Summer Evening on the Seawall

Last time, I showed you some of the quilts from the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild show I attended with my Mum when I was in North Vancouver a couple of weeks ago. This time I want to show you the other thing we did for fun: a walk on the seawall and then a picnic on the shingle beach at Ambleside. This is a photo-heavy post because the light was spectacular and because I was just so thrilled to be back beside the ocean. As I often tell my dear husband, where we live would be perfect if the intervening 500 km between home and the ocean could be more or less eliminated. No, I’m not hoping for a cataclysmic sinking of the western half the the province into the sea, just missing the ocean.

 

I love this adventure playground, particularly the three seagulls (not real) perched on the top.

And here’s another piece of wooden sculpture I particularly like, which crosses the outflow of a small creek into the ocean.

I have to say that West Vancouver does a great job with its municipal plantings.

But this is the real attraction, for me.

At this point, during the dinner hour, not many people were out on the seawall, but an hour later the pavement was jammed with walkers.

Sculpture, man-made and natural.

There’s UBC, way out there on the point.  No longer a source of stress for me . . .

As we turned around and walked back toward the car and our picnic, I could see clearly the devastation that remains after that huge wind-storm years ago that took out so many trees in Stanley Park:  before the storm, these cliffs weren’t visible, but the loss of the trees has both exposed the friable bank and encouraged erosion.

I just love driftwood that’s been silvered by water and weather.

The surf was so gentle that it couldn’t be called surf, more just murmurings.

I wish I looked half as glamorous as my Mum, as she takes a breather on a convenient bench.

Love the reflected light on this log.

I fetched our picnic supper from the car and we got comfortable on the shingle, using a log as a backrest, to eat it.

In between bites, I kept taking photos.  As you can see, the tide was high and we weren’t very far above the water.

You can see that smoke from wildfires was still hanging over the strait.  This gull looks as if he’s ignoring us, but he was on a mission.

He didn’t get any of our picnic.

Sigh.  So beautiful, the whole thing.

We can’t have spent more than a couple of hours here, but to me this moment was probably the highlight of my summer.  I look at these photos and I can smell the ocean and feel the combination of cool breeze and warm evening sun. And I can instantly recall the mood of mellow satisfaction that Mum and I shared all the way through.  It was great.

Comments

[Jaynie Himsl]

It's so very interesting to read about your love of the water. While I can smell the moisture looking at your pictures I feel chilly with the eternal dampness. Nice place to visit wouldn't want to live there. :)

[Ann Mudrie]

Hi Anne, I can almost smell the ocean looking at your pictures. I, too, miss the water as I grew up in Richmond (Sea Island in particular)and the smell was always on the breeze. Enjoy your time with your Mum as much as you can!! It will, one day, be lonely without her ...

[Anne at Shintangle Studio]

I agree about the chill, Jaynie; I'm more used to the dry interior air now. But what I really notice is how heavy the air seems on the coast. It always takes me a day or two to acclimatize.

[Anne at Shintangle Studio]

I didn't know you grew up in Richmond, Ann! I do enjoy my "Mum" time. It's very weird to have her on the other side of the country at the moment enjoying that other ocean, the one that laps against Newfoundland. Having her that far away does make me feel a bit lonesome . . .