The Sunday Schnauzer – Cuteness Break

Just in case you are feeling overwhelmed with holiday preparations, situations, or the assorted craziness/drama/blues that can happen – especially at this time of year – take a couple of minutes to rest your eyes on this little guy.

The Bowz is sympathetic to your feelings. Crawl into bed and rest your head on a pillow for a moment.
Going for a walk outside can be very good for your nerves.
As can taking a long hot bath or shower. Bowser had rolled in something smelly. Not recommended.
Bowz hopes you’ll be sitting pretty and perky again like him soon, after some self-care.

This has been a Bowser-approved PSA.

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schauzer – Puppy Dog Eyes

Bowser is becoming more and more of a cuddlebug the more he matures. I’m not complaining – I much prefer this to when he was a velociraptor wild fanged beast puppy. He only had 2 modes then – off and bitey. Remember the Thunderdome Days? Oh boy, I do!

We have apparently entered a new era.

Those head and neck scritches must feel good.
He is irresistible when he’s like this. He even makes little grunty and sighing noises. I swear he is trying to purr like a cat.
Bowser has learned that giving me the puppy dog eyes pays off.

We hope you get some scritches this weekend too.

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – More Cowbell…er…Schnauzer

My daughter complained that there was not enough Bowser on last week’s post. Probably some of you feel the same way. She sent me many cute photos to use. Here are some of the best!

Quitely watching Mommy work from home.
When will Mommy be done working?
Mommy is getting up from her desk chair – could that mean????
Yessssss! Mommy can massage me now.

You’re welcome.

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Eating with Friends Edition

One of life’s great pleasures is sharing food with good friends. This fall, fellow (once) blogger Erica/Erika and her long-time friend (now mine also) Eduarda met me in Nanaimo for some fun and frolic. We ended up at Penny’s Palapa – one of my favourite dockside restaurants – and Erica generously sent me some photos. Penny’s closes at the end of September and we made it there just before season’s end.

Eduarda, Erica and me outside of Penny’s Palapa. I think Erica convinced our wait person to take this shot.
The inside, with harbour views.
Eduarda and I perusing the menu. Note the Mexican blankets on the chairs, in case you are feeling chilly.
I convinced Erica to try the margarita. It wasn’t very hard. 😁
Nor was it hard to convince myself to get one! 😉
What’s on my plate, you might ask? Fish tacos!!! Yum.

Of course, I can’t finish this post without a shot of a recent lunch out with Donna, at Heritage Indian Cuisine in Nanaimo. Donna wasn’t feeling too hungry so she decided to order the Indian breakfast, thinking it sounded like less food. Uh huh.

Yeah, that’s a honking big puff of Indian bread! I ordered the combo special plate (I always do), which ensures leftovers for at least a meal or two.

No matter where we go or what we order, eating out with friends is guaranteed to be a good time!

So what’s on your plate this month? My co-host Donna is on a social media break right now, so it’s just me this time. And no link-up because I don’t do that. But you can certainly share in the Comments, if you like! And I’d love to hear from you.

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – Bear Song

What with all the salmon activity happening down at the creek, it’s no surprise that the bears want in on the action. (Why should the eagles, crows and ravens have all the fun?!) What was surprising was that I never saw a bear at the creek – in fact, I’ve never seen a bear on the trail, period. Up until a week or so ago, that is! And he/she was far from the creek, when I came to a “crossroad” and saw him. (Luckily Bowser was nosing in the brush on the other side of the trail, and didn’t notice the bear.)

Once I realized he was walking away from us, I got out my phone camera to take a few shots (like any good blogger would 😉).

My first bear sighting and damn skippy I was gonna capture it on my phone!
Bowser thankfully remained unaware and thus silent! I don’t think the bear even realized we were present. He never turned around to look at us or acknowledge our presence in any way. He just slowly ambled down the path like any apex predator without a care in the world would.

Then we headed on our shaken but merry way, in another direction. Of course (!!!), I had forgotten my bear bell and bear horn for that walk, so I had no choice but to make up a song to sing, to warn that bear or any others of our presence! 😉 🎶

Apologies to Macca and Beatles fans everywhere...

Rock on,

The WB

Stars and Sea Stars – A West Coast Experience Part Four: Wonderful Outer Shores Lodge Wrap Up

The previous posts can be found here: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Dear Reader, if you feel that is has taken an inordinate amount of time to to get all of my thoughts down regarding my visit to Outer Shores Lodge, I’m with you! I have been sifting through hundreds of photos and so many incredible memories and struggling to figure out how to transfer them to Ye Olde Blogge such that a reader who has never been to this extraordinary place will feel the magic and, well…I am not that talented, I fear. And that has kept me pondering instead of writing. However, it is past time to put this one to bed so here is the final post about my 2024 stay at Outer Shores Lodge, imperfect though it will invariably be. So here are the last few things I want to write about.

The Meals

Five star dining at every turn! Chef Jeanne Rankin, ably assisted by fellow staffers Sara and Abi stunned me at each meal – first with the beautifully set table, and then with the unbelievably delicious food and free-flowing wine. This is not what I had previously experienced from other lodges I have been to. Yes, I was expecting good, tasty food but not of this calibre! Out. Of. This. World.

At every meal we were treated to a beautifully set table.
The evening’s menu was up on the screen in late afternoon, to get the taste buds salivating. At each meal, I thought nothing could possibly top that night’s menu, and at each subsequent meal I was delightfully proved wrong.
I want to be able to add this trifle to my repertoire, and Chef Jeanne generously shared how she created it with me. I still have some rhubarb in the freezer too! I didn’t want to take pictures of every dish (for varying reasons) but I did take a shot of this dessert to send back to my daughter.
Another example of a nightly dinner. On the admitting paperwork, guests were asked if they were going to the lodge for any special reason, and this particular meal was to celebrate those reasons.
Celebration cake for my 65th and for a lovely couple of guests’ wedding anniversary! Photo kindly taken by Sara Ellison. The dining was always 5 star and we made sure to dress in our best flannel and fleece shirts for dinner 😉. The cake was astounding btw, and I don’t even like chocolate cake normally.

Our Last Evening and Wrap Up

The sun came out on our last afternoon and everyone naturally migrated to the front deck to bask there after the day’s activities.

Sara Ellison took this photo of us enjoying cocktail and appie hour on the deck on our last afternoon. She and Jon were staying in a cabin on the upper part of the property.
Sea urchins were harvested so Scott could prepare uni for us to try, on the last night. It doesn’t get fresher than this, folks!
Scott holding a sea urchin, while already prepped uni is awaiting the lodge guests. Photo by Sara Ellison.
The last evening’s meal. It absolutely blew my mind. I didn’t think anything could top rack of lamb for me, but this meal certainly did.
The wonderful staff of Outer Shores Lodge: our gracious host Scott, with Chef Jeanne, Sara, and Abi.
Watching the sun go down on our last evening at the lodge.
Cheers to an amazing stay, experiencing spectacular nature, and meeting so many vibrant and interesting people! I can’t wait for next year.

Scott, Jeanne, Sara and Abi – I can’t thank you enough for the magic that you do and I can only hope to experience it again next year.

To my fellow guests in this special moment in time – thank you for your open-heartedness, warm support, and all of the exhilarating, stimulating conversations I was privileged to be a part of. Extra special thanks to Sara and Jon, for being so giving of their vast knowledge and experience of the “Stars and Sea Stars”!

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – Almost Swept Away

The whole family went down to the creek to watch for salmon one day. There had been even more rain and the creek was flowing quite fast. We did see some salmon (jumping, even) but the waters were too rough to get good video of them. Daddy walked across part of the creek to get to another section and You-Know-Who HAD to run swim after him. My daughter and I stood on the shore looking on in amazement at what this little dog was doing. Luckily I got over the shock and got my camera out to capture the journey back to us.

Bowser, doing his best Labrador Retriever imitation. The creek was threatening to sweep him downstream, but he managed to make it to shore. Whew!

May you always make to the other side.

Rock on,

The WB

Stars and Sea Stars – A West Coast Experience Part Three: The Activities – Night Skies, Zodiac Tours, Hiking

Welcome to Part Three of this series about my recent visit to Bamfield, to stay at Outer Shores Lodge. You can find Part One here, and Part Two here.

While our days were spent in and on the water, the clear nights were for observing the skies while listening to Sara and Jon talk about the universe and point out what we were seeing. Fascinating stuff!

Crappy night sky photo taken with my phone, to give you an idea…
Using the Stellarium app on my phone, and pointing it at the sky to show me what stars I was looking at.

Another option for guests at Outer Shores was a tour of the local waters, hosted by Scott. I was lucky enough to get to experience 2 of these rides! During our tours, Scott shared his knowledge of the area including showing us ancient village sites, and of course the local flora and fauna. Including whales! Humpback whales were spotted on every boat ride!

Scott took us to see “Moan-ah”, the whistle buoy we can hear (faintly) from the Lodge. Fun! Love his sense of humour.
We spent a lot of time observing the hundreds (if not thousands!) of sea lions hanging out on the rocks and cavorting in the water.
Pardon the blips in the video. I was trying to zoom in closer. Listen to Scott sharing his knowledge of these massive creatures.
Scott took us through stunning rock formations.
For my 2nd tour, the sun was out!
An example of the stunning views.
Scott, Jon and I were talking about kayaking through this natural hole in the rocks. They were only joking though, right? Right??? 😬 I mean, there were some serious waves happening!
View from the other side of the hole.

Another activity I really enjoyed was exploring West Bamfield. Scott took me on a walk to Brady’s Beach the first day there and I enjoyed it so much I went back on my own later.

Brady’s Beach is well-signed and easy to find.
Sea stacks on Brady’s Beach
Heron and gull on sea stacks.
I was obsessed with capturing the heron.
Heron preening feathers, on the rock.
While I was exploring the beach, a group of my fellow Lodge guests came kayaking by.

I also visited the West Coast Magic Park.

Including a phone of the wind. I had never heard of this before, but I can see how this would provide an outlet for people experiencing grief and loss.

And the tiniest artist’s studio I have ever seen.

I spotted beautiful fungi on my walks.

I also enjoyed walks along the boardwalk along on the east side of West Bamfield, facing the inlet.

Always a good idea to be reminded of the neighbours.

Every type of neighbour!
West Bamfield quirk and humour.
In one little garden was this sign. I wonder if the cougars and bears had any part to play in the length of these cat’s lives. This is just one example of the multiple signs along the boardwalk, detailing the history of West Bamfield.

Whew! This post turned out to be quite a long one, and if you made it this far I hope you enjoyed the visual tour of West Bamfield and surrounding waters.

Stayed tuned for Part Four, the Wrap Up!

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – More Salmon and Shenanigans

Now that Bowser has discovered the creek can contain these interesting creatures, he’s on a mission to find more.

Finding more salmon on a subsequent walk.

I managed to get a close-up on the salmon without interference from You-Know-Who. My son-in-law tells me these are pink salmon.

Sometimes he roams a bit too far into the creek (heading for the deeper portions), than I’d like!

Bowser testing the waters, and my patience.

But he always manages to make it back to shore…uh…so far!

We hope you always manage to come back from your adventures too.

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – Salmon Run and Schnauzer Jump

The previous Autumn, I had been told by someone I met on the trail that the Haslam Creek is part of the annual fall salmon run here on the island. I had found that hard to believe, standing in the inch of water that made up a large part of the creek that I visit on a daily basis. How could any salmon navigate these shallow waters to the spawning grounds that they were born in?

Cue the recent atmospheric river event that dumped tons of water on the island, and the flood of fresh water flowing in the mouths of these waterways also cueing the salmon waiting in the ocean bays to start heading “home”, to spawn and die.

Now our shallow little creek is running fast with feet of water – not inches, and previously dry ancillary streams are flowing again.

Bowser took off like a shot to investigate one of these little streams and I quickly found out why. I was astonished to see a dorsal fin and tail wiggling down this tiny flow (and so was Bowser!).

Bowser is intrigued and surprised by the “thing” he saw moving in the water.

We followed the fish further up the stream so I could get a closer look:

Once again, Bowser is startled and jumps when the fish takes off.

Despite Bowser proving very adept at chasing and chewing and shaking the living daylights out of his toys, he doesn’t quite know what to do with a living creature. According to my experience with previous dogs, a dog needs to witness a kill in order to know “the next step”. Usually this is learned from their mother or other dogs. They have the instinct to chase but need to witness a kill in order to finish the job. At least that is how it’s worked with the other schnauzers I have had in my life. My Maxx did not know what to do with a groundhog until he saw my parents’ dog grab one and shake it to death. Then something clicked for him and no groundhogs were safe on our property after that! My Lucy never saw a kill and thus she never killed anything. Chased everything but never killed. Even when a squirrel (her nemesis!) fell out of a tree and landed right in front of her nose and just laid there, stunned.

Or maybe Bowser is just too well-fed 😉. Anyways, I’m happy to keep him ignorant of that final step in chasing down prey.

Rock on,

The WB