Sunday, April 30, 2017

SWITCHING FROM BIRDS TO FLOWERS THIS TIME

Funny thing but we are still keeping very busy!  I take my camera along each time I walk Mitzy and I keep finding more things to photograph.  With the spring being so late here on Vancouver Island as well, we are seeing flowers that are usually finished before we arrive.
We've been enjoying our visit with Neil and Carol and I have a few old photos from their collection to scan for mine.  I came up with some more old family photos yesterday as well.
It was my Aunt Isabelles's funeral up at Courtenay yesterday.  Richard and Georgia came up and went to the funeral with us then stayed overnight in the motor home.  There was a good gathering of my cousins although less than I had expected.  Isabelle was a special lady and was very popular with all the extended family.  It was gratifying to have representation from descendants of all seven of her siblings attending.
John and Sue, my sister, told me yesterday about large displays of Shooting Stars out in the Yellow Point area so today we drove out for a look.  There were still lots of Fawn Lilies in spots as well.  We've been getting lots of rain over here as well but today had a sunny morning and a few spits this afternoon.
We will probably spend a few more days here then move up Island a little further.


                                     
Mustard in a field at Westhome, BC

Small-flowered Penstemon at Chemainus River estuary


A closeup of the above Penstemons

White Fawn Lily


Stonecrop

Ornamental trees across from where we are parked at Duncan

Trillium

Getting in closer

Shooting Stars at Yellow Point


White Fawn Lilies

Fairy Slipper - calypso bulbosa


Tuesday, April 25, 2017

TIMES UP - LEAVING TOWN

We're pulling up stakes tomorrow morning and leaving the Shuswap.  Our plan is to stay near Hope tomorrow night then catch a ferry to Vancouver Island on Thursday.  We are going to spend a few days at my cousin Neil's in Duncan.  We have a funeral to attend in Courtenay on Saturday for one of my Dad's sisters.   It  puts us closer to Richard, Robin and Georgia in Victoria for visiting.
In less than a month, we will be taking a road trip in the car to Alberta for a nephew's wedding.  It has been quite a while since we have been on a long trip with the car so we'll have to put a lot of thought into what we need to take with us.  We are really spoiled packing our complete house around with us for so long.
We aren't sure if we will be back through the Shuswap this fall as we will be staying on the Island until after the Canadian Thanksgiving as that weekend, we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with a party.
We have checked off the big list of things we needed to do in Salmon Arm and visited several friends and some family.  The weather has been pretty lousy this trip with spring being way late and lots of rain.  There are very few of the regular birds here yet and hardly any flowers blooming so my photography has been suffering.
Since it was a pleasant evening for a change, we went for a drive after supper.  It was nice to see some Glacier Lilies and Spring Beauties beginning to bloom.  Ironic that they start just the day before we depart?

McGuire Lake  -  Salmon Arm

Spotted on a side street in Salmon Arm, I call it a rat rod camper

So nice to see some sunshine this morning, it highlighted the steam rising from my hot drink

An Osprey having fish for lunch

A couple of Ospreys on a nest


Another Western Painted Turtle 

This is just a record shot showing the general scene today at McGuire Lake.  That's the local hospital over there. 

By squatting down as low as I could and zooming in, I was able to create this shot with no changes made in the computer.

Red-winged Blackbird

Glacier Lily

Spring Beauties


Wednesday, April 19, 2017

STILL HANGING - WITH THE BIRDS, THAT IS

Life continues during our stay in the Shuswap.  We have finished our appointments butr still have more friends to visit.  We will be prolonging our stay over the weekend as Kevin is going to visit Bev in Fort McMurray so Aileen will be looking after the grand dogs.  
I have been sorting through boxes of slides and scanning a few of them.  Still have thousands to go.  I've been trying to toss out as many as possible to minimize the bulk.  
 I think we will pull out of here on Wednesday then take the ferry over to Victoria Thursday.  As is common with RVers, those are jello plans, subject to modification. 

Brewer's Blackbird male

Brewer's Blackbird female

Great Blue Heron

Osprey sequence




Ospreys

Mallard drake

American Widgeon drake

Mallard hen

Western Painted Turtles

Northern Flicker calling after bashing his beak on the metal roof

The pretty under wing of a Northern Flicker

Red-naped Sapsucker, he let me get to within about thirty feet

Some of our neighbours

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

HANGING OUT AT HOME BASE

We are again parked at Kevin's sister's property out in the country west of Salmon Arm and we are enjoying the peace and quiet.  We arrived here Monday the 3rd and it has rained part of every day since although we have had some sun today.  Aileen had a cold for most of our drive north and I came down with one after we got here.  We are both mostly better now.  As you can see from the last two photos, the driveway is a bit of a challenge.
We took the motor home out yesterday and down to Kelowna to have the main propane valve replaced as it was sticking and not wanting to allow fuel out.  Not a good thing, especially when it happened when we were parked out in the desert in February.
We are working our way through our lists of things to do while we are here.  It is different not being able to visit with our daughter as she is working up in Fort MacMurray, Alberta currently.  I went to camera club last night and got to meet some of my old friends from those days.  For many years I was very active in the club and when I quit to begin this lifestyle, I was the longest continuously serving member.

Interestingly sculpted rocks in Naramata Creek Canyon where I went for a walk one day while we were still down in Penticton.

This young teen inched her way across the creek .  It was interesting watching her maneuver over some branch stubs.  Not for the faint of heart! 

Naramata Creek  Falls


The old paddlewheeler Sicamous on the beach at Penticton

Black-billed Magpie taken through the motor home windshield.  These guys are really spooky if I'm outside, they have a long comfort zone distance.

Red-naped Sapsuckers, I think both are males.



The mudhole in the driveway to where we are parked.  Taken the motor home through it three times now.  It was full of water the first day so I took a shovel out and drained it as best I could.