SeaRose Studio Newsletter    November 2011

Good evening to all, Ed in particular, who motivated me to show up here after too long an absence. Thanks Ed.

 A narrow strip of cerulean blue lights up the saturated Prussian blues of the evening skyat the end of this November day. The 3rd of the month and the sun still shines on our north facing land although each day pares away another sliver of sunbeam as it sets further and further to the south . Another winter approaches quickly after the here again, gone again summer; which did not really begin until August after a rainy June and July. Consequently the garden flowers and produce were delayed in every way; the half full part of this glass is that we have vegetables and flowers much later into the year than usual. “There, just look at that, look at that,” I crow to an invisible listener as I harvest the Swiss Chard, beets, bush beans, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes and cucumbers still hanging on the vine and turn out a few more potatoes. Around the garden I can still gather blooms from Madame Isaac Perriere, Sharifa Asma and Sunsprite and surround them with Japanese anemone, phlox and sedum. I’d forgotten that Nerines send up their stalks late in September. I went out a few days ago to do a little yardwork and burst into tears when I saw the fireworks of pink florets arrayed around the central stalk. The garden as always offers a powerful gift that nourishes my spirit.

Engineering Genius and I enjoyed the summer, brief as it was. E.G. got in a good prawn fishing season with Ted and Dan on “Kestrel” and many interesting and interested visitors arrived at SeaRose Studio. We are registered hosts of WWOOF Canada and some of our visitors, young people who travel the world from here to there, stayed and helped with a variety of garden and homesite chores. Anke, from Holland, Julie from Southern France and George from England all helped us out a lot this year. Hats off to Anke and Julie for working and laughing so hard for a month in the rainiest February I can remember, there are still two rows left in the woodshed of the firewood you two put in for us and I bless you, George, every time I walk down the dock, for the pressure washing you did.

It was a treat to visit with friends we’ve made over the years, Pauline from Hawaii, John Harper and Mary Morris of the original Clam Garden inquiry, Sandy and Greg on Latitude One who’ve been coming to Echo Baysince before we landed here, which was twenty-five years ago October 6….a quarter of a century. The only member of our family to visit was Theda, our songbird and she performed an unforgettable concert at Billy’s Museum one hot day on August. Made some new friends too, notably Fay Sims whose lovely mind and like spirit made me feel I’d found a true soul sister. Good to have some new neighbours after the massive exodus of all the kids and their parents three years ago. Retired violinists Brent and Marka have moved into the neighbourhood full time and the new kids on the block, Coady, Zephyr and three year old Salix are now the managers of the Salmon Coast Marine Research Station next door.

Billy Proctor had a good summer too with an astounding number of visitors to his Museum and Gift Shop. The Aurora Explorer, Maple Leaf, Knight Inlet Lodge vessels and many other cruise boats bring guests from all over the world to Proctor Bay. Thanks to everyone who supported our Hatchery organization with your donations and my artwork with your purchases.

Some real wildlife highlights this summer, the most notable the extraordinary increase in humpback whale presence both in Queen Charlotte Strait and here in the mainland inlets. More than 60 different whales were documented this summer. Twenty years ago we marvelled if we were able to distinguish five or six different whales. Lucky George had a humpback encounter early one August morning. I was awakened at 6:00 am by the repeated slap of flukes and massive breaches by a humpback I could see just past Echo Bay. I knocked on George’s bedroom door, asked him, “How bad do you want to see a whale?” He was ready by the boat before I was. Although I was careful to shut the motor down and keep my distance from this leviathan, it proceeded directly towards us and breached spectacularly about thirty yards away. We sat low in the boat while it passed much too closely and headed down Cramer Pass. After twenty five years of humpback whales doing everything they could to not be near my boat, I was shocked when this one chose to aim directly at me with the full compass rose of directions to choose from.

There were at least two massive releases of barnacle spawn, and many smaller ones, swirling clouds of minute wriggling creatures that made the waters around our dock and foreshore milky with their volume. It was a real pain to keep the bottom of the boat clean and I had to put it on Billy’s ways three times to clean the spawn off the bottom and the outboard before they grew big enough to slow me down substantially. The Bird Studies Canada Waterbird Count Billy and I do exposed some small gems of knowledge to add to my bird lore. Since 2006 when we saw our first Rhinoceros Auklet, related to the Puffin, in the waters between home and the Burdwood Group, we now see hundreds of them. Turns out they eat sand lance and sand lance eat barnacle spawn. We also note a few Cassins Auklet. Marie-Josee Gagnon, a researcher at Salmon Coast studying the multitude of plankton varieties tells me Cassins Auklet eat plankton directly.

The world, as usual, is ravishing, bountiful and offers a plentiful array of interesting things to add to the puzzle. E.G. and I are getting set for winter now, the greening rains of summer have chilled  into winter rains, snow on the mountain is a couple weeks early as the snow goddesses usually wait until November to cloak Mt. Stephens with it’s white mantle. We have a pair of WWOOFers coming to help with firewood the day after we present our new pottery at Sointula Winterfest, Nov. 19^th.. We plan, weather permitting to spend a few days during the Christmas season, visiting family and friends on Vancouver Island, in White Rock and area. We’ll be in touch, by for now, have a good winter, keep safe and be sure to enjoy….

Yvonne from SeaRose Studio.