Lunch at Montgomery's in White Rock

Wednesday of last week I finally had the chance to go down to White Rock for the afternoon. The last time I was there was probably in September of 2006. As usual, I start off with a lunch (a late lunch in this case), so that usually takes me to Montgomery's Cottage Lunch on Marine Drive opposite the beach at Semiahmoo Bay. Above, the first photos shows the establishment from the southside of Marine Drive and the second image is a view of the side. The third image describes what is on my mind: fish and chips! Below is a view of the inside looking out. Then, you guessed it, my lunch of fish and chips plus a good beer to wash it all down!

On the ceiling, if you take the time to look up, you will notice some hockey sticks. The goalie sticks are signed by Kirk McLean, retired from hockey and formerly of the Vancouver Canucks. Kirk is a cousin to the Montgomerys. The other stick on the ceiling is signed by Pavel Bure. Google both names to find out more about them. You can start by going to http://canuckslegends.blogspot.com/2007/02/kirk-mclean.html to learn more about Kirk and other members of the Vancouver Canucks team.

The friendly and knowledgeable staff are there to serve you. Is it any wonder that they won an award? They're tops in my book but don't take my word for it, check them out yourself the next time you're in White Rock. You can eat in, on their patio or order and take your lunch with you to the beach. Montgomery's Cottage Lunch is at 15539 Marine Drive. Call 1-604-536-7779 to reserve a table for the busy times.

A day on Vancouver's Granville Island

Early in the last week of May I went to Granville Island in Vancouver, BC to meet up with a friend of mine. After arriving at Broadway Station (SkyTrain) and taking the trolley bus from there, I got off at West Broadway and Granville Street and walked to Granville Island from there. Above is a photo of part of the Granville Bridge Loop Park along Granville Street. This park is about halfway between West Broadway and Granville Island proper.

The blue flowering shrubs in the park were covered in various wild bees looking for nectar and below is a closer view of one of these shrubs. Where ever I would see them, there were plenty of bees about.

Above is one of the many bees getting nectar from the shrub's flowers. I am still in the process of determining the species of bees that I have been seeing locally. As soon as I have that information, I will post it.

There are many ways of getting to and from the island. This boat is one of them. Other ways are taking walking, taking a bus or a combination of these options.

Looking to the northwest from the north side of the island near the public markets. The Burrard Street bridge is in the background on the left.

Sea gulls are every where and always looking for an opportunity to "grab" a meal. Someone's inattention with their lunch can mean a feast for several birds.

Here are the buildings that contain the Granville Island Public Market (on the left and in the background).

Another view to the northwest from the north side of Granville Island.

Crows are also looking for their meal opportunity.

The large boat on the left was backing out and the small one on the right was coming in. It's always a busy place during the day with vessels coming and going.

A view to the east from a hill on the east side of the island. Science World is the domed structure in the centre background.

Looking toward the west-northwest with Johnston Street in view. The bridge over False Creek (Burrard Street Bridge) is in the background.

A view of the top of the hill from which some of the previous photos were taken.

With the warm, sunny weather people were out walking, cycling, or as this person is doing, rollerblading. Below a Canada goose is watching what's going on and don't seem to miss a thing.

Another of those flowering shrubs and the many bees. Below the cloud patterns are as interesting as anything else is.

A Great Blue Heron perched on a rock in a pond in Charleson Park near Granville Island. Below a bearded iris growing along the edge of the pond.

In the photo above and below is a structure that was carved by 800 people. The image above gives a closer view and the one below gives a view of the whole things.

Above is the plaque found at the base of the pole.

You never know what you will find while on or near the water in Vancouver. These houseboats are no exception, not to mention the heron perched on a boat.

Meadow Buttercups

Buttercups (Ranunculus ssp) are in bloom everywhere from meadows and roadsides to the edge of woods and parks. As lovely as the flowers are to see and appreciate, all of the species are poisonous, though dried their toxins degrade. So, if they are found in hay, they appear to be safe. Animals avoid them otherwise because of their acrid taste. The first two photos were taken on the 3rd of June along 128th Street in Surrey. The last one was taken in Hawthorne Rotary Park (Surrey) along the edge of the woods. They are certainly very bright and colourful with summer here.

Back in southwestern Ontario where I have lived most of my life until settling here last year, there was a spot in the backyard where I kept buttercups. I also had a variety native to the Swiss Alps with larger flowers in another spot in the garden. A meadow mixed with other wild flowers and grasses such as red clover (Trifolium pratense), crownvetch (Coronilla varia), common daisy (Bellis perennis), white clover (Trifolium repens), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), common sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium) plus grasses like perennial rye grass (Lolium perenne), meadow foxtail (Alopecuras pratensis), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), timothy grass (Phleum pratense), sheep's fescue (Festuca ovina), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) and various other grasses is a great sight to see. One of my favourite past times in summer as a youth was watching bees and butterflies in action with the entire meadow alive with activity! Enjoy your summer and the beauty that nature has to offer. There's an adventure around every corner!

More photos from Mountain View Conservation & Breeding Centre

Here are a few more photos taken at the Mountain View Conservation & Breeding Centre outside Langley, BC last June. They breed rare and endangered animals and other creatures. The top image shows a couple of lemurs, primates of the infraorder Lemurformes native to the island of Madagascar off the African coast in the Indian Ocean. It was difficult to get any of them in the camera frame since they moved around very quickly. I ended up with a few images with no lemurs in them but they were there when I was about to snap the photo. The second photo is that of an Indian rhino, Rhinoceros unicornis, native to the grasslands and foothills of the Himalayas from northern Pakistan, Nepal and northern India. The tree is a favourite spot for rubbing. The animal had just moved from a position closer to the fence by the time I could take this image. The third and final photo is that of African wild dogs, Lycaon pictus (meaning "painted wold") at feeding time (not to be confused with the hyena, Crocuta crocuta). All three animals are endangered in their natural habitat. Check out the Mountain View Conservation Centre's website for further information.

Bald Eagle's nest found

On a visit to Bear Creek Park off the King George Highway in Surrey, BC I found a bald eagle's nest back in mid-May. This brings to three the number of nesting sites I am aware of in this part of British Columbia: Stanley Park in Vancouver, Bear Creek Park in Surrey and Semiahmoo Bay in White Rock. I hope to get down to White Rock soon when the weather clears and is nice again.

Mountain View Conservation & Breeding Centre Society, Langley/BC

A year ago in June 2006 I went on a tour of the Mountain View Conservation Centre outside of Langley, BC. Here is a sampling of photos taken on that visit. Above are a couple of ostriches and in the photo below a cheetah.

In the photo above are a pair of zebras. I believe they are called Grevy's Zebras. There is a closer look at one in the photo below.

Then there is the addax. Below is an image of three of them plus some closer shots of one of the young from that year.

The little guy wanted to tag along on the tour but did stay behind just the same. If you live in BC's lower mainland or are planning a visit to the area, have a look at their website [ http://mtnviewfarms.com/ ] and perhaps consider making a tour of the farm run by the Moutain View Conservation & Breeding Centre Society. Tours are best arranged ahead of time. I hope you have enjoyed these photos. There are more coming soon!

The Weather: So what's happening?

So, here it is late Thursday with the day winding to a close and a week in the month of June behind us. The weather was sunny and warm with temperatures around 20-21 degrees Celsius, and from some accounts I heard, may have gotten up to 26 degrees. The humidity was in the 70 percent range. Well, all that ended Sunday when the clouds started moving in from the southwest. It was still very warm but by evening it was raining on occasion and Monday was a lost cause with pouring rain for most of the day. Yesterday the humidity was around 88 percent with a temperature at 10 degrees Celsis. So today I find it cool. I replaced the shorts that I had been wearing in the warm weather with jeans and added a sweater Still I find a chill in the air in the apartment not to mention outside. The heat has been turned off because we didn't need it with the previous temperatures. The comforter for the bed which I had planned to put away for the summer is back on the bed. It's too cool without it. So when will the warm weather return? That's anyone's guess.


A friend of mine in London, Ontario mentioned that temperatures in southwestern Ontario had been in the 30s, then dropped to around 24 and when I was chatting with her two days ago, it was between 7 & 8 degrees Celsius. That's after the arrival of a late spring and the heat wave that followed. Another friend in Pennsylvania said it got into the 90s (Fahrenheit) during the heat wave in their area (north of Philadelphia) and that was after a late spring for them as well. We certainly live in very interesting times! The temperatures are back up again and much warmer.


It's often said that you can't do anything about the weather but just accept what comes. True, we can accept it all but I often wonder how much our own human activities in polluting this wonderful planet, clear cutting forests, both boreal and tropical, draining aquifers dry plus our agricultural practices contribute to the odd weather we are experiencing. There are many theories on what is causing Global Warming (and cooling in some places) but there is no denying that it is occurring. Now what are we going to do about it or is humanity going to bicker about the causes till our extinction becomes more than a theory but a distinct reality? Just some food for thought! Any comments???