Saturday, April 9, 2011

Hardy Falls Walk. Peachland B.C.

Hanne in the Sunshine by Deep Creek
Hardy Falls

Deep Creek Walk to Hardy Falls

Well, we hope you backed "Ballabriggs" who came in the winner at 14-1 a few minutes ago! It is one of Britain's most important annual horse races involving a grueling race over hedges and water jumps, held at Aintree England. Meanwhile. back at the ranch as they say, we went for a walk on pleasant trails criss-crossing Deep Creek on wooden bridges. The actual water-fall wasn't too impressive, but what was remarkable was that a large portion of the cliffs by the falls had collapsed in 2009. Now access to the base of the falls is not permitted, penalty $10,000!  (The rocks are still unstable). You can see some of these rocks in the photo. It was a sunny day with deep shadows from the red-barked Alder trees. A few red-breasted nuthatches were trumpeting, mallards were digging in the creek, and a solitary kingfisher made his presence known. No humans were seen....the temperature varied yesterday from 0 to 14 degrees Celsius....

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Big Race

Green Lake Rd KVR Trail
So bets are on. The biggest race is soon to start. Have you picked a winner? It's the Grand National tomorrow! Today we explored Hardy Falls near Peachland. Pictures and story to-morrow, we've only just returned. See you later!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Spring Blossoms



Finally a few Spring blossoms for your enjoyment. The last one is from White Lake Biological Reserve where we love to walk. The others are local.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Cats and Crocuses by the River

Cat in a Tree

Old Bridge on the Shushwap at Enderby

Today the photos are from April 2009. This hole in our old crabapple tree we used to fill with a raccoon made of concrete, but that day it was being used by next door's cat. This is the one that was removed as a kitten by our Labrador "Sam" from the property,  delivering it home by mouth, causing many tears from its owner! It survived OK! And Sam survived too! We were once threatened by another neighbor with shooting him "if they ever caught Sam chasing a deer again" but fortunately it remained only a threat...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Spring Photos

Sometimes I don't feel like going out in the rain taking photos, so here are a few from the same time of year in 2008, when we lived in Armstrong BC in the North Okanagan.

A little store in Armstrong

New Growth-flowers coming on a Mahonia
The weather should improve in May! We are suffering from a low jet-stream right over our heads which seems to have got stuck. We hope it will move further north soon. Meanwhile some folk in the USA are suffering from tornados so we had better quit complaining!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Osoyoos

Yesterday we visited Osoyoos or "The Narrowing of the Waters" as it means when translated.   ( By the way " Canada" comes from an Iroquois word meaning "Village" or "Settlement" ).
The Peninsula of Haynes Provincial Park, Osoyoos

The Town of Osoyoos

A Weed Cleaning Boat
It was a warm Spring-like day with no wind. We walked on a peninsula  jutting out into the lake from the West, with a natural beach on either side. Looking South one can see all the way right into the United States of America, no passport, iris photo, or finger-prints required.
The peninsula is called Haynes Provincial Park, after Judge John Carmichael Haynes of 19th Century fame. (See earlier post). There were a few dog-walkers, parents and small children with bicycles, and a couple of girls drinking coffee, otherwise a very peaceful and relaxing spot. One mother was staggering along with a heavy child. When questioned about this she said  "Oh, she doesn't want to ride her bike any more"
Another young father was seen shouting and gesticulating, running after a car doing 50km/hr in a 20km/hr speed zone. Otherwise it was very peaceful, no wind, the few waves there were unable to lap on the beach because they were too sleepy!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Heart in a Rock

More out and about pictures. This time with music! This is our very first playlist. Hope you enjoy it!
We found this heart-shaped stone nestled in a rock on our walk. Some romantically minded person came before us!
Heart of the Rock

Truly ready for Summer?

The Boat-Port
You may remember an old photo of these two chairs covered in snow by an icy lake. Now all is ready for Spring! All the snow and ice are finally gone for good. The third photo shows what happens near lakes in Canada. Car-ports change to boat-ports!