The Abominable Snowman Closes His Mouth

Before I run down to the ferry to catch the bus to Victoria, here are a few more pictures. The swoop of snow from the roof, which from inside looks a lot like I'm in the mouth of an abominable snowman with icicles for teeth, continues to close.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and safe travels if you're going anywhere (and I hope you don't have to).

Settling in for Winter

I bought a truck in May for its practicality of schlepping around kayaks and camping gear, which turned out to be awesome during the summer when I was kayaking a ton. As the kayak season slows, I've been feeling like the truck is total overkill for my lifestyle. And do environmentalists drive trucks anyway? I don't think it's any worse for the environment than a beater Subaru or an emission-spewing VW van that more commonly fits the image of a tree-hugger. (Terrible assumptions by the way.) But the image of a tree-hugger and the assumptions society has are a topic for another post.

Anyway, this week I felt very glad to have a truck so that I could pick up the load and a half of firewood I was given. What a gift! Firewood is a hot commodity on Gabriola at this time of year. Rumours fly that you shouldn't buy wood from so-and-so because it's not really seasoned, and the big old pick up with a sign on the back "FIREWOOD 2009" is driving all over the island with deliveries. (2009 doesn't refer to the year but the phone number, by the way... everyone's number starts with the first three digits on Gabriola.)


Tomorrow I have the day off work and Jim Chiminey is coming to assess the situation with this stove that my landlord bought second hand (looks kind of shabby, I hope it's okay). Hopefully it will be installed next week and I might actually be warm in my house. I do have electric heat, but I'm pretty stingy with it trying to avoid an exorbitant hydro bill.

On my day off tomorrow I also plan an attempt at canning pears... and on Saturday I am pressing apples for cider! Blog posts will surely follow.

A post for cute things

I present to you my latest find at the G.I.R.O. : One-cup coffee percolator. Cost 25 cents and makes fantastic coffee. And have you ever seen such a tiny, cute little percolater? For those who are already percolator users, you may have a knowing smile on your face now, remembering when you switched to the percolator and how good the coffee tasted. I have joined the ranks of percolatarians. And to think of the fantastic camping coffee this will make!

Speaking of cute, here are some little spider plan babies I have repotted. There were seven in the litter to start, and I've given away three, and taken one to my office at work. Now I'm propogating some little rosemarys from the huge bush in the yard, and have a wee mint on the go that nearly succumbed to mealy bugs but I think it will pull through.

To top off the cuteness, I found this tiny little feather in the driveway. My camera refused to focus on it, but I think this fuzzy picture is still rather cute.

Since my project isn't cute at all, I'm not allowed to talk about it in this post.

Not as nimble as a deer

The trails around Gabriola make me very happy. One of my favourite things is to go exploring in the forest and attempt to get myself lost. I just got back from a bit of an adventure doing just this, managing to get myself on a narrow deer trail on the side of a cliff with the ocean far below. It was a beautiful gulf islands scene in the evening sun; arbutus and Garry oak, dry grass, and low scrubby plants gone to seed with burrs all over them. My heart rate was up on a couple of occasions as I lost my footing, slipped, and had nothing to grab onto except thistle. I decided to scale the cliff and get to more solid ground above, which proved to be much more difficult than it looked from my eroding footing below. I have a new appreciation for the benefits of four legs and the hill climbing skills of deer.

Other recent joys include planting a wee fall container garden consisting of kale, chard, two kind of lettuce, and basil (which is indoors for now in a very sunny window where I think it will do alright). As the fall weather sets in and I am less likely to spend my time kayaking, swimming or otherwise just being outside for the sake of the weather, I am beginning to dream about other projects. Knitting, sewing, cooking... But I am trying so hard to focus on this small matter of graduation that is looming over me. I worked on it all afternoon (before the cliff-side adventure, which was my reward). It's getting there.

The view from here

It's been a long time since I posted. Way longer than I thought. With Facebook now part of life I can't remember what pictures I posted there and when I last updated here.

Much has happened since I last posted in June. I spent much of July kayaking, both guiding and personal trips. You can see photos of these adventures here.

I have had lots of visitors over the summer, and feel so blessed to have wonderful friends who will make the trek to visit me on Gabriola! You can also check out photos of exploring Gabriola, and a day at MudgeFest (Mudge Island is a stones throw across False Narrows from Gabriola but there is no ferry that goes there).

The picture above is the view from my new place. I lived with Penny and Tina for three months, renting a cute little pentagon-shaped cabin from them. I found my own place earlier than I needed to and reluctantly left Moss Hill and The Pentagon. The new place is lovely though, but a bit lonely. My efforts to find a roommate haven't been successful yet, but I continue the search. Any takers?

Work is fantastic. What can I say? It's great to feel like I'm doing useful things that directly affect people's lives and to have put academia aside, for now or maybe ever. Who knows. Well there is still the small matter of graduating which I haven't actually done yet. I have a project to finish, and hope to have it wrapped up before 2008 is over.

Hope you are all well and I promise to post again soon.

Sunny afternoon in Little Mountain

I have just changed into my cozy red fleece pants and am drinking Bengal Spice, after a bit of investigative reporting in "Little Mountain - Riley Park", my neighbourhood. First, I would like to show you my newly rearranged living room. It was Naomi's doing, with minor adjustments from me, and I just love it. It's much cozier than it was before. It looks especially nice when the sun is shining in, which happens rather infrequently.

I live a few houses from Fraser Street, home to a thriving community that I don't understand. I don't know what half of the things are at the little grocery stores dotted along the street, and I can't read half of the signs that are (I think) in Philipino. It's very interesting, really.

At the corner of Fraser at 29th (my street) is the creatively-named "Fraser 29th Market". There are lots of vegetables here, and a limited supply of anything typically North-American. I am going to try the cheese flavoured ice cream one day. Just sounds so strange.

A block down near 28th is this thrift store. It is the craziest thing ever, totally jam packed. You can't even walk along some of the aisles because the shelves have spilled over onto the floor. It hasn't been open for at least two months, however, and I am worried about the woman who runs it. I wish I had some way of finding out if she is okay.

I decided to take a walk through the cemetery to get away from all the buildings for a while. It made me really sad to be walking though there. Not to be flippant, but there is quite a beautiful view. This is looking at the North Shore mountains with downtown at the foot of them. If only we could actually see these mountains more than a few days a month in the winter...

I strolled home, past the teenagers smoking pot in the alley, and considered asking if I could take their picture. That would be good investigative reporting. I guess I'm just an amateur though because I chickened out.

Lucky Live Music

Still at home for the holidays, a few of us went out to Lucky Bar last night for a Joel Plaskett concert. I know him thanks to my CBC radio 3 habit, and was thrilled to see him live for the first time. It was just him, without his band, because he's spending Christmas with his in-laws in Brentwood Bay and thought he might as well play a couple of concerts while he's here. I love live music because it's more personal, especially at a small venue like Lucky. Joel Plaskett's stage banter is a bit dorky, and the music is probably better with the whole band, but it was still fantastic to see him live.

One of my New Years resolutions is to try to see more live music.

Ps. He's heading on tour in Australia in January if anyone is interested...

New Knits

It's been a busy knitting season in our house with Christmas approaching. Jaunts up the street to the yarn store abound, and projects are flying off the needles. There is some diversity, but this knit farm is a bit of a monoculture at the moment. A brilliant pattern for fingerless gloves is the project of choice, and here are two recent examples:

It has been four months

It has been ages since I've updated this blog. (So I was reminded by Kyle who is threatening to remove me from the "blogs I read" column on his blog.) I suppose Facebook has taken the place of it in some way, but I don't really like Facebook even though I endure it in order to keep in touch with friends. Almost daily, I internally threaten to remove my profile, just on principle. I'd kind of like to boast that I'm not on Facebook. But then, what would I miss out on?

So what is happening now? I am living in East Vancouver, in a basement suite with two wonderful friends. We have just heard that the people upstairs are moving out and we are plotting to take their place but we need one more roommate. Know anyone? It would be wonderful to be away from the chilly floors, and move to new carpet, new paint, a deck, view of the mountains, natural light... Imagine!

I am taking classes AND working on my thesis, theoretically. The thesis is really taking the backburner, mostly due to a lack of motivation rather than a lack of time. I seem busy, but I could find the time if I really had to.

It's Halloween today, and I don't have any plans. I celebrated on Saturday at the Parade of Lost Souls, so I don't feel like a complete party-pooper. What are you doing for Halloween?

Home Sweet Home

The last month has been a bit of a whirlwind. I have landed a great summer internship in Sidney (BC), and moved back to the Island with less than 24 hours notice. I'm living with my family, growing a garden, catching up with friends, and kayaking lots. I have been so busy I feel like I've barely had time to sit down for a second. Partly it's my doing since I've been going on weekend kayak trips, and partly it is that I know so many people in Victoria, hanging out with them all just takes time. I can't complain!

I'm off kayaking this weekend, taking a bunch of friends into the Gulf Islands. It's been a lot of planning but I think it will be worth it. I have done lots of kayaking but very little with friends, so I'm really looking forward to this! Pictures will be posted soon I hope.

A knitting post

In Yarn Harlot style, I have taken my partly knit sock out to the streets of the city. I predict that you will see more knitting pictures on this blog in the future, as I seem to have leaped full speed ahead back into this hobby.


I got quite a bit done today on the bus to Commercial Drive for the first session of filming our video "Downhill Both Ways" (we do fun things in planning school), then quite a bit more done as Max and I waited an HOUR for our other group member who unfortunately was the one with the camera.

Then I got quite a lot more knitting done on the bus BACK to UBC because the guy never showed up! We knocked on his door and he's like "oh, hi" and we're like "where the #*^% were you?" And he's like...

Okay, so this could go on and on. The short story is he had no excuse and is just extremely irresponsible and I can't believe I have to work with him!!!

*end rant*

So the sock. I love the sock so far, but am kind of mad at myself for spending so much on the yarn. It's hard to find cheap yarn in Vancouver with stores called things like "Urban Yarns" and "Homecraft Importers". These socks will hopefully end up being warm, comfy and stylish, but will have cost about the same as a pair of Smartwools, and taken hours more than it would to go to the store and buy them. But no need to become obsessed with money, it's fun, and gives me something to do while waiting AN HOUR in the COLD at Broadway and Commercial for a delinquent group member who never showed up! (oops, rant was over)

Back to (somewhat) happy things. Before I started the sock, I decided I should use up some of the big bag of yarn I already have. So I knit a dishcloth. Not just any dishcloth, but a HUGE dishcloth. I don't really know why I didn't start over when only a few rows in I realized that if I was going to make it square, it would be huge. Perhaps I figured if I took it all out that would be it; it would be another two years before I felt the urge to knit again. My roommates assure me that the dishcloth is very nice, and even though as it stretches out we have to fold it several times to be a manageable size, we are still using it three days later. Something very good has come of the huge dishcloth, however. I have learned a very nice texture, the "waffle" knit, and figured how to "K1 in next stitch in row below" after a very long time with Google and trial and error.

Here is the HUGE dishcloth (that has now evidently stretched in a strange way so it is much more rectangular than square), and a close up of the waffle pattern.

We made wine!

Here are Jennifer and Heather cracking open our first bottle of wine. We bottled it yesterday, and this was the last bottle, the one that wasn't full so we had to drink it right away.

Notice the dolley that Heather is leaning on. This is how we got three cases of wine home on the bus. It was quite eventful! The driver lowered the wheelchair ramp for us and laughed about the great party we were going to have.

We made the cheap wine that doesn't have to age very long so come over about 3 weeks from now and we'll crack a bottle.