The week of June 7th, I took some time off work and headed over to Galiano by myself, with an intent to get a bunch of work done around the cottage. I had a pretty good list of chores, plus planned to play some golf and relax a bit. Justine and our friends Jeff and Risa were coming over on the Friday evening ferry to spend the weekend - our first visitors in the new cottage.
Read MoreThe Party is Over - Back to Work!
The weekend after my birthday weekend we were back to Galiano. We came over Thursday night again, but planned to work the Friday as a test of the internet access. We also spent a lot of time working through our huge list of projects. It was not the most exciting weekend - but there were lots of hummingbirds!
Read MoreThe Big 5-0 Birthday Weekend
As many of you are probably well aware, I turned 50 this year. I can barely wrap my head around this fact, but it is true nonetheless. For my 50th, we spent the weekend on Galiano and while it was a busy work weekend, it was also a lot of fun. Not exactly what we had planned - Justine and I were supposed to have gone to Africa. But you know… COVID and all, so those plans will have to wait.
Read MoreBuilding our Gardens
One of my main goals for this spring was to start an orchard of fruit trees and to build out a garden. Both are relatively ambitious projects, and the travel restrictions from the pandemic have made it difficult to manage. Over the past month, we had bought a lot of trees, ordered materials for the garden and got in a position to put it all together.
Read MoreBirds and Blossoms
We decided to spend the Easter long weekend at home, rather than go over to the island. The weather didn’t look like it was going to be great, and we were able to book a trip to Reifel on Saturday. This will be a short post mostly of pictures taken while out on walks while the sun was shining, plus some of the birds while at Reifel.
Read MoreLandscaping and Garden Building on Galiano
We took a Friday off and headed over to Galiano to get our last utilities hooked up (propane tank delivery!) and to continue to work on the landscaping around the property. We also took over a last big load of furniture to wrap up (I hope) most of the inside of the cottage, and tackled a couple of small projects along the way…
Read MoreSpring Blossoms
As I mentioned in a previous post, spring is finally starting to arrive! I cannot remember so eagerly anticipating a spring in a very long time. To try and keep active, we’ve been walking a lot. The last few days we’ve been out and exploring, and found some new spots and lots of new pics of spring as it starts to unfold. If you’re not interested in spring blossoms, you can stop now and move on to something more interesting…
Read MoreCottage Decorating and Landscaping
The next weekend we could not wait to get back to our new cottage. We were supposed to have propane delivered and set-up, but after that fell through it turned into a busy week of work around the property.
Read MoreSpring is Coming
After all the work and stress around getting the cottage delivered and set-up, we were back to the city for a week before heading back to Galiano to continue getting settled in. The weather was nice for a few days,a nd we’re starting to see the first signs of spring as the flowers start to bloom.
Read MoreCottage Delivery - Part II
I’ll pick up where the last post left off, and provide a few more pictures of the rest of our week after the cottage got delivered. Wednesday (the day of delivery) was a hugely stressful, but ultimately rewarding day, seeing the cottage get delivered and set on its foundation. We were staying on the island through Sunday, and still had lots to do to get the place to the point of being livable.
Read MoreCottage Delivery Video
A short video of our cottage being delivered and set-up on our property on Galiano Island.
Read MoreCottage Delivery
Most of you will have seen some of the details of our new cottage on Galiano Island, but this post will show you all the details of what we went through to get it there!
Read MoreSome Exciting News - a Cottage for Galiano
Justine and I have bought a cottage and will soon have it installed on Galiano!
Read MoreGaliano Day Trip and a Snowy Vancouver Day
It’s been a slow start to the year, and I have not had a lot to share thus far. Hopefully that will change soon. In the meantime I have two small, separate posts that I will combine into one to save us all some time.
Read MoreA Walk out to the End of Iona Jetty
As I mentioned in my first post, it hasn’t been all that interesting a start to the New Year. This weekend we took advantage of some sunshine to try another local walk that Justine has never done, and that I hadn’t done in years. Iona Jetty is just north of the airport and sticks almost 5 km out into the ocean. Iona park also provides an interesting spot for seeing birds, and this trip we got lots of snow geese!
Read MoreA Walk Around Stanley Park
2021 is here (thankfully) but is off to a bit of a slow start. I have a sense that it’s going to get more interesting, but for now there hasn’t been a lot to share. A couple of weekends ago we headed over to Stanley Park and did the full walk around the seawall. The weather wasn’t amazing, but it didn’t rain, and there were a few interesting birds about.
Our weekend walk around the seawall.
There’s not a lot to say - it was a bit of a grey, overcast day. But it was warm enough and didn’t rain on us, so we’ll call it a win. It was good to get out and walk and get some fresh air. I’ll throw up some of the pictures I took - none of them great, but there were a few fun things to see.
Out on the straight between Stanley Park and North Vancouver, there were big flocks of Surf Scoters.
A female Bufflehead in flight.