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!