Saint Patrick's Day parade

Here I go again.  My first parade since about the age of 10 when we kids all decorated our bicycles with crepe-paper and rode around the neighbourhood.  And it was fun!  I had decided to go only at our Thursday evening "session" at Celtic Traditions, where I was convinced that I could at least carry my smallest, Zephyr, harp (as long as the rain held off).  To be seen and not heard.

Two problems.  First, I had no strap arrangement to help with the carrying (Molly suggested that I needed a wagon and a puller, but no time to come up with either), and even my littlest harp weighs.  I figured I could last about two tunes.  Second, I hadn't got the chords for the particular eight tunes that we were to play firmly in mind - I hadn't done my homework.  Should I or shouldn't I?

The day dawned cloudy, with just a bit of spit, and off I went, harp on my back.  Granville bus downtown to Davie Street.  Then over to Howe and Drake where the parade was to begin, and backwards up the Howe-Street bridge-ramp where the entries were gathering all in order (Scottish pipers, Irish dancers, dogs) to #C34 - "Celtic Traditions".  We were flanked, in front by Academie Duello (medieval sword-play and stuff) and behind by the Vancouver Canadians baseball team.  Celtic??  Nearby, the Aquarium had a seal mascot riding in a pedi-cab - perfect for me and a harp I thought, but no room for sharing.  I would have to walk.

our pub competition warming up

an Irish dance school getting sorted

our Celtic Traditions "float"

ready to go 

 At 11am, the line began to move, down the ramp and into the crowd.  We walked and played and smiled and before we knew it we were at Georgia and Granville and the parade was done.  45 minutes.  I had carried my harp and played - sort of - for the whole parade.

our fearless leader, Michael Pratt, had us playing all the way

the one harp 

At the end, a photo in the street, then off to the Kingston pub.  Our gang downstairs for Guinness, lunch and a "session".  Our competition, a Scottish bagpipe-band, overhead.  Loud!  Thank goodness they played only a few songs.

So I am hooked … but have my eye on a pedi-cab for next year.

Musqueam exhibit #2

Two pieces that I particularly liked from part-two of the Musqueam ("cesna?em") exhibit, at the Museum of Anthropology, UBC ...

First.  Musqueam sturgeon fishers with 30-foot-long harpoons, circa 1850

Second.  Five photos from a sequence of moving images, showing the development of the Fraser River delta and the migration of native villages, further and further out-to-sea.  The sequence also shows the colonial settlement as it developed (open circles, and shading that my camera didn't catch).  Cesna?m appears on the Fraser's north arm and "Musqueam" on the ocean's edge in the third photo.  Most of the exhibit was Musqueam stories, told by current band members, and their thoughts about their heritage and their future.

Raven and The First Men

… by Haida artist, Bill Reid, in the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.

I have seen this carving many times since it was finished in 1980, but have never photographed it.  On our Tuesday walk around campus, Diana and I found ourselves at the MOA and remembered that we wanted to see the second part of the Musqueam exhibit (see Feb 14th post).   As we came out of that exhibit (next post), we walked by, and then all the way around, the Raven.  Here he is from all sides.

Derek's birthday

For March 6th, Cole and I were summoned to North Saanich to be the guests at Derek Fraser's 78th birthday celebration.  The day was glorious.  Arriving from the 9am ferry, we walked first along the waterfront in the nearby town of Sidney - Christina's choice.  After lunch (and a wee nap) Derek, Cole and I headed up into the woodsy trails - Derek's choice - on the side of Mount Newton above where the Frasers live in Dean Park.  Walks followed by lots of good food and good talk.

elegant sea-side walkers - Christina, Derek, Cole

 and, in the Western Red Cedar forest ...

… two happy 78-year-old pals

The next morning, continuing Cole's Old Ranch House restoration project, we tracked down David Lehton and his partner Terri Elderton at 1855 Landsend Road, at the ferry tip of the Saanich Peninsula.  In 1975, David had replaced the original crumbling ranch-house fireplace with a late-18th century Count Rumford fireplace - still there.  He had come to see Cole for work.  A fireplace (plus chimney) was needed.  He had never before made a fireplace, but, armed with the Rumford booklet from Sandon Cox, he came back the next day with a brick-by-brick drawing.  He got the job and has been building fireplaces (and other masonry) ever since.  David also replaced all the chinking between the ill-fitted logs.

Sights from the coming-home ferry in the warm(ish) sunshine ...

Mount Baker - the still-active volcano in Washington State

Beaver Point on Saltspring Island - seen this week from the sea

No whales, but masses of herring and, therefore, masses of gulls, and some seals (or sea lions?)

sneezy trees

The"sneezy trees"(named by Janet and Colin, probably in Rowan's first spring, as the pollen wafted in their bedroom window) are in full bloom on our street - three weeks early, they say.  But, Janet, the good news is that they should be well over before you arrive in late April.

Off for a flower-counting walk with Kay Costley-White, here for a week.  We counted 33 different flowers in the neighbourhood (though our ability to keep track of the number was suspect).  

"I'm afraid you can't get there from here"

… my favourite response by Maritimers, or maybe the Irish, to many a request for directions.  With all the construction around the Wesbrook Building - with fences here and fences there, coming and going each week, Diana and I have chuckled to think that one day we may find the building completely surrounded by fence.  We wouldn't be able to get in (or maybe out!).

This week, it looked as if we were only one fence away.  No way to the Bus Loop to the north and east, no way to the Bookstore to the west.  Fortunately there is still a passage-way, via a detour up and down the steps of the next-door building, to the south and the Parkade where sit our cars.  So, we can still get there from here, but next week … ?

on the front steps of Wesbrook ...

… no way out to the north-east

from the front steps of Wesbrook ...

no way out to the west

………………………………………………………………..
P.S. on March 9th the south fence appeared (but a hole to the east remains).

Ruckle Park - Saltspring Island

Ruckle Provincial Park on Beaver Point, the south-west piece of Saltspring Island, visited by many of the family, over several decades.  Cole's idea of a perfect park.  A pioneer farm with some history posted and still somewhat in use - a field full of baa-ing lambs and their mothers.  Patches of second-growth forest, good paths, rocky coves for picnics, camp sites on the rocks looking out to Active Pass.  Remembering visits with Colin, Teagan and Griffin one March, and with Rachel, Lily and Alice another March.  Cole and I had a sunny February Saturday morning there, poking about.

The farmhouse (now a museum) for the Ruckle family - Henry from Ireland, Ella from Norway.

A pity there's no sound in blog posts.  The farm field was ringing with BAAs - maybe 50 lambs keeping track of their mothers.

Steamer service to Beaver Point (Ruckle farm) from 1889 to the 1950s when the ferry-dock moved to Fulford Harbour.  From 1877 to 1889 they rowed.

Where the wharf and post-office/store were … now a fine picnic spot ...

… and camping sites with the rocks and the sea beyond

…………………………..

Back to Ganges, to Gallery 8 (Joanne Evans's paintings), Black Sheep Books (wonderful - used) and the Tree House Cafe (for a yummy tuna melt), before the milk-run ferry home.  A good Meo and Doco excursion.