For all those James Bayites who wondered what had happened to me when there was not a word from me in last month’s James Bay Beacon, I am not passed over, passed by or passed out, I am alive and enduring kidney dialysis. In a couple of weeks’ time I will be using the cycler machine and life will be so much easier and I will be reviewing cook books once again. However, just for now, I want to share a few moments with you.

Those gorgeous Giant Blue Herons are causing heads to turn as they settle down in their old nests and occupy a few new ones. They were late this year. No doubt this was caused by our bad weather that we all suffered through. The big fat evergreen trees that had been home to their eleven nests seventeen years ago have thinned out as their nests expanded to one hundred and ten last year. I fear that they will move the heronry to new, robust trees in the very near future. Hopefully nearby, where we may still see them as they nest, raise their families and beat the eagles off with the power of their strong wings.

Still a Chance to win "Canucks Legends" by Jeff Rudd

To say that I was disappointed when I received not one entry for a chance to win Jeff Rud’s gorgeous big book, “Canucks Legends”, last January (or any other month since then) is an understatement. Perhaps I didn’t describe it as well as I should have; perhaps I didn’t make hockey fans hearts ache to own it. I will give hockey fans one more chance to win this hockey treasure. Send a note to the Beacon Office, or e-mail me at hollyrowland@shaw.ca, about “your favourite memory of the Canucks” and I will pass it on to Jeff Rud to select the winner. I shall be devastated if I don’t hear from you!

I must mention the coffee at the James Bay Inn. It is just as great as the servers. And tastes just as it smells. The secret? Methinks it’s because the coffee beans are freshly ground for each new pot of freshly brewed coffee.

My cookbooks are piling up and it’s time to sell them at tiny sale prices, $5, $10 and $15, all monies to be given to The James Bay Beacon. Perhaps in May when Mother’s Day is in our hearts and minds, or for your own collection. In December of 2003 a bronze maquette depicting Emily Carr and her creatures was unveiled in the drawing room of her childhood home on Government Street. It has been on public display at various locations around Victoria, but now it has been purchased and will stay at Carr House permanently.