five go to the seaside
After over-exerting itself with my birthday sunset, the weather decided to close in on us at Tofino. (We thus came to witness an attraction promoted enthusiastically by the local tourist board. The out of season sales pitch, run without visible tongue in cheek, goes like this : no matter that you can’t surf right now, just grab some cocoa & come storm-watch with us instead!)
Sadly this meant cancelling both the sea-plane excursion, & the stand up paddle-board lesson that we’d planned. Instead brooding seascapes projected an intense and cinematic backdrop to “the alligator game”
(traversing wide deserted beaches by hopping from driftwood tree to ubiquitous driftwood tree), to leisurely quests for sea anemones and starfish, & to collecting interesting flotsam and/or jetsam for a marshmallow bonfire
Forest paths leading to the ocean were also a wonder to be savoured. Here was a deep enchanted theme park of ancient trees, many half fallen with writhing roots exposed, or draped in spooky Spanish moss. Peeling arbutus twisted in bizarre & impossible patterns, in stark contrast to the sky-scraping cedar & mighty Douglas fir that also stood sentinel
I was grateful for everyone’s patience, forever lagging back with my camera
Which might in fact have been dangerous. For meanwhile a cougar was on the loose - albeit then way off in downtown Victoria
There it managed to cause much excitement for staff at nearby government buildings, until tranquillised & relocated by a careful conservation officer “as far away from human civilisation as I can get on Vancouver island”
We wondered where this might mean … in deep forest somewhere outside Tofino, for example?
The rather disconcerting habit of cougar is that, like all cats, they do love to stalk you from behind. Cross-country skiers, or lone hikers merrily intent on their path, can make inviting & quite irresistible prey.
So the super smart thing to do, I’m told, is to draw a face on the back of your hat. Having eyes in the back of my head means Johnny Cougar’s fun is over, he has been spotted & can tail it home for a nice juicy racoon instead. (Note to self : add cool baseball cap & magic marker to Vancouver shopping list)
After a jaunt to Parksville (spa treatment for the girls, multi-storey thrift megastore for the boys) it was now sadly time to say farewell to Glynn & Judith, together with Rachel their lovely friend who’d been our local guide
Jebs and I left for the next leg of our big adventure, by ferry to a tiny Gulf Island called Mayne - more of which in the next thrilling instalment. For the moment it feels good to close with a simple thought on contemplating God our Creator, through and beyond such majestic natural beauty
It comes from Dallas Willard, whose splendid “The Divine Conspiracy” (1998) I have enjoyed re-reading this week, yielding much to ponder :
In a church service we may heartily sing the grand old hymn :
Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air; it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills; it descends to the plain;
And gently distils in the dew and the rainBut do we actually believe this?
I mean, are we ready automatically to act as if we stand here and now and always in the presence of the great being who fills and overflows all space, including the atmosphere around our body?
… Jesus’ good news about the kingdom can be an effective guide for our lives only if we share his view of the world in which we live
To his eyes this is a God-bathed and God-permeated world
Until our thoughts have found every visible thing and event glorious with his presence, the word of Jesus has not yet fully seized us …