Descanso Bay Regional Park

Not a bad place to spend a week-end. We had a night and most of a day there on our own, and we relaxed and explored in between rain showers (few and far between). Our first night I asked Bushboy how he felt to be camping again:

Right then.

Descanso Bay is a lovely campground, and although it was full it wasn’t too noisy or crowded. And the bay itself is quite picturesque!

The next two days were spent exploring and reminiscing, beach combing, baby playing, visiting, camp firing and generally getting the most out of our first trip of the season.

Drumbeg Provincial Park

I love the sandstone rock that makes up so many of our Gulf Islands. It is not as common on our central and northern Vancouver Island beaches. Bushboy enjoyed the many holes and ‘caves’ (just like I did when I was a girl exploring sandstone beaches!).

All in all a wonderful trip.

(The significance of the location and the sundial to be explained tomorrow….)

The weeks and days seem to be zooming by, but we’re enjoying it! The garden is full of promise and excitement, including lots of strawberry flowers.

It’s the May long week-end here in Canada, officially known as Victoria Day week-end for Queen Victoria’s birthday, or the 2-4 week-end for the fact that her actual birthday is May 24 and the fact that 24 flats (as in 24 cans in a flat) of beer are often involved! For us this week-end is all about the outdoors. If you’re in Canada – have a great long week-end!!

We’ve had an unseasonably warm beginning to May, and after the last two years of cold wet springs it is wonderful! The garden is exploding of course, and we are already having to water, but we’ll take it this year.

1. Garden – this is full on for spring. Spring vegetables are up, but now I’m looking at how to keep the garden healthy through the long days of summer as well. Looking at mulches, my watering system, soil, etc. Putting lots of physical work into the rest of the garden as well this month.

2. Physical Health – I think one goal for this month is adding in more long walks or hikes. Mr. Kate is finished volleyball season so we are doing more good walks during the work week, but I would like to continue finding longer walks for Bushboy and I to do on week-ends (Mr. Kate works week-ends right now, having days off in the middle of the week). Another goal is to add in more resistance-style work – sit-ups and push-ups, more weights, etc.

3. Work Health – time to get more writing done. It’s been two years since I had an article published and I’ve been doing a lot of writing for my day job while doing editing contracts at home. I love editing, but I would like to get something ready for publication over the next month or so. Lots of article ideas floating around, need to get them down.

So there you have it. Longer days are here, and while being outside perhaps encourages the physical health, it also can encourage lazy days. So, I plan to stay focused with these challenges! What are you doing to stay healthy these days?

The garden. We are well underway in the garden! I got spring planting in early this year, and lots of things are already sprouting. If temperatures stay as high as they are this week (20 plus degrees C) I may not get much from the spring crops. The vegetable beds are all cleaned out and composted. The back flower bed is almost finished, side bed is done. Still have the herb garden to finish cleaning out, as well as the front beds. But all in all we got lots done this month.

Meal planning. Threw some new menu items into the mix this month, as well as being more organized. Now that the bbq is back in use, hoping to do some more grilling and healthy items outdoors as well. This will continue.

So there you have it. I was glad to have these as my focus, and both will certainly continue to be at the front of the list for this month. (That list is coming!)

the peas are up

Compared to a more rural property we don’t have a huge variety of creatures around, but I’m always amazed at what can be found on our little suburban lot, sheltering in our garden space.

(Health check-in and new monthly challenge coming later this week…and don’t tell me that the week is already half over!)

This year the oddest growth started coming up out of the centre as the leaves unfurled.

I realized it was likely a flower, but I’ve never seen rhubarb flower so I did a little research. Sure enough a rhubarb flower it is. Apparently a well-established rhubarb plant will in some years put out a flower stalk. Unfortunately I will have to cut it, as the flower will slow or stop the production of the delicious rhubarb stalks. It sure is cool looking!

Maybe I’ll put it in a jar out on the deck and see what it looks like when it fully opens.

At this time of year juvenile bald eagles are a very common sight along the Campbell River shoreline. The parent eagles are pushing them away in preparation for the new babies they will be caring for this year, and the juveniles don’t always go willingly. So they hang around the nesting sites, hoping to catch the favour of mom and dad. This one was quite interested in Chika while we were at the beach this week, sitting only 20 feet or so up in a tree at the edge of the logs where Chika was exploring. 

I think the forget me nots is my favourite picture. Fun to play with, although a little time consuming for everyday photos. Great for creating cool scrapbook images from time to time, and much better than iPhoto for captioning, framing, etc.