Sunday

 Today is Sunday. Glorious weather has rained down on us....back garden looks like something out of homes and gardens. The roses are blooming so much, that they are eating up the fertilizer on a weekly basis.

 Love this pink climbers...they don't actually climb...just hang over the pot and their trellis, looking for attention.

 Mt Washington and all the other mountain ranges in the distance hang above the grape vines, which are going crazy right now. Not sure why they are so thick and overgrown. Must have something to do with the pruning last November. Best place to sit is on the bench, with the grape vines lolly gagging around.

 Went to the Fish Hatchery at Quinsam River in the afternoon. Thought we would see eagles....no eagles, or hawks, or ravens, just sheep. This is a new thing.

Sheep seem to like to stare a lot. Awfully cute. Really need a good shearing..their wool was thick.

A flock of sheep, without a shepherd.  Fat and happy . It must be this new way of gardening....let the sheep eat the grass, and therefore no mowing. Not a bad idea. I could do with a sheep or two. But then they might eat the roses.

 Quinsam River at the Fish Hatchery. Rushing water today.

And YES, Fall has arrived, in just a few subtle places. Leave turning colour before your very eyes. Means the fishermen will be out in Sept to do some fly fishing in the river. The salmon will be running  by then.

 Edge of the path where the salmon run. Oodles of people will be standing on the banks trying to catch a Coho salmon.

                        Some even sit on these rocks...but when wet they are slippery.

At the end of the trail...huge uprooted tree..had to go back around to fin another way out. Was a grand day.......

Tofino...Day two....Land, Sand and Bog

LAND............................This is where we were today. Not your usual Botanical Garden...much more earthy and creative. Sculptures line the walkways.......plants grow naturally, and wildly. Not a lot of manicured lawn.

Curved wood twists its way around benches and platforms.........

Dancing couple....just love this.....so much life, so much happiness......

Hobbit bridge....have to bend down to get through

I call this the "Yes Dear", sculpture......you can just imagine what they're talking about.

On golden pond

Lilies

Twisted trunks

Wire man greets you as you come out from the rain forest.

Great sitting area in the centre of the Gardens.

Artichokes grown in raised beds.

SAND.............................................

Wikinnish Lookout, Tofino. Love sand almost more than dirt!

Surfers sit in the cold waves, waiting like a pack of killer whales, for a single wave to catch and take them sailing into shore. Cold August day to be surfing.....

Wikinnish Rocks


BOG........................................................

Shorepine Bog is really fascinating. It looks like a broccoli forest. Ancient, gnarled trees, rise above a mossy surface. The bog hosts a strange forest.

Trees, deprived of adequate nutrition,suffer stunted growth and malformed limbs. The soil is acidic and waterlogged. A lack of the mineral phosophorous inhibits upward growth of the tree tip, causing it to branch sideways. That's why most of them look like big bunches of broccoli.

Slow to grow, slow to die, some of these trees are about 300 years old.

A full sized forest once grew here. 20,000 years ago the Long Beach area was covered with a sheet of ice, about 300 metres thick. About 12,000 years ago the glaciers melted, leaving huge quantities of clay, sand and gravel.

The boardwalk was created to "float" along the moss, and it tends to move and buckle as you walk along. Kind of like walking in a forest created by Dr. Seuss........