Spring ... FINALLY.

This winter has been uncharacteristically harsh in our usually fairly benign locale. Started off with just a couple of minor snowfalls that drifted in, then melted away almost immediately. We were lulled into a sense of complacency ... everything was green, the temps were mild, and we began pulling together all the tools we'd need to do some pretty aggressive pruning on our apple and cherry trees. Naturally it began to rain, so we decided to hold off until the morrow. Next morn ( as Murphy's Law would have it ) the gentle precipitation we saw as we fell into bed that night morphed into a raging snowstorm as the temperatures plummeted, and we awoke the next morning to a landscape buried in snow. Our poor inukshuk looked like it was struggling to escape rising white quicksand ( quick snow? ), and as the day progressed the snow quickly reclaimed any lingering green patches, until within a couple of days of the same we were buried under three feet of frozen H2O.
Bummer.
We have a driveway just short of a quarter-mile long, all uphill, and soon we couldn't even get up in our four-wheel drive truck with chains, which meant carrying supplies up from the base on toboggans and in backpacks, walking like splay-footed ducks to prevent sliding downhill on the ice. Our husky ( who one would think might be predisposed to have a toboggan hitched up to her to share the burden, looked at us as if we were imposing some diabolical brand of abuse upon her, and promptly went on strike. Lazy mutt. )
This lasted a few weeks, until recently Chris and I went out with picks and shovels and spent a couple of hours waging war with  the ice in the tracks, raising a few impressive blisters along the way as well. Finally we're able to get the vehicles up and down again, though not before sliding off into a ditch and having to impose on a neighbbour to pry us out again. Sigh. Winter starts seeming very old at this point.

However, on a brighter note: the last few days have been warm enough to banish 95% of the nasty stuff ( I refuse to say the "S" word out loud anymore for fear of tempting fate. Shhh ... ), so we're keeping our fingers crossed that the worst is over. Yesterday I was even able to dig up a few wheel-barrow loads of earth to supplement the garden beds. Bring on the green! Bring on the Vitamin D too - my poor, pale, winter-battered body could use it.

A Walk on the Wild Side.

Good grief. No posts since the 'New Year's Resolutions'. How pathetic is that? Good thing I didn't resolve to blog daily.
Oh well. Moving on ...
I've been doing a lot of walking lately, in an attempt to burn off the eight-or-so pounds that set up housekeeping on my thighs and butt ( eat, drink and be merry, but be prepared for a reality check after the holidays! ). So far I've managed to whittle a couple, and perhaps tone a bit of muscle at the same time. Our pooch, Ayla, is all in favour of the new regime, and despite the fact that 'heel' isn't part of her vocabulary, she provides companionship on our hikes.

I thought I'd share some photos of the areas we've been covering... the first few were taken during a day-hike up an old road nearby that crosses a mountain and continues on down to a bay where there used to be a fish-processing plant. The road isn't used for anything other than the occasional hiker or biker now, and is largely overgrown in spots. Lovely scenery, however, and a very quiet and peaceful area for a meditative walk. 

                                                Above and below: views from the old road ...

Below is a print I came across at the base of the mountain. It's a wolf track, partially melted and expanded, giving it the appearance of being far larger than it in actuality is. 

The two pics below show the tracks of a healthy pack of wolves. These were taken much farther up, and the prints were still frozen and crisply outlined, providing an accurate measure of their size in relation to my size seven men's boot ( I prefer buying my hiking shoes and boots in men's sizes to accomodate my rather wide feet. ) Ayla is a sixty pound husky-cross, but her tracks ( not shown ) looked diminutive next to the wolves'. Another accurate hint to their size lay in their longer stride distance in comparison to Ayla's.

The pooch was a bit discomfitted by the scent-tracks left behind, and stayed uncharacteristically close to me - usually she's way ahead of me on the trail, but this day she decided that a bit of company wasn't a bad thing. Wimp.

The photo below was taken on the same trail, showing a corridor of alders that have grown up on the old roadbed. While it doesn't translate very well on film, this aisle of trees was completed encased in frost, suggesting a scene out of a fairy tale, a shimmering glimpse into some alternate, magical dimension...

On another day we took a far shorter walk down to our local bay,

and were fortunate enough to glimpse a family of river otters frolicking on some partially submerged rocks.

River otters don't reach the size of their sea otter cousins, but are nonetheless impressive beasts, and very entertaining to watch. One straggler joined the family a couple of minutes after we arrived, and was greeted with such enthusiasm that all I could see for a minute or so was a rolling pile of sleek bodies with an occasional snout or tail thrashing the air. Now there's a family with no issues or personal space boundaries!

It never ceases to amaze me how much beauty lies right outside our door - it's a gift that I'll never take for granted. With a 'neighbourhood' as lovely as this to explore, motivation to get out and move a few muscles is never a problem. Certainly it's far more pleasant than doing laps around a city block.

Happy Trails!

I Resolve to:

Care for a cup of Cat-Poop Coffee?

Poor Katie. No, puss, we haven't been raiding your litterbox. 

I'm refering to a variety of coffee that I recently heard about, coffee that has been "processed" in a somewhat unusual manner ... it's called Kopi Luwak, or more informally, Cat Poop Coffee.

In Indonesia there live small cat-like mammals called palm civets, which have an inordinate fondness for ( but sadly, an inability to completely digest ) coffee cherries. The civets pass the mostly undigested beans in their stools, which are then collected ( shudder ), washed, and lightly roasted to produce the world's most expensive coffee. Apparently the digestive enzymes break down the proteins in the beans, resulting in a uniquely smooth brew highly coveted by connoisseurs. Obviously, the nature of the process by which this coffee is produced means that mass production is unlikely any time in the future, and if you're ever feeling adventurous enough to sample it expect to pay about $500.00 a pound for the beans, or around $25.00 a cup.

Sounds yummy, doesn't it? Bet you just can't wait to shell out a week's wages for a bag of beans to impress your special guests with.

Personally, I prefer my coffee decrapenated, thank you very much; or better yet, I think I'll just stick to tea!

;)

Joys of the season.

It's that time of year again ... the days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping, and my metabolism has begun the inevitable slow decline that late Fall/Winter invariably brings.
An insidious lethargy sets in. Crawling out of bed is like trying to escape the grasp of quicksand, and I find myself stumbling through the day in a kind of grumpy daze.
Then there's the weight gain - the winter insulation that seems to creep up on me when my back's turned. Every year, five or six pounds that appear in Nov. or Dec., that I carry around until Spring, when without any effort on my part they melt away like snowbanks in the sun.
It would be annoying if I could muster the energy to be pissed about it.
I suppose it's a classic case of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I've got to remember to use my full-spectrum lamp, try to get outdoors and go for a walk, force myself to ignore the sirensong of carbohydrates.
Bah humbug.
I must have been a bear in a previous incarnation ... it would explain this residual instinct to hibernate.

How cats amuse themselves on rainy days.