Life On The Edge

The edge of a Seaspan chip barge that is. Harbours provide a safe haven for more than just boats, and Sea Lions have been

making the Catalyst mill harbour a haven for many years. The mill crews have never been impressed - these beasts

are loud, smelly and very dirty.

Man At Work

The man here is working on the end of the ramp of a barge/tug combo making its way into the Catalyst mill harbour

for a pick-up and delivery. He's one of the deckhands on the Stormaway V, a tug working out of Campbell River.

The photos are a backwards sequence.

It's a much better job in the summer. These raw cold, wet and windy days we've been having are not great days
to be working on the water. The snaps were taken Sunday.

Steller's Jay

Steller's Jays are a close relative to the well-known Blue Jays of parts east, but we don't have the Blues

and they don't have the Steller's. To my mind, one of the best looking birds of the coast. The reference

material says they can be enticed with peanuts, but for whatever reason, they always disdain mine.
And I have tried, and tried.

Ceramics VI

Bill Boyd Bottle Vase

For the 6th entry in this on-going series featuring the work of west coast potters I'm showing four

pieces by Bill Boyd of Galiano Island. Boyd has been a potter since 1970, but since he discovered

zinc-silicate crystal glazing in 2002, he has done nothing else.

Bill Boyd Bottle Vase

These pieces are small, the bottle vases are the tallest at 8 inches, but some of his large free-standing

pieces and wall hangings run to almost 2 feet, and are priced accordingly.

Bill Boyd Vessel

These are crystal-glazed porcelain, fired at very high temperatures. Each piece is different, and can not be duplicated,

making them unique works of art. To say I like them would be understatement.

Bill Boyd Lidded Vessel

Looking Forward

With all the rain and cloudy skies - and more to come if we can believe the weather prognosticators - it may

seem like we'll never see Vancouver Island again. Yet once this rainy season passes into the cold days of

January through March our old familiar view will be back. For non-residents, that's Rebecca Rock on the

horizon, and for skiers, that's Mount Washington, the high peak to the left.

The photo dates from early 2012.

The Cape Caution

I've posted her photo here before, several times. I really like the look of that red and white on the water, so I'm sure I'll

be taking many more. This shot, with the typical autumn fog obliterating the view of Vancouver Island, dates from

2015, and is one of the favourites among my Cape Caution photos.
It's definitely a better photo than the one below, taken a scant few weeks earlier.

Rain Forest

From the archives : a walk along Suicide Creek Trail. The weather this last week leaves no doubt that we

are in the Pacific temperate rainforest ecoregion. Rain, rain and more rain.