…scooter riders are WAAAAY more hardcore than motorcyclists!

January 8th, 2012 – It rains here. A lot. This weekend was no exception. And that means that we have a very green environment, and micro-environments are pretty green too. Like the gutter above this doorway down on Granville Island. Lots of healthy algae growing on this doorway.

Normally that would mean great snow up on the mountains, but it’s been so warm that it’s raining up there too. And what snow there is, isn’t very good. There is a slim chance that we may see colder weather next week and that it may bring snow. That’d actually make me very happy, I love ‘real’ winter. Of course that opens a whole other can of worms here in Vancouver. No one here really knows how to drive in the snow, it’s chaos at it’s most impressive. Normally I don’t do the driving on the weekends, but Kirk is out of commission again and there were things that needed to be done. As it was it seemed that either the people on the roads don’t normally drive, or they’d all left their brains at home. So as much as I love snow, if it came down, I wouldn’t be driving, because although I know how to drive in it, and have a good vehicle with proper winter tires…I know that very few others out there do….

But for now, the umbrella stays close by.

January 4, 2012 – Woke up to pouring rain and the desire to do nothing but bury my head back under the covers. Some days the bed is just so cosy and hard to vacate, particularly when there is a cat draped across your chest.

Mother Nature has decided to ring in the New Year with a few nasty weather systems. However, I kept my whining to myself when I was chatting with a hatchery manager out on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and he told me they’d had 200 mm of rain in the past 24 hours.

Well, they call us the “Wet Coast” for a reason! But that’s what you get for living in a rainforest…at least it’s green, and we don’t have the annual looming threat of forest fires. Glass half full – of rain water at the moment

We are under rainfall warnings again. Sort of goes with the territory living on the “Wet” Coast. The weather changes so fast on the coast. From sun to rain like flicking a light switch. That’s OK though, if you can’t handle rain you shouldn’t live here. When I first moved here the rain depressed me. Coming from the North, I was used to lots of bright light in the winter, usually reflecting from snow. Sure, it was cold, but I’ll take that over rain any day. And living in the West End, I learned quickly that an umbrella was about more than keeping rain off your head, it was about protecting yourself from the sharp spikes on the edge of everyone else’s umbrella. Umbrellas are self defence devices down here!

On days like this, you can sit inside and mope about the weather, or you can dress appropriately and get out there anyway. You have to find ways to embrace it, like using a bright pink umbrella!

What a fabulous day. At this time of year you have to take advantage of sunny days, use them to their fullest potential. And sometimes that just means sitting and enjoying the warmth of the sun on your face.

Kirk and I give a great deal of our time to a volunteer organization, Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons. CPS is an organization dedicated to safe boating education and we have been doing it since we took the course in 1998 and realized that we could give something back to this amazing group, sometimes it feels like a bit much, but then you have days like today.

Twice a year we (the Squadron) put on a course and each class has the opportunity to join us in an on-the-water practical exercise in plotting and charting and learning about the dangers (and the joy) involved in boating in BC waters. We are passionate about boating, the Squadron, and the Yacht Club we belong to (and from where we hold the event). It’s never at a very good time of year for boating (Feb/Mar & Oct/Nov) but we occasionally get lucky with the weather for our Student Cruise, this one was particularly phenomenal. The time change was a welcome bonus since it meant that it wasn’t pitch black when we woke up! The boats were all in, the proctors arrived, the students arrived, and they were off for a fabulous sunny boat ride.

When it was all over and we had cleaned everything up, three of us stayed behind at the Club and sat in the sun until it disappeared. Kirk and I had weighed our options….hang out near the water in the sun, or gear up and go for a ride. We opted for the sun over the ride. It’s a treat at this time of year and when you have a number of hobbies you need to find a balance between them and not forget how much time, money, and effort you have put into not just the pastimes, but also the people that represent the community of friends you have built in each. We have become a part of such a wonderful group of people over the past 13 years that we have been involved in boating. All any of us get out of it is the knowledge that we are helping shape the boating habits of those new to it and promote safer use of the waterways. That community of friends has even had influences on life decisions we have made.

This afternoon, after everyone left, as we enjoyed the peaceful afternoon looking out over Burrard Inlet, I thought about how rich our lives are because of this wonderful group of people who have been a part of our world through boating. When we took the course we didn’t think beyond passing the exam. Who knew that somehow, through invitations to participate, we would be drawn so deeply into something so fabulous. About this time of year I tend to get a bit overwhelmed by how much time CPS takes from me, I have to admit that I get a bit “volunteered-out”, but then the cruise comes along and makes it all worthwhile.

It puts such a wonderful sparkle on a fabulous day. And it was a good decision, since you don’t get any colour on your skin when you are always hiding inside a motorcycle helmet

Balance……that’s what life is about.

294/365 (Oct, 21, 2011) – Today was really rainy out in the Valley. That’s not fog, that’s rain. There is a river (the Chehalis River) and some hills out there, but you can’t see them.

I wear an old leather wide brimmed hat when I work in the rain, it’s heavily coated in mink oil for waterproofing, but it’s probably going to take at least two days to dry out. Oh well, it’s the West Coast and if you can’t handle rain you just shouldn’t live here.

I look for opportunities to work anywhere but in the office, I’m a biologist and I’d rather not be planted in front of a computer indoors. I don’t mind getting messy, if I did this would probably be the worst job in the world. It’s wet, messy, smelly work, but the rewards far outstrip that. Today was a pink salmon spawn out at Weaver Creek Spawning Channel, with the eggs being incubated at Chehalis River hatchery until they are eyed and ready to be distributed among several community involvement projects. The hatchery was short staffed so I happily volunteered to make the 90 minute drive out to the Valley to help. We spawned 225 pairs and it was tiring and very wet work with only two hatchery staff, one Community Advisor, two volunteers and me. The rain didn’t stop and the old leather hat I wear in the rain, even with a fresh, thick, coat of mink oil, it is so heavily saturated with water that it will probably take two days to dry out. It seemed like a much longer 90 minute drive home.

But you know what? I love my job!

271/365 (Sept 28, 2011) – You have to appreciate these morning on the coast in the fall. I think one thing I really like about this time of year is that the sunrises are late enough that I actually get to see them

266/365 (Sept 23, 2011) – Mid-September hit and it felt like Fall pretty quickly. The past couple of days have been rainy and cool, but today warmed up and Nature even gave us a shot of sunlight. I was waiting for Kirk to pick me up after work and the sunlight came out blindingly for a few moments against one of the office towers downtown.

244/365 (Sept 1, 2011) – I can’t believe it’s the first day of September! Fall is just around the corner but summer only just got here. Seems unfair. This calls for dinner at the Keg and a nice hunk of sourdough bread before a perfectly seared bacon wrapped filet.

I seem to be a day behind on everything right now!

242/365 (August 30, 2011) – No! Don’t take down the umbrellas! Summer isn’t over yet! Not for a few weeks yet. But why is it that as the end of August is upon us, and as school is about to start back again, that we all decide it is fall? Well, the sun is setting earlier and rising later, the evenings are cooler, and when I was riding down across the border up in the mountains there were yellow leaves on the road. It just seems so unfair since we had such a lousy spring and a short, cold, wet beginning to summer. I’m hoping for an Indian Summer.

Put those umbrellas back up!!!