TEN REASONS WHY WE LOVE TO LIVE ABOARD, Part Two...

(Continued from yesterday's entry...)

6. I find lots of writing material – interesting characters, events and happenings around an interesting harbour.

A few years ago I owned a regional boating magazine, and in the summer, I could hardly keep up with the water-related events. In one month alone, I remember having to juggle my time to cover the Cadillac Van Isle 360 race, an Open House at the Institute of Ocean Sciences on the Saanich Peninsula, tribal Canoe Races in Cowichan Bay, the Chris Craft Rendezvous in Maple Bay, Oceans Day in Campbell River, The Cowichan Bay Wooden Boat Festival, at least one sailing regatta, and the Spencer Yacht Rendezvous in Montague Harbour!

7. Our ‘pets’ are seals, sea gulls and otters – and we don’t have to feed them, amuse them or take them for walks.

8. When we have to move, it's easy -- start the engine, untie the ropes, and go. (Except for having to pack up the yarn stash, that is...) Four years ago, when we made the decision to move to Victoria from Nanaimo, it was less than 3 weeks from the moment of that decision to tying up to our new home (marina) in Victoria -- and that included time to 'haul out' (4 days) and cruise here (3 days)!

9. We get ‘rocked to sleep’ every night. Where we live now is actually quite sheltered so it's calm most of the time, but there's always a slight movement under the hull, and we love it! And when it's stormy, we love it even more .... it's a great excuse to 'hunker down,' 'batten down the hatches', wrap up in the warmest shawl I own (and I own several, lol), and light the fire. When we first moved aboard, every time a storm blew through, some friend or family member would call to ask if we'd like to come spend the night ... it took a long time for them to get that we were really doing this by choice!

(Besides, we do live in the Pacific North-West -- the weather patterns here are not hard to take!)

10. Nothing beats watching a sunset – or a lightning storm, or a rainbow or a Snowbirds fly-by – outside, with your feet up, from the bridge of a boat. Especially if that boat is 'swinging' from the hook' in some deserted little cove and there isn't a sound anywhere.

It's been ten years on the Wind Walker, 12 years of life afloat ... and we still wouldn't trade it for anything!

(Meanwhile, I FINISHED the black socks, and I'm doing the happy dance in them!!)

TEN REASONS WHY WE LOVE TO LIVE ABOARD

1. There’s no lawn to mow.

One time, not long after we moved aboard, Michael came home from running errands one day with a big grin on his face. He said he'd been driving home sort of wondering if we'd done the right thing when he saw a guy out mowing his lawn, sweat pouring down his face. To Michael's delight, he realized "that guy wasn't having fun."

2.We’re close to the elements – no storm windows, 8” thick walls or carports to ‘protect’ us.

Several years ago, we were asked to house-sit for some friends who had a waterfront home, and on a Saturday morning sitting with his coffee at the kitchen table and looking out over 10 miles of the Strait of Georgia, Michael felt a weird uneasiness. Paying attention to his senses, he realized that he was watching birds flit around the yard -- but he couldn't hear them singing. Waves were crashing on the shore 50' away -- but he couldn't hear them. He realized then that the doubled thermo-pane windows were completely cutting him off from the outside world! To this day, whenever we see folks sitting inside a house like that -- or watch a boat captain, on a hot summer day, steering from inside his living room instead of up on the open bridge -- we joke about how some folks are just afraid to 'get any environment on 'em.'

3. We have to ‘keep it simple.’

I can't own 10 pairs of shoes or three sets of dishes -- there simply isn't enough room to store them. In fact, we have a general rule that if something new comes aboard, something old has to go. (The knitters among you are now wondering where on earth I keep my stash -- well, you already know how much yarn a few medium-sized baskets can hold. And we do have a storage room here at the marina -- in my world, we actually call it my yarn room.)

4. We live right downtown, but you’d never know it. Life on the water is quiet! We can't even hear the traffic, except an occasional siren if it's right in the neighbourhood.

5. We are part of a ‘community’ of like-minded folks who are passionate about the lifestyle. We find that boaters in general, and live-aboards in particular -- old and young, men and women, experienced or 'green' -- all share the same passion for all the things I've just mentioned -- keeping it simple, being close to the environment, and living quietly.

I'm going to save the last five reasons we love to live aboard until tomorrow, but meanwhile, feel free to read this old column I wrote several years ago for a little more insight into the lifestyle ...

WE NEED AN ARMY OF WOMEN

So I want to recruit you to the Army of Women, an Avon-sponsored effort in the battle against breast cancer. (Please click the link!)

I got this info from Saving Nine.

This is going to be a massive study for breast cancer research and prevention, something I think is important to each and every one of us, as women. So go sign up, please, and spread the word to your mom, your sister, your daughter, your friends.



In fact, I think I'll hold a draw for anyone who posts this info/link on their blog, and lets me know. If you post about the Army of Women on your blog, with a link to the Army of Women website, and then leave a comment for me here with a link to YOUR site, I'll enter your name into a draw for a surprise package (which will be knitterly if you're a knitter, and otherwise if you're not!) Or if you don't have a blog, leave me a comment that you're telling others about the Army of Women, and ask them to comment on my blog that you sent them. Each one gets you an entry into the draw.

SO GO SPREAD THE WORD! I'll keep the contest open until November 20th.

Back to knitting black socks now.... :-)

IT'S NOVEMBER ALREADY!

We got back from up-Island about an hour ago, and I would have waited until tomorrow morning to post, but I just remembered that I signed up for National Blog Posting Month, and today is DAY ONE. Sez the website:

National Blog Posting Month is the 'epicenter of daily blogging'! People who want to set the habit of blogging by doing it every day for a month, including weekends, can come here for moral support, inspiration, and the camaraderie that only marathon blogging can provide.

I would've looked a little foolish if I jammed out on the first day, now, wouldn't I?

So ... for any guests who are cruising blogs today, and are here for the first time, welcome! Feel free to check out the archives on the right if you want to know more! (Or I'll just tell you right now that my blog is about living on a boat in Victoria, BC with my hubby Michael; my knitting and other fibre-related projects; the grandkids; and whatever else comes up)!

Now, for the rest of you 'regular' folks.... ...

Had a great time in Qualicum, as always, even though we (Susan and I) got trounced in our euchre games yet again . We made a few pit stops on the way home, but the main one for me was Michael's Craft Store, where they had Paton's Kroy on sale, 2 balls for $7. So the sock stash is a little fatter than it was yesterday.... :-)

Speaking of socks, I'm SO NEARLY FINISHED the interminable black socks that I could kiss them, AND I cast on for the front of the purple sweater. But that's it -- I HAVE to start my Christmas knitting now, and stop knitting for me. Honest.

There's a gale warning for the Strait tonight -- it could blow up to 35 knots here. So much for all those gorgeous fall colors!

ANOTHER ROAD TRIP

We are off to Qualicum Beach to spend Hallowe'en with our friends Susan and Sri (we think it's about a 12-year tradition, but we can't remember exactly!), but first, some pictures of my walk yesterday through Beacon Hill Park.

I read something in the paper this week about why all the fall colors are so vivid here this year, and it made a lot of sense. I think it was in a gardening column, and the expert said there's two reasons: we've had a warm, dry autumn (if it was wet the leaves would start 'rotting' sooner), and we haven't had any major windstorms to strip the leaves off the trees! The evidence is everywhere, and especially in Beacon Hill ...




It was so lovely that I decided to let my sweater (back) come out to play... :-)

Here's a close-up of the lace-and-cable border (from Knitting on the Edge, Nicky Epstein, which I'll repeat on the sleeve cuffs, and maybe for a turtleneck (I haven't decided yet). This photo shows the color perfectly, too...


(Edited at 10:00 a.m) I'm not the only one who has great pics of Victoria's autumn colors... check this out!

I'll miss my Knit'n'Cafe because we have to leave about 11:00 a.m. ... BEST WITCHES, EVERYONE.

ARE YOU WONDERING....

... if I'll ever mention knitting again?

I am knitting. I'm working on the second pair of interminable black socks, and I still have the back of the lavender sweater on the needles -- mainly because I had to rip back about 7" of it when I discovered that I was absent-mindedly doing the raglan shaping all wrong. Let me put it this way .... it would have been about 4' long by the time I cast off!

But I have been writing, writing, writing -- and I *have* been to Clover Point! Indeed I watched an amazing sunset there night before last. This...

...became this, as I drove along Dallas Road...

And yesterday, I got to stop there briefly again, and saw this:

(Doesn't it make you wonder what happened to that mast??)

Must go -- I have some serious knitting to do. I need to start my Christmas knitting soon, too!

A NEW PAIR OF SHOES

Confession: I wear Crocs. All the time. And I'm starting to think I'll wear them until my dying day -- even though two years ago, I thought they were the ugliest shoes I'd ever seen.

Anyone who knows me has probably heard me complain about the state of the art when it comes to womens' shoes. The last few years it seems as if they are all either stilettos or big clunky things or 'sensible shoes.' Ugly, the whole works of them. What's a gal to do?

Well, since I live on a boat on a dock, there seemed to be plenty of those Crocs around. So last summer I was convinced to try on a pair ... and I've never looked back. I've had bad feet (read: sore feet) my whole life -- not anymore. They are the most comfy shoes I've ever worn -- and believe me, I've spent a lot of money on fancy-dancy 'women's walking shoes' and the like. They come in a zillion colors...

They're WASHABLE. And ... the best part ... they cost $10.

So I was already a convert when I started thinking, a few weeks ago, that I should really be pulling out my 'winter' shoes. I've changed my mind, though, and two things convinced me: first of all, I realized that even though they have holes in the top (not a good thing when you live in the Pacific North West, aka the Wet Coast), I can wear my knitted wool socks in them! And since I'm now a sock knitter (who'd-a thunk it??) I'll have lots of choices soon.

But the best part? Apparently they now come in a transparent variety-- so you can even show off those knitted socks! How cool is that?

So you can just imagine how happy I was when Michael arrived home from a walk through Chinatown last night with a brand new pair for me -- the ugly winter shoes will be donated to a charity today!