A Deja Vu Moment - as in, Been There, Done That ... Well, Now I've Done It Again, and Taken The Pictures too ...

This was not a 'Wowee, gotta get out and do something' day. This was more of a 'stay in bed til 10, drink coffee, and stumble around wondering what to do' kind of day .... until I read my friend Roxie's Facebook status - she hit the treadmill against her will, and that gave me a little nudge to get some shoes on and get going too.

The shoe part was the hardest. My sneakers were still wet from walking to Walmart on Wednesday, so I had to find something I could wear with socks, as the weather is not quite right for Flip Flops. So I ended up with a pair of flats, which didn't prove to be the best for my outing .... however, I didn't slip and fall into anything, so everything was good.

The first thing that caught my eye was this seagull, perched on a vent on somebody's roof. I guess he found a spot where he could both survey his surroundings and keep his belly warm.

I chose this particular shortcut to 88 Avenue, as I wanted to see how the wheelbarrow I've been checking on for a couple of years has weathered the seasons.

Well, the wheelbarrow was gone. In its place was a big Tonka-like machine, a back hoe maybe, a freezer, and several other pieces of non-photogenic crap, all sitting on a bed of gravel. Change isn't always good, Donkey.

Farther down the short cut ... the empty lot, that once held a falling-down rancher. Now the rancher is gone, and this corner of the lot seems to be turning into a communal dumping ground.

Shame on these people.

However, the other end of the lot has been taken over too - by Mother Nature. It was hard to pick my favourite pictures here, so I ended up with two ...

This one because of the shrivelled up thingies .... are they rose hips? I'm not sure. I know they're not hazelnuts or acorns ...

... and this - same subject, different angle. I really like the fence.

Walking down the sidewalk at 88 Avenue, these berries caught my eye, as well as the red leafed tree behind the fence. Much nicer view than the millions of vehicles zooming up and down the street to my right.

And if you need some Aluminum ... here's where to get it. Unless of course they used it all up on their fence, which was much bigger than their house. See? Even their car is made of aluminum.

88 Avenue was once know as Kennedy Road, and if you keep walking up this road, you would end up at Kennedy Heights, and North Delta. All uphill, though. I'm not heading this way, I'm heading downhill to Bear Creek Park.

Because a year ago, we saw salmon spawning here.

The Creek was very full of water this year, because of all the heavy rains we've had. I saw a few salmon flipping around, but they weren't very visible for picture taking. The water wasn't as clear as last year either, so the river bed wasn't visible. So I decided to just walk the trail a bit.

I'm not sure if I posted this in a previous blog, but if I did, you can see if the tree has grown any since then. Don't feel bad if you can't read the words on this plaque - I couldn't either, and I was really close to it. I just took the pic so I wouldn't forget what kind of tree it is ...

A Black Cottonwood - and wow, it is SO tall. I wonder what it thinks of these jerks who throw their garbage here, there and everywhere? Because it must see everything ...

I guess the little leaf below didn't want to fall .... so it's clinging on for life, hoping this fencepost will adopt it.

And what is this? To tell the truth, I didn't see anything special when I took the picture, but there seems to be a Sockeye salmon in the stream. Hmmm. Either that or someone lost their salmon shaped, salmon coloured sock.

The stream here is so full of character - so peaceful.

And no, I didn't know ....

But thank you, stream. I won't cross you. But I will get closer in a wee bit ...for very good reasons.

It's easier to see squirrels than salmon.

And beautiful colours to brighten up a grey day.

Hmmm. I thought I heard a splish splash ....

I did! I did hear a splish splash! There were actually two groups of sockeye frolicking about here.

I know they were sockeye salmon, because they are the only salmon (as far as I know) that turn red when they ready to spawn, which makes them easier to see.

I was not watching from a 'Watching Site' here, but a 'Sneak Through Some Trees Where I'm Not Supposed To Be' place.

I was hoping to get some pics of them flopping between the two rocks, but unfortunately that didn't come to pass. I did see a huge salmon (not a sockeye) jump and splash down this part of the stream, but missed an extraordinary photo op. That's when I realized my camera was too slow for this job, and whipped out my trusty IPhone instead. The IPhone camera has absolutely no time lapse between press the button and take the picture, unlike the camera that seems to stop and consider whether or not it should use the flash or not, a length of time that approximates the time it takes for a pair of salmon to swim out of sight.

This isn't the first post I did about spawning salmon - the first one was more 'educational.' If you missed it, you can get somewhat the same information from Stomping Tom Conners and his Coho Song - same ritual, different type of salmon.

Do you happen to remember my footwear? These 'little' shoes happened to have extremely smooth soles, and I was walking on extremely wet slippery leaves which were scattered over a layer of mud.

And don't you love my socks? It wasn't until I was almost home, I realized they didn't match. The other was a few shades lighter. As you can see, I don't have a Lady's Maid to help me get dressed.

My viewing place was great though - there used to be a bridge here, and this foundation was the perfect height for resting my camera-taking hands .... and stop me from slithering into the water.

On my way home, I took a different route ... and found this ... the muse behind The Holly And The Ivy

I don't have to go very far to find a bit of amazement, thanks to the Guy who lives above. Sometimes we forget to open our eyes and our hearts to the beauty around us ....