First picking

I just completed my first picking of blackberries yesterday. Needless to say I had a handful of berries on my Cheerios and will for some time.

There are many left to pick as you can see from the plants. I have two 18’ rows of plants.

Thank you for stopping by.
Mark

On display

I’ve been busy the past few weeks running in all kinds of directions.

First I’ve been finalizing my vacation plans for later this year. I signed up for a 6 day kayaking trip on the Northern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. I was looking at kayak trips since it interested me, yes there is kayaking in NM. In my search Vancouver Island came up. I searched through at least 10 outfitters/tour operators and decided this one is the one I want to do. Sea Kayak Vancouver Island - Kayaking Queen Charlotte Strait - British Columbia The link should take you to the Wilderness Islands trip.

The tour most of the other operators do is in the Johnston Strait between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. This is the main thoroughfare for orcas to pass through. While I want to see orcas, I don’t want to see just orcas, and five days no less. The Wilderness Islands trip goes out of the main channel into God’s Pocket Provincial Park. There should be lots of other wildlife to see, and hopefully photograph. The owners said this is the trip the guides like to take since it is always different and very few people go off in this direction.

I’ve had to buy a fair amount of clothing to be ready. The pieces which should last me forever are the raingear, top and bottoms. If you’re not familiar with Albuquerque we average about 9” of moisture a year so I don’t expect to wear rain gear very often! I’m buying a fair amount of warm weather fleece. I expect to be a bit cool there as the normal temperatures in BC are in the 70’s during the day and 50’s at night. This is actually quite nice until you factor in the average temperatures in Albq. in August are still in the low 90’s with mid 60’s at night.

I’m arriving a few days early so I’m doing a couple day trips. Whale watching Mackay Whale Watching in BC Vancouver Island Canada and a grizzly bear tour Grizzly Bears - Tide Rip Nature Tours - Grizzly Bear Pictures I will also have a day to wander around and see the local activities.

Just to get in shape for the paddling and other activities I’ve increased my routine of swimming to at least twice a week and walking/hiking 5 – 8 miles twice a week. I don’t want to be the old guy holding up the rest of the tourists.

I’m hoping to get lots of photos of the local wildlife to use as models for future needle felting projects.

Sue is not going on the trip, she is still healing from her foot surgery. While she would like to see the water, she would rather be on a beach catching some rays.

In addition to the trip planning I have been working on bears. In my last post I mentioned I did a doll and bear show. One of the customers that came by asked if I would consider displaying my bears in her shop. I said let’s get together and talk. I’ve heard this other times never to be contacted again so I didn’t think too much about it. She contacted me a week or so ago and asked if I was still interested. After stopping by and talking with her I now have a number of my bears and needle felted animals at ToonaRoona. At this point she only has dolls on the website but promises to add my bears. I’ve included a few images of the shop.

She had an Open House this past weekend. I saw a few people come in then walk out with dolls. It seems that like any passion there is money around to feed the passion.

I’m also getting ready to pick blackberries. Most of them are still green but a few are going from the red to black stage. As long as the temperatures don’t go into the mid 90’s I should have lots of berries to pick, and the scratched up forearms to prove it.

I think I’ll take a break for just a few minutes before I go on to my next project…

Thanks for stopping by.
Mark