Today on our Blog , I wrote about one of the types of wildlife we see here in Mission, BC, however I didn’t mention all of them. On Saturday while we were all outside in the front yard the neighbour came running over to let us know that there was a small brown bear tearing through the backyard. I grabbed my camera and ran through the house to the back but unfortunately it had made its exit before I arrived. Apparently this is the second one to pass through their yard in as many weeks.

Their property is on close to an acre of property in a cul-de-sac along with several other homesteads. The whole area is very rural, not far from the banks of the Fraser River and in a forested area with many lakes. Is it any wonder there is an abundance of wildlife? One of the neighbours has a large pond in their backyard where a large blue heron visits while looking for a meal and I have seen it fly through the MacLachlan backyard on more than one occasion. Yesterday as Rick and I were leaving here we saw a bald eagle in flight as it was getting ready to settle in a nearby treetop. Though there is no sign of a nest near here, just catching a glimpse of one now and again will keep me content.

Of course not all of the wild critters are welcome visitors such as the moles which are “ploughing” the ground leaving mounds of dirt throughout the lush green lawn. (This is not to say that the bears are welcome either but at least they are interesting.) At any rate, we don’t need to travel far to experience nature in this part of the world and if what we’ve seen so far is any indication, it should be an interesting summer. This picture, totally unrelated to my topic, is of the MacLachlan family as they relaxed together after dinner. Laura Ouellette, you asked for a family portrait and this is the best we could come up with on short notice!