Cloudy Day at Queen's Lake

What to do on a cloudy day? Walk and take photos, of course. I did still swim that day too. I don't think I missed a day in the lake (except for maybe the one day when we had a downpour).

 New Brunswick blueberries are the best!

 This is close to the main logging road. Beneath the power lines are blueberries everywhere. On another day (not the day we were picking berries, fortunately), db, my bro, and I saw a bear in this area. We were driving in the truck coming back from getting wood and db spotted the bear. It stood up on its hind legs, looked at us, and then ran towards the woods, but not before stopping twice more to look at us. Did I get a picture? Nope. No such luck.

 Queen's Lake.

 Good day to watch the loons. Every night we'd listen to them while drifting off to sleep in our tent. One night the loons were going and at least 2 owls. It was getting pretty noisy in the woods!

 Walk along the road.

 You have to make sure you feed the chipmunks everyday. They love the peanuts!

 Shangri-La1 The camp my brother built. This year he added the cedar shingles to the outside. There's enough room to sleep all of us, but db and I like the tent. It gives everyone a little more space, and I do find the tent quite cosy.

 You talkin' to me?

 The fireweed always seems to be in bloom whenever we are there.

 Evening drive led us to another clear cut area where there was a lookout. db had to climb it with his binoculars to see if he could see any moose.

Hey! I'm not a moose. 

Queen's Lake 2011

We were back at Queen's Lake this year for 10 amazing days in July. One of the roads has been washed out, so we were back on the old route in that takes a little longer and there's a little brook we have to cross. Very pretty brook though.

 

 View from the road. Why have we never seen any moose here?

 First drive out? I've never been on this logging road, and have never seen Queen's Lake from this point of view.

 Our reliable transportation, courtesy of Capital Springs.

 The gem of a lake. This seems to be looking back at my brother's beach. Taken from the kayak.

 Along the shore near the brook. We kayaked into the brook off the lake this year. In previous years, we could walk in and along the brook, but the water was much higher this year and we coaxed our kayaks through, sometimes having to get out and pull them over the rocks. I don't think db got out once though, he was determined to make it over rocks and sandbars.

 Water lilies were along the shore and in the brook. We had perfect weather.

Today is the first rain we've had in August, so I was thinking about Queen's Lake and how beautiful it was this year. I had to start posting my pictures.

 Kayaking down the brook.

 We reached the beaver dam. End of the line.

 View from the beaver dam.

 Can't resist the birds. Two Cedar Waxwings perched overhead. 

Vegan Chocolate

Wondering about the chocolate you're eating?
Up until recently, my only concern was for the welfare of animals, as in is my chocolate vegan or not. I've indulged in the vegan "milk" chocolates and candy bars that have arrived in the shop, but recently I discovered the Food Empowerment Project.  It has reminded me and re-educated me of the terrible conditions for workers in West Africa, many of whom are children, that can only be described as slavery.

Today I found their updated chocolate list that lists the companies that do not contribute to the injustices that exist in the chocolate market. I do not seem my favorite (Camino) on the list, so I'll have to contact them directly.

The list is worth a read (as is the website), and I'm now saying good-bye to some of my favorites, but really there are so many on the recommended list that I don't have to go without my beloved chocolate.

where the hell have I been?

Phew. These monthly blog posts are wearing me out. I've been lazy, busy, and out of town. Those are my excuses.

Now on with the update.

I have actually been out of town during the last week of July and beginning of August. We went to N.B. to the most beautiful place I know: Queen's Lake. It was an amazing trip and I will get to photos once I load them into my iphoto.

I've also started a trail running clinic, and that is really where my focus is right now. Every Saturday, I meet a group at a new trail on the lower mainland, and we run together over rocks and roots, and see beautiful forests and incredible views (or at least that's what I expect since I've only done 1 run so far).

Right now, we're about to drive to the airport to pick up db's parents and his brother so I've got to go again. I am off the rest of the week so maybe I'll get a chance to update more and add some colourful photos.

Remind me to tell you about the bear.

kitten vs TWO scary things (котенок против ДВУХ неведомых хреней)

Bear Alert!

 The pictures are blurry because my camera was on manual focus and I didn't have enough time to adjust or switch to auto (I hadn't figured out how to switch back at that point), so the pictures are blurry, but there are pictures so you can see how close the bear is to our place.  We were looking out our living room window.

 db heard a rattling sound outside, and saw the bear batting at the birdfeeder, knocking the seed out of it. The bear cubs were licking up the seed from the patio and the ground.

My mom was visiting at the time so she got to see the excitement as well. She had just arrived from Montreal, so this was quite a welcome.

Here are the bear cubs eating up the seed. There was actually 3 cubs. The mom bear headed over the fence. We watched the little ones eat up the seed. Then they went across the yard, over the fence and hopped from the fence to a tree to climb down into the forest. Amazing to see, but also a bit scary.

So bye, bye birdfeeder. That had to go.

db and I realized that we need to scare the bears off as soon as we see them. It's definitely not a good idea to watch, but I think we were a bit shocked by the sight of them.

I only put the birdfeeder out in the day time when I'm home and we bring it in at night, or if we're not going to be at home for a while. 

Friday, db barbecued some veggies for my vegan eggplant parmesan dish. Later he was about to go out and clean the bbq, when he noticed Gigi at the patio door acting quite excited because she obviously saw something in the yard. db spotted another bear! This time it was reaching up to the hummingbird feeder. db made a loud clapping noise and it ran off. He decided to leave the bbq until the morning since it was already dark, and we couldn't see where the bear had gone. Even though it was probably long gone, there was no point risking it.


So bye, bye hummer feeder. It goes out in the morning now as well, and comes in at night.

Well, we finally saw a bear in our neighbourhood. It's been over 2 years since we've lived in this apartment, so that's pretty good. Hopefully we won't see any again for a long, long time. I'd like those bears to stay on the other side of the fence in the woods, and maybe even further up the mountain deeper in the woods. I know the food supply has been slow coming for them, so I think that's why they're searching for other sources. The salmon berries are out now though so hopefully that means they'll stick to what they should be eating.

spring cleaning notes

Whenever I clean out my desk and the shelves around it, I find lots of loose notes with scribbled ideas or names of books and websites that I want to look into. Today I started to clean through a few boxes with the idea that I could get rid of all the scraps of paper that are no longer relevant.

Here's something I came across that I probably jotted down in my early 20s? Gm is my grandmother and Gf is...you guessed it.  "F'ton" is my shorthand for Fredericton.

This was on a small scrap of paper that I had probably written before going to bed after spending the day at my grandmother's. I wanted to know about my grandmother's life and had been asking her about her side of the family. Later I would down what I remembered.

Here's what the rest of the page and the flipside read (I'm going to clean it up a little): 

Grandmother was expect to go out West and break the new to her family and grandfather would stay in Fredericton and break the news to his family. However, two days after they were married, an announcement appeared in the local paper, the Gleaner and the Woods (my grandfather's family) discovered the news from the announcement and were furious. My grandmother immediately wired her parents and they wired back saying "hope you are as happy as we have been."

Birdfeeder Madness

There was a brief moment today when I was swinging the broom in the direction of a squirrel that was making an attempt to jump into the seed catcher below the bird feeder (yes, I do love animals -- all animals) that I reminded myself of my grandmother, and I started laughing.

My grandmother would rush into the backyard to chase gray squirrels from her garden. She had a Canadian flag on a pole that was leaning against the back porch (not mounted or anything. I don't even know where the flag came from?), and she would grab the pole and chase the squirrel out of the yard.
So today when I was swinging the broom in the direction of the squirrel to give it a fright, I felt my grandmother's presence. Haha! The difference is that my grandmother really didn't like the squirrels and I do, but I can't have them in the bird seed catcher.

Our feeder is squirrel proof. The feeding portals close when anything heavier than a bird latches onto the perch. It was all working so well, until we had too much sunflower seed collecting on the ground. So, we had to add a seed catcher below the feeder. It works like a charm to clean up the yard, but it also proved to be a good landing pad when the squirrel jumped from the clematis trellis to the seed catcher. That's when the broom came out.

db & I decided to put a feeder up just before the winter. There's a nice little bird shop down the hill from us where we bought a small feeder. For much of the winter there wasn't much activity, and I was losing hope that we'd attract any birds. We had purchased 20lbs of black sunflower seed! The occasional chickadee came by, but it was pretty quiet. Then spring came and suddenly I was having to add more seed every other day, and occasionally every day! It's been great to watch the birds coming and going. I've even seen a mom and baby chickadee come by, the mom feeding the baby as they hop from feeder to rhodo to alder. The cats love it.

Next I think we'll look into getting a feeder that holds nyjer seed to attract finches and pine siskins. That would be fun.

Tender Knee

 This is where the Tender Knee runners started our 12 km journey at around 8 am. 114 of us headed out on a beautiful morning on the North Shore.

This is also the same starting area as the 5 k I did at the end of April.

The start added an extra kilometer to spread out the runners a little more before hitting the narrower trails ahead, so we'd be running 12 k in total.

I actually don't remember much of the start because I was so nervous as this really felt like my first official trail race.  I don't remember this added route, but I do remember a few people that I would see for about the next 4 k, and the overall relaxed atmosphere with many people running together and chatting.

My plan was to just listen to my body and respond to it when it wanted to slow down and speed up, or stop. I also planned to run as much of the uphill section of the trail as possible. I had been doing a decent amount of steep hill training to prepare me for this early section of the race. However, once I actually hit the trail, I felt a little different. I slowed quite quickly and then started walking. Everyone around me was also walking so I didn't feel any panic about being left behind.

The trail leveled out a little before opening up at the powerline. The first section of the powerline is fairly flat and narrow, so I quickly got up to pace again and was alone for only a few minutes when I hit the big hill. The "powerline climb," as it's known, is a very steep hill with lots of loose rock making it very difficult to walk up, nevermind run up. Up ahead there was a long line of runners walking the hill, and when I looked behind, it was the same. Everyone was very encouraging on the way up if they passed or if I passed them. The hill training didn't prepare me to run this, but it did make the walk up easier and I moved fairly quickly, trying to maintain a steady pace over the loose rocks. It was very fatiguing though.

About 20 minutes later I reached the top of the powerline, and did a little jog to the first aid station where I ate two slices of orange, and took two mini cups of water: one to pour down my back, and one to drink. From here I knew it would be a steady descent for a while so I moved along with everyone else into the forest trail, which was a welcome relief after the climb in the sun. I quickly recovered and found the strength in my legs again, finding enough energy to bring me up to pace and even add a little more pace to my descent. I knew I needed to take advantage of this downhill section and gain a little momentum and time on this race. I'm pretty good at descending on both road and trail, so I needed to take advantage. My goal was not only to finish, but to finish at around 1:30.

I did fly down this mid-section of the route, and soon found someone that I could run with and felt that if I kept pace with her, I'd be doing okay. db was at the next break in the trail that crossed Mt. Seymour road (it's a sleepy road since it leads to the ski hill which isn't too busy right now -- even though there is still quite a bit of snow up there!). db gave me water, and had my fruition bar ready for me to take for my final burst of energy, but the thought of food did not appeal to me, and I just took some water and kept going. That was my first mistake. Always re-fuel. Two wedges of orange and some water is not going to carry you very far. However, I did continue to move quite quickly down the hill and was fine until we hit the final section of the trail. This last section is about 2 kilometers long and is all roots, rock, stairs, and up and down hilly sections, so you are always having to adjust. It's what I'd call the "technical" part of the race. Half way through this section I felt my body slowing down and wanting to stop, but I had to keep going. I moved at a much slower pace, often walking and found it difficult to find any rhythm going up and down and around sharp turns while navigating over roots and rocks the whole time. Phew! Now my goal was just to finish, and that I did!

  Here's the view of the finish line. It's actually just about at the right part of this frame. I think that's the back of the stage on the right where the announcer let people know who was coming through to the finish.

I did manage to complete it in 1:29, so I finished within my goal time!

At the end I headed straight for the water, took off my shoes and socks and waded into the cold water to soothe my legs. It was the perfect way to end a race. After that, db and I sat on the grassy hill watching the runners come in, and listening to some of the stories about the runners that the announcer knew. 

Here are my tired, but happy feet. I really had the best time ever during a race, and loved the laid back atmosphere in such a beautiful setting.

When's the next one? I don't know. I'll be away during the Mt Seymour run so I can't enter that, and I don't think I'm ready for Whistler/Blackcomb (goal for next year?), which means I'll probably wait until September when Buntzen Lake is on the schedule and run that. It's really close to home so I can even sleep in a little longer than usual! I'll definitely have to get some more experience over the roots and rocks before running Buntzen.

It was such a beautiful day that Sunday, db and I went for a walk after we went home for brunch and coffee. We drove up to Belcarra and took a short little trail that runs along the water. 

This view is actually looking towards the area where I had run that morning. Deep Cove and Belcarra are opposite each other on Indian Arm, the body of water that stretches north from Burrard inlet.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday. I wish every Sunday could be like that one.

 Oh yes, here's my official results since it was a chip timed event:
placed:  54  (out of 114 of us)
division total:  7/25  (there were 25 of us in my division and I placed 7th)
Division: F40-49  (female ages 40-49)
Chip time: 1:29:40 (a chip device electronically records what time you start and finish)
Pace: 7:29 (to compare: on a road race I usually run on average a 5:55. Those hills sure do make a difference!)

Needless to say, I'm pretty proud!

choose your own adventure part 2

This is the only photo I have from our search for the lake where the burn area might be and where we could look for morels.

Since we had time to do a bit of a hike, we decided to head for this lake with some idea of where it might be.

We left the main road and headed along a fairly decent dirt road into an area that had signs posted everywhere that read "Biosolid Application Area." Hmmm. In my day (haha) we called that sewage, but I guess it's now biosolids. (I was surprised to see this one little trillium along the side of the road in a well trampled area. Must be the biosolids application).

Anywho...pw drove the car as far in as possible. We parked next to a clearcut opposite another vehicle, and decided to hike in from there. We could hear gunfire (oh yeah it was quite the spot). Two other hikers were walking out toward us. pw asked them if they knew the way to the lake, but the first guy was a little uncertain since he hadn't been there in a year or two. The second guy with him pulled out a quite detailed map of the backroads and lakes and we tried to orient ourselves. He thought it would take us about an hour to get there. We were game. He cautioned us that the shooting was just a little ways down on the left.

On we went. pw reassured me, saying that we'd be fine and that if I found the popping sounds of gunfire too much that we could turn back anytime. I said let's just see how it went. It was unnerving. This isn't a designated shooting range, but it seems like a popular area for target practice since there were shell casings everywhere along our route.

We stuck to what seemed like the "main" road. An ATV (or "fatwheeler" as I call them, having got that name from my brother) blew past us. Apparently, this was also a popular ATV area as well. It certainly wasn't a peaceful walk in the woods. I was hopeful though that we'd find our way, and felt better once the gunfire sounds were fading into the distance. The further along we went, the more sideroads we came across. It became clear that it was a tangle of roads.

An ATV blasting some rap circled on a road below us. I was muttering about "ATV morons" disturbing the quiet just before the ATV started heading our way. It was a pretty expensive looking machine. pw flagged the driver, and he stopped next to us. We waited while he shut off the blaring music and removed his helmut. pw asked if he knew where the lake was. He'd heard of it, but wasn't sure. He pulled out his GPS that showed the backroads of the area, and we all peered at it, trying to decipher one road from the next. The driver told us that he was trying to figure out many of the backroads and that it really was a maze out there. He was exploring different roads to see where they led. He talked about the ATV organization that he had joined, and how they were working to get these areas "cleaned up." Apparently they want better care of the area so that garbage dumping would be dealt with. Of course there was also the problem of all the gunfire and the environmental impact of the lead on wildlife. He told us that the ATV group often comes out just to clean up (okay, my preconceived perception of ATV drivers was starting to look like too quick of a judgment).

The conversation eventually turned to who this driver was and to make a long story short. He'd just finished studying Anthropology and was trying to find a way out of his construction job. Based on what he told us,  he'll make it. He had a dubious background and saw that he didn't have to choose that lifestyle, and sought after education to find another choice. He was a pretty interesting guy, and our adventure in the woods turned into this very cool encounter with a complete stranger who made me say on our way out, "so much for my theory about morons driving ATVs."

We realized that we could be wandering for a while and may or may not find the lake or the burn area. We headed out the way we came in. It wasn't a complete non-adventure now was it?

choose your own adventure weekend

This blog is turning into the weekend blog as in it's only about what I do on my weekends. Now that I get every second weekend off they really are the most interesting since I'm doing something other than work.  Work is occasionally interesting but I try not to think about it when I'm not there so... on to last weekend.

We went to Nanaimo for the day to see pw. It was a beautiful sunny day. The ferry ride was tolerable. It's so much better when it's not a holiday ferry and there are masses of people jockeying for space and food.

pw met us at the ferry and gave us several options on what we could do with the day:

1. go to the earthquake fissure in a nearby park and check that out
2. go to a lake that we'd have to hike to, and he wasn't too sure how to get there. There was a burn there last year (he was told), so there might be morel potential. It would also be more of an adventure.
3. go to Neck Point Park that is on the water and just a place that he thought we'd enjoy.


It was a tough choice, but I really wanted to be near the water if we could. So we headed to Neck Point Park, and it really was beautiful. Here's the proof:

 starfish and sea anemones

 Harlequin ducks

 Gulls. I love the gulls! This one seems to be looking right back at me.

 more sea anemones

 beautiful day!

 these eagles come here every year, pw told us. He saw one last year that took out a gull! Glad we didn't have to witness anything like that. They were pretty close to where we sat below in a quite spot just above the water.

 When this second one flew in and landed, the first one took off. Tag team? Looking after the nest at another location?

 I was quite content just to enjoy this spot.

 Arbutus.

More seabirds! Pelagic cormorants and more gulls!

As it turned out we did have time to choose another outing. I'll post about that next. Which one would you choose on a sunny beautiful day?

weekend

 First, I just want to say how great it is to have every other Saturday off from work. This new schedule is working out really well. My day is longer, but I get more done in that day, and the Saturdays are a like a bonus!

That said, this Saturday was my day off but I was still working. I went to the CHFA (Canadian Health Food Association) show with the store's owners, and it was well worth it. I wasn't obligated to go, but I really wanted to see what such an event was like.

The photo shows all of the samples I came home with. I also received too many brochures and price sheets for company specials.

 There is so much available for vegans now it's remarkable. Most reps at the booths know what vegan is whenever I asked about their products, or they saw my pass and the name of the shop and would stop me to show what they had suitable for vegans.

We didn't even get to all of the aisles and we were there from 10 am to about 4:30. It was tempting to go back on Sunday for more samples, but I think we covered enough ground to take advantage of the show specials and find out about some new possibilities. Plus, the show's guidebook has all of the exhibitors listed along with their websites, so I can shop around that way as well. It was definitely a learning experience and I felt a bit like a rookie and an easy target for someone to pitch their products to me. There's definitely an art to getting the info you need and getting away quickly.

***

 Sunday db and I decided to start hiking the trail that I will be running at the end of May for the Tender Knee event.

I did my run in the morning on the inlet trail the runs along the water and is a 3 k distance when you run from one end to the other. I did that a few times to get in my required time for the week, and the went home to meet up with db.

We drove to the North Shore and the parking lot where I started the last trail run (My First Trail Race). We found the Twin Bridges trail, which is a wide double track road that winds down towards the Seymour River.

Along the way I noticed this area cut into the hill that looked like wood grain, but we assumed it was rock. I took a picture of course. db touched the surface to reveal that it's actually clay. It was very dry and crumbly underneath.

 Seymour River. There's a trail that runs for many kilometers along the river called the Fisherman's trail. I expect it's very popular, and we did see a couple on bikes (the trail is quite bikeable) with paniers and fishing poles strapped to their racks on the back.

 Twin Bridges trail. It's nice and wide for the start of the race to sort out the different paces of everyone before we hit the narrow trails ahead. Just an aside, there are no twin bridges. They once existed, but only this one newer bridge remains. However, the name remains.

 Mystery Creek trail. Here's more of what I expected of trail running. We left the Twin Bridges trail and headed straight uphill.

 Mystery Creek trail is fairly steep and has a few switch backs, so I expect I can run sections of it and break it up with walking. It comes out at the powerlines. From there we head straight up a very rocky narrow path along the powerlines. It's a steep and rough climb. db and I took several breaks and we were just walking it. I don't think I will be running much of that climb since it's far too steep. However, I think I can probably hike it in about 20 minutes. I'm being very optimistic!

db and I never actually went all the way up to where it meets with the Mushroom Trail, but will save that for next time. It was getting late in the day and I really just needed a good sense of how steep these climbs are. They are steep! They're as steep as any trail I've hiked before, and I realized that I need to did a little more training on similar terrain. Fortunately, not far from us is a powerline trail that goes straight up to Eagle Ridge. It's not far from where we use to live, and is always populated with people out for some exercise so I'll feel safe to do that on my own. I'm going to have to start training on that trail if I want to have better success for Tender Knee.

So db and I headed back the way we came and took the Fisherman's trail to the Homesteaders trail. It was nice to be on level ground and walking along the river.

 The skunk cabbage is coming up everywhere. This was such a nice patch!

 Salmonberry flowers are also abundant right now. This one looks closed, but they are open all along the more open trails like this one.

Finally, up we go again along the Homesteader's Trail. It's another wide path that provides quick and easy access to the Seymour River. I was really lagging behind db by this point because my legs were done after that power climb and my morning 10 k run.

Today, my achilles is a little sore. I've put some Traumeel on it (free sample from the CHFA show!) and so far the pain has eased. I'll keep applying and keep doing my calf raises to try and keep it from injury. I'll make sure db has some at the finish line!

Next week we'll cover another section of the trail...probably the Mushroom Trail and the Baden Powell section of the route. I'll have to keep my eyes out for morels too. pw informs me that it is morel time here! Burn morels come later in the season, but morels are definitely out there to be found. I'll be checking every pine cone just to be sure. Ha!