A safe Halloween. Trick or treating at home

Happy Halloween everyone. Not what we all wanted but about what we all were expecting, huh? What a year. What a time to be alive.

The world goes round around us. Seasons turning, summer progressing to autumn, to winter.

And in the meantime, there is one in my family who has reached the age of understanding trick or treating for candy. Not our little Zephyr. He's still blissfully happy just to be cuddled by his cousin Isla.

But that one! Do you see him? The little hedgehog in the back. Nate, my little 2 yr old.

My children and I were wondering how to make this first Halloween, the Halloween of his understanding, special to him...to all of them; who we will not risk out in the hood, (no matter how safe our hood may be). And we came up with a Halloween at home treasure hunt. All my grandchildren were dressed in their costumes and they rang the doorbell. "Trick or Treat!!!" Then they came in and ran around the house finding groups of 5 treats which they could each pick one of.

There were candy treats of course, but also Halloween pencils, creepy crawlies, gamepads, glow sticks and necklaces, squishy balls shaped like sheep, hedgehogs and teddies. Basically a ton of $1 store fluff for fun.

And then! And then they could sit down, spill their treasures on the livingroom floor, and eat their fill. Until there was a pile of wrappers! I swear the look in out Nate's eyes was like, "What? Candy? All I want? What?"That's right. One day of sugar hell children, and then back to substantially fewer treats per day.

And after they couldn't eat any more candy if they tried, and after it was waaaay past bedtime for some... we lit sparklers in a spare pumpkin and had our own little light show. It was a magical Halloween to remember.

The tale of 100 bees

Hello everyone. I'd like to tell you a story.

I've moved from my 1924 Craftsman house in the city to a 2012 Craftsman house in the country. (more to come about that as soon as I get over the trauma of moving)

Included with my new home is a small greenhouse which is my great new love.

A few days ago a small swarm of 100 or so bees appeared by the greenhouse door.

I called a local bee keeper and said, "Hey, I have a small swarm of bees on my greenhouse!"

Beekeeper replied, "bees don't swarm in late September."

umm...

*looks at swarm

*looks at phone in hand

*looks at swarm

*requests second opinion.

Second bee keeper said that they do indeed swarm this late but unfortunately my little swarm, and by now I totally own every one of them and have already named each one, my little swarm will not survive.

He said that it's too late in the season for them to begin gathering and building honeycombs and building up a population large enough that they would survive the winter.

More importantly, each bee only lives for 7-10 days so apparently they will all slowly die out.

*sigh

Nature raw in tooth and claw.

So I thought I would do the best I can for my bees and I packed the greenhouse with pollen and nectar treats.

I gave them a big bouquet of sunflowers,

balanced a large strawberry pot between the boxes,

and moved in some echinacea and sedum.

Well, fingers crossed for the little swarm that shouldn't be. For now they're enjoying their treats as well as the spirea outside.

Good luck my little buzzing buddies.

When in doubt, skate it out

I knew it would happen!I knew if I came to the Cariboo I better drive around with skates in the car because eventually, I'll come to a frozen, snow-free lake.And then it happened.Driving past Williams Lake I noticed people walking and skating around.So I found the right street to the city park and parked up and laced my skates up.And then I jumped tenderly skated right in!So it took me a while to adjust to the wobbliness and the melt, freeze, melt patches of lake ice, but once I decided I'd just have to bulldoze skate over the frozen waves at a good speed, it was the most amazing thing in the world.Cracks and all.I took a good hour around that lake. I skated to the middle, I skated back and forth along the shore, I skated over thin ice and thick. Over cracks and thru slush.It was the best, most glorious feeling.My advice is to skate every day!

Tracking the wilds

Afternoon walk.The weather has warmed up slightly. It's gone from -20 to -6 or so, so we went for a tracking walk.We took Duke the Wonderdog and of course Ruby...who just ran on ahead scouting for what she could smell.We rounded on the road around our friend's ranch......and headed into the woods.Ruby was wearing her Cowichan sweater but soon got it caught on a barbed wire fence so off it came.We followed coyote tracks all the way.At one point we saw moose tracks and possibly bear. Well, we thought it wasn't as big a paw print as a bear should be, but we know the bears are out now and it was a BIG paw print.We also saw a rabbit and deer, but mostly coyote.After about 20 minutes, we came out of the woods onto the meadow.And we looked over moose tracks paralleling Whitehorse creek by the ancient cabins.We let the dogs investigate a coyote party involving yellow snow and apparently delicious scents......while we took in the glorious panorama.On the way back, I found a bit of fur caught up in the barbed wire and thought about what that might be. Coyote? Fox? Too high for a rabbit.In my eagerness to investigate, I stepped into thigh-high snow.Duke laughed. Fatty human

At Lac La Hache at a friend's ranch

Chloe and I are visiting our friends at Lac La Hache.It's magical here in B. C.'s Cariboo; even if we've caught a cold spell of -20 for a couple of days.The horses here at the ranch don't care one bit.They have their beautiful velvet coats on.This is Duke. He's the ranch dog and the most obedient, friendliest, snuggliest thing on 4 legs.He loves chasing ice and snowballs. Actually, he'll play fetch forever.Just as we got here, Doug finished a massive hike thru knee-high snow back to the ranch because his snowmobile got stranded miles away.He enlisted Chloe as copilot and they rescued the wayward sled.This was the first time Clove ever drove a snowmobile and she loved it to pieces.We were originally going to ranch-sit for a few days while our friends went on a Las Vegas holiday, but the world being what it is, they decided to be safe and cancel. Instead, they went out for dinner and a movie and a lovely stay overnight in the nearest city.This meant that Chloe had the responsibility of holding down the fort ranch for a couple days.The house is heated via this wood burner which needs fueling every morning and night. This means 4 sledges of wood daily.But there's always time for tea.The horses need tending to and moved from one pasture to another.After their morning feed, Chloe has to try to move them.Happily, all she has to do is ask Duke for help.He barks and herds them to exactly where they should be.Ruby tries to help, but all she wants to do is eat the horse treats.I'm completely in love with these purple shadows cast on this gloriously white snow. I know that purple shadows on snow are a bit ubiquitous, (kinda like sunsets), but who can resist them? I can't.But just as I get a pristine shot lined up, one of the pups runs or digs thru it!Ruby has been a bit of a city dog while Bryson has been in UBC, and is not quite used to the temperatures up here in the North, so we make sure we run the dog around a lot to keep them warm outside.I did have a few hours to dedicate to a little sprig of ponderosa pine in my nature journal. (Note to self: get the photos up there on Instagram!)This is the first layer of watercolour. One or two more layers to go. Intricate little paintings like pine needle branches take so much time!Our first day went by in the blink of an eye.Soon it was sunset and time for all those stars not obstructed by city lights.Tell you something.I could get used to this.

In Wales, helping Catherine with her new house

Robert's sister Catherine is in the middle of a big project.She has bought this beautiful but derelict cottage in a rainbow valley in Walles and we've been visiting her to help her sort the cottage out.The cottage had been unoccupied for several years, untouched since the owner died, and was in desperate need of heating, cleaning, repairing and updating and bringing it into the 21C.So much has been done to it since Catherine bought it; such as washing and cleaning mould and damp off all walls and ceilings, ripping out stained carpets, taking away a wheelchair stairlift, cutting down an overgrown garden, hours of work to get the wood burner working, new boiler and refitting the central heating, and throwing away mounds and mounds of hoarded junk.Then came the ripping out of the built-in 1970s kitchen. This was the best fun for me because it's something I always wanted to do. Catherine's new kitchen will be centred around her gorgeous farm table, a huge armoire, a freestanding Belfast sink, and this new cooker.As usual, the kitchen table is the central hub of all activity.Here is the starting point for endless cups of tea and plans for the cottage futures.And there's always time for a walk in this gorgeous valley.Welsh sheep like to follow you around and then stop just a few feet away and stare you down!Behind the cottage is the most beautiful church.There's nothing I like better than to explore churches and castles and other such old buildings.This church has a couple beautiful old masters type paintings and Medieval tiles on the floor.Then it's back to the cottage for more work...more views...and endless cups of tea.Painters have come this week and will be there painting walls, floors and ceilings for the next few weeks.What a transformation Catherine!I'm so proud of you.

The Last Supper

It's been some time, huh?It's been an age.There's never a good place to start blogging again, is there?I've got six months of adventures and art and general goings-on to catch you up on, but I thought that maybe the best place to start is today. Right here. Right now.I was just at The Ashmolean Museum to see a special exhibition: The Last Supper in Pompeii.In this exhibition were about 400 artefacts from the tragic city. There were pieces of homes, mosaics, practical everyday objects, and the charred remains of food; including stuffed dormice, roasted flamingos and fermented fish sauce.Oh, and 200 yr old ketchup.What struck me so much about this exhibit was its narrow focus.Not the all expansive life of the Napa Valley of its day, not the crowded narrow double streets or the pumice tombs which encased so many people, but the intimacy of everyday dishes, glasses, kitchen pots.We see a mosaic of ocean life which once was the floor of a house.There's artwork on walls, statues and altars to garnish favour with gods.And everywhere there are reminders of the leading moto of that time:Carpe Diem.Carpe Diem because you can just hear Vesuvius rumbling in the background.Carpe Diem because in a brief moment life could be over.So Carpe the hell out of your Diem everyone.Every day.PS: I'm just going to quietly backdate posts, publish them, be calm, and carry on.

Alice in the Palace

Christmas at Blenheim is always a treat and this year they did a special Alice in Wonderland exhibition in the grand palace rooms.This was just so magical!I loved every minute of it.Here are just a few pictures.The bright coloured lights combined with the lower, magical light illuminations were very hard to photograph, but I hope you get a little glimpse of the magic.

Where there's a will, there will be a way. I found proof.

I'm smitten with this harsh and hot land.Completely in love.Where some people see failure, death and destruction, I see life.I see it in the little trickles of water, in the Shoshan people, in the creosote, mesquite, the ephemeral spring flowers, the animals and the cacti......and in those who saw what I see.This is the Amargosa Opera House.It's the home of the late Marta Becket. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.You can go read all about it, but in a nutshell, in 1967, Marta, who was a New York Ballerina, got a flat tire, had it fixed in a gas station right across the street, saw, what was then the remains of a row of shops and a dance hall for the old Borax mining company, rented it......and stayed.She painted the walls, ceiling and stage of the little dance hall, and danced and danced for the next 40 years there.At first she had an audience of maybe 6 people, but eventually, this little opera house and Marta danced their way into history.But I think that the most important this is that Marta did what she wanted to do...fulfilled her life's purpose. Danced like no one was watching, because some times no one was watching, and lived happily ever after. (I imagine)It took her five years, but I love the way she painted her own audience and just worked her art, did her own magic, made herself happy.a few miles from Amargosa...ok, 89 miles but who's counting, is the life's work of another person who is an inspiration to me.The China Ranch Date Farm is a little island of life.The history is shaky and a bit sad, but it seems that a Chinese man, a refugee who worked the mines, decided that the miners lacked fruit in this harsh climate, and so planted a grove of date trees in this little area where there is a natural freshwater spring.Eventually, he was usurped by a man named Morrison who owned guns...at gunpoint...the wild west.But what remains is a legacy. A legacy of making it. Making a life of love and contentment...although I'm sure there were tons of road bumps and serious potholes along the way.Still, that life well lived, a legacy to follow, that to me is the most wonderful life.Read: To Dance on Sands by Marta BecketListened to: Glory in Death by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)

Finding the footsteps of the those who came before

I've made friends with the Timbisha Shoshone people who've called this amazing place home for centuries. One of their elders told me stories of underground cities, of giants, of animal spirits who show the way to water if they accept you as one with the land.But before the Shoshone, there were ancients. Elders who came before them. The giants.I had it in mind to trace the footsteps of the prehistoric people who called this amazing place home.Now, there are a couple places in the valley which are publically advertised as areas of hyrogliphs, but I was interested in areas which are secret, hidden.In all these cases I needed my 4 wheel drive to get me over flood beds and boulders, and then, when I drove as far as possible, I had to hike another two miles or so.If you want to do this then remember you are on your own. I probably don't have to tell you, but be smart. Leave word with someone where and when, take plenty of water, know how to use a compass, bring a small emergency pack and know your limits.The trouble with finding areas like these is that sometimes idiots also find them, and these sacred areas end up defaced by the undying love of Kyla who hearts Zac.Tragic and devastating. How can people be so stupid?Unreparable, irreplaceable national treasure!So the only way to actually see one of these places is to make friends, do research, puzzle out clues, map the trail yourself, and hope for the best.Following these rules, I will show you what I found but will not tell you where, and will leave that to you to puzzle out.All the hierogliphs I found are chizled into highly polished granite.So I went to look for granite canyons.In one case, the clue led me to an Indiana Jones boulder completely blocking the way, and there was some bouldering.But mostly where were some small paths to follow.And then, the treasure!In this case there is graffiti here. Turn of the century, but graffiti none the less.Most of the permanent marks were made by hitting a sharp object to make a dot, and to chisel the image into the granite. You can see someone defaced this site with a scratched X and a huge J B.Here is one public hyroglyph. One of the repeating symbols is this "sun".Here are some more.No one knows what they mean, or, often, what they are meant to be.Some are possibly bighorn sheep, arrows, possibly human forms, snakes?Or just the markings of time.Many are on granite shot thru with beautiful quartz designs.Maybe this was somehow sacred.So go. I've spent three days already hiking and finding them and painting.And if you do go, admire them, take only photographs, leave only footsteps.And return to the floor of the valley.