Blog Launch: Bowser, BC

For the past five years we’ve spent our summer vacation on Vancouver Island, in an idyllic spot in Bowser Beach. Look at how gorgeous this place is:

It’s so beautiful here. Usually.

Or check this out:

So Roy Vickers!

But here’s what it looks like today:

It’s an indoors kind of day….there’s a blue heron down at the water’s edge but he’s hard to detect in this crappy photo.

So, still nice, because you can’t complain when you’re right on the water, but it’s quite gray and cold. We still collected crabs on the beach which is a daily activity around here, but the girls are getting restless with no other kids expected until Friday. But the pluses are: no bugs, or at least not in annoying numbers, no need to slather on sunscreen and then shower multiple times a day, starting this blog, and….we made homemade hamburger buns! Yes, we’re trying to decrease our carbs, but if a homemade hamburger bun isn’t a “good” carb then I don’t know what is. Mmmmmm.

Crabs wondering where they are. One escaped and fled through the gaps in the deck. He’s got a long walk back to the beach. The rest we released humanely, a.k.a. “dumping the bucket in a likely spot” before they expired. Of boredom. There’s not much to do in a plastic bucket except annoy your neighbours.

The kids never get tired of collecting crabs. Actually, I rather enjoy it too. Mio organizes us: “Mama, you take the big feisty crabs. Hana can have the medium crabs. I’ll take the cute tiny baby crabs because they like me.” The proof of the baby crabs’ affection is the fact that she places them in her palm and they don’t pinch her. I think they realize they can’t pinch her. My job is to overturn large rocks and grab the larger crabs. They don’t pinch me either but that’s because I grab their behinds, not because of any fondness between us. I think. Frankly, they should probably curry favour with the only collector who insists they be returned to the beach. I’m the “good” prison guard, the one to suck up to. Hana’s job is to overturn the rocks she can manage without crushing her own feet and to shriek excitedly when she finds a good collection: “Mama! There’s crabs here! Mio! Crabs! Quickly, they’re escaping!” followed by much agitated screaming. Can crabs hear? If so, they should be terrified.