Waterborne - A Live-Aboard Blog

OH THE PRESSURE

2012-01-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

Well we finally got out for a walk the other day, and it was lovely.

We walk around the property every day, and we walk to and from the 'village', to the post office, restaurant and ferry, but we hadn't 'gone for a walk' since before Christmas, and we've been missing that!

Apples still clinging to a neighbor's tree:
Sailor's sailing and ferries to and fro-ing:
And the streams that empty into the bay from up above the village are full after all the rain:Blue sky and calm out there today, so we may even go for another one. But in the meantime, have I ever got knitting to do! I'm working on the Stripe Study shawl commission...
It's interesting because the stripes are done in 'short rows' but it's otherwise just garter stitch and pretty ho-hum -- I'm about a 'third' done. Then there's the pair of socks I have on the needles .... I'm teaching the sock knitting classes right now, so I need to have a sock ready for each of two classes each week that I can use to 'demo' the next step -- so I've just turned the heel on both socks, and need to have them knit to the toe decreases by this Saturday morning. That will be my Rock Salt project for this afternoon's knitting circle.

And I'm still slooooooooooowly working on the second block of the second strip of my niece's afghan ... and I'm still participating in the Ravelry shawl 'Mystery Knit-Along'. We just completed clue 4 of 6, and my Christmas in January shawl looks like this:
This is the edging, of course, and then it'll move into straight short-row stockinette by the next clue and end up being a narrow crescent shaped shawl. I love it! I'm glad there's only two more clues, though, because...

Last week I was commissioned to design a particular 'dress' for a 10" doll, and said I'd have something for her to look at this Saturday. HA! (More about that in another post, later....)

And finally, yesterday, also on Ravelry, I was invited to join a cowl knit-along. It's a series of five cowls, and there will be a time limit to knit each one and post a pic in order to get the next pattern for free, and there's a bunch of other prizes for suckers like me, too ... um... I mean for the cowl knitters who sign up. They had me at 'cowl', I signed up, and the first pattern is printed out this morning on my coffee table.

Oh, the pressure! :)

MORE ROCKIN' AND ROLLIN'

2012-01-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

So it did warm up, and then it started to rain, and then the wind started to blow... and we've now had 3 or 4 days straight of 'rockin and rollin' in here. On Saturday morning my living room was pitching so bad that I actually felt a little naseous ... that's never happened before! A live-aboard in Ganges Harbour (10 miles north of here) lost his life in that storm -- his sailboat had torn away from its mooring, and he was found in the water but they couldn't revive him.

I've been to town to run errands, buy groceries and check in on our friend Mike at his boat, but other than that, I've been pretty much hanging out here at home, and really enjoying it (even though it makes for really boring blog fogger)!

Our son Jason had a birthday on the weekend -- he's 37 now, which really translates as his *mother* is getting older (that would be me)!
Speaking of my kids ... Hailey has flown off to Cannes, France for a week! She's a professional organizer and has a long-time client who is selling her villa there and needed her help -- tough job she has, huh?

I finished a second pair of fingerless gloves for myself yesterday ... my hands are *not* healing very well, regardless, and I still have some side-effects from that antibiotic reaction last week. Ack! However, the 'Mystery Knit-Along' is coming along -- I did frog the white one I started last week, and I'm now doing 'Christmas in January' by starting again with red silk and dark green beads:
.... and this one I love!
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STILL WINTER HERE

2012-01-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well it has warmed up overnight to a balmy -4C, and we are still supposed to get more snow/freezing rain/rain before the temperature climbs to a +6C or so this afternoon. I sure hope it does, because I haven't been out of the boat in 4 days, our water's been frozen, and we're out of coffee. Hoping we can get out of the driveway this afternoon for a trip to town!

Meanwhile, much knitting has taken place. I finished the Arcus cowl (#6 of the 8 commissions I got before Christmas) yesterday:
... and I've done another half a block on a blanket strip, and I've ripped out and re-knit 2" of the mystery knit shawl, and ....
... I've had to whip up a pair of cotton fingerless gloves for myself to help these hands heal! It's been suggested to me that I may be allergic (or at least sensitive) to wool, so I'm keeping the gloves on at least until the current issues heal up, and then we'll see.

Yesterday I looked out the window to see a rigid-hulled inflatable with about 5 people on it, cruising slowly around the bay...
They said they were from Fisheries and Oceans, and they have to do 'periodic' testing of the sea floor in all Small Craft Harbours -- for metals, fecal coliform and PH balance! It was -8C yesterday, you'd think they could have picked a warmer day! I've sure appreciated our little woodstove these past several days.
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WEDNESDAY

2012-01-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

Well, the 'more snow' we were expecting arrived overnight with a vengeance, and it's still coming down. It's a lovely winter wonderland out there, but I'm sure glad I don't have to be anywhere but here ... with a little fire in the woodstove, and my knitting!

I ended up having to visit emergency yesterday to get on a more powerful anti-histamine to slow this reation down - I have the equivalent of a 'chemical burn' on the palms of both hands, and on a few of my fingers, so I'm now bandaged up to keep infection at bay. I begged them to leave my fingertips free so that I can knit ... knitting hurts, but so does just sitting here, so I'm just pacing myself a bit at a time. NOT having fun.... here's what just one finger looks like right now (and the rest is much nastier):
Weird, huh?

The GOOD news is this... as of today, Michael is TWO MONTHS smoke-free for the first time in almost 43 years!! I'm so proud of him, and so happy that he seems to have finally beat that addiction, after many, many attempts over the years.

And the other good news? AMERICAN IDOL starts tonight! I know, it's weird, I'm not much of a TV person at all, but I got hooked on that show two winters ago, and just love it -- I've been so looking forward to watching it this season.

Pictures of knitting soon, I swear...
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ALIVE AND WELL (more or less) IN FULFORD

2012-01-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

One of my 'crosses to bear,' it seems, is an ongoing battle with excema. I had a particularly severe outbreak on my hands at Christmas (can you say 'stress??') ... I'll spare you the details, but I ended up on an antibiotic, which I then reacted to - severely. Makes the excema discomfort seem like nothing, I can tell you that!

So I am stupid on anti-histamines and anti-inflamatories now, and the antibiotic reaction made the outbreak on my hands even worse! Makes for very slow knitting (especially because I'm supposed to be wearing cotton gloves) and a miserable me.

Between that and the recent weather, I've hardly been out of the boat -- I went to knitting on Thursday and I'll go to Rock Salt today, but it's been really cold and yesterday it even snowed for an hour or so. It's all gone now, but there's supposed to be more later today.
These fellows had gone out to set their crab and shrimp traps, and got caught in it:
They admitted that it was a pretty weird experience.

I taught sock-knitting on Saturday! A couple of gals from the knitting group wanted to learn, so I put an ad on our local 'info exchange' list to see if anyone 'out there' was interested, and several people called ... so I had two classes with 4 people in each. Even with the stupid gloves on and feeling exhausted, I had a great time!

Getting lots of knitting done, but not much to show yet. The cowl is nearly done and I'll get pictures of it later; I'm on my second blanket strip, and the spring socks I cast on for myself have about an inch of cuff so far. And then, since I didn't have quite enough projects on the needles, apparently, I joined a shawl 'mystery knit-along' on Ravelry. I've finished the first 'clue':
... and I think I'll take my miserable self back to bed now!
*

FIVE DAYS?

2012-01-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

According to my blog 'manager' it's been 5 days since I last posted -- where does the time go? Other than River's birthday dinner on Wednesday ...

. I've had some pretty lazy days, actually, so I have no excuse!

I looked out the window one day and saw this...
I have no idea where it came from, and as I watched it, it dissipated!

I've been knitting, of course... I finally got past the swatch for my niece's wedding present sampler afghan (she got married in October!) and I've got the first 'strip' almost done:
This is pure undyed wool grown, processed and spun here on Salt Spring Island at the Gulf Islands Spinning Mill (several years ago, I've had it in my stash a looooong time), and I'm creating a traditional 'aran'-type sample blanket ... with luck, they'll have it in time for their first anniversary, do you think?

I also finished shawl #5 for that commission I started in the fall... this is 'Lacy Baktus' in a pale grayish-green wool-cashmere blend:
... and I've already cast on for #6, which is a cowl knit in some luscious Australian merino the woman sent me!
She originally hired me to do eight shawls and cowls, but has now given me the go-ahead to do another four items with additional yarn she sent. I'm having fun matching yarns to patterns, and trying out some different things I wouldn't ordinarily make!

Speaking of knitting ... we'll be at the Rock Salt this afternoon ... and I have a pair of new socks on the needles for me, me, me!!

THIRTEEN!

2012-01-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

A huge special happy birthday today to our 'middle' grandson, River, who is (unbelievably!) thirteen years old!!
I intended to dig out a bunch of old photos of him and do a collage here ... but instead of embarassing the poor kid, I decided I'd just steal one of *his* favorite pictures. River has had his share of challenges in this life already, but is becoming a wonderful 'young man' who is smart, fun, funny, talented (musically and artistically) and quirky, and he continues to bring joy to our lives every day!

So today we'll take the ferry over to Victoria for a family dinner -- he has requested Chinese food, which is our favorite, too, so no objections there. And it's been pouring rain here for days, so it'll be a nice little 'road trip' for Michael and I, too. I'm looking forward to it!
*

2012!!

2012-01-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! Even though 2011 resulted in us coming to Salt Spring, I'm pretty happy to leave the *rest* of that year behind us :-)

My camera has lots of different light settings, but I still haven't been able to figure out how to take a decent picture in low-light conditions -- the only kind available in Jason and Kristin's apartment in Victoria. But I have to show off the last of my Christmas pictures, anyway, because it captured one of my favorite moments ...
River will be 13 in a few days and is already halfway through middle school, Gibson will be 6 next birthday and is halfway through kindergarten, and Joshua will turn 18 in a few months, and graduate from high school this year. They're all growing up 'way too fast! Joshua lives up-Island with his mom, so these three don't get to see each other as often as they'd like ... and you can see how they feel about each other here.

The tree is down, the decorations are all but put away for another year ... and as much as I love the whole holiday season, I also like to see it end, too, and to get back to our quiet little life. I had no idea how well I'd adapted to this rural lifestyle until we arrived in downtown Victoria for dinner at Jason and Kristin's .... driving in the dark and in the rain, and with the all the lights pedestrian movement and the traffic noise, I was keenly aware of how much detail I needed to focus on. Here on Salt Spring? Drive slowly and watch for deer....

I've already signed up for Ravelry's 12-Shawls-in-2012 Challenge but I have to first finish the one I started on Dec. 28th...
... which will bring my 2011 shawl total to 17!

Knitting at Rock Salt this afternoon .... I have a tough life. :-)

EXHALING ...

2011-12-28T08:27:00.001-08:00

Festive...
Food...
Family ...

and fun! I can't imagine Christmas without kids, for sure ... and our friends Carol and Jan and their newest wwoofer, John, joined us for dinner, too.

.... but I'm glad the holiday season is almost over, frankly... lol. It's a lot of work, and a lot of emotions...

We'll go into Victoria today for dinner at Jason's, and *then* we're done. I've already cast on a new non-Christmas knitting project, and a pair of socks for *me.*
*

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas, to me, has always been magical.

I suppose we celebrate something akin to the 'Christian' version of the holiday, minus the churchy parts. But the magic is in the 'feeling' rather than the theme ... having a heart full of gratitude and peace and love, and being around friends and family who feel the same way is what it's all about, to me. Then add great food, all the lights, the music, and yes, even the 'hustle and bustle' of it all, and the gifts (I listed that item last on purpose), and it's just a really special time for me.

This year, it's even more special because I get to host my family right here for the first time in many years. Hailey's already been here for a week or so, Mischa, River, Gibson and Joe arrived yesterday, Jason and Julie will be here today ... and then 'Galiano' Mike will join us tomorrow, and possibly another old friend, David, from Nanaimo (if his fight with cancer will allow him the energy to travel). Then on the 27th we'll travel to Victoria to have dinner with Jason and Kristin (who is spending the next few days with *her* family), because Joshua is spending Christmas with his mom, but will be down from up-Island for a few days, too.

Yesterday was a flurry of activity decorating the house here on the property -- half of it sits empty, but the 'bottom' half is minimally furnished, so we put up a tree and some lights and added some candles and other Christmasy trinkets, and it's looking pretty festive now! River agrees...
Gibson was playing 'hide-and-seek' so I couldn't get a picture of him!

And even though Christmas can sometimes be stressful with family issues and stuff, it can also be a healing time ... more of that magic I love. I'd like you to meet Clayton ...
Clayton is the 17-year-old son of Michael's younger brother, Paul. Paul and his wife Sandy and Clayton and his big brother Curtis live in Courtenay on Vancouver Island. We've been about a 3.5-hour drive apart for many, many years .... and haven't spoken. I don't need to get into the details, most families have some variation-on-the-theme going on, I'm sure. But a few months ago, Clayton and River connected on Facebook - and Clayton got on a bus several days ago, and came down-Island to spend 'pre-Christmas' time with River. He's been here with us since yesterday .... and what a wonderful young man he is, and now we have a 'bridge' to reconnect with Michael's family. We have no idea what that might look like right now, but it doesn't matter ... some healing has happened here, and that's wonder-full!

I wish you all warmth and love and light and peace and goodness this holiday season ... I have it all, and I couldn't be happier!

SANTA CLEAR FOR TAKE-OFF

2011-12-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

That was the headline in this morning's Times-Colonist. You can read the rest of the adorable story here.

I'm not yet cleared for take-off, however; I still have too much knitting to do! I did manage to cross two items off my list yesterday, and this morning I *must* go into town to do all that last-minute shopping I dread every year!

Maybe more later...

I'M HERE!

2011-12-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

... but this blogging thing is pretty neglected, huh?

I've been knitting like a fiend, of course .... and have hardly anything to show for it, since most of it is for gifts. You can see these really boring beige socks ....
... because our old buddy Mike doesn't have a computer, and won't be checking out my blog. I've finished at least 3 other pairs in the past ten days or so, and a few hats, and a few other 'items,' too.

And today our employers stopped by the marina with this lovely gift basket for us...
... and the KEYS TO THE HOUSE!!! Can you tell I'm excited? We have two huge three-bedroom suites (upper and lower) to play in for the next 4 days, and I can hardly wait --- the family starts arriving tomorrow!

Back to my knitting.... only four pairs of fingerless gloves to go! mwah ha ha
*

"FIVE MORE SLEEPS"

2011-12-20T14:58:00.000-08:00

Esther came over from Victoria yesterday to knit with us Rock Salties, but she got the server to take this picture of the two of us before the others arrived:
Another special guest arrived this morning to have a few 'sleepovers' with us .... you see, Gibson is in kindergarten this year, and school's out but his Mom still has to work -- so he got to come early for Christmas! (River, on the other hand, will be 13 in a few weeks -- how did THAT happen?? -- so he and a visiting cousin are hanging out at home). So .... quality bonding time with 'Auntie' and of course, with his Papa:
It's supposed to dip below freezing tomorrow night, maybe, but the last several days have been beautifully warm. Warm enough that some neighbors were out in their kayaks this morning...
Hailey and Gibson have gone off to Carol's farm to collect eggs and visit the goats, but it's my job to make supper .... a certain little 5-year-old requested Kraft Dinner and weiners, of all things ... I sure hope veggie rice and sausages is a good substitute!
*

ACK!

2011-12-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

Even with Esther reminding me, I haven't blogged for two days. I'm knitting .... stuff... that I can't tell you about or show you .... 'cuz it's Christmas. So .... later!

HOWEVER.... big news! I'm so excited, because for 14 years (since we moved aboard the Wind Walker) I haven't been able to host Christmas - the boat is roomy enough for two people to live aboard comfortably, but not to host a big family dinner. So we've been mostly at Mischa's since the boys came along, and that's been great. But I miss 'mother henning' my brood on Christmas Day, especially, and having to 'help out' in someone else's kitchen. So .... this year I stuck my neck out a mile, and asked the owners of this property that we are taking care of if I could host my family in the 'big house', because I knew they weren't going to be here. THEY SAID YES!! I'm over the moon about this, I just can't even tell you how much fun it will be for me. :-)

And I have much `smaller` big news, too ... this morning for the first time I put my wool handknit socks on these feet *without* cotton sockies underneath -- and my skin has not been irritated all day! (For those of you who have no idea why this is such good news, you can read what happened to me in September here and here.)

So it`s been a great day all around!

2011-12-17T21:06:00.000-08:00

Last night's boat parade went great ... in the sense that it was calm and warm, and we had a boatload of enthusiastic friends, and great food. It almost wasn't a parade because it looked like we'd be the only boat.... and at the last minute, a small 'runabout' showed up out of nowhere with a young couple and their three dogs to join us. So we were a small but enthusiastic parade of two whole boats.... but we had lots of fun! I'll have to see if anyone emails me any pics of us....

And today I did the mountain of dishes we created and tidied up the house and stripped and made up one of the beds in the V-berth, because ....
... Hailey's home from Whistler for Christmas!! :-)

2011-12-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

Esther sent me a picture she had our server take yesterday when we were knitting at the Rock Salt ... she was telling us to put our hands on our cheeks and pull back a bit so it takes away our wrinkles. Whadya think, did it work? From left to right .... Carol, Shirley, Ester, moi and Bev!
I was able to 'show and tell' one knitted item, finally ... my Debbie Stoller New York hat (with the personal addition of a beaded 'Big Dipper')!
And I've already got another 'mystery object' on the needles (it's Christmas, what can I say? I'll tell you latah)!
I'm having a domestic day today to get ready for our little Christmas cruise this evening.... I'm even DUSTING.
*

A GOOD DAY

2011-12-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

I spent this morning finishing up a hat, and then forgot to take a photo while I still had daylight. ... so you can see the original here, for now.

Then I had to do some housework ... we have company coming tomorrow night and I want the boat to look lovely and Christmas-y -- it's "Festive Friday in Fulford" and, all decked out in our lights, we will be leaving the dock and cruising out around the bay. (Festive Friday is an event in the village that involves live music, hot apple cider, shops open late, etc., and I've sort of tried to get a few of the local boaters interested in doing a Christmas boat parade, but I don't think I convinced anyone).

Doesn't matter -- I'm putting on a big pot of chili in the morning, and some new and old friends will be here, and we're going Christmas cruising, even if we're the only ones! I miss the fun of the Victoria Christmas boat parade, and next year, I hope to plan one here, starting much sooner in the fall.

Then, this afternoon, Esther and Bev came over from Victoria, and Carol and Shirley came from here, and we knit (and Carol and Shirley both do bead weaving) at the Rock Salt for 2 hours. It was lots of fun, and I came home exhausted!

So, n the absence of knitting photos, here's a 'PHOTO OF THE DAY':
This is Sunset over the Gulf Islands from the anchorage in Winter Cove on Saturna Island -- one of our favorite marine parks here.

Here's another (unrelated) photo, just for fun!
Wind-surfing in the Juan de Fuca off Clover Point...

Stars on Ice is on TV tonight, and watching it is how I'll wind down a great day!

OOPS

2011-12-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

I forgot to blog yesterday .... arrgggghhhh! I'm really trying to post every day... but I think it is a bit unrealistic, anyway.

First of all, Happy Birthday to my sister Julie .... I won't tell you how old she is, but I will tell you that she's older than me. :)

So we spent yesterday afternoon finishing the neighbor's yard work .... I'm sore today, but the place looks great for her family to come home for Christmas, so we're happy about that.
I FINALLY got a parcel that my pal Grace in New Jersey sent several weeks ago... I'd like you to meet Hope (Grace said 'Everyone needs a little Hope')! ...
Don't worry ... we'll move her if we decide to start a fire in the fireplace! Here she is a little closer up...
Isn't she adorable? Thanks so much, Grace! By the way, if you want to see more of these characters, Grace has been an absolute knitting machine with them this fall .... just scroll back through her blog and check them all out.

For the last several days, there's been a forecast for snow for today, here, but it's pouring rain now, and too warm for snow. The east coast of Vancouver Island, just a few miles away, still has a snow warning. I keep an eye on this webcam to see what's happening over there!
*

2011-12-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to post today!

Had a great day, starting with going into Ganges this morning to help Mike put Christmas lights up on his boat. Then there was knitting at the Rock Salt with several other women, including Esther who came over from Victoria again. :-) I'm to finishing the socks on the needles, and I've started yet another hat.

But the best part of the day was getting this picture ....
I love this photo! For one thing, that's how clear the water is here.... on the right side of that log the water is at least 10' deep, and you can still see the bottom. And that seagull is one of two who seems to think he's a permanent resident here in the marina, so he's almost like a 'pet' seagull. We were just walking up the dock to go to town when I saw this, and I had to put down my bag, put down my knitting bag, get out the camera, take off my gloves so I could operate it, and get this shot -- all while the sun behind me was disappearing into a cloud, and Michael was already waiting for me in the van.

Tomorrow we have to go back to finish the last of that yard work we started last week... and it's supposed to snow here. I may end up with extra knitting time!
*

A SUCCESS

2011-12-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

At last, a knitting success to report ...
It looks lovely, and I'm glad I made one (as in: met the challenge) but what a PITA! I don't think I'll be making any more of them. It measures about 5" across at the widest point, and could easily become a 'corsage', I guess. Now I have to decide .... should I put a cluster of beads in the centre? And if so, should they be green or yellow ... or red?

I'm off to do something that's NOT knitting! :)

2011-12-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

Good thing that the decorating is going well...

... because the knitting isn't! I've frogged another hat twice now, and a poinsettia 'gift topper' has been ripped back twice, too. Net stitches for today: zero.

I did drive in to Ganges, collected our friend Mike from his boat, and take him grocery shopping, though. Got home in time to watch the figure skating Grand Prix final, a bigger priority this weekend, anyway .. I've never been very good at knitting and watching TV, believe it or not. But I love watching figure skating ... no surprise that our favorite Canadian, Patrick Chan, won it!

Now, to get back to decent knitting.... :)
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LIGHT-UP

2011-12-09T14:35:00.001-08:00

Guess what we're doing today?

I'll get a picture of the results later!
*

I KNOW A HAND-KNIT ...

2011-12-08T16:46:00.000-08:00

... when I see one. So today, when I was sitting at the Rock Salt Cafe waiting for other knitters to join me, I noticed this woman come in, take off her coat and sit down at the table next to mine.
"Indeed it is," she said, in response to my query, "but not by me. I commissioned a woman in Seattle to knit it for me." I told her I hoped she paid dearly for it, and she said she did, but had no regrets! It's a Kaffe Facett design, apparently, knit in pure wool, and the woman said she's had it for about 3 years. Pretty amazing design!

I, on the other hand, have no knitting to show you ... I've cast on and frogged a cable-design hat three times today. :(

I do, however, have a little treat for you, courtesy of my Metchosin friend, Wendy. Check this out... www.brooksbrothers.com/aholidaymiracle/aholidaymiracle.tem . :-)

ANOTHER OUTDOOR DAY

2011-12-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

Spent a few more hours this afternoon at the Stowell Lake acreage raking and bagging leaves ... which we immediately took to our friends at EcoReality Co-op for their compost.
The sun even came out for us today, so it was lovely!

Other than that, I'm knitting like a mad-woman. Christmas is only a little over two weeks away! Two more hats join the stack ....
I'd like to finish a hat, scarf or pair of gloves every other day from now until Christmas Eve .... wish me luck!

OUTDOORS

2011-12-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

Today is Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, a time to honour and remember all women who have been killed by violence. From the government website .... "Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day marks the anniversary of the murders in 1989 of 14 young women at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal. They died because they were women.

As well as commemorating the 14 young women whose lives ended in an act of gender-based violence that shocked the nation, December 6 represents an opportunity for Canadians to reflect on the phenomenon of violence against women in our society. It is also an opportunity to consider the women and girls for whom violence is a daily reality, and to remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence. And finally, it is a day on which communities can consider concrete actions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls."

I hope everyone will take some time today to attend a community candlelight vigil or think about/take action on working to stop violence against women.

*****

This morning we went to help a neighbor -- she has a one-acre property on the shore of a little lake nearby, and needed some extra hands to rake up a LOT of leaves. It was fun to work with Michael and to be outside breathing in the fresh fall air.

Home for the day now, all dried off and warmed up .... I have left-overs for supper, so lots of knitting time now! :)

KISMIT

2011-12-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

The dictionary definition of 'kismet' is destiny and 'unexpected' or 'delightful surprise' destiny is somewhat alluded to in the full description of the word.

So day before yesterday, when I went out intending to go to the two south-Island craft fairs that were going on (Fulford Hall and Beaver Point Hall), it's no surprise that a sandwich board outside one of them caught my eye, and I followed it. It said "KISMET GALLERY ... just past the hall." I ended up at another one of those 'this-could-only-happen-on-Salt-Spring' kinds of places...
This is the entrance to the 'Kismit Gallery', on an acreage pretty much literally in the middle of nowhere (note the welcoming fire burning in the pot):To the right, this false front separates the gallery from the proprietor's home and private yard:This is the 'outdoor store':Inside, looking out:
More 'gallery' (and that's Carola, the delightful proprietor, in the background):
You can barely see it, but Carola is busy making me a latte in the little coffee shop part of this 'gallery'. And the loveliest surprise of all:
Wouldn't you love to join me for lattes and knitting, right here?

Speaking of knitting ... I've done some. I've looked forever for a knitted snowflake pattern (they all seem to be crocheted) and finally found one:
Once I pinned these out to block them I could see I made some mistakes in the bind-off ... but there's never supposed to be two alike anyway, right? :)

And every year, about this time, I go on a hat-knitting binge. This year's first one is a lovely deep purple color, but the photo doesn't show that very well...
The regular Monday Ganges knitting group had to move somewhere else today because the restaurant where we usually meet is closed for some reason.... so we are meeting at the Rock Salt instead. Works for me, maybe I'll get Mike's socks done!

BLOGGING

2011-12-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I made it through NaBloPoMo successfully (that is, I posted something every day in November) ... and now, fool that I am, I've signed up to do it again in December. December being what it is, I'll be amazed if I can pull it off, especially closer to the Christmas craziness, but why not try? I mean, it's pretty rare that I have nothing to say. (Stop laughing, all you folks who know me in-real-life).

But today IS one of those days. I've done the housework (that takes about 20 minutes when you live on a boat, you gotta love that) and I've been knitting snowflakes all morning. I need to get enough different ones to bother taking a picture, so that will be tomorrow. There's no storm, no news from funky little Fulford ... and I haven't finished Christmas decorating, so I can't take a picture of that, either. I have nothing to say, but I need to create a blog entry.

Oh, well, here's my PHOTO OF THE DAY:

The 'Zodiac' is an American (Washington-based) tall ship that spends quite a bit of time in these waters -- I think they might take school kids out on field trips and such. Their website is here.

And that's all I have to say when I have nothing to say. :)

2011-12-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's walk took us up ... up... up past the Fulford Elementary School, which we'd heard was there but had never seen -- and I completely forgot to take a picture of it! Here's the lawn that Michael has to mow in the summer, as seen from the upper road...
(The marina is down below all those trees).

There are many, many footpaths like this all over the place...
We passed this funky farm gate (those are old garden gloves on the fence-posts):
When we got home, we started to sort through all the Christmas decorations we brought back from Victoria, and the result was...
... Christmas has arrived at Roamers Landing! :)

KNITTING FOR CHRISTMAS

2011-12-02T07:59:00.001-08:00

The Christmas knitting that I do usually begins in January ... mainly because my entire family has come to expect socks under the tree, and there's never a time that I don't have socks on the needles anymore.

But this time of year I end up doing extra Christmas knitting, too, of course -- in case I end up in a craft fair, or for stocking stuffers, or for little gifts for people who pop in over the holidays, or for various gift 'exchanges', etc. This year I found an adorable little pattern that I've been having fun with this morning....
These little beaded trees use very few yards of sock yarn (or any fingering weight), so they're a great stash-buster. Each one uses 74 beads (or about 100 if you use them for the 'hanger' part), and they only take about half an hour to knit once you get onto the rhythm of the pattern. They could be bookmarks, gift tags, wrapping adornments, or tree decorations!
These ones aren't blocked yet, but the pattern claims that the finished size will be 5" high and 4.25" wide -- I think mine will be a bit smaller than that, which is fine with me.

The pattern, from Heartstrings Fiber Arts, can be found here if it interests you!

If you're like me and you also think that knitting your Christmas gifts will save you money this year, here's a great little story that you'll get a chuckle out of. (Make sure you read through to the end of page 2)...

Today Michael and I will put a tree up outside on the property patio, sort through our Christmas decorations, and go for a walk. Michael is on DAY FIFTEEN as a non-smoker!!

Today's PHOTO OF THE DAY...
If you click on this photo to make it bigger, you'll see that this otter has an eel in its mouth!

A ROCK SALT EXTRAVAGANZA :)

2011-12-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

I knew that Esther was coming (from Victoria) to knit with me this afternoon ... and that alone would have been wonderful! What I didn't know was that she was bringing along our old friend Bev ...
... so that was an additional treat! And then Carol turned up, too, so it was the biggest turn-out ever for the Fulford 'knitting circle'.

Bev was working on a sock (as was I):
Carol is our knitting 'imposter' but she does amazing bead weaving:
... and Esther was on a little departure from the norm, too. She took a cro-knitting class recently, and was showing us what she's learning:
A *very* fun afternoon with three of my favorite women! :-)

AWWWW....

2011-11-30T14:00:00.001-08:00

I mentioned the other day that I missed the 1 pm ferry coming back to Salt Spring from Victoria, so I never made it to knitting at the Rock Salt. What I didn't mention was that as we drove off the later ferry (3:35 pm) at Fulford, there was my friend Esther standing waiting to walk on to that ferry to return to Victoria .... she had come over (on the ferry we missed) hoping to surprise me for my birthday! So we pulled over in the parking lot and had about a 3-minute visit before she had to get on the ferry we'd just gotten off ... I felt so bad that I'd missed her!

Well, today I went to a meeting in Fulford (about a Christmas event here on Dec. 16th -- I'll be attempting to start a first-ever Christmas boat parade, but that's a post for another day) and stopped in to the Rock Salt for a coffee to take with me. A waitress whom I didn't think had ever even laid eyes on me said, "Oh! I have something for you!" and passed me an envelope.

In it was a hand-made birthday card from Esther, that she'd left with the staff there when I hadn't showed up! How sweet is this??
Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness, Esther!

Aren't friends wonderful?

A HAZY LAZY DAY

2011-11-29T16:47:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to a gray, drizzly day, and decided to do nothing today. Well, nothing but knitting, anyway! Guilt-free, again .... it's my birthday, and since I've already celebrated it I had no other plans, anyway. Stayed in my pj's, had long phone conversations with Esther, Penny and Carol (thanks all for the birthday wishes!), and had Mike's socks almost ready to turn the heel, when the phone rang one more time at 3 pm. Mike was on the ferry coming in to Fulford and invited himself for coffee on his way home to Ganges .... oh, well, it didn't hurt to get dressed after all. :)

Only two more days of NaBloPoMo -- yay, I think I'll succeed!

Here's today's PHOTO OF THE DAY:

Stellar and California sea lions, which are starting to gather here and there on this coast for the herring runs.

HOME AGAIN

2011-11-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

I never made it to knitting at the Rock Salt today ... we were having a looooooong breakfast with Jason and Mischa, and missed the 1 pm ferry.

Knitting did happen, though ... I finished a second pair of socks for Gibson for Christmas, a cloche to go with the pale yellow shawl, and I got started on a pair of socks for 'Galiano' Mike (who is now Ganges Mike) for Christmas.
'Something' will go in that 'criss--cross' spot, but I'm not sure what ... a giant button, a knitted flower, or a cluster of beads. Any opinions out there? :)
Plain beige for a plain kind of guy .... a nice, easy knit, too!

The hotel room was lovely (but I'd *never* pay the going rate for it -- probably $170 a nite), and, of course, BC was victorious in the Grey Cup. Here's a screen shot of the Mounties bringing in the cup...
I preferred the view out the window, personally ...
... and I'm glad to be home. :-)

A ROAD TRIP - TO VICTORIA :)

2011-11-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

We are off to Victoria this morning... Michael will do his little cleaning job that he does every weekend while I play in our storage room (read: stash!) and then we will check in to a lovely hotel on the harbour in time to watch that football game everyone's talking about. (Not being the least bit interested in football, I will have various knitting projects along to amuse myself with)!

Tomorrow morning we'll have brekkie with the kids (except Hailey, Whistler's too far away to come for brekkie...) and then I have to get my driver's license renewed; if I have time I'll do a bit of a grocery shopping (MUCH cheaper prices than here on Salt Spring!), maybe get a hair cut, and be back on the Salt Spring ferry to knit at the Rock Salt tomorrow afternoon!

I got an email from my Metchosin friend Wendy ... last year, our little Thursday afternoon spinning group (the one in which I was an imposter) created a hand-knit blanket from hand-spun yarns (we each individually knit a 'panel') which will be donated to a charity. Here is Isabel and Wendy showing off the final finished product, ready to go!
And today's "other" PHOTO OF THE DAY:
... just as if they were posing for me... :)

ANOTHER WET WINDY DAY

2011-11-26T08:14:00.000-08:00

Sitting in the fourth wind storm this week this morning, I'm sure glad we went for a long walk in the sunshine yesterday! Michael walked out onto this little point of land to read a memorial sign for a fellow who fell off his boat and drowned a few years ago...
Lots of birds in the estuary below the old Fulford Inn:
We made it all the way to Drummond Park... (that's our marina you can see in the distance across the bay):
You can see this kind of fencing all over the Island ... some of it is well over 100 years old and still standing:
Nuttin' but knittin' today ... too gloomy and miserable to do much else! Tomorrow we may go in to Victoria for the day and overnight -- we have a gift certificate for a lovely hotel room that needs to be used up soon (one of our prizes from last year's Christmas boat parade), and my birthday is coming up. Besides, then we can bring back all our Christmas lights and decorations from storage ... it's almost that time! :-)

STORM AFTERMATH

2011-11-25T10:55:00.000-08:00

More storm pics from yesterday ... this first one is a huge dock (about 12' wide by 30' long) that must have broken away from somewhere and came crashing into the head of Fulford Harbour on some pretty big waves yesterday:
I took these from Drummond Park, across from our marina:

My daughter Hailey posted this video on her Facebook page yesterday (that's a virus-free YouTube link, by the way) .... Michael and I have stayed in this B & B, about two blocks from where Hailey lives!

I finished the test knit shawl .... and it's barely big enough to be a kerchief! Lovely, but useless ... I used the recommended needle size and got gauge, so I don't know what went wrong! I may frog the whole thing and knit it again, with much bigger needles, and several more repeats.
Off for our walk now -- it's calm and the sun is out, but apparently another storm will be moving through here tomorrow!

STORM!

2011-11-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

We are sitting in a 35-40 kt southeast gale this morning. I took a video looking out our door into the harbour .... you can see it here.

We actually 'rescued' a sailboat that was anchored out on the other side of the Rock Salt restaurant yesterday. The anchor had dragged so the boat was only about 50' from shore, and today's gale was already predicted. We didn't want this boat to end up on the rocks ... we know the woman who owns it, and know that she's away right now, so Michael went out in our inflatable, and towed it into our dock. Check this out...

I'm off to knit at the Rock Salt - it should be fun today, combining knitting and storm-watching! (Oh, and I'll have another shawl to show you tomorrow....)

TODAY'S TWO-HOUR WALK

2011-11-23T16:31:00.000-08:00

Yes, Michael is a non-smoker! Well, he made it for 13 days, smoked 3 cigarettes one afternoon, and now he's on Day Six again..... sigh. But one thing that's really nice about the whole ordeal is that we are WALKING ... not every day, but probably every other day. Today the sun was out, and it was perfect for a walk!

One of the apple trees on our property ... sans leaves:
Here's an even older apple tree we saw on a vacant lot along the way...
And an old-growth cedar...
Other sights... not much commentary needed!
We've had a LOT of rain for the past few days, so we passed several seasonal streams that were all in 'full force...' as if it was spring!
And this last one, which made me think of a Thomas Kincade painting!
At one point, we were on a path into a this little cove, and an elderly fellow and his dog went by us ... we chatted for a few minutes and he mentioned that he was going for a 'dip.' I thought he was joking.

This is Harry (and his dog):
And this is Harry after he stripped down to the buff and dove in:
It's November 23rd, even if this is the Gulf Islands. Can you believe it?? This guy is nuts. And in better shape than I'll ever be! I think I'll stick to walking, though. :)

A NEW RAVELRY GROUP

2011-11-22T16:06:00.001-08:00

I have started a new Ravelry group for fibre folks who live in the Canadian Gulf Islands! I've been a member of the Vancouver Island group for a few years, but this is even more specific .... I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels 'isolated' as a fibre person here in the Islands, and yet there are hundreds of us! I went looking for my favorite photo to create the group's 'banner' and badge, and found it...
This photo is taken from the anchorage at Cabbage Island Marine Park (on the edge of the Strait of Georgia), and encompasses all of the southern Gulf Islands pretty much from Nanaimo in the north (right side of the picture) to the US border in the south (left side). I love it!

Oh, and if the group interests you, you can find it (or pass it on) here (if you're a Ravelry member).

It's gloomy and rainy and windy and we're rockin' and rollin' again ... and I'm warm and dry and knitting. :-)

ALMOST FORGOT!

2011-11-21T18:11:00.001-08:00

I almost forgot to post today, and since I've made it until now with NaBloPoMo, I'd hate to mess it up now! Spent the day in town shopping, doing laundry and running other errands ... oh wait, that's what Michael did while I went knitting with the Ganges knitting group! :) There were 8 or 10 of us there today, and it was really nice -- I'm even starting to remember people's names now.

I got to take Alaria for 'show and tell' (yes, we do that at our knitting circles here!) ... not blocked yet, but lovely just the same:
... and now I've cast on for a test knit shawl that I think will only take a day or two.

There's a 'Blog Tag' thing circulating for NaBloPoMo participants with a bunch of questions you can answer on your blog if you run out of things to write about. I don't ever want to run the whole post, but a few of the questions are kind of interesting. One of those questions is: "What has been your most beautiful post?"

I can't answer that, but I'd love to hear *your* comments about it.... what do *you* think has been my most beautiful post? Whether it was a photo or a story or a heartfelt comment I've made, I'd love to hear your thoughts about that!

SHAWL EXCHANGE PARCEL :)

2011-11-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

I've been participating in a shawl exchange on Ravelry, and yesterday Michael brought my parcel home from our mailbox in Victoria! Wow, this was my "pal's" first-ever knit lace shawl... isn't it stunning?
The yarn is an alpaca/wool/silk and nylon blend, and the colors are all my favorite 'jewel tones:' blues, purples and greens!

The parcel held lots of other goodies, too... some lovely pima cotton, a bookmark, a journal, a bath 'bomb' (I'll have to re-gift that since I don't have a bathtub!), a funky flowery pen, and some stitch markers made by my pal. She even included two little wooden airplanes for River and Gibson ... who are both here for a visit today! :)
What a nice early birthday present!

Our walk day before yesterday took us to the end of a narrow little windy road (almost EVERY road on Salt Spring ends in a narrow, windy road!) which ended in a parking lot at the 'head' of Long Harbour. We had to cross this little wooden footpath to get to the beach...
... which was lined with wild rose bushes:
It was damp and cold so we didn't stay long, but it was fun to find a part of the Island we hadn't seen yet!

Off to hang out with 'my boys!'

2011-11-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I was hoping to go in to Victoria for Knit'n'Cafe, but instead I woke up with an eye infection in my left eye and had to make an unplanned trip in to the clinic for antibiotic ointment.

You'd think that would have given me extra knitting time, but what happened instead was extra frogging -- I had to undo two rows of Alaria, twice, for various mistakes and mishaps! So I am no further ahead on that project this morning, but I do still see the light at the end of the tunnel -- about 20 more rows to go.

I may not make much progress on it this weekend, though... Michael left for Victoria this morning and when he comes back this afternoon he'll have River and Gibson with him. Yay, a sleepover with grandsons .... we haven't seen them since Hallowe'en, so I'm really looking forward to that! Of course, that also means a trip in to Ganges today for important stuff .... like popcorn, hot chocolate and juice.

PHOTO OF THE DAY:
These rock formations are common throughout the Gulf Islands .... a result of wind and wave action on the sandstone on many of the shores. This one is on Galiano Island!

SPECIAL OLYMPICS PROJECT

2011-11-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

The organizers of the St Albert 2012 Winter Games (here in Canada) would like to collect enough hand-made scarves for every Special Olympics athlete, coach and their family members and volunteers - that translates to approximately 2500 scarves.

The dream is to receive donations of uniquely patterned scarves - using the logo as a colour guide. (For more details, check out this news story, which includes a downloadable .pdf regarding size, colors and the mailing address to send completed scarves). The project organizers want the scarves to be as unique as are the athletes! As scarves are collected, they plan to post pictures to the Special Olympics web-site listed above.

If you are a Ravelry member, you can see some patterns here and here. Charts and patterns for the Canadian maple leaf here.

If not, you can use any pattern you want ... but I hope lots of knitters will join this effort to support our athletes this winter!

STORMY

2011-11-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

Night before last, the sky looked like this...
... and yesterday, mid-day, the wind came up, and by supper-time it was miserable: pouring rain, and we were rockin' and rollin'.
See the windsock in this photo?That's for the ferry skipper, and it was sticking straight out for most of the day yesterday -- we probably had about 40 knot winds in the bay here.

This morning, it looked like this...
See that white stuff up on the mountain? Yup, it's snow... none down here at sea level, but that's close enough for me!

At least I'm having lots of knitting time... I'm on the edging of Alaria already:

Looks like more of the same today.... so I'll be knitting at home this morning, and then knitting at the Rock Salt this afternoon!

2011-11-16T07:19:00.000-08:00

You would have to be living in a cave to not know about the 'Occupy' movement around the world right now; I've personally been following the Victoria-based event pretty closely, partly because I don't disagree with many of the issues, but mainly because our Jason has been in the thick of it since the beginning .... as quasi-protester, but primarily as film-maker/documentarian.

This morning, as always, I brought up the local paper online -- and read that the group is now pretty fragmented, and many folks will take their tents and go home in the face of an impending court injunction.

But guess who's still in the thick of it? (Image taken from the Victoria Times-Colonist, online version).
That would be our son, dead centre against the pillar, camera/tripod in hand.

So I guess I'll be watching even more closely now.... it's not the first time one of my children has been involved in a protest (indeed, they've all been arrested in one, but that's a story for another day! lol), and I'm really proud of my kids for not being afraid to stand up for what they believe in, but it's still a bit of a worry... for a Mom.

I'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, the PHOTO OF THE DAY:
A common west coast sight ... flowers growing out of what seems to be pure rock!
*

2011-11-15T15:33:00.000-08:00

Had to go into Ganges this morning to run some errands and do a bit of a grocery shopping. It never ceases to amaze me that something I think will take an-hour-and-a-half tops takes 4 or 5 hours! It's not like there's traffic jams here on Salt Spring, and I don't know anybody, really, so it's not because I got side-tracked stopping and chatting -- well, okay, we did go for coffee with Mike, but still...

Now I'm home long enough to put together a nice salad and then -- we've been invited out for dinner! Carol and Jon at EcoReality Farm have asked us over, so I said I'd bring the salad. Our first invitation out since we moved here!

The Alaria shawl is coming along nicely .... probably at least half-finished. Pictures tomorrow!

Meanwhile, the PHOTO OF THE DAY ...
This is the anchorage in Winter Cove on Saturna Island, and directly behind that sailboat is 'Boat Passage' which opens out to the Strait of Georgia. You can see some close-up photos of it (and an aerial view of the cove here). The tide runs through there fiercely, at times, and it also shallows out... and yet, lots of 'locals' use the passage to come and go from the Cove. We've never been brave enough (or is that stupid enough?) to try it, and we probably never will, but we love the anchorage.

SAME WALK, DIFFERENT SCENERY

2011-11-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

Today we went on the same exact walk that we went on last Friday, but we saw different things -- it was lovely again, though. A wild rose bush .... in November (see the bud on the right?) ....
A more likely scenario... dormant shrubs and trees...
The creature of the day that we saw ...
... and the home of the creature we're glad we *didn't* see...
My walk ended at the Rock Salt where a different knitting group is now meeting every 'other' Monday -- there were three of us, yay! I have about 10" done on Alaria so far ....

The rain (and the wind) held off for another day - it was 'crisp' but lovely here in Fulford today!

LAZY DAY

2011-11-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

I've had a lovely lazy day today .... did a bit of housework, organized my pattern binders and tidied up my knitting bookshelf -- yes, I have an entire bookshelf just for knitting books (and this is the 'organized' version ... you should have seen it before)!
It's drizzly and gray outside, I've had the Country Music Association Awards replaying on CMT, and I've got a good start on the latest shawl -- Alaria from QuinceandCo.com .
The yarn is (obviously) a pale yellow laceweight, and I've doubled it ... but I can't describe how this stuff *feels*, which is amazing. It's 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk and 10% cashmere. .. can you imagine? It's from Skein.

I think I'll finish off this cozy day by putting a meatloaf in the oven for dinner ... so I can keep knitting. :-)

PHOTO OF THE DAY:
Ever seen cows on a beach? Only on Prevost Island, you say! Pity....
*

SALISH SEA COWL

2011-11-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

We lived in downtown Victoria for seven years, almost to the day. Winter winds can be fierce there, coming off the water, but not once did we ever lose power. I had a theory that they must have 'beefed up' the power grid in the downtown core so that businesses could stay open... oh, and there's not many trees to blow down downtown.

But here on Salt Spring? A different story. Yesterday afternoon a serious westerly came up and at about 3 pm, the power went out. That's two windstorms so far this year, and both times we've lost power. It may be a loooooooooooong winter...

Oh, well, I cooked chicken corn chowder on the propane stove on the bridge (usually reserved for when we're at anchor somewhere), kept the fire going in our little woodstove all evening, and knitted! I finished the Salish Sea cowl....
... and the power came on at about 10 pm, just as I was going to bed.

This morning I had to go into town for groceries, and when I came home there were whitecaps in the bay and the Wind Walker is rocking and rolling again. So we've 'hunkered down' for the evening .... there's lots of left-over chowder, lots of wood for the wood stove in case the power goes out again.... and I can cast on a new shawl.

Life is good. :)

(Edited to add the PHOTO OF THE DAY!):
Sunrise over Trial Island, off Clover Point in Victoria (Washington's Olympic Mountain Range in the background).

2011-11-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

I woke up with a haiku in mind ...

Winter rains begin.
I must knit for gifts today.
Too wet for walking.

PHOTO OF THE DAY:
Michael has made it for a week without a cigarette -- yay!! He's had a few 'moments' of struggle, but nothing major, and feels pretty good about it so far. Of course, the 'patch,' the herbal pills and the Nicorette gum have helped. :-)

I am nearly done the Salish Sea Cowl and will probably have another shawl cast on before the end of the day .... this one. (If you scroll over the photo on the left, you can see the design close up).

The sun's coming out now, I may have to re-think my whole day!

CATCHING UP

2011-11-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

I just realized this morning that I've forgotten to post a 'Photo of the Day' for the last two days .... and I definitely want to do that throughout NaBloPoMo, particularly when I don't have much else to say! So here's two photos to make up for my omission!
Here's the tugboat 'Breeze' ... and I can't really find out anything about her except that she's anchored in Ganges, and for sale!

Second Photo of the Day:
This is the canal that separates North and South Pender -- passable by smaller power craft only, but it's a lovely 'shortcut.'

The only other photo I can show you right now is the current cowl on the needles:
It's my Salish Sea pattern, and I'm knitting it in a lovely fingering weight turquoise superwash merino with a bit of nylon 'sparkly' fibre - it's going to be gorgeous.

Knitting this afternoon at the Rock Salt, 2 - 4 pm. :)

33 YEARS

2011-11-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

Thirty-three years ago this morning, the man I love woke up with his last hang-over -- from that day to this he's never touched another drop of alcohol. We celebrated that with old friends in Parksville yesterday and today (his friend was celebrating 20 years sober, too), and it was lovely.
These friends are hunters, so the dinner menu last night included a moose roast. Michael and I aren't huge meat eaters, but we both love wild game, so it was perfect! We had a quick visit with Julie and saw her new place, and then had brekkie with her this morning.

I never took a single picture, but it was great to re-connect with old friends and to celebrate the amazing life we have today, thanks to 'putting the plug in the jug,' as they say!

ANOTHER ROAD TRIP

2011-11-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

Michael and I are off to Parksville this morning to visit our friends Ray and Sandy overnight .... we're celebrating a couple of special sobriety birthdays this week! Julie has moved, too, so we'll have a visit with her and check out her new place. We'll be back tomorrow.

I've cast on for a new cowl (it's another long one that you double up around your neck) so that -- and Gibson's second pair of Christmas socks, which seem to be taking forever -- will be my travelling knitting projects.

Check out this knitted Christmas tree!

Today's PHOTO OF THE DAY: 'Reflections'
... in Winter Cove Marine Park on Saturna Island.

LATEST SHAWL

2011-11-07T13:46:00.001-08:00

I put off doing my blog today until now because I was *this close* to finishing Glissade, and wanted to show it to you!

The first pic is closest to the true color. And these next two show the beads and placement (I used tone-on-tone beads) and the edging:
I love this shawl, but I may have to make another one for myself because this one is for the woman who commissioned me to make several.

Now I'm off to the 'Salty Yarners' knitting circle in Ganges for the afternoon. (And yes, Michael is on DAY FOUR of being a non-smoker, and doing well!)

SALT SPRING ISLAND ROAD TRIP

2011-11-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

I picked Julie up at the Vesuvius ferry yesterday morning, and our goal was to do a 'fall foliage fotos' circumnavigation of Salt Spring Island. We drove south to Fulford immediately, and our first photo stop was up on Isabella Point Road looking down on Fulford Harbor.
... and then out toward Jackson Rocks and Russell Island:
We watched the Canada Geese watching the ferry leave:
I've never seen the Coast Guard in this harbour, but they came in yesterday!
From Fulford we made our way to Burgoyne Bay, where there is a fairly large floating liveaboard community ... and lovely fall colors:
Even the starfish got in on the act ...
I caught this image of Julie in my rear-view mirror at some point:
We went down several side-roads throughout the day, most of which, on Salt Spring Island, simply 'dead-end' or become someone's driveway.
This lovely old abandoned stone house had '1901' etched above the door...
Soon it was time for lunch, so we made our way up the east side of the Island to Fernwood, and the newly renovated Fernwood Cafe.
Lunch was lovely (in my case, chicken corn chowder and a fresh bagel with cream cheese....... but we still had places to go and scenes to see.

We drove right out to Southey Point, but for some reason I wasn't inspired to take any more photos. I was trying to figure out which properties there have the salt springs for which the Island is named (I'd seen them decades ago)!

Then we made our way down Sunset Drive (along the west coast of the Island) and back toward Vesuvius. Just enough time for a walk on the public beach:
... and then Julie caught the 4:10 ferry back to Vancouver Island, and I drove home. A nearly picture-perfect day!

A NEIGHBORHOOD WALK

2011-11-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was DAY ONE of Michael's current attempt to quit smoking, so we decided to go for a long walk, something we haven't done since we got here -- no time in the summer, and then I had that little issue with my feet :) -- and it was lovely! We found this little footpath through a field just about two blocks away...
... and this home-built bench was on a boulevard nearby:
... and these adorable creatures adorned someone's driveway post:
... and this adorable creature made it through the day without smoking...
... and without even being grumpy!

More of the sights we saw... someone's gate:
... and several of these interesting-looking shrubs:
... and finally, winding our way back home up the hill from the harbor ...
Wish him well, it's not the first time he's tried, but we sure hope it's the last!(And by the way, I walked non-stop for a full hour, in my running shoes, and my feet were just starting to hurt a bit when we were coming back down our driveway to the marina --yay!)

A LUCKY DAY

2011-11-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

When Michael and I got married, we had two children under five (from previous), and I was off work with our brand new baby --we had about $37 to spare. We bought our wedding rings (not even a matched set -- his is a plain gold band and mine is etched white gold) at a pawn shop for $60 total. (We were told, more than once, that this would bring us bad luck -- we're still laughing about that 32 years later).

So it wasn't until our 10th wedding anniversary that I got my diamond 'engagement' ring. It's a tiny solitaire diamond, very simple and it wasn't particularly pricey, but it matched my wedding ring, somewhat, and I loved it. I specially loved that Michael thought of buying it at all! But about two years ago, I started a battle with eczema on my hands, and couldn't wear my rings anymore, so I tucked them away.

About 6 months ago I was able to start wearing my rings again ... and one day a few months ago, when I looked at my ring finger, that diamond ring was gone. We searched ... we took apart our bed, Michael took the sink drains apart, etc., but we couldn't find my ring. At the time I remember having a very strong 'conviction' that I would find that ring, because things like that don't happen to me.

So yesterday, after weeks of procrastinating, I finally got out a stepstool to clean out the top shelf in my galley (that's 'kitchen' for all you landlubbers) cupboard. You know, the cupboard that has 13 old ketchup packages, a half-used bottle of St. John's Wort, three little plastic bottles of food coloring from 1977, and a 6-ounce package of cumin you'll never live long enough to use? THAT cupboard needed cleaning, so I climbed up there, got everything out onto the counter, got some hot soapy water in the sink, and proceeded to wash the shelf. Something caught my eye ... and guess what?
There was my ring. I smiled, said, "Thank-you, universe" and put it back on.

Today's PHOTO OF THE DAY:
The poplar grove on the shore of Tumbo Island in the Cabbage and Tumbo Island Marine Park .... one of our all-time favorite anchorages here in the Gulf Islands.

2011-11-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

Made it into Ganges yesterday afternoon, and everything took forevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver. I didn't get home until 4:30! It was just one of those days.... the brake part hadn't arrived when I got there to pick it up (it was being couriered from somewhere off-Island), so then I went grocery shopping with 'old' Mike (that's our nickname for our friend to differentiate him from 'my' Mike), then back to the parts place ...then back to the grocery store to get the things I forgot the first time. You know. By the time I got home it was pouring rain and miserable.

This morning looks considerably brighter, and I have another busy day ahead. I may or may not go into Ganges, again this morning, for the Guild meeting, but I will definitely go to knitting at the Rock Salt this afternoon. And then this evening there's a new women's 12-step meeting here in Fulford to check out. And in the meantime, there's knitting to be done, and pumpkin seeds to roast. I've got about 8" done on the current shawl, and nearly finished a pair of Gibson-sized socks for Christmas!

Today's PHOTO OF THE DAY:
My view across Fulford Harbour at 8:00 a.m. this morning when the sun came up behind the marina. The fall colors here are stunning!

IN A FOG

2011-11-02T08:51:00.001-07:00

Woke up this morning to the sound of the foghorn on the ferry when it left at 6:15 ... it's nearly 9 a.m. now and the fog is lifting but still swirling around the bay. Toasty warm and knitting by the wood stove! I've cast on a new shawl ...
It's the Glissade Shawlette (second one down, centre) and I'm participating in a knitalong on Ravelry -- you can still join the designer's group by November 15th and get the pattern for free, here if it interests you. I'm using raw silk in a gorgeous raspberry red color, and it's an easy knit.

I have to go in to Ganges later this morning to pick up a part for Michael to do the brakes on the van. (Years ago, when our children were small, I used to tease him that if we ever got divorced he wouldn't have to pay a cent in child support but I'd make him sign in blood that he'd be my mechanic forever)!

Today's PHOTO OF THE DAY:
The anchor of a huge tugboat imposing itself on the sunrise in Ganges Harbour, Salt Spring Island.

NABLOPOMO

2011-11-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

It's November 1st, and that means it's NaBloPoMo time again -- that's National Blog Posting Month, and the challenge is to post something every single day. That *will* be a challenge for me, as I've been slacking off in that department, so I'm looking forward to it! I've decided to start a 'Photo of the Day' posting, so even if I have nothing to say (ha! do you *know* me??) I'll have something to post!

Mischa and the boys were over on Sunday for the day... our intention was to carve pumpkins, but I didn't get mine done until yesterday just before dark. The owner of this property we caretake turned up yesterday morning (he works overseas for several weeks at a time) so we had a good visit! These are not great photos, but you can see that I put the two of them out on our visitor dock here:
While Mischa was here, I got her to model the finished Imogen cowl for me!
If you're a Ravelry member, you can see several more shots of it here.

I also finished the gray socks on the weekend - they will be a Christmas gift for someone.
Today's plans include casting on for a new shawl, and cooking a harvest stew in the crock-pot.

Today's PHOTO OF THE DAY:
I've always called this an 'Egg Yolk' jellyfish, but it's actually the Lion's Mane Jellyfish .... apparently they can grow up to 7 feet across, but the ones we see around here are usually about 1 - 2 feet wide; they're plentiful, and can be yellow or a burgundy color. And yes, they can and do sting.

2011-10-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit of a social butterfly this week. After being confined to a recliner for the past month, it feels sooooooooooo good to be mobile! And yes, I may have overdone it a time or two, but I am still resting lots, too.

On Thursday, several members of my old 'Fibre Friends' Thursday spinning group came over from Victoria! (That's the group that I've been the 'spinning imposter' in for the last two years or so...). First we visited Jane's studio/store, and then had lunch at the Rock Salt and knitted -- it was a wonderful afternoon! Here's (from left) Rosalie, Alice, Pat, Sue, Wendy and Sue:
To top it off, they presented me with a gift. Back in April, when we lost our job in Victoria, this group started putting together a parcel for me ... they each spun a skein of yarn, and labeled it, and yesterday was the first time we'd gotten together since then. Look at this!
I was almost in tears when I opened it, and now I want to figure out some one thing I can make with it all -- what a sweet, thoughtful thing for them to do! Here they are waving goodbye from the ferry...
Then, yesterday, on the 'spur of the moment', I decided to go to Victoria -- I had mail to pick up and we needed a few other things, so I managed to make it to my old Knit'n'Cafe for an hour or so. Left here in the pouring rain at 11 a.m., and came back on the 5 p.m. ferry in the sunshine!

Today I'm driving in to Ganges for the final market of the year, and to have coffee with our old buddy Mike. :)

SURPRISE!

2011-10-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

I had two nice surprises yesterday!

First of all, Esther called from Victoria on Wednesday and said she'd come over to knit at the Rock Salt Cafe with me, so she was on the 1:30 ferry, and we had a really nice visit. Her version of it is here. :)

But I had an even better surprise than that before Esther got here. It was my regular every-other-day clinic visit in the morning, and guess what?
Those are my feet. In cotton socks. Guess what else?
Those are my feet in cotton socks and SHOES. More specifically, my red crocs! WHICH I was able to wear yesterday, for the first time. And walk in. Can you imagine how excited this makes me?? It's been 3-1/2 weeks, only, since my accident, and the healing had escalated so much since my last clinic visit that this is the result.

I will still have to keep my feet up, lots, and I still have pain when I'm on them for any length of time, and I'm walking like I have a two-by-four you-know-where (slow and methodic and lifting each foot carefully so nothing rubs anywhere!) .... and apparently it may be as long as a *year* before I can wear handknit wool socks again (because the new skin is apparently ultra-sensitive for a long time) but hey, I'll take cotton socks and crocs ANY day over swaths of bandages and gauze and white terry-cloth hospital issue slippers. I'm so tickled to see the progress on these feet ... honestly, when I first saw how badly they'd been burned, I was skeptical they'd *ever* heal. Doing the happy dance here! (Well, ok, I'm not really able to dance just yet, except mentally). :-)

Started my first commission piece day before yesterday ... it's actually a large cowl rather than a shawl, but it's going to be stunning.
That's a provisional cast-on (not one of my favorite things, I can tell ya!); the pattern is the Imogen Cowl ('frost flowers') and I'm using a skein of Madeline Tosh 'Prairie' lace in the "Ink" colorway. It's lace knitting on both sides (no straight purl rows, in other words) so it's a bit of a challenge in concentration, but otherwise a fun project.

Rainy day today, so even though I could 'step out' .... I probably won't. :)

MUCH ADO ABOUT ... LOTS OF STUFF

2011-10-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

But before I get into that ...

I want to thank all of you, once again, for all the thoughts and prayers and comments and positive energy sent this way. I think you're all WONDERFUL; you've sustained me (yes, even if I don't know you!) through so much this last 6 months, and I just want you to know how much I appreciate that. Blogs are a great thing, in the sense that I can 'journal' (which helps me, especially when things are tough), but then I also know that there's real live human beings 'out there' who care about me, some 'known', some not - and that means a lot to me.

It also means a lot to me to have such a supportive family ... they all are, but especially Michael! A few of you have commented on how 'strong' I am ... and I sure don't feel strong. I feel whiny and negative and needy a lot of the time since this accident. What many of you don't know about me (because I don't talk about this) is that needing help in my daily life is something that makes me crazy -- I'm extremely independent, usually, and having to adjust to having Michael (or anyone) 'do' for me is almost a harder struggle than just the pain and discomfort of the burn itself.
Anyone who's met Michael already knows what a sweetie he is .... he's had to put up with me being incapacitated for the past 3 weeks (which has required a LOT of 'doing' for me, AND dealing with my aversion to that at the same time), and I just wanted to publicly acknowledge him here! He gets the big gold star in my books. :-)

On a completely different subject, we get our eggs from a local organic farmer named Carol (who is also a real sweetie, and if you live on SSI, you can support the project she's part of here). I just have to show you the welcoming committee when you pull into their farm (how many goats can *you* count)?
Just as if they're posing for us ... how adorable is that?

Much knitting continues ... socks for Gibson for Christmas:
... and I have yet another pair on the needles for him. And some for me, too, looking forward to the day when I can actually put socks on again!
And the REALLY good news is that I've just landed a pretty nice commission ... to hand knit up to EIGHT shawls and/or cowls between now and 'spring', for a professional woman who is providing all the yarn (and willing to cover any other expenses) and paying me, too -- in real money, and in gorgeous Australian merino yarns! Guess it's a good thing I still have a lot of down-time ahead, huh?

NUTTIN BUT KNITTIN

2011-10-14T06:39:00.000-07:00

Same old, same old, here on the Wind Walker. Can't have my feet on the floor (that includes standing, walking, and even just sitting up) for more than about seven minutes at a time, still -- so I am spending a LOT of time in the recliner, pretty much prone. They told me to keep them elevated and get lots of rest, but this is ridiculous! Like I predicted several days ago, even knitting's getting *old.* No shawls on the needles at the moment, because I'm attempting to get started on Christmas stuff now ... either for sale at a craft show here, or for gifts. First up, a lovely wool hat and cuffs (or fingerless whatevers):

Yes, that is a flower a la Nicky Epstein you see on the brim of the hat (thank-you, Esther, for the inspiration!) ....
Once I'd finished that flower, it was easy to knit another .... I've been wanting to cover some machine embroidery on my favorite fleece jacket for a long time:
I've also finished another Gulf Islands Scarf in the leftover silk from the stole I made for Julie for the wedding:
I'm hoping to get the pattern written up sooooooooooooooon -- it's a great beginner lace pattern, reversible, and a quick knit.

Speaking of Julie and the stole (and the wedding), here she is:
And here's Doneen and her hubby Curtis, with Julie and her ex (Doneen's dad), Gord:
Instead of walking his daughter down the 'aisle', Gord and Doneen two-stepped from the Lodge out to the lawn! How fun is that?
And here's my other favorite picture from the wedding (of the ones I've seen so far) - Jordon (Julie's son, 'Neen's bro, and our globe-trotting nephew whom we haven't seen in about 10 years) ...and our Jason:
It's not obvious in this picture, but Jason (37) is 6'3" and Jordon (30?) is 6'7" -- so I get a chuckle out of knowing that Jason had to 'look up' to his cousin, who looked up to him all the years they were growing up. :)

According to all reports the wedding was lovely and everyone had fun!

There was a little drama here in the bay yesterday. You might recall this photo I posted when we first moved here, of the 'alternative community' in the bay behind us.
See the little yellow boat anchored on the right? It's an old junker that's used occasionally by a young woman who comes and goes. But yesterday, after several days of torrential rains, this is what happened to it. Michael went over to see if he could right it:
There wasn't anything he could do, but we think we got a message to the young woman, anyway. On a really low tide they may be able to get it upright again and see if the bottom can be repaired -- for now, I think it'll just be an 'eyesore'.

Today is 'clinic day' as we've come to call it around here ... that means I get an extra dose of discomfort and tiredness because getting me there and back is no picnic, and by the time they're done taking care of me, it usually hurts worse for a few hours. There, I've got my whining out of the way for the day.....

THANKSGIVING SUNDAY

2011-10-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

In case you can't think of anything to be grateful for this morning, check out this video (it's YouTube, virus-free, and absolutely delightful)!

It's days like today that remind me that there are folks all over the world with *actual* problems. Me, I have everything.... I'm warm and dry and fed and loved, and in every one of those categories, I'd rank my life a 10 out of 10. I have meaningful work, I get to live in an amazing place, I have pastimes I'm passionate about and have the means to pursue, an amazing family, and equally amazing friends. (Including Penny and Robin, who "just happened" to be on Salt Spring yesterday and stopped in for a way-too-quick visit)!

Yes, I'm still in some pain, and no, I can't stand on my feet for more than about 7 minutes, and no, I won't be able to don socks and shoes for several more weeks, apparently. But .... my husband has a favorite line when someone asks him how he's doing; he always says, "Well enough." And that's how I am today .... well enough. To live, love and laugh, and to count my blessings. And there's a long list!

My children all made it safe and sound to Alberta for my niece's (their cousin's) wedding, and between that and my lack of mobility, we won't be doing a turkey dinner this year. It'll be a quiet at-home day today, and tomorrow I have to go to the clinic -- that's an every-other-day activity since I got burned, and will be for awhile yet.

It's definitely becoming autumn here ... this is our view up the marina ramp:
... and our view across the harbour:
Michael is spending every spare non-raining moment getting the boat 'ready' for winter, which this year, includes some repairs to the cabin roof. So my view from the recliner yesterday was like this...
(See that nasty overhang? It's getting fibreglassed, and should be all pretty again in no time).
I've been playing with some lace 'doily' patterns and making coffee coasters for Christmas -- some for gifts, some to sell at the local craft fair in November. These are all fun and fast knits...
I've done about a dozen now, in Christmas colours and various patterns -- they're all about 5" wide, blocked. I got the patterns here and she has at least one free one on her website here.

I hope you all have a beautiful THANKS-giving day -- I know I will!

OK I LIED

2011-10-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't actually lie ... but I *was* being unrealistically optimistic in my last post, and trying really hard to find the silver lining in an otherwise pretty dismal cloud.

The truth is that it will be weeks before these feet are healed. I'm only able to get up out of the recliner long enough for bathroom breaks and a quick check of email before the pain is overwhelming. My feet have to be elevated 24/7. Even knitting is going to get old really soon. In the past 24 hours I've finished the lavendar socks (they were just past the heel turn day before yesterday), and another cowl, and started a new silk scarf (from the wedding stole leftover yarn) ....
I had also decided to knit my niece and her hubby an aran sampler afghan for a wedding present but it isn't even started yet. So I did this 'sampler of the sampler' to send along for their gift-opening:
And I said 'send along' because I won't be going to the wedding now. :-(

Jason, Hailey and I had planned to leave this Friday and drive together (about a thousand miles to just outside Calgary, Alberta), and then Mischa (who is in New York right now) would fly in to meet us there for the wedding, and then drive back with us. I was SO looking forward to having all this time with my children (who are no longer children, and trying to get us all together anymore is like herding cats!) and to being there for Doneen's wedding ... but there's no way I can do it. Or much else. Except knit.

Not having fun. Maybe if I get a better sleep tonight I'll see the humor in this situation again tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me!

A SMALL DISASTER

2011-09-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Note: The story I'm about to tell you is true. And it is ultimately knitting-related. And it's intended to make you LAUGH.

Night before last we invited Mike over for dinner to celebrate his retirement, at 78! (He's been the wharfinger at Whaler Bay for 5 years, and has now gotten all settled on a new dock in Ganges where he has NO responsibilities!)

I haven't cooked a roast of beef for years, partly because we're not big meat-eaters, and also because of the price of those things. But this was a special occasion, and so I shelled out for a (cheap cut) pot roast. Then I went to the farmer's market and bought a bunch of fresh-out-of-the-garden organic carrots, and fresh this year's baby potatoes. It took me two hours to prepare the veggies and dress the roast with onion and garlic and beef broth. Into the oven it went while I prepared an equally delectable fresh-organic-greens salad. Michael drove in to town to pick up Mike, and at 5:30 the table was set and they'd arrived back.

When I lifted the glass roasting pan out of the oven, the heat (it had been on at 400 degrees because it wasn't cooking fast enough), for some reason, went right through my oven mitt. I tried to get it set down quickly on the counter because it was going to burn my hand, but couldn't do it -- upside down it went, and all that lovely 400 degree fluid spilled over both of my feet! I happened to be wearing a pair of my handknit wool socks, of course, so as I was screaming in pain I also reached down and ripped off the socks so the burning would stop. With dinner now all over the floor and our poor friend staring with that I'm-absolutely-shocked-and-completely-helpless-deer-in-the-headlights look, my hubby had the presence of mind to get a basin filled with ice water for my feet until we could figure out getting me to Emergency.

The short story is that I have second-degree burns on my left foot, and first degree on the right foot. Yes, it was painful then, but somewhat better yesterday and today already, and they tell me by tomorrow it *shouldn't* be painful at all. However, I'm bandaged from ankles to toes, and I'm under doctor's orders to sit in my recliner for at least the next 48 hours with my feet up and doing NOTHING. A home nurse will visit later today. And then it may take as long as 3 weeks to heal completely, during which time I will have to be in bare feet, and in the recliner as much as possible (after all, it is nearly October, and one can't be out running errands, etc., in bare feet). Besides, I have a husband who loves taking care of me, mostly because I'm so cussedly independent most of the time that he doesn't get the chance.
So guess what? It's my feet that are burned, not my hands. I'll be having A LOT of guilt-free knitting time. Not exactly the ideal way to get it, but, hey, I'll take what I can get! Mwah ha ha.

I already finished the 'mystery object' which turned out to be a lovely cowl...
And yes, I'll behave myself, and do whatever those medical people tell me to do. I promise. :-)

KNITTERS!

2011-09-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

By knitting in public regularly, I have met two or three knitters here on Salt Spring, and at least one has come to the knitting circle I'm attempting to start here in Fulford. But yesterday I got to meet at least eight new knitters! One face was familiar from the one meeting of the local Guild I've managed to get to, and it turns out that this knitting circle meets in her partner's restaurant. I'd like you to meet Heather, who graciously modeled the (still not blocked) stole for me...
There was also another Guild sale installation in the window of Bruce's Kitchen ...
In this case, it was a woven (and then felted, I think) set of a fork, knife and spoon, of course!

Bruce's Kitchen is a small but funky little coffee shop overlooking the park where the world-famous Saturday market is held (you can see the edge of it beyond the parking lot in the photo), and that was the first time I'd been there. I arranged to meet our friend Mike for coffee an hour before the knitters were coming, and got a 'lesson'. You see, Bruce's doesn't serve you coffee, you make your own -- in little one-cup French presses. Mike showed me the ropes...
How cute is that?

Well, we've weathered our first big storm of the season in the marina -- it blew up to 40 knots in Haro Strait off and on for the past two days. We lost power for a few hours, and 'rocked and rolled' a lot, but otherwise the Wind Walker, and the marina, came through it just fine. We're anticipating more of those, and worse, over the winter, so that was just a preview, but it was a good one!

I'm now doing a test knit for a mystery something ... and is it ever! I'm just following directions precisely and blindly on this one, because nothing about it is intuitive, and, just to complicate things more, it's knit in Noro. Check this out:
Note the changes in direction, the live stitches on the holder, etc. I have NO idea what this will become, but it's fun trying to figure it out. I'll keep you posted!

AUTUMN

2011-09-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Just in the past week, autumn has begun to arrive in Fulford Harbour. It's been rainy and dismal, but it was nice after supper on Friday night so we went out for a little dinghy ride. Little wisps of fog chased us around the bay ...
... but we know we may not have many more evening dinghy rides before the nights start closing in on us, so it was lovely to be out there -- the calm, the quiet, and the smells of the ocean, mingled with the cedars ringing the harbour, were all lovely. And what a nice place to come home to. Cruising past the 'village' ....
... to our little corner of the world...
On Saturday mornings, we have a bit of a routine. Michael has to go in to Victoria to do a little janitorial contract we've hung on to (it's nice that it's for our son, too!), and the longer we live here, the less he likes to go there -- so he takes the 6:15 a.m. ferry so that he can get done and be on the 1 pm ferry home. It's still dark at that hour now, so I drive him to the ferry and then drive across the bay to Drummond Park to watch the ferry leave. This weekend, by the time the ferry left it was just light enough to get a picture ...
Then I usually drive in to Ganges .... grocery shopping, the market and doing laundry take up my morning. This weekend the West Coast Work Boat Rendezvous was happening in Ganges -- it's always interesting to see these beautiful old work boats mostly now converted to pleasure craft -- and our old friend Maryann from Parksville (one of the charter members of the Association) is always there, too.

The Rendezvous also marks the end of the 'summer' moorage season in Ganges. Once all the work boats leave on the Sunday, folks who are waiting for 'winter' moorage are generally hovering around like vultures to get on that particular dock -- it's first-come-first-serve, and it's *really* inexpensive, so there's a lot of competition! At 8:30 yesterday morning, the 'Kanaka,' a well-known local boat, left the harbour authority dock across from us (where he spends the summer) to cruise in to get his place there ...
... and our friend Mike began his journey, with some friends from Galiano, to do the same thing.
We drove in to meet him, and 'caught up' with him near the Salt Spring Sailing Club docks ...
(By the way, that big old fish boat behind him is the 'Tyee 1', another little piece of BC history, at over 120 years old and still floating!). Here's the boat that was the 'posture child' for this year's Work Boat Rendezvous -- it's called the Torhavn, and I don't know much about it except that it sports an Easthope engine!
Anyway, we got Mike all settled in his new 'home' in Ganges and then went for lunch with him, his friends Jeff and Audi who had come with him, and our friend Maryann. (Jeff and Audi, by the way, own a sailboat called 'K So' and Audi tells the story: "Jeff starts every question to me with "k, so.... are we going shopping?" "K, so, what's the plan?" 'K, so, we're buying a sailboat?' so I decided that should be the name of the sailboat we bought!" And then they named the dinghy 'Let's Go!')

So we had a nice day in Ganges, but had to get back here because the first wind storm of the season was roaring in, and we wanted to check on all the boats.

In spite of all that 'out there' activity, I did manage to have some quiet time right here, and FINISHED the 'Entwined Hearts' shawl. Here's about a fifth of it, in all its unblocked glory...
Today I'm going in to Ganges again to the knitting circle that meets in the winter months there, and I'll try to get someone to model it for a better picture!

It's pouring rain and windy out, again -- I think I'll go refill my coffee and cozy up to start a new knitting project!

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO out there

2011-09-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

We've been home for a week already? Where DOES the time go?? Well, it has been busy around here! But first, some more pics of our mini-holiday.... that Glenthorne Passage sunset was exquisite, and Blogger wasn't cooperating the other day!
That house on the point sits empty all the time - we've never seen any activity there at all. But the passage behind it is the entrance to Ganges Harbour, and it's busy all the time -- boaters coming and going, freighters and ferries. This next pic is just to the left of that house, and 10 minutes later...
While we were anchored in Glenthorne we went via inflatable over to James Bay, the park on the north-west shore of Prevost, where it is my mission to pick apples from the abandoned orchard there. It's Michael's mission to feed the deer!
(Is it just me or do these two have the same facial expression?) ;-)
Anyway, we had a great time, and we were just so grateful to be able to at least get away for a week.

Since we got back, I've company twice. First of all, I had a visit from Maria and Julie (not my sister, another Julie!) last week. I met Julie several years ago when she demo-ed her antique sock machine at the Victoria FibreFest; I 'met' Maria when we both participated in a 'secret shawl knit-along' online a few years ago, and I'd been following her blog ever since. Unbeknownst to me, Julie and Maria also knew each other through a sock-machine-knitting forum online -- and through a very convoluted series of events, Maria came up from Washington to visit Julie in Victoria, and then they came over here for the day. I'll let Maria tell you about our visit. It was a lovely day, and I'm enjoying getting to know both of these knitters! (I have NO idea why I didn't take any pictures, though...)

Then the next day my friend Esther and our 'Bawston' buddy Maggie (she's the red-head) came for a visit -- we hung out to knit at the Rock Salt Cafe for awhile and then came back to the Wind Walker. We didn't get a lot of knitting done, but we had a great time!
I've also been busy picking, freezing and baking with blackberries (and apples!), in between knitting and two new little writing gigs I've started. In our almost-34-years together, I've baked Michael maybe three blackberry pies, and this year was one of them. We've had blackberry pancakes and muffins, and I've frozen a couple of pounds so far. Now the rains have started, so I may not get any more...

Knitting is happening, too, but nothing I can show you -- I still have about 12" to go on the silk stole, and about an inch to go before the toe decreases on the current pair of socks. I *have* done an interesting and fun test knit for a Christmas project, but can't say anything about that yet until the pattern is released.

Day before yesterday, Michael and I went on a 'road trip' by ferry, to Galiano Island. Our friend Mike, at 78, is finally retiring from his job as wharfinger at Whaler Bay, and moving here, to Ganges. He and a friend are cruising his boat over this weekend, so he asked us to come and get a bunch of his stuff -- tools and heavy things that are taking up space on the boat, and that he really won't be using anymore. Getting to Whaler Bay from here on the ferry system requires going from here to Schwartz Bay (the main terminal for the Victoria area), driving off, going about a mile out on the freeway, doing a u-turn and coming back to get on the Galiano ferry. At the end of the day we had to do the same thing in reverse, so it was a four-ferry day!

Here's the Vancouver ferry coming out of Active Pass, which our ferry is just entering...
And here's Whaler Bay, a lovely little spot that I'm sure Mike will miss...
The guys were busy unloading and sorting Mike's dock boxes and loading stuff in to our van, so I got to wander and take pictures. :) You can see the two of them working away next to Mike's boat on the dock...
We got back to Fulford at 10 pm, exhausted!

Yesterday I had to drive in to Ganges for a doctor's appointment, and passed this along the way...
It's an installation promoting the upcoming local Spinners and Weavers sale on October 1st and 2nd, which is also the day of Salt Spring's Apple Festival -- so if you're coming over from Victoria for either event, let me know!

Here's a couple more shots I took while I was in Ganges... I'm a-feared the rainy season has begun. :(
Today .... I'm knitting. At home here this morning, and at the Rock Salt this afternoon from 2 - 4 pm.

AAAH... WE NEEDED THAT (Post 2 of 2)

2011-09-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh when I read Esther's comment yesterday ("How long is a few hours in Salt Spring time"?) We have an 'inside joke' on Vancouver Island that we're all on 'Island time,' which is, of course, a slower pace compared to city life. But I've commented that I thought I knew the meaning of 'Island time' until I moved here to Salt Spring Island, where the pace is even slower. (SS Islanders call Vancouver Island 'the big Island!')

Anyway, the answer to the question must be 'about 24 hours' because that's how long it's taken me to get to this second post. Our friend Mike from Galiano showed up on the 9:30 a.m. ferry yesterday morning, and I needed to take him in to Ganges .... a 14-mile drive to the 'town' here on the Island that somehow ends up taking all day every time you go!

So ... back to our little mini-holiday. After 5 days in Bedwell Harbour, we reluctantly pulled up anchor (it's a tough place to leave) and moved on to our second-favorite Gulf Island spot, Glenthorne Passage on Prevost Island. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a year might remember that we cruised there last year but only stayed a few hours before I became seriously ill and had to be rushed to the Gulf Islands hospital (you can read the details here if you like)! We've been back twice on day trips with guests but this was the first time we went by ourselves and could stay for a few days. It was heavenly... here's the view looking out from the anchorage onto Captain's Pass (that's a ferry going by in the distance):
Here's the same view (a little closer-up) at sunset (with a few extra neighbors):
Glenthorne is known for its stunning sunsets, and it didn't disappoint... but for some reason Blogger won't let me upload any more pictures right now!

KNITTING happened, of course ... I've made serious progress on the silk stole for Julie, and nearly finished a pair of socks. But the most exciting project is that I've designed and knit a new scarf...
... which I'm calling the Gulf Islands scarf, and which I'll have the pattern written up for SOOOON.

Michael looks pretty relaxed after the holiday, don't you think? (Well, at least his hair does.... we both need haircuts badly!)
I'll have to figure out what's going on with Blogger and post, yet again, later. I still have lots more pics to show you!

AAAHHH ... WE NEEDED THAT (Post 1 of 2)

2011-09-13T04:35:00.000-07:00

Got back yesterday afternoon from a week-long cruise -- not very far away, but every minute was wonderful. (Warning: long and photo-heavy post here)!
We made a bee-line for Bedwell Harbour, as we've done every year - the difference this year is that it's less than 1.5 hours away, instead of 4! Our first three days there were very relaxing and hot -- we wasted no time getting into the pool and hot-tub, and even treated ourselves to a hamburger one night in the pub.The food's great, and the view is wonderful...
On day four we had our first (and only) 'mis-adventure'. Just to orient you to the depth of this disaster, you need to know that, on land, the pool is across a lane off to the right in this photo. And the anchorage, Beaumont Marine Park, is off to the right behind the ivory-colored shed you see, centre-right in the photo. In other words, you can't see the anchorage from the pool or the pub. (The boats you see in the background there are actually in the Poets Cove Marina).

So... Michael gets out of the pool to join me in the hot tub one day ( a distance of about 5') and happens to glance out toward the marina -- just in time to see our boat going by, about 75' from the breakwater in front of the marina! We flew out of the hot tub, dried off and dressed in about 30 seconds, ran down the dock to our inflatable ... and chased our boat! Turns out that a big cruiser had come in and tried to anchor next to us -- they must have landed right on our anchor and then lifted it when they moved on to another spot instead. In the process, the Wind Walker was set adrift, and was slowly making its way across the harbour when we spotted it! Good thing Michael happened to look up when he did, and amazingly, it didn't hit any other boats or the breakwater before we 'caught' it.

We had a few other, more pleasant, dinghy adventures:
I took lots of pictures of scenery, too -- I hope, for you, that they don't all start looking the same!
Every year, one of the things I enjoy the most is watching what I call the 'cast of characters', and in this case, that means lots of different vessels:
And this year, for the first time, two other Chris Crafts were anchored in Bedwell at the same time as we were -- both of them a bit smaller, and built in different years, but still interesting to see.
After 5 days at Bedwell, we moved on to our second favorite anchorage in the Gulf Islands, Prevost Island. Post #2 to follow in a few hours!

Happy Labour Day – Guest Post from Hailey...

2011-09-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Waterborne Blog Followers,

Marilyn (my mom) invited me to guest post for her this morning, to let you all know that they headed out on the Windwalker for a mini-September holiday (very different from their usual month long holiday in September), but are pleasantly at anchor in Beaumont Marine Park, Bedwell Harbour on South Pender Island. All is well!

Away from the phone, email, and internet access, they are planning to stay anchored out through until the end of the week, and then cruise over the weekend to make their way back to Fulford, on SaltSpring Island.

Happy Labour Day / Memorial Day, and enjoy the rest of your holiday-weekend!

- Hailey

DOING THE HAPPY DANCE

2011-08-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

First of all, about a month ago I put two of my shawls in a local (Fulford) shop that has other fibre-y gifts (and it's owned by a local weaver) -- and she told me my prices weren't high enough. Well, she called to tell me that both shawls sold last week -- at the higher prices she put on them! So even after she takes her commission, I'll still have a nice little cheque for myself -- and she wants more shawls. :)

Secondly, Mischa and the boys were just here for the weekend... we went to the lake twice, and one of the times watched this young man fishing from the float:
And the boys got in some beach-combing, of course:
And Mom got to relax a little!
We watched boats come and go...
... and picnicked at Drummond Park, and did dinghy rides, and drank coffee .... and I added another 5" to the 'Hearts Entwined" stole.

So today I have grocery shopping and laundry to do.

ON THE WATER

2011-08-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely day on the water yesterday with some folks we met last month, here. There were nine others besides us, and we went all the way over to James Bay on Prevost Island. In Swanson Channel, we saw a whale-watching boat we'd never seen before...
... and then this beauty (an old Chris Craft, but MUCH older than ours!) went by:
... and when we pulled in to James Bay on Prevost, this youth group was just leaving...
Michael had time to schmooze with the ladies...
I had time to knit.... 23" done on the stole...
... and I'm playing with a whole new scarf design/pattern...
We were back at the marina by 4:30, in sunshine, blue sky and calm seas!

Forgot to show you this yesterday. . . the locals, when they need to check something on their boats, 'haul out' by tying up to the government dock walkway across from us and waiting for the tide to go out...
... but it must not have been anything serious because he sailed out past us as we were coming home!

2011-08-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of rain on the roof .... I can't remember the last time it rained!

Just to catch up from last week .... I never did get that freezer, but an entirely different one should be getting delivered here today. I can hardly wait ... I've been picking blackberries for about a week, and buying great produce at the market, as well.

Fulford is such a sleepy little village that anything out of the ordinary gets noticed... so last week, when I glanced out the window, I saw a huge barge being brought in to the bay by tugboat. We hopped into the inflatable and buzzed over to Drummond Park (across the bay) in time to watch two buildings being unloaded onto the beach!

The smoke is coming from the tugboat, powering up to manoever the barge onto the beach. I spoke to Nickel Bros. House Movers the next day and they said they purposely beach the barge about 2 hours before high tide so that by the time the tide comes fully in, they are finished and the barge is re-floated.
This is the crane putting ramps in place for the trucks to drive on to the barge -- the buildings are already sitting on trailers. I have a great video of this whole process, but it's 7 minutes long and the file's too big -- if I can figure out how to edit or compress it or something, I'll upload it.

I've tried to find out who the recipient of these buildings is, but no one has returned my calls so far. It was a fun evening in the dinghy, anyway!

More random scenes from around the harbor... a neighbor on the government dock bringing his sailboat around the ferry dolphins:
... an evening parade past our stern:
... and a seagull hoping to be fed:This past weekend there was a big event here on the Island -- the 12-step 'community' holds annual rallies in various places, and the annual Salt Spring one is a huge camp-out. We didn't camp (because we can drive there in 20 minutes) but it was fun to see lots of old friends, and much to my surprise, I tried BBQ lamb for the first time in my life. It was delicious! The event is held at the Salt Spring Island Farmers Institute , the same place that houses the local museum and the Gulf Islands Spinning Mill ... but I didn't have time to visit either of those places. Another day!

Today we'll be hanging out at home because tomorrow we have a boat cruise planned with several elderly folks, and we need to build a new set of stairs for them to get aboard (the old one got tossed in the dumpster when we left Victoria)! I hope to find some knitting time .... I've got about 18" done on Julie's stole, and of course, another pair of socks on the needles. :)

GOING TO TOWN

2011-08-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

After seven years of living right downtown, I've had to adjust to planning a whole day just to 'go to town' now. Ganges is about 15 miles away, so you don't want to forget anything!

We have to go to a building supply place to pick up new supports for this dock repair...
Apologies for the twilight picture .... is this one better? :)
Anyway, so we have to go to Ganges this morning. That means ....

- gathering up the laundry to take to the only public laundromat on the whole island;
- making sure we have all our garbage and recycle-ables sorted and ready to go (there is no pick-up here on Salt Spring -- we have to deliver, and we actually pay by-the-bag for our garbage disposal);
- have any paperwork or banking that needs to be done, with us;
- have any phone numbers or addresses we need (in this case, I'm picking up a freezer that's being given away!);
- have the empty egg cartons to return to the farm where I'll pick up another dozen organic eggs on the way home;
- having a thorough grocery list (this will become even more imperative at the end of September when the Fulford village convenience store, Patterson's Market, closes for good).

I've gotten tired just making that list! However, it's moments like this one, last night, that make up for the inconvenience of living in a rural place...
(Click to see a larger photo of our evening 'serenader')! Probably someone waiting in the ferry line-up ... but what a lovely way to pass the time...

TWO MONTHS

2011-08-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

Two months ago this morning we untied the lines on the Wind Walker and, after seven years, cruised out of the Victoria Harbour to come to a new opportunity here on Salt Spring Island. The job, in many ways, is similar to what we were doing in Victoria .... taking care of a small marina and the adjacent property. In other ways, it couldn't be more different.
First of all, the marina is a bit smaller -- there is only room for about a dozen boats here. In Victoria, almost every boat had 'un-official' liveaboards on it, but here, we are the only ones. I really like that right now ... but I might feel differently about it in the dead of winter when it's a bit more isolated.

There is a lot more 'transient' traffic here -- we have an 80' dock that sits empty other than for visiting/cruising boaters. Boats stop here on their cruises for a variety of reasons: it's a mile walk to two vineyards that have wine-tastings and tours almost every weekend, and on that same route is the 150-year-old stone church that people like to see close-up, as well as a 'cold beer and wine store' (not on the same property as the church). :-) Or they come in just to wander around Fulford 'Village' -- a funky little community with a few shops and a great restaurant and organic bakery -- or to meet someone coming in on the ferry.

Whatever their reason for cruising in to Fulford, it's our job to see that they are tied up safely, and know how to find whatever they've come for. Some folks love the quiet of this harbour (as opposed to Ganges, the other main community on Salt Spring, which is a hectic and noisy little port) so they decide to spend the night -- in which case, it's our job to get them hooked up to dockside power and water, and make sure they have a key to the bathroom building.

All of this is revenue in our pockets -- we have a 'day rate' and an overnight rate, and Michael and I get 50% of whatever we bring in. The other 50% is ours to account for and administer -- for dock repairs, washroom supplies, etc.

The property is 2.5 acres, and over half of it is in LAWN, which needs to be mowed pretty much weekly. The house is actually two (upper and lower) 3-bedroom executive suites, and the family lives in the bottom suite when they're here. They live on Vancouver Island but come here for most of the summer, the odd long weekend, etc. In addition, he works overseas in the oil industry, and is gone for long periods of time .... so we are here because he doesn't want his wife to have to worry about or deal with property issues in his absence. The upper suite is currently empty and being advertised (got $1800 a month you don't know what to do with? It's stunning!) and once there are renters, we'll take care of minor maintenance stuff, as well.

So that's 'the facts' about our new life. Basically, it's a pretty easy and fun job that's not very time-consuming! In exchange, we get to live our live-aboard lifestyle, with new scenery! And lovely scenery it is, too .... for boaters, it doesn't get much better than being in the heart of the Gulf Islands, and not having to deal with the Juan de Fuca Strait (which blows 300+ days of the year) in order to get anywhere. This is considered 'inside' waters, and during the summer months, it's pretty calm most of the time.

We'll earn our keep in the winter, though - destructive southeasters can roar in here, and one of them took out the Fulford Marina, next door, last year. It wasn't the first time their docks were destroyed, either, but it may be the last -- the couple that owns it is retired now, and they'd have to construct a huge breakwater if they want to re-build. So it sits empty. This place is a bit more 'tucked in' but those storms could still bring down power lines and trees, etc. -- so I'm sure it'll be harder work, then.
WE LOVE IT HERE! Yes, we miss the kids and grandkids, and we miss some of the events that happen in Victoria (this past weekend was the Dragon Boat races, for example, and for the first time since the event began about 13 years ago, I wasn't in a front-row seat for the Breast Cancer Challenge race)... but we don't miss 'city life' AT ALL. It's so quiet here, and there are TREES in our 'back yard,' and wildlife ... I think we've heard a siren maybe twice in two months, as opposed to several times a day! Yes, the ferry comes and goes every two hours .... but I've already assimilated the sounds as part of the 'rhythm' of island life, and we've learned not to try to go to the store when it's loading and unloading.

Today we will take another local family out for a bit of a cruise, so I'm looking forward to that.

I've been knitting, honest, I have! Finished another pair of socks ....
... and what a pain they were! I used up 4 or 5 little leftover balls of yarn from other pairs, and attempted to do the 'Fibonacci' stripe sequence .... but it's not fun getting all those little balls tangled up with each other, and I can't ever seem to get the tension right when switching from one color to the other. Oh, well, I can keep these for myself... what a shame.

I finished my second 'Twilight Garden' shawl a few weeks ago...
Here's a close-up of the little beaded 'flowers':
This one is now in one of those little funky Fulford shops, for sale! Now I just have to write out the pattern....

And I've started work on a wrap for my sister, whose daughter is getting married in October, in Alberta. This one is also my own design, but it's a much easier process when it's just a rectangle! The yarn is pure silk and here's my swatch, for a 'teaser' ...
Life is good! :-)

HAPPY MONDAY!

2011-08-07T05:48:00.000-07:00

We've had the boys here this weekend, so I haven't had a minute to myself, but it's always fun! Yesterday there was a community picnic in Drummond Park ... apparently it used to be a much bigger event called 'Fulford Day,' but not anymore. We had a great time, though! First of all, the boys had to show off their acrobatic skills ... this is Gibson trying to pretend he knows how to do a head-stand:
And then River showed us that he really does know how to do a cartwheel:
And then, of course, their 61-year-old 'Papa' can't be outdone:
... a feat which earned him a 'tackle' (read: no mercy):
... and a challenge to a foot race....
.. which River had no trouble winning! Otherwise, he passes the time being a typical 12-year-old:
And I wandered off and found (finally, I've been looking since we got here!) the world-famous Fulford Harbour petroglyph:

This petroglyph was purposely moved from its original location -- apparently right about where we are! -- about 30 years ago to better preserve it from the elements. It's on a huge rock, which was placed between the bases of two trees in Drummond Park. I'm glad it's hard to find, because so many of these have been vandalized, or just weathered beyond recognition. This one depicts a seal, of course .... and notice how one eye is different than the other?

I'll walk on the ferry with the boys this morning, and Mischa will meet me in Schwartz Bay to collect them. Then Michael and I might go off the dock for a little cruise for a day or two .... it's our 32nd wedding anniversary tomorrow. :-)

UPDATE!

2011-08-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

What can I say ... time flies when you're having fun? It seems to have been a busy summer so far here at Roamers -- yes, that's the name of the property/marina that we officially take over managing TODAY, Roamers Landing.

Since last week, we took a local family out on a day trip cruise --to Glenthorne Passage on Prevost Island, then Russell Island. It was a fabulous summer day, weather-wise, and a lovely cruise -- I completely forgot to take out my camera until I saw these beauties in Glenthorne, though...
Speaking of beauties, this one was anchored just around the point from us the other night...
She's the Attessa IV, owned by SeaSpan Tug owner Dennis Washington -- one of the 25 largest pleasure yachts in the world, and the largest in North America. See the helicopter on the back?

I personally prefer these kind of beauties, though ... all of which we've seen in the last week!
(In this next one, look on the ground next to the log....)As Michael says, it sure beats having a huge concrete building in our back yard!
Knitting has been happening .... I finished the second pair of socks for Hailey to take back to Whistler with her ...
And the first pair of Gibson's fall socks (it seems unbelievable to me, but he starts kindergarten in September)!
And yesterday, as I was finishing the LAST row on my latest shawl before casting off, this disaster happened:

No, that's not an Addi Turbo AND a Knit Picks harmony wood circular-- it's a KnitPicks with a completely shattered end. It took me almost an hour to pick up and salvage all the stitches that came loose when it snapped - so now I will finish casting off today, hopefully. Aarrggghhhh ... this is one of those times when I need to remind myself I love knitting!

Well, this is the first year in seven that we had to miss the Symphony Splash concert -- there are some issues here at the property that needed to be dealt with because the owner leaves for overseas for three months, tomorrow. You can see how much fun we had last year!

Today will be a day off, but tomorrow I will go to Mayne Island for 3 days to my friend Monica's house. More about that latah!

A LOVELY WEEKEND

2011-07-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning I caught the Vesuvius ferry and Julie picked me up in Crofton so we could drive in to Victoria together -- she had an appointment with a client and I got to go to Knit'n'Cafe! Here's Vesuvius Bay from the upper deck of the ferry....
Julie came back to Salt Spring Island with me, and we went to the Ganges market on Saturday. On our way back from the market, we 'met' this parade, being led by a bagpiper ...
This was the start of an event called 'SpiritWalk,' highlighting the three historical churches in the Burgoyne/Fulford Valley, with a welcoming ceremony by the First Nations and a presentation at the Fulford Hall by the Historical Society.

Julie left yesterday morning, Michael had to go to Victoria -- and I took myself on a little field trip! Foxglove Farm, up on the slopes of Mount Maxwell, had an open house yesterday. This property is one of the original homesteads here on the island, and all the pictures I'd seen of it are gorgeous.

Foxglove is one of the regular vendors at the Saturday market, and for some reason, I am drawn to it every week. I have bought all of my produce from them since arriving here, and two weeks ago, when the young woman passed me a postcard announcing the open house, out of my mouth came... "Oh, I just want to come and knit in that garden!" She never missed a beat when she responded with, "Would you PLEASE? And can you bring some extra yarn and needles in case any children want to join you?" I didn't need convincing!

I had a lovely time, even though no children wanted to learn to knit... :-)
You can see the Cuban live band that was playing, on the porch of this cabin in the background...Some of the old buildings....
... and the new ...
The brand new outdoor pizza oven....
(Imagine an outdoor wood-fired vegetarian pizza with organic ingredients fresh-picked an hour previously ...... yummmmmmmmmmmmy!)

Anyone want to join me there for an October knitting retreat?? Or better still .... can you picture a new Salt Spring Island fibre festival here?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAILEY!

2011-07-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

On this day 34 years ago I was in a Victoria hospital on the second day of a horrendous labour -- but it would result in the birth of my second child, my oldest daughter, Hailey. :-) Happy birthday, Hailey! (Ok, from now on I won't mention your age...)

(Hailey in Cannes, France, last summer)!

Since she was 16 years old (and we were living in Parksville), it's been a tradition to celebrate Hailey's birthday on Salt Spring Island ... browsing through the world-famous Saturday market, having lunch at the TreeHouse Restaurant or dinner at Oystercatchers, and wandering through the shops. So almost every year (I think we've missed a few, but not many) we've driven or cruised to Ganges, the major community on Salt Spring -- and for Hailey, that means arriving first by bus from Whistler, where she lives.

So it's really fun this year that we actually LIVE here and we get to 'host' Hailey differently than ever before on her birthday. She's been here since Friday, and Mischa and Gibson joined us for a bit on Friday and Saturday (River was spending the weekend with a friend). Yesterday we drove in to Ganges for lunch at Treehouse, and then went for a long drive out Isabella Pt. road - it was, luckily, one of the nicest days we've had here for awhile! When we got home, Hailey made *us* a delicious pad thai for dinner! She'll go back to Whistler today... :-(

MY PHOTO!

2011-07-16T07:42:00.001-07:00

Check this out .... I sent my 'This is July?' picture from the harbour, here, to the Weather Network, yesterday -- and it's been published on the Salt Spring Island weather page. :-) The weather page is here (scroll down to the first series of photos), and if you click on the 4th one over, it comes up bigger and with the details. Fun!

THIS IS JULY??

2011-07-14T08:37:00.001-07:00

Here's what it looks like out my window this morning....
It's drizzly and cold and miserable .... and yesterday was just gray and miserable. I don't think we've had 3 straight days of hot summer weather *yet* this year!

Oh, well, we had a great time with the boys over last weekend ...
I'm SO glad we still live close enough that they can come for visits ... even though it's a bit more complicated than it used to be!

I've had lots of knitting time, and some results to show for it! I finished designing and knitting a pair of socks based on the little flower stitch pattern I used for Wendy's shawl a few weeks ago:
I'll have to get Michael to take a picture of them on me later today ... that's when you can see the little flowers 'pop' the best. I was also playing on the ferry ride over to Victoria the other day (when I delivered the boys back to Mischa) and came up with this...
I have a second-hand fleece jacket that I just love, but it has an old company logo embroidered on the chest and I've been trying to come up with something to cover it up. I have some tiny ribbon flowers that Esther made a few years ago that I can add to the centre of this (instead of that little pink I-cord holding it all together) and I think this will work!

I've started a knitting circle here in Fulford (at the Rock Salt Restaurant, 2 -4 pm) and today is the day -- I've sat there knitting, alone, for the last two Thursdays, but this time I put an announcement about it on the SaltSpring Exchange site, and it's had over 90 'views,' so hopefully I'll have some company today!

And then it's a homemade-soup-for-supper kind of a day ... did I mention how domestic I've been since we got here? :)

ANOTHER PICTORIAL

2011-07-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

Michael took his first swim in Fulford Harbour the other day ...
He says it's much warmer than the Juan de Fuca Strait was! He's pretty happy here (and I'm relieved about that....)
It was a busy weekend here -- lots to see! These two folks had at least five kids each in these canoes...

(As a mother, all I could think was how soon one of them will say, "I have to go pee....")

Speaking of mothers...
This young couple in our marina acquired this old wooden boat recently (apparently built by the 'Best' family here on Salt Spring), and this was their first outing in it....
And speaking of pretty old wooden boats, I spotted this one coming in to the government dock yesterday...
I also caught this rainbow just as the ferry was about to glide 'through' it (or so it seemed)!
This weekend the owner of this property was here with his wife and daughter, and they had a 'flag-raising' -- the second flag is Germany, which is where his wife is from, and where they met...
It was fun to watch from dockside!

We have the boys for a few days so we picnicked at Drummond Park again last night and I'm not sure what we'll get up to today. I probably won't get much knitting done, but I finished a pair of socks day before yesterday:
.. and I have another one on the needles, my first personal sock pattern design (complete with beads):
More about that when I see how it goes..... :-)

That's the Fulford report for the day!

SALT SPRING DAZE

2011-07-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been over two weeks since I posted? Well, I still have only very spotty internet, for another week or so.

Much of the work we are doing here falls to Michael, so I've been terribly domestic -- cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, doing laundry -- and knitting, of course. I hope to have some to show you soon!

But we are settling in here, and already had Mischa and the boys and Hailey come for a visit on Canada Day weekend...
No pics of Mischa -- they all turned out really bad and she'd kill me if I put them on here!

I've started a new knitting circle at the Rock Salt Cafe right at the ferry landing .... I'll be there on Thursday afternoons from 2:00 - 4:00 pm.
And I'm very quickly becoming a Salt Springer, I can tell you that. I've:

1. Picked sea asparagus and added it to my potato salad:

2. Bought an organic cinnamon bun from a local farmer's roadside stand (check out the honor system cash box)!
3. Seen some freshly shorn alpacas:
4. Had to wait while a wild turkey and many babies crossed the road in front of me .... and ...

5. Seen Valdi in concert, on Canada Day!
6. Finally, gone for a dinghy ride in our new bay, breathed the fresh ocean air, and dug my toes into the sand where the tide went out.
Aaaaaaahhhhhhh............... we do love it here. For more general info about Salt Spring, check out this page or this page or this one.

I'll have my phone and high speed internet connected on the 12th, and then I'll be back to blogging as often as I can!

A PICTORIAL (mostly)...

2011-06-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

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'

2011-06-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

... 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

2011-06-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

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. :)