ROAD TRIP TODAY

It would have been Michelle's 60th birthday today, and in her honour and memory, a few of us are going on a little car ride in Parksville today. :-)

I may not have the details exactly right, but it seems to have started out like this...

Michelle had been on the board of the Parksville-Qualicum Foundation, and one day she was picked up for a meeting by another woman board member. That woman was driving a convertible, with the top down, and had a huge feather boa around her neck. After Michelle's initial surprise (and delight!), the woman produced another boa for Michelle to wear, and the two of them went off to their meeting -- whooping and hollering and giggling the whole way, I'm sure! Thus began the tradition of the 'Boa Girls', as they called themselves (and others joined them later) -- going for outings in convertibles in full boa regalia.

When Michelle died, the Parksville-Qualicum Foundation set up an endowment fund in her name, and at her request, to raise money for women to take training in alternative healing therapies., which gave Michelle an extra nine years of life's adventures! So that original woman (with the convertible) has proposed that supporters do an annual 'Boa Ride' as a fund-raiser for this endowment fund, and to make it on today's date. Today is the '1st Annual Boa Ride!'

So ... I have neither convertible nor boa, but wild horses couldn't keep me away from this one!

I'll spend the night at my sister's and be home tomorrow. (Oh, and if you feel inclined to donate, you can paypal to me and I'll see that it gets into the Foundation's hands....)

NEW PAINTINGS

One of my favorite views in the world is from the anchorage at Cabbage Island, the eastern-most Marine Park in the Gulf Islands. From there, looking north-west, you can see almost all of the southern Gulf Islands in silhouette. I take photos of it every year when we're there (even though it never changes!) because it's so beautiful. Here's a 'dusk' one and a sunset one I've taken in the last few years...



I asked Julie if she could paint that scene for me, and when she was here on Easter weekend, she brought me the result -- to me, it's like a combination of those two photos, and it is stunning, as all of her paintings are!

She did it as a 'triptych', which is three 5" x 7" separate paintings, meant to be hung together. There is a spot over my desk where they will fit perfectly (so that I can look at that view for the 11 months of the year we're not cruising in the Gulf Islands!) and I was going to wait to show them until I got them hung, but we're having trouble finding just the right wood backing we need for them, and I couldn't wait any longer! Aren't they awesome?? You can check out my sister's blog here to see more of her works.

Hailey has called once and emailed twice since she arrived in England, so all's well in her world, and that's a relief for her 'mama.' She says she can see Kensington Palace (which was Princess Di's residence) out her window.

Today is a work day for me so I won't be making much progress on the green shawl or anything else knitting-related ...

CREATIVITY

I am sometimes completely amazed at people's creativity!

On Friday at Knit'n'Cafe, Renate showed us her capelet, made entirely from handspun (hers and others') and with her own pattern ...

Esther is making 'slouchy' hats, making up her own patterns now, and including bobbles:

And, while we were there, knitting, this woman walked in ... we were like vultures, grabbing her and getting her to sit down with us, and tell us about this jacket:

It was WET FELTED in its entirety, if you please!

And on the weekend, I observed a completely different kind of creativity...


There's two things I keep forgetting to write about. One is that my daughter Hailey is in LONDON, ENGLAND right now, all expenses paid and on a daily not-too-shabby retainer! She is a professional organizer , and has a client who needed serious help moving out of her home there. She flew out on Saturday, and will be gone for 10 days!

I'll tell you the other thing tomorrow. :-)

ODDS 'n' SODS

Yesterday afternoon I rewarded myself for getting lots of work done this week by going to the Thursday spinning group -- I haven't been there for weeks! I didn't take my wheel, so I'm more like a spinning imposter, but it's still fun. We met at Wendy's lovely home in the woods in Metchosin...

... and I worked on my newest shawl, a lovely spring green merino that I've designed myself!
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Along with almost 3000 other people, I've joined a Ravelry 'challenge' group called 'Ten Shawls in 2010' so this is shawl #2. It's a quick knit compared to the blue cotton, so I'm lovin' it so far.

Knit'n'Cafe today ... guess I get to reward myself again. It's a hard life....

DAY TRIPS, Part Two

My sister Julie with the Mill Bay ferry just coming in in the background...

While we were sitting in Maple Bay, a squall came up and pretty much made the entire bay disappear ... and then we looked up and saw this!

We ended the day (Saturday) with dinner overlooking Cowichan Bay ... but I was cold and hungry and tired by then, and forgot to take any pictures!

On Sunday we knew we'd be cooking the big family dinner at Mischa's, so we didn't want to venture far away -- but we did make our way out to Cordova Bay ...

Julie walked down those stairs to the beach to get some photos while I stayed in the warm and dry van to FINISH the blue cotton shawl I've been working on FOREVER. Here it is in its unblocked fine-ness!

While Julie and I cooked Easter dinner, Michael, Jason and Joshua napped and Mischa and Hailey took the boys to Beacon Hill Park for the annual Easter egg hunt. They took my camera with them...



And, once again, at dinner I never got the camera out!

Oh, well, it was a wonderful weekend all around... Julie left on Sunday evening, and Hailey and Joshua left yesterday morning (Hailey on the Vancouver ferry, Joshua on the up-Island train), and then we had visits yesterday from Mike on Galiano and an old friend, David, from Nanaimo.

I need a day off now. :)

MY WILD WEEKEND

Last year, on Easter weekend, my sister Julie and I went on a west coast retreat -- it's great fun to hang out together for an extended period of time, and wherever we go, she paints and I knit. We decided neither of us could really afford the accommodations for a two-day retreat this year, so we did day trips instead. Besides, the wind absolutely howled here for the past three days, so it made for some interesting sight-seeing.

First stop, on Good Friday, Clover Point (of course!):


Julie got started on a painting of that scene while I worked on the cotton lace shawl.

On Saturday we headed up-Island... first to Mill Bay, where we'd heard on the news that the wind had pretty much taken out the Mill Bay marina. It was true, there was a lot of devastation:





Then we stopped at one of the oldest and largest Garry Oak preserves in Canada, just outside of Maple Bay...

I've been playing with the zoom and close-up focus on my camera, and this was one result...

Then we took ourselves to lunch at the 'Brig' pub -- check out the bar in this place:

After lunch we re-located the van to a lower parking lot so we could set up for the afternoon's activities:

I almost finished the blue shawl, while Julie painted the scene you see in this photo:

More tomorrow ... :-)