Radish Eyes

The summer is humming along in BC. Sarah and I are relishing the sun and heat. The garden is booming again. We're eating our raspberries for the first time this year, and the first zucchinis of the summer were barbecued on Wednesday.

The summer started with a bang, when we hit a deer on the island highway. Revise that sentence: the deer hit us. Perfect time of night, dusk settling in around 9.00pm. The deer stepped...no...suicidally leapt out from the side of the road. We were travelling on a four-lane highway with a speed limit of 110km/h. There was no chance to avoid the collision. My reflexes, ignoring everything my brain knows about hitting livestock on the open road (don't brake, don't swerve), braked and swerved. The Subaru performed a lovely, long slide, dipping down sideways into the grassy median between the lanes, and came to a rest facing the direction we had driven from. The deer was punted about 30-40 metres, from one side of the highway to the other. I would have loved a bird's eye view of its flight. The deer was quite dead. The Subaru too, with its radiator stoved in, headlights dangling, and hood crumpled. The car spent four weeks in the shop, as we drove an '09 Ford Focus courtesy car around Vancouver Island. CD players have really come a long way. And who would have thought I'd find myself enjoying automatic transmission.

At Trevor and Kate's wedding, Ucluelet.

Horne Lake Caves.

Quadra Island Slaughterfest, in the spring, courtesy of Mark and Megan. They raised the tastiest chooks, perfect for barbecued beer bum chicken.

Last weekend we headed into Strathcona Provincial Park with Doug and Karin. We hiked three hours into Circlet Lake, through mountain hemlock and cedar and sub-alpine meadows. We set up camp at the lake, lightened our loads, and hiked another three hours, ascending quickly to the north east ridge of Mt. Albert Edward, and following the ridge line to the mountain peak at 2,093 metres. Albert Edward is the sixth highest peak on Vancouver Island.

The peak of Albert Edward is above my head; Sarah on top.

Karin and Doug.

We had views of the mountain chain running the length of the island, as well as the backside of the Comox Glacier, the Strait of Georgia, and Quadra Island and Campbell River. Back at Circlet, we were swarmed by blackflies as we prepared dinner, eating on the move, and escaping to our tents.

Sunset south of Campbell River, looking north.