In-Finnite Light

I visited Finn Slough again several weeks back and was thrilled by the amazing light that flooded the place for a few brief, glorious moments. 

The sky was dark and ominous and yet the sun was illuminating everything. This photo is completely unaltered.  I took a few more pictures that day and will share them with you by and by, but these are my last couple of days in Vancouver and I'm a bit preoccupied with this and that.  You know how it is.  Packing and farewells and such.  sigh. 

Oh what the heck--here's one more

Back soon!

P.S. While I was in transit from Canada's west coast to my home in the east, Hilary of The Smitten Image kindly bestowed an award on this post for Phine Photography!  Thanks, Hilary.
To visit other interesting blog posts that Hilary selected this week click on the icon below.

FINNishing up at the Slough

Now that we're all rested and have digested, it's time that we be divested of the Slough.  One of the other advantages of Finn Slough living is the great boating opportunites right at your back door.  Literally. Just putt-putt in, pull up and park.

As the name of this boat indicates, you might find yourself Killin' Time waiting for the next tide to take you out to work or off on your next pleasure cruise.  Or maybe just heading out to get some fish for supper.  Or breakfast.  [My partner spent one memorable season fishing for mackerel in the Atlantic and he would often arrive home (to the abandonned house we lived in) with fresh fish for breakfast.  Steamed mackerel with new potatoes, I have to say, makes a delicious way to start the day.  But I digress...]

Just as nearly every house in N. America has at least one car parked in the driveway (although I think the minimum is two), so in the Slough each home has its boat.

The beginning of Finn Slough stretches back to the early 1890s when a group of Finnish people, mostly coal miners and loggers, arrived in the area of south Richmond, BC to buy land with access to the Fraser River so that they could work as fishermen (go figure!)  and harvest the rich salmon runs. They cleared the land, put in crops, and built fishing boats. In 1900 they moved from the original settlement to what is now known as Finn Slough.

By 1910 there was a solid group of fishermen here, even though it was a remote place in those days, situated a whole day's journey, one way,  from Vancouver.  Isolation was eased, to say nothing of the back-breaking labour of fishing, when in the 1920s the fishermen adapted gas motors for their boats. The ensuing 1930's proved to be the busiest decade for this fishing village.

It also  became home to more ‘outsiders’ who didn’t speak Finn, but who worked alongside the 2nd and 3rd generation of the original settlers. 

Eventually, logging took over from fishing, hastening the decline of salmon stocks as well as the community.

"Even that industry is on its last legs now. What we are left with is a memory of how things were and Finn Slough is an important three dimensional, living, part of that memory. The village developed without the organization of property boundaries, city ordinances, provincial regulations or any governing body. Even so it has been an example of how a community can be carefully built and self regulated to work in harmony with the environment and having as little impact on it as possible. The village is not only a historical artifact it is also an example of a possible way forward to find more creative solutions to the present destruction of the Fraser basin by non stop urbanization."

 (quotes and paraphrasing from A Small History of Finn Slough by David Dorrington).  For more information on this intriguing place, and others' photos, do follow the link

(but please get off your bike to do so).

In Like Finn

We've been sleuthing around the slough for a few days now and I think it's time we stop for a little peek inside one of the cottages. 

One of my oldest and dearest friends has fixed this one up and won't mind us having a look around.

Have a seat in this cozy corner and rest a bit.  You must be tired after all this snooping sightseeing we've been doing.

If you're feeling chilly just  fetch some wood from the woodpile outside the front door and see if you can get a blaze going in the stove. I'll see if there's any wine about (knowing my friend, there's sure to be).

I guess it wouldn't hurt to cook up a bit of lunch while I'm at it. Everything is so handy in the kitchen area

(except, perhaps, the cook).

You just sit and admire the view.  I see the skunk cabbages are starting to flower.

See that yellow tip poking up outside, just behind the bowl?  Skunk cabbage flower.

It's really the personal touches and charming details that turn a shack into an invitingly comfortable home.

(After a total renovation, that is.)

Don't you love how these miniature boats mimic the real ones outside?  I do!

I think it may be time for an afternoon nap.  I'll curl up on the settee while you stretch out on the bed and drift off.  We can tell each other our dreams over a cup of tea when we wake up.

 beaux rêves!

Neighbourhood Watch

I would like to introduce all you prospective bidders and potential buyers of the cottage on the previous post to the greenly lush neighbourhood in which it is nestled.  Indeed, in our perambulations here, you may even stumble upon another appealing abode that just cries out to you to rescue and love it as you would a lost puppy.

Here we have a view of the landscaping, carved out by no finer artist than Mother Nature herself.

Natural walkways and bridges are fashioned from logs found in the area.

There is plenty of material in the slough to work with and make wonderful sun decks for all your summer party needs, or even that extra guest house for those visiting blog friends.  They're sure to love that plein-air, vented feel and the straw-filled mattresses.

Logs are in place already to lever this leaning lady level.  Don't you love it?

Sounds to me like a ready-made weekend party!

 

 Cottage life.

Dream a little dream and envision the transformation of a Finn Slough fixer-upper into a cozy country charmer.

Next visit I will take you inside a renovated cottage.  I guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised.

(textures in photoshopped pictures are courtesy of Shadowhouse Creations)

Fixer Upper

Pleased as punch to announce that this post was awarded the
"Just Plain Good" award over at Hilary's Smitten Image blog.
Go here for links to other "award winning" blogs of the week.


House prices in the Vancouver area are pretty insane so you have to start out with something in need of a little  TLC to try to break into the market.

This uniquely styled bungalow in Finn Slough has great potential.  Look at those big picture windows and welcoming double doors!  The garden has that wild natural look to it that so many horticulturists strive for, yet the yard is small enough that only minimal lawn mowing would be required.  This bucolic setting is ideal for inviting friends over for a barbeque, taking full advantage of that spare gas tank (which the vendor is throwing in for free!) that you see on the generous front porch. And when the yule season rolls around, your Christmas tree is standing at the ready for decorations--talk about saving money!  Another big selling feature is the building supplies left over from the first stage of renovations. Just imagine what this modest little gem could be turned into with a bit of imagination, a good application of elbow grease...

and a fresh coat of paint!

(Serious enquiries only, please.)

Walk This Way

As promised in my last post from the gates of Finn Slough (or the Gates of Eden as certain visitors prefer to call them), the tour is about to commence.  Here comes our greeter now...

Obviously a Dylan fan from way back, "Come in", she purred, "I'll give ya shelter from the storm."

Or maybe she was muttering, "Something is happening here, and you don't know what it is..."

Well, something was happening all right, as my eyes quivered and shimmered from overbright focus.  Was this the hour that my ship comes in...

or a hazy memory from a distant, long abandonned past on Desolation Row?

All signs seemed to indicate that I was heading the wrong way. At least there was no blood on the tracks.
Only aged and worn, blonde on blonde wooden planks.

House of blues ahead, or is it the House of the Rising Sun. If we pause to make enquiries, might we find ourselves knock-knock-knocking on Heaven's door?

We'll just have to stop (in the name of love) here for the moment, and wait for the next leg of the tour-- though I don't know when I'll be comin' back again, it depends on how I'm a-feelin'.  But don't worry, we'll meet again some day, on the avenue.

Gated Community

I am going to take you to visit a unique sort of
gated community. 

I have begun revisiting the images I took at Finn Slough in the Vancouver Lower Mainland last spring...

and playing with some of them in Photoshop.

This could take awhile.

But good things come to those who wait

(at the gate)