Naramata Peacocks

Naramata has three peacocks. No one knows where they came from, or who brought them, only that they showed up one day in 2008 and have made Naramata their home ever since. 

They didn't arrive without controversy, the village has been divided since their arrival, some people love them and others... well, don't love them. Whatever side of the fence you're on, it has to be agreed that they are beautiful, especially when they display their tail feathers.

One peacock makes the few blocks around our house his territory, so I run into this guy on a daily basis, (in fact just this morning, he was on our front deck and roof) and we have several of his tail feathers that he's left in the back lane or in our yard.

Last week, on the way home from a community breakfast, I took the above three pictures. It's spring, and although there are no peahens around to mate with, our guy was out in full force; prancing and dancing in a back alley for those who came across him. 

When I got down low to take his photo, he strutted towards me in an aggressive manner and shook his tail feathers, it was quite intimidating! 

So I made a lino cut of him, this is actually just a proof and I have yet to make proper prints of him. I printed this on paper I brought back from Thailand.

Blossom Time!

Early Cherry Blossoms

I haven't been in the Okanagan during blossom time for a long time. Blink once and it's gone! Apricots are first followed by apples, pears, plums and cherries. The day after I took the pictures below there was a huge windstorm and these delicate petals were all blown away.

Peach Blossoms

Apple blossoms

I remember when I was in high school riding the bus in the morning, I'd look for the blossoms in the spring, an omen that the school year would soon come to a close. Local kids know how to identify fruit trees in the dead of winter from the the bark, shape of the tree and branches.

These days there are far fewer orchards, most have been replaced by vineyards. Although they have their own beauty, I still love an old orchard. Each year I make sure to photograph a few of the old trees, (the new apple trees look more like vineyards than orchards).

Stay tuned for a blossom linocut!

Plum Blossoms

Christmas in The Village!

People have been asking if we'll be here, and the answer is yes! 

Come on down and check out Naramata's lovely Heritage Inn and Spa all decorated up for the holidays! We'll have our scarves, paintings and jewelry for sale at this extra special Christmas Craft faire. Also check out my mom's handmade Christmas stockings next to the fireplace!


Drop by and visit us!

Block Print: The Train Dock

The Train Dock in the 1980's

When I was a kid, we lived right across the road from the train dock in Naramata. In fact, the house we lived in was actually a barn, floated down from Kelowna on a barge and unloaded off the dock. From there it was  dragged across the street and placed on a vacant lot. But that is another story....

I was warned by my mother never to set foot on the dock without an adult present; a rule I broke early and often. The train dock beckoned little kids like me to crawl all over it's sticky creosote beams.

 As teenagers, the boys would dive off the towers into the cold waters of Okanagan Lake while the girls suntanned on the deck. Honestly, it was never a great place to swim - the creosote beams created a smelly oily film on the surface of the water and our bathing suits would easily be stained with dark brown tar. But it was a great place to meet and hang out. I have fond after-school memories of  eating ice cream sandwiches with my best friend, our bikes dumped unceremoniously in the nearby gravel.

Then, one day in 2002, news spread that the Train Dock was gone. It was deemed unsafe and disappeared so quickly, many Naramatians were surprised and shocked at the speed of it's demolition.

The Train Dock in 2010

Today, the dock has been preserved, but the landmark towers are gone. Where there were once weeds and gravel, there is grass and a manicured path. I wasn't able to find any pictures of the old dock on the web. The one old picture here is a photograph of a photograph hanging on the wall at the Naramata Museum.

And so, this is the train dock the way I remember it when I was 12 years old. This print was composed from a few old photographs and a lot of memories.

 "The Train Dock" 

Hand-painted block print

Limited edition of 12

My sister will have these prints for sale at the Christmas Faire held at the Naramata Heritage Inn and Spa, along with her paintings. More on that soon!

Green

Yes, there is a bit of green left here and there! 

Mom in the Vineyard

Mountain Ash and Maple

Munson Mountain

Horse Tails at Wharf Park

Red

Retro-cool

Old Apple Orchard 

 Grape stems, seeds and skins

 On the Vine

Orange

Squash Soup

Birch Trees

 Naramata Centre

Boo!

Blue

 Harvest Time

Gala Apples 

Okanagan lake 

Naramata Bench

Yellow

Oak Tree

First Street Bridge

Mountain Ash and Maple

Van Gogh Tree

My walking partner...Zoe!

A Week of Fall Colour!

Monday - yellow
Tuesday - blue
Wednesday - orange
Thursday - red
Friday - green

My hometown is a beautiful place, and one post isn't enough to share it all....
All taken in the last month, all taken in my hometown of Naramata!

Naramata Village

Adams River Sockeye Run

Over the past few weeks, news of the Adams River Sockeye run has been coming at us via TV, radio and through rave reviews from excited friends who have visited the river. Apparently this year is a "dominant" year, and 35 million fish are expect to make the run. So we took a Sunday drive up to the Shuswap to see this spectacular sight.

The Adams River sockeye run is known around the world as a "miracle of nature". Since the Discovery channel, National Geographic and huge buses full of Taiwanse tourists were there, I tend to believe that. 

Imagine you're a sockeye salmon. After 4 years of hanging out on the west coast, you feel the urge to leave the wide open saltiness of the Pacific Ocean to swim up the (freshwater) Fraser River along with 35 million of your brothers and sisters. Unlike many of your brethren, you carefully avoid the nets and hooks of the overjoyed local fishermen.

From here you battle your way upstream though fierce rapids and waterfalls to the Thompson River where you body starts to turn a bright scarlet red! Your head turns green and your whole body starts changing shape! You don't want to eat and people no longer want to eat you!

Once you enter the Shuswap Lake System you head for the Adams River, where you were hatched four years earlier. You have come here to reproduce and die. You have a one-in-five chance of succeeding, but you'll die regardless. Your dead body will rot alongside the other spawning sockeye which will create a stench that will attract bears, birds and other predators.

You  were born an orphan, and you'll die childless.

A few months later, your babies will be born, and they'll feast on their ancestors decaying bodies and in a year, once they're strong enough, they'll make the epic journey, covering over 400km, (250 miles) to the Pacific ocean. Such is the life of an Adams River Sockeye Salmon! 

Pumpkin Processing - Doing It From Scratch!

I've been eyeing my neighbour's mini-pumpkin patch behind her house and it's five perfect flame coloured pumpkins. I'm really too old to raid a pumpkin patch (aren't I?), so I was happy when she offered one up on the condition I not just make a jack-o-lantern out of it. 

I love anything pumpkin, missed it terribly in Istanbul, and am now staying in Naramata, which has the fine distiction of being one of only two Cittaslow communities in Canada!

So let the processing begin!

Love that colour! Ok ,first I scrubbed this baby. 

Notice this isn't a sugar or pie pumpkin, just your average pumpkin pumpkin.

I should say that Turkey does have pumpkins, and last year at this time I watched the little old ladies of Cappadoccia split open pumpkin after pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and throw the rest away! 

Don't believe me?)

Here's a load of scooped gourds headed for the compost! 

(This pic was taken on the street in Goreme.)

I digress! Back to the job at hand. With great effort this thing got split in half. I did it using a rolling pin, a dishtowel and a big knife I wasn't in love with. BANG! BANG! BANG! 

(I also waited till mom wasn't home, for some reason, loud banging in the kitchen distresses her.)

Face down on foil. My mom has a convection oven. (Love the convection oven!) 

Hot air cooks food 25% faster at a lower temp!

Forty-five minutes later...

...mushy!

I let it cool a bit and peeled the skin off leaving just the pulp behind. The pulp got pureed through a blender and produced about 8 cups of pumpkin puree. 

Obviously, this isn't hard, just messy and time consuming. I can see the attraction to canned pumpkin, but this is Cittaslow designated Naramata! No shortcuts here!

Walnut pumpkin muffins. 

The walnuts came from our friend Ricky's huge walnut trees. Keeping with the slow food movement, we collect bags of them every fall, dry them and use a hammer to crack'em. Our fingers get red and tender quickly, so it's best done slowly over a few weeks.

And two thanksgiving pies!

These pies were good, despite not being made from proper pie pumpkins. Would I do this again instead of canned? Actually, yes. 

But not this year. The next pumpkin I process is going to have a candle inside!