Monday, October 4, 2010

Touring the coastal beaches

While sipping morning coffee in the shade of the deck this wee one came to visit.
My sister said they are very cheeky birds, apparently they would rest for the night in one of her baskets on the deck and scold people that came near. The way little wrens flit, hop and bob with tail upright entertains and delights me. We were graced with the presence of many little bush wrens on our journey.
While visiting with a cousin theses little butterflies flitted about.
My cousin kindly lent us a book detailing lesser known access paths to the beaches so our next jaunt was to spend a wonderful day touring from Nanoose to Qualicum.  
I remember 30 years ago digging and roasting clams and oysters on the campfire, infrequently red-tide warnings were posted, and at those times shell-fish could not be eaten. Nowadays this is common signage along the waterfront. I am told that our waters being so polluted by of industrial effluence that abnormally effects water temp making toxic bloom a common occurrence. 
Another common sight is kayakers.
What a wonderful way to spend the day. I could slip off into this image and just relax.
The forest fire smoke which drifted in with the hot temperatures subdued the landscape with gray gauze, which in this photo beautifully isolates the orange/yellow of the kayak. I just may print this one.
Lazy Days, Smoky Haze.
A beach near Nannoose where kayakers were launching. 
Our next stop. 
There was a fellow picking blackberries by the roadside so we stopped and chatted a bit. He sent us down to the wharf, said we would find birds to photograph there. 
Fabulous carving to greet us.
photo by G. Delorme.
(I did not get a frontal view, so once again have borrowed an image.)
Beach Buzzards.
I find these scavenger birds highly fascinating.
Starlings Galore.
There were many nesting boxes set upon these posts out in the bay, its too bad the distance was to far for my 300m lens to get a good image. I guess I cannot capture all as I would like.
Purple Martins.
The Heron along the coast seem to have accepted the human presence and put up with us nosey photographers. In alberta they tend to fly off when they see humans coming.
Near the wharf is a small graveyard.
Beautiful carvings to remind one of those gone on.
My sweetie has been working at gaining protection for and saving historical graveyards in the Edmonton area, though protection is very slow coming. 
"Save Our Sacred Sites" hosted by G. Delorme is on Facebook
Cities and provinces rather would cement over the aboriginal and pioneer graves pretending they were never there.
I find it sad that Edmonton is and has been throughout its history pro-active at destroying the evidence of these graves within the confines of the city as it now stands. Researching archives in Calgary I found articles that state evidence of certain downtown buildings now sitting upon the bones of the first peoples. The caucasian remains were interred elsewhere; yet not the native people. Some have said to me "well the indians did nothing to stop it!" Well, the article stated they did object, yet there was nothing they could do about it as the Canadian government had at that time efficiently placed the aboriginal population into interment camps they called reserves. 
One more to leave off with.
Have a joyful day filled with awe of creation and the blessing in life, though don't forget the spirit of those who walked before us.

2 comments:

Carol Blackburn said...

All are very beautiful photos, Teresa. Love the old graveyards, myself. I photographed some in a graveyard on GODING RD. (I thought it was aptly named). Some of the inscriptions are fun to read, too.

tess stieben said...

Thank you Carol. It has been said that you can tell a lot about society by how they honour their dead.