WHERE DO I START?

So much has happened in the last 48 hours! I'll give you the good news first...

First of all, I promised more pictures of Symphony Splash. Here's a few that will give you a sense of the crowd ... in the water, and up and beyond to the Parliament Buildings (the lawns of which are full, full, full for this event). Remember that you can click on any of the photos to see them bigger...)


A couple of unique things happened this year -- this dude was one of our 'neighbours' in the early evening:

And this dude was cooking and handing out free 'smokies' to everyone, just for fun -- he said at the end of the evening that he gave out almost 100 of them.

The highlight of the evening is always the final number, the Symphony's rendition of the 1812 Overture, complete with real cannon fire provided by the local cadets and fireworks provided by one of the show's sponsors. But the highlight for me is always the grand finale, which is this...

... our local pipe band closes the show with 'Amazing Grace' every year, and it is a completely magical end to a completely magical evening!

But speaking of magical evenings, we had another one last night.

As an aside, I'll tell you that I really believe that, at least sometimes, things happen exactly the way they're meant to happen (as opposed to the way we try to make them happen) and last night was a case in point. After a very long and emotional day (the reasons for which I'll get to in a minute...), I got a gift ... a huge gift.

Hailey's still in town, so she had relieved Michael of babysitting the boys so she could have time with them -- and they love hanging out with 'Auntie.' I was down at Clover Point doing my meditative knitting, as usual, so we had arranged to meet there with take-out suppers. While we were just hanging out there, we saw orcas approaching!

We watched them approach and go by the point for at least an hour -- it was one of the local resident pods, at least a dozen of them, and we think we might have seen a new baby among them. They weren't in any hurry, and gave the few boats out around them a nice show! Then, once we figured out what direction they were going, we decided to beat them to the pass to get a better look. Hailey and 'her boys' know how to wait ....


In the end, even though I took a few dozen photos, only a few of them turned out well...

But watching orcas go through Enterprise Channel at sunset under a full moon rising was pretty magical!


And it was a lovely end to a long and very emotional day...

This morning I will drive up to Qualicum Beach to pay my last respects to Clem, mother of my long-time friend Michelle. She died during the heat wave, at 83 years of age, after a life-time of nursing, mothering and painting pictures, and she'll be missed by everyone who knew her. And I want to be there with huge hugs for Michelle, who is battling cancer herself, again.

I'll be home this evening, just in time to hear how my best friend Susan's brain surgery went today. Susan and her husband Sri (whom you've heard me mention here many times!), our closest friends for the last 15 years, were on their way down here (also from Qualicum Beach) this morning, for two reasons. One, Sri has a specialist appointment here this morning to consult about his recently-diagnosed prostate cancer, and to decide about surgery. After that appointment, the plan was for he and Michael to go golfing while Susan and I grocery shopped and prepared the Wind Walker for our annual 3-day anniversary cruise, leaving tomorrow.

Instead, we got a frantic call from Sri yesterday morning ... Susan had had a ruptured brain aneurysm in the night, and was rushed here to Victoria by ambulance. She's in intensive care, and scheduled for surgery this afternoon to save her life. We drove out to the hospital to meet Sri when he arrived (thanks to Hailey for the suggestion), but they wouldn't let us in to see Susan. We got a call from Sri last night that she is 'okay', resting comfortably, and he'll call us today as soon as he knows how the surgery went.

So ... much sadness mixed with one-moment-at-a-time-joy-for-living going on here in my little corner of the world today.

And I'm knitting ... prayer shawls.