It was nice to get a break for a week on Vancouver Island. Went to Salt Spring, and enjoyed the wind and the surf on the outside decks of the ferry that took us there, the sight of the azure blue water, the china-blue sky, scudding clouds, white painted railings, sticky with salt. Camped in a beautiful spot, a cathedral forest,  got filthy playing disc golf with Devon and Drew. Scooped up rocks and shells in Qualicum, and sea glass in Sidney.  It was good to see Drew and Eric, and throw Frisbees, and have some time away. Victoria is so easy to love.

Would have been nice to have more time, though, of course, that’s always the way it is.

I enjoy the whole process of traveling by ferry.  The views, the salt, the cold wind, the warm food, the weak coffee, the gift shops, the tourists, grinning, taking pictures, laughing, the puzzles and books, coats and music people bring to pass the time. I love watching the  dozers and dreamers, drowsing under the sun, and I love the boom of the whistle that announces the sailing, even though it used to frighten me when I was very little. I love the thrum thrum underneath me, that deep, industrial vibration, as the ferry nudges into port, the clang as it docks.   I love the stillness in the car anticipating, festive,  until we rumble off, and the adventure begins.

Salt Spring Island is full of wineries, gorgeous scenery, artists, potters and craftspeople, apples  and picturesque little towns. We stayed near Ganges, which looked all romantic against the golden late afternoon light, and got lost, but that’s alright, we were tourists. Thought it would be a great place to have a studio and explore personal creativity.

They also had no fish and chips shop on the docks where we had a 2 hour wait for the Victoria ferry, only a virulent vegan bakery, that offered (actually delicious) apricot-spelt bread, organic milk for coffee, but strangely no organic cream…

We did find a little restaurant that had unique, local art for sale on the walls, and coloured glass panels, as well as views of the  harbour, bobbing sailing boats and the docks where the ferry comes in. And the food was amazing.

Also learned about Golden Plovers, and how they journey from all over the world to a paradise in the Arctic, on one of the ferries, though I can’t remember if t hat was on the way back to Vancouver or on the way to Vancouver Island.

And in Jasper, we found this amazing shallow, sandy beach, with warm water. Everyone was stopping for a paddle at this unexpected treat. Mostly the water in the Rockies is frigid, as it’s glacier-fed, however, to make up for it,  the water also usually has a striking turqouise, green, or sparkling clear blue colour to it.

We also saw goats,  just chilling, and 1 elk, but the way the traffic was snarling and everyone was piling out, taking pictures, I thought there had been a naccident.

…You know, we should have visited the Merrydale Cidery, when we were on the Island and brought back a treat for the winter. Oh well, next time. It was good to see the old haunts, and eat Noodle Box. I had Barenaked Ladies “This is Where We Used to Live” echoing in my head…

Busy busy week coming up. So much to do and so little time to do it in. I start my Leave of absence in just under 5 days and then Kate and I will be on the road again.

Tomorrow is packed with a museum trip – Something I have been really looking forward to for a bit now. I have heard nothing but good things about the Royal BC Museum, and it has been something we have put off seeing for a long time. We will also be seeing the 2 latest IMAX films – We figure we might as well see them all before our trip.

Thursday we plan on going to Parksville and Qualicum for the day. We have been up there twice since we have been on the island, and I find it stunning. Before moving to the island, I have only experianced lakes, and rocky beaches. I love having the opportunity to walk along the sandy shores, that strech for miles.

On Friday Rhian and Alan will be flying out. I am looking forward to seeing them again.

It has been a busy last few months, lots of work, lots of work at home too. After several weeks, we have finally managed to get both bikes up and on the road – it was quite the task. We had mine repaired, and not 2 days after getting it back, the tire died on it again. Luckily the bike shop replaced it again at no charge–damned faulty inner tubes. They were quite good despite the issue of the tire.

Today we finally had the chance to go out and enjoy the bikes. I am glad to find that we didn’t lose to much of what we had gained from the bikes last summer. We had little issue with the hills. This time last year we would have never been able to ride like we did today.

We were out biking for close to 4 hours. we ended up going down to the rocky beach down in Oak Bay and sat on the beach for about half an hour, before continuing down the scenic rout down to Ogden Point (where the cruise ship launch from) We ended up down on Fisherman’s Wharf and having this wonderful meal of fresh local fish and chips, while the harbour seals played just bellow us.

The Wharf itself is an interesting sight, wonderful fresh local fish can be bought to take home, or eaten right on site, whale watching and harbour tours launch from there as well. The character of the building at the wharf was amazing. there were some 30 “floating homes” of all different colour, size and shap. Some ranging from little bachelor sizes homes to a massive 2 floor home with the roff as a large balcony. Definitely a sight to see.

All and all, we spent about 4 hours in the lovely 32 degree weather biking around this beautiful island. It was a wonderful day, and a real treat.

Friday : Eric and Leseen visited and we had a great dinner. They taught me to play Chinese Checkers. We drank way too much tea-we were all floating on it but hey, c’est la vie. They are definitely decent company.

…Then we decided, since it was late already, why bother sleeping, I mean, we had to be up at 530am anyway, to catch the bus to get the early ferry to the mainland.

We caught a few zzz’s on the ferry, and saturday,

…was spent moving through Vancouver with Dev’s family. Finally met his sister. Everyone was so loud and bright and cheerful, it was great fun to wander everywhere with them.

We saw the Olympic Torch (Extinguished, but still…) and took the sky train everywhere. Vancouver is VAST and so jam packed with people and buildings and industry. They have a beautiful and enormous harbour, with mountains fringing it. We took the seabus to North Vancouver, where they have this really intriguing hidden market on the quay. I think it would be a good place for my dad to sell his pots.

Caught the last ferry back to the island, caught the last bus home, totally crashed.

It was so great to get out and spend a day on the mainland, with everyone. I really enjoyed myself.  Really had a lot of fun.

Sunday: chillaxing. Slept in. Took it easy. One of the Tim Horton’s we frequent also now has a creamery. So we indulged in hot java and cold ice cream. The Cold Stone Creamery section had just opened-we were among the first customers. Dev had a cheesecake fantasy and I had choc cake batter and oreo ice cream. We were offered lids if we wanted it “to go”.

We managed to make it out to Edmonton after all for the week. And we have finally managed to catch up on some sleep. Friday ended up being a fairly hectic day as we rushed to get our things packed for the trip. No one knew that we were coming out save my brother and Aaron. Our parents reactions were priceless. I do love it when surprises work out as planned.

Saturday was a day for family. We spent the day with my mother, and the evening with Kate’s family. Both families ended up having big meals that day, so we were stuffed by the end of it. Exhausted and full, we came back to my mother’s place and tried to sleep.

Sunday was Aaron’s birthday. We went to dinner at Chianti’s, a wonderful Italian restaurant on Whyte. There were a lot of friends, and many we had not met before. It was a good night, nice to see everyone again.

Our week is still mostly up in the air. But so far it is looking like good times.

Dusk//

Victoria did not put on any fireworks to celebrate the new year. It’s the capital of BC, and is a strong tourist spot, and you would think these things alone would prompt the city to put on a fireworks show for first night. The city said there was dwindling enthusiasm for fireworks on new years eve, but I don’t buy it. What about the families with young children and tourists from the states who come up here to visit their families over the winter holidays? Last year, in Edmonton, it was something like -40C, and yet there were people in Churchill Square, and hot chocolate vendors and people selling 2009 flashing glasses, and they still had a fireworks display and music. It is much much warmer than Edmonton here, so I find it a stretch to believe people don’t want to “stand around in the cold” to watch a fireworks show to ring in the new year. I think the city was just too apathetic. I think it was a bad decision to treat new year’s eve like just any other ordinary day, because it isn’t. It should be celebrated, people should make some effort and dress up and put on a fireworks display that everyone can enjoy. And if they feel there’s dwindling interest they should step up and promote it, put some fliers around like they did for Christmas. (The downtown core was offering free horse-drawn trolley rides and free street-car rides, and several pre-Christmas events, and they put out a brochure to advertise it.)

Dev and I dressed up anyway, and went down to the beach for a quiet wander. There was a group on the beach that had bought some fireworks, and they shot them over the water, so we did get to see some little festivities after all. Mostly they were the coloured single ball kind, but one they set off was a crackling zinging sparkling rain.

We also saw Seattle’s fireworks display too, across the water. (Pretty good display actually, in miniature above their city.)

Dev had his first smoke of the new year, and we came home and toasted it in with wine.

Not a bad start to bring in the new year, despite the city’s lack of joy and illuminations. I still get to say I was on a beach for New Year’s, not in freezing snowy minus forty.

First day of the new year started out clear and fresh and mild, a balmy 10 degrees. Went for a wander downtown, taking pictures, and it started to rain heavily, but that was ok. I saw some Morris Dancing at Bastion Square. It was colourful and musical and as well as the dancers there was a man dressed as a horse with flashing mirror eyes, and a man who looked like a holly bush slash mossy stone. It was a fun way to start the new year off, tho I hear they are supposed to wear clogs instead of normal shoes, and bells on their toes too.

Been a pretty good weekend. We had Kate’s sister and friend come into town on Sunday. I picked them up from the ferry, and then the adventure began. The plan was to go to the Merridale Cidery. Apparently it was an hour outside of Victoria. So I programmed the address into my GPS and was surprised to see it was only 20km from the ferries. Excellent! we will get there nice and early. Except the GPS wanted us to drive through the ocean. No as much as I would like to have an amphibious car, I don’t have the means to drive through the ocean. Okay fair enough. My GPS could just be screwy. Sometimes that happens with software. So Sharon pulls out her GPS. And the same thing happened again.

Well this is no good. We will just have to head back into town and go from there. We managed to make it back to Victoria, despite the two GPS systems yelling different directions at us in an attempt to prove superiority over the other (we listened to neither at this point). At this point they both start agreeing again, and we start out to the cidery once again. Just to have them send us into off-road/private road routes. Most likely at this point the just wanted to watch the humans dance to their tune. Again we make it back to the highway and drive a bit further, and the system sends us on this long circuitous route. But finally we are there.

So we went in, had our tasting, bought some cider and decided it was time for lunch. It was raining so we sat in the car, and started listening to some music. And apparently we listened to it for a little too long; we killed the battery.

So off to find jumper cables I go. Of course no one has any, and I finally cave and call a tow truck. Right after, Rhian asks some people who just pulled up if they had any jumper cables. Nope. of course not. What the did have however, was muscle power. I drive a standard, and there is this neat trick called a push start. So we push my car down a hill, and thank the gods, it worked.

Of course we still hadn’t learned with the GPS, and we try to follow it back home. Only for it to send us to to the same closed roads. At this point we figure they might as well be speaking Norwegian as the directions from the device were utterly useless. So we sett it to Norwegian, We figured it was actually more helpful this way, as at least we now know how to say “Turn Left”

~Dusk

After near 3 month, I finally get a weekend off. Should be a fairly busy one too, as Kate’s sister will be in town for Sunday. We will be heading to a cidery, and hopefully will get to spends some time at a beach for a picnic.

We go on vacation in a couple more weeks here, of to Edmonton. Certainly not the most exciting trip, but it is still some travel. It will be nice to gather some more of our stuff. I think we both need a break from work.

Bought ourselves bikes, very cool bikes actually,…and lights and helmets and backpacks and locks…no PST on them because it’s considered a form of transportation, yay. Thinking we’re going to get a lot of use out of them, thinking we’ll use them to get to work and back, for the many trails that snake all over the island. Took the Goose into downtown to test them out, and oh, it felt good to glide again. Stunning view of the Gorge against the setting sun.

We’re all set to bike into work the next day, and we do get halfway there. Sweat is just pouring off us, it’s a bright, blazing day, and I have a stiff, burning ache in my legs and a dull ache in tender places that are not used to the feel of a bike. Dev’s pedal suddenly goes clattering off as we’re on the trail, we need a wrench to fix it, and, hey, we didn’t bring one. So we end up walking the rest of the way to work, we get there drenched with sweat, and walking home again in the deep dark. But it was a very mild, very warm evening (still 28 degrees when we got off work) so that helped. We had ice cream when we got back, and then I went and crashed.

I think these bikes will work out just fine.

Just got off work and we walk past the light-limned Lege on the Inner Harbour. The dark water is gleaming like a mirror, throwing back a wavering reflection of the Lege and the proud buildings and grand hotels standing on the banks. The fragrance of seaweed and salt wafts over our noses on the night breeze as we wander back to our fiery Kia.

Decided to go for a drive.

We drive up to Shwartz Bay, where we came though on the ferries, recharging and grooving to music and the atmosphere of the night. We swing back around the bay, taking the sightseeing route towards the sea and Ogden Point, where the majestic cruise ships, like cities on the water, wait for passengers, promising adventure and luxurious enjoyment.

We’re watching the line of the sea, and the lacy breakers roll and sussuruss on the shore; we’re watching the point where the dark line of the mountains glides into the water, the buoys and boats and lights bobbing on the waves. The sky dips down to kiss the sea, scattered with poets’ stars and the faint cry of forever hungry gulls.

Dawn is breaking. A faint flush of pale green brightens the trees and sleeping houses; an edge of light to sketch the world in rich blacks and deep gold and new aqua.

We drive on, following the line of beach and driftwood and unfurling sky. The world is unfolding in stunning colour. The water is a brilliant turquoise, the lights on the shore are shining copper and bright gold. We are in some fairytale, some beach in Greece, and the world looks like a shimmering exotic jewel.

As the city wakes up, the sea and the sky meld into a striking liquid azure, water and sky fusing into one gorgeous blue blue ball. It’s like it’s the surf’s way of singing a dawn chorus, changing from muted deep lapis lazuli blue-silver-grey to a burning aquamarine limned with hot liquid gold. The power of the star.

There are a few hidden harbours, where sailing boats still slumber in the new day, rocking with waves created by coast guard cruisers and the occasional early fishing trawler. The music we’re listening to is renewing us as much as the view. We sing as we drive, we resonate with the sounds of sea and the harmonies we share.

We smooth through a forest tunnel where the light is a deep lush green, and the sea we can glimpse through the leaves and needles, is turning into a pool of pale illumination, dotted with islands that are thickly clotted with dark mysterious evergreen.

At the last turn on our way home, we see a young deer, nonchalantly standing by the side of the road, not 10 feet from us, breakfasting on low hanging leaves. It doesn’t care we are here, it just wants its nosh.

We arrive back at Mountain View at 5 or so in the morning, and the world is yawning and stretching and preparing to trundle off to work as we are falling asleep to the rhythms of the seas and the music in our heads.