35 years ago, right about now, I was wishing someone would just kill me. You see, I was in serious hard labor about to give birth to my daughter Hailey, and .... well ... there were complications.

But this isn't about me.  And there are no longer any complications.  :)

Happy birthday, ((((Hailey)))!! This is one of my favorite pics of Hailey -- taken in France a few years ago -- because she looks happy, and free, and confident -- because she is!

I know she's having a happy birthday, because she's been here with us since night before last, and today she got to take a lovely ferry ride on a gorgeous day to pick up her much-loved nephews River and Gibson, and bring them back here for a few days to visit.

I also know she's having a happy birthday because she likes her life. She's single, lives in Whistler, BC, in her own lovely little 'cabin in the woods', and owns her own business as a professional organizer (in addition to taking on the Welcome Wagon gig from Squamish to Pemberton just recently). She's smart, fun and funny, and one of the most thoughtful people I know.

I'll take her to the Ganges market this Saturday, just like I've done every birthday since she was about 18, and she's sticking around for a week or so after that, just for fun. And it will be fun!

In other news.... the cruise ship The World was here at Salt Spring for a few days, and I caught a glimpse of it while driving home from Ganges... you can barely see it among the trees there (click to make it bigger if you want)!

 The light was also perfect to get a picture of the First Nations midden at Beddis Beach:

... and I got a lovely picture of the view from Purdy Lane:

MUCH more about that in my next blog post ... stay tuned!
:)

SCENES FROM THE LIFE

I'd forgotten that I'd taken pictures on the way out to, and anchored at, Russell Island the other day... this one was taken en route, looking across Swanson Channel toward Sidney, and our 'local' ferry (the Skeena Queen) coming in to Fulford Harbour:

 This is a lone tree on a point at Russell, completely unprotected from the south-easters that howl through here in the winter-time. The raven likes it, though!

 Remember that you can click on the pics to enlarge them ... and then you'll be able to see the great blue heron perched on the tip of this tree!

This family went by in their double kayak (with the kids in the gear stowage pockets)!

And we watched this oyster-catcher for at least half an hour... (not a great pic but I had to zoom in...)

 I love this scene .... looking back into our little corner of the world ....

Back here on the dock, Dan, who is one of the tenants, caught his first Salt Spring fish the other day -- it's about a 10-lb Chinook salmon, and he gave us a couple of steaks from it!

 The next day (in fact, the last few days) have been storms of the thunder-and-lightning variety (very rare here) -- here's the rainbow hanging over the government dock along with the next wave of electrical activity on its way:

After the weird lightning storms of last week, here's the view out my window this morning... it looks like October, or February!

And finally, in the knitting department ... the blue sweater turned out to be completely
asymmetrical (thanks for the spell-check, Esther!) and wonky, so it's been frogged and tucked away for another day... I have no idea where I went wrong, but it was weirdly mis-shaped, and I didn't really notice it, of course, until I had about 2" to go to cast off!

 ... and the Bouvier vest (scroll to the bottom of that link) is moving right along ... about 11" of the back done.

This morning I'm having coffee with the Welcome Wagon area manager, and then there's knitting at Barb's Buns in Ganges this afternoon. Life is good! :) 
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Yesterday on my way into Ganges, I had to stop when I saw Fulford's roaming herd (or is that 'flock'?) of sheep...

... mowing the lawn at the historic church in the bay. Of course, when I got out of the van, they started to wander away and hid in the trees!

(Remember that you can click on my images to see them larger...)

It was a full day in town yesterday running errands and doing laundry, etc. In fact, Michael and I feel like we haven't had a full day off in ages, so this morning we are slipping the lines and heading off to Russell Island -- at least for the day, and maybe overnight. I'll be here if you need me... :-)

And I'll be knitting. I'm so DONE with this blue sweater -- but it's not done!!
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MONDAY AGAIN

So we had River and Gibson here for a few days ... Joshua never got here after all ... and we were busy the whole time, and I completely forgot to get out my camera! I do have pictures, though ... from last week when my Metchosin fibre friends group came for a cruise -- thanks to a few of the group for forwarding these pics!

Much knitting took place... 

 ... and exploring the old homestead:

 ... and more knitting...

 ... and exploring the midden:

... and one of them took pictures of my Pi shawl on my bed as a bedspread:

 ... and here's the Wind Walker doing one of her favorite things ... 'swinging from the hook!'


And one more picture. It's a capture of the Ogden Point webcam which I still look at almost daily (I miss Dallas Road/Clover Point!):

Knitting today at Rock Salt -- I'm *this close* to finishing the blue sweater!
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FINALLY SUMMER

Every morning when I sit down at the computer, I have a little routine .... I check to see how Jeanne on Nereida is doing, I look to see if I have any messages on Ravelry, I download my email, and then I check Environment Canada's website for the daily/weekly weather forecast. Anyone on this coast right now can tell you how shocked I was this morning when I saw this...

... for the first time since last year!!

I had a loooooooooooong day yesterday -- it takes two ferries to get to Vancouver, and I went over to hang out with Hailey for the day. She's just become the Welcome Wagon person for the Squamish-to-Pemberton corridor, and we're both kind of excited about that! It was a fun time, but too short ... and then two ferries home, but between the first and second one, I collected Gibson, who will be with us for the next few days. Today River is coming over and tomorrow Joshua are coming over, so we'll have all three grandsons here for at least one overnight! It seems very weird to know that River is old enough to get on the ferry by himself (as a 'walk-on'), and Joshua will be driving here in his own car. HOW did they grow up so fast??

Knitting this afternoon at Rock Salt, yay!
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MY LIFE: A WHIRLWIND

First of all, I forgot to show you the one picture I managed to take on our 'Fibre Friends' boat cruise last week...

This is Michael taking some of them ashore at Russell Island. We had a great time!

Then we traveled up to Qualicum for Joshua's graduation celebration ... it was a very emotional time for me, for several reasons! Joshua is an amazing young man and we're so proud of him!

 

Yes, he is as tall as his Dad! And no, I'm not in a fog ... well, I am, but that smudge on the photo is a raindrop.

 Here is Joshua with Jason, his Mom (Cara) and her grandparents, 'Nannie' and 'Papa' to Joshua -- they're in their 90's now, and they are very special people! We're proud of Cara, too -- she and Jason split when Joshua was about 3, and she was on her own for a few years before she met, and later married, Chris. They had a daughter together, Emma, who is now 10 -- and now Cara is on her own again. When she and Jason met she worked at Dairy Queen, and she's now a successful realtor -- and they've stayed friends through the years (sometimes more friendly than others, it's been a struggle) and always tried to put Joshua first.

 Leaving the school...

I was painfully aware throughout the day how much we've missed of Joshua's growing up, even though we've seen him fairly regularly. Hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it?

On top of all the emotions of watching our first grandchild graduate, we also got to spend some time with Sri ... and his new fiancee. She's lovely ... but she's not Susan ... and that was hard. We went over to his house for coffee after the grad but couldn't stay long because we were invited to a BBQ at Cara's.
 
Sri was there because he taught at Joshua's school before he retired after Susan died, and their children Rose and Rennie both graduated from there. In addition, he set up a $400 scholarship in Susan's memory to be given each year to a graduate going in to social work, so he was there to present the scholarship.

Since coming back from Qualicum, we've been to Victoria and back -- here was the channel we had to cross to get into Fulford Harbour...

 ... and later that night, the Harbour Authority dock across from us under the full moon...

Much knitting has transpired (thank God for knitting! lol), but nothing new to show -- still working on the top-down royal blue cardigan.

Today we have a looooooong list of errands to accomplish in Ganges!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA!

Canada Day is a national holiday in Canada that is celebrated with family picnics, barbeques, and fireworks. It is always observed on July 1st unless that date falls on a Sunday, in which case it is observed the following day (though many people still celebrate on the Sunday). Today is Canada's 145th birthday, and this is why:

For 10,000 or so years, the lands we now know as 'Canada' were stewarded (quite nicely!) by our First Nations people. Then about three- or four-hundred years ago, European explorers came ashore and 'discovered' it, claiming the land for Great Britain. Over time, various parts of the country joined together, but wanted to form their own government separate from England.

On July 1, 1867, the British government (under Queen Victoria) approved the plan (called the British North America, or BNA, Act) which allowed Canada to become an independent country. This new nation (which then only consisted of the four eastern provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) remained loyal to Britain, but was called the Dominion of Canada. Today, there are 10 provinces and 3 territories.

I'm VERY proud to be Canadian!