Home-grown Tofino tomatoes. In June!
And I thought I was an ace at growing tomatoes in chilly Tofino.
Yesterday, Merry Bewick down on Chestermans Beach called me up and asked if I would come over and sign a copy of one of my books, that she had purchased as a gift.
I’ve been carefully tending my tomato seedlings since March. I’ve done a great job, I must say – some are approaching a foot in height, and a few even have buds on them.
So imagine my surprise when Read more…
What’s SUP, dude?
I finally got to try out a SUP – a Stand-Up Paddleboard. A lot of my adventure racing friends have been raving about them these last couple of years.
Norm Hann was our instructor – giving us a chance to try out something new, as well as to find out about a new and different way of getting a core workout. (The core muscles are all of the big muscles in the centre of your body – stomach, back, glutes – that support and stabilize the rest of your body. A strong core helps prevent injury as well as makes you stronger all-round). This morning clinic was one part of Read more…
Sneak preview of my photo show
I’ve had fun, these past couple of weeks, working with my photography. I left my previous job (consultant geologist to the mining industry) ten years ago to focus on my outdoor and nature photography, both here in Clayoquot Sound and around the world. After a few years, I started writing, too – I found it easier to sell my photos to magazines if I could offer an article with them. In 2004 I published my first book, The Wild Edge, which I both wrote and photographed, and since then it seems I have Read more…
Happy Birthday, Blog!
It’s a year ago today that I started this blog, and about one year ago that I signed up for Twitter. It’s been a learning process for me – surprisingly, even learning about myself! I feel that it’s time to assess how the social media have been working for me, and what directions I should take with them.
(And – apologies for the long absence on the blog. Between the long travels, as well as trying to meet several overdue paying writing commitments, I made the executive decision to focus on the prior commitments. But I’m back now!)
First of all, the blog. Well, to be honest, I didn’t really know Read more…
Look at these great swimmers! This is a photo of Benjamín Caceres (20) and Bárbara Hernandez (24) after one of their training sessions swimming in Magellan Strait (we’re talking the frigid waters that separate the southernmost tip of the South American continent from the island of Tierra del Fuego, water T around 7ºC or so). That’s me in the middle, with the dry hair. I didn’t swim with them here – I am just proud that they are my friends!
I’ve known Benja and his family for six years, and I’ve just been down visiting them in Punta Arenas, Chile, for a couple of weeks. Benja had already done his Strait swim before Read more…
Something Weird’s up with LAN Airlines in Lima (or, When Life Deals You a Bowl of Lemons, make a Pisco Sour)
Note: this post was written last week, Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, during a complete unforeseen stopover in Lima.
Ha! It says that Lima is "the best airport in South America". Ha! I say again.
OK, I thought I’d be fine for my travels back to Canada because I would not pass through Santiago de Chile (airport affected by the recent big earthquake); my routing was Buenos Aires – Lima – LA – Vancouver. Especially after checking in in BA: they gave me my boarding passes right through to LA. All seemed good.
Then I got to Lima where, upon disembarking, the screen showed my 1:05am flight, at Gate 21, to LA (along with a whole bunch of other LAN flights) as “Delayed”. So those of us with the same connection lined up and waited patiently… I heard the Australians in front of me being told that the flight was now going at 5:40am, but then Read more…
Sunbaking in the South American summer (what it’s really like)
Yup, for all of you who were jealous that I was escaping Canadian and winter and heading south, thinking I was drinking margaritas on the beach in my bikini, well… here’s what things are really like down here! (So if I don’t have much of a tan when I get home, maybe you’ll all understand why?)
OK, yes, it is the peak of summer, but this is Patagonia. Unfortunately, you can’t tell in the picture how windy it is! Not only is it high-latitude (53-54 degrees where I was, in and south of Punta Arenas – roughly equivalent to the latitude of Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands). But in addition, the plate tectonic accident that has placed Antarctica symmetrically over the south pole (for now, anyway) means that, unlike in the northern hemisphere, the winds that swirl around the globe in the latitudes Read more…
Recycling is evil; pass it on.
This article is a response to the post by writer Sharleen Jonsson in which she decides whether to support the struggling newspaper industry by upping her subscription to daily paper delivery, or to try not to increase her paper consumption.
“But does it really matter, if I recycle?” Sharleen asks.
This is a big question. And my answer is YES it matters!
Our environmental problems are overwhelming. So overwhelming. And, once you start to grasp the overwhelmingness of it all, it’s really depressing. So people tend to focus on the positive – even if that positive is not actually representative of the big picture. It’s something to clutch at. Because the reality of the negatives – the very major changes we need to take make in in our lifestyles order to ensure that our planet is liveable for humans in the future – are mind-boggling.
So, instead, people focus on the positive things that we can do – things that, on the scale of the problem itself, actually have neglible impact – to the point that I think these “false-positive” messages are really damaging. Because now we can justify our consumption by Read more…
Today is our earthquake anniversary
(Listen to me talking about this subject today with Long Beach Radio’s Geoff Johnson – click here to listen to podcast, or right-click/control-click to download mp3. Runs 22 min).
No one else pays attention to this date, but I always do. The anniversary of our earthquake is perhaps not pleasant to think of, but it is important. Kind of like Remembrance Day.
It was 310 years ago today – around 9pm on the night of January 26th, 1700, that the last big quake hit. How do scientists know that? Native people up and down the coast have earthquake stories in their oral history – but as non-written cultures, they are not able to provide exact calendar dates for these events.
Geologists can recognize ancient tsunami deposits by taking core samples in the mudflats – some of their data come from right here beside Tofino, in Browning Passage Read more…
Flowers in January
So many of my friends from other parts of Canada ask me how I handle the winters out here on the west coast. “How can you stand it? It’s such a damp cold.”
“Yup,” I smile. Damp is good. Damp means that the temperature is still above freezing.
The last week or two has been warm even for Tofino. My witch hazel bloomed a couple of weeks ago. Which is normal; it usually blooms the first week of January. But riding my bike around town yesterday, I noticed there are actually a lot of flowers in bloom right now.
So I got back on the bike today, camera in hand. These are no amazing photos – I only took my point-and-shoot out – but I was sure surprised, once I started looking. Remember, this is Canada, in the middle of January!
In a short little lap around town, I came across dozens of different types of Read more…
Jacqueline Windh 