Broken Spoke Coffee in Courtenay

The Broken Spoke in Courtenay is actually a bike shop. They sell, rent and repair bicycles. All kinds of bikes.

The place smells of rubber and grease and .... coffee, and The Broken Spoke is one of the best coffee shops we've encountered in quite some time.










After walking around  the store, one senses an obvious attention to detail, a mindfulness about choices and the relationships founded here. It shows in the products they carry and the slow, meticulous way bikes are serviced. The coffee shop portion of the operation is no different.

 

The coffee comes from an excellent roaster-coffee shop in Victoria called Discovery Coffee. The beans are sourced from select farms around the world and roasted in small batches to create something quite wonderful.


We had coffee here on two different days and on both occasions it was superb. When in Courtenay... don't miss this coffee shop. Our friend and public relations consultant, G. G. Blynn, even had her wheel chair serviced, in a manner of speaking, while having a coffee. Great people!

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2017 by Jim Murray.

Eclipse-shape shadows appear on ground....

The recent partial solar eclipse provided an obvious darkening of the skies in MetroVancouver. Temperatures actually cooled ever so slightly during the moments of near totality.

It also created a rare, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, along the pathway at Langara Golf Course, but reportedly repeated throughout the region.

Looking at the shadows on the ground, at about twenty-five percent eclipse, one can see clearly: the crescent shapes of the moon and sun!

Eerie. Strange. And only lasting the brief minutes of the actual eclipse. Most people miss the celestial event on the ground, because they are all looking up!

This scientific phenomenon won't be seen again in this area, until the next solar eclipse to come our way in 2033.

Photos by Jeem. 

Copyright 2017 by Jim Murray.

Total Eclipse of the Brain

Sherry had been given an idea from Susan to view the eclipse using binoculars. Something about the big end and little end and focusing and....

It sounded easier than it turned out to be.

Apparently it's not all that easy aligning the sun with the big end of the binoculars.





Oh wait a minute, something is appearing now... or not.











"Ya dragged me out here for this?" asked our lawyer friend, BT Mendlebaum (disbarred) to no one in particular.












Meanwhile, our dedicated photo-journalist was staring at the sun using spectacles provided by BT Mendlebaum. Something about back-engineering. "It's a prototype," offered Mendlebaum. "I don't necessarily vouch for their authenticity. Still. What's the worst that can happen?"

"This can't be a good idea" said G.G. Blynn.

And still, in the interests of science, Jeem continued to view the eclipse, giving full commentary to a bunch of golfers who had stopped on their way to their next tee.













The landscape continued to darken as we approached eighty-three percent.

Shadows were softer. Birds sought shelter in the trees. And golfers were confused and started heading towards the club house.














At the full impact of the eighty-three percent eclipse, Jeem was done too.

He plans to volunteer at the CNIB just as soon as he gets his special cane. "It'll be a prototype," says Mendlebaum.

Photos by Jeem and Sherry MacDonald.

 Copyright 2017 by Jim Murray.