Our transition into 2022 spectacularly included a visit to Butchart Gardens' 12 Days of Christmas display with PoCo family, Rick and Maureen and son Sean; and a fun New Year's sleepover with honourary grandboys Francis & Luca.
Some snow play involving toques and mittens in trees resulted in a shoulder injury for Yolanda January 2nd that simply would not go away without diagnosis and re-training by Physiotherapist Elizabeth deJong Westman February 14 to April 13. By January 4th, we had a plan for our "House Sort", "Stuff Edit", "Swedish Death Cleansing", or whatever one calls it. We continued with the process into April with many Women in Need (W.I.N.) drops and the TC Book drive. The W.I.N. volunteers took particular interest in Bob's vinyl records, art pieces that no longer fit in our lives, a never used coffee maker bought at the time we also bought our first espresso machine, and stacks of catering equipment. Bob reorganized the garage and reduced content while also getting rid of several vintage dental drawer cabinets. Happily some furniture and art was accepted by family and Gary Sim took Yolanda's BC Festival of the Arts Visual Art compendium, created by her while she worked a number of years as Visual Art Program Coordinator. Lego was sorted by colour and shape, the sets re-united (and we'd see how long that lasted with three sets of little hands being creative, not to mention losses in part of Lego mini-figure accoutrements in garden adventures). What we kept is on our main level: 2-bedrooms, one bath, kitchen and living room; with the laundry, art room and garage/workshop remaining downstairs. The art room revitalization was perfect for Yolanda, who got another weaving underway to join an international art tour, "The Natural World", in England.
Though Yolanda's Papa visits were canceled for January due to residence illness isolation, walks with pals and family were possible, including with new neighbour niece Theodora, "around the corner" neighbour Aunt Margret, Bob's pal Jeremy and wife Svetlana, and Yolanda's pals Louise and Stacy. A fabulous outdoor pizza-oven hosted dinner by pals the Attwells mid-January helped to welcome the new year.
Once the Christmas tree had been taken to shred and ornaments stowed away, it was time to tackle the freezer full of tomatoes and basil to stew and blend into soups, sauces and pesto. Other kitchen adventures were inspired by the ingredients from our gardens, a memorial gesture for Yolanda's mother, and Yolanda's Swedish-American weaving pal, Christina Ohlsen. In memory of her mother, Anne Olivotto (nee Brigid Anna Lawlor), who slipped away at 93 years of age on January 7th, 2021, Yolanda baked seven Kugelhopf and gifted them to family and pals she loves dearly. Christina introduced Lussekatter, which are made to acknowledge a 3rd Century Italian (Saint Lucia), whose fame (or infamy, depending on iterations of memories of the story) is celebrated in a festival of light in northern European countries. The Lucy's cat tails were lovely, and delicious!
Once the Christmas tree had been taken to shred and ornaments stowed away, it was time to tackle the freezer full of tomatoes and basil to stew and blend into soups, sauces and pesto. Other kitchen adventures were inspired by the ingredients from our gardens, a memorial gesture for Yolanda's mother, and Yolanda's Swedish-American weaving pal, Christina Ohlsen. In memory of her mother, Anne Olivotto (nee Brigid Anna Lawlor), who slipped away at 93 years of age on January 7th, 2021, Yolanda baked seven Kugelhopf and gifted them to family and pals she loves dearly. Christina introduced Lussekatter, which are made to acknowledge a 3rd Century Italian (Saint Lucia), whose fame (or infamy, depending on iterations of memories of the story) is celebrated in a festival of light in northern European countries. The Lucy's cat tails were lovely, and delicious!
February 2022
Turns out February 9th can be too early to plant seeds indoors if May is to be uncommonly cold for hardening off and planting out. We eventually had to harden off and temporarily plant out the seedlings to the relative warmth of compost bins, as we were planning to be in Ottawa visiting family and birding May 11-21. In 2023 the seeds will be started in March!
In addition to monitoring sprouting seeds and continuing with our house edit and painting, we did a few bike rides (one ride of 27 kilometers), and had a sweet visit from niece Kathleen and her boy Andrew (4yo). February 14th Yolanda began her shoulder recovery, with results almost immediately, as the tear was not to be stretched, it needed to be "crunched up" again.
Feb 18 Bob had us participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count with honourary grandboys Francis & Luca joining us for a fun day. A few days later was Bob's B-Day Big Bird Day, in recognition of his birthday, this year 64 years old. In 2021 we initiated the B-Day species count, and attempted to see 63 bird species in one 24-hour period and saw 67 species. In 2022 we attempted to see 64 bird species in one 24-hour period and saw 76 species!
Turns out February 9th can be too early to plant seeds indoors if May is to be uncommonly cold for hardening off and planting out. We eventually had to harden off and temporarily plant out the seedlings to the relative warmth of compost bins, as we were planning to be in Ottawa visiting family and birding May 11-21. In 2023 the seeds will be started in March!
In addition to monitoring sprouting seeds and continuing with our house edit and painting, we did a few bike rides (one ride of 27 kilometers), and had a sweet visit from niece Kathleen and her boy Andrew (4yo). February 14th Yolanda began her shoulder recovery, with results almost immediately, as the tear was not to be stretched, it needed to be "crunched up" again.
Feb 18 Bob had us participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count with honourary grandboys Francis & Luca joining us for a fun day. A few days later was Bob's B-Day Big Bird Day, in recognition of his birthday, this year 64 years old. In 2021 we initiated the B-Day species count, and attempted to see 63 bird species in one 24-hour period and saw 67 species. In 2022 we attempted to see 64 bird species in one 24-hour period and saw 76 species!
As a result of his photographic observations of bee species (34 in our back yard, alone), Bob was invited to join two BC research groups: the Native Bee Study Group and the Pollinators Group. This kept him inspired throughout 2022 and he attended in-person, on-line and microscopy identification clinics. In December 2022, Bob participated in a workshop of the Masters in Melittology as a guest. Two of Bob's bee photographs were requested to be included in publications, which was an honour! Of the bee species that were rewarding for Bob to observe this year were, by April, finding Melecta separata (a cleptoparasite of Anthophora) and Anthophora bomboides in a targeted location - and nearby finding the plant Meadow Death Camas, which later led to finding a monolectic bee species (Andrena astragali, Death Camas Mining Bee) that is the lone pollinator of this plant. Returning to the site, Bob observed the bee on several occasions with this plant. Meadow Death Camas produces a neurotoxic alkaloid that has been implicated in sheep and honey bee poisoning. All parts of the plant are considered toxic, including the roots, leaves, and flowers.
On our cross Canada journey in the summer, Bob added more bee species to his life list.
February closed with a trip to Tofino to collect our house plants from sister Janis, who had been plant-sitting them since September 2021! Long story... involving rapidly evolving travel itineraries and BC's "atmospheric river" had resulted in Bob and Janis taking the plants to Tofino and then us not being able to retrieve them as planned in November 2021. So nice to have them all home again, and thanks to Janis for their good care!
March 2022
March began with us preparing our back yard for the professional removal of six trees (including three dying from BC's 2021 "heat dome"). This coincided with our annual yard overhaul to take advantage of Oak Bay's yearly prune, clean-up and pick-up. As is usual, we gave them a dump-truck-sized-load!
Bob's new awareness of garden pollinators, and past poor pear harvests, made us realize that there were not enough early season pollinators available to successfully pollinate the tree we had espaliered. Yolanda researched and delivered a hand pollination of the tree and increased last year's yield of 6 pears to 60 this year.
We took advantage of the sunny space freed up from tree removal and added a harvest garden. Yolanda planted a "Three Sister's Garden", corn, beans, and squash. Again, hand pollination (of the corn silks) doubled the expected harvest. Niece Theodora carefully hand watered the corn seedlings and they were thriving when we returned from Ottawa!
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| Initialized Three Sisters Garden |
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| Corn at 1/3 its final height |
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| Corn towering four metres (Aug 6) |
In preparation for the April 1st opening of fresh and ocean water fishing licenses, on March 17th, Yolanda and honourary grandboy (8yo) Francis commenced Sunday Morning Fishing Trips by reviewing the equipment, safety and etiquette of fishing. They had to go it alone, as Francis was adamant that they would "catch and release" as his goal was to see the fish up close to observe how the gills work, and all the fishermen Yolanda knows and/or is related to are very much "catch and eat".
Their most memorable fishing trip to date was at Beaver Lake when their best net accidentally slipped from Francis' hand down a sloped rock and disappeared into the murky water. They tried again and again to put down a line to retrieve it without success. After a snack, it was time to head home, and Yolanda and Francis agreed to try for the net one last time. They dropped a line down, and when they started to reel in, it was clear they had hooked a waterlogged stick or maybe some lily roots. However, as their catch emerged, it was clearly the lost net, and a smile spread across Francis' face in joy. On the elated walk down the forest path to the car, they encounter a pair of elder women, one walking beside the other in a motorized wheelchair and they remarked excitedly at the the sight of Yolanda and Francis, with rods over their shoulders and a gear bag. Francis replied to them that it "was the best fishing day ever!". He told them about the six baby bass he had scooped in his observation bin, then pulled two lures from his pocket and exclaimed that he had "found two lures that other fisherpeople had lost", and that "we even caught back our net!".
April 2022
More highlights of April included Yolanda's birthday walk and lunch with pal Louise; time spent with little neighbours Emery and Brynn; joyful visits from grandnephews Alexandros and Nikolas and their mom niece Theodora; a visit to PoCo family Rick and Maureen; Easter with Francis and Luca and their parents, Andrea, Daniel; and a 10-day trip, April 18-28, back to our beloved retreat, Cluxewe, near Port McNeill.
From Cluxewe, we went to participate in the Malcolm Island Bird Club 22nd Annual Spring Count with an overnight trailer stay at Bear Point. We had returned via ferry when Yolanda discovered that she had lost her 31 year old toque that Bob had gifted to her in 1991. Happily, the kindly birding folks of Malcolm Island revisited the sites where we had stopped to observe birds and it was found! Yolanda organized to pick it up in late July when she would be back to Cluxewe with honourary grandboy Francis. While exploring the shore line of Cluxewe, a Sea Otter skull was found. Knowing Yolanda and Francis would be returning in the summer, the skull was tucked safely away so that it could be "discovered' again in the summer.
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| Bear Point Orca rubbing beach, right and left |
May 2022
What a sweet way to start May, with sister Janis visiting! And a garden visit with Aunt Margaret and her Berlin cousins, Helga and Norbert. After that, Bob got busy repairing canoe cracks and delaminations in preparation for our upcoming Bowron Lakes Chain trip, and Yolanda prepared the new garden bed for the Three Sisters Garden. May 10th the corn seed was planted out!
What a sweet way to start May, with sister Janis visiting! And a garden visit with Aunt Margaret and her Berlin cousins, Helga and Norbert. After that, Bob got busy repairing canoe cracks and delaminations in preparation for our upcoming Bowron Lakes Chain trip, and Yolanda prepared the new garden bed for the Three Sisters Garden. May 10th the corn seed was planted out!
May 11-21 we were in Ottawa and nearby Presquille and Prince Edward Point for birding. It was a treat to be in Ottawa with sister Carmelita for her birthday and see a few new birds.
By the end of May, Yolanda's Natural World visual art piece was finished; mounted, with framing help from Uncle Mike and Bob; and sent to England to go on tour; and May 30th sister Carol popped in for a visit with Husband Ian.
June 2022
On June 3rd, Bob spent some time in Uplands Park collecting observations for the international City Nature Challenge where Greater Victoria was able to recognize 1,361 species of flora and fauna. June 5th Bob attended his first in-person bee clinic in Nanaimo with the BC Masters Melittology group. June 8th-11th we camped at Miracle Beach for birding, beeing and intertidaling. On the way up Island we stopped in Chemainus for a fun bbq with niece Alex and nephew Fisher and their families (Evan and boys Mason and Jackson with Alex; Taylor and children Marley, Leo and River with Fisher). June13th-17th we camped at Rathtrevor Beach and visited sister Carol and her husband Ian at their Gabriola property, where they are building their new home.
June 17 Bob attended the Manning Park bird count with the Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Living, and Yolanda was home gardening and starting her first plastic-free Yogurt batch June 18. Having had enough of recycling plastic yogurt tubs, Yolanda decided to try making yogurt in glass jars, as her mother had done. The challenge was how to incubate at a consistent temperature. In researching, Yolanda found a kitchen-science piece that examined yogurt consistency. Turns out "less is more"! So, one tablespoon yogurt from the previous batch (starter) to one litre sterilized milk, along with time, makes for thicker, creamier yogurt than using more starter. Turns out that less starter results in a slower incubation process, so no watery yogurt, just thick, creamy deliciousness. The trick she used to incubate was using the dehydrator with a bath towel over to bridge the shelf gap.
The toll of the atmospheric river that hit the Pacific Northwest remains a part of many peoples everyday life. Some are still trying to work through the devastation that happened. In particular, our friends Alan and Christine had their ranch in the Nicola Valley hard hit when the Nicola River overflowed its bank and washed away homes, lands, bridges, and miles of highway. Already touched by the Lytton Complex wildfire in July of 2021, the flooding took "Half the Ranch and all that stood". We are in awe of their tenacity, determination, and perseverance with having lost about 40 acres and all the associated barns, sheds and pump houses, they are now working at blasting rip rap rock from the back of their top field to use as they work with two engineers and a biologist to remediate the river bank. Included in this effort is the cutting and planting hundreds of willow branches.
Minor in light of this was the cancellation of the Mothers Day weekend bird count at Ross Lake in the Skagit Valley. Flooding had washed out the roads so there was no reasonable access. The Manning Park Bird Blitz on Fathers Day did take place and Bob went on his own to participate in this. The combination of fire damage and flooding had changed some of the access in the park if not just in a minor way of just crossing creeks. Bob erred when leaving the campsite, missing that he had not removed the tire lock on the right side of the trailer, which caused the right fender to be stripped off. Luckily with some prompting over the phone from Yolanda he was able to "just strap it back on" for the trip back to Victoria. Prior to the drive home, Bob left the trailer at Skyline campsite and did a day trip to explore the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area for the first time.
We had booked to paddle the Bowron Lakes Chain in late May, but had to reschedule to late June (June 25 - July 3) due to the lakes still being frozen. It was a good paddle of five nights, six days with very high waters. Campsites were flooded and there were no signs of sandbars, sweepers and deadheads that we usually look for to guide us through the main channel of the Cariboo River. As usual, it was a great trip!
July 2022
By July, Yolanda was harvesting garlic and adding more plants to the, finally, warm soil. Pal and neighbour Susheela shared some seedlings of heirloom Roma Tomato and a trio of Eggplants. Along with garden peppers, tomatoes and garlic, the eggplant harvest was a perfect addition to an end of summer ratatouille.
Yolanda's Papa (98 years old) was over for a few very nice garden visits in 2022. The critical two were 1) when Papa heard from Yolanda that she was planning to grow corn for polenta and he told her she would need to research the kernel variety, which resulted in Yolanda ordering-in Florian, a 300 year old variety from Italy (appropriated from Mesoamerica); and 2) when Papa picked blueberries with Yolanda in August.
By July, Yolanda was harvesting garlic and adding more plants to the, finally, warm soil. Pal and neighbour Susheela shared some seedlings of heirloom Roma Tomato and a trio of Eggplants. Along with garden peppers, tomatoes and garlic, the eggplant harvest was a perfect addition to an end of summer ratatouille.
Yolanda's Papa (98 years old) was over for a few very nice garden visits in 2022. The critical two were 1) when Papa heard from Yolanda that she was planning to grow corn for polenta and he told her she would need to research the kernel variety, which resulted in Yolanda ordering-in Florian, a 300 year old variety from Italy (appropriated from Mesoamerica); and 2) when Papa picked blueberries with Yolanda in August.
July 16 we hosted a good-bye patio brunch for pal Hilary Wilson and that evening hosted pals Jonathan & Stacy for a bbq patio dinner. We'll miss you Hilary and hope to see you here and there, as you're not so far away in Calgary.
July 25 - 29 Yolanda was at Cluxewe with Francis for intertidal explorations, a visit to the Malcolm Island to see the Orca rubbing beaches (and to pick up Yolanda's toque, lost in April), and a fun swim at Port McNeill's outdoor salt-water pool. We wished we had known previously about Port McNeill's awesome pool, as we would have visited for both "family swim" times, Tuesday & Thursday.
July 25 - 29 Yolanda was at Cluxewe with Francis for intertidal explorations, a visit to the Malcolm Island to see the Orca rubbing beaches (and to pick up Yolanda's toque, lost in April), and a fun swim at Port McNeill's outdoor salt-water pool. We wished we had known previously about Port McNeill's awesome pool, as we would have visited for both "family swim" times, Tuesday & Thursday.
French Beach is a wonderful place to camp, with a great seascape accessible through a forest walk, and it is close to Sandcut Beach, and not too far from very interesting Botanical Beach. With Francis & Luca we visited all three and had a fun camp week, with S'Mores, breakfast crepes, and lots of scooter outings and exploring.
August 13 - October 9 Bob was away from home: August 13-27 birding
across Canada; a day in Ottawa to pick up Yolanda; and two and a half weeks
in Newfoundland. August 27, Yolanda flew out to Ottawa for a couple days with
sister Carmelita before meeting up with Bob to visit Newfoundland. She
was also home Sep 27 - Oct 01 and then we visited Presquille and Prince
Edward Point October 1-4. Then we zoomed home from Prince Edward Point in four and a bit days. Unfortunately, due to health concerns, we didn't camp with Montreal niece Christine, we didn't spend Thanksgiving with sister Carmelita in Ottawa, we didn't visit pals at their Ontario Sugar Bush, and we didn't see family and pals across the Prairies and in BC. The Friendship Tour part of the trip was cancelled. We laid low and gardened until late October and then caught up with people a bit thereafter.
While visiting good friends, Dave and Johanne Reid, in Lethbridge, Dave took Bob down to Stirling Lake (SE of Lethbridge) to see the White faced Ibises. They then went west on to Waterton Park for some more nature viewing.
A pair of sweet surprises met us in Newfoundland: nephew Carl was coincidentally there and we saw him three times, including one rainy afternoon above Quidi Viddi when we pulled into a small gravel overflow parking area. Bob had parked in a wide space and Yolanda suggested he move over to allow a possible other car that might be seeking a spot - surprise, a local couple pulled in and Carl was their guest in the back seat, as they were headed up for a hike. The other surprise was at Tablelands, where we encountered Victoria cousin Ross and his wife Karen. They stopped by our campsite later that day for another fun visit.
Leaving Newfoundland proved to be a small challenge, as we were re-scheduled due to mechanical issues, then found our travel impeded by Hurricane Fiona. We got a sailing four days late, and 1,000 kilometers back to Port au Basques from Argentia, and so we needed to cancel our Nova Scotia stops. The good news is that on a second walk at Gros Morne we managed to observed the Blue-headed Vireo! Though we missed visiting our Newfoundland family due to their illness, we happily were able to visit niece Lia and grand nephew Levi in New Brunswick. We then moved on to the Rimouski area on the St. Lawrence before Fiona reached landfall in the Maritimes.
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| Overall we made 956 observations across Canada and saw 297 species |
Yet another sweet surprise this year was hearing in October that AU godson Michael was engaged, and that he and his NZ fiancé Cherie would be out to visit BC family and pals in December. We were thrilled to be able to confirm that we will attend their Brisbane wedding in May 2023!
Yolanda's Florian Flint Corn was dried on the stock and ready to harvest October 20th, so she started her search for a grain grinder at local second-hand farm equipment outlets. She was thrilled to find one that might be from 1930s Eastern Europe. Removing the kernels from the cob was an interesting exercise, that ended up happening in a flash when Yolanda discovered that the hooked kernels rake themselves off when one cob is inverted against the other. A two-stage grind, coarse and then fine, was the answer for perfect grain for the October 29th first-of-many polenta batches, and polenta cook-off (store bought grain versus home grown). What a treat! Aunt Margret's enthusiasm for the taste and texture was encouraging! We also researched the benefits of corn nixtamalization, but haven't had an opportunity to try it yet.
November - December 2022
November was busy with grandnephew Mason's 2nd birthday (niece Alex's elder son); neighbour Emery's x-country meets; preparing costumes and making gingerbread for the annual VDDS kids party; a wonderful visit November 11-13 from Vancouver niece Yvonne; a lively birthday party for honourary grandboy Francis November 18th at Flying Squirrel trampoline arena; and attending the VDDS kids party November 27 with honourary grandboys Francis and Luca, who stayed with us November 24th to December 3rd. What a fun 10-day early Christmas present!
Also in November, Yolanda received and planted-out the four Hazelnut trees she had ordered. Bob was busy trip planning with Nick Carter (UK pal) for their Ecuador and West Amazon birding trip in March 2023.
Bob helped with a Christmas Bird Count at Martindale Flats on December 17th , where for about 7.5 hours without the breaks they (3 of them) counted 7,616 birds (60 species plus 6 hybrids/sp.) while traipsing 14km looking over and through 240 hectares of farmland and sloughs. The farmland was not as flooded as it normally is this time of year so its normal guests were a little different allowing for 65 killdeer and 45 pipits on the muddy fields. Minor backtracking as there were 5 hunters blasting away in one of the fields - they were able to come back to there later. Bob was impressed that during this time the area hosted bald eagle, red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons, merlin, kestrel, northern harrier, cooper's hawk, and sharp shinned hawk - one Great Horned Owl was seen by one of the team just before he arrived at 7:20am. They managed to see/spook/flush 11 Snipe. It is a species rich area year round.
By December 9th our packages to family and pals were in the mail and some social plans were underway: Emery & Brynn sleep-over, Tea with niece Katy at the Empress, Jeremy & Svetlana Yacht Club sing-along, Jim & Diane 2022 highlights slide show, brother Rick & sister-in-law Maureen hosted dinner out, Francis and Luca school Winter Music Concert, visits with Yolanda's Papa, godson Michael & his fiancé Cherie welcome events, lunch with niece Kathleen and her husband and son as well as Michael and Cherie, early Christmas dinner with the Filan clan, December 25th dinner with brother Mike & sister-in-law Sue's family, a friendship tour to Vancouver 26-30 (including with nephew Matt and family, and with nieces Bianca and Yvonne), December 31st brunch with pals Jonathan and Stacy, and hosting New Year's Eve Dinner for Francis and Luca, their parents and their Swiss grandparents. Phew!
