Photo Assignment Nanaimo: Piper's Lagoon

I got so excited by this project that I took too many photos. Then I had to go through and tweak and crop and highlight a hundred pictures...then I had to choose which ones to show you and I still ended up with too many. I simply couldn't stop myself. I LOVE this park. I hope everyone else is having fun, too. This is my favorite park in Nanaimo. When we lived in the north end, this is where I walked with Maggie nearly every day. Whenever I return, I know that I am walking not only with Eem-er, but also with the ghost of Maggie at my heels, both of them snuffling up giant nosefulls of rabbit- scented air.

This is a place of magic...a whole lot of something special wrapped up in a small package. The lighting is rarely bad here, even on the gloomiest of days. Thursday, however, was a brilliantly blue morning with an eye-wateringly cold wind. Somehow, the shock of it put Erin and me into a shrieking good mood and wound the dogs right up.

From the giant logs tossed on the numerous beaches to the smallest bits of beach debris, from the sandy spots to the giant rocks vaulting out of the ocean, from soft moss and sweet succulents to the gnarled, ancient Garry_Oak , this park is texture, texture, texture. You could point a camera in any direction and find something captured in your lens worth sharing.

It's almost too easy here...don't you think?

Just one photo of Shack Island. This time. Gah, that's hard. Just one?

The graffitti tree. Arbutus.

See which way the wind comes from? It's like a combover, isn't it?

But where the wind doesn't dominate, look how crazy the limbs grow! Isn't that wild? I LOVE this park. Did I mention that I love this park?!?

More Garry Oaks rising from fields of gold.

Sigh.

Tide was in...winter makes them higher and in the coming winter storms, these giant logs will be swept away and brought back in numerous times, laid out in everchanging artistic arrangements.

So much to see here...I could go on and on...and on...but there are others out there with Photo Assignment Nanaimo going on. So put on your walking shoes and get on out there....

...or enjoy our park another way.

Thanks for coming along.

Photo Assignment: Buttertubs Marsh

But first....let's take a moment to remember those who have fallen and those still among us who have made all the difference. Thank you.
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Tuesday morning, bright and early, I headed off to Buttertubs Marsh for our latest Photo Assignment Nanaimo. I thought that if I was there early enough, that I could smuggle a certain somebody in with me...because what's a walk without a dog... I mean, if you're a dog person, right?

The signage was pretty clear what the Parks Department thinks of dogs and cats here at Buttertubs. However, I wasn't the only one out there with a dog...hmmmn. And I don't think the dogs left the size twelve bootprints heading out into the marsh and a trail of crumpled cattails and broken branches behind OR the copious amounts of McDonald's litter. But I could be wrong. So, leashed tightly together and armed with an abundance of poo bags, we crept around the fringes of Buttertubs.

We used this entrance...there are a couple of entrances and maybe the other folks with dogs felt more comfortable marching in because they didn't walk past this building with Parks workers already there. Shhhhh.

I don't know how anyone sees anything here. Cattails as high as your eye march right up to the path....

and then go on forever. Surreal and glorious. A world unknown.

On the other side of the path was this grove of Hawthorn trees with hardly a leaf left, but absolutely brilliant in berries.

Bedazzling.

I would have liked to live here. I wonder who did have their house here on the edge of the marsh. Did they love waking to the ducks and songbirds each morning? Or sometimes when the sun was rising in summer, was it just too damn loud with all that singing at 4 am? I wonder where they went, and when, and why they took their whole house with them....

but left this behind. And although I know this is an auger of some sort, I do wonder what it was used for here in the marshy-marshiness of Buttertubs Marsh.

I didn't make it around the whole marsh. I still had Eemer with me and didn't want to press my luck . Also, I do understand the need to keep dogs out of sanctuaries for wildlife. It's because of irresponsible owners. I get it. I do. And I don't want to make things any tougher on us responsible dog owners by thumbing my nose at these ordinances(at least not all the time.)

So I turned around here and headed back to the car, picking up litter along the way and tucking it into poobags because it is not just some dog owners who are irresponsible in a wildlife sanctuary.

I saw ducks but they didn't come in close for photos, and I heard the rustle of hundreds of smaller birds through the dead leaves, the rushes, the hawthorn branches...but they did not come sit for photos, either. That's how it works sometimes. Nature keeps her own schedule.

And that's about it for me...next week something new...the downtown Nanaimo waterfront. What a treat.

Photo Assignment: Bowen Park

I've heard it said that into every life, a little Rain must fall... thank goodness, thank goodness. We decided to see the same places in order to see how we see them differently...see? Yeah, see? Weather finally permitting, last week, we both walked Bowen park. I thought she might have gotten the short end of the stick, since I got the better weather, for sure, but I don't really think so anymore. Did you see her photos? It's no secret that when this town, this neighbourhood, these circumstances make me feel trapped that I have weapons...a leash, a dog, a camera, my feet. I have a way that I feel which I look for out here...it's not that I find that feeling through the lens, nor even that I remember it through the photos(though I can), because I can remember moments that have so consumed me that I never even thought to snap off a picture, even if they happened a lifetime ago.

However, these photos I can share with you...and you...and you. Bringing you all along on these walks has introduced me to some friends of mine and opened up a space for us to be...and I like it here in our space.

This is my favorite spot in this park. I couldn't really tell you why. I like how I feel right here. That is one of the reasons I love bringing you along.

I have enjoyed the challenge of trying to find words which echo what I am really feeling out here because I don't always convey myself well in "the real world." I am not always sure that people "get" what these moments are all about to me...sometimes I am sure I frighten folks on these trails when they come across me crouched forever studying something they can't see. Mwuhahahaha.

Right here, I get right up close to the falls and close my eyes. The roar of it drowns everything else out. It becomes just me. I become just me. I don't think about anything else for that glorious roaring time. In Texas, on South Padre Island, Michael and I used to swim out past the first breakers and float, belly up, between the incoming waves of the first and second breakers. All you could hear was water. Fifteen minutes of that was like a good massage followed by eight hours of deep, sound sleep. Standing next to the falls is kind of like that...maybe more like a sweet (but short) nap.

This park is pretty magical...for some folks, I am sure it is all about the river...Millstone River. It is beautiful. It's course is astounding, slicing through slick rock and pounding now throughout spring. It will be a mere trickle in the late summer.

However, there is so much more to this park than the river. It's manicured. It has hangnails, too.

The wildness of the river trails, the calm waters of the outdoor community pool, horseshoes, disc golf, high-pitched children's voices rising over the seniors' activity center... it is a park for the ages, all ages. It is a park with a heartbeat.

The funny thing is, I didn't really feel too inspired to get out there for photos...these past weeks have really been taxing and I just didn't think I would get "there." At first, I was just pointing and shooting...I admit it. I didn't have it.

But then, rustling through the leaves, watching the filtering of the light, searching for the treasures I might share, I found it. That place I like to be. That way I like to feel. I have a hundred photos to prove it...how do I choose?

And another funny thing is this....you still don't even have a picture of "the Park." In total. You know what I mean? Rain didn't give you a photo of the park. I didn't give you a photo of the park. You still don't really know what the park looks like, do you? Granted, it is a pretty big park, but still...neither of us has given you the big picture.

We gave you tiny moments.

But I think they make a grander statement. Don't you? Thanks for coming along with us.

You choose the next one, Rain. Krista? I hear you want to play, too?!? This is gonna be good.

Photo Assignment: Nanaimo Waterfront

I know you've all been waiting for this, right? We all decided to take two weeks between assignments so that we would have more time to work on them...I waited until Thursday to even get down there. Go figure. And, again, I went totally photo gaga and took so many I can barely choose what to post. And, again, go figure. The Nanaimo waterfront on a cool, crisp November morning. The waters were still and calm. The docks were salted but it was still slippery...and cold. Winter is here. There were no tourists and very few folks out strolling...pretty quiet down here. That's fine. That's how I like things.

When Michael and I get old and want the ammenities of condo life, we hope to have a place like this...one of those upper floor "garden" apartments. Some of these patios are bigger than the yard we have now! Not to mention the view.

Mostly all of my photos....okay, ALL of my photos were taken down on the docks and not on the promenade. I didn't like any of the photos I took up there...but the boats! Oh the glorious boats...fishing boats and sailboats and rowboats...canoes, dragonboats, pontoon boats, tug boats, yachts and ferries...kayaks...and even some seaplanes.

Boats for the trendy(get it?).

Boats for hippies.

Boats for rednecks.

Boats for traditionalists.

Boats full of colour and texture and history...I want to know all their stories.

I want to know where they went. Don't you?

I want to know who sits here. I love their colour choices.

All the charm of any waterfront for me is on the docks themselves, and under them. It reminds me of some of the good things about growing up here, where I wandered the docks and Percival Landing for years, feeding the seagulls warm, overly salty popcorn bought with pocket change from the Yard Birds/Seamart store...

So that's it for me here...but there's more on Flickr.

Who picks next?

Photo Assignment Nanaimo: Snow

Well, snow is just one of those things, I think. You either LOVE it... or you DON"T. Except for me, because I am a Libra and I can't really make such a strong decision...at least not about snow.

Thing is, it's beautiful...I can see that. It's scary, too, though. We were out running errands when the snow started last weekend. We were trying to get home before it really got going...but it got going in a big, fast way here. No messing around this time.

So, we got home and parked the car and left it, so our walks were just around the neighbourhood here...and the snow just continued falling. It wasn't easy to take my "Precious " out into this weather while the big, fat, wet flakes kept falling. I am still in that very protective stage of new love.

Everything looked "pristine," in that tried and true wonderment of a winter wonderland...well, not everything, really. But, most things.

For a little while, anyway.

The thing about snow on the west coast is this...it won't stay pretty long. Hell, sometimes not even for five minutes. Our snow is wet and heavy, backbreaking to shovel...because all it really wants is to be RAIN!!! And when the rain starts, there is a sneaky layer of slick slush beneath the crust of snow, waiting to take you down...hard. Overnight, that may freeze and then you should just stay home. Really. Don't go out.

Moments like these will not last....and did not last. Get out and enjoy it when you can here. Quick. Two days of heavy snow turned to downpour and record high temperatures. All that snow mixed with all that rain and all that warm weather created flooding here...and have you seen the news about Washington state? Holy cow. We are places designed to take water, but we were no match for this storm.

It did paint a pretty picture for a minute, though.

Another thing about a west coast winter snowfall is that we don't have enough of it to be "good" at it. I know we sound whiney out here when it snows, but snow takes practice.

Somebody's moving day today. Hey, Em, what does this photo remind you of? See how snow can really ruin your day?

No, I mean, really ruin your day! Did I mention we don't have enough snow around here to practice? We can't drive in this stuff!!! And even if one person CAN, twenty others can't, so it doesn't really matter.

Someone drove/slid into a power pole up the street here...and two transformers blew. Yikes. We were a little worried about having no heat(our pellet stove IS electrically powered!), but the power was restored a couple of hours later. Thank goodness. We were lucky.

We've had blissfully blue skies the past few days and the drier weather has helped lower the water levels. Dog walks at the Nanaimo River were astonishing this week, watching huge trees rush past us down the river, roots and all. The water was roaring, ten feet higher than normal on the "high side" of the river, while the "lowlands" were simply gone and the trees seemed to be growing straight up out of the water.

All of this is under water now. Incredible. Literally overnight. Scary.

But, it's sunny and blue again today...cold, but sunny and blue. I gotta get out for dogwalks in about fifteen minutes. Michael and I head down to Victoria today to see the immigration attorney again. Lord, I will be happy when all this is done. Broke, but happy. Wink. So, better go eat some toast and put on my shoes, grab my camera and head out. Have a good weekend.