Some readers of this blog are in other parts of Canada, dreaming of their next visit to Gabriola, or the Gabriola property they’re planning to buy very soon now. They imagine an early and perfect Gabriola spring, full of sunshine, warm breezes, and early-blooming flowers.
Um, people? Just so you know, it’s snowing on Gabriola today. [...]
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Sorry about the snow this morning, kids. It happened because I thought about taking my snow tires off, and that always makes snow happen.
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Ok, Gabriola gardeners, here’s a question for you. When’s our ‘last frost’ date in a typical year? Have any of you been keeping track of this?
Some of my seed packages say plant after last frost, while others say things like sow indoors two weeks before last frost date or some such. So that’s why I’m [...]
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We get serious amounts of rain on Gabriola in the winter months, and we know people on the island whose basements and crawl-spaces flood every year. We also know some people whose Gabriola property is very swampy.
With that in mind, I was fascinated by the land-locked floating house. (Go look!) How amazing is that? Then [...]
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Leave your car outside for too long on Gabriola and what happens? It grows moss.
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It was sunny in Vancouver this afternoon, from what we could see. Meanwhile, we were on Whalebone Beach under moody clouds.
I like Gabriola’s gray winter days.
We had the beach to ourselves. The dog herded seagulls, and we listed to the eagles and watched as the young eagles waited to be fed in the trees overlooking [...]
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The weather on Gabriola right now is more like spring than winter, and the nettles agree. Last year it was March when I noticed that the island’s nettles were ready for picking. This year? Baby nettle plants are already a couple of inches tall in many parts of the forest. Head out to your favourite [...]
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You know that place in the Elder Cedars (S’ul-hween X’pey) Nature Reserve where the waters run deep in winter-time? The trail goes through it, and if you’ve tried to get past in the rainy season you’ll have wished that you’d taken hip waders or a small boat with you.
GALTT (Gabriola Land and Trails Trust) put [...]
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There are rewards for those who traipse about in the Gabriola forest on rainy days. This is one of them.
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Did you know that frost flowers are all over the Gabriola woods these days? They’re gorgeous. Get up early on a cold day if you want to see them, and head to a place where alders or maple trees grow. If the conditions are just right, you’ll be rewarded with much frosty beauty.
And what are [...]
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Ohmygoodness, all that snow! Well. I’m sitting here sipping some single malt — as one does on snow days — and feeling happy about my wreath, shown here. This wreath is cool because:
looks pretty spiffy, doesn’t it?
it was made on Gabriola, out of Gabriola greenery
a friend made it
she gave it to me as a Christmas [...]
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One of my favourite Gabriola trails has a substantial mud puddle. It froze, but in an amazing way — here’s one of the many ice-jewels it made.
Update: It turns out that this type of ice formation is needle ice.
(To view this image at a larger size, wander over to this photo gallery. Click on [...]
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Dear people-from-away and would-be Gabriola residents: don’t let anybody tell you that we have warm winters here, ‘k? We’re freezing our anatomy off at the moment. Brrr.
(Oh, that’s a maple leaf and some twigs in the photo. Covered in frost, of course.)
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Things to do when the power goes out, again:
Get the fireplace going.
Remind self that early Gabriola pioneers would not have whined about lack of electricity.
Open bottle of wine.
Remind self that early Gabriola pioneers would not have whined about lack of running water.
Cook things that can be cooked on stovetop. (Yay for propane!)
Light lots of candles, [...]
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If you’re thinking of going for a stroll in the woods, wear your gumboots: whole sections of the Gabriola forest are now flooded. And those old logging roads? Ha! Many of them look like this.
Update: Some of the puddles are so deep that my dog has to swim across them. Imagine! And I’d need hip [...]
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Remember last winter? All that snow was beautiful, but my there was a lot of it. (If your memory is fading, peek at the blog posts about snow on Gabriola last year.)
I made lots of snow-based resolutions then, all along the lines of I Will Be Better Prepared Next Year. With that in mind, I [...]
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The Daily News published an article about the heat and firefighters’ concerns.. The article mentions that:
One lightning bolt did strike Gabriola Island but didn’t ignite a fire, said a spokeswoman with the Coastal Fire Centre in Parksville.
Um, how do they know?
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If you traipse around Gabriola’s woods during the non-summer seasons, you’ll soon be looking for waterproof footwear. At the shoe store, you might notice that many comfortable walking shoes bear a waterpoof label. Sounds good, yes? If you’re looking at the brands of trail shoes I’ve seen in shops everywhere, that waterproof claim is a [...]
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Woke up this morning to find snow everywhere, and now there’s lots more coming down. Amazing.
Next week is spring break, which usually brings swarms of visitors to Gabriola. Bet they won’t come if the weather is like this.
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Dear Gabriola snowplough drivers,
Do you miss us? We miss you. Why don’t you come clear our neighbourhood streets, then stop in for a bowl of hot soup?
Love,
The snowed-in people
who are about to hike to the village for groceries.
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What better than a blanket of snow to add magic to a Gabriola morning?
And what better than snow — with more on the way, apparently — to make the washing machine repair guy cancel his visit to Gabriola today? The septic system repair guy phoned last night to cancel, too, so our fixit day has [...]
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At least, nobody I know wants any more snow. And it’s snowing furiously right now, covering our deck with white. *sigh*
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This is what happens to a favourite trail in the winter-time: it becomes a river. Here ’tis, burbling around my gumboots.
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When I found strange white fluffy stuff in the Gabriola woods one morning, I had no idea what it could be. I posted some photos and a description, hoping one of you would know.
Somebody on the UBC gardening forum came to my rescue and told me what it is. Frost flowers!
Wikipedia’s frost flowers page explains:
Frost [...]
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A few days I posted a photo of the Entrance Island lighthouse, seen from the bluff. This photo was taken from the same place, and of the same view… but in the fog.
Foggy mornings make me happy.
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