It’s not always(!) sunny here, but when it isn’t, you can still find spots of colour and brightness, particularly when searching for spring near the harbour.
Bright enough, but what about the pink tree?!
Scout and I remembered we hadn’t visited “the pink tree” yet this spring, often because we’d been distracted by the beach and/or a sunny deck on recent bright days.
Logged out and distracted
We decided to put that right, hoping we hadn’t left it too late to see the tree in full glory…
Pops of orange, but not what we’re looking for
There was no need to worry, and although the morning wasn’t bright, the display more than made up for it – what a sensory delight!
Spring splendour
Let’s keep it short yet bright, like blossom on a spring day… or something… Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
It’s not a competition, but the daffodils weren’t too happy…
I knew I shouldn’t have been too excited about spring appearing last week – since then, we’ve had a couple of cold and dry days, and now we’re in the middle of a rainy stretch, one where we’ll far exceed the expected monthly rainfall long before April reaches the midpoint. Oh well, it’ll keep everything green!
Taken at the start of the week
The other day Scout and I hit the nearby beach at low tide and we enjoyed the greenery revealed, some welcome brightness on a generally overcast/rainy morning. The chill seemed to have deterred other walkers and we had the place to ourselves, aside from the crows and eagles. And everything else I didn’t spot.
Low tide
Crows! Now, aren’t they clever birds? Scout was desperate for a spa day on one of the cold yet sunny mornings, and with a little time on my (poorly manicured) hands, I was happy to oblige. To get going, I warmed up by trimming my beard, and then… nope, that was it for me. Scout’s turn. Soft brush, then hard brush to remove the shedding hair and undercoat of shedding hair. Although Scout is a shedding dog, we’re fortunate she only sheds once a year, and that her shedding season only lasts twelve months. She sheds at least five times her own body weight in hair each year.
Spring greens
What has this to do with crows or spring greens? Getting there, but don’t feel you have to stick around for this one – an un-shaggy dog tale…
Is this one about me? I’ll stick around…
A couple of crows were watching from the spring green branches hanging over our yard. Given the tremendous excitement a PlaidCamper spa day can generate, who could blame them for wanting to get closer? They hopped across to the little fence screening our yard, clearly excited. Scout has long ago learned to ignore the tricky ways of crows and their cousins, having too often been made to look foolish when she makes a friendly approach, only for the crow to hop back just out of leash range. And anyway, she was totally blissed out from the pampering to care about the crows.
Fresh
We wound up the activities, avoiding the need to take before and after selfies for the Insta. I know, and so sorry to disappoint, but trust me, there wasn’t really a discernible difference. As we opened the back door, a crow cawed behind me and flew down from the fence to pick up a clump of dog hair. Away it flew into the forest. Scout shepherded me indoors, and when I turned back, down came the crow again for another clump. I didn’t clear up the rest of the hair – laziness, or curiosity about the crows? You decide…
By the following morning, all dog hair was gone. I like to think there is a happy crow couple out there enjoying their newly insulated space, yet looking at each other wondering if perhaps it smells slightly doggy and do you need a bath dear?
Spa day? Me? Please, for the love of dog, spare me!
Scout continues to look good, professionally groomed or not, and she continues with shedding season, so please don’t look too closely at our rugs. I’m thinking about getting in touch with the crows, see if they’d like to come inside, help themselves to all the dog hair they can carry?
Beachy
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful long weekend!
…bobbing along! Quite happy that spring hasn’t entirely abandoned us – to be honest, we’ve had more bright and sunny days than not the past week or two, although it’s grey and likely to rain today and through the weekend.
Spring?! I’m all ears…
We’ve enjoyed the bright mornings that developed into positively warm afternoons, with more and more signs of spring popping out. A lone daffodil, the little brown birds peeping and peeping out from the hedges, frisky bald eagles chasing and challenging up above.
Bright!
The harbours have been busier, with more boats and kayaks appearing each day as the town prepares to get livelier as the days grow more hospitable.
Neighbourly
We were looking across to Hitacu yesterday morning, and I’d just said to Scout how we hadn’t seen a seal for a while when up one popped to say hello. It circled the same patch of water where the calm harbour transitions into the slightly choppier inlet waters, bobbing up and diving down until we lost sight of it. Probably something tasty below the surface. Fun to see, and I managed a great photo:
Seal of approval
I tried taking a carefully composed shot of the new greenery promising to emerge, but Scout had other ideas as to what passes for excitement and the results I’ve shared speak to that. She’s right, and I’ll wait until there’s more colourful blossom and a day when she’s on a longer leash…
Budding photographer
So there we are, happy enough to be bobbing along through the springtime splendour. These little chaps below appeared quite content, hanging around for a less than perfect photo:
Wait a minute, I’ll try againOh… Another time?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Finally, after many false starts and disagreements, the calendar and weather decided to align and reach a decision – spring!
Spring!
To check it was really so, we went down to Combers Beach for an earlyish walk, so Scout could run a few mad beach circles on near empty sands, and we could enjoy a second cup and feel the warm sunshine.
Through here to the beach
Combers is often a windswept space, but we could tell from the still treetops in the forest fringe that the morning was a calm one.
Warm your bones…
What a delight to be able to shed off a few late winter blues, let the shoulders drop and breathe in the new season.
On your marks…
There were a few families turning up to enjoy a coastal spring break, and we enjoyed watching one winter-wrapped family of four gradually peel off the unnecessary outer layers as the sun gently warmed them up.
The two children, no more than six or seven years old, were almost beside themselves with excitement at being on the beach. They beach combed and splashed and laughed their way up and down the sands, checking out the logs and streams. Playground or classroom? Both! Free range, a spring without end? (Slightly obscure music reference) Totally taken with where they were and what they were doing – wonderful to see!
Be gone, clouds!
We’ve fingers crossed that the last of the late winter weather is behind us, and we’re looking forward to more spring!
A decent direction
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
…stepping away for a week or two, and heading out of town for a week or two for a change of scene and some time to recharge and refresh.
Top me up!
Before signing off until March, here are a couple of photographs from a wonderfully welcome almost warm and very sunny spring day we enjoyed earlier this week.
Hello sunshine!
Looking forward to a few more days like this as we transition into a hopefully early spring!
It soon warmed up!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Dazzling……dazzling you say? Why thank you!At last!
Could be a nursery rhyme, could be what we chant as we head along the shore, and it could sum up our recent outings.
Yesterday morning had the sort of weather that could ruin your hair do, but with a toque and rain hood protecting my hair don’t, and Scout happy enough as a high shedding short hair, we didn’t let the start of a storm stop us from looking great as we headed out.
Straggly and flattened, as the barber often tells me
Definitely a high energy nature turning up the power kind of a morning. Gulls were wheeling and swooping, seemingly just for the fun of it. Waves rushed in, sporting wind blown crests and crowns, and the noise was almost overwhelming – rain on hood, wind through trees, screeching gulls, the lighthouse foghorn, and the scrunch/crunch gravel sounds of the tide running up and then down. What a blast!
A blast!
Earlier in the week, we’d trotted back up the trail to see if our favourite little cove was accessible, knowing full well it wouldn’t be even after the bulk of the storm had passed. We could hear the thump and thud of logs in the surf before we got there, and when we reached our little viewpoint just off the trail, we were met with quite the sight. I even took a short video:
A short video
Anyway, we’ll keep it fairly brief this week as we need some time to towel dry our hair, see if we can’t get ourselves halfway presentable. Although, why bother, as rumour has it there’s another big one rolling in this weekend! Ready? Log, rock, wind and rain…
“No, no, not this one, I’m not ready – look at my hair!”
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
The turn of the year has brought a fair number of blustery days, and these have been good for blowing away any cobwebs and waking us up.
A day to be above and not on the beach
We’ve stuck to the coastal trails after each storm, excited to see the waves and admire the churning waters. One of our favourite little beaches has been off limits due to high tides and strong surges. On a calm day you can sit beneath the rocks and look up at the enormous logs, marvelling at how big the weather must have been to wash them up there.
That’ll do it
We’re looking forward to calm day so we can scramble down to the beach, see what’s been washed up – Scout is convinced there must be a decent chew twig or two – and we wouldn’t mind a few quiet minutes with a cup of coffee and waving at the resident bald eagles drying their feathers out (the two wet blobs in a couple of the photos this week are the said eagles – they are stoic!)
Churning
Looking at the forecast for the next couple of weeks, those calmer days are still a little while off, but it’s been pleasant to notice and enjoy an extra daylight minute or two as the days slowly lengthen…
Here comes another one!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Very big matchsticks January 2022 Down on that beach, on a calm day!
Power on, power off, power back on, snow, wind, freezing rain, heavy rain, and more rain. We’ve been enjoying some big and breezy weather the past few days, but haven’t been hammered as hard as other places. We hope all is well with you, wherever you might be. Keeping it brief, and wishing you all the best for the year ahead!
Here it comes!
Hopefully a less turbulent year, perhaps drama free and a little more calm, be that politically, economically, environmentally and in all our interactions. I know, but it doesn’t hurt to hope…
Choppy, off kilter…oh no!
Thanks for reading, always appreciated, and we hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Scout and I enjoyed a couple of almost warm and mostly sunny walks one day earlier this week. We rounded the last bend of the street just before home and found we liked the way the smoke from a nearby chimney was wafting through and across the treetops.
Almost home (and two Narnia streetlights)
The second of our two walks that day took us along the coastal path to a sunny little spot that is often warm in the sun even if the overall air temperature is low. It proved to be so that afternoon, and we enjoyed a pleasant few minutes in the sun. Never one to be still too long, Scout was soon pushing for us to move on.
“Let’s go!” (I like how Scout almost matches the diagonal lines in this one – but as far as Scout is concerned, it’s about her, not the lines…)
I was surprised by how low the sun was, although I shouldn’t have been given we’re approaching the shortest daylight hours very soon. The next photograph was taken before 2pm but seems later:
1:37 PM
We hurried along the path for a few more minutes, wanting to enjoy more of the sun and sparkling water before darkness fell and winter returned. Yes, the rumour is that we’ll be experiencing a little more snow sometime next week. I’m trying not to get too excited, but please let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, as somebody once sang. Not me.
1:35 PM (I couldn’t think of a caption)
Almost home! Not too bad. I’ll leave it here this week, and wish you a wonderful weekend ahead!
PS For anyone excited by the baking adventures I’ve been having as prompted by Nigel Slater, I had a go at his banana and cardamom cake, and it was pretty good. Banana and cardamom cake
Turbulent?! Oh no, it’s not a rant is it? Turbulent! Well now, this could apply to quite a lot – the economy? Politics? Weather? One’s stomach? No, no, not the last, all is well, and I wouldn’t go so far as to write on such matters. And it’s not a rant either. Not this week anyway…
Incoming
So, the economy? Do we want my take on fiscal responsibility and supply side reforms? Gilts and bonds? Why green initiatives make economic sense given you might want to be alive – stop, just stop, PlaidCamper, you know when you start to rant, it’ll guarantee a frosty reception in some quarters. No need…
Frosty reception
Let’s skip economics, important though the topic is, and also skip politics so all our blood pressures remain relatively stable. Although I can’t resist saying, given the midterm outcomes as of Wednesday morning, things could have been worse. Would have preferred better, but anyway. Glimmers of hope…?
Hope
That the leaves the weather! A safe enough topic if I resist the temptation to start on about the environment. No worries, at least for now – we’ve got as far as this paragraph, and blood pressure is within norms, let’s keep it that way. The weather being turbulent is where we are this week!
Best viewed from a distance
After a mostly delightful and balmy fall period, the weather finally broke and we’ve received much needed rain. Last weekend brought a robust storm, one that left many without power for a day or two, and we’d fully expected to be in that boat, but were spared this time. It was great to be down on the shore, well back from the crashing waves, and enjoying an exhilarating blast of ocean air. A day to hold on to your hat.
On the shore
Then we had a good old calm after the storm, and woke to a close to wintry scene of frost and frozen rain/snow that took a few hours to melt away. It has remained persistently cold ever since, with mostly blue skies and brisk mornings, and an almost perfect way to shake oneself awake after a bit of reluctance to step outside.
Chill
I’ll leave it for this week, as we must go and pack for a quick trip to Victoria, where hopefully we’ll still be enjoying the cold and bright days, and making the most of it knowing the rain will return. Sometimes, turbulent isn’t so bad when it’s followed by calm…
“Reluctant to step outside on a cold day? Me? Never!”
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
OldPlaidCamper 