You’ve seen those moss-draped branches in the Elder Cedar Nature Reserve. Well, today we were ducking under one of those when we spotted a tiny red speck. And then the speck moved! Turns out that it is this wee bug, which is less than half a centimeter long. I think it’s probably a spider mite.
Filed in Gabriola Island,insects 3 Comments so far
Are you ready for a disaster? The Gabriola Ambulance Society hopes so. To help you prepare, they’re presenting Be Disaster Ready tomorrow, May 5th, from 10 am to noon. It’ll be in the Phoenix Auditorium at The Haven. Topics/presenters include: Gabriola Geology — Nick Doe Are you Ready? — Maggie Mooney The Galiano Fire Experience [...]
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Gabriola’s Spring Fair will be held tomorrow (Saturday, May 5th) at the Gabriola Commons. Are you going? It’s from 10 am to 2 pm. There’ll be an exchange/sale of plant starts, and maybe Eric will be giving out bean seeds again. They’re having a trail walk – hey, SpecialK, perhaps they’ll show all of that [...]
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It’s always interesting to see which island news stories make it into the big-city papers. The new Gabriola Health Care Centre has caught the media’s attention, and is featured in the Vancouver Sun today: Gabriola Island residents take health care in their own hands. In 2002, Gabriola Island felt the sting of austerity. It lost [...]
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This seems to be from GROWLS (Gabriola Rescue of Wildlife Society); I’ve had a few copies forwarded to me. GROWLS has had calls about a sickly and injured looking seal on the beach. The seal has been identified as a juvenile elephant seal which is moulting. This is an unusual sight here on Gabriola. They [...]
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I’m not keen on the whole idea of painting hydro poles, because decorating somebody else’s visual space seems unfair. But if I were to go around Gabriola painting hydro poles, I’d paint them like this. I’m not sure what kind of tree it is (amabilis fir?) but I pass it on walks and am taken [...]
Are you interested in working with the Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee? They’re looking for people to serve on the Advisory Planning Commission for the next two years. Here are the details the Islands Trust has published:
This thing appeared in my garden, and I haven’t a clue what it is. Do you know?
Filed in Gabriola Island,gardening 3 Comments so far
Until recently, Raspberry’s Jazz Café was here in Folklife Village. Now it’s The Old Crow Café, and the new owners are setting things up behind newspaper-covered windows. Does the new name cause a poem to tumble out of your memory? It certainly does for me; the poem is About Crows by John Ciardi. Go read [...]
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This is the intersection of North Road and South Road, seen from the Gabriola Post Office. And, oh my, look what’s happened to the hydro pole! It’s become a giant yellow pencil. This is the first painted pole I’ve seen, but apparently there will be many more on the island. Kathy Ramsay’s article in The [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 42 Comments so far
If you’re interested in native plants, First Nations’ traditional diets, and health, this article is for you. From Indigenous Reporting: Uprooting diabetes: Riceroot grows again. Leigh Joseph squats down in the marshy estuary toward a grey, lifeless stem poking out of the grass. In the distance, the cliff-face of the Stawamus Chief, an iconic granite [...]
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First there’s this, from the Nanaimo Daily News: B.C. Ferries on-time departure rate hits 91%. It reads much like a press release. Then we have this article from The Tyee: Despite safety concerns, BC Ferries paying bonuses for keeping schedule. BC Ferries appears to still be paying bonuses for on-time performance despite having said perviously [...]
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Gisele Rudischer sent this along for us today: The Gabriola Local Trust Committee wants to know how you’d like to be consulted on policy changes for Phase 2 of the Official Community Plan. The online survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/engagegabriola. Hard copies of the survey are available at the Islands Trust Office. Thanks for [...]
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This is what we spotted in the Gabriola forest this afternoon. It’s ribes sanguineum, or red-flowering current. Have you seen these on the island? It’s the first one we’ve found.
This has got to be one of our most gorgeous native plants. It’s ribes lobbii, or gummy gooseberry. I learned a few things about it when I discovered it a few years go. The best part? The fruit is beautiful and edible. There are a couple of these plants in bloom just past the village-end [...]
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Here’s an AGM you might want to attend: The Gabriola Fire Protection District AGM will be on Wednesday, April 25th. It’ll be at the firehall on North Road (near Church Street), starting at 7:00 7:30 pm. This year we had a lot of controversy over the proposal to build a new firehall; that process made [...]
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This amuses me. I’ve no idea what causes this kind of growth.
Jean Barman is coming to Gabriola, and you’ll want to be at her multimedia presentation this Wednesday evening. The topic is Early Settlers on the Gulf Islands. Pause at the VIRL to see the list of Jean’s books in the library’s collection. Peek in at Amazon to see more of her books and perhaps get [...]
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