Thankful 🍁

I had some running around to do on Saturday.  One was a stop at my bank downtown and I was surprised by these lovelies!   Sugar maples in all their glory.... on Alder Street. I stopped and took a quick snap or three with my cell phone. A gentleman also going to the bank machine said that its much like the blossoms in spring..... a few brief and glorious days of colour.

My timing was perfect everywhere I went. As you can see above, no traffic and any parking spot I liked.   Same thing at the grocery store.... "you should have seen it here two hours ago" said one tired looking staff member.   I breezed around the store and there was no line up at the cashier.  I even got a flu shot with no waiting.     

🍁  We have very much to be thankful for.   🍁   

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving  and we're foregoing turkey this year and doing a leg of lamb instead. All the prep work is done.   Its just hubby and I as usual, and this year,  that's okay with us as Hub isn't feeling too well.    

He was out a couple of days ago and took these pictures down by the waterfront here in Campbell River where we have miles and miles of beaches like this. You can pull over and go sit on a log and watch the water for wildlife and shipping traffic.

The mountains are over on the mainland and as you can see, there are more than a few extinct volcanic cones over there! Well, we hope they are....

Meanwhile, here at home, this is the ornamental cherry tree in the front yard and our little 'burning bush' on the side of the driveway

The chestnut has gone golden and starting to shed leaves.....

On the weaving front:  I have just completed 10 yards of towels and completed finishing, pressing and snapping the  'beauty shot' pictures.  So a post on them is coming very soon.   Towels are fun but they are a lot of work and take time, especially when you are hand sewing hems !   The spring loom is waiting to be reloaded and I think I will shift my attention to the Megado  for weaving time.       Enjoy the sunshine while you can.....   🍂🌞 🍁

Out in a Blaze of Glory

I have always loved this time of the year.   Warm days, cool nights and a feeling of change in the air.  Golden sunlight that burns off early morning fog each day.   We like to take time out from our daily errands to explore locally, take the unknown road and see where it goes.   Sometimes we go to a bench along the shore line and just sit and watch the waves roll in.   

This day we were sitting and watching a large out of control forest fire on (uninhabited) East Redonda Island. Just a huge plume of smoke. I turned and looked a bit further to the north and could see three old volcanic cones looking very craggy and menacing.  I have enlarged a cell phone pick and so if you click on it, you can make out the three old cones in the Coastal Mountain Range over on the mainland.  They'll have a dusting of snow by now I'm sure.

There are three marinas or docking facilities for boats and water craft in Campbell River.  South end of town is the government docks, where fish boats tie up and you can walk the docks and buy fresh seafood off the boats. Crab, scallops,  and rock cod to name some.    There is also a long pier there where you can rent a rod and try your hand at catching a salmon.   No luck? then check out the aquarium where they feature a close view of the inhabitants of Discovery Passage (which runs between Campbell River and Quadra Island).

At the northern end of town at Tyee Spit there is a lovely park, benches and a variety of small boats out trying their hand at catching the big one and the local marine work yard is next door.  Boats lifted out of the water for repairs and paint. Looking awkwardly like beached whales.  There seems to be a dock for very large trawlers to tie up here. The kind that could travel up the coast to Haida Gwaii and further to Alaskan waters.

Then, approximately mid town is a central marina where smaller craft such as pleasure craft, tugs, trawlers all nestle together behind a breakwater.  We stopped and Bruce took some pictures of the vessels in the golden afternoon light.

We had noticed this large trawler sitting in the sun looking very fine!  Complete with a black jolly roger flag with skull and crossbones.  Click to enlarge and have a look.  ☠️ 

As the day progressed and the sun was setting, Bruce caught this nice shot of the Quadra Island ferry sitting at the terminal in Campbell River.   It takes passengers over to Quadra and some drive across island to catch yet another ferry to Cortez Island.

This picture was taken about twenty minutes drive south of Campbell River at a place called Oyster Bay.  We sat on a log by the water and admired the view. The brown 'smudge' is a family  enjoying a driftwood beach fire and wading in the water.   With miles of beaches here.... no point crowding anyone !

Meanwhile at home, we have begun the process of wrapping up summer and putting things away for the winter. Flower baskets are done, some furniture is covered and more is destined to shift to the garden sheds soon.     Some plants think its time to bloom again!   I'm not sure of the name of this plant but in the spring its covered in thick waxy blossoms and has large green ovoid leaves. I'm thinking its either a variety of camellia or magnolia. The flowers looks like orchid blossoms!

I'm dedicating these blossoms to the memory to Dianna, our dear neighbour, who passed away last week. They grow on the fence that we share together.

Out front of our house, this shrub is in bright glorious colour as the nights get chilly.  Again, I'm not sure of its name, but I call it the burning bush due to the high intensity reds.  This is one of my favourite seasons ...... but I'm very mindful that this is season is also very brief because.....

.... this is coming to a yard near me very soon!

Our house in the winter of 2016-2017

Travel Post: Discovery Passage

Campbell River is approximately two thirds the way up Vancouver Island. From Campbell River to Victoria at the southern end is roughly a four hours drive on high speed highways to help you get an idea of the size of this place.  There's roughly two and half  to three hours of driving north of us as well!

  

From Campbell River to Victoria the waters between the Island and the Mainland is fairly open with many smaller islands like stepping stones.  The waters were known as Georgia Strait and more recently renamed to the Salish Sea in honour of our aboriginal peoples.

Here at Campbell River the Salish Sea is pinched off as the density of islands increases. The passage in front of CR is the most open and means that not only do we get a large transit of returning salmon stocks, but we are also a route for cruise ships as they slowly make their way northwards to Alaskan waters.
  

As for the fishing, our neighbour said she met a couple this past week that had gone out fishing at 8 am and were  back and done by 9:30 am. They had bagged two large chinook salmon weighing roughly20-24 pounds each and that the fish were biting at 'anything' thrown in the water!  (They are allowed one fish each per day).  We call ourselves the Salmon Fishing Capitol of the World

Meanwhile the cruise ships leave Vancouver around four or five in the afternoon and so cruise  up the Sea and slowly pass by our town in the evening as they enter the Discovery Passage so to connect with Johnstone Strait and again on the return journey.  Its great fun for residents to go down to the Spit and watch them go by relatively close in the channel, but they can be viewed anywhere there's a beach, and we have many miles of beaches!

The harbour with its man made breakwaters. The large centre and parking lot is the major shopping centre.  Further up town there is another dock with more fish boats and a fishing pier where you can rent gear, get a license, and catch a salmon right there! Fishing nets and cleaning table provided and hungry gulls waiting. 

We were driving back along highway 19A , or known as the seaside route, when near Oyster Bay we spotted this..... so we carried on closer to town and eventually parked north of Willow Point and watched this Nordamm vessel float down the end of the Discovery Passage and the end of Quadra Island.

Imagine our surprise when this happened!   Two ships in the channel heading south ....

The one above and below are the closest we could get with cell phone cameras. We couldn't see the ship's name but it has the classic dark blue hull of the Nordam Line.

Here's a better shot taken by a CR citizen in the narrower Discovery Passage from an elevated view, with a much better camera too!

Cape Mudge lighthouse on the southern end of Quadra Island

Moving very slowly, possibly in view of new laws to protect orcas and other whales,  she carried on down the ever widening Strait.....

The next vessel looks like one of the Princess Lines, but I don't know for sure.  It could be any of the newer ships built in recent years with many decks and basically HUGE. I wondered how it handles in rough seas and high winds with so much superstructure?

Here's a brief video of her under way... (sorry about the noise but we were parked along a busy road)

So here are some pics taken  by other residents:

Baby orca leaping at Cape Mudge

Spring at the waterfront 2018

One of many nature walks in the area

Miles of beaches to stop and enjoy.... and some make driftwood art, or simply a campfire and watch the sun go down .

We were down at what they call the spit here  the other night and the waters there in the passage were full of men in row boats fishing.  Seems they were all trying to become members of the Tyee Club. To become a member you have to use (inspected) special fishing gear, be in a boat that is being rowed (no motor during fishing time) and catch a Chinook salmon 30 (yes, thirty !) pounds and higher.  Here are the official catches to 2017.   Very exclusive club and has had many illustrious and international members, of all ages and gender,  over the years.

In Discovery Passage rowing for the big one!

Next post will be weaving related as I have had some shawls finished up and soon will be photographed.  Company is coming for a week as well.   Don't you love summer?   

Perseverance Furthers

Well, we took the for sale sign down as we found people were walking around our property and / or coming right up to the house.  It did say "by appointment only" but its almost like the sign gives them permission.  If they are up against a time crunch for buying, I can sympathize! Its a sellers market and so very few homes to view right now.   We are also hearing that multiple offers are common. 

This is all as a result of the overheated housing market in Vancouver and it forced people to move to other areas.   The wave started in Victoria on the southern end of the island and has been working its way up island.  Victoria is about forty five minutes drive south of us, with ferries to Vancouver.  So to sell in the southern portion of the island and get more for your money when re-purchasing, you have to look northwards.   

The city of Nanaimo is also forty five minutes drive north of us and roughly mid island, and also with ferries to Vancouver.  We centred our search just north of Nanaimo and divided the search into areas: so Parksville / Qualicum Beach, then Courtenay / Comox and then Campbell River.    There are also lovely places in between all those towns too.  Our realtor Karen was fabulous!  We would drive every day up to Courtenay and then go and view homes in one of those chosen areas.   This went on for many days. We put a lot of miles on and many hours. (thank heavens for my new knee!) Our dog Calli was in the kennel one day only and injured her paw playing, so after that she came with us and enjoyed a fluffy bed, toys, food and cool water and AC in the car. We took turns staying with her so she was never alone.

We wrote the first offer on a lovely home in Courtenay, with a verbally accepted offer. The next morning when the final signatures were due by 10 am, they failed to arrive.  They squelched on the deal and let the time expire and went with another offer.  We were crushed.    But in hind sight it was a good thing as it threw us into the deep end of the housing pool and we toughened up after that. 

We took a couple of days to readjust our attitude and then built a new viewing lists and went back on the trail.  We found that the list was getting shorter and more expensive as homes sold. A listing viewed on line in the evening, could be gone come morning.  To be truthful, we started to doubt the "needs and wants" list we had built for our new home. It seemed to be a bad time to get picky.  Then we heard all the military families at the Comox Airforce Base were in the middle of looking for relocation homes too.  Oh, crap. 

We viewed many homes, some of which were nice but just not the right fit.  One we viewed was stunningly lovely, also fit the list but seemed 'too much'.  We have been living in a small house in the woods for 8 years.   But was it ever nice!

Our second offer written was on a home in Deep Bay. It was a big compromise for both hubby and me. It also had stairs to the main floor (again) and the yard needed work too.  It had been completely gutted and rebuilt and was a lovely modern reno, with an ocean view and short walk to the beach.   We gave them  their asking price but the listing realtor told our agent that we would have to compete with other offers (that weren't there yet).   What the....???     It didn't take us long to decide what to do with that. We walked away.... and as of this mornings search, its still for sale; (good).  Some very greedy people out there...

No time off after that loss; we rolled up our sleeves and were checking the daily hot sheet for new listings and being there the same day to view.  Our agent Karen received a message from the  listing agent for the fancy smancy house we viewed and we were invited to bring them an offer.  They had repurchased and moving at month's end. Karen checked and it had been on the market sixty nine days.... which is amazing given the market conditions!   Perhaps they had all been intimidated by it too?   We went to see it once more and..... oh, my!  It was as lovely as I remembered.    Its actually a bit smaller than our present house, but you would never know it.  Where would my looms go?    I'd make them fit somewhere, even downsize some more if I had to!  It fit our "needs and wants" list almost perfectly.

So we sat down and made a starting offer and gave them a full twenty four hours to respond. Karen presented our offer in person to the home owners the next morning.

They said yes.... and signed. No counter offer.  

Our new home!

So we will be moving to lovely Campbell River BC for October 1st.    There are just a couple of subjects to be removed shortly but we don't anticipate any problems.  We have visited Campbell River several times and have been quite impressed by the town and they are clearly progressive.  They have a beautiful waterfront, new developments and housing and a thriving tourist industry. They are known for salmon fishing charters, and miles of beaches with mountain back drops.    Any view from a spot on Vancouver Island is lovely, but at Campbell River, its simply jaw dropping beautiful!  These are the Coastal Mountain ranges on the mainland across the Salish Sea

There are literally miles of beaches to walk on and explore....

Its known for a variety of wild life but in particular, resident pods of Orcas:

So where is Campbell River?

We drove daily to Courtenay for the house hunting and used the main Island highway and  it took us 1 hour forty minutes.  This screen captured map below says its two hours and nine minutes from one house to the other.   The Island highway has speed limits of 120 kms (or 75 miles per hour).  As you can see from these two maps, its a very large island! 

I would like to direct your attention to my sale page and mention that I have many books, magazines and such for sale there, many already reduced.... and I'm open to offers. They have to go now!
I will be adding more items as we go through stuff and downsize some more.    I can get postage quotes in advance and payment is via Paypal.  

I'll be back again shortly with a weaving related post.... some new show and tell.  I'm  just stepping outside to take some pictures today.