Leader of Men

well-timed time away

 

I've been gone for a while again, but this time I can blame it on vacation. My father recently acquired a little house right on the shore near Liverpool, Nova Scotia, so I took a quick jaunt across the 4400km in between this coast and that coast to stay for a bit. Technically that trip ended over a week ago but there was this nasty thing called work that has required my immediate attention since then. However, it turned out to be a good thing I came back when I did, because two days after I left Hurricane Bill made a moderate effort to drown the southern Maritimes and everything in it.

The photos above and below were taken by my stepmother from their deck during the storm. As I am originally from Ontario, I likely would have been cowering in the bathroom during a hurricane, but my folks are taking their new lives as Maritimers with firm integrity, and apparently that requires being relatively unruffled by weather that can kill you.

 

This next photo is of a wave breaching the top of the rock berm that separates their property from the water. Their house is two stories in the back and the garden slopes down into a sort of bowl-shape, then rises again to a natural stone berm that the former owner reinforced with large boulders. The berm slopes down again on the other side to meet the ocean. When you stand in the bottom of the garden, you cannot see over the berm. AND THERE ARE WAVES COMING OVER IT. According to my father, there was two feet of standing water in the bottom of the garden. It's enough to make you want to cower in the bathroom.

 

 

At some point during the storm, their neighbour from up the hill came down to invite them over for coffee while the storm raged. Apparently this is the appropriate way to handle emergency weather if you are a Maritimer. My stepmother took another photo from the neighbour's house; this is Bill looking a bit more cheerful now that his work is almost done.

 

 

Thankfully my dad's house was not damaged - they didn't even lose power, unlike 45,000 other people - but sadly many of the quaint little roads we drove around on during my visit were completely washed away. Hurricane Bill was only a Category 1 Hurricane when it skimmed by the province about 80km offshore, but still produced 9-10 metres waves, which makes me a tad worried about the next time. I hope the neighbours have plenty of coffee.

a walk in the woods

Prior to my mangling. Courtesy of my friend Mere, who sneaks pictures of me when I'm not looking.

i hiked up 495 metres and all I got was this lousy view

And I smashed my knee on a rock. That'll teach me to be one with nature.

 

It was a gorgeous day out today, so Mere and I decided to go for a hike up at Buntzen Lake, just east of the Burrard Inlet. I foolishly chose the Diez Vistas trail, which my guidebook mildly described as "challenging". Quite the sense of humour my guidebook has. Buntzen Lake is also where they filmed Lake Placid, if you happen to be a Betty White fan. Fortified with trail mix, maple buds and blueberry Pocky, we made it to the first viewpoint before time constraints made us turn back (or turn knee-first into a rock, as it happened). When the weather's good again, we'll go back and try the whole thing. There are Nueve other Vistas to see, of course.

Not far past the trailhead a floating bridge passes over the lower part of Buntzen Lake, which is not very lake-like at this time of year. It was quite chilly out and there was steam rising from the mudflats.

 

Little groves of young alder turning glowing orange-yellow.

 

Funky little mushrooms. No, I didn't eat them. One act of extreme stupidity per day is enough.

 

Glorious.

 

Snarfin' Pocky and soaking up sunshine cliff-side. No, I did not fall off. One act per day, remember?

 

I foresee a great deal of pain tomorrow, but it was worth it.