Tahsis trip

 we traveled to Tahsis in our van from Tuesday the 2nd of August and arrived home on Friday the 5th.  The road from Gold River made it a rather challenging trip.  This is 68 km of gravel, curvy, 15% grade hills and one lane traffic over the bridges of the creeks and rivers.  We Spent the first over nite in Campbell River, with no hooks, but great wi fi  on Shaw open.  AND there was free salmon.  Delicious! The next day was traveled to Gold River and drove out to the dock where the Uchuck ship comes in, for lunch.  The scenery was very impressive and its a good paved road with two way traffic.  After a leisurely lunch we made our way to Tahsis, arriving in a rather frazzled condition.  We found the campsite and relaxed.  The next day was better heading back, as we knew what to expect on the roads.  We were in Gold River for lunch again and to the same Campbell River Camping spot overnite.  The trip home from Campbell River was pleasant with a few stops for shopping, lunch and photos.  All in all it was a memorable trip. The northwest of the island is very very dry.

 One of our stops on the road from Tahsis was at this River where there is a Fisheries facility tor recording the salmon runs.

 A mountain over looking Tahsis.  In some of my reading about this area there is a glacier up there somewhere.

 The dock at Tahsis.  There was a lumber mill and large ships would be at this dock to take out logs and bring in any needed supplies.  Since the mill closed the town seems to be dying a slow death.  It is a wilderness heaven, though,

 More of the scenery from our campsite at Tahsis.

 This is a photo of the frog sitting on the variegated grass next to my pond, on August 8.  There is only one of the frogs in the pond now.  A few days ago I drained the pond and cleaned it out.  I thought the frog was gone, but ..no such luck... it was back the next day.  It is a bull frog, but does not seem to be growing very fast.  I got  4 new fish after cleaning out the pond, which brings my total fish up to 10.  The frog does not seem to be eating them.  Maybe it cannot catch them.  I had four gold fish saved out of the pond, and thought I had lost the shubunkins, but there are 2 of them in the pond.  I have no idea how they survived the pond cleaning and then the refilling with water from the tap.

A photo of Barbara's garden from our last little trip with the RROC and Bentley club from last weekend.
My garden is very dry, and we have had a week of hot hot weather.  Hopefully, we will get some rain soon.  I am slowly getting the 10 perennials I recently bought transplanted, and some of the perennials cleaned up.

an excellent video on Tahsis... good oldies in the music too.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE2UoB6TtJU

Lunch out in the Dodge Lodge

 On July 29 we took a deli lunch and drove the Dodge Lodge to Albert Head Lagoon to enjoy the lunch at the ocean side.  This was once a secret place, but there were a few more people out to the Lagoon.

 More of the ocean and others on the beach.  There are a few houses along the waterfront, but it is not a dense population, and they leave the trees around the properties.

 The fisguard lighthouse shooting from the road by the Esquimalt lagoon.

 /Driftwood on the beach at the Esquimalt Lagoon.

 The beautiful oriental lily that Tara planted outside her door.  Very fragrant.  In full bloom on July 30th.  I brought them into the house to enjoy the heady fragrance.

Daylilies in the area behind the old garage.  It is a beautiful double blossom on July 20th.  

Some Prairie photos and some Island photos

 The prairie tapestry.  I had my camera on the 'vivid colors' setting for these photos.  I was shooting out the window of the van as we traveled back home from our trip to Saskatchewan in July.

 Prairie color layers.. enhanced by the vivid colors setting.

 A little old house that was once on the Prairie, and is now in a Canola field.

 A green crop in gently rolling hills, backed by the golden canola, with the foreground nicely blurred by the moving vehicle.  Some day I will finish the whole photo album for my old web page.

 On July 27th we rode the BMW scooter out to Genoa Bay for lunch.  This is the art shop and a big boat house.

An abstract from Genoa Bay.  What is a good name for it?  Double Jeopardy?

In the garden everything is very dry.  I am letting the pond water level get lower.  The plums in the tree above the pond are now over ripe and will be falling.  I want to get the pond cleaned out after they fall.  I pump out the water; saving the gold fish in a tub of clean water, and then scoop out the mud and debris.
We had a good feed of the plums with ice cream and gave some away.  I still have frozen pureed plums from last year, so I did not do any this year.  The purple plums are almost ready for eating. There are lots of grapes this year.  The figs are getting bigger and will soon be ripening too.  The apple tree is loaded with apples.  We need rain.