Summer Stuff

Its raining today!  Thank the Lord as we sure do need it.  I haven't had the nerve to take a photo of our dried up pond.  Never had such a water loss/evaporation like this summer.  Our poor koi are surviving in muddy water and swimming with the dorsal fins exposed.   Our veggie garden was pretty much disaster with no rain for almost 3 months.  Watering is not much of an option when you are on a well.   Beet root and cherry tomoatoes did ok this year, and we did harvest a bag of russet potatoes.

The majority of the flower gardens are full of drought resistant perennials, so we did marginally better on that front.  The butterflies and bees were able to keep busy drinking nectar from the globe thistles.

 Its the first year my fig tree produced any fruit.  Unfortunately they came to late and will not ripen to  a point they can be picked or eaten.  Maybe next year.

 The ocean of course is always a big part of summer.  When you live on an island and the beach is at your doorstep, you have no excuse.   Lots of low tides brought great sea life photos like these starfish.

 And of course the sunsets have been phenomenal this summer, especially when we had the wildfire smoke particulates in the air to reflect the sun.  This shot below is from the end of our road.

I got a great shot of Debbie relaxing on a bluff taking in the view of Deep Bay and looking out to Howe Sound.   Another low tide day - but beautiful.

Summer wouldn't be summer without good food.  One of my new favourites - "Harry's Toast", served on the Dallas Pier.  A purpose for a walk to the cove.

 

2017 Solar Eclipse

It was indeed an event!  Like many, we hadn't thought about getting the eye protection needed to view the eclipse.  Fortunately the Calgarians came to the rescue - they are always prepared.  Rick had brought welding eye glass protectors with him so we started viewing at 9:30am.  The neighbours to the south and the west came by to join in the viewing party and use the welding screens.  We watched right through to after 11am when the moon passed completely over, albeit it was an 80% eclipse from our neck of the woods, and not 100%.  My only disappointment was that try as I did, I could not get a good photo of what we saw through the screens.   Below are the best 2 I could get.  It was eerie to feel how the temperature dropped and the patio got so shady.  Even the birds stopped chirping and feeding during the eclipse.  Can;t wait for the 2024 eclipse.