The strange stone faces of the wild Pacific Rim...

 

OK, not really, I was just having fun with rocks and shells on the beach near Uclulet.  But they have a certain Rapa Nui vibe, don't you think?

A new start

I have put off posting here for so long, thinking that I had to fill in all those months from July last year.  But, although there have been many bloggable moments and pictures in that time, I need to just jump back in NOW, or I never will.  So here are some photos from a trip to Tofino last weekend, where the sun shone and the surfers performed strange rituals of supplication to its golden beauty in the waves :)

Pulling Together Canoe Journey 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

fried sockeye at gibson's beach

 

rose petal and pistachio toffee

 

After I had made the year's batch of rose syrup with the amazing pink rose that grows by the house, I was left with all these perfumed candy petals. What to do?  Sprinkle pistachios on them and pour over lightly caramelised sugar of course.  Voila! - the perfect sweet treat to go with strong Turkish coffee (which I also made, using my cute red ibrik).

Canada Day strawberry sponge cake

So we were a Brit, a Scot, an Aussie and a Canuck around the dinner table last night.  We tossed down the new local beer (yay, Townsite Brewery! yay, Zunga Ale!) and Okanagan sparkling rose.  We lamented the sorry state of the nation (but still better than the US of course :) and mimicked each others' accents.  We then christened the new BBQ with a sockeye salmon and served it with baby beets, young potatoes and lots of leafy salad.  And then we ate the flag.

Farm visit from James Thomson School

As part of the Farm to School program run at James Thomson Elementary by my friend Francine, Doug and I hosted a "farm visit" from twenty Year 6 and 7 students. As the school is only around the corner, they walked over with their teacher and spent around an hour getting demonstrations of the beehives from Doug and picking strawberries with me.  As a treat, I put out tubs of our honey and some from Cuba that Ron brought back, so that everyone a chance to taste the amazing difference and realise that what bees eat profoundly affects the honey.  When Jono, the teacher, asked who had never tried honey before, 7 kids out of 20 put up their hands!  I was astounded.  I knew that these kids, most of whom live on the reserve at Sliammon, ate a lot of processed food and not much variety at that, but this really drove it home.  To them it was mainly just a chance to not be in the classroom, but I am so happy that we got to share our produce with them.  Next term I'm going to work with this same class to create some drawings for the food map of Wildwood we are making; maybe a bee or a strawberry will show up!