Pileated Woodpecker

 "A woodpecker's drilling Echoes to the mountain clouds." 
                                  -Dakotsu lida

 Fall has brought the gorgeous Pileated Woodpecker scuffing around the seed trays set out for the Stellar Jays

 And with the Jays and the massive woodpeckers, comes Spencer, the neighbours' cat. Eager to have a look.

 Mornings are cool and clean.

 Sometimes you can here the woodpecker smack away at tree trunks. He likes carpenter ants  best.

 But lately, he likes to sit in the seed pan and scare away everyone else while he stuffs himself silly.

 "The day should come when all of the forms of life will stand before the court, The Pileated Woodpecker,as well as the coyote and bear, the lemmings as well as the trout in the streams." 
                                                     -W.O.Douglas

 They love to dig in wood. Bugs. Ants. Termites. Yum yum.

 A pair will stay together in the same territory all year long. 

 In this area, they are all around the woods, but I haven't seen them in a while till last week.

 It is said that they are the size of a crow, but I figured that this one was larger. He was cheeky and smart, and knew how to get what he wanted.

 Using his tail to steady and balance on the surfaces he latched onto.

 "Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling. Falling as if they are in love with the ground." -Andrea Gibson

 It's a good thing to leave fallen tree trunks to rot as the Pileated Woodpecker loves  this sort of thing. I just love watching them hang off the fence or the wooden plant boxes, as if they were Christmas ornaments....

 "A woodpecker can tap twenty times on a thousand trees and get nowhere, but stay busy. Or he can tap twenty-thousand times on one tree and get dinner.” -Seth Godin

Photographs 2017

Aerial views Cortes/Quadra Island and Campbell River. B.C.

 “Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”    ― Leonardo da Vinci

These were taken when my husband took a business day trip to Cortez and Quadra Island. Amazing seeing our area from the sky...... This is approaching Quadra Island. (Quadra Island is an island off the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, part of the Discovery Islands located within the Strathcona Regional District.) 

 Coming in for a landing.....

 Then getting ready to leave once more. Perfect September day.

 Looking inside the  cockpit of the Otter ....

 Plane on approach to Cortes Island,B.C. off northern Vancouver Island: traditional territories of the We Wai Kai, Kwiakah, Homalco, and Klahoose First Nations.

 Landing for pickup at Cortes.

 On the Cortes "runway", so to speak.

 “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” 
― J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

 Plane landing for return trip. UP and down. And UP and down....

 Taxiing...............This is part of the Discovery Islands.

 In the distance you can see the Otter approaching the dock..

 Cortes Dock.

 Taking off again. Back to Campbell River.

 Gaining Altitude.

 “Use the wings of the flying Universe, Dream with open eyes; See in darkness.” ― Dejan Stojanovic

 Discovery Marina ,Campbell River. North Island Vancouver Island, B.C.

 Tip of  Marina Island

 Tyee Spit Road. Taxiing into Campbell River,B.C. Dock at Tyee Spit.

“There will be a bird today. It will be white with streaks of gold like a crown atop its head. It will fly.” 
― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

Picking Grapes with Cordelia

 “Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait . . . there is nothing stronger than these two: patience and time, they will do it all.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

 Today it was time to harvest the grapes. About a gazillion or two. (Very technical term).....especially since there were so many grapes everywhere that we lost count.

 Everyone was in on the act.

Even the Pileated Woodpecker. He  scared away all the Stellar Jays who were chomping on the peanuts in the bird basin.

 But he didn't scare Cordelia-from-the-hill.

 Cordelia wanted a snack. It WAS break time after all.

 "The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do."     -Galileo Galilei

 There were many observers: Bunny looking out .

 Spencer looking in.

 And the Jays screeching from above. 

 Cordelia  thought her snacks were in the chip bag. NO Cordelia treats.

 And then it was time to get back at the grapes.Clip and snip. Snip and clip.

 So many grapes. Hard to count the totes that were filled. The car weighted down, bending almost with the October harvest.

 Cordelia didn't care for grapes. She wanted a real snack. Perhaps one shaped like a mouse.

 "Behold the grapes and all the fruits that Autumn gives today, As robed in red and gold, she rules, the Empress of Decay!"   -Henry Abbey

 It took three hours to pick half the arbour. Grapes falling here and there.
Squish squish underfoot.

 Concord grapes destined for the Winery. About 60-90 bottles of wine, in about 6 months. Wine for gifts. Wine for friends.

 Cordelia was not concerned in the least about grapes.  She was  the quality control expert. 

 There must have been six totes ( not sure on how many) of grapes. And so many grapes left on the vines. Grapes given away to those who wanted them. 

  Cordelia ever attentive. Ever hoping for her cat sized snack. Soon Cordelia....

 And Smokey, way up high, hoping for a flying one. He would have a long wait. 

 "October, here's to you. Here's to the heady aroma of the frost-kissed apples, the winey smell of ripened grapes, the wild-as-the-wind smell of hickory nuts and the nostalgic whiff of that first wood smoke."    -Ken Weber