SUNDAY

Yesterday was bright blue and sunny, but very windy. I got down to Clover Point after delivering River home from spending the night (and collecting a lovely bouquet of flowers from his Mom, daughter #2, Mischa).

I had registered on the Standing Women website that I would be standing here...

... and when I arrived, Karen was already there. Although we didn't technically stand in silence (ok, the truth is we didn't stand in silence at all!), we did acknowledge that the energy was there, and it was indeed a 'peaceful' time we shared.

I stayed to knit and watch after Karen left, and it was a busy waterfront, in spite of the wind!




While I was there, my son Jason called me on my cell to wish me Happy Mother's Day, and when I got home daughter #1, Hailey, had tidied up the boat and done all the dishes for me.

When I got home, I also found this photo I'd taken last fall of the inscription on the nautilus sculture where we met for Standing Women:

How appropriate!

The blue shawl is done, done, done. I hope to block it later, and will get some pics then.

And the multi-colored side-to-side vest I'm knitting for myself is exactly at the halfway point:


My sister sent me the photos of the pictures she and her friend Erin painted at Albert Head. This is my sister Julie's:

See the big rock, bottom right, in that picture?

Here is Erin's picture ...


I find both of these pictures amazing, even more so by the fact that they were both looking at the same piece of beach.

MOTHER'S DAY

This is a column I wrote for a newspaper many years ago -- and I would hardly change a word of it today.
________________________________

Aaaah, it's Mother's Day again - and my children will call me, or come by, as they always do, to wish me a happy and peaceful Mother's Day. They know better than to bring flowers or gifts, though . . .

Historically, there have been three voices of reason in regard to Mother's Day.

The first one was Anna Jarvis, a homemaker in the Appalachians, who organized a day to raise awareness of the poor health conditions in her community - a cause she believed would be best championed by mothers. She called it "Mother's Work Day."

When she died in 1905, her daughter (whose name was also Anna) lobbied politicians and influential businessmen, in honor of her mother, to create a special day for mothers. In 1914, then-President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill to make Mother's Day a national holiday.

Initially, the day was celebrated with cards, flowers and letters, but eventually, when gifts became more commonplace, Anna Jarvis was furious that the sentiment of the day was being compromised at the expense of profit and greed. She eventually filed a lawsuit, and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a convention that was selling gifts for mothers. Before she died, she said that she regretted ever having started the tradition in the first place because it had lost its original meaning entirely.

Meanwhile, back in 1870, Juliet Ward Howe (who wrote the lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic) campaigned to start a 'Mother's Day for Peace.' Her idea was that women - who were wives, daughters, sisters and mothers, no matter whose side their men fought on in war - bore the brunt of human loss more than anyone else. She wrote this 'Mothers Day Proclamation,' which, shamefully, has been largely ignored since it was published…

Mother's Day Proclamation
1870

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

THIS is my idea of Mother's Day, and the ONLY reason I celebrate it - to align myself with other mothers around the globe in our 'samenesses.' And every year at this time, I feel like I become the 'lone voice in the wilderness' when I bring up this history, when I write another column about it, when I remind my children what Mother's Day really means to me. And every year I silently honor these three women - and all women who are sisters, mothers, daughters and wives of men who wage war.

Here's another source that describes exactly how I feel about this whole thing...
War is not the answer for mothers.

And finally, last year on Mother's Day, someone sent me this link ...
Standing Women

As I registered on the Standing Woman web site, I'll be standing at the Nautilus 'statue' at Clover Point at 1 pm, for 5 minutes of silence. Will you join me this year for a Happy Mother's Day ... for Peace?

ALBERT HEAD

For the record: when I die, I want to be cremated and have my ashes scattered at Clover Point -- but Albert Head is a 'close second,' because it's one of the most beautiful anchorages around! We've also had some great times there -- with our children, by ourselves, and with good friends.

This time it was my sister Julie and her friend Erin from Alberta who came with us, and they had some serious painting in mind.

The day was warm and sunny, but a westerly wind was blowing the whole time ... hence the hats! (Julie on the right with the dark jacket and glasses, Erin on the left...)

We were joined by a navy dive boat early Saturday morning. They did their dive, then brought the boat in to the beach, and took themselves, the BBQ, and the lunch fixins' ashore...




Then a bit of a squall came up, and they re-loaded everything and took off back to (Esquimalt)Base. (And these guys are defending our country? lol)

Our trusty dinghy follows us everywhere, and Erin immortalized it in this painting...


It was really interesting to watch these two artists. They both had the same view of the same beach, but painted two completely different pictures of it. Julie tells me that's because she's more of a 'realist' painter, and Erin's work is more 'impressionist.' I'd love to show you the pictures, but Julie hated my photos of them, and she says she'll send me better ones, so you'll have to wait.

On our way back in to the harbour, we passed this cruise ship at Ogden Point:

And then saw this (USA) National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (we think that's the equivalent of our Environment Canada) research boat tied up at Ship's Point:

And in the evening, after we got back to the marina, we went for a drive and saw the cruise ship leaving...

Of course, I had lots of knitting time while we were at anchor, and STILL didn't finish a thing! The blue shawl is really close to being cast off, though, and I made progress on the vest I started last week. More pics to come!

AWAY!

I'll be here if you need me for the next day or two...

Meanwhile, as my friend Grace says, "Knit amongst yourselves." :-)

THE 'GREEN'

According to the BC dive books:

"The wreck of the Green can be found in the Inner Harbour. The Green was a 102' iron-hulled whaler built in 1909, and it sank in 1966. (And if, like me, you just thought to yourself, 'Oh, that's not so long ago'... consider ... it was over 40 years ago, actually!)The wreck is the attraction here as there is little sea life on or around it."

I beg to differ.



This marina was designed and built 'around' the wreck of the Green because the owners had no choice, since it's been declared a 'heritage' wreck. On a low tide, on our southern-most dock, what's left of the wreck is only about two feet below the surface, and you can see from the photos the abundant sea life!

Yesterday and today are extremely low tides, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to snap those pics. (Besides, I have no knitterly news to report -- I finished the white baby blanket. No pics... imagine for yourself a white baby blanket). On the needles still is the blue laceweight Elite 'Interlude' shawl and the wool knit-in-one-piece striped vest, and yesterday I cast on a sweater for myself from a back issue of Creative Knitting.

Yesterday my friend Monica from Mayne Island was here, and after I took her back to her ferry, I stopped to knit along 5th St in Sidney just in time to see the Anacortes (Washington State) ferry about to pull out.


Today my sister Julie and her friend Erin will arrive at some point, and we're hoping to get off the dock (to our favorite anchorage at Albert Head) for a night or two so those two can snap photos and/or paint pictures ... so happy days to you if you don't hear from me again until Friday!

MARINA LIFE

The days around the 1st of the month are always busy ones here ... boats are sometimes leaving, or coming in, and everyone is stopping by to pay their monthly moorage fees.

This past weekend, in addition to that sort of activity, was a busy one in a couple of other ways. First of all, the weather was wonderful, so folks were 'out and about' on the docks ... spring cleaning, scrubbing hulls, sanding, tuning up outboards, getting dinghies ready for the cruising season.

The buzz around the Wind Walker was no exception. I opened several windows, and Michael took the 'winter tarps' off for the first time -- it was wonderful to sit up on the bridge, knitting, for the first time since October! I did manage to do a bit of spring cleaning, but the main activity had to do with our sailboat acquisition.

We already owned Plump, a 24' Buccaneer. It's a 'day-sailer' or weekender -- in other words, it's not big enough to live on, but it's great for recreational sailing, which Michael loves. (I, on the other hand, prefer boats that stay LEVEL in the water, like the Wind Walker)!

Anyway, today we acquired an identical boat ... 'Foxy Lady' ... from a marina tenant who is moving back to land.

Although the boats are identical hulls, Foxy Lady is in much better shape than Plump (and has more windows, which we like!) so the idea is to keep the best of everything from the two boats (from sails to fridges to anchor chains) and outfit Foxy Lady completely, and then sell Plump as a ready-to-sail-but-fixer-upper boat.

So today was spent 'junking out' Foxy Lady and getting it ready for a stem-to-stern spring cleaning, which will happen this week. Hailey's been staying on Plump while she's here on a contract, but she has to go back to Whistler this week for several days, so we hope to make the transition to the 'new' boat while she's away.

We also need to change this boat's name, because we both think Foxy Lady is a dumb one. And since none of us lost much weight on that cleanse we did last week, Hailey suggested we could rename it 'Plump Too' or even 'Plump Two.'

No, I didn't throw her overboard, but I think I'll keep searching for a new name!

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD

Seven days ago today Michael and I and Hailey started the "7 Day Detox Miracle". The first two days are a liquid fast (water, herbal tea, and more water and herbal tea) and then you can eat fruit, veggies and rice -- along with more water and herbal tea -- for the rest of the week. There's a bit more to it, of course, but the point is ... we did it!

I think I lost a grand total of maybe four pounds, but it doesn't matter -- it feels good, and it will hopefully 'kick start' a return to healthier eating for Michael and I. We've gotten into the habit of 'picking something up at the deli' at the end of our long busy days, or just grabbing a burger somewhere, and in spite of the fact that I love to cook, I hardly ever was, anymore.

But summer days are (nearly) here, so it's easy to toss together a salad ... and I've discovered that I REALLY like green tea -- even iced green tea. Here's hoping I can maintain the discipline to continue....

In knitterly news, I got a parcel in the mail yesterday from Alana, who was part of the Cocoa Swap I participated in awhile back. Here's what I got:

Oops, I just realized I'd already tucked the three packages of yummy-looking hot chocolate away in the cupboard when I took that pic. But there was a lovely discloth, some candy - and see that delightful little round container, and round object on the left? It's a TAPE MEASURE, and check this out -- Alana MADE the cover for it! (Scroll down near the bottom of the page!)

Thanks, Alana -- it was a delightful surprise!