Trash Talk

Back when I was visiting Victoria, I made a stop at the beach in front of the Ross Bay Cemetery. It's a nice beach, once you get past the ways in which it's been anthropogentically modified. The gravel that has been brought in to fill the coastline just doesn't quite look right to me. But something else I noticed not looking quite right was the amount of garbage I found on shore, and floating in the water. Walking only about 20m along the beach I managed to fill my arms with plastic, foil, and a rubber glove.

The photo is of the garbage found within the seaweed, sticks, and beached jellyfish. I was shocked at how much garbage I found in such a short amount of time and distance along the beach. I didn't intentionally go to the beach to pick up debris, but as I saw one piece after another, the little time I had turned into a bit of a cleanup. 

Part of me is a bit naive to think that no one intentionally litters these days, and this mess is of accidental deposit. The other part though knows that all of this could not be the outcome of accident, but rather negligence.

I am one to pick up garbage if I come across it, and see it as our responsibility to do so. If  garbage is public property then we (you and me), as members of the public, are the owners of all the garbage stuck to the city streets, under the forest canopy, and floating in the ocean. Therefore we have a responsibility to pick up not only after ourselves but each other, because it all belongs to all of us, and we cannot be ignorant of that.

I encourage those who read this to adopt this way of thinking of garbage and to pick litter up when you come across it as if it were your own, because it is. 

My mum always used to tell me not to take shells from beaches, beacause if everyone took them, there wouldn't be any left for people to enjoy. If we apply this to litter, and everyone picked up one piece of garbage a day, would there be any left on the streets? In our parks? On our beaches?

City Bike Grassland

Worth Waiting

You could have my heart, man if only you knew. Unbraced, I am faced with the most gorgeous smile, that makes the pumping mass in my chest skip, and speech stutter. I try not to get caught watching you peel away your second skin, and fall too hard over morning coffee and muffins.

With silly plays on words, I fear to be to forward, for I know nothing could realistically come of such feelings. Sometime in the future when, with more certainty, I hope we could be somewhere, somehow, in each others vicinity. Although for now, if there is a chance for such a romance, my heart will not deny it.

Eyes, Ears, Mouth, and Nose.

I've been doing a lot of driving and visiting lately (approx. 700km up, down, and across Vancouver Island). Upon leaving Tofino, I have been back to Denman for a day, then down to Victoria, where I visited my Wifey and played in her garden:

We were weeding and surprisingly found about 10lbs of rouge potatoes that we made a fabulous lunch from with onions, leeks, and garlic from the garden, accompanied by a salad as well.

After getting my fix of Discovery Coffee, seeing HP 7 pt. II with the lovely Lo & Wife for a second time, and BBQing with the best company, I left on a much bigger ferry then I have been used too, and headed for the mainland (for the first time in over a year). Off to the big city I headed to see one of my favourite bands, Beirut, play at the Commodore Ballroom! The show was most excellent, and one that was on my list of things to see before I pass. My favourite songs were played, and I was with a group of 7 pretty awesome people, so I am happy to say my Vancouver trip was very enjoyable. Now I am back in Nanaimo, and will being getting a ride up North, and return to my tiny island.

High Tide

Again I have escaped away to the West Coast of the "Big" Island.

Oh how Tofino has my heart in more ways then one.

I had the most amazing surf thus far, period. I actually surfed-for real- and I mean dropping in on the face of green waves, not just being pushed around by white wash, or catching waves and popping up in the trough.

I can still feel the rush of momentum of the board beneath me, as I slid down that first wave, and thought :

"Oh... This is what surfing is."

This one wave was the start of an irrevocable relationship between the ocean and I.

Comparing my first lesson to present day, I feel I've improved so much in the last 4 months since I started this wavy love affair. Not only the physical aspect of surfing, but the metal changes I've experienced have reshaped my ability to let the ocean into my life fully. Growing up on the coast I have always had a close bond to the great body of salty H2O that has surrounded me since birth. I love being on the water, on the shore, but always had this fear of being in the vast marine world. Learning about all the beautiful and terrifying creatures that live in the cold depths, and my (irrational) fear of whales, has kept me out for far to long, and surfing has helped me break the surface. It may have something to do with the thick neoprene barrier between my fear and I, but with board under arm, I've been able to overcome a fear and be flooded from the oceans high tide. I even saw whales for the first time while out in the water breaching, and flapping their tails far off shore, and I was okay with it, even more, I was excited and wanted to see more.