e-Bike Time, Specialized Turbo Vado

My Specialized Turbo Vado e-Bike
A Fun Way to Explore and Beach Comb

The Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada, is a very hilly (mountainous, in fact) place. While understanding how it makes ecological sense to bike, I personally started sweating just thinking of the hills here. So most often I walked, which was fine but limiting. To the post office and back carrying my shipments took a long time. 

I like technology, and suddenly got a serious urge for an e-bike. Never looking back! The steepest hills are suddenly easily conquered.

This recent acquisition has had an added bonus, in that I now enjoy checking out new places. It turns out some very fine places are not that far from my home. Yesterday, looking at Google Maps, I saw a little beach marked. Peddling over, I was absolutely astounded at this beautiful, secluded place. What charm! Even better is that when I walked along, I discovered this beach is perhaps the best I have so far found on the Coast for the type of stones I need for my beach stone wind chimes. My new Arkel panniers will get tested carrying home a few of these heavy stones.

Since getting my bike just a couple of months ago, I have already logged over 700 kilometres. I am sure our car has many fewer kilometres on its odometer. Not only is the bike an awful lot of fun, but it also feels good not to be burning all that fossil fuel.

New Beach Found, Thanks to e-Bike Exploring

Say No to Grass Lawns

No Lawn Mower Needed
No Noise
No C02
Consider Replacing Your Grass

A Lawn Mower is estimated to pollute in one hour as much as 40 late model cars! That's according to the EPA. Think about that the next time you drag out your walk behind to trim your lawn. It is estimated Americans burn more than 600 million gallons of gas per year mowing their lawns. That's 2, 271, 247, 070 litres. How ironic that without doubt a fair number of these lawn mowing people are at the same time concerned about global warming, taking steps to reduce their use of plastic, and so on.

There are numerous no water / low water, no need to cut options for replacing your lawn. Even better, a number of the options involve food plants-- instead of wasting time walking back and forth polluting the environment and causing noise pollution, you could sit back, relax, and then grab a bucket full of delicious organic treats for your meal.

That is exactly what we do, with our small backyard (pictured above).

The amount of food that even a very small yard can produce is awesome. Granted, if you want some crops, most involve some work. But probably not a lot more effort than tending to that boring green grass you weed-and-feed, water, cut. 

Even better. Perhaps you have heard that bees are in trouble? Do you think your flowerless green grass is doing anything for them? Nope. But put in something like the creeping thyme (the purple flowers above), and watch them dance!

If you are a home owner, I urge you to think about how you use the bit of earth you own. If enough people replace their grass, maybe we won't have to suffer through the constant whir and buzz of lawn machinery all spring and summer. That would be a great added bonus.

Reducing Waste, Buying Responsibly

Natural Beach Stone Chime
Coast Chimes

Spending time on the local beaches is a great perk of my job. It fortunately takes a long time to find stones and driftwood acceptable for my needs, so I get to spend many hours walking along the Pacific Ocean. How lucky is that?

I am very conscious of our failing planet, the terrible price people pay for the convenience of plastic, or throw away poor quality stuff (yes, I see the plastic trash on the beach), and our high energy demands. It is with pride I invest so much thought and work into producing the very highest quality works I can, so that I know these will last for so many more years than typical garden and home decor. Further to that, I am pleased to have recently invested in a bike, and now I almost do not use our single car at all. I just ordered some high quality, made in Canada, panniers, not cringing (too much!) at the price, seeing as how many reviews mentioned the durability (again, avoid throw away stuff, no matter how cheap). With these, I will not only be able to do much of our grocery shopping, but I will also be able to go to the beach and bring home stones and driftwood without burning fossil fuels. I like that.

Below is the most recent collection of natural beach stones I found for use in my work. I just love beach stone. When they get wet from the rain or snow, they become even more beautiful!

See all my beach stone creations on my website: Coast Chimes

Recently Collect Beach Stones
from Roberts Creek, BC

Beach Combing, Part of My Job

Zen Natural Pacific Beach Stone Wind Chime
@ Coast Chimes

The plan today is to bicycle over to my daughter's place in Roberts Creek, and hit the beach down below her home for some beach stone and driftwood collecting. I absolutely love using these awesome natural resources in my works. It's a form of upcycling. The results are always something that seems so much in harmony with nature, perfect for any landscape.

Obviously, the final products are also extremely durable. How long will those stones last? Long!

These natural beach materials also seem to mesh so nicely with my copper and antiqued brass chimes. Like they were made for each other!

Oddly enough, even though there are plenty of beaches here made up entirely of beach stones with lots of driftwood, it is not all that easy to find those that are acceptable to me. They have to be the right size, and nicely rounded, smooth, etc. I'm fussy! But that does not matter too much, as what could be more enjoyable then a few hours hiking up and down a beach? Not a bad job!

See all my beach stone wind chimes on my website: Coast Chimes Beach Stones

Freestanding Kaleidoscope Suncatcher from Coast Chimes

Freestanding Kaleidoscope Suncatcher
Perfect for your Sunny Windowsill
Find it at Coast Chimes

The freestanding kaleidoscope suncatchers are a very cool way to brighten up your indoor space. Fits neatly on your windowsill, and when the sun shine through the glass pieces you are treated to a kaleidoscope of color!

The artist-made sea glass pieces are loosely trapped between two plates of extra-thick glass, so you can shake them around.

The well crafted cedar box frame has been treated with an exceptional eco-friendly tung nut oil. Looks (and smells!) fantastic!

See all the freestanding suncatchers at Coast Chimes.

Adding Beauty to Your Outdoor Environment

Large Beautiful Glass and Copper Wind Chime
by Coast Chimes

It's clear: from the number of orders pouring in, the wintery areas of the USA and Canada have thawed out, and people are turning to their yards and gardens, deciding to add some decor.

Why Coast Chimes? I designed with three main elements in mind.

First, appearance: my wind chimes and suncatchers must be beautiful.

Second, durability. My works are designed to last: Coast Chimes is the environmentally right decision in what is far too often a throw away world.

Third, for the chimes, they must sound fine, and not annoying. I worked on the sound until satisfied that they sound great: pleasant, not too loud, blending with the natural environment so as not to intrude on ones peaceful moments in the outdoors.

• Beauty
• Durability
• Lovely sound

These days, with the price of copper (I just invested in more raw stock), they are also frankly a good deal. Back when I started, I hardly paid attention to my copper, as it was not very expensive. I pay attention now! And while the price of copper has increased several 100's %, I have not raised my prices in years. So enjoy a good deal!

Visit Coast Chimes and choose something amazing for yourself or for a friend?

Back from Holiday, Galloping Goose Trail, Vancouver Island

Galloping Goose Bike Trail
Vancouver Island Holiday

Enjoying a Peaceful Break

Specialized Turbo Vado
First Long Bike Trip

It's hard for me to take time off from making wind chimes and suncatchers: I love my work! It is especially hard at this time of year; as the USA and Eastern Canada thaw out, and people turn to decorating their outdoor space, and it gets busy here at Coast Chimes. But everyone needs a break. A bike trip proved ideal, especially on Vancouver Island which turns out to be very bike-friendly. From downtown Victoria to the Galloping Goose nature trail, bikes often get priority on Vancouver Island— very different from most of the Sunshine Coast! My new Specialized Turbo Vado performed flawlessly, and the Buzzrack Scorpion H2 car rack was a real treat to use.

We meandered, enjoyed nature, enjoyed the gorgeous weather, saw new things (Bouchart Gardens— worth it!), and also had some fine meals out.

Now back to it. I have a very long to-do list, starting with firing back up my website and Etsy, and immediately producing many sets of copper and brass chimes (I am definitely behind!). Oh! I'll still take time each day for a nice walk / bike ride— that's just he way I work.

Specialized Turbo Vado to the Post Office

Specialized Turbo Vado e-bike
Coast Chimes Orders Headed to the Post Office

Most often in the past, I would put an order inside my large backpack, and strap the others onto the outside, sometimes during the busy seasons also having to add a large garbage bag or two, and hike the kilometres to our local post office. It was easy if the car happened to be home to do the simple thing and drive.

These pretty spring days, it is a pleasure to use my new e-bike. We have many really steep hills here, and I never felt like using a regular bike much-- just too hard on my knees. The e-bike lets me choose just how much assistance I want. Loaded down, steep hill, I can get a lot of help, making even the steepest hill no problem at all. Pleasure riding, or on the flat areas, I can basically turn off the assistance and get some work out.

The only issue is all the narrow, twisting roads we have here, or narrow roads with high speed limits. If there happens to be a bike lane, it tends to be a fairly narrow strip, no barrier, full of sticks, stones, or worse, and also frequent uneven pavement. It seems biking is becoming ever more popular, and I hope everyone puts pressure on the government to improve this situation. I myself plan to advocate for improvements.

I feel great getting some exercise, not contributing to the traffic and air pollution with an ICE. Customers or Coast Chimes may appreciate that I constantly do all I can to reduce, reuse, recycle. Also, I design and build all my creations to last, unlike cheaper stuff often designed for a season or two and to be thrown away.

Bicycle Riding, New Passion

Specialized Turbo Vado, New Passion

It's been a very long time since I've ridden a bike. As a child and teenager, I lived on my bikes. Then I had a pretty terrible accident on the way to school, and never really felt like getting back in the saddle.

Moving to the Sunshine Coast, BC, my wife REALLY enjoys biking around, and has frequently urged me to join her. We have hills here, A LOT of hills, and narrow roads, and well... I did not feel like doing that at all, with memories of my bad crash still haunting me, too.

But then I looked into e-bikes. I do love technology. In fact, my love of technology, and the thought of effortlessly defeating our local steep hills, lead me to getting my e-bike. Never looking back (well, I do have a rearview mirror!), as I quickly discovered it is a lot of fun to explore on a bike.

Above, reaching my destination on an early morning ride. It turns out early morning is a great time to ride, before there is much traffic on the roads. My one gripe is that the Sunshine Coast is very poor, as far as road biking. If there happens to be a bike lane, it is narrow, and generally full of gravel, branches, trash. Most often, there is no special bike lane, and the secondary roads tend to be curvy and narrow-- not ideal. I'm pretty cautious (yes, memories of that accident...), and hope to enjoy this new hobby without incident. The bright green swimming noodle on the back of my bike is an idea stollen from a cyclists in Toronto: it makes me more visible, and encourages cars to keep some distance when passing. I do notice a significant improvement since attaching it.

My Early Morning Route from Yesterday

Abbotsford Tulip Festival, Bicycle Holiday

Abbotsford Tulip Festival, 3 million Tulips

After 50 years of not riding a bike (very bad accident soured me on the whole biking thing), my wife, who adores bicycling, finally convinced me to get back on the saddle. Oh! Also, I love technology (not so much hills) and I decided I might like e-biking. I do!

I got a Specialized Turbo Vado 2.0, and find it so much fun to not break my legs going up our numerous steep local hills. I also researched and found a car bike rack that could support her heavy step-through steel frame comfort bike and my even heavier step-through e-bike. The Buzzrack Scorpion H, available in Canada at the Bike Zone with free shipping, is an absolutely brilliant rack, extremely stable, that locks on the hitch, and locks the bikes on the rack-- truly a great deal at $329 CAD. If you live on the Sunshine Coast, I can not over recommend Elphinstone Cycles for bikes: they know their stuff, and are so nice and helpful.

So I put the bikes on the back of our car, and off we went for our short biking holiday. The Poco Trail was such a pleasure! Next day a biking trail in Fort Langley (the Fort to Fort trail) was even more fun. Kilometers of trails with no traffic made me realize how impoverished the Sunshine Coast is, as far as road cycling. Here we have world class mountain biking with rugged trails galore, but to go anywhere urban is fairly risky, with cars kissing your handlebars: A little too anxiety producing. So to get away to these purpose built biking trails was a real treat.

A short stay in the city at a very comfortable Airbnb, excellent meals out, great biking, fun tulip festival, made for an enjoyable break. The ease of securing our bikes on the car means I am already looking forward to another biking holiday in the near future.

Below is a picture of me, on my e-bike, after so many years away from biking. I like it!

Yours Truly, Clearly Enjoying My E-bike

Urban Backyard Organic Garden

Backyard Organic Food Garden
Coming Back From Winter 

Counterintuitively, when we had acreage we found we could not really do that much with it, as it was just too much land for us to manage, especially with young children and work. Moving 5 years ago to a very small lot, the difference is remarkable. I think when we had acreage, it was frustrating because even spending a full day on it did not show much impact. Now, a few hours and you can see progress.

One thing was certain: when we bought the land and built the house, I said no grass, none, ziltch. Having spent 20 years mowing hilly acreage with a push mower, I had had more than enough! Also, I hated the noise, the stink, the seeming pointlessness of it-- especially in spring, you cut it, and it grows back so fast! So yes to no grass. What a great decision! I get to lie back in my hammock with a good book and the sound of neighbours firing up their mowers hardly even bothers me, smirking with no grass to cut! (Actually, the noise does still annoy me...)

So instead of grass, we have food. Lots of food! The first year, when from one of those large raised beds I harvested in one day 3 1/2 large colanders of french green beans, and from the side, buckets of raspberries, blueberries, I realized you don't need much land to grow an amazing amount of food. I had to buy a freezer!

From fairly early spring to late fall, this small backyard provides the majority of our fruits and vegetables. And, with the freezer, on into the winter.

I wish more people would move from lawns to food. You can do it on a small scale without that much effort and money, and you will save a lot at the grocery store, and eat better.

Driftwood, Beach Stone, Glass, Balanced.

Cobalt Glass, Beach Stone, Driftwood Wind Chime
$95 with free shipping @ Coast Chimes

I love when everything just clicks, and I end up with a work I feel is so balanced, such as the wind chime pictured above. A little of everything, and it just works.

I particularly like this piece of driftwood. I found a few in this shape this year, and it took me a little while to figure it out. This is the 'in the tree' part of a branch— what would be a knot in a board. The tree part is softer wood, so the ocean washes / abrades the tree away, leaving this interesting, hard, piece of inner branch. Pretty cool!

See all my wind chimes and sun catchers at Coast Chimes.

Zen Garden, Beach Stones, Sea Glass

Zen Outdoor Beach Stone and Sea Glass Wind Chime
by Coast Chimes, $87 with Free Shipping

Love, love, love beach stones! Smooth, rounded, cool! And somehow they just compliment the copper wrapped artist-made sea glass perfectly. Interesting, soothing, peaceful.

The chimes are hand cut brass, polished, treated with a reactive that will never peel or flake. They are suspended from a handcrafted copper hanger with 21 strand nylon coated stainless steel and sterling silver crimps: Quality! Made to last!

See this, and many other exceptional wind chimes and suncatchers at Coast Chimes.

Outdoor Art, Try a Freestanding Wind Chime

Freestanding Glass and Copper Wind Chime
Beach Stone Base
Available at Coast Chimes

Freestanding chimes with a beach stone base are so cool! Put them anywhere: on your porch, your deck, your lawn, or in a garden with a bit of mulch pushed up around the stone.

The artist-made sea glass is smooth with a mat finish, and skillfully copper wire wrapped.

The chimes are cut from raw brass, polished, treated with a reactive (will not peel or flake) to produce such a nice finish, and then strung on a handmade copper hanger with nylon coated stainless steel, and sterling silver crimps. Made to last! Soothing sound.

The flowing copper support is embedded right into the beach stone. The beach stone is naturally beautiful: smooth and rounded.

See the entire selection of freestanding wind chimes at Coast Chimes.

Double Freestanding Wind Chime
Available at Coast Chimes

Kaleidoscope Sea Glass Suncatcher by Coast Chimes

Kaleidoscope Suncatcher
$95 with Free Shipping at Coast Chimes

The snow finally melted enough for me to start taking pictures of my works again; high time! I was totally out of stock online of several of my most popular designs, such as the suncatcher hanging pictured above.

There are now several of these in on my website, and in my Etsy store. Also refreshed are my stock of freestanding suncatchers, and diamond shaped large kaleidoscope wind chimes, as well as small diamond shaped wind chimes. So visit and see all the great new works!

I'll be working on pictures and posting new stock through the next week or so. And then back to making more great works for your garden and home.

West Vancouver Sea Wall Walk

Capilano River, Lions Gate Bridge, West Vancouver
A Different Walk

It is not often that I go to Vancouver: there has to be a compelling reason. I love the slower, less urban environment of the Sunshine Coast, and forget sometimes that Vancouver is only a 40 minute ferry trip away. Yesterday I had to go for car maintenance and for a specialized dental appointment. 

Between dropping off the car and the dental appointment, I found myself with several hours to kill. This lead to a very happy discovery of the West Vancouver sea walk

The Walk, West Vancouver, From Park Royal to about 25th Street

Most people going to Vancouver for the day from the Sunshine Coast take advantage of all the shops and restaurants. I so enjoyed just walking for 2 1/2 hours, relaxing before the dentist. And I was so surprised by how lovely this area is! The river, the views of the bridges, the much clearer ocean than I would have expected, the piers to explore, the houses and apartments along certain sections: so interesting! There were also a number of seals, a popular crab fishing place, many birds. I recommend this walk.

Train Bridge

Lions Gate Bridge

The Seagulls Seem Much Tamer in the City

A Most Interesting Walk

Woodworking, Coast Chimes

Cut and Oiled Cedar Drying at
Coast Chimes

Pictured above, freshly oiled cedar drying in my workshop. Cedar is my wood of preference, as it is local, and also highly resistant to the elements, even without my superior oil finish. It is also absolutely beautiful!

Many of the cut pieces pictured will be used to make my large kaleidoscope wind chimes, as pictured below. A few will also turn into freestanding kaleidoscope suncatchers. I already cut and washed the float glass to dimension, so once the oil has dried for a few days, I will be ready to assemble. Then I just have to wait for the last of the snow to melt in my backyard, where I take my pictures, photograph them, and post them to Etsy and to my Coast Chimes Website.

Large Kaleidoscope Wind Chime

Bright Hand Painted Outdoor Art

Alcohol Ink: Bright & Beautiful!
At Coast Chimes

My Artist-made sea glass and my driftwood and beach stone wind chimes are missing one thing: bright colors!

I do have a fair number of people requesting red, or purple, so my response is this gorgeous new medium: Alcohol ink. I use it on glass and on tiles to produce awesome one-of-a-kind original art work wind chimes and suncatchers with bright reds, purples, gold, and more.

Making this artwork suitable for outdoor use is very labour intensive, involving many coats of various products to shield the artwork from the harmful, fading effects of UV sunlight. But after much research, and much work, I believe the issue is resolved. I am confident these will provide many, many years of enjoyment-- just like all my work.

Find all my bright hand painted works here: Coast Chimes Paintings

Small Chimes Can Be a Perfect Fit

Small Can Be Just Right
Visit the Small Chime Section of Coast Chime

Small yard, small deck, don't want to hear a louder, larger chime: there are numerous legitimate reasons for choosing small over large. Coast Chimes is well aware that some people want small, so an entire section of the website is dedicated to those.

The small chimes are three hand cut brass chimes, sanded, treated with a reactive to darken the metal, and hung on a handcrafted copper hanger with nylon coated stainless steel, sterling silver crimps. These are designed to be beautiful and also extremely durable.

Small chimes also start at a budget level to allow for the perfect little gift, especially when you remember that shipping is free to anywhere in the USA or Canada.

Check out the wide variety and choose one that's perfect for your space, or for a friend: Small Chime Section

Hibernating Food Garden, Backyard Urban Garden

Hibernating Backyard Food Garden
Urban Organic Crops

My green thumbed wife is the gardener. I, as the most frequent cook, enjoy what she sows and reaps. After five years it still absolutely amazes me just how much food a very small back yard produces. Above is what I think of as its hibernating phase (although there are still a few delicious things that can be dug up from beneath the snow, like purple broccoli.

She is happy, as this cold snap may kill lurking bugs.

Below is what this small garden will soon, hopefully, once again look like. Soon there will be plenty for all meals, the freezer, and lucky friends. Can't wait!

For those who still maintain a traditional grass lawn, I wish you would think of ripping it up and putting in a few raised beds, a few plots. It cost a little to get started, but you will see your food bills dive, and the bees will love you.

From Last Summer, Lots of Food!