Odd things in the harbour

This seems like cheating!

Did you see a funny-looking freighter parked off Nanaimo yesterday? I think it must have been this yacht transporter from Dockwise Yacht Transport.

I always thought that yachts sailed from place to place themselves, but no. You can load them up on a transporter and your yacht will be waiting for you when you arrive in the next exotic destination. Or you can ride along with your boat on the transporter.

I had no idea.

The cough drop

A couple of nights ago I had an irritating cough when I went to bed, likely something to do with allergies. So I dug out a peppermint cough drop and sucked on it. The coughing stopped after a little. I dislike the nasty taste cough drops leave in my mouth if I go to sleep with one tucked into my cheek, so I took it out and put it on the night table, on its little wrapper.

I was sorry for this later, because the cat decided we should GET UP NOW at an early hour, and knocked the paper/cough drop off the table and started playing with it. Rustle, rustle, rustle. We got up, with some annoyance.

That evening I sat in the reclining chair reading, and the cat hopped up on my lap. I patted her. She purred. And then I realized that there was Something stuck to her butt. I wasn’t pleased—I expected misplaced kitty poop had somehow lodged during her scratching in her tray, and that’s so nasty to deal with. (I couldn’t quite imagine how this might have occurred, but these things happen sometimes to fur folk.)

But no. I soon realized my error. It was not kittypoop.

When she’d gotten on my night table she had SAT on the cough drop.

It had been stuck to her butt all day.

There is a god, and She has a sense of humour.

PS: the cough drop wasn’t nearly as clean as in the illustration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why I value nature above some humans

Yesterday I visited a moss meadow that I know well—a wet vegetative blanket over sandstone, an intricate web of moss, flowers, tiny delights—and discovered that someone had driven a truck through the land and done donuts in the meadow, just for fun.

The moss, all the spring wildflowers, are torn up, sheets flung back to reveal the bare rock underneath.

Delicate plants are crushed into black mud.

I don’t know how long it takes a meadow like this to recover from such treatment, but I know that the scars will be there for years, not months.

And all for a few seconds of hooting and hollering. Nature creates glory, but all it takes to destroy is a little human ignorance and self regard—it’s easy. Anyone can do it. Too bad so many seem dedicated to it.

Post for a grey, rainy day

What is it?

Gabriolan ingenuity

Things to be thankful for

I am so very thankful that kitty drops them beside the bed and not on it.

And that it’s now light in the morning when I get up.

Another sign of spring

And such a pretty one.

If you go down to the beach today…

…you’d better watch where you step.

Over the wine-dark sandstone

Around here moss isn’t very unusual—anything that stops moving for too long will probably be colonized—but right now there are some that have definitely caught my attention, and I took some pictures last week. 

Young blueberry leaves

I don’t think there are quite as many blossoms on the blueberries this year, but that’s okay—we’re still eating the blueberries from last year.

Right now I’m looking for the perfect orange-blueberry-oatmeal muffin recipe.
I tried one yesterday that was tasty, but a bit too sweet for breakfast, which is when I like to eat muffins. That’s the problem I have with most muffins—too much sugar. I’ll try a modification of the recipe next time I bake—I figure less sugar, or maybe use honey, try whole wheat flour and perhaps some other grains, move the chopped pecans from the topping to the inside, change the topping a bit, make the whole thing more crunchy. We’ll see what happens.