Saturday Walk

Black Turnstones on the beach.

I love birds and attempt to bird watch whenever I can.  They look good, they sound good, and there are so many wonderful varieties in the world. 

Today we went to the breakwater for a stroll, between the raindrops.  It was lovely out there - no wind to speak of, clear water (the better to watch the sea life), and not too cold.  Besides the apparently healthy kelp beds, sea lions feasting, fish jumping, and sunfish and starfish sightings, I also spotted a few birds hanging around on the shoreline.  At first I thought they might be black oystercatchers, but upon closer inspection I realized they didn't have the signature red feet and beaks; they also had a bit of white on the underside of their wings and tail feathers which the oystercatchers do not; and besides, they weren't as large as the black oystercatchers I'd seen on Hornby Island.  However, their call resembled the oystercatchers as they flew off.  And so I was determined to figure out what kind of bird they were when I got home.  I took this photo with my iPhone before they managed to fly away.

It is not a good photo by any means, but it did serve as a reminder to their colouring and size when I looked up my copy of the Stokes Field Guide to Birds.  I believe they might be Black Turnstones.  I will have to remember to bring my real camera with me next time.  Who knows, maybe one day I'll become a wild bird photographer!

Unpaid Vacation

Judith was awarded the picnicker of the month award for randomly finding this new spot.

Cruising south for a couple nights on the inside of Vancouver Island.

My cruising hosts. The Skipper, Chef, and Cruise Director.

Cruise Director or Skipper, you be the judge.

The second best part of cruising is when your lovely wife picks you up, and whisks you away for a picnic lunch.

The boat was fun for sure, but walking around in the mountains with Judith tops it all.

Yup, it was thirty plus degree's and we needed a swim at six thousand feet above sea level.

Mount Washington Ski Hill.

Blueberry Pancakes

This being Saturday, we have time to make lattes and take our time deciding what we want to eat for breakfast.  Today over coffee, we quickly narrowed it down to oatmeal or pancakes.  The last few times we'd made pancakes, we had tried either a gluten-free pancake mix or a recipe labeled as gluten-free.  Turns out most of these contain some form of potato or corn.  Since we have became aware of Peter's various food sensitivities, especially corn, we have chosen to search for a new gluten-free recipe.

Sesame-Rosemary Crackers

With the success of the Sesame-Rosemary Crackers we have been making and enjoying lately, we decided to search for a pancake recipe that includes sorghum flour.  We found one and today was the first attempt using the recipe below.  We added blueberries because we can, and I have to say plates were licked in satisfaction!

Sorghum Pancakes

The sorghum blend is 2 cups sorghum, 2/3 cup arrowroot, 1/3 cup tapioca (I sift this together into my sorghum blend container).

Blueberry pancakes in the pan

In bowl mix:
1 cup sorghum flour
½ cup sorghum blend above (I used tapioca flour instead)

1 packet Stevia powder (= 2 tsp sugar)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

In another bowl:
Beat 1 egg (or egg replacer)
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup milk (I used almond milk and needed more than 1 cup)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix egg mixture into dry mixture. Make sure your pancake grill is nice and hot before you pour your batter on the grill. They will be flat if you don’t heat your grill enough.

Note: I added more milk a tablespoon at a time until the batter was thinner than in the photo.

Saturday January 21st

Our first picnic of 2012 consisted of some Fujiya take-out sushi, sashimi and miso soup at the end of Gorden Head Rd. This was during one of the many sunny periods today, although the winds were a howlin' so we stayed in the car.  Besides, we had to keep Oscar company.

View of the water (through the steamed up window)

Busy City Saturday Urban Hike

Empress Hotel Trees. This one was cool as it is a circuit board cut with a CNC machine.

DTVBA Outdoor Ice Rink is now open to public. Judith will spend her lunch hour skating till the New Year!

Peter enjoying ginger tea listening to the Tuba band at Market Square

Freeloading on the free Horse Drawn Shoppers Experience

I always enjoy getting these shots just right!

Never to late to Rock and Roll!

Crazy island thing. Industrial trucks drive around town celebrating the season.

October 15, 2011

The weather in October was pretty nice this year.  It got quite cool on many days but I was still able to ride my bicycle to work most days.  I bought fenders knowing that the rain is going to start pretty soon and I will be needing them.  One of these days, I'll actually attach them to the bike!

On Saturday the 15th, the sun was shining and it was warm outside. We knew it would be foolish NOT to take our tea to our favourite beach for one last picnic in the sun for the year.  So we made the tea and to celebrate we stopped at our favourite bakery (okay, one of them) and picked up a sweet for each of us to enjoy with tea.  Well, it was such a magnificent day, that we were obviously not the only ones with the same idea.  Not to be scared off by this, we found a different beach just a short distance away.

Fruit tart with custard

Saturday September 3rd

BluesFest arrives in Victoria - we start our Saturday walkabout here.

... and check out the Classic Wooden Boat show in the Inner Harbour. I think 50 to 70 feet would be enough for me. LOL

The walkabout takes us to Beacon Hill Park for the lunch picnic where we devour half a small watermelon each. Judith is still wearing her wonderful Hornby Island birthday t-shirt.

In the evening, we end up at Clover Point again watching the waves caress the rocks.

And wait for the sunset. A beautiful day.

Another relaxing and satisfying sunset at Clover Point.

August in a nutshell - Part 8

Found these during an after work walk in Beacon Hill Park.

Another lovely evening at the beach (Clover Point).

August 27 - Peter gets his hair cut en plein air at the James Bay Saturday Market.

After a day's walkabout, we had a light dinner and watched the clips from Jack Layton's state funeral.

Dunlins racing up and down the beach scouring the sand for bugs at Willows Beach.

August in a nutshell - Part 7 August 20

After our stop at Fol Epi, Peter suggests we go for a drive out towards Sooke.  We drove and it was a beautiful day for a drive. We ended up in Port Renfrew!

Port Renfrew

Port Renfrew

We purchased picnic items and headed down to the water at French Creek Provincial Park.

Really nice and hot at the beach.

View up the coastline at French Creek Provincial Park.

We also stopped at China Beach. This is the view from part way down the trail from the parking lot.

There were some really big trees on the trails.

Another view from the trail.

A walk along the sandy beach.  The water was quite 'refreshing'.

Another view of the beach.

We finished the day back in Victoria at The Moon Brew Pub for a brew and bite to eat.

August in a nutshell - Part 6

Back to work - Peter seemed amused by Judith riding her mountain bike with a long dress and fancy sandals!

Another lovely evening picnic at Willows Beach.

Aug 20 - it's the weekend! Is there any better way to start the weekend than a stop at Fol Epi for a latte and pain au chocolate?

August in a nutshell - Part 5

Aug 13 - mmmmm, roasted bananas for breakfast.

Aug 13 morning - we drove out to La Push, which is on the other side of the Quillayute River mouth about one mile south of Rialto Beach.  Here you can see we are waiting for the fog to burn off and testing the water.

Aug 13 afternoon - Just after our picnic lunch at the beach the sun managed to shine through.  Here we were visited by a flock of pelicans.

Aug 13 - a view toward the mouth of the Quillayute River.

Aug 14 - time to leave the campsite and head back to Port Angeles. On the way out of the Olympic National Park, we stopped at the Salmon Cascades on the word of a young Park Ranger that she had seen salmon jumping.  We did in fact see salmon jumping and in this photo you can just see one below the surface of the water. Really!

Aug 14 - in Port Angeles the Snikles dropped PeJu off at the ferry terminal for their ride home. Here is Peter all packed up and ready to go!

Aug 14 afternoon - after a lovely sunny ride back to Victoria we arrive at the breakwater. So many times PeJu have stood on that very breakwater and waved at the Blackball ferry!