Summer is coming!

Soon we will be sailing again.  This is a test message via email, making sure we can update from an internet café as we travel.

And we are skiing again.....

Yes, it's May ....

and here we are at the top of Blackcomb, with Whistler in the background, & Black Tusk on the horizon.

We had perfect, wintry conditions,
dry snow, cool air, and sunshine.


Thanks to Toria and Wini we skied four days last week!

Winter is back!

Well, one thing about living in a mountain environment rather than in a more temperate, coastal environment, is that Spring and Fall can be short and uncertain.

After our initial taste of spring we are back to winter condtions, with fresh snow falling even at the valley bottom.

Here is the view we woke up to see this morning, and it's still snowing! 

No wonder it's only skunk cabbages that have ventured out of the ground! 

Spring is coming to Whistler

The snow is melting and our first aggressive plants are emerging:   Lysichniton americanum 

They seem  to burst out of the ground is a rush, poking up through the final layer of winter snow even before it has melted enough to expose the ground.  Suddenly these plants appear everywhere in the valley, and our musty, dark forests are permeated with a fresh smell of growth.

While the English name suggests a rather unappealing and foul-smelling plant,  skunk cabbages (also known as swamp lanterns) are  (for me)  very welcome indications that Spring is here.