another treat day...

back from the beach, thanks for your wishes, we had a good time as usual. pictures to come soon. and since you were all so kind as to share your favourite sea creatures with me, i thought it was about time to share some shots taken last week out on the boat up johnstone strait. these are just a few of the many i love (oh and two that are not sea creatures of course!) that we were lucky enough to see that day. above, a bald eagle who stared me down as i took some snaps - perhaps i was interrupting him from his fishing.



a couple of "rock sausages" (aka harbour seals) hanging out.



a juvenile humpback whale making its way lazily down the strait.



a large (15-20 individuals) but disparate group of resident orca was amazing to watch in the still water, including this sweet little baby killer whale.



a black bear who was much more interested in the ripe salal berries than us watching from the boat.





a couple more orca shots, including this big bull above who surfaced right beside the boat with his companion, making me (for a moment) bemoan the telephoto lens on the camera as i struggled to fit him in the frame.



and although it was a pretty calm day, the passages can always be counted on for a bit of swirling and whirling - these are the tidal rapids at Seymour Narrows during flood tide. even with two large and powerful engines on the back of the zodiac, the whirlpools nip at the boat and tweak it left and right as you move through.

just another day in paradise, right? i am very lucky to have a friend who lets me ride along on her boat tours sometimes.

back again this evening with the winner of the giveaway!

anniversary giveaway...

happy weekend! we are headed out to the west coast of the island tomorrow morning, for a little getaway just the two of us. unfortunately, despite the sunshine today, the forecast implies mother nature is a bit adamant about the "rain" in raincoast, but nonetheless i'm sure it will be a good trip, as all trips out there tend to be. a bit of camping, surfing, beachcombing, forest walks, and small town wandering.

but! now to what i'm sure you came here for, not just my week-end rambling. august 23 marks the one year anniversary of the fog and swell shop! also, a quick check tells me that the end of august is the five year anniversary of this here blog - who knew? as a thanks to all those who have checked out my shop, and all of you who stop by here to visit me, i hope you will comment below and enter to win:



six happy starfish! it's not quite a rainbow, because as far as i can discern there are no green sea stars, at least not on this coast, but nearly. annie's teal one is the closest i have seen, although my approximation of it is a bit more blue, since that is what i had on hand. so there is a blood star (red), ochre star (orange), cookie star (yellow-orange), unknown seastar (teal), bat star (blue), and another ochre star (purple). all are hand stitched from hand dyed linen), and stuffed with local alpaca fleece.



to enter to win this little collection, please leave a comment below sharing what your favourite ocean creature is, big or small, mammal or fish, invertebrate, etc. the draw is open until monday evening, and i will announce a winner on tuesday. wishing you all a wonderful weekend, with some exploring in the outdoors, at the beach or wherever you like to wander!

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ETA: comments are now closed. thanks to everyone who entered and i will announce a winner tomorrow!

lights in the forest...

little black bear has gone away to a new home, but in his place two ghostly creatures have stepped in to keep me company for a little bit. neither albino nor polar bear, these spirit bears are really brother and sister to the black bear, a pale incarnation that appears only in a small region of the central coast of british columbia known as the great bear rainforest. it is estimated that about 1/10 of the population of black bears there are born creamy white, white cubs with black mothers, white mothers with black cubs. they are very important to the mythology of the First Nations of the BC coast, although often they are not talked about in an effort to keep them safe from the outside world. someday i will visit that mystical place. in the meantime, there are great articles and photos in the august 2011 issue of national geographic on both the spirit bears and proposed oil pipeline threatening the region.



these little spirit bears are my own humble attempt to recreate some of the magic of the real thing, pieces stitched in repurposed and hand dyed fabrics with each one having a slightly different character. i have mentioned my concerns about the pipeline and tankers that the oil company enbridge wants to bring to our coast, but now i would like to make a little more of an effort than just bitching about it. and so, i will be donating 50% of the purchase price of these and any other spirit bears i make to pacific wild who are working hard against this cause. you can find the first little boy here and what A has deemed the girl here. (gender designations are totally random, although they do each have a sort of feel about them).



i had planned a bit more of a post about this but now it's late and my mind is falling asleep. evening paddleboarding and an unexpected dinner guest stepped in to distract me from my evening plans, but in the best way possible. but i apologize if i'm leaving you short. the links above have great information on the cause, or please ask in the comments and i will do my best to follow up.

my other evening plans had been to finish up something for the giveaway i am planning for this weekend. i hope though to still have a post about it later tomorrow - please check back. august 23 is the one year anniversary of my shop and i've got a giveaway planned for you lovely people. i am headed to the west coast this weekend but will give details before i leave. thanks for all your support! for now, sove godt, as my mother always says.

wordless wednesday

Untitled, originally uploaded by fog and swell.

boats and docks...

if i mentioned this before, please just enjoy the photos. i have fond memories of childhood days spent with my dad down at the government wharf. he had an old converted fishing troller at the time, one of those old wooden boats requiring constant tinkering. i remember exploring the old docks as he worked, and then afterward he would often take me to mcdonald's for lunch (ah, the days when that sounded like a good treat!) or sometimes over to kmart and buy me a toy (i fondly remember a she-ra doll). as i got older my dad switched in to aquaculture as a profession and so i spent time in a rowboat exploring remote shores by myself or with friends during weekends on the farm. and finally when i was an adult, hot summers as well as bone-chilling february days were occasionally spent working sorting shellfish.



all that is my long-winded way of saying that i will always love old boats, marinas, and decaying wooden docks, nooks of those who have explored these winding waterways for the past couple hundred years, especially the working folk, the old salty dogs. yesterday was a day spent out on the water, and i captured a few shots of these spots that i treasure.





we stopped for lunch in a spot where the mainland juts well toward vancouver island, cleaving in amongst the labyrinth of islands in johnstone strait. port neville is a quiet little outpost, a spot among many that used to be home to a larger population, but now features a few houses and a closed up general store. i took more shots that i hope to share later. in the meantime i was entranced with the swirling tide making its way into the inlet, watching all the bull kelp line up with the current along with hundreds of little perch swimming in place. i also snapped at some of the lichen on the old dock, these bright yellow sunspots so regularly seen on these kind of structures. joni thinks it is because it likes the rich nitrogen found in bird poop, which is of course also strongly featured on these structures! either way, i love it.



if you caught the pics from my last boat trip, you might be wondering if there are some other shots to share, perhaps of the wildlife persuasion? the answer of course is yes, plus a bunch of other shots! i will post more later this week.

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loving today:
• this sounds like idyllic scamp camping
• joni's lovely stitched scarf

forest gold...

soon enough, when the first rains of autumn begin to come in, treasure hunters will take to the forest, slipping through the trees and moving silently over rich beds of moss, in search of gold. there are several types of treasure that haunts the minds of these foragers, but one in particular captivates the mind of many: the pacific golden chanterelle. this ruffled beauty pokes up through the mossy duff, often blending deftly into the dry leaves of autumn. lucky hunters hoard their patches, filling up buckets to sell, or just take home and feast upon. it is a bit early in the season, but i lucked out and found two. oh wait, is that because i stitched them up myself?



some of you may remember the white chanterelles i stitched last fall. but as mentioned, the golden chanterelles are often considered the real prize around here. with my lovely golden fabric dyed with yellow onion skins, i thought i had a good fit to stitch a few up. these are hand stitched with both linen and silk, giving them a wonderful glow such as those real prizes of the forest. and whether you are a mushroom hunter or not, i think they are a great reminder (and less perishable!) of the treasures to be found in the woods. this pair is in the shop now. i still have the white pair; they sit on a shelf with other nature paraphernalia (real and not so real). i might have to stitch some more of those to put in the shop too.



and i can't wait until there is real gold to be found amongst the trees, bounty to be cooked up for dinner! along with chanterelles i love tasty puffballs and giant cauliflower mushrooms. i hope to each year become comfortable one or two more 'shrooms that are edible - if i am lucky this year i would like to find some boletes. if i can pry open the notoriously tight lips of some seasoned foragers, we'll see what else can be found!

friday flickr faves: beginnings of a shift

1. blueberries overboard, 2. natural dyed scarves, 3. stack, 4. brewing, 5. Pacific Sea Nettle, 6. sun dance, 7. Dusk Grass, 8. pause, 9. Sea Urchins, 10. Sunset spotlight, 11. Good... Good... Morning, 12. meadow grasses, 13. Grasses and Tree, 14. Untitled, 15. feather grass, 16. yellow forest walk

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it's been a mostly beautiful week here, but the weekend forecast is looking a bit damp. i'm just fine with that - i have no specific plans and will take what is given to us. next weekend we are headed to the west coast, just the two of us; a bit of camping and surfing and raincoast exploration. soon after it will be the beginning of september (wow, already?) and we are headed to the eastern side of the cascades in washington. and other obligations and preparations are starting to appear. so a quiet weekend sounds just fine to me. what are you up to?

if you go out in the woods today...

remember that song? i've been singing it a lot this week, even yesterday as i wandered through the forest. i'm partial to the anne murray version but perhaps that is just the canadian in me.

perhaps our trip to the rainforest is to blame, but i am brimming with ideas for woodland creatures and fungi. here are two to start, the first obviously inspiring my singing of the teddy bear's picnic.



my first bear, a black bear like the ones seen commonly all over the island, and much of north america. he is a quiet sort, preferring to keep to himself but is happy to keep you company too, as long as you feed him some berries now and then. He is stitched from repurposed wool and has a soft neck ruff of alpaca fleece, while his furry feet have soft little suede pads. to remind himself of the tall trees of his home, he wears a length of red cedar cordage around his neck, but if you ask nice he might also let you wear it as a bracelet. if you think he might be happy snuffling around in your home, you can find him here.



i already have some other bears in the works, more kinds (including this fellow's ghostly counterpart) as well. they seem to be my fascination for the coming autumn. and below is of course my other fall fascination, the usual one, an obsession really. i can't wait until there are actual shrooms to be foraged and cooked up for dinner! these though, are not edible, even if they were real.



two little witch's hats, firmly clinging to their rocky home, anchored in a bed of moss and sporophytes. i love to find these in the lush green forest, a bright spot of orangey-red bursting forth. these are much easier to keep at home, although i think they fit in quite well on this mossy perch, don't you? they are available here.

more stitching coming soon...

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i might also be stitching some feathers this weekend. have you heard about jude's magic feather project? i plan to send a few her way, you should too.

[mostly] wordless wednesday*

*one last post from our hike, a few of the many flowers we saw through the woods and up into the sub-alpine. most squat and close to the ground in this harsher environment, but all bright and cheerful and thriving. love. you can click on any of the photos to pop over to my flickr stream, where i've tried to name them if i know it.

summer quiche

i'm not much for recipes. that is to say, i like recipes, and recipe books, but i'm just not very good at following them. i'm much better at taking a recipe as a starting point, and then adapting as i see fit. take quiche. i doubt i have ever made the same quiche twice. using whatever vegetable strike my fancy, or that i have on hand, is what makes it interesting. so this isn't a recipe, just a jumping off point, if you like quiche.



i can say that i have been using this tasty parmesan crust recipe recently, which is quite good in a quiche. today's version had green cauliflower, zucchini, garlic scapes, red pepper, and tomato, all from the farmers market. add in some bacon and cheddar cheese. whisk together some eggs (also local, 6-7), a good slosh of milk (1/2 cup? more?) and a few tablespoons of whole wheat flour, plus salt & pepper and other spices if desired (i like red chili flakes) and pour over the veg mix. bake at 350° for awhile (1/2 hour-ish?). and eat (and yes, you can probably tell by the above pic that my quiche tends to fall apart easily - i always tend to cram in too much stuff!).

was that at all helpful? food blogger, i am not. but i still like to think i am a decent cook, and A and i like to eat well. also fresh out of the oven this evening? these blueberry muffins. i'm trying to hold back sampling one, as we're supposed to take them somewhere tomorrow. but that one is kind of missing its bottom anyway, as it was blueberry overloaded, so maybe no one will miss that one...

orange seastars

what came out of this. hand dyed ochre stars (the wool one is dyed by me with yellow onions, the linen dyed with fibre reactive dye) stitched on a repurposed denim rock, stuffed with alpaca fleece. lots of barnacles and seaweed for additional texture. i like to make these little scenes, and find they feel quite good in the hand. you can find it in the shop now.

rainforest fungi...

ah, sunny days in early august. the weather is looking beautiful for at least the next few days. a morning trip to the farmers market yielded a basket full of deliciousness, and the freezer is bulging with berries to last us well into the cold months. the full bounty of the season is upon us, and if i had more room for a big freezer or stacks of canning jars, i'd be putting by a lot more.



but one bounty that this season isn't typically known for is mushrooms. in these dry summer months the fungi stay safely underground, waiting for the wetness of fall to burst forth. i've seen a few 'shrooms here and there, mostly the hardier polypores that cling to old trees year round, but mainly i'm waiting for autumn. however, our hike up into the temperate rainforest of the elk river valley found many more fungi, a treat for the eyes.







the last time i hiked this trail was in october, and even though that was quite a few years ago, and i wasn't even that interested in mushrooms at the time, i remember noting the wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours, much more than we saw this time. makes me want to venture back there later this fall, or at least in the area. we didn't see any edibles this time (i think), but that doesn't mean they won't appear with a few fall rains. i hope to step up my foraging considerably this year from last, hopefully gathering more mushrooms than just for a couple nights of meals at a time, able to dehydrate some for later. but mushroom hunting is never a guarantee, so i'll be hopeful but see what presents itself. and i've already been spending some time with the 'shroom bible.





weekend plans? i feel like i keep talking about stitching; i promise soon there will be actually something to show for it (i hope!). maybe a bit of knitting on my cardigan, which is actually growing nicely, albeit in fits and spurts. and i MUST get at least one dye jar going today - where has the week gone? i hope yours has gone nicely, and you are enjoying the fruits of the season too. what are you up to today?

rainforest...

the forest was so damp and oversaturated with water on our hike, although it didn't rain while we there. i was a bit obsessed with capturing the beauty of the water droplets resting like jewels on the plant leaves. the way they cling precariously to edges and stems, or are cupped gently in the dips and folds of leaves is amazing, don't you think?

next up? fungi! or flowers, i can't decide. did i mention i took a lot of photos? although there may be a bit of stitching to share before then.

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i just had the 50th sale in my shop! yay! i will be sending that person a little something extra with their package. and on that note, august 23 will be the one year anniversary of my etsy shop and i am planning a good giveaway for that. i'll keep you posted. thanks to everyone for your continued support, i truly appreciate it. thanks also to helen wheeler shaw for featuring me on her blog today!

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it actually looks like it might be a hot one out there today.
• in honour of that, i'm thinking popsicles!
• this sounds like a perfect way to spend a summer day - and i'm in love with margie's owl!
• and not really summer-related, but heidi always has tasty bread recipes, so i can't wait to try out this new one.

Elk River Trail...

on sunday and monday, A and i headed into the woods for an overnight hike. the elk river trail in strathcona provincial park is a meandering 11km journey through towering trees up to landslide lake, which sits quietly under the imposing towers of mount colonel foster, the 4th tallest peak on vancouver island. landslide lake gets its name from the slide that occurred in 1946, following a large earthquake on the island and subsequent rockfall on the north tower of colonel foster (read about it here), leaving a large scar that was washed free of trees and other vegetation. the last time i was up to the lake was about eight years ago, and it is still as lovely as i remembered.

i took A LOT of photos (what, me?) so i'll be sharing more throughout the next little while, but i thought i'd first share some of the bigger scenery of the river valley and lake. it is a beautiful peaceful area, although also one of the more popular trails in that end of the park, and as last weekend was a long one, there were lots of other hikers to be seen. we camped at the second campsite along the trail, about 9km in, which is where the majority of folks camp. i was a bit disappointed to see people camping up at the lake, despite signs everywhere asking people not to, and also how many had large fires at the main campsite although they also aren't permitted. and with bc parks proudly proclaiming its 100 year anniversary, and strathcona being the park that started it all, on a busy trail on a busy long weekend, there was not a park warden to be found. it seems unfortunate that we are celebrating 100 years of parks and at the same time our government (and apparently, some of the population) has very little concern for the conservation of these beautiful places. (i won't get off into a tangent about how skeleton warden staff aren't even the tip of this iceberg.)





but i'll get off my pedestal and get back to beautiful nature photos. it was a bit overcast on our first day and sunny on the next, and beneath the tall trees the world was humid, wet, and creeks flowed freely across the trail in many spots. the snow melt is in full swing right now, a bit late with our cool summer so far, and heavy with our deep winter snowpack. at certain spots along the trail you could not only hear the rush of the river, but feel the thunder of it under your feet. the rush of the river beside our campsite made me dream of a wild wind storm shaking through the trees.

we didn't see any large wildlife, but there were mushrooms and wildflowers and ghostly white slugs to keep my camera clicking. i'll be back tomorrow with more photos. have you done any hiking recently?