An article about ever-rising ferry fares in one of the Nanaimo papers is mostly the same stuff we always read in these articles. But there is this Gabriola content, too: Rick and Dave Super live on Gabriola Island and they refuse to drive on to the MV Quinsam whenever they come to Nanaimo, preferring to [...]
Filed in ferries,Gabriola Island 12 Comments so far
A huge log lies across one of our favourite Gabriola trails, and we climb over that log regularly. It’s looked pretty much the same for ages now, but this week it looks like a polka-dotted oddity: orange somethings all over it! Can you tell what this orange something is?
Filed in Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
Today in the Gabriola forest, we found a monstrously huge maple tree. It was an old tree, with a hollowed-out bit in the centre. And in the centre of that hollowed out bit? Another tree! I’m assuming the tree-within-a-tree is another maple. Maybe Ezekiel saw a tree within a tree a-growin’, too, in which case [...]
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A few years ago at the Gabriola Farmers Market, a local gardener/plant vendor lady was selling broom seedlings. I know, I know. Isn’t broom Gabriola’s insanely invasive plant problem? But these were pink broom, she explained. Very pretty, and totally non invasive. Fast forward to now. Do you ever walk past the Islands Trust office [...]
Remember Gabriola’s strangest spiderweb? Maybe the spiders who created that have moved on to trampoline webs, like this one.
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It’s hard to pick just one favourite plant in the Gabriola woods, but Vanilla Leaf is certainly a top contender. I’ve been intending to write about it here for three years (!), but I’ve been putting it off, either because the photos I’ve taken of it never do the plant justice, or there are too [...]
Do you fly from Gabriola to Vancouver on Tofino Air? Your landing and departure spot on the Vancouver side might just have changed: Tofino Air has signed up to use the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre. The Globe and Mail explains that: …the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre announced Friday that they have signed up two airlines [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ve read about Gabriola’s feral tukeys. (See fowl invasion, Gabriola turkey invasion, Gabriola turkeys in the news, etc.) At the moment, the island’s turkeys are even more than usually interesting. Some of them are lurking near the bottom of the s-curve on North Road at Horseshoe, [...]
Filed in birds,Gabriola Island 11 Comments so far
Did you see the racing cyclists zooming around Gabriola yesterday? They were here for the BC Masters’ Stage Race. Apparently the route was all around the island: out along North Road, back along South Road. I imagine that riding up Brickyard Hill gave them something to think about. For me, the race was of a [...]
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Say you have property on Gabriola, and a neighbourhood trail runs through it. What to do? Perhaps you’d like to let people wander along that trail. Maybe your trail provides access to the beach or forest for neighbours who would have to take huge detours to get to those places if not for your handy [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,trails 9 Comments so far
At last: a morel! Last March on Gabriola we had tons of morels, but this is the first one I’ve seen on the island this year.
Filed in Gabriola Island,mushrooms 2 Comments so far
It’s been an unusually cold spring on Gabriola. When a morning walk can require a hat and gloves in May, one wonders what the world is coming to. Have you had the fire on in the mornings? If you have, perhaps this idea of heating your home with a hair dryer will appeal.
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Would a library like this work on Gabriola? From the Nanaimo Daily News: Neighbourhood library now ready to branch out. Taxi drivers occasionally stop outside Barbara Densmore’s home on Irwin Street and snoop around with flashlights in hand. She doesn’t worry though, because she knows the night owls are just looking for something to read. [...]
Filed in books,Gabriola Island 8 Comments so far
By way of follow-up to my article regarding the 1887 Nanaimo mine explosion: The Nanaimo Daily News today reports that the memorial at the foot of Milton Street has been refurbished. I visited it only last Thursday, and saw no sign of recent work on it compared to earlier photographs, so am intrigued to see [...]
Filed in events,history,Nanaimo 5 Comments so far
Now here’s something you might want to attend this Saturday (May 7th, 2011) morning at the Agi Hall: a presentation about the geology of Gabriola Island. Nick Doe and Steve Earle are the speakers, and they’ll be followed by a panel discussion on disaster preparedness. The event is organized by Gabriola Emergency Social Services.
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Most days, the world of the northern English mining village where my father was raised seems ungraspably distant from Gabriola Island. I sit at my desk, looking out at the cedars towering over the first flowers of late-arriving Spring, and struggle to imagine the hard rows of company houses on the numbered streets of Horden [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,Gabriola people,history,Nanaimo 6 Comments so far
This is one of the native plants you’ll see if you wander through the Gabriola woods today. Do you know it?
