Many of you have been busy hanging Christmas ornaments on trees. Meanwhile, I’ve been walking through the Gabriola woods, and seeing what ornaments nature puts on the island’s trees in winter. Here’s one – I bet none of your ornaments are quite like this! It’s a jelly fungus, and it grows on alder trees in [...]
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Months ago I wished for a change counting machine on Gabriola, and asked if there were any in Nanaimo. Apparently there aren’t, but Tina commented that Quality Foods in Qualicum has one. Last week I finally got around to checking that out, which is how I can tell you that two large yogurt containers can [...]
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Dear Gabriola guy with handsaw, We noticed you a while ago, ducking into the woods with a handsaw. And we’ve seen you (from a distance) hard at work, sawing off a strip of bark from a fallen tree. Now we’ve found three logs – like this one – that you seem to have found first. [...]
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You know it’s near Christmas on Gabriola when you pick up your mail at stupid o’clock, because there are long line-ups at every other time of the day. And you know you’re lucky to live on Gabriola when that is your biggest complaint.
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The National Post points out that this year’s solstice will be unusual: Solstice-eclipse overlap marks rare sight. This year’s winter solstice — an event that will occur next Tuesday — will coincide with a full lunar eclipse in a union that hasn’t been seen in 456 years. (…) The last time the two celestial events [...]
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Just next to the washing machine in the Gabriola woods, there was a old car tire, nestled in the salal. I know that tire has been there for at least five years, and I’m guessing much longer than that. But what do you know? Somebody has fished out that tire, and used is as a [...]
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What’s that over there? Huh. A wire cage, in the Gabriola forest. The sort of cage you’d put around a plant in order to protect that plant from deer. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? We wander over to take a look, and find several such cages, though most have tipped over, and some look [...]
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When election time comes around, are you ever tempted to run for the position of Islands Trust trustee? (Gabriola’s current trustee is Sheila Malcolmson.) If you’re interested in running next year, you might like to know that the renumeration for this position is to be raised to $17,615 per year – up from $10,200. This [...]
If you shop at Folklife Village, I bet you’ve seen these two Gabriola dogs, especially when they’re hanging out near Village Foods. The black one is old and calm, the light one zips all over the place. Yeah, you try photographing a dog who never stops moving! Note blurry tail in first photo: it wags [...]
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If you’re a beekeeper or honey lover, you might recall that I blogged about bees in trouble last March. Well. Here’s an interesting twist on that story from FastCompany.com: Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees. The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and [...]
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Had a hard day, Gabriola? Oh, even reading this recipe will make you feel better.
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This is my favourite weather: fog. Fog in the Gabriola woods makes me incredibly happy.
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Our hunter friend on Gabriola says the time to hunt deer on the island is between October and December. By the tenth of December, he says, it’s all over. Apparently this is because the bucks aren’t in rut anymore, and are hence not stupid enough to take chances around hunters. For those of us who [...]
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Here’s archeological news from a site not too far from Gabriola. From the Comox Valley Echo: Fish traps ‘almost 1400 years old’. Some of the ancient fish traps in the Courtenay Estuary are way older than first imagined. Radiocarbon dating of the remains of wooden stakes pounded in to the mud has revealed some date [...]
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Now that Gabriola is back in the Season of Serious Rain, prepared people are sporting serious raingear. This member of the Quinsam’s crew is decked out in a bright yellow sou’wester — just the thing for the Salish Sea’s fashion runway!
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The Daily News notes that some people on Gabriola don’t think we need to build a medical clinic on the island. The paper points out the new blog that Shena Meadowcroft and Tony Gibson have started: Proposed Gabriola Clinic – Concerns, Facts & Questions. (The Flying Shingle told us about this blog yesterday. I’d link [...]
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Travelling between Gabriola and Vancouver? If you go through Departure Bay as a taxi-taking foot passenger, you’ll be relieved to learn that the no taxi at the terminal insanity is coming to an end. The Daily News reports that BC Ferries and Nanaimo taxi companies have come to an agreement.
