Sunday, August 12, 2018

Summer in Sointula - photos


Just photos, folks.  They speak for themselves....
This is the scenery on Highway 19 between Port McNeill and Campbell River. 


Tarkanen Shipyard 
Flowering salal....see the bee?

The sailboat on the right is our new Catalina 27.  Dusk at Alert Bay during a three night getaway in August. 
Alert Bay docks and waterfront.

These giant plants pretty much take over our neighbour's yard.


They're even bigger now! 

We sometimes live above the fog bank!
More another day...
Tricia and Jim Bowen
email: tandjbowen13@gmail.com

Our first crop of cherries!

Spring was in the air when we arrived on Malcolm Island mid April.  Cherry blossoms were just beginning to form on our two big old cherry trees, which frame our new house beautifully.  We enjoyed each part of the cherry cycle from watching the first blooms appear to enjoying daily visits from the deer, crows, robins and chickens who love cherries. Then there's the produce we managed to scoop before the crows and robins decimated the majority of the cherries.  We will trim the trees this fall as they've never been trimmed. We can hardly wait until next year.




Jim picking a few cherries he had been watching ripen for weeks
Our bounty.  Those are not our knives and forks, by the way!


The neighbourhood twins enjoying some tasty leaves on their trek through our property.  Taken this close!

Cherry upside down cake.  Super moist.  The local baker, Victor, also made two small cherry and berry pies for us.  

That's a stem and cherry pit that the deer will crunch on like nuts.

Clean up squad, taken from our trailer deck.  They're that close.
After the deer and crows get all they can want, the robins start arriving to finish the left overs.


Our Sointula - Photos and a short story


In early July Jim and I made a quick lumber and plumbing run down island.  We arrived back home at 10:00 p.m. to find progress on the house.  Chris and Campbell had installed the plywood subfloor earlier that day....so we walked into our main living space for the very first time!

The weather was spectacular during July but that was a particularly perfect, breathless evening. We grabbed our fold up camping chairs from under the trailer and trundled out to sit in our house taking in the views that we had only imagined for the last year. We sat in a comfortable silence taking in the shapes of our trees, the colour of the evening sky, reflections off of the still water, and the distant call of a loon filling the air.

Within five minutes of plunking down we were blessed with an amazing sight.  An owl flew across our property and alighted at the top of a spindly evergreen right in front of us.  Its body was perfectly silhouetted against the deep blue of Broughton Strait and mauve, violet and purple painting the sky.  A few minutes later the owl silently spread its wings and swooped off the branch, quickly disappearing into the forest beside us.

We spend pretty much every dusk hanging out in our partial house, standing or sitting in front of our picture window openings admiring our views and waiting for the owl to return.  To date...it was a one time event.

The funny thing is...we were considering topping that particular tree until Mr. Owl arrived and claimed the top branch.  Now we're waiting to see if the owl returns in the next month or not.  If it does, we'll likely spare that spindly tree to encourage the owl to return again and again.

Enjoy more pictures of our new home town, nature and animals.  We love this place, the people, the weather and the land and are happy to share with you.

Sointula is a great place!  We're lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood where our four legged friends come and visit just as often as our two legged friends.....



Our neighbours have a great little farm yard.  I take kitchen scraps over around noon daily.  Now they see me
coming and they come running to the corner to see what goodies I have today.

Three mama goats, 6 kids, loads of chickens, assorted ducks, and Mr. Rooster live just across the street.
Our own personal petting zoo!

Our neighbour Robert joked about putting out a donation can saying "The goats want cable."
Mind you, the kids don't sit still for more than a few seconds!
Some of the chickens are outside the fence.  They often wander through our property looking for anything tasty.
Local building inspectors looking at the lower level construction
The neighbourhood twins...they're over a year old now and quite used to people.
The chief building inspector checking out our main floor.
But he stopped for a bite to eat on his way out.
Yep - two lazy chickens sunning themselves in the hot afternoon light, absorbing the heat reflecting from our house.

Neighbour Joanne was given a carton of fresh eggs, laid by Robert's chickens.
Tricia and Jim's version of a 'selfie'...taken.on one of the many beaches on Malcolm Island.
 We get out at least once a week to collect rocks for an amazing art installation in the house.
Check out the next blog about our own cherries!  From blossoms to food for the friendly crows.

Jim and Tricia Bowen
email: tandjbowen13@gmail.com