Geo-caching with Richard

One Sunday afternoon in October, after the morning outrigger paddle, Richard was looking for something to do.  I'm sure that man never sits still for more than five minutes, unless he's got a glass of wine in his hand.  In that case, he's all about the relaxation.  He doesn't do things by half measures.

Richard decided geo-caching would be fun because, like most geo-cachers that I've talked to (admittedly, not many .. decidedly less than oodles, but more than one and possibly more than two) they are keen on finding lost trinkets to the point of craziness.  

Richard finds the first cache.  Although it appears that
we're in the middle of a rough patch, we are at
the edge of a conservation area.

He knows there's a geocache in my neighborhood and enlists my willing cooperation by telling me its fairly close.  We can go for a walk .. its a beautiful fall day .. the kind that make you want to enjoy crisp air, the smell of pine needles crushed underfoot and maybe even the sight of horses - safely across a fence where you don't actually have to worry about horse pies, which might be an even bigger blight on the landscape, and therefore more dangerous, than cowpies.

So I grab my camera, my shoes and a determination to make it up Rutherford Hill before I collapse from exhaustion.  Don't laugh .. that hill is biiiiig.  Up at the top of Rutherford Hill is a park where there's a housing development with another in the works, which as you might image, is a bit of a contentious issue in the tree-hugging society where we find ourselves living.  Part of Linley Point is a designated conservation zone ... boggy marsh area .. that is home to some sort of birds and a whole lot of thistle.  

The pond at Linley Point

From our first geocache, we headed off to find the second, which was at the left end of this tiny lake.  I'm not sure if this is Cottle Lake or if this is a pond designed by the developers, in which case .. good job!  The mallards are certainly enjoying it.

Here is where the citified trail ends abruptly at a someone loosey-goosey planned crosswalk which at the moment crosses nothing except hardpacked dirt and scrubby grass.  Here's where shit gets real.  Richard breaks out the gps and we head out into the unknown.  Well .. our unknown.

The extremely dry summer is telling on this cedar we encountered alongside the

dirt trail. At the time, we wondered what would cause the phenomenon we 

were seeing.  I opined that this was likely a natural process, but as it turns out, 

the lack of rainfall has had a considerable impact on all cedars, not just

the ones in my backyard hedge.  Ha!  Good old CBC Radio to the rescue again.

Arms draped in rich green velvet reach out to forest dance partners, swaying
to the rhythms provided by capricious air sprites

By this time, the afternoon was wearing and yet we were generally within a decent range of another geocache, so we'd go tramping off to find that one too.  My feet began singing their own song .. a sort of muddled up blues number that started out just with a few basic pieces.  Later on, a horn section was added and when I didn't immediately stop and put my feet up, being many many many MANY yards away from my own house, they pulled out wailing steel guitars and other assorted stringed instruments to add to the cacophony going on in my shoes.  

Can you see a path here?  Yea, me either!

Although my sense of direction totally failed me ... Richard's gps was proof positive I was dead wrong when was saying that "this" direction was the right way to go home ... I did recognize this shed from a walk that Bev and I had taken a couple of years previous.  My feet started to get a bit happier until they remembered that we'd been driving that day.  Still, it's at the top of Rutherford somewhere .. damned if I could find it again except by accident.  We plunged off through another set of trees and eventually found the road that wound down through the trees to Bradbury Road.

I learned two things that day.  Richard doesn't mean it when he says "one hour," and despite that, he's a good-hearted colossus and I'll be making that trek with him again.

Catch up!

Bracing.  That's what we call a day like today.  It reminds me of my Granny and walking the the Scottish Highlands with a wee scruffy dog .. although I've never done that.  I must have seen it somewhere and totally related to it though.  Because today reminds me of that picture in my brain .. although why my Granny Gideon and a small Scottie are in that picture is also a confusing muddle.

It's beyond blustery .. the weather here on the coast has been the usual sort of mixed bag of goods .. sunny one day .. raining sideways the next.   However, the gusty, blowsy breezes have consistently gone past sporty to the point of 'small craft warnings' that tend to keep the less adventurous paddlers off the water.   Certainly not Bruce and his Huligans, who like to embrace the waves and thrive on this sort of weather.  I just make sure that he's got enough ID that they know who to call when the body rolls up to shore.   I've given up trying to make the safety argument.  You know that one that goes "small craft warning" means small craft .. and that means an outrigger canoe.   He's all "Logic bedamned!"  

::sigh:: Men!

It appears I can have a wholly unexplained reason for a mental picture of a "bracing" day and yet .. in the very next paragraph .. totally discount my husband's proclivity to make up his own rules regarding wind and water based on things like .. experience.  ::frown:: That doesn't make him less wrong.

Bruce has actually been trying to behave himself the last couple of weeks ... he's just finished a round of medication to recover from pneumonia and is still working in clearing the last vestiges from his lungs.  The wet-and-cold combination are making him a bit leery on the very windy days when he knows that there's absolutely no hope of not getting soaked to the skin.  I say "trying" .. I mean that the siren of the waves weaves her haunting melody and tugs at him ... he's a bit powerless to resist her full will.  

::sigh:: Men!

I put this post together in October and got distracted by other things.  So as I sit down to write a new post, you get the old draft too.  My distraction then actually allows me to add more news now.

We had a scare on Thanksgiving weekend.  We'd been to Galiano Island with Céc and Richard for their annual Thanksgiving artwalk and were enjoying ourselves thoroughly, chatting with artists, making friends with stray cats, trying on hats and making faces in mirrors as a result, climbing lofts to look over old boat reconstructions and watching a glassblower at her trade.   I'd picked up a couple of pieces of art and Bruce picked up a cup of chai tea or ate something that gave his usually dormant allergies a chance to surface.  As we were leaving the island, Bruce's reaction had gone from mild to surprising and by the time we landed back in Nanaimo, had escalated into alarming.  Although there is no medical clinic open during off hours, we did get into London Drugs and got him sorted out with some allergy relief pills.  However, on the way home, 'alarming' had again escalated to the point where we took him to emergency.  Fortunately, he didn't have a long wait; although we did leave him there while we made dinner.  Bruce and I would both like to thank Cécile and Richard for their caring, help and patience as it was very long day by the time Bruce was back home.  Bruce now carries medication with him and has some in the car ... and I have instructions on how to use the epi-pens  it as well.


Sandy and Melvin dropped by this month .. and when I say dropped by, I mean they were on the island to visit with her parents who have moved to Cowichan Valley.  We made the most of the day and caught up with our two friends.  I swear, its like we've never left them 16 hours away and 8 years behind us.

Yup, they're as much fun as you'd think.

Melvin taught that look to Miley Cyrus.  Go ahead, blame him.

Fence update .. because you were waiting with bated breath .. right?  We finished!  Done for at least one more year.  Bruce says it took six weeks, but really .. it took all damn summer.  Because we like to not stress ourselves over deadlines.  Its the best way, really.

Mr. Tippy and Murray take their Construction Foremen job seriously.

September - Bruce is measuring to keep the headers parallel before he drills that last screw into place.

Trina, Dad and Dorothy at Myranda's wedding

Kelly's daughter Trina, oldest of the gaggle of nieces and nephews, travelled to Northern Alberta for Myranda's wedding and a chance to catch up with cousins and extended family, bringing her boyfriend to meet the gang.

I ate a flower .. and I liked it.

Yesterday, Cécile dropped by with a large box of organic veggies she'd got from her new co-worker at Bodhi Bakery.  Inside was a bag of mixed salad greens that were stunning both visually, and as it turns out, in taste.  Included in the greens mixture were baby beet greens and nasturtiums.  They made a great shrimp salad for lunch!

Céc is a pretty fine hand when it comes to baking bread herself, but she's learning fast at Bodhi, an education that includes the making of a fine cappuccino.  Once she learns how to make designs in the foam, I'll grab my camera and go.  In the name of journalism, ya know.  It will have nothing whatsoever to do with those lovely chocolate croissants they make.  None at all.

Spring is in the Air

I walked over to Cecile and Richard's place last weekend, to help her make some breakfast for the Huliguns while they were out on the water.  And I know that you folks in Alberta were in the middle of Mother Winter's last grasping demonstration of power, but here in Lala Land, it was all signs of spring ...

This is the jasmine outside my kitchen window.  Each year, it gets just that much more show-stopping

Fuzzy catkins on a tree stopped me.  Although they are sneezes budding out, they also look a lot like flowers!

When breezes play tag along the
streets .. there are always
cherry blossom casualties.

This has to be one of the best pictures I've taken in ages. The colors are simply amazing, the spring buds could not have been more dramatic and there's even a whimsical wee portal into the neighbor's yard.  This is at Cécile and Richard's.

Easter Update

The other day, I was wandering through one of my favorite stores and something twitchy happened ... it was that sort of twitch that happens to me occasionally (and I dare say most women) when they see something that they just have to have.  Now, I restrained myself .. I only bought two of these cute little juice glasses.  But they were gorgeous .. all glittery in their shiny pinks and greens, blues and aquas .. with their bumps and pretty glass patterns.  I should have taken a picture in the store.  But failing that .. here's one I hope you enjoy.

I know its been a long while since I made a post ... I had a lot of difficulty with January and February and March blahs in the rain, rain, rain .. and more rain.  And then I realized one day (when I had been absent from my gym once again this week except for my weekly beating up by workout with Simone) that I actually had things on the go.  So I'll try to bring you up to speed ... not that there is a great deal of impetus there yet, but .. you know .. one can wish.

I continue to visit the gym and have a Thursday morning half hour each week with Simone, my Brazilian trainer.  She's been away for the past couple of weeks so I've been working out with Paul Pilates .. that's not his real last name, just a handy moniker that Bruce and I give him.  The first week, he damn near killed me.  I was going to text him on Friday and tell him that my upper abs weren't aching when I breathed .. that he "missed a spot, nyah, nyah" .. but the rest of my body wasn't so sure I wanted to push that button.  I'm pretty sure he could have delivered on that dare.  This week was a bit easier, thankfully, since we were off to visit Ilana and the girls on Good Friday.  Which brings me 'round to why I was in Chapters .. buying an Easter gift for the girls ... and then, apparently, being sucker punched by an effective display of glassware.

Sailboats near the coast of Vancouver.  You can't tell from this weather, but the ferry crossing was
a bit eventful, travelling through a thick white coat of fog, sounding the big ships horns every
two minutes as a warning to other boats asea.

I picked up a couple of books ... Elsa insisted hers be read to her immediately upon receiving it.  Elina was more interested in the unused diaper drawer and having her teddy bear dressed up in them.

We went off to the park with the girls in tow, along with Jordan and Lauren, Ilana's nieces  who were exactly what you hope all cousins will be when you're that age.. fun to be around, willing to slide with you and show you how to get to the high places on the merry-go-round.  They were also the right age to be watchful of the girls and perfect for Ilana who has preschooler whiplash keeping an eye on two active girls running in two different directions.  The park was as super busy as you might imagine .. gorgeous weather, if somewhat windy, on the first long weekend of spring during school break.

Kitsilano Beach Volleyball

Thumping rap music added counterpoint to the bouncing of the basketball and smack of their feet on the asphalt as players drove down the court for the layup, the bumps and calls from the volleyball nets as players warmed up their style for the summer, and over it all  ... a layer of children's laughter and shrieking joy as kids played on the merry-go-round, the swings, the obstacles, in the sandbox, with kites or chased frisbees and big soap bubbles.

Elina and Ilana on the slide that Elina was determined to walk up as the other kids were sliding down.
Fortunately, she was fairly easily guided by Lauren into safer pursuits.

This is a far cry from the girl who, last visit, was afraid to come down the slide herself.
This time around, Elsa showed the other kids how to be more daring, launching herself face first down the slide.
The hat comes as a result of a night at a Canuck's game with her dad.

Visits with them always seem too short in retrospect, but while you're around them, they certainly know how to fill the space with sound and movement, color and creativity .. even putting on a pair of socks and shoes can be an adventure.  Ilana, I'm zipping and sending you all the pictures that I took.

Liz and Ian Taylor met us for lunch at the Lantzville Pub while they took a day or two break on the island to get in touch with their Scorpio water sign.  Just kidding .. only Liz is the Scorpio.  But they do love their nature breaks and they gave me a couple of pictures so I'll show off my island to you through their eyes.

From the turbulent northern shores ...

... to the calm serenity of a mannequin enjoying the spring sun on a houseboat
deck along the Victoria shoreline in the south.  Home security takes an ingenious twist.

Liz recently forwarded this wonderful picture that a friend of hers took near Jasper.  Amazing story of struggle and survival in the wild.

I've been doing a bit more reading lately (I really should update my blog as I do that) and have gone through some books from two of my favorite Canadian authors, Charles de Lint and Guy Gavriel Kay.  It's funny .. the e-reader is the right size and has the right features to replace the paperback and I've even got a fold out case for it so it opens like a book and it's wonderful for the treadmill at the gym.  But it lacks two things that would make it better ... the brightness of the page, the contrast of the typeface ... and the feel of turning the pages of a book.  My birthday iPod manages to do that .. no, you can't actually turn the page, but as you flip from one page to another ... the page curls over and you can faintly see the type reversed on the rear of the page you just turned if the new one happens to be blank.  So it fulfills that tactile need.  I'll be jonesing for a iPad before too long, I expect.

In family news, I understand there will be a wedding up north this summer as Myranda and Ryan make their partnership officially official; Samantha and DeWynn are looking forward to parenting ...and may I just say that Maureen is a good name for a girl?  Dad and the boys are cleaning out the farmhouse toward the end of April .. they're taking away the more valuable items since Dad is living with Dorothy now.  Dad invited me up, but we have a few 'must go' events off the island this year and its always an expensive prospect.  2012 and so far, 2013, have not yet been generous to MRI (our recruiting business), so we're watching pennies carefully, especially since dentists and optometrist visits have been a familiar calendar item for both Bruce and I this first quarter.

Bruce's race season is underway, and I've got some nice shots of the recent Crazy 8 race where the Huligans competed and placed third overall.  Had some confusion not put them in the open division, they would have placed second in the more age-selective Masters.

LaDonne, Holly, Richard, Marcus, Toni, Bruce - the Huliguns in fine form

Paddling past some stunning shoreline scenery and catching up to another crew.

With all this gorgeous weather this weekend, I feel a bit guilty about spending time on the computer when we have bulbs to put in the ground.  However, tomorrow is time enough for that .. and for getting other parts of the garden ready for showing off.  My pretty little pots need a bit of a face lift .. and some replacement since one of them blew off the edge of the stairwell and broke.  Bruce was kind enough to put some foot stones in good spots in my rather soggy lily bed, so I'll be able to get in there more often; I need to prune back some heather shortly and continue spring cleanup.  I'm sure you'll hear and see all about it as I go through my season.

Until next time, my friends .. stay warm.  I hope that you don't have too many of last year's weeds to pull out of your own gardens.

The people you meet

In our life, we sometimes get to rub shoulders with people who do amazing things daily.  Oh, they don't think of themselves that way, which invariably makes them even more of a delight to know.

I game with some really amazing folks from all over the world and some from right here in my city.

My pal Chris is from Nanaimo and is one of those muscular giants with a heart of mush.  Everyone has  confidence in his quiet ways; he's a leader.  He's also a listener and a man of action with a clear path to a prosperous future.  And he really doesn't know how to adequately clean a washroom; just ask his mom.

When that line was coined "your friends know when you're down and laugh at you anyway," they were talking about my buddy Eric who has a home in Montreal, but lives and breathes the information highway.  He's the one I trust when geekspeak is needed to clear things up.  I can also always trust him to shatter my far too serious demeanour when I'm being, well,  far too serious.

South America is home to more friends ... Luis, an international studies major in Cartegena, Colombia and his brother lawyer brother Cisco.  Luis and I have had ups and downs and go rounds galore over the years we've known each other, but in the end, we're still friends.  I guess history just makes the bond stronger.  Peique is a tall thin man with a heart of gold and an obsession for pizza who calls home Rio de Janeiro.  All of these men have a real zest for life and a flair for chasing the latin ladies.  Luis, though, can be convinced to do anything for a good brownie.

My pal Josh and I sometimes laugh about knowing a rocket scientist, but our other friend Josh is a physicist working for NASA in Texas, and we're not-so-secretly proud to know him.  He's got published works on nanocarbon tubes that I .. well, I can't say I would undertake it (or even understand it for that matter), but I'm glad there are folks like him out there working on dissembling the the inscrutable building blocks of our world.

The first Josh is a staff sergeant in the US air force and since I know not a single person in active duty in Canada, I find it interesting to know so many in the US.  Josh, though, is the first one I know who regularly gets to enter the doors of the Pentagon and sometimes the White House, and not at the side entrance for deliveries.  He was at the inauguration ceremonies tonight and I made him send me proof, so I share it with you.  Told him not to pass his cold to the leader of the free world.  I hope he listened.

Coca-cola is a gateway drug ...

... to puppies!!

This little darling, named Cola, belongs to Melvin and Sandy.  We kidded them about finally succumbing to the pressure to become parents.

Oh my gosh .. can you say "squeeable?"

Not really a huge fan of winter.  Just wait til they take her skiing.

Congrats you two .. she's adorable!

Playing hookey

Today, my friend Cécile and I goofed away the entire day.  We started early  .. as it turns out, we both began by checking emails, working our way through responses and a steaming hot cup of morning tea.  We'd planned to meet up at 9:30 or thereabouts, knowing that Cécile has a penchant for having her own notion of time that doesn't always coincide with .. you know .. world clocks.

We drove off to have the quintessential girl day ... time at the spa and lunch after.  Tigh-Na-Mara Resort is the perfect marriage of log cabin and seaside chalet with high-end services.  If you get a chance, I highly recommend a visit there.  It was here, while sitting out on our balcony one late September night, sipping wine  and watching a cruise ship slowly moving up the strait, that Bruce and I made the decision to move to Vancouver Island. We'd found a chunk of paradise we wanted to hold onto.  So I guess I'm rather partial to the place.

At about 1:00, we emerged from the spa with fresh rosy faces, completely relaxed and .. hungry.  We headed around the corner to a small sushi place that Cécile knew, only to find that they were closed Wednesdays.  I guess business must be good when you can run a restaurant that is only open from 11am to 7:00 pm every day but Wednesday, when it doesn't open at all.

Since we were around the corner from the beach front park, we headed there, with the ice cream concession in mind .. only to discover that the sand carving competition had been recently completed and they were taking donations to view the completed works.    I really like this part of the Parksville Beach  Festival .. competitors come from all over the world to to carve up the local sand.

This one took first prize for a work done by a solo artist

A cup of tea .. loved that splash

Bruce .. another practical gift of a heart of stone.
Or sand .. whatever.

Not really too sure about this one, but man, that font work is great.

This one made me laugh .. and think how much my brother Jamie would love it.

The sculptor of this entry hailed form Europe

Not sure what this represented, by I thought it well crafted

This took 2nd place for the group work (you can see first place in the background).
The next two pictures show different views of the same piece

Add caption

After the sandcastles, we took in a Vietnamese lunch in Nanaimo at Huong Lan Restaurant.  The service was amazing and even at 2:30 in the afternoon in a somewhat sleepy strip mall, business was hopping.  Food was pretty good too.  Cécile had her first bubble tea and decided that perhaps tapioca bubbles were not really the thing she most wanted to find in her drink.  I whole-heartedly agree.

All in all, it was a pretty amazing vacation day.

Buddies

Paula was out for a visit last weekend and I must say that she is truly one of the most delightful visitors.  Easygoing, relaxed, up for anything (or nothing), everywhere she walks trails a waft of natural hominess and, if you'll forgive me borrowing a Stephen Colbert phrase .. truthiness.  Unafraid of looking things in the eye and then snickering about it and sharing the laugh with you ... that's my friend Paula.

I didn't take pictures while she was here, but I probably should have done so.  Paula .. we always have a room for you.

Mel and Sandy called to sing Bruce another fine rendition of Happy Birthday gone horribly astray.   I'm afraid its a tradition that we like to reciprocate.  Mel and Sandy just came back from their vacation and shared some pictures with me that I in turn can share with you.  :)

Cozumel

Dunn's Falls, Jamaica

Grand Cayman
That's a stingray that they're fondling.  Look at Mel's grin.  You can tell it's a fondle.

December stuff

I guess I'm a hippy.  *giggle*  Not that many of you haven't guessed.

I prefer to gad about the world barefoot, or at least my own little chunk of the world, more generally referred to as "the house."  Yet, this predilection goes beyond my front door in my choice of shoe wear.  Since I don' t have a formal job, I have no need of formal shoes and generally, those black dress shoes I brought from Calgary stay well back in the dusty corners of my closet.  I have crocs and casual runners for outdoors, neither of which actually need a pair of socks.  Maybe it's the socks I protest against.

Which is a preamble to where I find myself today.  Six years of not having to ever put on a decent pair of shoes  has resulted in  plantar fasciitus. Really?  Cold reality has crept into my world of awesome, bringing some pretty debilitating days.  Without whining and snivelling, which I'm sure my husband has heard a great deal, I'm in rehabilitative therapy at the moment.

Part of which includes foot massage.  I've always enjoyed reflexology .. in Calgary, I'd indulge myself on the way home with stop-ins to a spa that always seemed to have a massage therapist ready to give me half an hour of heaven.  So there is an upside to this as well!

Anyway, I've had some pretty bleak days as I try to imagine a world without pain, where the simple act of dropping your feet on the floor in the morning doesn't come with a reminder that your feet are attached to your body.  Most of us don't think about it.  I'm working on getting back there.  Okay, so maybe a teensy bit of  whining.

So that's why I've not been blogging.  Need to get a happy on before I sit at the keys.

Even the Burberry puts on a Christmas show in December

December this year has actually been good to us.  Carefully saved coins (loonies and toonies, right down to the pennies)! over the last three years went into a Christmas gift that Bruce and I chose on the 27th during the Boxing Day craziness at Future Shop.   So our new flat screen will be delivered on the 7th of January, hooked up and ready to roll by the time the delivery folks leave.

I spoke with my Dad this month .. I've been a particularly bad daughter about not calling him often enough, which happens come summer when he's busy working.  He's up with the sun in the morning and I ... am a nocturnal person generally.  And then I get out of the habit and .. excuses, excuses.  So yea, we talked.  It appears that he has a new lady in his life and he's happy and accepted into her family as well.  That makes me very happy too.

I've spoken with all my brothers this month, over Christmas day calls and emails or birthday greets back and forth with Larry.  We called and sang a Christmas carol for Kelly who was on the road between the north pole and Leslieville.

Gotta love a display like this in December!

We laughed a lot on our annual birthday call with Melvin.  Man, we miss him and Sandy.  They are such great friends.  I'm looking forward to the New Year's call.

We helped Cécile and Richard move into their new place.  Gone is the house beside the ocean where we lounged about on sunny afternoons.  The new one still has an ocean view, but is within walking distance of our house and is not full of the drafts and catch-basins of the old place.  It has a natural lawn that won't need much attention and a bit of a nautical theme with the roped deck and mooring pole flower bed.  We're already calling their tiny garden shed "the boat house."   Cécile's driftwood collection will be right at home there.

Why yes, that house across the street IS pink and grey.

And finally, I've reacquainted myself with an old friend from Dofus ... my character Oralind.  We've been keeping company in the late evenings.

So I bring this blog to its 2011 close and wish you a great New Year's festivity however you like to do it ... polar bear swims here are somewhat of a 'thing,' but I think I'll pass on leaving various bits of skin stuck to the ice.  *grin*