GOOD THING I GOT A REAL JOB

For the last three months, the owners of this property (who've lived full-time on Vancouver Island and just visited here occasionally) have been preparing to move over to the Middle East for a few years -- he's an engineer and has been traveling to and from work there for years.

But he got a bit of a health scare just after Christmas and it made him realize he didn't really want to go. So ... they've moved back into their house here on the property, indefinitely, and we are, once again, out of a job. (The weird thing is that it's almost a year ago to the day that we lost our job in Victoria, through no fault of our own!) We're welcome to stay, of course, and just start paying regular-rate moorage -- which we haven't had to do for eight years. :(

We're still absorbing and processing this new information ... it would have been SO nice to have the security for the 3 or 4 years they intended to be away. But I guess 'the only constant is change,' as they say ... so we are working on accepting things the way they ARE, not the way we'd LIKE them to be. I said, 'working on' but I'm not very good at it... IT SUCKS, to put it bluntly.

We're pretty sure we will stay -- it's not like there's a lot of other options, and we do love it here. And we'll be okay. But it's a good thing I got the Welcome Wagon gig ...

And then this Easter weekend was only the second time in over 20 years (since our kids started leaving home) that we haven't had a big family get-together/dinner. Mischa had four days off so she really wanted to take the kids camping for the first time this year, so then Hailey mentioned that she had the opportunity to work right through the weekend and not come home ... so that was that. So my weekend wasn't much fun.

... and thank God for knitting! I've got lots of it on the go -- I finished the Alcea Shawl:
The color is 'truer' in the top photo -- it's actually a gorgeous deep plum color. And, as always, I love it -- Susanna IC is an amazing designer!

Then there's the Lighthouse Shawl I started - I wanted to start with a darker color than the one shown in the pattern, so I added beads in a swirl to signify the light:
Once again, the color is off -- it's really a very rich navy blue. It's my first-ever Pi shawl, so it's a huge project that I may be working on right through the summer.

Then there's the purple sweater I took apart and re-started as a 'top-down':
That color IS almost exact -- and I'll be doing a cables-n-lace border on the cuffs and around the bottom.

Knitting today at the Rock Salt! One day at a time.... one day at a time....
*

Guess who came to visit on the weekend?
We've really missed these two, so it was lots of fun to have them here! River is 2" taller than me now ... and it's hard to believe, but Gibson will be 6 in less than two months.

We had to go to Salt Spring's skateboard park, of course ... but the only 'action' shots I took were little videos, all too 'big' to upload to my blog. Thank goodness they took rests...
Then we had to go to Ganges' famous downtown park -- it's in full spring bloom, now, of course:
... and the boys had fun, while I mostly knitted (as long as I was fully present every time I heard "Grandma, watch THIS!") ...
This is my absolute favorite picture of River EVER:
He's becoming a really nice young man! :)

Just before we left, they decided to entertain me with a little dance ... I tried, unsuccessfully, to edit the end, and I kept cutting out Riv's head, but it's still pretty entertaining!



(Hope this loads okay.... it took forever to upload!)

I have managed to knit a bit. The Alcea shawl is finished, but not blocked, so I can't show it to you yet -- it's lovely, but smaller than I hoped it would be. I'm now attempting a top-down sweater for myself, a remake of one I made a few years ago and have never worn because it fit badly, and I'm lousy at seaming. I'm pretty excited about the whole top-down concept, though...

Today the Area Manager for Welcome Wagon is here, so I'll be 'out and about' with her all day - I'm looking forward to it!
*

We're rockin' and rollin' this morning! I'm always so glad that the ferry spends the night in its berth right in front of us because it really helps block the south-easters that roar in here during the winter/spring months. But at 6:15 every morning it leaves on its first run to Vancouver Island and we are left much more exposed. It's supposed to calm down this morning, which is a good thing because Esther doesn't like to come over for Thursday knitting at the Rock Salt if it's blowing.

This Island seems to have no end of little roads that go off into the forest or up little 'mountains', and I just love to discover and explore them. Yesterday, after I spent most of the day in town running errands, I took yet another 'scenic' route home. First of all, here was the view from the laundromat before I left Ganges:
(Many of those boats are live-aboards, or people who choose not to pay the crazy moorage rates in Ganges).

I watched this crow hesitate on the edge of a little tidal stream for only a moment, and then 'dive in' for a bath:
... and then I got distracted by some movement on the water's edge...
... and what fun to watch these two white-tailed deer, right in downtown Ganges, frollicking in the sand!

On the way home I made my way up to the top of 'Sarah Lane' and pulled over when I saw this:
Actually, let me run that by you again, with a bit more detail (remember that you can click on the image to make it bigger):
How lucky am I, to get to live in such an amazing place??

When we moved to Salt Spring Island last year, I had to leave my hair-stylist behind. She also happens to be my youngest daughter, so, of course, we've seen each other lots of times, but never at a time that she could cut my hair ... so it has grown longer, and longer and longer. It's been making me crazy for several weeks now, so last week I finally caved and PAID for a haircut in Ganges. I do think it takes a few years off my face! I'm not very photogenic, but my friend Esther thinks I should share this with you...
I'd much rather show you pictures of our newest spring visitor...
This is the first otter we've seen since before Christmas, and even though it seemed to be alone, it was quite small ... maybe a fairly new baby?

Or I could show you pictures of my knitting works-in-progress ...
... such as a baby sweater (a test knit of sorts) and my latest shawl on the needles. It's Alcea by Susanna IC, and I'm loving it! I also 'whipped up' another pair of fingerless gloves on the weekend -- but today I'll be spending most of the day in Ganges so there won't be much knitting time. I have a *job!* :)

It may not be very 'spring'-like, but it IS gorgeous .... this was what I saw out my window this morning:
Under a beautiful clear blue sky you can see the skiff of snow that fell up there during the night, the ribbon of cloud that often lays in that valley, and then a serious frost over everything. The red boat is in our marina, but the docks behind it are in the old marina next door that's been closed for two years, since a storm destroyed it. Other than that, I sure like my 'back yard!'
:)

HAPPY SPRING!
There's an old line that goes ... "If you don't like the weather around here, just wait ten minutes." That's what Salt Spring Island has been like for several days now. We've run the gammut from sunny and warm to snow to ....
... hail the size of peas!

I spent yesterday, before and after the Ganges knitting circle, going around Ganges and meeting several of the Welcome Wagon merchant sponsors, and I'll be doing the same thing this morning - then I have my first official visit to a newcomer on my own this afternoon. I'm stoked!

And never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be knitting doll clothes ... or that I'd have fun doing it! But I am...
I finished this little brown top-down sweater and an identical green one, and then started playing with a design for a dress:
I had a small skein of this lavendar-colored wool that worked out perfectly. Now I'm designing a pair of bib overalls (in denim blue, of course) for her little friend!
:)

A GREAT DAY YESTERDAY

... and it'll be another one today.

Yesterday ended with this view...
As this tug and barge were making their way down Trincomali Channel at dusk, I was hanging out enjoying a 'Knit Night' hosted by the owner of the Fernwood Cafe -- one of my favorite spots on the island.
After the owner's hubby took this photo of us, about 4 more people arrived. That's me, third from the left, concentrating intently on my niece's second afghan strip -- Jennifer is next to me, 4th from the left, and she thinks she might host a knit night monthly. She's a fairly new knitter, and can't get away from the business too often!

When I arrived there, I saw this year's first Japanese maples in bloom ...
... a sure sign that it's spring in the Pacific Northwest!

And yesterday was Thursday, so of course we had our regular knitting circle at the Rock Salt in Fulford -- Esther and Bev came over from Victoria, always a highlight for me!

Today is Joshua's birthday -- 18!!! Unbelievable .... and he's turned in to a wonderful young man who is a joy to be around. Here's one of my favorite pictures of him, 'jamming' with Jason....
Joshua graduated from high school at the end of January, and is hoping to work at a resort on the West Coast again this summer.

The sun is shining right now, and I need to decide if I'll go to Victoria today -- I may have a buyer for my electric carder so I have to get it out of storage to at least take a picture, if not bring it back here. I'll see how the day develops!
:)