I have had a couple of column topics lately that I’ve been pushing off to the side of my desk because I haven’t been creative enough to write a long enough column about any one idea. I just had the thought, though, that instead of torturing myself trying to figure it out, I could just write about a couple of things in one column and clear the decks in anticipation of whatever will come into my inbox next. I don’t know why it took me this long to decide to do that but alas, here we are (finally).
I talk about little things really being the big things a lot in this column and that’s because I really do believe it.
On that note, a gentleman who created many (many!) small things to make the world a better place has died.
Brian Hart was a grandfather, father, husband, and for many hikers and walkers up and down the whole of Vancouver Island, he was the mystery ‘Owl Man’ who carved owls and stuck them in trees and stumps to be found by passersby.
He contributed so much fun and whimsy to the hikes of many families just like mine, and as I was telling his daughter earlier this week, he was often the sole reason we were able to keep the children on track on our adventures. There was always another owl to be found.
In a social media post to the Vancouver Island Wooden Owls community (yes, that exists), Hart’s daughter Pamela Jamieson said the family was touched by everyone’s kind words about her dad.
“It made him happy to lift someone’s day on the trail by gifting an owl he made. Brian wanted to share his art and asked for nothing in return but a smile. He created thousands over 30 years from the cedar-wood he picked from the beaches and transformed into his owls carved with love,” she wrote.
Another VIWO member echoed my own thoughts in his own post.
“I never met Brian despite my countless hours in the woods,” said Heath Bleau, on the VIWO page. “I would have liked to have shaken the hand of the man that has brought me so much simple joy on this island.”
Simple joys. They’re bigger than we think.
Speaking of it, bit of a crowd-sourcing project about information related to a specific post along the Malahat Drive that one reader is curious about. Yes, a post. Not a social media post but a literal post in the ground.
“On the Malahat, heading south, just past Bamberton and heading up the hill, there’s a driveway on the right,” said the letter-writer. “At the end of the driveway by the highway is a short post, and there is always something seasonal on the post.”
She said in September she’s seen a picture of a school bus, and come December there might be a tree or a star — that kind of thing.
“It’s not very big and it is easy to miss, but I always look for it on my way south and it always makes me smile,” she said. “I’d love to know who does it and if there’s any particular reason, or if it’s just fun for them.”
I too, have seen that little post. Admittedly, it comes and goes so quickly that sometimes it’s hard to make out what it is decorated as but I always notice it when I’m headed south.
Does anybody know anything about it? It’s slightly outside of our coverage area so I can’t spend a lot of time digging, but inquiring minds want to know!
The very same letter writer said there’s another similar situation occurring on another street in the Quamichan Lake area.
“There is a householder there who does a similar thing, but the ‘display’ doesn’t change as often,” she wrote. “They often put something seasonal on the stump in the yard.”
The letter-writer had the word “optimist” right there in her email address, which I appreciated because it tells me she really is looking for the good in things. I hope together, this community can cobble together what the story is behind the post atop the Malahat and/or at least smile if/when we see the decorated stump near the lake.
Those things, small as they may be, really do make life better.