Stinging Nettles and Attempted Camera Suicide
Today, I am going to explain to you why I chose to title this blog Stinging Nettles and Attempted Camera Suicide.
(My younger sister, Sonya)
I have always had a passion for the outdoors. This dates back to my early days as a toddler--preschooler living in the Northern part of BC, Prince George. My sisters, Sonya, Lana and myself would be bundled up head to toe highly suspiciously resembling what children today know as Teletubbies to trudge about our yard laden with neck deep snow. I have very vivid memories of my childhood and my love for being in the fresh air even if it meant that back then five minutes after my mom bundled me up head to toe to only have to pee thus off with the snowsuit and repeat the entire procedure but yet once again. I also fondly remember playing tar baby with my boots/mittens. I.e. you got your boot stuck in the snow. So, you would sit down on your bottom to retrieve your missing right boot only to have the snow gobble up your right mitten. Then you would stand back up to get onto your knees to collect your left mitten only to lose your left boot. I have to say though Mom got rather sneaky on this and started having me wear mittens that were attached with a string or she would safety pin my mittens to my snowsuit. I must have gone through a couple pair of boots a season and would end up with gumboots versus snowboots and an extra pair of socks by February.
(My older sister, Lana)
So, my passion for the outdoors brings me to the conclusion of my last blog wherein, I excused myself as my camera and sneakers were calling me. I did indeed lace up my sneakers and throw on my camera backpack and head off to Tod Inlet. It is here that I discovered what exactly stinging nettles are. I must say that they are not a friendly plant with stinging hairs that act like hypodermic needles injecting subcutaneously what feels like a snake venom into your dermis. I am wondering if Mother Nature had karma in mind here as I crawled through her rain forest to follow the sound of water falling. I was overjoyed when I discovered just that a mini waterfall. Amongst my excitment and completely ignoring the wise latin saying -- caveat actor -- I proceeded off the path to get the ideal location in which to take my shot. I guess while doing so I never noticed what plant life I was "brushing up" against my left inner calf.
I got the shot and made my way out of the dense plant life back to trail. I thought a bee, spider of the alike must be crawling on me and biting me, but this was not so.
I had only been hiking for about 10 minutes and do to this intense prickly pain, I proceeded back to my car. Luckily, I follow the Girl Guide's Moto -- "Be Prepared!" and had some hydrocortisone cream in a kit in my car.
The day before I went off hiking with my partner George. We headed out to Metchosin, BC, to Witty's Lagoon.
Metchosin is 20 minutes from Victoria, BC Capital city. It is bordered by the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
There are 5 parks in the neighboring area. (click links below to be taken to park's page)
· Albert Head Lagoon Regional Park
· Blinkhorn Nature Park
· Buckbrush Swamp
· Devonian Regional Park
· Matheson Lake Regional Park
It is at Witty's Lagoon beach side that my camera tried to commit suicide. I had set my camera down on the picnic table as I had to use the ladies' room... Upon returning George said that we better get going as the sun was starting to set. I proceeding to collect my gear, but got distracted and jumped up hooking my foot in the camera's neck holder flinging the camera into the air! The camera then bounced off the picnic table top to the seat of the picnic table then onto the cement slab upon which the picnic table rests. I let out a rather hideous shriek and some rather colorful words. I quickly turned on the camera and viewed the last photo. I ran the camera through some checks and luckily it was okay. So, continuing to put away my gear into my bag I proceeded to screw on the filter onto the protective lens on my Panasonic G1; nevertheless my fingers would not cooperate and I was starting to believe I had Parkinson's, MS, or the alike. Upon closer inspection I discovered I had dented the $80.00 protective screw on Hoya lens. I have to say this does not make me a happy camper, but an $80.00 lens is much better than a $1,200 camera body/lens combo. The camera seems to be no worse for wear -- a bit sandy and I didn't lose my favorite shot from that hike...
Well... that ends my post for today... the wind has been blowing since I got on the boat at 4:30 and am about ready to break open the Gravol, so best, I call it a night... until we meet again... I wish you peace, happiness and prosperity.... oh my Dad always ends his phone calls with a joke... so here's for you dad.
Why do seagull not live by the bay? Because then they would be called bagels :-)
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