OldPlaidCamper

Spring Break (free range)

Finally, after many false starts and disagreements, the calendar and weather decided to align and reach a decision – 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.

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.

What a delight to be able to shed off a few late winter blues, let the shoulders drop and breathe in the new season.

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!

We’ve fingers crossed that the last of the late winter weather is behind us, and we’re looking forward to more spring!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Ups and downs…

…and ups again. Like this sentence, it’s been a messy sort of a week or two. The last of the snow has melted, helped by some heavy rain and a rise(!) to below seasonal temperatures. Joy. It was calm following the rain, yet that’s when we lost power, somewhat inexplicably. Maybe a happy-for-the-sun squirrel popped out and accidentally and exuberantly chewed through a power line? Grounded…

The earlier iron and steel greys – calm at least, but where is spring?

With the calmer days, we’ve had some warmer afternoons and blue skies – why, one could almost be fooled into thinking spring is here and heavy winter rains will become sporadic light rain showers. It’s been pleasant to see the greys turn blue, and spy some fresh greenery poking through. Our walks are longer and drier – more time spent outdoors.

We’re mourning the passing of a campfire companion this week, a lovely guy who’s gone on to the next life far too soon. I didn’t know him very well. He was a campfire presence a few times on some of the wilderness trips we shared with youth. JT had a calm presence, and was happy to spend time quietly telling stories shot through with flashes of good humour. He’d led a tough life, particularly in his younger days, and told me he enjoyed being home the past few years, preferring it to the hustle and bustle of life away. People liked to stop and say hi to him when he was in town, and you could see he was a well liked figure here and across the bay. We’ll miss him.

I’ll leave it here for this week. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Bank business!

Here we go, how about a financial advice column hosted by the mega wealthy OPC? No, that’s not going to happen. I wouldn’t wish the advice, or mega wealth for that matter, on anyone. Something about the root of all evil…

Still, as you’re here, you’re maybe wondering – bank business? Here’s my not so high financial advice: if you’ve got a few dollars and some spare time, invest it in a visit to Crew Collective Cafe in Montreal. Situated in an old bank building, it’s an absolute delight. You won’t make money but the returns will be of a different nature. There’s hardly a ceiling on your investment if you like an ornate ceiling, decent pastries and good coffee. The people watching and caffeine bustle are excellent bonuses.

“Excuse me, teller, I have $5:00 – what’s your advice?” “Can I recommend the double espresso as a wise investment sir?” “Yes you can. Sold!”

Oh, you do want some sound financial advice? Ok, this is all I really know. It isn’t easy, but I was once told if you spend less than you earn, you’ll likely be fine overall. Doubtless we can all think of many caveats to that, but, generally, it works for me – small print bit – I can’t guarantee it will work for you.

The other piece of advice is something I heard an education colleague share with a group of boys who were admiring (and astonished that the colleague owned) a shiny classic vehicle. His response when asked by one youth how he could afford such a vehicle? “It’s called a budget, boys!”

Enough! I can’t help you amass a huge fortune but I can say there’s wealth of a more enjoyable kind to be found in a decent cup of coffee, good company and a great location.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

What’s all this?!

Got back to the warmer west coast last weekend after a brief and chilly (but chilled) eastern Canadian trip, and hoped to see early spring signs – nope, not for now. Hmm…

A very short placeholder this week, before getting back to more complete posts next week, once we’ve defrosted/dug ourselves out!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend – I’ll leave you with a taster and unsubtle hint as to where we were for a few days last week:

Coffee break and a blog break…

…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.

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.

Looking forward to a few more days like this as we transition into a hopefully early spring!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Wild and undaunted

It’s a kind thought, and thank you, but no, not a post about me. Oh ok, if it is, as well as wild and undaunted, we were also very brave. That’s brave enough to get up close to a water dragon the other day and stick around to see a bear on the roof. Hmm. After that muddled build up, I’d best mention now that it’s all far less exciting that you might imagine…

Carrying on from where January left off, we’ve had grey and rainy days interspersed with some dull and wet days, with the occasional stormy and windy interlude thrown in. Can’t remember how many sunny spells we’ve had in the past week or so – I think there were one or two – but perhaps that’s faulty grey matter or wishful thinking. Or an overactive imagination. Speaking of, we really did see a large bear on a roof – honest! – but I have to admit it was less real than you might think. Or than I might have wished. Still, we were undaunted.

Following a stormy spell

Where were we? Ah yes, the bear. Here it is (totally unreal, but still, pretty wild?):

To the dragon then. I’m totally surprised, what with my heightened observational skills, that I hadn’t spotted the water dragon before. I mean, I’ve seen it most days when out on our walks, but it just hadn’t fully registered. Here it is:

A water dragon! (The tail and lower body markings confirm this)

So, to wrap up, perhaps all rather less exciting than it might seem, yet pretty good overall? Undaunted, wild, a bear on the roof and a water dragon? Given this has been a quiet and maybe even slightly dull week, can you imagine how things might hot up when it starts to hot up?! With spring just around the corner after the next corner, my imagination might become dangerously fevered. Whatever happens, I’ll take it all in stride, undaunted and so on…

Scout here: I apologize for PlaidCamper this week. Water dragons?! A bear on the roof? Perhaps I can get him to switch to decaf before these walks? Oh look, here’s a sunny spell…

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Bridges, beer, boats and blue skies!

We took a short trip to Victoria last weekend, hoping the forecast for sunshine and blue skies might actually be accurate, and would you believe it, it was!

The days weren’t the warmest, but they were certainly the driest we’ve experienced in a little while, so it was all good. Almost forgotten how great it can be to tilt your head up and feel a touch of warm sunshine (ignoring the chilly breeze!) on your face. Almost smiled…

Dark skies, bright lights and a blue lit bridge!

For various reasons, January this year has been a real drag, grey and gloomy, and not always just the weather. What a relief then to finish the month on a bit of an uptick.

I’ll keep it brief this week, and end by sharing a couple more photographs showing a highlight or two or three from the past weekend. Farewell January and hello February – you’ll give us a sunny day or two, won’t you?!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Definitely brisk out there – time to stop for a coffee?!

Adventurous types…

A shortish piece for a week where we’ve been worried about friends and family not doing so well, medically speaking. That said, it doesn’t have to be all gloom (although, the January weather here – please, weather gods, just a few hours of blue sky! Is that too much to ask?!) Right, on with the story:

Blue sky! Not much, admittedly, but there’s a patch!

L, a good friend, was taken unwell recently and rushed off to a local hospital. Alright, we’ll go see how he’s doing. Nope, not there, he was transported to a larger hospital the next big town up. No worries, we’re heading there Tuesday, we can drop in. Ten minutes before arrival, I picked up a voicemail. “Hey, L here, I’m not in Port, I’m in Victoria!” We can do that, had plans to be in Victoria at the weekend, so called back and left a message saying we’d track him down… By the time we got home from Port, a new voicemail. “Don’t go to Victoria, I’ll be heading to Tofino by the time you hear this!” Sure, that’s an easy reach from home.

We finally caught up with L in Tofino. I thought he might be a touch miffed what with all the travel. Nope, not a bit of it! Instead, a model of grace and calm. He’s been hither and thither, up and down and over and across the island in the past week. Prodded and poked, weighed and measured, yet still in pretty good humour given the circumstances.

On the way to Port – or was it on the way back? Losing track!

Smiling as he recounted his travels, he whispered he doesn’t need but would quite like an air ambulance to the mainland, just to grow his recent medical transportation collection, you know, to complete the set.

Over the years, L has been a logger, a fisherman and a trucker, loving aspects of each – particularly the travel – the more difficult and remote the better. So being bumped around in an ambulance on roads that have seen better days wasn’t too bad. “The medics couldn’t understand why I was so happy! I didn’t mind, seen worse, felt worse!”

Blue skies! Really! Short-lived, but it happened…

I left L with a pile of sports and outdoor adventure-type books he’s keen to read. “Yeah, you can go now. Let’s see what we’ve got here. Hockey? I dunno, not any more, not at my age. Hold on! Mountain climbing, eh? Haven’t done much of that, could be good…”

“*Adventurous? Yessir! Busy right now, so how about tomorrow?*”

Yes, mountain climbing, eh! Well, why not? Curiosity and being an adventurous type can keep one going. L has about 25 years on me, and I wouldn’t put it past him to be out in front again soon, with me struggling to keep up.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a pleasant weekend!

A walk on the quiet side…

Exhilarating though it is to be (safely, and from a distance) facing into the teeth of powerful storms, or pretending to do so just after they pass, it is also quite exhausting. Nature’s noise and frenzy is exciting for sure, but sometimes it’s nice to wander on the quiet side.

This is what we did last week, heading out in a different direction for our morning walk, on an almost dry day, stepping away from the coastal trails and across town to the inlet side.

It’s rarely entirely calm, being so maritime, but on the inlet side it can get close to almost quiet. The rain had stopped, and the wind was barely there, as reflected in the still water. We saw a few ducks – my eyesight and identification skills aren’t up to positive naming – but they were fun to spot. One flew below us, past where we stood overlooking the inlet, a long graceful swoop and glide along the top of the water, a slight skimming wake created before setting down. Nice landing!

Although the day was muted and grey, we enjoyed the pops of colour from the floats on boats and the bright paintwork on the wooden and metal harbour railings.

We’ll head back out on the wild side for sure, but it was very pleasant to have the option of a walk on the quiet side!

Thanks for reading, and we hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Log, rock, wind and rain…

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!

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!

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