Potpourri of Pictures

From 2011-07-29

Yes.. the G+ Beast has engaged me in a dance and caused me to grapple with the ramifications. So my apologies for the break in posting. Here are a potpourri of photos that I've posted there, as I head back again into the breach to wrestle and adapt to expression and life, feelings of intimidation and fear, growth and wonder. :D

Thank you my friends for your support and encouragement through it all :)
The Maplemusketeer


Flight/Drift, Aloft/Afloat

From 2011-07-29

When I saw (the photo above) I was just overwhelmed with how many stories and paths joined... there in the water a feather lodged in an oak leaf to create this new entity that existed in this new environment for them both. And while each item may have been unnoticed as a part of their greater origin here they were together, the stars of their own moment.

Perspective of a LandDweller

From 2011-07-28

If any other person were to take a moment to slip into our brain (ala Being John Malkovich) and see our blessings and wonders, our struggles and trials, what would they think? Would they see the great things, the gifts, the opportunities and positive relationships that empower? Can we bring that awareness into our own lives? I think it's worth trying ;)

Have you seen through a seagull's nostril?

From 2011-07-26

You have now ;)
New opportunities and never seen sights surround us all the time. But sometimes we have a hard time remembering they're there. At least I do.

All Washed Up?

From 2011-07-26

Bull kelp and other seaweed clumped and washed ashore at Long Beach, BC, Canada.
Some could interpret this as the end of the road for the seaweed. As if it were garbage, detritus, castoff, waste. I would suggest that if they looked deeper they would see an invaluable source of nutrients to the intertidal zone. A source of potential and growth for all that lines the seashore.. beauty.

Every new day starts in the dark

From 2011-07-28

and the sun rises on another opportunity; a new adventure begins...

Big Trees between Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan

Big Trees between Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan - Places I've Wandered

Leaving behind the Bridge exploring bathroom break we continue to put miles between Port Renfrew and ourselves

From S&G Day1

We encounter a decision and, being told about really big trees up a gravel road to the right, we go right.

From S&G Day1

where we find a logging road in great shape

From S&G Day1

and cross another bridge

From S&G Day1

to go around another corner and discover

From S&G Day1

a giant maple tree

From S&G Day1

with cling-ons

From S&G Day1

that wants a hug

From S&G Day1

a big hug

From S&G Day1

a really big hug

From S&G Day1

so we headed back in the direction of the parked Subaruby and towards the giant spruce

From S&G Day1

that was not a giant spruce.

From S&G Day1

This is

From S&G Day1

it was a pretty majestic and awesome sight...

From S&G Day1

it also had cling-ons

From S&G Day1

Then with a goodbye to the poor red alders who were missing out, it was time head further along on our backroad journey

From S&G Day1

we're on our way up the backroad in search of some stop sites and rest, waterfalls and adventure :)


Till then,
See you around, ;)
The Maplemusketeer

Beacon Hill Park, Victoria BC, Canada

Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC
Places I've Wandered

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

For the 3 years I lived in Victoria I stayed in an apartment a block and a half away from Beacon Hill Park and it's likely what helped me keep my sanity as I ground my way through a very intense 27.5 month college program that was 7 terms with no real breaks between terms.

The 200 acre park goes from practically downtown down to the shore of the Salish Sea across which one can see Washington State and the Olympic Mountain Range.

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

The Camas bloom and the fields of green turn purple with the occasional white rarity. Cooked in pits or boiled they provided starch to the diet of the indigenous peoples of the area.

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

Returning to Victoria is also an opportunity to walk with my father as we did when I lived here last.

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

A time to grow

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

Beacon Hill Park is many things to many people. There are areas left wild and areas groomed and planted with plants from the width and breadth of the old British Empire. There are paths to walk, chip trails to run, soccer fields and cricket pitches. And plenty of benches.

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

Many a place to ponder and notice the details that lurk at ones feet

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

and above ones head

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

To see Honeysuckle blooms vining up a tree

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

and to take a moment to lie flat on your belly and observe the small flowers unfurled

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

then it is time to get back up..

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

time to leave the park and head downtown to where old and young still mix.. not in flora but in foundations..

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

join me next time when we leave the forest world for things of human hands

From Victoria, BC - Pre S&G1st - Victoria

End of the Line - Friday thoughts and wonders

Life as a Train Ride

I was talking with a fellow creative fellow about life, creative comparisons to other's whose work we highly respect and think looks so amazing, and the occasional feeling of one's work "not being good enough". Heady stuff for a Friday morning. But I am drinking mate so I suppose pondering was bound to happen ;)

Then, as is often the case in my Maplemusketeer world, I felt inspired to find and share a song for Friday. To seek out something to share and find my own answer as well. So I pondered and scanned some youtube. Cleared my mind, drank some tea, and opened myself to the ether. And found some Wilburys. ;) Fairly apt.

Here's a Friday song :) And a thought. Enjoy the journey and acknowledge the process. It's ok :) and really the way things work so might as well not fight it ;)

Travelling Wilburys - End of the Line (Embedding disabled so you'll have to click the link)

A few more thoughts that go along with this:

How much work/life/practice went into this song coming about?
The sum of their lives thus far.

The chair with Roy Orbison's guitar rocking and representing him as he'd sung the vocals but passed away before the video was recorded. His last song. The end of the line for him. But he lives on. He also chased his dreams despite hard times and limited success. What a way to go out. We'll remember Roy.

George Harrison. Goodness. Gone now.

The other's still going on to the end of the line. Rocking and living.

There is a damn fine goodness deep in all of that. So hey.. have a great Friday and live a wonderfilled life :D

I look forward to sharing tea and rocking out a boxcar with all of you one day :D

Sechelt BC in the Summer - Places I've Wandered

Sechelt BC - Places I've Wanderer

The yerba mate is brewed and the world out the door beckons


I ambled a few driveways down to see what my step-dad was up to. Mi Madre and he had just gotten in from the ocean where they'd taken the boat out to check the crab traps.


I walked across town to look out at the sea.


Sechelt is on an isthmus. An isthmus being a piece of land that connects an island to the mainland forming a peninsula, in this case the Sechelt Peninsula. So it doesn't take that long to walk across town.

View Larger Map

As the glaciers from the last ice age came through they deposited large amounts of gravel on the hill above where the town now exists. Hence the large gravel pit seen from space on the map. There is a large conveyor built to load the gravel onto barges to be shipped to places as far away as California.


If you don't want to look at the conveyor you can just look a bit more to the right.


Walk further west along the path and you'll pass a bench. I hardly ever see anyone sit there. Maybe they're paranoid that people who pass behind them would make faces behind their backs. Who would do such a thing?


It's a neat little Canadian coastal town.


And even though it's summer here on the Sunshine Coast we've been getting a bit more rain than usual, but I don't really mind as we do live in a rainforest. It tends to rain in them. Makes tall trees.


Door to the Sechelt Art Centre


Beneath the Power Lines

near where I saw the coyotes a while ago.







and back to Grandpa's garden


There have been challenges returning to my old hometown to live with Grandpa. It has been a growing time and a stretching time. And I don't regret the decision at all. Though at times it is tough and I miss my friends. Then I go for another walk.

July 1st is Canada Day here in Canada. There are parades and festivities. The usual national huzzah that most nations partake of to foster nationalism. It's enjoyed by many people. But not really my thing. Case in point. I had some friends visiting from out of town so I went to the parade. There were many floats. Lots going on. But I talked with my friends and played a bit with their kids. We made up humourous play-by-play commentary as the parade went by. And I only took one photo. That likely says something about my values and priorities. Here it is.


another day, another walk. To the sea to dream.


To juggle the desire for distant shores with being present to where I am right now.


For there is much goodness possible wherever we choose to be

Go well my friends and thank you for your kindness, support, and encouragement

~ The Maplemusketeer