Jan. 19, 1965 entry: Mother slipped away at 10:05 am today. (Trevor’s mother, Louisa Spencer Green, who with her husband Frank Green, were the first pioneers to settle permanently in the Cowichan Lake area.)
Feb. 27, 1965 entry: As graveyards go, Mountain View (a cemetery North Cowichan near Duncan) is not half bad with Dogwoods and wild shrubbery around and a glorious view of the nearby mountains. I will not object when, or if, I take up my rest there.
June 18, 1970 entry: I learned today that a little East Indian girl, age 12, had drowned when she fell from a wharf—into the river near Pallies. Poor child! She couldn’t swim, I understand, and must have panicked in the cold water. How close death stands between each and all of us.
Jan.30, 1979 entry: I was amazed to see a sheet of plate thin ice floating out in midstream at the Big Pool (on the Cowichan River) just below the Riverside Inn bridge. There is ice also forming out from the shore in front of the Palsson and Couch home (on the big pool of the river). I have never seen this before in all my years as a resident of the village. Unusual, most unusual.
Feb. 3, 1979 entry: We explored two of the new paved roads leading out to Grant’s lake. One is named Johel Road and simply bristles with new homes—almost all boasting two stories and cathedral entrances—which are in fashion nowadays. Some even had stained glass while others had facings of imported slate, colourful rock or sandstone.
Feb. 24, 1979 entry: Tomorrow is eclipse day but we understand that we won’t see much of it due to the rain clouds, but we can witness its progress on TV from Winnipeg. It will be the last total eclipse until the next century.
May 18, 1980 entry: At 8:50 thereabouts this morning (volcano) Mount St. Helens erupted …and we distinctly felt the shock for the whole house trembled and a strange dull roaring sound persisted for some time. Later we watched on television the appalling devastation, immense clouds of smoke and ash spewing from the enormous crater.
Aug. 26, 1980 entry: There was a death yesterday of a young man from Campbell River who had come to the lake to fly. He was to arise from the lake in his hang glider and soar far above in the air, like some huge bird, at a dizzying rate of speed with his own boat and pilot towing him from below. All went well to begin with, but when he was airborne and picking up speed, somehow the frail glider seemed to crumble and he was thrown out to fall several hundred feet to the lake below. It is believed that he was killed instantly . . . his wife and young child were in the (crowd) below watching him.Dec. 26-28, 1980 entries: Flooding, Meade Creek’s bridge washed out—a great log jam at Robertson River, and the (nearby) railway bridge gone too. Water in Elks basement and other horrors. Anderson house and yard (on Greendale Road) flooding, and (there is) flooding by the machine shop.
