My friend and fellow skywatcher Richard Smith posted this beauty of a shot of Bowen to his Flickr page tonight. This is one of the most stunning sunset photos of our island I have ever seen. That's the kind of day it was today - completely clear and the mountains of Howe Sound had snow above 800 metres or so, so the whole inlet was ringed with whitecapped monuments reaching into a clear blue sky.

It reminds me of some of other bits of beauty that I've witnessed in the past couple weeks around here:

• An entirely Bowen made film production of Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang which featured dozens of local kids, and the grizzliest jury you've ever seen with Eddie the Yeti as Foreman.
• The chum returning to the weir, swimming along the beach to avoid the seals in Mannion Bay.
• The publication of the Salish Sea community atlas that captures community maps from islands all around this body of water we call home.
• Remembrance Day ceremonies in which a couple of hundred islanders turned out to stand in the pouring rain as we remembered those that died in the madness of war.
• A beautiful scene of Joan and Heather, two elder Bowen Islanders sitting outside VONIGO in the fall sun, one leaning on her cane and the other, nearly blind, relaxing in a cedar chair, just passing the time of day and stopping their conversation once in a while to close their eyes and turn to warm their faces in the sunlight.
• Posters all over the place for a concert for Sam Knowles' baby Oscar who was badly burned a few weeks ago. A dozen or more musicians have thrown together a benefit extravaganza to raise money for medical fees.
  

It's all what being in a slow and beautiful place is all about.