out the hole to say hello!

Who's out there?

(Click on any picture to enlarge, then use back browser to return to blog)

They looked around for a minute, opening and closing their humungous mouths which seem several sizes too large for their funny little heads.

Where'd mama go?

Is she coming back yet? I'm huuuungggrry!!!

She's taking FOREVER!

Posing for a photoshoot is hard work, and soon they were nodding off, heads resting on the edge of the hole and on each other.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I backed off as mama and papa returned to the nearby apple tree. Soon they cautiously approach the birdhouse.

Shhhhh! We're being watched!

Yum! Worms!

Later in the day, a doe with two very tiny spotted fawns crossed the road right in front of me as I drove into town. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. Such sweet babies - still wobbly long legs and bony little knees.

And then there is the biggest baby of all, who wants you to know she is feeling much better today, albeit a bit tired still.

I'm feeling better, thanks!

Update on Charley

Charley is still resting comfortably, and has not passed anything at either end for 36 hours. I introduced her to a little rice and chicken last night and again this morning - she is not impressed. In fact, this morning she refused it until I dropped a few kibble and a teaspoon of canned food into it and then she picked out the "goodies" and shunned the rice. She is hungry though - keeps wandering into the kitchen and checking the floor and all the dog dishes!

However, she is clearly not out of the woods yet - on a very short walk last night she almost collapsed and could go no further. I had visions of tying her to a post while I ran home for the car, but at a slower-than-Oliver pace we made it back home.

I will be making an appointment to have more bloodwork done, even though it was done just a few short months ago and was fine then.

Happy Happy Birthday Oliver (and Canada, too!)

From a comment on the post below, I learned that today is Oliver's actual birthday - something I hadn't known as vet records and tattoos only tell the year. So..... if I've calculated the tattoo code correctly, Oliver is either 15 or 16 today (fifteen, I think, because the code skips the letter "I" so it isn't confused with the number 1).

So, Happy Happy Birthday Oliver. A wonderful dog and a wonderful country, both sharing the same birthday.

Photo Interlude

Crofton Lake

While I sit here missing the Wednesday Walk and watching Charley (who is resting comfortably and wondering why I am starving her to death), I figured I would put up some of the photos of the past few days. I was going to weave them into a story, but EvenSong assures me I don't have to wax poetic in order to post photos. Besides, pictures of happy dogs and of nature help keep me centred and lower my stress level. And posting pics is waaaaay more fun than cleaning house or weeding gardens.

On Thursday, several of us took our dogs up to Crofton Lake and then returned via the long route down. This was the first time I'd done this longer hike, and it was a delight (well, except when Sadie took off into the bush and didn't return for a looooong three or four minutes while I called and called and called!). The whole area was covered with masses of white daisies and yellow dandelions, and through the trees one could see all the way to the ocean.

Field of Flowers

Field of Flowers 2

From Trail to Ocean

Daisies and Dandelions

The Whippet Boyz and Sadie

Wet Wolfhound Kisses

View from the Trail

View from the Trail 2

View from the Trail 3

On Sunday, Else and I took Archie and Tess, Sadie and Charley out to Swallowfield where Archie and Tess enjoyed a swim, while Sadie cheered them on, Charley checked out the surrounding area, and Else and I watched a pair of geese with their newly hatched goslings.

Tess and her Stick

Swallowfield Serenity

Pink and Green

Happy Sadie

Geese with Goslings

Archie

Turkey Vulture in Flight

Maple Tree Growing in Rock

Tess

Tess on Diving Rock

Charley

Bloomin' Bushes

Later Sunday evening, Ellen and I took the dogs for a walk on the beach near my home. Kinley wasn't too sure about those wet salty waves!

Are you sure it's safe?

The day ended with the setting sun washing the shoreline with gold.

Log at Sunset