Mama and Me. Posted by Maggie.

Enough is enough.  I know my mama has some photos ready to post but I can see her snoozing in her recliner AGAIN, so I will just take my dainty little paws and  place them on her 'puter and post for her.  We's been here over a month already and she hazn't even shown you what we've been up to!

Mah Beach, by Tour Guide Maggie

We live a couple of blocks from the beach, so nearly every day we go down there for an hour or so.  I love this beach - there is lots and lots and lots of good sand!

Lotsa sand!

Sometimes the sand has firm little ridges all over it, and sometimes it is smooth as silk.  And sometimes there are little islands in the ocean, or pretty shapes where the ocean hugs the sand or the sunlight tiptoes across the shallows and over the sandbars.

In the morning, Mama often makes me walk around town first before we head to the beach - there are lots of noises I wasn't used to, like beeping things and roaring things and clanking things, as well as fast moving things and unfamiliar peoples and unfamiliar dogs.  And squirrels!  There is LOTS of squirrels here.  They is almost as good at grabbing my attention as ducks! Maybe better. I don't have a picture of squirrels to show you, but mama did take this photo of one of the places we pass on our way to the beach - pretty fall leaves shining in early morning light.

There is a long boardwalk here, just like the seawalk in Crofton except closer to the ground.  Sometimes we see my new friend Buddy there - he is a cocker spaniel who is old and blind and so mostly he rides in a stroller.  He's nice, and so are his pals that he walks with - human and canine.  Mama likes the houndy dog best because he always bays at her and makes her laugh. 

My favourite new dog friend, though, is Gideon.  He is just little, and he loves to run on the sand just like me.  We see him almost every day.  He's in this picture with his human, but mama still has to take some close up shots of him.

Here's me on the beach again.  Did I mention I love the beach?

It was a little bit breezy that day.  Mama likes the breezy days, partly because there is a big kite-flying field (um, that's a field where you can fly kites, not a field that flies kites hahaha!) by the beach, and mama loves to watch the kites zoom and soar and dive and soar some more. Mama has always loved kites, even when she was just a little girl and tried to make them out of sticks and newspaper and string.

I bet mama's newspaper ones never flew like this! 

Sometimes when we go to the beach the ocean has swallowed up all the sand!  I don't like that because then I have to walk on the boardwalk and mama won't let me bark and run there in case I disturb others.  But sometimes the sand is there, with puddles on it, and I can see buildings in the puddles!

Looky!  There's a building under the sand! 

Hahahaha!  I loves the beach! 

I have become very brave here and even go walking in the dark now.  I walk for an hour or two in the morning, and another half hour or more at night.  And I go hiking with mama as well.  You'd think we'd both be skinny with all that walking, but I get lots of treats because I'm learning so many new things and meeting so many new people and dogs.  I don't know what mama's excuse is for not getting skinny - I suspect she's getting lots of treats too - there are some very nice food stores here! But I digress.....I was talking about hiking. Mostly we've gone hiking at the same places we went before - in Nanaimo or thereabouts.  This week we went to Ermineskin Nature Park near here, but mama hasn't done those photos yet.  Here's the photos from some of the familiar hikes we've done this month:

Reflections in one of the lakes at Colliery Dam Park

Colliery Dam Park in Nanaimo.  I was very brave to cross that narrow
bridge over a river-filled ravine without hesitation! 

Hemer Provincial Park, in south Nanaimo. 
We met Auntie Pat and the Poms here as it's about
halfway between our homes now.

Linley Valley and Cottle Lake Park in Nanaimo.
Mama and Auntie Sally got a little muddled finding our way
around this one, because the trails aren't marked very well!

Moorecroft Park, Nanoose Bay
This one is just a short drive from where we live now. 

One day Auntie Pat and Uncle Guy and ALL THREE POMS came to visit.  We all went for a walk on the beach.  It was Parker's first time on the beach, but mama forgot her camera.  She took some pictures with Auntie Pat's camera but Auntie Pat must be snoozing in her recliner too because she hasn't posted them yet, so mama couldn't steal one to show you.

There have been a lot of strange people in our house, besides some of the new neighbours.  There's been furniture coming in and furniture going out and appliances coming in and appliances going out, and I've visited a new groomer already, but I haven't met my new vet yet. Mama sez that will be very soon. We still isn't all settled in yet - there's still pictures to be hung, and a couple of piece of new furniture to arrive, and a new dishwasher to be installed.  But we is getting there.  I don't care though - I just wanna spend time at the beach.  Did I mention I love the beach?

Most days there is lots of sand, and we walk waaaay far out.  We go quite early, so we see lots of birds - eagles and herons and ducks and gulls and hundreds of tiny little ones that mama things are sandpipers but there are also bigger ones among them that look more like plovers or dowitchers.  Mama can't get too close to get a good picture because...well...um....I likes to bark and go after them, even though I'm always on a leash or longline. Then they fly away, and mama says "Ohhh Maggie!" with a big sigh.  Sometimes there are hundreds and zillions of the little birds, and they are beige on one side and white on the other, and when they fly the whole flock rolls from one side to the other so you see all beige and then all white, like airyplanes doing fancy tricks!

I think these are some of the bigger birdies, not the teeny ones.

Birdies in flight, showing their white bellies

We sees lots of eagles here, just like we did at our old place.

And herons too!

What?  You gotta get to work now?  But I waz just gettin' started! 

Okay, well, I think I hear mama calling me, so I better get down from the desk.  Maybe it is time for my pills.  And a treat.  I hope you enjoyed a look at our first month in Parksville.

I loves my beach!
See ya again soon! 

Love, Maggie.

Maggie in leaves

Dear Readers:
Mah mama seems to be either toooooo busy to post or too sleepy......so I will just post this photo of  li'l ol' me from a hike we did on Monday.  Mother Nature was so kind to coordinate the colours of fallen leaves with mah furs. 
And you can do your bit by nagging Mama to get another proper post up real soon! 
Lotsa love, Maggie.

Farewell Crofton, Hello Parksville!

In 2016 when I tore the meniscus in my left knee, and 2017 when I took a bad fall on the ice and wrecked my right shoulder (leaving me unable to drive for quite a while, and permanently unable to do some of the home/yard maintenance stuff I'd always done for myself), I realized the pitfalls of living in a small village (population 1200) that has very few shops - two convenience stores, one thrift store, a couple of cafes and pubs.  No drug store, no hardware, no department store, no place to get any significant variety of groceries. No medical services.  Yes, there is a small city about twenty minutes away (population 5,000 for the city itself, and another 28,000 in the surrounding municipal area), but the bus service to get there is tedious and infrequent, taxis from there are expensive and seldom available, and there is no handi-dart service (a bus/taxi sort of system for seniors and others with disabilities) for Crofton.  And it is rather too far to walk.

"It's a long way to see the doctor...."

I don't want to be 'that senior' whose very small and geographically distant family has to make the difficult decision to move me to another living situation.  So I began the search for another home, one where there is no outside maintenance required (a condo or strata), in a place where there are more shops and services - preferably within walking distance of the ocean. I so love.

After an extensive search made more difficult by the ridiculous 'no pet' or 'one small pet' (often under 10 lbs!) policy that many seniors' condos/strata have, I finally just took the plunge, put my house on the market, sold it in 48 hours, and - much to my relief - found an appropriate place an hour and a bit north, in Parksville.  More about our new home in another post. (I have not been taking photos on our many walks as Maggie needs all my attention to keep her safe and calm amid traffic, beeping crosswalks, unfamiliar people and dogs, etc.   - that's no time to be staring through the lens of a camera.  As many of you know, there are few things I feel more strongly about than keeping dogs safe in new surroundings - or keeping dogs safe, period.) 

Maggie: "This is my beach now!"
(Photo taken a few months ago, before we moved)

But before shifting the blog to daily life in Parksville and our exploration of the parks and beaches around our new home, I wanted to thank the great people in Crofton who welcomed me nearly ten years ago, greeted me on my morning walks with my various old dogs, foster dogs, multiple dogs, scared dogs, visiting dogs.  My current anxiety-prone senior dog, Maggie, will miss her canine friends and their peoples, who respected her boundaries and took the necessary time to earn her trust.

Crofton has much going for it, not the least of which is its beauty - beauty in nature, in the sea, in the sunrises and sunsets, in the people.  Over the years, I've taken literally thousands of photos of this community and its surrounds.  Here, then, as my farewell tribute to Crofton, are just a few of my favourites:

From the moment  I arose,  no matter the season or the weather, the beauty of the sun rising over the bay filled me with awe:

Throughout the day, the birds and animals, the parks and shoreline, even the industry at the mill and log sort, provided me with slices of joy, peace, an assurance that there was still magic and beauty to be found in a world so oft gone crazy:

Eagle, Anna's humming bird, oystercatchers, Northern flicker.

Bear in fall and deer in winter

Heron soaring to the sky

Raven wishing us good luck

Crofton Lake, Sea Walk in fall, Eves Park, Lilies on Crofton Lake

Boat by a foggy pier
(taken when Spinnaker Steps went all the way to the water)

Boats in the harbour,
reflections in the water

Barges, tugs, and cargo ships

Fishing boat with colourful floats

The people - oh the people - young and old, laboring in fields or selling goods in front yards and pop up stalls, playing with their dogs, or going for a paddle around the bay or a walk on the beach - seldom did I meet one who did not treat me kindly, smile and say good morning, or stop for a chat.  I came to your town nearly ten years ago having only a slight acquaintance with a couple of people, and I am leaving behind many friends.  Thank you, Crofton.

Tatlo Farms when it was just beginning

Friends on Crofton waterfront

George peddling his figs near the ferry terminal

The dog-human connection
on a misty morning

Heading out into the bay

I have loved learning the history of this town - from the elders, from the information in our little museum, from columns in newspapers (and, before that, the town newsletter),  from story boards in parks, from locals who stopped to chat.  For five years, together with Liz Maxwell Forbes, I shared some of these stories in a column in the Chemainus Courier, and each column brought more stories to my attention, from more people who enriched my life so greatly.

Crofton Museum 

And at the end of each day, I felt comforted in the knowledge that  my move to Crofton, away from family and friends and all that was familiar, had been a good move, the right move,  a wonderful chapter of my life.  I can only hope that my new community will be as welcoming and as comforting and as full of good people who will soon become good friends, in this next chapter.

Thank you, Crofton,  You have been good to me.

We all sleep under the same moon,
We all rise to the same sun.
We are never any further away than a warm heart and a pleasant thought.

Allie, in fields of catnip

Yesterday, Allie made her final meow and headed off to the Rainbow Bridge.  A few days ago, she took to staying hidden under her blanket, occasionally eating or drinking a little if I took it to her, and seldom using her litter box.  I suspected she had slipped into the fourth and final stage of the kidney disease with which she was diagnosed well over a year ago.

Our mobile vet, who has looked after all my animals for most of my time on the island, sedated my Wild Child in order to examine her, and determined that her kidneys had atrophied to the size of peas and, of great significance, her temperature was well below normal.  The conclusion was that her organs were shutting down and at most she had a few more days.  As she was already sedated, I chose to have the vet help her pass right then.   She slipped away without stirring.

I adopted Allie from the Abbotsford SPCA back in 2001.  She wasn't much more than a kitten at that time - perhaps five or six months old - but she soon let the dogs know who was boss.  Her favourite trick throughout her lifetime (and the lifetimes of at least a dozen or more adopted and fostered dogs with whom she shared our house) was to hide behind a piece of furniture or crouch on the arm of the sofa and wait for a dog to nonchalantly saunter past, then - whooop - swat said dog right on the rump with her not-so-gentle paws!

We all know who's the boss around here!

When we first adopted her, we lived on acreage where field mice occasionally found there way into the house.  Allie liked mice - she liked to play with them, swatting them this way and that.  But she never killed them.  It would be up to me to try to get them away from Allie and banish them from our residence.  One time, she chased a mouse up onto the washer, then swatted it down to my dog Charley who was standing below.  Charley promptly plopped her furry collie cross body down right on top of the terrified mouse and held it there while I reached under to grab it.  Great tag team those two made!

Caleb, my pitty cross, almost got the better of Allie, as his strong prey drive and her rather slight size were not a good match.  Adding a door to the foot of the stairs, and a cat door in the people door, allowed Allie to race up to the attic where she had a huge area to run and play and a chair to scratch and toys to toss.  Caleb sometimes stuck his head in the cat door, looking miserably up the stairs, and willing her to walk right into his mouth.  It took three months of constant management before the two could safely be in the same room without Caleb being off leash or out of his crate. A few sharp swats of Allie's claws on Caleb's butt or face, and he eventually learned to give her space.  They were never left together when I wasn't right there with them, but they did learn to have a healthy respect for each other. 

Respect me, or else! 

Allie could never be described as a 'sweet' cat - she was a petite and pretty torti with a lovely peach patch under her chin which she liked me to stroke (on her own terms, of course), but she was not a warm-and-fuzzy lapcat by any means.  Fifteen minutes of lap time in the morning, possibly a bit more at night and that was quite enough for her thank you.  Oh....except for when I was at my computer.  Then she was on my lap constantly - blocking my view, stepping on keys, 'helping' compose blogs.

Hey mom, let's write about how stoopid dogs are!

An inside-only cat all her life, she didn't seem to mind at all.  She had lots of interactive toys,  interesting birds to watch through the window, and, of course, dogs to torment.  One of the very few times she slipped out - shortly after we moved to the island - she hopped over the fence and right into the yard of a neighbour's three barking, cat-chasing dachshunds.  Never have I seen a cat fly back over a five foot fence and in through the patio door so quickly!  I think that cured her of any wanderlust. 

Oh, look, a birdie! 

She had a big personality, a powerful self-confidence, an unpredictable response to those who might try to befriend her - or to examine her.  She drew blood from more than one veterinarian or vet tech.  The critters at the Rainbow Bridge won't know what hit them!

As long as they don't try to dress me up in silly costumes - and remember that cats rule -
we'll get along fine! 

But perhaps the Bridge will mellow her.  I hope she is, as a friend wrote on my facebook page,  "in sunlit meadows of catnip, with dancing butterflies to caper after."

Run free, Allie.  You kept me on my toes for nigh on 18 years.  My home won't be the same without you.

Aren't I sweet?