Early lunch and a hike

It’s been a while since I answered a WordPress weekly photo challenge. Today I was wondering why I stopped and thought it was just life…you know…life carries you towards a different challenge on a Friday.
But today I give you “from above”:
Looking down Cleveland dam at Capilano Canyon.

and happily include 5 random thoughts (RT) for Nancy’s Random Five Friday

C and I felt like having a bit of a lunchtime hike and so we packed a little light lunch and drove to Capilano Park and then hiked up to the power line to see our favorite tree, the white pine.

We had a little prosciutto, a little salad, a few bruschetta with fresh mozzarella and roasted pepper and some funky little whole pea crisps.

RT 1: Who thinks to flash dry and crisp whole pea pods? Do you just one day think hmm, I think I’ll make whole pea pod crisps and mass market them! They are good though.

We sat/lay at the edge of the reservoir watching the hummingbirds and swallows zooming around and way up high there were two eagles riding a thermal in great lofty circles.

RT 2: They say that each living creature has relatively the same amount of heart beats in an average life span.
RT 3: I once had a hummingbird’s nest. It was the tiniest most delicate thing in the world made of moss, lichen and cobwebs.

RT 4: It’s illegal to own eagle feathers unless you have First Nation status, but what if one falls down and you find it? I’m voting for finders keepers. (Because secretly I’d love to own an eagle feather.)

Finally we had to tear ourselves away and up the mountain we hiked till we got to the white pine.

Western white pines are rare in Vancouver because of a very bad disease which has killed many off and so a beautiful mature white pine is protected and this one has a designated heritage tag.

The cones are spectacular. I always want to take one home and just keep it to look at, but they don’t belong in my house, they belong in the forest and so we take only photographs and hike back down. And besides, what if everyone who hiked up took one? Tragedy of the commons? I think maybe.

RT 5: I don’t want to get back to work!