Team Pie Crust

Saturday afternoon Sara and I began a trek from her gone in Burnaby. We rode our bikes into Vancouver in the beautiful sunshine and took our first break at 10th and Kingsway where we finished off a bottle of cold white wine. We then carried on through downtown and stopped for a photo on the lions gate bridge.

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In North Vancouver we went pretty much straight to the Savary Island Pie Company. Pie and beer were used to fill up the tanks for the next leg of our journey.

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We arrived in Horseshoe Bay with just enough time to buy since road pops for the ferry ride.

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Upon arrival in Langdale our priority quickly became jumping of the pier at Hopkins Landing.

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Summary of the day: best pie run ever.

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Savage

Picked up this Salmon from the CSF yesterday. Today we feasted.

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Alex did a marvellous wrapping job.

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Then Hazel found it.

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And this happened.

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Spruce Tip Ale

Last night I arrived chez Kevin to discover the beer that he and Tess started some weeks ago had been kegged and tapped.

Inspired by many batches of tasty U-Brew while living in Queen Charlotte City, there was plenty of motivation to pick spruce tips during their bloom this spring. When I left Haida Gwaii on May 3 the spruce were budding but not yet in bloom. With Vancouver being substantially further south, by the time I arrived the spruce were substantially done blooming. Fortunately the road back had a few stops along the way.

On May 13  in Bamfield the spruce trees were in perfect bloom. About 140 g of them made the journey back to Vancouver. The whole lot of them went into a batch of beer being made by Kevin. Whereas in Haida Gwaii we were putting them in U-Brew, Kevin made this batch from scratch. The tips went in at the mash stage so the spruce flavour is even stronger than our prior batches, but it is also less sharp – I think because the mash effectively cooks the spruce tips.

After an evening of winning at frisbee Kevin and I went back to his place to have our first try of the beer. His roommate had named it “Gwaii Haanas Spruce Tip Ale” in honour of the beer’s inspiration.

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Yum.

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seeing chelt

Hazel and Alex are visiting from the UK. My cousin Hazel was last here when she was fifteen. Our interests were pretty well aligned then. It seems they still are.

We began our adventures together with a kayak trip up the Sechelt Inlet, launching from Tuwanek.

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Hazel and Tess mastering the high seas

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Alex braving the ocean blue

Despite not much/any time spent in sea kayaks, these two seem to have spent enough time on the water that it came naturally.

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Alex took a lead role in ensuring we had adequate fuel to keep us warm. He insisted on watching the camera instead of where he was swinging the ax. I’m sure I scolded him.

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Next, Alex took care of slicing the peperoni for our pasta sauce. Hazel’s hand is visible in the bottom right. At first I think she just put her hands in there as a sign of trust but her technique also proved useful catching errant peperoni bits.

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After our lovely meal we relaxed by the fire and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

We went to bed as relaxed as you could possibly imagine. While we slept, a light rain started. Also while we slept, a large chunk of bark sloughed off an overhead tree and fell the 20-30 m down to us. It hit my tent. We awoke rapidly and thought we might be dead already. The death screams woke everything, I’m sure. Both Hazel and Alex assumed it was a bear attack. Alex was concerned that he was not wearing anything in his sleeping bag and would therefore soon be running through the woods naked.

Eventually we got back to sleep.

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Having suffered enough bear attacks for one night we set off back home.

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Despite photo evidence seemingly to the contrary, it was not an uphill paddle.

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I am thoroughly enjoying having these two here.

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Back in Gibsons our gear managed to explode out everyplace. It is now dry enough for the adventures that start tomorrow!

 

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The Challenge

This is the greatest advertisement I have ever seen.

 

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Another tree

After the enthusiastic response to the last time I posed arboreally inclined questions here, I am inclined to crowdsource answers again. (Last time it was an immature Sitka Spruce, or Picea sitchensis.)

Can anyone name this tree? It was growing near Pemberton but by no means is it native. I have an idea what it might be. It is a tricky one. And the only clue is a leaf.

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The summary judgement is in.

My phone generates automatic alerts based on things in my calendar and my location. For instance if I have marked the calendar with “bbq chez Kyle” it will look his address up and sound an alarm when I need to leave in order to make it on time via public transit (my predefined preferred mode of transport for these estimates).

If I have a calendar entry with flight details for a visitor it will auto alert if the arrival is delayed.

If I travel to a new town it will present a weather forecast and suggest things I might like to visit, usually spots with a nice view.

Every once in awhile a new “intelligent” algorithm seems to released. I am generally surprised and impressed by the information it anticipates may be useful to me.

Generally.

This morning I awoke to find an alert indicating the timing and directions for an unsolicited visit to “Kamloops psychological services”.

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I would not have previously described my phone as cheeky.

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a product endorsement

I spent yesterday evening doing an array of minor bicycle repairs. It is a task I find both interesting and satisfying.

I also replaced my cycling shoes with another pair that are the same model as I have been using heavily for the past couple of years. After much abuse, the rubber soles have worn down and the SPD mounts are cracked from me having so much leg muscle. I have been soooper happy with them. They are the Austin Pedal by Keen. I am fully converted to clip-in pedals and shoes – especially when the shoes are as casual looking as these. Also, I didn’t realise how much they had changed colour while I wore them. Leather ages delightfully.

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For anyone considering ways to unlock the power of their cycling demons, I recommend considering a shoe that connects you to the pedals. You get a shitton more torque coming off the line and going up hills. Top speed stays pretty much the same though – my legs can only whip around in a circle so fast, whether I am attached or not. They have also saved me a couple of times when I have hit a nasty bump but managed to keep it together because my feet were still where they needed to be.

 

 

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shellshocked

Despite the abundance in Haida Gwaii, it seems dungeness crab is scarce enough to command a mighty price on Granville Island. wowza.

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conjunctivitis

 

Here is another reason to watch the sun set: Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter are all super tight in the sky at the moment. Also, Mercury is about as bright as it can get – nearly half illuminated.

 

do it.

 

evening redness in the west?

 

 

 

 

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