Friday, July 25, 2014

FRIDAY JULY 25 2014 VOL. 41, NO. 29

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including GST

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Baby birds

‘Tis the season for swallows

Kids get creative

Garden get-together

Students design mosaic

Tour features local gardens

Collection day draws crowds Garbage pick-up proves to be a popular event LORRAINE ASHDOWN CONTRIBUTOR

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

William Morris English textile Designer

Tobin Sparling takes a leap during a triple jump event. The Bowen Island teen was among the local representatives at the recent B.C. Summer Games. photo supplied

Local athletes compete at B.C. Summer Games ANNE WATSON AWATSON@NSNEWS.COM

For some athletes, going to the B.C. Summer Games might be a little nerve wrecking, but Bowen Island resident Tobin Sparling was taking it all in stride just a short time before the competition.

He was set to head to the Games in Nanaimo, which were held July 17 to 20. The biennial competition is meant to prepare both emerging athletes and trained coaches for higher levels of competition.

“I was really surprised because it’s my first year and everybody else has been doing track since at least Grade 5,” said Sparling of his fellow competitors before the event.

A fledgling double athlete in both javelin and triple jump, Sparling trains with the Norwesters Track and Field Club in North Vancouver.

“I have only been part of a track and field club for four months now,” he noted.

His mom Tiffanee Scorer reported that Sparling did well at the Games.

“He did really well. His main sport is javelin, he came fifth in the province essentially, which was really good because he only just started javelin four or five months ago and he’s younger than the others too. They’ve got two age groups together and he was in the younger half, so he did continued, PAGE 5

They came from all points of Bowen Island. They came to discard, to throw away, to purge and get rid of household items that are no longer serving a purpose. Mattresses, stoves, fridges, dishwashers, patio furniture, bicycles, barbecues. Soiled, spoiled stuff. Damaged detritus. Stuff that that no longer works.

Dave McIntosh of Bowen Waste Services says that eight staff over two shifts serviced approximately 500 vehicles that generated 30 tonnes of waste on Saturday. The waste collection days on Bowen are enormously popular and necessary. Everhard van Lidth de Jeude, an islander of many years, says, “This saves me going to town. This saves on ferry costs. This saves on gas. It is a wonderful thing.”

“We’ve been doing these waste days for over 20 years,” McIntosh says. “Up until six years ago there were two per year. Now for the last six years, there are three per year.”

Things began to shift somewhat last fall when negotiations between Bowen Waste Services and the municipality took place in terms of redefining what Bowen Waste would do with recycling and waste management.

“It was never discussed that the waste days might disappear until

about January of this year when council decided that the waste days would be cancelled. After that I fought hard to keep at least the paint and hazardous waste disposal service. But a month or so later council decided to reverse their decision on the free waste days so they are maintained,” says McIntosh.

“We were told in many meetings that we had better think about doing something else,” says Bowen Waste partner Louise McIntosh. “People don’t have garbage anymore.”

At Saturday’s event, cars lined up from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to take advantage of the chance to discard damaged and useless items. The wait time varied from 40 minutes to over an hour. Yet, a random sampling of drivers displayed patience and gratitude for the opportunity to rid their homes and sheds of unwanted junk.

Islanders Lorna Lewis and Barb Rendell approached the day by first going to the library. They sat in the shady comfort of their cars, waiting their turn and enjoying a good read.

Others had music or radios playing.

Friends or partners had crossword and Sudoko puzzles on the go. What they all had in common was patience and good humour.

“They would have to wait a lot longer and pay a lot more if they lined up at the North Vancouver Transfer Station,” says Dave McIntosh.

A few ideas were tossed about as I went from car to car, discussing garbage collection and wait times on continued, PAGE 7

2 • FRIDAY JULY 25 2014

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‘Tis the season for baby deer, swallows SUSANNA BRAUND ANIMAL AFFAIRS

How do they do it? The swallow parents using the nest-box in my backyard work at least 16 hours a day to raise their young.

At 5 a.m. they are already out and about gathering insects to feed to their nestlings, and from what I can see they keep going non-stop all through the day until about 9 p.m. And they do this every day. The reference books say that it takes between 16 and 24 days for the young to fledge. It’s hard to imagine working for 16 hours a day for 16 consecutive days without a break. Their dedication to raising their brood is truly impressive.

I keep my distance from the nest-box so as not to disturb them, but I can hear the nestlings cheeping away most of the time. I always know when a parent has returned because the cheeping becomes so much more intense. And even from a distance, I can see one of the baby swallows sometimes peeking out of the nest-box.

It makes me wonder about sibling rivalry. As ornithologists tell us, the largest nestling often deprives its siblings of food by positioning itself optimally. I do hope it is different babies that I am seeing and that they will all fledge successfully.

The next generation of deer is also growing fast right now. The “Bambis” are out and about, learning the rules of life, sometimes the hard way. The other day, a mother doe and her spotted fawn were standing in the road as we pulled out of our driveway. The mum jumped off the road into the undergrowth right away.

The baby also jumped, but it headed straight towards my (stationary) car. It knew from its mum that it needed to flee, but it hadn’t yet learned to get off the road immediately. This is a good warning to us all that these babies, who are typically just six weeks old when they venture out, have much to learn.

This is one of the themes of the novel that inspired the 1942 Walt Disney movie Bambi. The novel, called Bambi, A Life In the Woods (well, that’s the English translation of the German, obviously) was written in 1923 by Austrian Felix Salten. The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood to maturity. The novel, which has been described as one of the first environmental novels ever published, focuses on Bambi’s experiences including losing his mother and finding a mate. Throughout the book, Bambi is taught lessons by a powerful older stag, who near the end of the book reveals that he is Bambi’s father.

Most of the lessons that he learns relate to the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest.

Happily, Bowen Island’s Bambis do not face a huge risk from hunters, although the broken arrow shaft I found on a deer trail through my yard this spring indicates that hunting does happen here.

Our fawns and deer face a much greater risk from cars and trucks travelling at or faster than the speed limit. Think of it this way: Mule deer (the deer we have on Bowen) can run up to 40 kilometres per hour. They have evolved that way over centuries. That speed is designed to allow them to escape from most of their natural predators. But cars and trucks are not natural predators. They are exceedingly unnatural.

Our Bowen Island speed limit of 40 kilometres per hour should give a deer some chance to get out of the way, but if you are exceeding the speed limit, the deer will have no chance, and you will have a dead or damaged deer on the road or through your windshield.

So, please, while the next generation of deer are learning to be vehicle-savvy, drive slowly. And it’s good to remember that deer move around in family groups at this time of the year.

When you see one deer, there are usually others nearby.

A trio of barn swallows,with their beaks wide open, sit with their mother. Brian Watts, photo

Places of Worship Welcome You BOWEN ISLAND UNITED CHURCH Rev. Shelagh MacKinnon

FOOD BANK

Service and Sunday School: 10:30 a.m.

Collins Hall Bookings: Helen Wallwork Minister of Music: Lynn Williams

DROP-OFF

BOWEN ISLAND COMMUNITY CHURCH Pastor Clinton Neal 1070 Miller Road 604-947-0384 Service 10:30 a.m. Sunday School 11:00 a.m.

ST. GERARD’S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Mass: 10:30 a.m. Priest: Father James Comey

604-988-6304

CATES HILL CHAPEL www.cateshillchapel.com 604-947-4260

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10:00 a.m. Worship • Sunday School: Tots to Teens Pastor: Dr. James B. Krohn

Bowen

Bulletin Board Neil Reynolds feeds a tame raven named Loki, named after the Norse god of mischief. photo supplied

BOWEN ISLAND MUNICIPALITY Road Construction July 27, 2014 – August 15, 2014 Please be advised that road paving and culvert replacement will be taking place on Grafton Road and road resurfacing will be taking place on Windjammer Road, Smugglers Cove Road and Eagle Cliff Road, for approximately three weeks.

Occasional 15 minute delays and alternating traffic are expected.

Please obey all traffic signs, reduce your speed and leave extra time.

Thank you.

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

604-947-4255

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FRIDAY JULY 25 2014 • 3

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OPINION

Ferry ‘experience’ questioned ADAM HOLBROOK CONTRIBUTOR

BCFerries (BCF) proudly refers to its discount card as the Experience Card.

About 85 per cent of all trips to Bowen are paid for using this card (the highest rate for any route in the BCF system). Yet the “experience” is not necessarily a pleasant one.

On a summer’s day, the scenery of Howe Sound is breathtaking, even in winter the various shades of gray are an artist’s delight. Yet that is not our “experience.”

Our collective experience is one of having our pockets picked, of paying first-class fares for third-class service.

The handling of vehicle traffic can best

be described as industrial, while the foot passenger handling facilities at both the Horseshoe Bay and Snug Cove terminals are brutal.

Foot passengers with any kind of need ranging from luggage to small children and dogs, to those with real physical handicaps are, frankly, discouraged. The BCF system is not passenger-friendly.

While some improvements will be made to the Queen of Capilano during its midlife upgrade, the rest of the experience is likely to remain unchanged.

Indeed, it will be degraded during the upgrade because of the lack of services on the Bowen Queen, at the very time when we want to encourage individuals to leave their cars at home. BCF must

Members requested for the Bowen Island Municipal Transportation Advisory Committee Bowen Island Municipal Council is requesting applications from members of the public interested in joining the Bowen Island Municipal Transportation Advisory Committee (BIMTAC). The Committee provides advice to Council and/or staff on transportation services to, from and on Bowen Island and to ensure that transportation services meet the needs of the Bowen Community.

Applicants should be a Bowen Island resident or property owner and have expertise relative to the mandate of the committee including but not limited to working with municipal staff, other Island and non-Island groups and individuals to ascertain the needs and concerns of residents and particular user groups in relation to existing and future transportation services.

Please visit the Committee’s page on the BIM website for more information, including the Terms of Reference: http://bimbc.ca/files/embedded2010/130325%20BIMTAC%20ToR%20(FINAL).pdf Those interested in sitting on BIMTAC are asked to fill out an application form: http://www.bimbc.ca/files/embedded2010/CommitteeApplicForm_1.pdf.

Please make sure to save your completed application to your desktop, then submit via email, fax or regular mail by Friday, July 25, 2014 at 4:30p.m. to: Hope Dallas, Acting Committee Clerk Bowen Island Municipality 981 Artisan Lane Bowen Island, BC V0N 1G2 EMAIL: hdallas@bimbc.ca WEBSITE: www.bimbc.ca PHONE: 604-947-4255 FAX: 604-947-0193

look more closely at its terminal operations, as part of the overall “experience”.

This leads us to the period beyond the upgrade. BCF will be making its initial fare and service proposals to the government and the ferry commissioner this fall.

They are bound to ask for higher fares, since BCF seems unable to control their two major operational costs, labour and fuel, and the government is likely to respond with a requirement for yet more service reductions.

So far the cuts have fallen on the minor routes (islands, like us) neither the government nor BCF have made any cuts to their Vancouver Island service. It is easy to get better efficiencies on the Vancouver Island runs, all BCF has to do is alter the number of vessels and schedule of sailings, something impossible when there is only one vessel serving the route. At the same time, BCF is offering for the summer significant discounts for over-length private boat trailers and RVs, but only on the routes leaving Tsawassan for Vancouver Island.

The negotiations between BCF and the government (and for that matter, the subsequent negotiations with the BC Ferry Workers Union) will heavily impact us all on Bowen Island.

We cannot assume that our interests will be protected by any of the parties in the process. We will have to make our own separate submission(s) to the ferry commissioner, outlining the economic and social costs that have been, and will be, inflicted on our community. We must present a united front to ensure that we do not let our message be divided by individual visions of the future.

Adam Holbrook is the chairman of the Bowen Island Municipality Transportation Advisory Committee (BIMTAC).

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Higgs had a good idea about bosons KIP ANASTASIOU SCIENCE CONTRIBUTOR

Peter Higgs, a pretty dour Scot, is given credit for suggesting that there may be a particle, yet unknown, that might complete what is now known as the Standard Model of bits and pieces of which we are made.

That means pretty well all of the matter, of which the earth and a lot of our universe is made. Peter Higgs made the suggestion back in 1964 when a lot of us were young and foolish. He was young, but apparently not foolish: he had his mind on very weighty ideas. He and really only about three others were trying to figure out why there seemed to be a gap in our knowledge of the structure of ordinary matter. A lot of very complicated ideas were being tossed about in the physics literature. However, of all these ideas, only Peter Higgs suggested a particle as the answer to the problem, and that particle became known as the Higgs Boson. Finding the Higgs Boson became a dream for thousands (yes, thousands!) of physicists for close to half a century.

In 2012 when the Higgs Boson was finally found, Peter Higgs was 83 and still teaching at a summer school in Italy.

When he was invited to the announcement in Geneva he asked to be excused. He was all out of Swiss Francs and his medical insurance had run out. Besides all this, the beach in Italy was very lovely. You can understand his predicament.

You can’t really have the announcement of the discovery of the Higgs Boson without Peter Higgs, when he was both alive and in the approximate vicinity. A friend and admirer convinced him that he really ought to be there and from that point on preparations for the announcement went swimmingly. In fact, hundreds of young physicists were camped out near the auditorium just to get a seat for the wonderful moment when the announcement was to be made.

In this short letter it is impossible to convey how incredibly complicated and colossal the devices used to discover the Higgs Boson are. They are part of the circular particle accelerator just outside of Geneva. The detection devices are so enormous that a man standing in them looks more like an insect. We are truly insignificant. And these huge devices are used to detect something so small, it is part of a part of an atom. Isn’t physics wonderful?

Let me introduce you to the Standard Model of particles making up ordinary matter, the stuff you and I are made of. It is a bit complicated, but if you think about it, probably not more complicated than the Periodic Chart of the Elements, which most of us studied in high school.

All the stuff around us and, of course, ourselves, is concontinued, PAGE 9

Bowen Island Volunteer Firefighters DEPARTS SUN to THURS FRI & SAT SNUG COVE 11:15PM 12:15AM HORSESHOE BAY 11:30PM 12:30AM

OPEN FIRE RESTRICTION Effective immediately, and until further notice, all open burning - including camp and beach fires - is prohibited.

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4 • FRIDAY JULY 25 2014

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viewpoint

EDITORIAL

I miss BIRD RON WOODALL

garbage can. I miss the little warming room that, never that warm, morphed into a general depository of the unclassified, and now has migrated into the wider world of Dave. I miss delivering the glad tidings as we added, egg cartons, and light bulbs and toner and bubble-wrap to the growing list of tolerables. I miss telling convenient falsehoods like how we might be taking packing foam in a week or two if you’ll just put this pile back in your car.

In the not-good-enough-for-the-Nook aisle, I miss those deadly serious people with hoodies and Russian accents who always found high-tech treasures among the dead hairdryers and called me “sir.” I miss the radio, especially when it was blaring uncomfortably for two hours of the condescending impatience of Rex Murphy.

I miss taking the odd stealthy snapshot for purposes unspecified and asking everyone’s names and asking them again the following week. Despite the scoldings, I miss the personal pleasure I took in leaving the gate open for those who left things to the last minute but perhaps shouldn’t be penalized by having to take a carload of kids and pet food cans to Grandma’s on the three o’clock ferry. Closing time was also when I got to raid the magazine rack for the New Yorker and Rolling Stone. I miss the music on the roof when it rains. I miss the Christmas lights. I miss the church ladies and the cat ladies and the sheep people and their bins full of wasps. I miss exchanging deep thoughts with Dave, I miss explaining why white plastic bags were in fact, coloured. I even miss the scoundrels who just left their bags of garbage. But I don’t miss them a lot. I miss driving Miss Alicia home.

GUEST EDITORIAL

There. I’ve said it. Every Sunday, just before noon, I begin to yearn for my old BIRD shift. Donning that assertive yellow vest with the reassurance that one can Ask Me is akin to taking command of the bridge of a giant garbage scow.

I miss working in that vortex of aromatic rapture, that spot equidistant from the bottles full of cigarette butts and the overly tepid milk jugs. And I miss the perplexing issues of precise plastic genealogy: Infidel plastic, Alien plastic, Sacred plastic, all to meet again in a great molten netherworld.

I miss sending someone else’s kids to get all inkypants trampling down the mixed paper bin. I miss hoisting the very tiniest ones up to turn the key that fires up the Big Green Squasher Machine. I miss the lovely chaos that ensues when the crusher is full, the sign is up, but in minutes, we are interred below a corrugated mega-mound.

I miss that for-the-longers-time-never-quite-confirmed “what-is-light-metal?” rule. It held that if one person could lug something up, up, up to the bin, it was “light”. This is how I met a small man who could carry a Royal Enfield motorcycle frame with the engine attached. I miss the sheer rush of fast-balling mustard jars into the back wall of Smithereen. I miss the hissing sound made by the big plastic bags full of little plastic bags when you squish them down with your bum. I miss the poor souls whose soup cartons are flatly rejected but who are rarely shown the secret

Questioning LNG process Dear Editor A Singaporean company is proposing an LNG plant for Squamish, called Woodfibre LNG. Despite the potential to affect the Lower Mainland (a tanker accident at the entrance to Howe Sound would be disastrous), only Squamish, Furry Creek and Whistler are having public hearings. Even the Sunshine Coast was spurned in its request for a public hearing. The whole process is fraught with problems as Woodfibre LNG changed its design from offshore to onshore just prior to the start of the public hearing process. The plant won’t even use its own power, taxpayers will foot the bill for its hydro power. So while news about pipelines hundreds of kilometres away is regularly featured on the front pages of local papers, the Squamish LNG plant is conspicuously absent. Would that be because the Singaporean company pushing for the Woodfibre LNG plant has zero experience in LNG? Our once pristine coast is under attack. Dead killer whales are so contaminated they are often treated as toxic waste. The Vancouver Aquarium can’t explain a starfish wasting disease.

The radiation from Fukushima, reported in our air and water at levels over legal limits, still hasn’t been cleaned up. Yet somehow we are not suppose to give input to the Woodfibre LNG plan? Is that because it will pay far less taxes than it should? So one must assume then, that there would be no excess tax revenues to clean up any accidents (just like the Canadian uranium miners who supplied Fukushima never cleaned up the mess made by their client, the Fukushima operator and its unsafe plant).

When will this madness end? Did the founders of Canada and the Canadian veterans suffer for this? Was it for this?

David Taylor, North Vancouver (This letter was originally written to the North Shore News)

The Write Stuff.

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Here’s how.

To submit a letter to the editor, fax 604-947-0148 or mail it to #102, 495 Government Rd., PO Box 130, Bowen Island, BC V0N 1G0 or email editor@ bowenislandundercurrent.com.

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The Undercurrent is a member of the British Columbia Press Council, a self-regulatory body governing the province’s newspaper industry. The council considers complaints from the public about the conduct of member newspapers. Directors oversee the mediation of complaints, with input from both the newspaper and the complaint holder. If talking with the editor or publisher does not resolve your complaint about coverage or story treatment, you may contact the B.C. Press Council. Your written concern, with documentation, should be sent to B.C. Press Council, 201 Selby St., Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 2R2. For information, phone 1-888-687-2213 or go to www.bcpresscouncil.org.

Reader responds to woodlots letter Dear Editor: I’m writing in response to the article, “Gambier woodlots put on hold,” published on July 2, 2014 (in the North Shore News).

I own the existing woodlot on Gambier Island. My family first came to Gambier in 1912 and I moved to Gambier from North Vancouver in 1968. Everyone said I was nuts to come to Gambier. They said I’d never get a job. But I found work and then in 1990 I received approval for my 400 hectare woodlot.

The people I see and talk to on Gambier support my woodlot. When I build roads I leave them there for the future. People like it because they can walk through the forest. More people are coming over to the island now because of the openings and the trails the woodlot creates. Some people are worried about the two new woodlots tendered for sale on Gambier. I don’t think there’s reason to be. The woodlot program makes sense for this kind of area. Woodlots are usually locally owned and

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operate with local contractors. Because of their smaller size and local ties, they’re a good tenure for working with community members. And it won’t be logged all at once as was suggested in the article. With an annual cut of 3,000 m3 for each woodlot, it’ll take approximately 100 years to fully harvest both woodlots. I can testify to the fact that in 100 years the first new trees planted will be 150 feet tall. There’s also a lot of regulations and planning in forestry. They won’t be logging near streams or beside the lake. But the roads they build will be great hiking trails for years to come.

A lot of the trails we use now in the area are from logging that happened in the 1940s. Finally, woodlots prevent development. Anywhere there is private property on Gambier and someone can get their hands on it, it gets developed. I know development is not always a bad thing, but I like the woods.

Bill Errico, Gambier Island (This letter was originally written to the North Shore News)

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FRIDAY JULY 25 2014 • 5

Students help create school mosaic LORRAINE ASHDOWN CONTRIBUTOR

Thanks to many hands and hearts hard at work, Bowen Island Community School has a shiny, new addition.

As a result of an initiative supported by Arts Starts, an organization that encourages educations through the arts, the Bowen Island Community School Eco Mosaic Project is now complete and installed in BICS Outdoor Learning Classroom.

Local artists Bill Hoopes and Gerald Morrisseau conceptualized and organized the project. The artists, along with BICS co-ordinator Sarah Haxby, BICS principal Jennifer Pardee, and BICS staff helped all 308 students from Kindergarten to Grade 7 complete this ambitious and educational endeavour.

“Spending the time to create significant pieces of public art with young students is an investment in the future of artistic and cultural development in our community,” Hoopes said.

This spring, Hoopes and Morrisseau visited BICS classrooms giving students an overview of the history of mosaic making. The next step was for the student artists to spend time learning how to draw and create images based on what they saw in their local environment. The students discussed the abundance of plants and animals surrounding them in their day-to-day lives on Bowen, and they set forth to create artwork based on the lifecycles of the familiar plants and wildlife, all of which they studied in their classes.

Inspired by the students’ drawings, Hoopes and Morrisseau created black line and colour drawings of salmon, butterflies, dandelions, frogs, eagles and the Orca whale, which has only recently returned to Howe Sound.

Over a period of three weeks, every one of the 308 students placed glass tiles, donated by Bowen resident Kim Hauner owner of Interstyle Glass, to create seven magnificent mosaics. The 12x 40.5-inch panels are now mounted onto the benches at the school’s Outdoor Learning Classroom.

The students were very enthusiastic about the teachers and the entire challenging process.

“The instructors were awesome. They explained everything really well and they were really funny too,” said Grade 3 student Sophie Jarvis, who also took great satisfaction in knowing that the mosaic project would be part of the school for many years to come. “I loved that our work is now a permanent part of the school. When I leave the school and come back in the future, I can know that I was part of creating this artwork.”

Morrisseau is feeling very pleased with the end result of everyone’s efforts. He recently visited the site and witnessed a young family enjoying the artwork. They were talking about the individual pieces and the children were asking questions.

“It dawned on me this morning,” Morrisseau said following that particular experience, “that the work is there and families can sit and connect with their kids about lifecycles of the plants and animals that surround them.”

Next time you are in the neighbourhood, stop by and take a look at the eagle, the frog, the dandelion, the Orca whale and the other stunning pieces that now grace the benches of BICS Outdoor Learning Classroom.

Hoopes described them perfectly, “I think they are little gems in a sea of concrete.”

The staff and students at BICS would like to thank the PAC, CSA, Rotary, Smoothstones Foundation and ArtStarts for helping to create this lasting piece of public art. It is located on the “Snake Field” adjacent to the BICS parking lot.

Students help artists Bill Hoopes and Gerald Morriseau create a mosaic at Bowen Island Community School. Sarah Haxby, photo

Ride sharing program has stops in various locations DG Blair, from the LIFT program CONTRIBUTOR

Tobin Sparling displays his javelin form. The 14-year-old Bowen Island resident recently competed in both javelin and triple jump at the B.C. Summer Games. photo supplied

Bowen Island teens among residents competing continued from PAGE 1

very well and loved it. He also did triple jump, he got a personal best, well he got a personal best in both of them. Overall, it was a fantastic experience, he loved the whole thing and he made lots of new friends. It was definitely a highlight for him of the year of track and field.”

Sparling has been doing javelin for four months and started training in triple jump less than three months ago.

“Javelin I just find really fun, ever since I started doing it, I found it really fun and really,” he said.

“And triple jump, I wasn’t originally asked to do it because I didn’t qualify, but then when they realized that I guess they didn’t have enough people competing in it or something, they just put me in it as well.”

More than 2,500 athletes, ranging from 11 to 18 years of age, were registered to compete in 19 different sports

at the Games. Sparling, who turns 14 this year, said he wasn’t nervous about the Games and was heading into the competitions hoping to achieve a personal best.

“I know I won’t do the best that everybody else is doing but I hopefully will do my best,” he said.

Two more residents of Bowen Island were also set to compete. Mait Davis, 12, another newcomer to the games, was racing in an Optimist, a single-handed sailing boat in the sailing competitions.

Before the Games he said he was really excited to be going. Davis has been sailing for almost six years, and competes with the North Shore Sailing Team.

“I train once a week at West Van Yacht Club,” he said.

“And I go to all the regattas in the B.C. circuit, which is like one or two a month.”

Aaron Johnstone, head coach of the VancouverSquamish U14 boys rugby team, was leading his team to the games.

Bowen LIFT (Linking Islanders Through Friendly Transportation) has a new Bowen LIFT Champion.

Throughout this summer, Bowen LIFT will be highlighting islanders who are giving Bowen LIFT a try.

This month it’s Kat Kelly, a longtime user of many types of ride sharing. We asked her to try out the new LIFT stop near Bowen Island Community School and let us know what happened when she did.

She told us that she had never used that particular stop before and she was pleasantly surprised as she only had to wait a couple of minutes before someone picked her up.

She found the stop to be a convenient and safe way to let people know she was looking for a lift. She says that ride sharing makes it possible for her family to have only one car and that’s better for the planet and her pocketbook.

Five years ago, the RCMP began giving tickets to hitchhikers on Bowen. Their point: It was not safe to have cars stopping on Bowen’s narrow, winding roads.

The agreed upon solution was to have LIFT stops built at safe locations where people can wait safely and cars can pull off safely.

To date, Bowen LIFT has co-ordinated the installation of 24 LIFT stops all over the island, built to standards that are good for both hitchhikers and drivers.

Check out the new stops at the Tunstall Bay beach, near the Killarney Lake picnic area heading to the Cove and at Hood Point, to name a few.

LIFT rider Kat Kelly stands at one of the program’s stops. photo supplied Kelly’s story is a good reminder that using Bowen LIFT stops can be an alternative to driving a car as it provides a safe way to connect drivers and riders at designated pullouts throughout the island.

Bowen LIFT also has a Facebook group where members can post both rides offered and riders looking for rides for destinations on and offisland.

Go to bowenlift.com to find out more or to join the Bowen LIFT Facebook group.

6 • FRIDAY JULY 25 2014

WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

Family takes ship theme to new heights MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR

Triplets Oliver, Abigail and Meghan Creswick, have not slept in their beds since June.

They prefer to sleep perched high above their home, in a treehouse shaped like a pirate ship.

It took their father, Brian, three years to build it.

“Usually when I’m building things I draw up plans, but this came together somewhat organically,” says Brian.

“But it is kind of hard to build according to a plan when you’re hanging from a tree.”

Brian says he knew from the beginning that he wanted to build a treehouse based on the concept of a ship.

“My main concern was to build something that was structurally sound, and something that the kids could enter and exit quite easily,” he says.

The fact that the tree that the house is connected to is dead made the job of building somewhat easier.

“If you’re building on a live tree, of course, you have to worry about the possible damage you might inflict on it,” says Brian. “But you also have to keep in mind that the tree will grow and change and move. Even this dead tree shifts and sways a bit in the wind.

However, before I built this I had an arborist come and look at it. He told me the tree should stand for about 50 years, especially now that we’ve got a roof over it.”

His main piece of advice to anyone interested in undertaking the challenge of building a treehouse for kids is to balance safety with risk.

“Of course you have to be safety conscious, and try to imagine the stupid things that your kids will do up there, and try to mitigate those actions,” he says.

“But you also have to embrace the danger a little bit too, or else your tree house won’t actually be fun for them.”

On the calendar FRIDAY JULY 25

Youth Centre drop-in 6 - 9 p.m.

HEAT: Exhibit of works

by Lea Rochon Reception at the Gallery at Artisan Square 6 - 8:30pm, hot tamales and cool sangria

SATURDAY JULY 26

Bowen Island Summer Market Boardwalk in Snug Cove, 10 a.m. -5 p.m.

Bowfest Community Meeting 10:30 a.m. at the Legion, bring your input and enthusiasm!

BIAC Summer Sessions

Youth Centre drop-in 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.

SUNDAY JULY 27

Bowen Island Summer Market Boardwalk in Snug Cove, 10 a.m. -5 p.m.

Beatrice, Oscar, Oliver, Abigail, Finn, and Meghan Creswick display their treehouse in the photos at right and above.

Meribeth Dean, photos

Adult sailing classes at Tunstall Bay, 12 - 4 p.m.

Registration online through Bowen Island Yacht Club. $60 per class, buy four get one free.

SCAN WITH LAYAR TO BUY NOW

59 %

O

FF

hope

TUESDAY JULY 29

AA Meeting Collins Hall 7:15 p.m.

For every question there is an answer.

Hope through education, support and solutions.

We’re here.

1.800.321.1433 www.arthritis.ca

Public meeting - Lot #2 Rezoning Cates Hill Chapel, 5:30 p.m.

THURSDAY JULY 31

Duplicate bridge at the hall at Bowen Court.

For more info call Irene Wanless 604-947-2955

Value $61.60

$ 25

Picture yourself here!

FF

Have your photo taken with a buff Vancouver firefighter!

O

68 UP T % O

Full Surf Rental Setup, Including Surfboard or Bodyboard, Plus Wetsuit, Gloves, Boots & More at Live To Surf in Tofino TOFInO, BC

Youth Centre drop-in (6 p.m. - 9 p.m.)

Dock Dance Tickets $25, available from any firefighter or the General Store

• Two tickets to Hastings Racecourse on August 8.

You will also get your photo taken with a firefighter and we will turn it into a mock front page of the Vancouver Courier

80g Bag of Organic Matcha Green Tea & 50g Bag of Organic Wheat Grass, Tax and Shipping Included - 3 Options OnLIne

Get access to exclusive offers and more by scanning with the free Layar app and visit www.socialshopper.com for more local daily deals.

Value $50

$ 15 and up

Download the free Layar App

Scan this page

Discover interactive content

Proceeds will be split between the Vancouver Firefighters’ Charitable Society and the HAVE Culinary Training Society.

UPCOMING SATURDAY AUGUST 2

As part of the FundAid crowdfunding campaign for the Rundown @ Sundown media challenge, the Vancouver Courier News Trotters are offering several perks including....

• Discounted tickets to: • Theatre Under the Stars • BC Lions home games

Rotary Club of Bowen Island Andi Webster speaks on our Kunavelela Community Project, South Africa Collins Hall 7:30-9 p.m.

Everyone welcome

SUNDAY AUGUST 3 Go to FundAid.ca and search for Courier News Trotters Off To The Races.

Book launch: “Damien”

by Oscar Donald Erikson 7 p.m. at the Gallery at Artisan Square

SATURDAY AUGUST 9 Bowen Island Farmer’s Market and Bowfeast @ BICS 9:30 - 12:30

FRIDAY JULY 25 2014 • 7

WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

Various recycling part of the day continued from PAGE 1

these days.

One passenger suggested that each person in the line provide their phone number and when their turn was 20 minutes away, someone from the collection crew could text them.

Another rider suggested that residents be assigned a time for their particular neighbourhood.

For example, if you live in Hood Point, you could bring your refuse down between 10 a.m. and noon. However, the system that is in place now seems to work for most, and after 20 years Bowen Waste management may not be inclined to tamper with it.

Cheryl Evans is one of many satisfied customers.

“We love it,” she says.

“We are so glad Dave is doing this. It is fantastic.

It helps us all get rid of things properly.”

Currently, there is no cost for residents to throw away their stoves and fridges. The cost to provide the service is built into the yearly contract signed between the municipality and Bowen Waste Services.

Although Coun. Tim Rhodes agrees the service is essential on Bowen, he feels that a surcharge of $20 per vehicle would go a long way to cover the cost of the day-long pick up and disposal.

The fact that the service is free to residents may change moving forward.

“Five hundred vehicles for 1,500 or 2,000 households maybe suggests it should be user paid,” Rhodes says. “ I think with the hazardous waste, it’s a good idea for that one to be free because you don’t want anyone to get in the way of that being dealt with properly.”

At this point, the cost to each taxpayer for the service of waste disposal is $3.75 a day or $13.66 a year.

This is less than the cost of a ferry trip across to town and certainly less than the charges at any transfer station. It would cost someone approximately $50 to drive to and from the North Shore transfer Station plus four to six hours of time.

McIntosh is determined to keep the service affordable for islanders.

“Bowen Island has the best recycling and waste

removal of any of the 50 communities between Metro Vancouver and Chilliwack. We have the best services for the best price,” he says.

After the deluge, Bowen Waste Management takes the eight containers of rubbish holding 30 tonnes of waste to the North Vancouver Transfer Station.

The metals go to a place where they can be recycled. The mattresses have a specific designated spot as well.

“There are various aspects of recycling that are part of the free waste day,” McIntosh says.

“It is a well used service and people love it.”

bring your ad to life! download app from get.layar.com and scan

All proceeds donated to BC GUIDE DOG SERVICES Don’t disappoint your dog . . . activities this year will feature some fan favourites, such as, Bobbing for Wieners, Musical Mats and our grand finale, “Drop in a Bucket” (a ball retrieval in the ocean).

SUNDAY AUGUST 10th, 2014 Union Steamship Marina Lawn Registration begins at 11:00 am Events begin at 12 noon (starting with the COSTUME PARADE) For Information: 604-947-0707#2

Dave McIntosh (top photo) and Mark Ferguson of Bowen Waste Services collect trash during Bowen’s latest free trash day. Lorraine Ashdown, photos

YOU’RE INVITED to a Seminar and FREE Luncheon

at Hollyburn Country Club Wednesday, August 6th 11am - 2pm – Lunch at 12 pm.

950 Cross Creek Rd, West Vancouver

Don’t miss this chance to learn from hearing experts.

Deborah Maloon

B.Sc. Hons Registered Audiologist

Mandy Fisch

MSc.R.Aud Registered Audiologist

For 20 years, Mandy Fisch and Deborah Maloon have helped hearing loss sufferers find solutions that improve their hearing and enhance their quality of life.

We understand the challenges of choosing hearing aids and vow to match your specific hearing needs with the best hearing instrument for your lifestyle.

Enjoy LUNCH ON US while you learn.

RSVP by August 1st at 604.281.3691 to reserve your spot!

mainlandhearing.com Working with your Physician for Better Hearing

8 • FRIDAY JULY 25 2014

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Ethiopian eats offer unique flavours ROB BAILEY FAVOURITE THINGS

Love at first sight. Some believe in it. Some don’t. I didn’t, and now I do.

In 1999, I started dating the woman who is now my wife. Actually, it wasn’t so much dating as a roving pack of single friends, a loose coalition whose numbers ranged from four to six people. We would get together for food and drink, and invariably end up in some living room with the guitars out for a well-oiled sing-a-long.

The actual dating came later.

On one of those food and drink outings, we all met up at the Queen of Sheba, a now-defunct Ethiopian restaurant at Broadway and Cambie streets in Vancouver.

This was a cuisine I had never sampled before and, truth be told, my arm had to be twisted just a little to check it out. I suppose I was trying to impress my future wife with my ability to compromise. Laurel had eaten there several times, so she did the ordering for all of us. I was very pleasantly surprised when the food came.

What was this glorious thing?

For those of us raised on a steady diet of tearful Sally Struthers late night commercials, the notion of a rich and varied Ethiopian cuisine might seem somewhat incongruous.

How could there be such wonderful food coming from a place so rife with famine that even the flies looked hungry?

Trust me, Ethiopian food is wonderful. Vegetarians and carnivores alike will swoon at the sight of a steaming two-foot diameter plate being delivered to the middle of the table.

The plate is lined with a dark, spongy, slightly sour flatbread called injera made from teff, an ancient grain that is exceedingly good for you.

Sitting on top of this in neat little piles is a collection of legumes, vegetable preparations, salads and, if you like, meat or fish dishes. The meat or fish comes in a couple of different forms: Tibs sees the proteins sautéed with butter and spices in various gradations of chilli heat, and Wat is more of a stewed style of preparation. A side platter of extra rolls of injera always

BOWEN ISLAND MUNICIPALITY

accompanies this huge platter.

What starts out as neat little piles soon becomes an integrated amalgam of saucy goodness.

Did I mention that this meal is always eaten with the hands?

You tear off a little injera from a roll and reach in and scoop up little bits of this and that. The best part is that towards the end of your co-operative feeding frenzy, all of the sauces blend together and soak into the layer of injera that lines the serving pan. At some point, one tends to abandon the little rolled up bits of injera in favour of consuming the actual serving dish itself.

While the venerable Queen of Sheba is but a misty memory now, a new favourite has emerged: Addis Café at 2017 Commercial Dr. Like most of our favourite eateries, this is another little family run hole-in-the-wall. Small number of tables, check; relatives in the kitchen, check, etc. We go there every few weeks, and we’ve never been let down. Of course, the “we” is no longer that group of single friends, it’s our little family of four.

What we usually end up doing is ordering a vegetarian plate and a couple of meat or fish dishes.

We’re particularly fond of the chicken Tibs and the fish Tibs. They also do a mean lamb, and nobody cooks lentils and other legumes better.

Whatever you order up is always served family style on one big platter, and it’s always really, really good. I had to laugh at one review that I read that expressed absolute horror at being served “raw meat.” Yes, it’s true. One of the traditional Ethiopian dishes that you can order is a spiced raw beef dish. It’s fantastic but, understandably, not for

An injera plate at Queen of Sheba restaurant in Vancouver features a flatbread used as a plate and made from teff. Rob Bailey, photo everyone. You’d think that the word “raw” in the menu description would have been a viable clue for those people.

There is no liquor licence, but it really doesn’t matter. It’s about the food and the sharing. The four of us can usually waddle out of the restaurant for around $40, and that includes tip. Great value, I say. It is a truly wonderful and leisurely way for friends and family to share a meal. It’s very difficult to remain a stranger after you have shared a meal like this.

Strongly recommended, and after eating here, you might believe in love at first bite. Heck, you might even end up married!

Pruning, Trimming, Mowing and Grading within the Municipal Right of Way Bowen Island Municipality has begun its annual road right of way pruning, trimming, mowing and grading program. These works will continue throughout the summer.

It is understood by the Public Works Department that in many cases vegetation has historically been planted inside this boundary.

Although the works crews will be careful to minimize the amount of vegetation that will be removed, the Municipality must make safety the first priority.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE is hereby given that Bowen Island Municipal Council will hold a Public Hearing for the purpose of allowing the public to make representations on the following proposed bylaws: • Bylaw No. 352, 2014 to amend Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 282, 2010; and • Bylaw No. 353, 2014 to amend Land Use Bylaw No. 57, 2002 The Public Hearing will be held on: Tuesday July 29, 2014 at 5:30 p.m. at Cates Hill Chapel, 661 Carter Road, Bowen Island At the Public Hearing, all persons who believe that their interest in property is affected by the proposed bylaws shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard or to present written submissions respecting matters contained in the proposed bylaws.

Thank you!

Subject Property:

A portion of Lot B, Plan LMP44342, DL 490 PID 024 656 411 - Bowen Island Trunk

Public Works Department 947-4255

Road at Seniors Road Purpose: Official Community Plan: The purpose of Bylaw No. 352, 2014 is to amend the Official Community Plan designation of the portions of the property shown as Area 1 and Area 3 above from “I/VR - Institutional and Village Residential” to “I/VR/VC Institutional, Village Residential and Village Commercial”. The amendment would provide for retail, office and medical clinic uses as part of a mixed use development. A number of concurrent text amendments would clarify the “Village Periphery” policies and add a new land use designation to the Official Community Plan.

BOWEN ISLAND MUNICIPALITY Water Usage Recommendations Summer is here and we are experiencing sharp drops in water supplies.

The following recommendations apply for all Municipal Water Systems:

NO LAWN SPRINKLING NO CAR/BOAT WASHING NO DECK/POWER WASHING Here are a few tips and reminders: • • • • • • • •

turn the tap off while brushing your teeth or soaping your hands use the dishwasher only when it is full use laundry machines as sparingly as possible embrace the dusty look for your car water garden by hand-held hose or containers equip hoses with spring-loaded shutoff devices collect rainwater for garden use using covered tanks/barrels flush only when necessary PLEASE LIMIT YOUR WATER USAGE.

Land Use Bylaw: The purpose of Bylaw No. 353, 2014 is to amend the zoning of the portions of the property shown as Areas I, 2 and 3 above from “P1 (b) - Passive Park” to “Comprehensive Development Zone 19 - CD 19” to provide for a “community campus” as well as a range of attached dwellings, townhouses, apartments and supportive housing and accessory commercial uses as part of an apartment or community campus building.

These amendments would provide for: • Area 1 - A mixed use residential building including Apartments and Supportive Housing, with office, retail, general service, restaurant and medical clinic uses on only the lower floors of a residential building. Heights would be limited to 14 metres or 4 storeys.

• Area 2 - Up to 3,000 square metres of area for Townhouse residential units and Attached Dwellings, including secondary suites. Heights would be limited to 9 metres or 2.5 storeys.

• Area 3 - A “Community Campus” that could include fitness and recreational space, performance and cultural space, municipal offices, museum, archives, library or other civic uses, a civic plaza and daycare. Apartments and accessory commercial uses would also be permitted.

A copy of the proposed bylaws and any background material that may be considered by Bowen Island Municipal Council in respect of the proposed bylaws, may be inspected at Bowen Island Municipal Hall, 981 Artisan Lane, Bowen Island, BC between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, inclusive, excluding statutory holidays, or on the BIM website at www.bimbc.ca commencing Friday, July 18, 2014.

Written submissions may be delivered to: • Bowen Island Municipal Hall in person or by mail to 981 Artisan Lane, Bowen Island, BC, V0N 1G2 or by fax: 604-947-0193 prior to 4:30 p.m. July 29, 2014; or • to Bowen Island Municipal Council at the Public Hearing at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 29, 2014 at Cates Hill Chapel, 661 Carter Road, Bowen Island, BC Inquiries regarding the proposed bylaws may be directed to Judy McLeod, Planning Consultant at 604- 947-4255 or by email at jmcleod@bimbc.ca.

NO REPRESENTATIONS WILL BE RECEIVED BY THE BOWEN ISLAND MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC HEARING.

THIS IS A COMMUNITY EFFORT: LET’S MAKE IT WORK!

Public Works Department 947-4255

Kathy Lalonde Chief Administrative Officer

FRIDAY JULY 25 2014 • 9

WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

Dog days of Summer Sunday August 10th

DOG OF THE YEAR Get your tails a-waggin! It's time to nominate your best friend for Dog of the Year.

Please send a short biography and photo of your nominee to USSC Marina, at gifts@ussc.ca, by Aug 1st.

DOG DAYS of SUMMER Call for VOLUNTEERS We are looking for volunteers for this fun, filled day! If you are interested in helping us with registration, raffle ticket sales, t-shirt sales, grilling “dogs”, setting up & tearing down give us a “bark” at 604-947-0707 #2.

All proceeds from this fun family event are donated to BC Guide Dog Services.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

A surfer catches some waves off Ambleside Beach in June. High winds brought out a number of daring dudes as surfers and kiteboarders hit the water. Mike Wakefield, photo

‘Messy’ particle not so neat, clean or predictable continued from PAGE 3

structed out of two kinds of particles which physicists call either bosons or fermions. Bosons are a bit weird because they can be stacked, one on top of the other, but regardless of how many, they are still only one boson high. If such an idea as dimension applies, only two (length and width) hold for bosons. So if you stack a thousand Higgs Bosons, they are still only one boson tall. That is only if there is such a quality as tallness among bosons.

There are quite a few bosons, most of which carry a force. Photons, the particles of light, are force bosons.

Like all of these particles, photons constantly change from being a particle to being a wave. So light interchanges from being a particle, which can bombard your skin, knocking off bits and pieces, causing a sunburn or it can be a wave.

Gravitons are the gravity particles. They are, so teeny, tiny, and so weak relative to the powerful photons, they haven’t been found yet. But particle physicists are not worried about that, at least not yet. They know that they exist, otherwise how come we tend to stick to the earth below us.

Oh, well. You gotta have patience. The knowledge is coming. Another rather interesting boson is the gluon, aptly named because it is endowed with the powerful forces that literally glue the nucleus of every atom together. Without gluons we would have quite a mess.

Fermions, on the other hand, always have three dimensions if they have dimensions at all. Quarks are the fermions that make up the structure of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of every atom. Electrons are also fermions, which are so incredibly small it is difficult to even think about dimension. Electrons have a couple of relatives, sort of bigger brothers, muons and taus. Then there is the relationship between these three, electrons, muons, taus, and neutrinos. All three team up with neutrinos to form electron-neutrinos, muon-neutrinos and tau-neutrinos. I am sure you get the idea. Particle physicists wax lyrical when it

REGULAR SCHEDULE

In Effect May 15 to October 13, 2014

▼

5:30 am ** 6:30 am 7:30 am * 8:35 am 9:35 am # 10:35 am 11:40 am 12:45 pm 3:10 pm 4:15 pm † 5:15 pm 6:20 pm 7:20 pm * 8:15 pm # 9:10 pm 10:05 pm

VANCOUVER Horseshoe Bay 6:00 am 7:00 am * 8:00 am 9:05 am# † 10:05 am 11:05 am 12:10 pm 2:35 pm 3:45 pm 4:45 pm 5:50 pm 6:50 pm 7:50 pm * 8:40 pm # 9:40 pm

Leave Horseshoe Bay

Leave Snug Cove

BOWEN ISLAND Snug Cove

Distance: 3 NAUTICAL MILES Crossing Time: 20 MINUTES

comes to naming the different kinds of quarks. There are up-quarks and down-quarks. Among the up-type quarks, there must be top-quarks and, surprise, surprise, there are, in the middle, charm-quarks. Isn’t that a nice name for a quark. Among the down-type quarks, there have to be down-quarks and, certainly, bottom-quarks. In the middle, the wonderfully creative and fun-loving particle physicists called the middle down-type quarks, strange-quarks. Now that is the sort of thing that makes physics fun. Now, there is no such quality as colour at this level.

Colour is attributed to different sizes of photons striking your eyes so it has nothing to do with quarks. Nevertheless, fun-loving particle physicists say that each kind of quark also comes in three colours: red, green and blue. Just a moniker, not a real colour. So there you have it, just add a couple more bosons, the less important W-boson and Z-boson and the standard model is complete. Oh yes, they still have to find the X and Y bosons. Physicists have to leave something to keep them busy, so keep tuned: the discoveries will come, even though these bosons are probably not very important. If the X- and Y-bosons are not particularly important, why all the fuss about the Higgs boson? The first idea the reader must keep in mind is that the Higgs, like all of these particles, is constantly changing between a wave-field and a particle. The wave-field configuration is the most active and functional. The Higgs is also very unstable. It can decay into almost exactly two photons or a flash of light. It is also considered important because the Higgs can and does convey mass to other particles. In several ways the Higgs is considered to be a bit of a messy particle because lots of activity often leads to the unexpected. Physicists like particles to be neat, clean, and predictable. The Higgs is not. There are also many physicists who believe that the Higgs may be the gateway between ordinary matter and dark matter and energy, which make up by far the most matter and energy of our universe.

weekend weather

#

DAILY EXCEPT SUNDAYS

*

DAILY EXCEPT SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS

**

DAILY EXCEPT SAT, SUN & MAY 19, JUL 1, AUG 4, SEPT 1 & OCT 13

† THE WEDNESDAY SAILINGS WILL BE REPLACED

BY DANGEROUS CARGO SAILINGS. NO OTHER PASSENGERS PERMITTED.

Cloudy chance of showers

TIDES HIGH FEET

LOW FEET

Fri.

04:26 13.1 18:59 14.1

11:47

Sat.

00:24 10.2 12:24 3.0

05:11 13.1 19:30 14.4

3.0

Sun. 01:02 12:57

9.8 3.3

05:53 13.1 19:59 14.4

Mon. 01:39 13:29

9.5 3.6

06:34 12.8 20:25 14.4

Tues. 02:17 13:59

9.2 4.3

07:16 12.5 20:50 14.4

8.5 4.9

08:00 12.1 21:15 14.4

7.9 5.9

08:49 11.8 21:42 14.4

H: 24 Wed. 02:55 14:29 L: 12 Thurs. 03:35 15:01

Dr. Dana Barton

Naturopathic Physician 596 B. Artisan Square

604-730-1174 Natural Family Medicine

Chiropractor

Dr. Susanne Schloegl M.D.

Open Mon. Wed. Thurs. Fri.

Call for an appointment Artisan Square

Dr. Traditional Chinese Medicine/Acupuncturist

604-947-9986

❦

MARY MCDONAGH

Registered Massage Therapist

www.leachchiro.com

Diana Romer MEd, RCC

Dr. Gloria Chao

Bowen and West Van offices

Artisan Square • 604-947-0734 Alternate Fridays 10am-4:30pm

595B Artisan Lane Tuesdays Call for an appointment

(778) 828-5681

ToCOUNSELLING advertiseTHERAPIST on the Health Page

604.290.6407

Deromer@shaw.ca call 604-947-2442 www.clearhorizon.ca

(Available Mondays through Fridays)

❦

SANDY LOGAN

Registered Physiotherapist ❦

ROBYN IZARD RMT

Registered Massage Therapist (Available Thursdays through Sundays)

Family Dentist

Horseshoe Bay • 604-921-8522 www.bowenislanddental.com

604-947-9755 CATHERINE SHAW

Dr. Utah Zandy 604-947-9830 CALL FOR APPOINTMENT OPEN TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS

Dr. Tracy Leach, D.C.

BOWEN ISLAND WELLNESS CENTRE

BLOOD TESTS, URINE TESTS OR ECGS

6:45 - 9:00 A.M. EVERY THURSDAY DR. ZANDY'S OFFICE

Work on Bowen The Bowen Island Undercurrent is seeking temporary sales/administration help on a contract basis for vacation relief.

Hours would be up to 30 hours a week.

Work would include general administrative tasks as well as sales and customer/client support.

Those interested should submit a resume to: Ad Sales Representatve, Bowen Island Undercurrent ads@bowenislandundercurrent.com

10 • FRIDAY JULY 25 2014

WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

Author’s works are out of the box EMILY ERICKSON MCCULLUM CONTRIBUTOR

What’s a sensitive writer to do with his poetry?

Why, put it in boxes, of course.

At least this one did: for 50-odd years; plays and essays and novels too.

Never mind that his poetry won him a place in famous Canadian poet Earl Birney’s coveted poetry course at UBC in the late 1940s.

Never mind that he made his living writing for radio and TV for CBC and others for about 15 years in the 50s and 60s.

Never mind that he edited his famous brother Arthur’s book on architecture.

Boxes were good enough for him, at least until now.

His daughter (that’s me) decided to

create a website for him and pushed him to uncrate his work.

I had no idea how much there was.

We’re still finding more, but now we have 128 poems, 18 plays, two fulllength novels, and a number of essays and stories on the website.

We’ve recorded him reading his poems, and you can hear that on the website too at oderickson.com. His works range from lighthearted and silly to complex and even sublime (he would certainly cringe at that word), and some contain political and social commentary.

His radio play, Giselle, is about an aboriginal girl impregnated by an Englishman and was rejected by CBC for its subject matter. He believes that it was another radio play, Danton, that got him unofficially but effectively

A busy bee does its important work on some lavender plants. photos

Kevin Hill,

black-listed by CBC in the wake of the McCarthy era.

His most recent novel, Damien, is a thriller based on genetic modification, and is more than a little shocking in places.

ODE is his name — Oscar Donald Erickson —and he’ll be presenting Damien on Sunday, August 3, at 7 p.m. at The Gallery. See you there!

Oscar Donald Erickson will be presenting his novel Damien at The Gallery on Aug. 3. David McCullum, photo The graphic at left is from the author’s website (oderickson.com), which has copies of his various writing.

WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM FRIDAY JULY 25 2014 • 11

12 • FRIDAY JULY 25 2014

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A chess board decorates the backyard of Uno and Dianne Langmann (seen in the photo at right). There is also a secret garden nestled on the property. The Langmann home is based on the style of a Scandinavian farmhouse, which features a cottage feel. The beachfront backyard has a view of the ocean. Maureen Sawasy, photos

2014 People, Plants, Places tour

Garden get-together The Bowen Island Museum and Archives 2014 People, Plants and Places tour, took place on July 19 and 20. More than 800 people participated in the event, which featured tours of nine local properties. These photos show some of the gardens that were part of the tour. — Maureen Sawasy

The home of James Glave and Michelle Pentz-Glave presents a fenced-in space with multiple garden boxes (photos above). A deer that regularly visits is seen in the photo top left. This property was one of the smallest to participate in the tour this year. Bees visit lavender plants at the home of Soren and Elizabeth Hammerberg (middle top photo).