Friday 6 May 2016

While I Was Out Walking ...

... through the streets of Comox this morning I came across this interesting image ...

Sailing into the dark woods?
I have had to make a quick trip back to "The Island" - as we knew it growing up here in paradise - for a family matter. The weather is drop-dead gorgeous at the moment. Thankfully. Like Tasmania, The Island can get pretty much any atmospheric conditions at any time of the year.

Not intending to take any photos while nosing around the old neighbourhood (I didn't even bring a camera, just my phone), once I saw that old salmon fishing boat marooned in a backyard with a wave of blackberries breaking permanently over it I couldn't help myself.

The next thing that caught my eye was this ancient stump in a park ...

Keeping on keeping on

Its worn-down appearance speaks of a long time having passed since the area was logged and this remnant left to hint at what once was.

The theme of wood temporarily taking over, the next textured eye-teaser that presented itself was this pile of log sections in someone's backyard ...

Rough and smooth; curved and flat
Where there's lots of trees there's gotta be lots of water. Part of my walk took me across Brooklyn Creek. In recent decades this little gem of a watershed has been much rejuvenated. Fish ladders and anti-erosion measures have been created to protect the creek and encourage spawning fish to return.

Here's an example of some of the construction work that has occurred to accommodate increased run-off due to urbanization ...


Infrastructure for fish


Two species of fish spawn in the creek.

These are the Cutthroat Trout ...
Cutthroat Trout
... and the Wig Wag dancing Coho Salmon ...
Coho Salmon
So, from wood to water. Not quite following the course of Brooklyn Creek I wended my way down to the waterfront where I was arrested by the beauty of the Comox Glacier hovering over the wharf ...

The Comox fleet; Comox Glacier behind 
Turning my back on the estuary, I headed back toward town and saw something that is a regular occurrence but is rarely seen in Australia: a building being re-roofed. Something that I haven't fully figured out about life in Canada is the way roofs are built. The sort of materials most commonly used areonly  expected to endure somewhere between 10 and 30 years. Here are a bunch of guys pulling the asphalt shingles off the roof of the Blackfin Pub just up from the wharf so they can be replaced ...

Men at work
The Blackfin has only been there about 20 years.  (Aside time: the two iconic pubs in Comox just near here where I had my first under-age beers so many years ago have both burnt down.) Contrast this life span with the corrugated metal roofs that are most common throughout Australia, and last 100 years and beyond. We replaced the roof on our 100 year-old house only  because we were extending the building, our old roof needed painting, it was easier to replace the whole roof, and the newer version of the old standard is even better - it doesn't need painting!

After enjoying the delights of the waterfront I wandered back up to Comox Avenue to look for some lunch and this is what I found ...

A spread from Sushi Kobo
All the fish used is caught locally. The three different rolls on this plate contain tuna (Albacore, there is no local Bluefin), salmon and scallops with fish roe.

On the way back to my Mom's place I passed this nice-looking but rather high fence ...

Don't fence me ... out!
Growing up in Comox I instantly knew what this was about: keeping out the deer. These folks obviously put a lot of work into their garden and don't want it chewed up by the browsers!

Closer to home I paused again as I couldn't miss sharing this classic west-coast sign of spring: fresh, light green spruce sprigs ...

Signs of Spring
Comox may be a lot more built up than it was when the Bruce family moved here just over 50 years ago.  There isn't nearly as much open space or forest as there was when we were kids. But now there's mountain-biking, rock-climbing and the water is still there for mucking around in boats. Goose Spit is now a public park and not the sole preserve of the military as it was way back when. And the town ... well it's the perfect playground for old folks like me who want to wander along Comox Avenue and eat sushi. And the fact that the deer still delight all and sundry - well, almost all and sundry - with their perambulations around the town is testament that there is still plenty of cover for them to retreat to come night time. Altogether, not a bad place.