BUSY WEEKEND

We did drive out to Brentwood Bay last week and visited a couple of marinas -- and then decided to stay where we are until the end of June anyway.

It was Swiftsure on Saturday! Here's some of the fleet leaving the harbour to head to the start line....
Michael and I went out to Clover Point via inflatable and dropped anchor just outside the kelp beds for a front row seat.... there was something like 130+ boats entered!
A local favorite, the Oriole...
And away they go...
There's a reason the race is sometimes called the 'Driftsure'!

When we got back to the dock, we had new 'neighbours' -- the two local tall ships had berthed right next to us!
Even the Coho got into the Swiftsure spirit .... wearing the flags, and 'saluting' the fleet:
Then on Sunday Hailey arrived from Whistler, and we drove out to French Beach where Mischa and Joe and the boys are camping, to celebrate Gibson's 5th birthday! We had a great time, although it was a bit dreary and cold... I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

We brought the boys back in to town with us so Hailey could spend some time with them, but today they'll go to school and daycare, and Hailey heads back to Whistler.

When family events are over, I'm always glad to have our quiet little life back, but sad when Hailey leaves and we all get back to our routines (not that Michael and I have one right now!) But today I have a ton of tedious paperwork to do, so that will give me a focus, at least!

Still holidayin' at the Ritz .... oops, I mean still tied up at the Fort Street docks, still breathing, still knitting, still putting one foot in front of the other. Here's our view at night:
I have a pair of socks for Michael on the needles, and I finished the shawl I'm calling the 'Twilight Garden' shawl ...
... because of the yarn color, those great little 'flowers' and the hundreds of beads! I may have to write up the pattern for this one...

I've also knit a scarf for an international scarf exchange I'm part of -- I can't show the whole thing because the recipient may read my blog, but here's a 'sneak peek':
Joshua was down last weekend so we had a family dinner (minus Hailey, who couldn't make it home ... but she'll be here this weekend!) - I can never adjust my camera for the light at Mischa's house, it seems...
For anyone who isn't on the Victoria FibreFest mailing list, I have officially cancelled this year's event -- there's lots of reasons, but mainly it's been extremely difficult to focus on the amount of work that needed to be done for it, and sponsorship came up short this year, too. I'm really sad, but also relieved ... and hope to be back stronger than ever next year!

Today we're going to drive out to Brentwood Bay on the Peninsula to see about maybe anchoring out there for the summer -- summer rates here in the harbour are outrageous. I'll keep you posted!

NINE DAYS...

... since I last posted?? It's not like I don't have time....

Well, we had to move from the Empress docks before they got jam-packed for the May long weekend, so we are on the smaller Fort Street docks now until the end of June. I have a full view of the harbour, but it's a lot noisier -- float planes coming and going from 7 am - 7 pm, lots of whale watcher zodiacs and other boat traffic. But it's all about making adjustments and compromise now, anyway...

Here's another pic of the mama duck and her babes ... we haven't seen them for a few days now, so I hope they're okay!
We did a quick trip up-Island the other day to deliver fleeces to the Qualicum Bay fibre mill - we stopped at Cowichan Bay for lunch on the way home, and the tide was way out:
Then they got pre-empted by this guy... (remember you can click the photo to see it bigger):

Meanwhile, I'm working on shawl #12 for the year -- it's a laceweight merino-silk blend that was gifted to me, my own design, and will use lots of beads!


No news to report .... just knitting and putting one foot in front of the other, still. Knit'n'Cafe today, yay!

Still lots to see here in our temporary digs in front of the Empress -- big fancy boats:
A Mother's Day event on the lawn at the Empress...
One of our local tall ships heading out on a day trip...
The lump on top of this culvert is a mom and her TEN baby ducks -- and the teenager that's up to no good on top of them (someone stopped him, thank goodness)! Remember you can click on the pic to see it bigger...
Dusk, when all the day's busy-ness stops...
And the nicest sight of all?
River and Gibson coming for a sleep-over!
After the boys went home on Sunday morning (with treasures for their Mom) I went down to Clover Point for awhile, and watched this cruise ship in the mist... and some kind of military exercise:
And I've been knitting, of course -- I reported last week that I'd finished shawl #10 in the 2011 challenge, but I was wrong, it was #11. I have #12 on the needles now -- it's a laceweight merino that was gifted to me, and the pattern is my own design:
And I finished a 'plain jane' pair of socks, too...
Not much other news, but we're doing okay .... thanks to all of you, for your calls and emails!

WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY

So we are settling in, somewhat, in the inner harbour ... it's very distracting, which is a good thing right now! The little harbour ferries come and go right in front of us, the Coho (Washington State ferry from Port Angeles) arrives and leaves twice a day, and there is always something going on - we watched this couple for awhile yesterday....
And yesterday, this boat from the Yukon came in for a few hours and then left again:
The whale-watching boats come and go all day, too, and lots of folks are out strolling the causeway all the time - it's much busier here than we are used to, even though there are only a few boats on the docks right now. Here, see for yourself! (That's the webcam, and you can actually see the Wind Walker there .... lower left, not the big yacht that looks like it's sitting on top of the tree, but the one just 'above' it and to the left).

I finished the Shaelyn shawl in the wee hours this morning -- I'll block it on the weekend.
A closer look at the edging...
I used 4 skeins of sock yarn .... and I literally used all but about 6 yards of the last two skeins!

Today is Knit'n'Cafe -- my *favorite* distraction!

MOVING ON ....

On Sunday at noon I took this picture of the Wind Walker at the marina just before we pulled out...
We couldn't get in to our new slip in the Inner Harbour because the Floating Boat Show is still on - and we needed to get away, anyway, so we headed out to our old favorite anchorage, Albert Head. This is what Victoria looks like from 3 miles away...
And this is what Michael looks like when he's relaxed:
We had a lovely evening - and no soldier came yelling at us for anchoring too close to the base! Rain was forecast for morning, so we put the tarps up to keep the bridge dry overnight before we tucked in.

The relaxation was short-lived, unfortunately -- when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. a serious westerly was up, and our anchor was dragging. By the time I got Michael up and we got the engines started and the tarps off, we were less than 10' from the rocks you can see in that photo behind Michael! What followed was 10 minutes of adrenaline-filled action -- me at the helm with the boat in gear trying to gain distance from the rocks (with the wind conspiring to push us back), and Michael on the bow trying to pull up the anchor and kellet, with the boat in forward gear - all with the wind howling so loud it was impossible to communicate with one another.

It was several minutes before we'd gained enough depth (and distance from those rocks) for me to put the engines in neutral so Michael could finish retrieving the gear, and several more minutes of circling and heading toward a sheltered shore before our heartbeats slowed down! Since rain was forecast anyway, we decided to head back in to the harbour -- we'd seen a steady exodus of boat show boats the night before, so we knew there would be room on the docks, somewhere.

Arrived back in downtown Victoria by about 7 a.m. and had some breakfast after we settled in on the dock in front of the Empress (which means getting power and water hooked up again, checking all the ropes, securing the inflatable, etc.) -- they were already dismantling the extra docks used in the show, and all the tents were coming down, etc. -- and, as you can see, the rains started before we even finished tying up.
Then we went back to bed and crashed until NOON. :)

I got some knitting done ... the Shaelyn shawl (#10 in the '11 in 2011' challenge, for me) is over half finished.
We called Mischa to come and get us in the afternoon to get out to VOTE in our federal election -- it was a historic day in Canada yesterday! Not only did the Conservatives win a fairly large majority (I find that scary), but the NDP became the official Opposition for the first time ever, AND the Green Party won its first-ever seat in the House. Our local much-respected Member of Parliament, Denise Savoie (NDP) easily retained her seat.

And that's all I have to say about politics. :)

Still not sure what we're up to ... we're just taking life one day at a time right now and trying to stay positive. We *feel* displaced and we are still running the gamut of anger, sadness and disbelief on a daily basis ... with moments of 'Hey, we're free to follow a new adventure!' thrown in. I was just leaving Clover Point the other day when I watched this hang-glider taking off, and I thought, "That's us -- we're flying free!"
(He had about a 1-minute flight before he landed safely on the beach, and then I got all depressed again).

I know one thing .... our friends and family are making a huge difference for us right now. Everybody keeps asking us if there's anything they can do, and we have no idea how to answer that right now, but HUGE hugs to Jason, Hailey and Mischa, and to Wendy McD, Penny and Robin, and Esther for being there for us in all kinds of ways -- and for all of *your* continued thoughts and prayers. a special 'shout-out' to Bob and Shirley -- thanks so much for coming to see us, it meant a lot!