...and they're big!

Just for scale, I took a photo next to a typical dead fish on the river shoreline, it makes my size 9 Doc Marten look tiny.

These fish are huge!

They're back!

Yes, down at the creek, and at the river, the salmon are back by the thousand, they are just a few minutes from the house, so we walked the loop and took in the sights, live fish, dead fish and fishermen. The autumn colors are here, the leaves are falling and we are ending the month with some great weather.

Sooke - One Year

We have been celebrating yet another anniversary this week, one full year in the Sooke house. It was a marvelous day today, so once again we took to our feet and went down to our happy walk, down on Whiffin Spit. A year and four days on.

Drone photo courtesy of Brian Rundle, Sooke.

Fisgard Lighthouse

The lighthouse is now connected via a causeway between Esquimalt Harbour and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but it is not too much of a stretch to imagine the life of the lighthouse keeper back in the nineteenth century, and even though the lighthouse is still operational, there are fixed displays inside, and a fantastic spiral staircase, for visitors to enjoy.

Fort Rodd Hill

We had discovered this place earlier in the year, but it was at the end of another adventure, so we made a mental note to return and have a few hours there.

It is a coast artillery fort built in the late 1890s to defend Victoria and the Esquimalt Naval Base and as part of parks Canada, open to the public for quiet contemplation of another time. I was reminded at times about our visit to the Citadel in Halifax many years ago, and the curators of Fort Rodd Hill, or as Karen and myself called it, Fort Rod Hull, are doing an excellent job.

Beanz meanz Heinz

There has been a flurry of indicators that the weather is changing here on the West coast, and one that is a sure sign that comfort food territory has arrived is the utilization of the slow cooker to make the beans.

It will not be long before we start making stews, soups and the more exotic big pan items and I've been yearning for the stouts and porters once again.

Certain members of the household have already been seen around the abode in comfy tops and slippers....