Our stay in Venice had come to an end, we left our hotel, the La Calcina on the Zattere at 11 A.M., a fog was covering the city and the Lagoon. The Venetian in the water bus (vaporetto) ticket office closes it after I have bought our tickets - closes it at this time of day!? Anyway no one else is waiting, no one else approaching out of the fog.

As we stand on the pier still waiting for the water bus to the airport, another man eventually arrives and reopens the ticket office and then sits looking blankly and lonely looking out of his small window. I look out over the wide fog bound expanse of the Gindecca Canal, wondering if the bus will be on time in such weather. To my left the Church of the Gesuati starts to ring its bells in a way unfamiliar to me. I notice a group of dark winter clad figures clustered on its steps that go down to the water. Then to my right emerging from the fog and gliding silently out of a small canal, the Rio di Travaso, a funeral gondola appears with a coffin draped in black with a red design on the fabric. It curves round in front of us, a dramatic ghostly image in the fog and then turns slowly to the steps of the Gesuati, where the bearers and mourners receive it to carry and escort the coffin into the church: they disappear; the doors are then closed to the world outside; the tolling bells stop.

  In the last week we have seen deer beside the road near Seascapes.

First time was a Buck ,second time was 2 Does and a Bambi and yesterday it was a Doe.

Also there was a tagged bear about a week ago.

All of them were eating the  grass on the new slope just under and slightly North of the new construction area at Seascapes.

Written by Pam Fedoruk (Virginia Whitelaw’s daughter)

My parents, Jack and Ginny Whitelaw, wanted a cottage that they could access easily from Vancouver and make use of on weekends and in the summer. Our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Humphreys had a cottage at Lions Bay and that is how we initially became familiar with the place. At that time, Lions Bay was fundamentally the marina and a row of cottages. In 1965, we bought a lot and had a Lindal house constructed on it. The materials were brought in on a barge. Dad always said that the builders were so happy there, he thought he would never get the place finished.  Our first pictures of the house show it surrounded by dirt and rocks but that soon changed.

 In September of last year we found ourselves on a deserted Adriatic beach in northern Albania. “We” comprised my wife Anne-Marie and me along with fellow Villagers David and Barbara Enns.  We were on this beach because Barbara had insisted on a left-hand turn down a country road chosen at random, simply on the basis that it “could lead to an adventure.”

We had been driving north from Tirana, Albania’s capital, where we had already had an adventure playing dodge-em cars in the choking traffic of downtown Tirana, and were heading back to Croatia where we had rented the car.  Albania has recently emerged from a Soviet-style Communist economy. We saw many horse-drawn carts and other signs of collectivism-inspired poverty in the towns and the countryside as we drove through. Where the heck did all of these cars in Tirana come from?

The 2002 Official Community Plan of the Village of Lions Bay speaks eloquently of our "sense of place", and it identifies several important philosophical themes that are meant to guide the way we live. One of those themes is "Respecting Nature and the Environment", encompassing the flora and fauna with whom we co-habit in this superbly magnificent corner of the globe. Given that a review of the OCP is currently underway, the timely "Living with Bears" event held on April 16 is worthy of comment. It was a meeting, organized by our Lions Bay Bear Smart Committee (Norma, Linda, Anne, and Birgitta) and attended by many residents. The Bear Smart Committee and the events and information that they provide gives substance to the theme "Respect for the Environment". Sylvia Dolson of the "Get Bear Smart Society" and Chris Doyle of the Wildlife Protection Branch in Victoria gave presentations at the meeting.

Some years ago, a traveler on the Sea-to-Sky might have noticed the Ansell Monolith, my name for a huge boulder resting close to the highway, the size of a modest home. It was brought there by the irresistible power of an ancient glacier, becoming a secret book of what was to follow in the millenia ahead. Let us try to unravel in our imaginations what the pages of that book had to tell.

July 27, 1996 promised to be a hot day. I was one of 21 hikers adjusting straps and other gear. Tucked away in my backpack was the Lions Bay flag, ready for its maiden trek to the Lions.

I felt a certain kinship and honour as I picked up the flag at Victor and Mary’s house the night before. Victor Miles was the winner of the flag contest the year before. As he handed me the flag I could feel his hands squeezing mine. He smiled and said, “I wish I could come with you tomorrow, but my legs just wouldn’t hold up to the grueling hike any more. One must be happy and content with memories when you get to my age!”

Since we started Project HANDS and have been telling people about the work we are doing to help the indigenous Mayans in Guatemala, the most common question they ask is - “Why Guatemala?”  For those who would like to know I have prepared this short summary which will hopefully answer some of the questions: Guatemala is a country about which little was known until recent years. It lies in Central America between Mexico and Honduras and has a history of human violation stemming back to the Spanish Conquest of 1524. Ever since that time the indigenous Mayan people have lived under the domination of Spanish rule and a series of Presidencies that have done their best to repress them.  To this day many Mayans continue to live much the same way their ancestors have done for hundreds of years. They live simply, growing corn on their tiny "milpas" and live in what can only be referred to as shacks. They are one of the "lost peoples" of our world in that it was not until the 1980s, when Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu wrote her biography about her life as a Mayan woman, that news of their plight began to eke out. Despite this exposure today few people know about the level of poverty and malnutrition that the Mayans continue to endure.

There is a young bear roaming around Bayview Rd and upper Bayview road. It has a yellow tag in it's ear which means it has been relocated once.

Please note that if this bear is reported to the number on that fridge magnet and the COs come looking for it, it will be shot.They don't usually relocate twice as the bear is unlikly to get in another trap.

Lions Bay council has changed the approach we had to bears and re routed all bear calls over to the conservation officers. This means that unlike the last 10 or so years Lions Bay will be treated like any other town on the ''Bear Belt''. If you and others call in bear sightings the animal is going to be shot depending on how many calls it gets and what it's up to.

Council can change this new system back to the way I set it up which meant no bears were shot here. Phone the office.Talk to council.

And something else I noticed in regards to my article '' the REAL bear report'' Councillor Henault inferred that the new system would make Lions Bay ''safe''.

Lions bay like other communities in the ''bear belt'' get bears coming down here because there is no food in the watershed due to yet another long cold spring.Short of putting an electric fence around the whole community, (it's been done in other places),there is nothing that can be done except reduce your attractants. Trapping only works %20 of the time.Shooting kills a few bears but others just expand into the other bears' territory. As well we have cougar sightings every year here.

Neither system makes our town any more or less ''safe''. If you or one of your animals goes after a bear cougar or raccoon you can expect problems, like large vet bills.

Lions Bay, like most places in the bear belt you can walk into the ''wild ''in less than an hour. We have to adapt.

                                                                                                        Cheers,

                                                                                                        Lawrence Ruskin

                                                                                                        921 3369