A PICTORIAL (mostly)...

Leaving Victoria last Thursday, this military helicopter came down low beside us at Cattle Point... I thought, "Wow, we get a military salute for leaving town..." LOL.
It was flat calm and sunny the whole trip -- the biggest issue was getting across the ferry lanes at Schwartz Bay ...
Here is our new 'home' ... looking up from the dock... (and the property goes off to the left in this photo as well)
There's a local 'harbour authority' dock wedged in between our marina and the ferry ...

Looking down from the house... (the Wind Walker is to the right of the sailboat, left centre)...
Out to the bay ... the view with the ferry IN...
.... and with the ferry gone...
Being 'tucked in' behind the ferry terminal like that will cut down on the nasty south-easters that blow in here in the winter.

To the left...
.. and to the right is a bit of an 'alternative' community:
... where a few folks live 'below the radar'.

This is the driveway in to the house .... the marina is below the bank almost dead centre in this photo. And from the house, here's the view out of Fulford Harbour, looking back toward Schwartz Bay and Victoria ...
We've already had a visit from a friendly neighbourhood otter...
... and we've seen mink and eagles and kingfishers and oystercatchers so far.

I have no reception at all right at the marina, but yesterday we cruised out to Russell Island Marine Park and I have great reception here! Russell Island is less than half an hour from our dock, and it's beautiful ... when we arrived, the Pacific Swift was anchored here -- like being greeted by an old friend! Here's a link about Russell Island ... and another one. (When I was taking this picture last night I realized that those are the Olympic Mountains in the background .... the same ones I've looked at from Clover Point for the last seven years!)
You'll be happy to know that much knitting has transpired! First of all I've completely replenished the Wind Walker's supply of dish cloths...
I also finished the 'Branches' test knit lace socks - I'm calling them my Fulford socks, though, because I finished them as we pulled in to the harbour, and I'm keeping them for myself!
I'm also almost finished another pair of 'plain jane' socks for Michael -- and I have a new shawl that I'm designing on the needles.

Here's the sunset we watched last night ... this is the view from our anchorage here at Russell, back in to the Harbour -- our dock is behind the point of land almost directly under that setting sun!
I'll post more updates as I can .... all's well aboard the Wind Walker, again. :-)

CHECKING IN FROM FULFORD HARBOUR

We are on Salt Spring Island! Just a quick update to say we're here, safe and sound, and I have ZERO reception, so posts will be sporadic until I get ADSL back on July 12th! Life is good, though, and we're enjoying adjusting to even more 'Island time' than we were used to!

More news as I can ... :-)

SO MUCH FOR 'MORE LATER'

Ha! I should have known that I wouldn't get in another post the other day .... even now, my life moves too fast.

What I intended to post the other day was some harbour pics.... first of all, a first-ever dirt bike competition was held here, ON A BARGE. Dubbed 'JumpShip,' and we had a front-row seat from the bridge of the Wind Walker while the boys were here, so it was great free entertainment.
You can see the barge, lower centre, in this photo, and some of the jumps they flew over, etc. I think the festival was a roaring success, judging by the enthusiastic crowds! Look how low a local news channel helicopter came in the harbour....
Knitting has been happening -- I finished another pair of what I call 'plain jane' socks..
... and I am almost finished a way more interesting pair, a test knit for my sailing pal Terry . The variegated yarn I used doesn't do justice to this great pattern -- more about those when the test knit is complete!
A local whale-watching company has added a big fancy-dancy dinner-cruise type yacht to its repertoire, and I caught sight of it going through Enterprise Channel the other day ....
... which is exactly where we'll be going, tomorrow morning at about 9:30 a.m., en route to our new dock on Salt Spring Island! I may not be back online for a week or two until I get internet access sorted out, but I'll post here as soon as we're settled.

Final STANLEY CUP hockey game tonight -- dinner at Esther's to watch the action, and then home for a good nights' sleep. GO CANUCKS GO!!

A HUGE THANK YOU

... to all of you who've kept Michael and me in your thoughts and prayers for the past two months. (Has it been two months already??) I've never been religious and I'm not sure what this thing called 'prayer' is, but I absolutely believe in the collective power of positive energy (and I suspect those two are the same thing) -- in any case, it's not the first time it's worked in our lives, and I just want to thank all of you for your part in that.

We will pull out of the Victoria harbour and head to our new home on Salt Spring Island on Thursday morning. I may be offline for a few weeks then, until we get sorted with service providers, etc., but I'll post as soon as I can. Meanwhile, we've got at least one CANUCKS game to watch and a few other details to take care of before we leave.

And it's been a busy few days here ... our local contribution to World Wide Knit in Public Day on Saturday was small but lovely ....
Mile '0' is a busy park -- as I was setting up, this group came through...
And then, at about 3:30, we were somewhat up-staged by the Bike Naked parade that comes by every year...
Then we had the boys for a sleepover on Saturday night:
More later..... I'll do two posts today!

HARBOURFEST

This weekend, about 200 yards away, the first ever 'JumpShip' bike competition will take place on the back side of Ships Point. They've brought in a barge upon which the race course is being built as we speak ..... check it out here!

And, of course, Saturday is World Wide Knit in Public Day at 'Mile 0' in Beacon Hill Park (at the corner of Douglas and Dallas) -- hope to see you there, 1 - 4 pm. :-)

Finally, we have good news about our work/life situation .... how inviting does THIS look?
That's the waterfront estate -- including the private marina --that Michael and I will be managing as of June 16th! Not too shabby, huh? It's on Saltspring Island, which has been dear to my heart for 40 years, and it's only 40 minutes away! (Well, it'll take us about 3 hours to get there via Wind Walker, but it's a 20-minute ferry ride and that ferry goes from Schwartz Bay - Sidney - which is only 20 minutes from here.) All of which is to say that we get to start a whole new life without having to completely cut the ties with our Victoria one -- we're pretty excited! More info to come....

FRONT ROW SEATS

The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority calls this a 'working harbour' and it's sure true from our vantage point -- there is always something going on. The other day was typical. Our Galiano Island friend Michael bought a little 'runabout', and my Michael went with him to take it over to Galiano .... so the day started with watching them leave the harbour...
But the rest of the day provided plenty of entertainment, too... a tugboat bringing a section of a ferry landing in to Point Hope shipyard:
Sailors leaving the dock for the summer:
SALTS loading a group of school kids for a 3-day cruise in the Gulf Islands:
A barge being towed *out* from Point Hope:
And finally, a visit from Washington's Lady Washington... (the boat that was used in Pirates of the Caribbean)...
.... whose stern came within ten feet of my living room when they were docking at Customs!
No wonder I never get anything done around here! :)

Yesterday was the 6th annual Boat for Hope event here in Victoria, and Michael and I volunteered ourselves and our trusty little inflatable. We had a blast! The idea is a pirate-themed day during which 250 special needs kids and their parents and/or caregivers board locally volunteered boats and cruise around the harbour to various 'treasure hunt' stations, where they each receive a loot bag (full of toys donated by local merchants). There is, of course, much laughter, mayhem and water-fighting, involved, and I'm not sure who has more fun, the kids or the adults!

Pirate-y hosts welcome the kids and help them aboard the boats:

(The fellow on the right, above, is Chris, Special Events Manager for Variety: The Childrens Charity, who produces this shindig, and who became our passenger for the day)!

Here are some of the volunteer boats that participated this year:

The first station was the fireboat, anchored off the Delta Hotel:
The second station was a new pirate-themed charter boat that's arrived here in the harbour recently:
The third station was our Undersea Gardens:
And the 4th and final station was the sailing vessel Greybeard, at anchor near Ogden Point:
Everybody got wet ....
... including us, but we had a great time, and what a great cause -- getting kids out on the water who might not get the chance otherwise!

To cap our day, we also had 'front row seats' at Esther's house for this event last night!

Today's agenda .... a little road trip. :)