Ginty's Pond

Late this afternoon Husband stopped by with an invitation to go for a picture taking drive. I gathered up the little old dog, and the three of us went down the road to Cawston, - our first and dearest home here in the Similkameen.

We took the back road, down by Ginty's Pond, a natural habitat that is home to nesting ducks, yellow headed blackbirds, orioles, Marsh Wrens, beavers and other small water creatures, - frogs and toads and dragonflies, turtles, and the occasional Heron.
The lower portion of the pond is a green expanse of bull rushes and water lilies, lined with willows and grasses. Above, closer to the village of Cawston, the water is more open, and it is a favourite spot for photographers, bird watchers, loungers and dreamers, and small fisherfolk.

Ginty's Pond was named after Alfred Hamilton Cawston, a pioneer son of the family for which Cawston was named.

Ginty was the last son born (in 1892) to an English Settler and his Irish wife. In the days when the gender of a baby was still a surprise at birth Ginty's father had rather hoped for a girl to augment the family of three boys, and said if the baby should be a boy he would call it McGinty. It was, and he did, and Alfred Hamilton was known by the name of Ginty all the years of his life.

He lived close to the land and the forests. I remember typing an essay for him, entitled John Chinaman, in which he reminisces about the Chinese who were in the Similkameen during the time he was growing up. Ginty was an integral part of this area, fondly esteemed and full of stories. It seems very fitting that this pond, that skirts the Cawston property, should be named in his honour.
Here are the great broad leafed water lilies that clog the bottom part of the pond, and the grasses that grow along the edge of the roadway that crosses the pond as it nears the river.























Across the river the hills come down in folds and next door, as we continue down the road, Wes Stewart's cows enjoy the verdant meadow
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