Fungus Among Us....?

We joined the fungi fun-guys this year for a walk to observe the fungus among us....

Here are a few photos of some we found particularly interesting:
 orange peel, cauliflower and coral....

Unfortunately, we are not yet confident enough to know very many mushrooms that are safe to eat!

Thanksgiving

We had a fun family week-end here in Whistler, with a full house that included Char & Tor, who are both living in Vancouver.   Charlotte has started her grad project in Conservation at UBC, researching how global climate change may affect wild salmon productivity.  Toria (who is currently injured so off ski racing for the season) has just started first year in Kinesiology at Langara College.

While the focus for the week-end may have been the festive Turkey dinner, the traditional puzzle provided some in-between entertainment.


Notice how cousin Ben and nephew Mike are racing Char to get the most pieces into the puzzle?

A few of us drove to Pemberton valley for some fresh vegies and pumpkins from the farm.  Here are cousin Jane and Irene in the raspberry patch.

The weather allowed for a hiking day too.  With all the options around Whistler it was hard to decide, until we saw rain clouds and opted out of the higher alpine route.

So we drove up beyond the 2010 Olympic Park to Callaghan Lake... 

I took our SPOT along so you can click the links below to see where we started the hike.

http://fms.ws/3eWFY/50.19289/\-123.18262
If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=50.19289,-123.18262&ll=50.19289,-123.18262&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Well, it's not like October in Quebec or Ontario, but we found some Autumn colours.   We started out in a brief hail storm, wearing all our layers.

The trail winds through the woods, over some creeks, by numerous small ponds, and through alpine bogs....

 We ate lots of fresh blueberries, but just looked at the mushrooms....

The trail wasn't steep so by the time we reached our destination (Conflict Lake) we had only gained about 150M.

Click this link to see where Conflict Lake is located.
http://fms.ws/3eZbu/50.19412/\-123.23497
If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=50.19412,-123.23497&ll=50.19412,-123.23497&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Ou sont les castors?

Well, the eager beavers down by Green Lake have been busy.  Here is Green Lake....

 And here is what the beavers have been busy doing.....

 Somewhere in the woods we hope to find their building site!

Back in Whistler!

We got back from sailing in mid-September, just in time to enjoy late summer in Whistler.

Activities the first two weeks back have included some hiking, some biking, some going to the gym, and lots of working on the house.

Here are a few photos of our driveway project:  preparation with compacted sand

 then delivery of tons of stones, and initial efforts to create a design...

 Many hours bend carrying stone, laying them out, cutting some to fit along the edges, digging a trench for a cement border to hold them in place....

Finished product! (Note the black stones that lead the way to our guest entrance.)

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.