This bicycle wheel was part of a bike that was painted green by the Gabriola Green Bikes Project, and then set free for the community to use. It’s all warped and damaged now, and sitting on top of a garbage bin at Huxley Park. Oh, how very disappointing. Kids, this is why we can’t have [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island One Response so far
I wondered about trees like this — they’re here and there in the Gabriola woods. Why does the moss grow in horizontal stripes? Well. It turns out that the space between the bands of moss is where the trailmarker tape was, years ago. And then the tape fell off and left this pattern. It’s a [...]
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Say I’m wandering around on Gabriola, and I start to suspect that I am on somebody’s private property. If I am, how can I find out whose property I’ve wandered onto? I suppose I can fire up the GPS and get the co-ordinates of my current location, then go home and look at the lovely [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 6 Comments so far
If you’re interested in Gabriola’s wild mushrooms, you might like this video. It features Ray Mears, a British guy who makes films about foraging for wild foods, wilderness bushcraft, and so forth. Ray shows some of the mushrooms we’ve got on Gabriola — make special note of the poisonous fly agaric and panther agaric mushrooms. [...]
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In January I spotted that rusting thing on Gabriola. Now here’s a somewhat similar beast, though a little less interesting. What’s this, do you think?
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Oh, that Roxy girl — she does promote a lot of Gabriola events. But isn’t having a legalize pot event on Gabriola kind of like preaching to the choir?
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You probably weren’t expecting the Gabriola forest to sprout pink stuff at this time of year, were you? But it turns out that we have all quite a few pink fungi about the place. This is one of dozens I pass on my morning walks.
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There are a lot of cat-lovers on Gabriola, and a lot of cats. When one of the cat people hears that I’m annoyed about the cat who visits my garden, I’m met with That Look. That Look that suggests that I Just Don’t Understand, probably had a deprived childhood, and am likely lacking in essential [...]
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Last January I blogged about tree number two, which stands in the Gabriola forest, apparently just to perplex me. Well. Now I’ve found the next tree in the series, I guess – tree number three. It’s 420 metres from the tree number two, and not on a trail… unless you count an old logging road [...]
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I go past the Tree Where Raccoons Live every day in the Gabriola woods, and try again and again to get a good shot of those ‘coons: fail. I walk under the Trees Where Owls Live in the Gabriola forest, and try all winter long to get a good photo of owls: fail. I even [...]
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A few months ago Gabriola’s ferry schedule changed – we moved to this sailing schedule in order to improve the on-time performance of the Quinsam. The Daily News reports that we’ll be keeping this Quinsam’ schedule through the winter. The kicker is that: B.C. Ferries is still studying the question of who pays for it. [...]
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If you live on Gabriola, you’ve probably been to a concert put on by Lulu Performing Arts. Lulu should get top marks for marketing, if you ask me – her Lulu’s Lager beer is available on the island, and sales go to support the society. Now Lulu’s gone further, and is more widely-reported, too. The [...]
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And to think — I used to wonder if slugs could climb trees! This Gabriola slug has climbed up an alder tree and onto the roof of one of the forest birdhouses. Is he after the glue? He seems to be eating the roof-moss.
Filed in Gabriola Island,trails 2 Comments so far
In the 707, oxeye daisies are pretty much done for the year. But ah, look at those seeds!
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Psst! Hey, Gabriola photographers — has BC Ferries pilfered your photos? The Hook blog at Tyee.ca reports that: Several participants on a ferry discussion website say British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. has used their photos of vessels without asking, paying or even providing credit.[continue] Well, hmph. If your photos of BC Ferries’ vessels are on [...]
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Where should Gabriola’s ferry dock on the Nanaimo side of her route? Jeremy Baker thinks the Quinsam should go to Duke Point, not Nanaimo Harbour. He’s sent a letter to the editor of a Nanaimo newspaper, listing 11 reasons for his position. I don’t imagine that this proposal will be very popular with those who [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island 4 Comments so far
Gabriola folks will take one look at this frog and say that frog isn’t native to Gabriola! He lives here now, though, and seems quite content where I spotted him amidst the moss. He’s in the Elder Cedar (S’ul-hween X’pey) Nature Reserve, just near one of the bridges that GALTT built for us. In case [...]
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Strange things are growing on some of Gabriola’s native rose bushes. They look like apple-sized balls of moss, and they’re growing around the rose branch – sometimes at the end of a branch, sometimes not. Some of these moss ball things are green, while others are pink. Puzzled, I pulled out my knife and cut [...]
