Carol Chapman | Carol Chapman

Photo of Black-tailed Buck with Antlers

Remember I said I became so excited that, when I tried to take the photograph of the deer in the woods, I did something wrong with the settings on my camera with the result that only a black image came up on the digital feedback screen of my camera?

Well, it turned out that I was able to get an image by using the photo processing software on my home computer.

Here it is. Isn’t he magnificent!

By the way, although it looks as if he might be a metaphysical deer because his eyes are glowing, the glow is actually caused by the flash from my camera.

Black-tailed Deer in the woods on the side of Highway 113, the road between Terrace and New Aiyansh, British Columbia, Canada.

Carol Chapman —

Everyone Has a Book in Them – a Program that takes you from a person with an idea to a published author

You are invited to . . .

A weekend that will:

Bring joy into your life
Challenge your body, mind and spirit
Fill you with helpful information
Awaken and nourish your innate creativity
Strengthen your connection with your Soul

Everyone Has a Book in Them – a Program that takes you from a person with an idea to a published author

For more information on “Everyone Has a Book in Them,” presented on the Saturday, August 15 to Sunday, August 16th in Anchorage, Alaska, here’s a link to the web site: http://www.EveryoneHasABookInThem.com.

If you have any questions about the event, just write to me at Carol@CarolChapmanLive.com.

I hope to see you there!

Carol Chapman —

Last Call for Early Anchorage Registration

On August 1st, the registration fee for the “Everyone Has a Book in Them” seminar in Anchorage, Alaska will be going up to its original cost.

If you’re interested in the event, here’s a link to the registration web site. It contains specific information about the program.

http://www.EveryoneHasABookInThem.com

Carol Chapman —

Silver Fox Pups Photo

Here’s a photograph of the silver fox pups on the side of the road.

Actually, I do not really know if their are specifically “silver” foxes. I called them silver foxes in my last post because their mother, who is not in the photo, has long silver fur on her body.

Note the white tip on the end of the tail.

Two fox pups we encountered on the road between Kinkolith and New Aiyansh in northern British Columbia, Canada. This is an area that is as far north as the Alaska panhandle and very worth visiting for the magnificent mountain and river scenery, wildlife and, this time of year, salmon fishing.

Carol Chapman —

Encounter with Magnificent BC Wildlife

This evening, while driving through gorgeous snow-capped mountain roads from Kinkolith to Terrace, from where we will begin our flights home, we encountered a number of magnificent wild creatures.

First, a silver fox mama and her two pups turned up at the side of the road. We had just videopated the Nisga’a Creation Story as told to us by Chief of Chiefs Chester Moore. This story includes a character who is a trickster. I wondered if the little foxes appeared because foxes are often portrayed as tricksters. The beautiful creatures trotted into the middle of the road in front of our rental car. John brought the car to a halt. They walked around the car! I was so excited I fumbled with the video camcorder and finally managed to turn it on and press the “record” button. They continued to amble around the car, occasionally stopping to sit and scratch or yawn. It was as if we did not exist. This stretch of road has few travelers. However, when a jeep drove toward us from the other direction, the driver, when she saw the foxes, slowed down to a crawl. She waved from behind the wheel as she passed us. Her delighted grin communicated a shared enjoyment of the wild creatures.

The fox family would have been enough to fulfill our evening. However, after we had driven for another 20 minutes or so, John called out, “Is that a bear!” Sure enough, a brown bear lurked on the other side of the road. Again, as if we did not exist, the bear began to pad across the road in front of our car, which, by now, John had slowed down. This time, I had the camcorder ready. However, as I videotaped, I felt afraid because the bear stopped in the middle of the road and lifted its head up and down in our direction as if he or she was sniffing us.

Yesterday, we had heard a story about a grizzly bear which had taken on a car. Evidently, the driver had had to quickly throw the car into reverse to get away from the maniac bear.

Fortunately, this brown bear simply leisurely continued to cross the road. It padded down the gravel slope and into the forest. It must be amazingly well camouflaged because by the time we drifted alongside the place where we had seen the bear move into the forest, it had disappeared behind leaves and trunks.

It wasn’t until we had proceeded along the lonely road a number of miles that I realized that I had been so excited at seeing the bear that I had forgotten to take any still photographs of the bear. Therefore, when John exclaimed, “There’s a deer!” I was ready with my Nikon.
It was a black-tailed buck. He stood behind a couple of tree trunks on our side of the road watching us. My camera has a powerful zoom lens. I focused the lens and clicked the shutter a couple of times. But, the digital instant playback showed only a black screen. In my exictement, I was doing something wrong but could not figure out what!

I grabbed the video camera and captured the antlered creature wagging his tail, followed by his slow steps into the forest until he diappeared behind the branches of an evergreen tree.

It was a magnificent drive through the wilderness. This area of northern BC is fantastic!

Carol Chapman

Beautiful Northern BC!

We spent the night in a hostel in Prince Rupert, BC. Although we have a private room and bath, there are rooms full of bunk beds all around us and an open lounge area with TV, fridge, microwave, and snacks. Our room at the Black Rooster Inn is not as inexpensive as I have heard rooms in hostels can be especially considering that our bathroom was more like the bath in a boat with the whole floor being the drain of the shower. Nonetheless, we have all the amenities including our own private fridge and television and two towels each.

Nonetheless, the Black Rooster has the advantage of location. The place is full of people speaking languages from all around the world. We all came off the ferry last night. The hotels, motels and hostels in Port Hardy and Prince Rupert do a booming business accommodating passengers from the ferry which arrives at 10:30 p.m.

This morning, when I took a look at myself in the mirror while brushing my teeth, I jumped when I saw my red eyes. After wracking my brain for places I may have contracted an eye infection, I realized the red eyes were the result of the wind whipping in my eyes while photographing the sights from the deck of BC Ferry’s splendid Northern Expedition yesterday.

The “Inside Passage” between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been. We travelled through snow-capped mountains, islands shrouded in mist, fog, and brilliant sunshine passing leaping whales, barges, picturesque lighthouses, cruising sailers and fishing trawlers.

Although the ship is called a ferry, it is most like a cruise ship with a cloth covered buffet dining room and two movies per day. We have travelled this route before. It is my favorite way of going into British Columbia’s north.

Northern BC and BC Ferries

We flew into Terrace, which was like a totally different world compared to Victoria’s waterfront flowers and tourists. Now, we’re in Port Hardy after spending the day yesterday on a cruise-ship type ferry going from Prince Rupert. We enjoyed the gorgeous northern views and overate at the scrumptious buffets.

Today, we’re spending another day going on the Northern Expedition going back to Prince Rupert and then driving through mist-enshrouded mountains back to Terrace and then on to visit my girlfriend who works with the First Nations people of the Nass River, the Nisga’a, some of whom are totem pole carvers.

Carol Chapman —

The Adventure Begins!

John and I are off on another adventure. This time, we are going to northern British Columbia in pursuit of the Nisga’a Lava Beds. Earlier on this trip, we visited Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens in Washington State. I want to have images of volcanic mountains in the Pacific Ring of Fire for my 2012 movie.

Most people know about Rainier and St. Helens. But, do you know that Canada had a major volcanic eruption only 300 years ago? We have been to the Nisga’g Lava Beds before but, at that time, I did not bring my video camera. This time, I want to take footage of the lava beds that look like a river made out of huge chunks of charcoal covered in lichens. In the 300 years since the volcanic eruption that created these lava beds, there has hardly been any regrowth over the lava unlike the Mount St. Helens area, which erupted only about 30 years ago in 1980. The Nisga’a lava beds look as strange as a moonscape.

We have a long wait until our Hawk Air flight to Terrace BC. My laptop is plugged into an electrical outlet beside my chair. The red “battery charging” light on my camcorder is blinking because there is a second electrical outlet beside my chair where I have plugged in the camera. I used up two batteries taking exciting dynamic shots of seaplanes landing and taking off in Victoria. Now, I need to make sure that my camera will be ready to take footage of the volcanic mountains ,which are part of the Canadian Cascades, which we will be flying over on our way to Terrace.

John is sitting next to me in the small aircraft hanger adjacent to Vancouver International Airport. He is wearing a straw cowboy hat we got in Yucatan. His breathing is becoming audible and deep. His hands are clasped over his abdomen and his eyes are closed. His head is falling forward. Will he begin to snore?

Carol Chapman —

Victoria BC is gorgeous!

It is so clean and beautiful with baskets of hanging flowers from even lamppost.

The air from the harbour is so fresh and clean!

They also have marvelous Asian restaurants.

Time for lunch – see you later!

Carol Chapman —

In Victoria, BC, now!

I am looking forward to doing taking some gorgeous nature photography for next year’s Edgar Cayce Calendar in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

We came across from Seattle, Washington, in the U.S. on the Victoria Clipper, a high speed catamaran that crosses the straits of Juan de Fuca to the harbor in Victoria in only 3 hours. They had some pretty good package deals where you get a reduced rate on overnight motel stays with the Victoria Clipper passage.

We were thinking of a whale watching excursion, which we realized we should have added onto the package deal for a reduced rate. However, we didn’t think of it when we booked the motel passage deal. Instead, we inquired to see how much the whale watching cost without the package deal.

Eek! $95.00 per person for about 3 hours! Ouch! Two years ago I went on an all-day whale watching expedition in Seward, Alaska, for only $55.00 . . . and it included lunch!

Carol Chapman —