Knot my Blog

I'll be Crafty for Christmas

2010-12-24T00:14:00.000-08:00

I have been so monumentally crafty lately that I actually invited two (admitted) craftophobes into my kitchen to join me in a gingerbread session.

Little did I suspect the sheer craftlessness which would ensue..... reminds me of some project from Unwholesomefoods. That was not what I intended... urg!
Then they went & put my awesome Roller Derby super special, pink & glittery "award knife" right on the gingerbread cowpie that they had mustered from their seedy side of craftless consciousness....

Luckily, I have been truly crafty all byes myselfs, as evidenced in my derby-comix-bejeweled inspired boxes & wall art. So there, anti-craft demons!

A Royal Weekend!

2010-10-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we were visited by royalty! We miss her already.....

(Gramma/Grampa computer tip: press the play button on bottom left or middle of screen... wink!)

Dream Deck!

2010-09-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that our new deck went from this (below) in July ......

To THIS-----> by September!!
Oh joy! An entirely new room to decorate!
Baileys has found her spot & is wonderfully happy there!

Views from Back Country BC

2010-08-20T19:48:00.001-07:00

So.... we've been wearing through the pages of our BC Backroads Mapbook again! Over the last twelve years, we've gone to many of the lakes off Bear Main road, as well as the eastern valley lakes, but have never ventured above Peachland before.

And now we have. Go figure, there's a whole lotta lakes up there to find & explore!

We've successfully claimed our own solo spot at two lakes for two weekends in a row, and we have a list of ideas for future excursions (notice how secretive we're being?.... you'll have to find them yourselves! Half the fun is searching around for them anyway....)

We spent quite a bit of time watching the "frog channel" at our first lake.

The second lake was at the absolute top of a mountain range and it felt like something out of a wild west movie --- complete with howling winds that nearly blew us right off the road!

Summer So Far (So Good !! )

2010-07-18T16:06:00.001-07:00

So far, summer 2010 here at the property has been blooming with flowers, fruits, and friends!

There have been ample pickings from the garden

And lucrative visits !!

Also came a visit from the Eastern Magi !!

Who visited our "Nut Chair" ......

Picked some raspberries ....

baked some pies ....

And just generally hung around and looked fabulous !

Summer Car Show

2010-06-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

Of all the crazy things to do on a hot day in June, we picked the Peach City Cruise in Penticton (website here -- > click).
Surprisingly fun thing to do on a sunny afternoon ... peering under hoods and admiring shiny paint jobs & the like....
Go figure, I liked the wooden cars best!

Tim preferred the more stately and elegant cars, such as the classic Pacer ....

Observation: many folks who visit classic car shows resemble famous WWF wrestlers...

We started & ended the afternoon with a visit to Penticton's newest vintage vendor-- "Tiger Alley"... (yay JK!)

Allison May Projects

2010-05-26T23:37:00.001-07:00

Summer is nearly here and Garn Gardens are bursting! Little Leia (cat) has been so successful at her job as "Quail Terminator" that we've got more self-germinated plants all over the property than we've ever had before.

We're already picking dinner from the garden --- lots of lettuces, chards, herbs, chives and lots of radishes!
Building projects are well underway, too!

I'll try to keep up with some summer postings so garden progress can be followed!

Friday Flower Show

2010-05-07T14:42:00.001-07:00

First bouquet of the season! Lilacs, cornflowers, blue flax and a scattering of sage leaves...

Mabel & Armstrong Meanderings

2009-12-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

We spent some time at the end of the summer up in the North Okanagan. We parked Shaggy at a spot up at Mabel Lake and then just generally biked and hiked and meandered around.
It was a great place for meandering .... (and setting up badminton!)
We spent some time at the Armstrong Fair, too --- looking at pigs & produce & people....

This gangsta crew (below) was obviously looking for trouble.....

Bye summer .... see you in a few months!

Blame it on the Moose

2009-08-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, maybe those damned Moose everywhere, I sorta fell in love with Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

The whole town is like one big movie set. I actually said this a few times to people and found out that --- yup, Hollywood has discovered Moose Jaw, too! That crazy church beside my motel was the site for a scene in one of our own homegrown Canadian boy's (Ryan Reynolds) smash hits, "Just Friends." Watch the first few seconds of the clip from it below (seriously, don't watch the whole clip... it's agonizing....)

If you caught a glimpse of that awesome restaurant right at the beginning (where a bunch of the movie takes place later but there's no way I'm putting you through any more clips of the movie).... anyway, here's my photo of same place, below --- $4.00 breakfast! Greatest people --- the owner & his daughters would have talked to me forever, telling awesome gossipy stories about fussy Amy Smart & Ryan Reynolds and their Hollywood attitudes (like... did I die & go to heaven? Fresh gossip and scrambled eggs with Earl Grey Tea?..... bliss!)

I know I'm super late in posting these "road home" pix .... but, seeing as how we're packing up the motorhome & heading out for some more travels tomorrow, I figured I'd get these photos up before I've got more to post! It was so cold in Calgary that the locals were wearing toques! (and shivering while holding my camera, it would seem)...... great hosts, those Calgary folk, tho!!

Bye bye Kicking Horse River approaching summit hill.....

Bye bye fabulous flirtmobile .... you served us flawlessly this summer!!

ég er a víkingur (I am a Viking!)

2009-08-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

"August long" in these parts translates to: Islendingadagurinn

Islendingadagurinn is the festival of my people --- the Vikings ---- the Icelanders! And it has been held every summer here in Manitoba (Gimli, or "New Iceland", to be exact) for the past 120 yrs. In fact, my own Amma (great-Gramma Kristin Stefanson) was Fjallkona of this festival some decades ago ("Maid of the Mountain")!

We stayed at a cousin's lovely home in Gimli ("baldurshaga" is Icelandic for horse-dumplings, I believe.....)

The "Velkomin" sign was a harbinger of the great times that followed our arrival! Our cottage was nestled snugly on the shores of Lake Winnipeg and we could see the Viking Village (!) right from our porch.

Every morning, we watched as the viking ships arrived at the Gimli shores, prepared to set up camp for the day.

Below is Carrie waving to our viking visitors ....

"Langt síðan við höfum sést"

("Long time, no see" - she says, sarcastically~!)

Our cousin's art was all around the house .... which made it an even MORE culturally immersive weekend!

Plus --- there were all kinds of photos of our original Viking ancestors (such as the two below), hanging here and there as reminders of our Icelandic forebearers

The absolute height - the pinnacle - of the weekend was meeting Christina Sunley, author of the amazing "The Tricking of Freya" !!

A beautifully-written debut novel that deftly weaves together Iceland’s
distinctive history, ancient mythology, reverence for language, and passion for
genealogy, The Tricking of Freya is a powerful exploration of kinship, loss and
redemption.

Everyone who has read it agrees: amazing, lovely, fabulous book. And - turns out - amazing & lovely author, too!

All three brilliant women below have read it and they report: "The Tricking of Freya" should be considered a quintessentially Canadian novel. Move over, Atwood .... Sunley weaves a wonderful saga!

The remainder of the weekend was spent in debauchery --- which included MANY purchases (like the Pönnukökur pan below).....

Fireworks and wine rounded out the weekend and juuuuuust as Islendingadagurinn was coming to a close, we visited ANOTHER cultural wonderland ....

Casa Kurtz, which boasted such lovely gardens that I actually started to miss my own green corner of the world, back in Kelowna

"Bye bye, Badminton-Partner"! (below) .... Time to head back to BC now!! This Manitoba summer has been rainy and cold but, nonetheless, I'm pretty sure I've had one of the best summers of my life!

It Was a Dark and Stormy Summer

2009-07-30T15:39:00.001-07:00

A brief halt in the torrential rains yielded a quick chance for sun exposure. I think there's been about 20cm rainfall everyday here. There are definitely no fires, tho....

Mr. and Mrs. Wharf-Finch (above) have been lovely hosties .... so have the musical clan below (at "Violin Camp"!)

We got treated to a concert at the end of the violin camp! (Yes, it was at a Senior's Centre... which is probably obvious from the reflective heads at the bottom of the picture).

Then --- it was Ballet in the Park with the students of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet!

Later, we put our collective craftiness together and sewed an "ugly bunny" (and it sure was ugly!)... I think it's named Robert or Billy or something but I wanted to call it Tommy-Two-Teeth!

'Pegged!

2009-07-22T22:18:00.001-07:00

Folk Fest '09 ended with a WA-BAM! .... thanks to the sturdy folk above! Many whales-tails were eaten (and almost regurgitated), much kettle corn, Alex Cuba's rhythyms were enjoyed, as were Patrick Watson's (click HERE for a view) .....
After festing, came sailing (in the form of "yard sailing") ... tho' we still haven't found a sewing table!
It was Katy's 22nd birthday (woo hoo!) so we celebrated with an indulgent "Spa Gal's Night", complete with peppermint foot scrubs and....
Mint-tea, eye-soothing treatments
Then .... it was a trip to Matlock, Manitoba to visit old friends in their super splendicular digs out there~

Acres and acres of praire peace and tranquility and herbs and veggies and (here and there) some little, teensy mosquitos to serenade us....
And then it was straight from the Matlock porch to the Moose Lake porch .... rough life!

Moose Lake is Manitoba's "cleanest" lake, you know! (or, so Mrs. Mulgetta Wharf-Finch claims...) Mr.Finch was unavailable for photo opportunities (he's super shy anyway!!) .. but I did catch the young Finch in action (below, zipping along on that clean water).....

More Festie Fun and Fotos

2009-07-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

For those blog-hogs out there who wanna see MORE photos of the Katy-Kristin roadtrip, go to Katy's blog:

www.katyemma.blogspot.com

Festers

2009-07-13T13:56:00.001-07:00

We've successfully tripped it over to the grand praires of vast Canananada. Below is some of the grazing praire wildlife (giraffe, perhaps?) in and around Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

The aforementioned waterway (which is neither "swift", nor "current")... but sure is nice for an afternoon picnic and walk & talk....
Look out for pigeons under the bridges, tho!
Next stop: Regina! We stayed at the Turgeon Hostel and, through a happy mixup, got a massive top floor room. Yoga in the park, along the river .....
The luxurious hostel suite .....
And, finally ---- Folk Fest!! Small amounts of time were spent in the beer gardens...
And then, just a tiny little bit of tail-gating....
And now we're back in Winnipeg, staying with the lovely & super-hospitable Caines who, with their four fab kids are, I think, (perhaps?) helping Katy find her deep-seated love of children (she is sooooo maternal)!!

What happens in Medicine Hat stays in Medicine Hat

2009-07-04T23:59:00.001-07:00

Below is the restaurant at the Banff's lovely Y-Hostel where we spent two peanut-butter-covered-bagel mornings before we went to .....

exciting and wonderful >>> Medicine Hat!

Alright... hold your applause because ..... we actually had an amazing time! Medicine Hat is kind of a Canadian "oasis - in - the - desert". We enjoyed a relaxing hot tub, our room is ridiculously huge, we're watching TV and keeping up on the unfolding Michael Jackson drama ... this place is da bomb !!

Kosher Mountain Retreat

2009-07-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

So the trippers are finally on the road (see packed car below)!

First stop: Banff! Staying at the Y-Mountain-Lodge hostel (an old, converted hospital). Awesome place -- right beside the beautiful Bow River and just across the bridge from downtown Banff.
http://www.ymountainlodge.com/

Last night we hiked up to the Banff Springs Hotel and discovered that it was populated with interestingly clad (black robes) men with long single dreadlocked sideburns .... aka... Hasidics! It was a "Kosher Mountain Retreat"! (we weren't invited, actually)...
http://www.kmrtours.com/

Then, today, we hiked along the Bow River trails, way past the falls and up into a meadow where we plunked down our blankets and picnic supplies and proceeded to take in the scenery (grazing deer included)!

Bye Bye Garden (just for now.....)

2009-06-30T00:31:00.000-07:00

Well... it's the thick of growing season around here, as evidenced in the towering pea plants below .... so, logically, I'm off to Winnipeg!

But ---> before this "garden blog" reverts back to a "travel blog", just thought I'd capture a few more pix of the lovely garden in all its glory .... raspberries are juuuuust ripening in the last few days!

Butterflies and lavender will be missed!

Happy Canada Day!!

Gardens are Growing!

2009-06-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ay... these photos were taken weeks and weeks ago.... all gardens (below) are now overflowing with vegetables and flowers and fruits!

Rasberries are just starting to ripen and, so far, the silly scarecrows are doing their jobs....

Not that the birds are really scared of anything around here. Tim utilized his "bird whispering" ability again the other day and connected with an evening grosbeak hanging out in the driveway.

Frank & Lucy (resident Mallards) have been poking around the pond but have disappeared lately ---- which might mean we'll have fluffy little ducklings swimming around soon!

Luckily, these gardens mostly grow by themselves now because I have not had one second to tend them (too busy solving quadratic equations and balancing chemical reactions and predicting the parabolic paths of objects and ... etc etc)

SaoMai Sunshine

2009-05-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

April showers blew me down south & I landed in the middle of Sunshine (in the form of SaoMai's smile!)

We visited galleries and the Living Desert and we howled at the full moon and ate fat oranges from the trees in her yard.... it was fun to be "almost three" for a few days!

How can it be possible that she just gets cuter and cuter and cuter every single day? The smile below is known as "camera smile" and she just tries her darnedest to get that smile as big as possible for pictures!

Swimming makes it easy to smile .... and so does visiting the desert zoo in a gold-lace ballerina skirt!

The Forgotten Title

2009-04-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

While uploading the pix for this entry, I thought of the best title .... and promptly forgot it. Ah well....
So... as of mid-April, the inside greenhouse is buzzing along and very (!) ready to be planted outside!

Last year's gourd harvest has dried and set & we're ready to start crafting it. We soaked and de-skinned them, then Tim carved them into some shapes. Next up: decorating!

The newest raised bed veggie patch received a wattle fence last weekend. It's amazing that Mother Nature provide young, pliable willow branches at exactly the time of year that fencing is required around the pea patch! And... that last season's sunflower stalks are dried & ready to provide the stakes in the fencing... amazing....

Next on the "amazing" list is the gorgeous dining room table that Tim is building. It's a huge timber & steel project that I hope will be able to make it upstairs one day for dinner!

The Winnipeg Panzees come for a Visit!

2009-04-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

We interrupt this gardening blog for a quick update: My lovely cousin & her adorable young son (pictured above) --- graced us with a visit this week!

We took the little fella down to the sunny beach and spent long hours lolling in the warmth and sunny calm.... We did NOT - repeat NOT - drag him from store to store, shopping for women's shoes, women's garments, women's accoutrements, etc. Nope. We hung at the beach. And...

We sipped tea! From Victoria's famous (and yummy!) Silk Road Tea. Yummity-yum yum! (oh yeah, a little wine, too.......)

Bye bye Winnipeg panzees! And next time you visit, bring the great Ape (Mulghetta, aka "Mr. Shaney") with y'all!!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-03-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

So, I sort of thought that - this year - maybe I'd kind of "blog" a whole growing season here at Garn Gardens! This year's first big project was completed this weekend: one new raised-bed vegetable patch right on the front lawn (who needs grass?)!
After laying down old, rotted, hole-y carpet, we created brick walls and then built a "lasagne" foundation (advice from fabulous book given to me by my mummy!)

Layers were: carpet, then criss-crosses of last year's sunflower & wildflower stakes, then copious amounts of home-made compost, then topped with a peat-soil-sand mix. Phew.

Project number two was extending the "potato patch" that was semi-built last year (and yielded the yummiest potatoes, pumpkins and squash!) We can't wait to see the "before & after" photos when these gardens are brimming with edible goodies by mid summer!

Seedy Saturday

2009-03-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was "Seedy Saturday" here in Kelowna! Below is my bountiful swapping pile (woo hoo)!

You can check out the Seeds of Diversity website to find a seedy saturday in your parts (Halifax, I see ya but, Winnipeg... where are you?)

http://www.seeds.ca/ev/events.php

My own little 'living-room-greenhouse' is moving right along this year. Lots of tomato sprouts, eggplants, and the second picture below is my garbanzo beans stretching toward the sun!

I got a bunch of sunchoke tubers at the seed swap. We ate half of them tonight (to make sure they're as yummy as they say .... yup!). And now, the rest will go into the ground! There's more info about these "Canada Potatoes" in this article here.

Rock of Love Revisited!

2009-02-26T23:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Kelowna: less snow & ice .... more rocks & shadows!

Ice is Nice ... for photos

2009-01-28T21:29:00.001-08:00

On days like today, I feel sorry for people who don't have ice to photograph.

This is just a rock in the water with ice on it. How crazy is that?

A Shot at Winter

2009-01-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

Below are some pix from a walk around our midwinter landscape today. Click any photo to see a larger version. It really feels like the "dead" of winter right now.......

All Dolled Up for Christmas!

2008-12-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden, I understand why large, handmade dolls cost so much money. Holy crowly, do they ever take a LOT of time to make!

And yet, in the spirit of Christmas, and with 'visions-of-Sao-Mai' in our heads, my mother & I handmade a (giant) doll last weekend!

Her name is "Magali" (my mum chose the name because it belongs to one of my students, and she has always loved the sound of that name!).... Magali (like her namesake!) loves to sit around with the gals, drink wine & chat!

Tip-to-toe, she's 3.5 feet of funloving woman! I am charging $300 to make the next one!

More Suspiciousness...(meow)..!

2008-10-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

As my "Cat Dance Investigations" deepened, I began to notice that MONPA (the museum of non-primate art), who sponsored the Cat Dance book, had these veeeeerrrry strange upcoming exhibitions.... (which include such things as The Poetry and Prose of Pachyderm Prints: Elephant dust marks !!)

The final word on this real-or-hoax cat quandary goes to the reviewer at bikemag.com:

"If this book (Dancing with Cats) is meant to be humorous, then it is the most subtle, ingenius work written to date. A strange conclusion, yeah, I know. Sort of like thinking, "That's either the next mother of my children or that's the most beautiful man I've ever met." Odd. Disturbing. There you have it."

Suspicious Cats

2008-10-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Okay so, ever since I bought that "Dancing with Cats" book at the Book Party .... I've been quite obsessed! I mean: how cool would that be? Dancing with a cat? (fess up! you know you're all mildly intrigued.... )

And yet, as I ventured further down this furry eurhythmic path, I began to suffer more and more doubt & suspicion. I mean .... how come I've never heard of these waltzing felines??!

So, I wandered on over to youtube and spent some quality time researching every kind of search string I could think of, from "dancing with my cat" to "dancing cats" to "do cats really dance?" And .... these were the only two quality videos I could find:

Not exactly stellar confirmations of the "dancing cats" phenomenon.

And so, I went even further down the rabbit hole (cat box?). I found a few reviews of my newly purchased "Dancing with Cats" book. The first came from Vernon Felton, who writes for bikemag.com:

"I’m struggling to find the words. Groping and bumping my head against a thousand walls. How, exactly, can I relay just how disturbing Dancing with Cats truly is? For instance, I was planning to use that as my first sentence: Dancing with Cats is truly the most disturbing book I’ve laid eyes on….but nah, still doesn’t convey it.

.... There is no world-wide trend of cat dancing. If there was, the nightly news would play reels of it non-stop.

.....If Ted Turner and the combined satanic forces of NBC, ABC and CBS haven’t already fabricated this story, it simply doesn’t exist. Seriously. "

Which begs the question: could this "Cat Dancing" thing be a hoax?

Next up, I found an interesting review which fully believes that it IS a fabricated phenomenon!

And so, I next visited the Museum of Hoaxes, to see if they had commented on the topic (and... they had!)

A Supertutorous Book Party !

2008-10-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

So I got this crazy idea about having a "Book Party". Inspiration was provided by my favorite 2nd hand bookstore on this planet: Ted's Paperbacks & Funky Treasures! Above is my "night before" preparations ---- organizing book searches, special categories, and wrapping up some inspirational prizes for my partygoers!

And party, we did! We went on quests for books about Ancient Times, books by female Canadian authors .... we even went on treasure hunts for old Betty & Veronica Double Digests (which seemed a worthy challenge to find!)

"Book Party"ers had to search the deepest, darkest corners of Ted's (well organized!) sections ... venturing into such remote and exotic parts as the "Metaphysical" and "Science Fiction" zones... !!

But, with their sharp & crafty research skills, the partygoers persevered and .... we got our winners!

In the category of "Best Title", the outstanding choice was .... "Silence of the Hams"!

" Most Interesting" was "The Parables of Peanuts" !! (I am ridiculously excited to start reading this.....)

And, the SURPRISE winner in the "Best Cover" category was "Dancing with Cats" !!

Who even KNEW that there was such a thing?

Check out this site.... http://www.monpa.com/dwc/ for more info on this (apparently common) activity (there are even CLASSES taught about "how to dance with cats"!) According to this website, people have been dancing with cats for centuries. (what the...?_)

Please euthanize me if I ever turn into an old hippie woman who DANCES with her CATS!! Of course I am secretly intrigued by the notion .....

I might just have to get a cat.

I also might just have to have more Book Parties!! Cheers to all partygoers AND the fabulous staff at Ted's Books!!

Wine Festival Continues....

2008-10-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

We refuse to accept that the 2008 Okanagan Wine Festival is over so.... we just kept "fest"ing anyway!

This weekend, we headed Shaggy back down south, this time to a little campground on Vaseux Lake --- right beside a wildlife sanctuary and ... a whole bunch of wineries!

Photo above is taken on the lawns below Noble Ridge Winery, which is perched in the hills above Vaseux Lake.

Above photo was taken as we biked (all uphill!) to the four wineries in the hills right above our campsite.

We fell head over heels for Tangled Vines "Tickled Pink" rose .... taste explosion!

We also biked the KVR trails from OK Falls, through Kaleden, all along Skaha Lake. Above is a picture of one of the many historic buildings in Kaleden .... must go back there for dinner soon!

There's a gorgeous resort in Kaleden --- Ponderosa Point Resort --- run by such nice people. The owner of Ponderosa stopped to warn us that he'd just chased two grizzly bears out of his resort (the KVR rides through it).

We weren't exactly thrilled with the idea of biking alongside grizzlies.... so Ponderosa owner let us pile our bikes into his truck and he drove us past the bears! (no bear pictures... sorry ... but, then again, I'm not really sorry!)

We ended the day with a picnic in OK Falls and one last glass of their local nectar-of-the-gods! We might extend "Wine Festival" a little more this year and head to South Okanagan Provincial Campground for another bike-wine tour .... soon!

Wine Fest '08 went off with a BANG!

2008-10-07T00:50:00.001-07:00

This year's wine festival was on fire! Seriously! Well.... okay... the fire was just on the beach at Tuc-el-nuit lake in Oliver but, still ...... good times!
First up: our campsite ---> wa-bam! We camped at the Lakeside Resort, pretty much right on the beach AND a short walk away from the zillionth annual Oliver Festival of the Grape!
Somehow, between all that grape-stomping, we found time to visit a few wineries. By the way, Burrowing Owl now has guest suites, a pool, hot tub, restaurant ... paradise essentially.

Damned good wine, too!

And Oliver has much to boast for restaurants (luckily)! We ate ridiculous amounts of pakora and lentil and raita and butter chicken and BC wine at the fab "Best of India" restaurant (the waiter begged me to bellydance, too, but I was just too full to oblige!).....

And, we adopted a new member of the crew! Not only does she fit right in but .... 1) she reads tarot (hello!), 2) she practices reflexology (ya!) and 3) speaks french fluently (that's it!)

We also found THIS guy at the festival but .... we're pretty sure we've seen him somewhere before.... !

Weather was gorgeous, fires were brilliant, wine was scrumptious (we've found a new love-in winery, by the way: Thornhaven! good luck finding their wines tho....)

Oliver is quite the gem, we've decided (as is this Grape Stompin' festival).

Exquisite scenery, great location, lovely weather, crisp wine and camping galore. Suits us fine.

Everyone who is reading this blog is officially invited to join us for the 2009 Festival of the Grape in Oliver next year. Must go practice drinking wine NOW in preparation for these festivities!

Some September

2008-09-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to all you "ex-pat" Kelownans, working and studying abroad or away, and missing this year's spectacular Okanagan September!

First photos are at Summerhill Winery during it's third annual "Okanagan Organic Festival" (whoopee.... clunk.)

Everyone from the see-and-be-seen crowd attended!
Everyone was conscientious and green and smug and .... (be nice, Supertutor!!)....

There were two or three people under the age of 60 who attended (somehow)!

This whistful female below is probably plotting my murder for having brought her to this ridiculous event (sigh).....

Next up ---> the Music Nurse & Supertutor spend a photo-day in Kelowna's City Park! Ducks came along (uninvited!)

We took pix of all the cool & cosmopolitan fashions on the mean streets of K-town!

We caught this dangerous duo thru a window reflection.

For those who've been away from the city for awhile, you'll be amazed at how urban and slick it has become.

Somehow, homeless dudes don't make it look any less lovely, tho.....

Buster's Solo Flight

2008-09-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

So, after many years of aerial abstinence, Buster got on a plane & visited! Serious celebrations ensued!! Outdoor dinners around the ol' picnic table....

... there was the "Shaggy Tarot" night .... equipped with candlelight, french music and fine wine....

There was the Naramata Wine Touring Day --- which started off with a quick stop to the Bench Artisan Deli for a purchase of road snacks (crackers, sundried tomato spread and lemon-marinated artichokes... yeegads!!)

Conversation below: "You know... Winnipeg isn't reeeeeeally as bad as you all say.... bla bla bla.... I actually haven't ever vacationed before without my husband and four lovely children .... bla bla bla.... cried my eyes out when I left them ... bla bla bla... can I get another pour of that yummy wine? ... bla bla bla... you can call me "Buster"... ha ha .... bla bla bla .... you know Winnipeg reeeeeally doesn't deserve the reputation it has .... bla bla bla.... " (repeat, at every winery!!)

Winery above is LaFrenz and winery below is Lang Vineyards (we also visited Red Rooster Winery), all overlooking lovely Okanagan Lake !

When wine touring got a little exhausting (poor us!)... we took a break at the Naramata Heritage Inn & Spa by having an aromatherapy steam!

It was pretty darned good, compared to all the other numerous spas that we so frequently visit!

We ended the day with an outdoor gourmet dinner at the Cobblestone Wine Bar and Restaurant.

Conversation below: "Should I have the lemon & beet risotto or the sorrel tagliatelle? And... should I follow it up with a $1500 bottle of wine...???"

Buster kept insisting that we hang out in little cafes, sipping passionfruit lemonade and catching up on the latest "goings on" in world news. I gave in periodically.....

We also found a few decent wines at Mt.Boucherie Winery ==> which may have been a contributing factor toward the revelry (translation: "party") on the last evening of Buster's visit.....

Notice the overly-full wine glasses below? Who the heck poured those??

Luckily, we danced off those extra wine calories....

Plus, there was a little bit of kung-fu fighting....

Last minute herb-picking (below), calmed Buster's nerves before she boarded the plane to rejoin her lovely family. Come again!! And bring everyone next time!!

The Long Overdue Post

2008-09-07T10:29:00.001-07:00

Last year, at precisely this time of year (September), these lovely people came to visit us during peek 'herb harvest' time!

We spent long afternoons down at the creek, looking at plants & birds & things and, in the evening, we had veeeeeeery entertaining (and inspiring!) dinners around the picnic table!

I think, too, that four young gardeners were created during that visit!

This year, these gardeners have grown their own flowers and herbs and vegetables, back in Manigatoga.......

Holy crow --- the hops plant (at right, below) has grown about fifty times bigger this year!

This beautiful picture (below) inspired me to place a new little fairy sculpture on the path (because it looks like a REAL little fairy in the photo below!)

This is the fairy when she's been caught by a gremlin! (the gremlin happens, also, to have grown about fifty times bigger this year!)

Roots & Blues

2008-08-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

First stop of the weekend: Log Barn, just outside of Enderby, where we stocked up on fruit, veggies and cinnamon buns .... and the guys scorched themselves posing on the metal tractor in the zillion degree heat we drove thru.....

We camped in a field right next to the festival and parked Shaggy beside another group of four eager festivalgoers (one of whom serenaded us & also gave us his CD of blues ukelele tunes --- which is actually really good!)

Gorf liked to mellow out in the incense dish back at the campsite --- he behaved himself very well!

The boys were banished behind these bars (to have some beers) during a reggae workshop ... But they didn't stay 'fenced in' for long.......

The bands were insane! .... Last act on Sunday night was the Neville Brothers .... so ridiculously good!

Bearly There

2008-07-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

So.... this summer's shagtastic campsite is up at Bear Lake ... home to (small) lake trout, many ducks and loons and sandpipers and wild rabbits and wildflowers and all manner of flora and fauna to keep us and our doggies busy but relaxed.

Morning coffees and evening wines are enjoyed lakeside .... Sometimes we tune into the "duck channel"....

We frequently watch the "flower and butterfly" show....

There's always some loud "Sandpiper Concert" right around twilight....

And if we really search through the channels we can watch the "frog show" from time to time.

And... now that we have a generator (!) we can catch all these channels all the time... whenever we want! Shagtastical!

Too Much Fun (almost......!)

2008-07-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness.... apparently it is possible ("M" says so) to have 'too much good music' --- is it possible to have too much fun?

Look who we found while we were in Victoria visiting the Organic Island Festival!!

She (Z) is staying at O.U.R. Ecovillage ---- which is full of these fascinating and fabulous Cob Houses!

So.... guess who wants to build with Cob now.....

We met Elke Cole --- inspiring amazing woman who is building these wonderful earth-formed homes. Time for more learning!

Also spent good times in Victoria, eating, touring, hugging "Plastermen" and....

Marvelling at the absolutely massive cruise ships that arrived in the harbor (this photo taken from the balcony of our hotel). We thought they'd constructed a new building overnight! Until we noticed the building was pulling into the harbor....

Scoot-a-Root

2008-07-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

Zzzzzzzzzip!

Shaky Animation

2008-06-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Aye Caramba.... another one.....

Limited Fertility

2008-06-22T10:50:00.001-07:00

The more you limit yourself,

the more fertile you become

in invention.

-- S.Kierkegaard

Yeah, but Soren didn't go to all the effort to borrow a killer camera, read the whole *&%$ manual, go to a garden show, set up perfect shots.... BUT neglect to check if the camera was set to shoot in RAW at maximum quality. Limited photos below. Thank gawd for photoshop or these would look disposably over-exposed. There should be an entire subsection of Murphy's Laws devoted to me. *$&%! Ah well.................

Mathimation

2008-05-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Were it not for the "mathy-ness" of animation (the measuring, the counting, the pacing, the timing, the exactitude, etc), I don't think I'd put up with how *&$^% much time & effort it takes. Here's a little three second wonder that only took about three weeks to draw!

Life and Arts

2008-05-10T11:22:00.001-07:00

Kelowna had an outdoor festival (Life and Arts) and ... we went!

There was this amazing troupe of vertical dancers called Aeriosa Ballet --- who danced on the side of the library building --- the troupe is headed by this upside-down chick, Julia, who used to go out with one of my friends back in the Winnipeg days. She looks exactly the same as she did when she was 20 (she was always upside-down back then, too!)

Dread-locks + Stilts = awesome

Tim enjoyed the stilted goddesses who were walking around, blessing us with their ribboned wands......

Jamination

2008-04-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

Press play ... view cartoons.... revere me... yup!

Tiny Cartoon

2008-03-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

Another four second cartoon that took about six painstaking hours to create. No wonder animators are raving maniacs.

It's title: "Mighty Mask".

It was a class assignment. Honestly.

Flowers in February

2008-02-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day, for all its hype and commercially-driven crap, is still one helluvan excuse for flowers in February. Ahhhhhhh.....

After ten years, the best husbands understand how gorgeous a bird-of-paradise bloom looks beside a sunny sunflower.

Hatching of a Cartoon

2008-01-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

Here's my first offocial six seconds of animation. Zippity doo dah....

What Condo?

2008-01-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

So... Christmas at the condo (Cove Lakeside at this link here), was quite nice.

Lotsa relaxing in hot tub, watching movies, eating massive amounts of gouda, chevre, brie, and every other kinda cheese one can name...

Worked a little in my "office" (the extra bedroom, at right) - getting some drawings ready for my cartooning class!

We found a massive hill to climb and almost made it to the top. Our condo is the far away building that's atop Bailey's head in photo above.

We discovered, tho, that it will still be a little while before Tim can thoroughly enjoy spending time at this all inclusive type retreat. We didn't need to cook (restaurant downstairs), no driveway to shovel, no wood to chop, no house to clean .... in other words: bored husband. He needs to be cellared a little while longer before he's ready to just sit around & be mellow!! But, when the time comes, this is probably where we'll be relaxing.....

Yes but, can he stack it?

2007-11-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

I guess if you chop 'em down, you might as well cut 'em up! For those keeping track ---> this is the new log splitter! ... timmmmmmberrrrrrr!

TIM...brrrrrrrr.....!!!!

2007-11-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

We went tree hunting this weekend and..... we found a big one!

This massive pine was standing dead (and lovely!) about 80 feet up a hill, above the access road. Tim spotted it and sprung into action!

The video below documents "the kill"! Too bad our camera doesn't have sound. Suffice to say... it went BOOM!

Here's the trunk of the tree. We estimate it to be about 3/4 of the length of a "Red Dog" in Diameter. That's a lotta wood in these parts....

Luckily, the father-in-law/father believed us when we yelled TIMBER since the tip of the tree did, in fact, hit the road .... look out~!!

S-nap!

2007-09-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

I entered an end-of-the-year "fall festival" photo competition out in Seymour Arm at the Community Fair and: (um...) I won!

Well... I didn't win in EVERY single event category but... I did place quite sweetly in the more - shall we say - "influential areas", which awarded me enough points to be crowned the Best Overall Photographer at the Fair!

These first four photos captured the coveted "Best Collection" prize .... (those other submitted entries of local logging fires and flower gardens just didn't cut it, I guess...) (click on any photo to enlarge it, by the by)....

Also "capturing gold" was this old photo of the vintage hotel (below -- now closed) which stands at the centre of Seymour Arm's town centre (if you can call it that)....

Now here's the kicker ---->> my favorite photo (below), which I've entitled "Mad Cow", actually did NOT win in the "Wildlife Photo" category.

Some silly picture of a squirrel won!

Life is so unfair....

The rest of the photos, below, are just part of my general Seymour Arm photo essay that I created over the summer.

I'm pretty sure this was the best summer of my life. Lots of good people, good books, great food, good times and creative endeavors. Guaranteed recipe for fun..........

MonkeyButton

2007-08-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

Seymour Arm continues to be a place of peace and purposelessness...

We finally made our way up the road a bit to visit the Seymour River falls ---- they're much more spectacular than the video implies but... I'm just excited to have figured out how to embed videos on this blog (look out!)

At the end of July it was time to fly down to San Diego & celebrate the births of my brother (40!) and SaoMai, the MonkeyButton (365 days old!)

We visited San Diego's zoo and petted goats and watched floating turtles & hippos and all kindsa striped (and smelly!) animals....

Sao Mai especially loved the underwater tone poems being danced, interpretively, by the zoo's hippo (video below)!

She's sooooooo close to being able to walk & I tried my best to encourage it. ....

And now it'll be back to Seymour Arm for most of the remainder of the summer. Tim spends his days putting together these crazy-big beach houses and I spend my days, um...., 'not' putting together crazy beach houses.

See More Arms

2007-05-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

The tree fell down.

My dad came to visit and, while hanging out at the creek, he looked at our leaning tree and asked, "when's that thing going to fall down?"

It fell down the next morning.

My dad & I took a roadtrip north to visit Tim & Walter up at their worksite in Seymour Arm --- or, as my dad calls it: "See More Arms"

Shaggy's parked snuggly beside Walter's lovely log cabin. Everyday, Tim & Walter head down to the lake and piece together posts and beams and decks and other parts of the houses they're building. When it gets too hot, they head ten feet south & hit the beach.

I'm looking forward to spending an Okanagan summer at this quiet bend in the Shuswap.... it's a mellow place to hang out & stand still like a hummingbird.....

Wabi Sabi Snobby

2007-01-26T00:52:00.000-08:00

Recent Canadian activities have included...
1) high mountain logging in waist-high snow .... an extremely aerobic activity!

2) artistic endeavours around Allison -- like Tim's new decorating of his "King's Perch"....

3) Re-placement of various wabi-sabi artifacts around the property --- inspiration drawn from the book shown and some wacky-headed former students who actually created this crazy piece....

Tim says we have to be careful not to follow the book's "rules" too closely or we'll become.... wabi sabi snobby !!

Starts with a "C" and ends with an "A"

2007-01-25T23:53:00.000-08:00

C aliforni A ..... C anad A ...
California Canada
Californiacanada

They both start with a "C" and end with an "A"... they're both known primarily for their weather but remembered for their people.... they're both home to my family (and parts of my heart).... but, otherwise, I can't think of too many similarities....

Oh lovely Palm Springs --- land of bright blue swimming pools and clear aquamarine skies. Land of hippie-shop-heaven and endless summers and easy breezy sneezy ....uh... cheesy Canadians who are just happy to be away from SNOW!!

Outdoor markets abound (sigh) in the land o' palms. After years of visiting this desert oasis, I'm still discovering things --- just recently discovered the outdoor market at the College of the Desert. . . . so full of artisans and mellow people that it even inspired little 6+ month old Sao Mai to whistle while she shopped!!

24 Hour Poetry People

2006-12-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Feeling inspired by my Daily Poem, while also searching for a possible antidote to my seriously queasy holiday angst, I hosted a "Poetry Party"!!

These fine humans (pictured throughout), came together (many even brought their own Thinking Caps!!).... and we cut and pasted and colored and created the craziest poems, some of which are shared herein.....

I sorta don't think we'll be submitting any of them to any poetry journals or anthologies, but... my living room suffered no more damage than it usually does after an evening of wackiness AND, in the end, I have a bunch of cool poems to get me through these awful holidays. Christmas has become so fully & completely yucky but.... poetry seems to be a qualifying medication for noel-induced nausea.... Maybe I'll send some of these along to Canada's new Parliamentary Poet....

The Dog Days of Winter

2006-11-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

Inspired by our first big snow this year, Kiya sat on the bridge at the creek and made up a poem...

Nobody knows
how much it snows
on a Husky's nose
Until it's froze

Lotsa snow brings out the Huskier side of Kiya and she was leaping around at the creek and inspiring Baileys to become a sled dog, too!

Baileys, however, is a red dog --- known more for her pensiveness and dedication than ... well .... for her outdoor survival skills.

She sure poses nicely for a camera, tho!

Old People's Weekend

2006-10-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend at.... The Cove Lakeside !

No... not our unit yet (still isn't finished but, apparently it might be ready by Christmas).

It was Timmy's treat for my post-birthday weekend and it gave us a chance to pre-check a few things so that we know what to look for & ask about when it comes time to go through our suite.

Took nice autumn walks through the "nut farm" --- man, there's cool trees there...

And I got the collector's edition of the BBC series "Pride & Prejudice" plus collector's set of "Fight Club" --- probably two of the most opposingly different movies imaginable!

At the end of the weekend we went home & picked squash before the coming frost kills 'em all.

Our Mitchy Witchy Weekend

2006-10-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

There should be a whole heckuva lot more photos on this post but --- our witchy ways musta blowed up my blogger because it just won't accept any more pix.... (blast!) Go HERE for more photos...

Even the photo at left is a fake (!)--- taken from an earlier Vic trip. But the right end of the human sandwich (pictured) was our purty-party-hostess for Thursday eve and we got to see her rad pad & drink wine & eat cheese with her at The Mint restaurant (not that I have any photos to prove this claim, but....)

Day Two of the Witchy Weekend was spent checking out the bunny-ful UVic campus.

Boys & Bunnies held our focus fully, but we also found time to buy some "athletic gear" (ha ha!) at the campus bookstore -- not to imply that there was any athleticism attached to the weekend's activities, aside from our sauntering between the hotel & restaurants & clothing stores & the fact that we wagged our tongues so much during marathon gossip sessions that we almost needed resuscitation!!

By Day Three, shopping fever struck.

Luckily, Dr. J was in the house and cured us (quickly) with a trip to Patch! (not that this *$&% blog will accept the killer pix I took there or anything....)

After negotiating some sweet deals in the clothing & jewelry departments, we mentally jogged out to lunch for our imagined health-food indulgence (Noodlebox had a line-up.... damn!).

The last eve (my birthday!) was spent in the presence of the lovely ladies below (not the one holding the massive water bottle, tho...). They graciously treated us to sups at this funky Italian restaurant called Zambri's --- where we accidentally (but happily) munched on fried octopus & spicy tapas - why couldn't our Sicilian companion translate the menu?

After a nearly fatal final night of female chatter, we awoke on the fourth day, looked around for a Noodlebox (.... noodlebox?)... packed up, jumped in the car and promptly got lost.

Octopus musta made us a bit smarter, tho, because we finally found our way to the ferry terminal and the long (mathematical) drive home.

The weekend count was: wine bars visited (3), restaurants pigged out in (4, maybe 5), clothes bought (lots), beans spilled (50), noodlebox eaten: (0). Warning Noodlebox: we shall return!

Ya Ya Wine Weekend

2006-10-02T22:45:00.000-07:00

Ya-Ya SisterSpeak: "Which Way to the Wine Festival?"

I'm thinking that this weekend will go down in our family history books as one that required mucho recovery (ouch)!

Present for this wine-0-rama were... my mum's many zany sisters, plus Wunderfull Winnipeg cousins & kooky kid, plus Awesome Ottawa cousin, plus Ever-Lovely Edmonton friend, plus a few fun tagalongs here & there, as well! Phew. Needless to say, wine flowed all weekend, along with conversation and food and craziness (did they really dance to Bryan Adams on Saturday night??)....

On Saturday, the requisite day-o-touring was performed here in Kelowna -- with visits to Summerhill Winery, St.Hubertus and Cedar Snobby Creek (the last winery being too damned uptight to even bother tasting there.... seriously, a reality check for folks-working-at-local-wineries: it's Kelowna fer gawd's sakes...as in, l'il ol' Canada! not the snotty south of France! )

Then it was off to Carmelis Goat Cheese heavenly cheese shop for delectable samples of their extremely wine-friendly products (which we later consumed in mass quantities at home!). Then a quick trip up to Mission Hill Winery to see if we could make their wimpy wineshop staff cry (I won that competition in record time, too!!) and Quail's Gate for a last stop on the Kelowna arm of the tour.

By Sunday, we poured our remains into a few cars and drove down to Oliver, at the South end of our Okanagan grape growing region, for the annual Festival of the Grape and Grape Stomp competition (note, a few pictures up, that even the youngest generation was enticed to smush grapes between his toes!.... which, by the way, were not washed at all for the rest of the weekend...!)

Grape Stomp is a festival that's growing in popularity down here, due mostly to the fact that, well, it rocks. Killer music all day (see funny, "puffy" photo of The Nylons above), awesome & various food, lotsa hippie-inspired clothes & jewelry and, of course, wine wine & more wine to slosh into your glass & then gulp down yer gullet (as demonstrated by this hairy pair at left!)

And somehow, our livers and this little fella below survived the whole weekend. Which begs the question: will Grape Stomp become an annual event for the Ya Ya Familyhood? I know that if we buy just a few more cap-guns, that one little critter will already go out & buy his plane tickets tomorrow!!

Hum for the Holidays

2006-09-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

Lesson One: "How to be Tourists in your Own Town"

First --- make sure that your hometown has a big lake, and is gorgeous and relaxing with a lovely climate.

So, last weekend, thanks to t-gold's ol' Famdamnly Bizness, we did a little boating around our local Okanagan Lake.

Lesson Two: Retain Friends in High Places

We happened to sail past a few new homes on the lake.... (did I miss a sweet stock investment or something....?) I'm pretty sure that every single NHL player with a new contract over $5 mil has bought and constructed a home on Okanagan Lake.

It certainly makes for a lotta examples of structures that we'd like to add to our house (next time we sign a longterm NHL contract, that is...)

We extended our holiday-around-home into the last few days & headed up to a quiet provincial park right on Okanagan Lake.

There, we parked Shaggy & then hiked the hills & lakeside trails and just generally hung out, eating cheese & chocolate and enjoying the late autumn sunshine Then it was back to ol' Allison place for some last minute, Sunday gardening in preparation for the week ahead....

Next weekend is the 1 millionth Okanagan Fall Wine Festival! (well... maybe it's only the 23rd festival or something, but it'll feel like the one millionth when WE'RE through!)!

Go Gramma, Go!

2006-08-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

So, I think my little mummi is getting right into the groove of being a gramma now. In fact, she's quite obsessed.

However, we took a "day off" from the baby today (because there was a big party yesterday for Sao Mai's one month birthday celebration), but - still - when we drove past Bill's condo this evening (on the way to a concert) my mum waved excitedly toward his building and yelled out: "Hi Sao Mai! Hello Baby!"

I let her have her fun.......

Today was really just a chicks-hangout-day --- which of course meant a trek to my favorite spot ..... OB!!

We walked the sea wall from my dad's house to the OB Pier (see photos above), past white-sand (but surprisingly garbage-free) beaches, down to Newport Avenue.... the main hangout & last haven for hippie-treehuggers in these parts.

Both mum & I scored beautifully at various stores.

We picked up embroidered purses from "Lola Luna Boutique" and crazy jewelry from "Rags Fashion Exchange" and -- my fully favorite haunt --- many items of groove-clothing from "Sunshine Daydreams".... a store that actually occurs in my daydreams frequently ..... (see multiple bags of purchases below)....

Then, tonight, we headed up to Balboa Park for an outdoor Organ Concert under the stars.

At one point the organist got up & said that the evening was dedicated to a gentleman (in the audience) who was celebrating his 95th birthday... AND that he'd been coming to that particular park since he was four years old.

Sorta Cool in So.Cal.

2006-08-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

So .... "Auntie Kristin" is finding good ol' southern california a bit more palatable this time around.

Maybe baby makes things easier to handle after forty years on this earthly sphere.

Ocean Beach (where dad lives) is much more than acceptable, too (!!) --- the weekly Wednesday street market being one hella cool event to enjoy (witness the fully awesome band, Old Man Hands, below ---- complete with accordian, violin, standup bass, mandolin AND they were playing wicked tunes, too! WooHoo!!)

On my daily trek into OB today I FINALLY saw the San Diego Parrots --- after many years of trying to locate them! This is a group of about 20 parrots that escaped from a pet store many years ago & have been hanging & cawing (loudly!) and surviving in the area nearby my dad's house. I was walking back from the market today & was pretty sure that I was in their general vicinity when I heard an insanely loud amount of bird noise and noticed these gregarious green fellows at the top of some palm trees.

Went to see the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" with my dad the other night at The Ken Cinema (voted "best movie theatre snacks in SD) up in the Hillcrest area... a section of town that my dad calls the "artsy fartsy" (translation: gay) part of San Diego.

It was hard to argue with his definition when, once in the theatre, I noticed that they sold "vegan cookies" and whole-leaf infused herbal teas. The movie rocked (!)--- even tho' I didn't partake of all the herbal offerings that could have been shaken onto my popcorn......

At right is a stained-glass peace symbol that is mounted on a small rock island just up the road from my dad's beach-house (in case you didn't guess how much of a hippie-haven my dad lives in......)

Not so bad here in So.Cal. this time around.

Not everyone is a Bush-loving, conservative, dreadlock-hating, dog-beating chowhound. S'nice, I guess. But.... it's still not Canada.

California Curiosities

2006-08-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

California really just becomes curiosier & curioser everytime I visit here ..... Witness the above "Planned Parenthood EXPRESS" that my dad & I drove past today. I mean... what part of their birth control planning, exactly, is "Express"? Is there a drive-thru window somewhere? Can one just run inside & grab a handful of condoms from their vending machines?

My dad suggested that perhaps this branch is geared toward counselling people who prefer quickies & one-night-stands. Makes sense to me.

And then there was the Organic Manicure & Pedicure shoppe. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a local garage advertising Organic wheel alignments or a San Diego bank offering Organic chequing accounts.

We also passed a place that had a big banner advertising "semi-live entertainment". I guess that's better than "half dead entertainment", but I sure wish I had my camera anyway...

So, we hoofed it past the express birth control & organic salons & headed to visit Sao Mai at her quaint condo in San Diego's Little Italy section of town.

Her home is within spitting distance to San Diego's harbour with its lovely sea walk --- along which we enjoyed a sunny stroll.

Believe it or not, the photo below is of a shark that we encountered on one of the harbour docks.

Baby shark for a baby girl.....

Sao Mai did lots of sleeping today -- which inspired her grampa to join in (see evidence below).

She's officially three weeks old now and is quite cheeky about it, sticking her tongue out at her auntie and just generally being so d*%$ed cute that it's nearly criminal! AND - best of all -- she's Organic!

Inward Bound: How I survived Meditation Boot Camp

2006-08-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah.... okay.... SO, check out THIS ten day schedule:

4:00 a.m.-------Morning wake-up GONG (!)
4:30-6:30 a.m.--Meditate in hall or your room
6:30-8:00 a.m.---Breakfast break (Yahoo!)
8:00-9:00 a.m.---Group meditation in hall (no sleeping!)
9:00-11:00 a.m.---Meditate in the hall
11:00-12:00 noon---Lunch break (major yahoo!!)
12noon-1:00 p.m.--Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 p.m.---Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 p.m.--Group meditation in hall (no groaning)
3:30-5:00 p.m.--Meditate in the hall or in your room
5:00-6:00 p.m.--Tea break (yeah.... just tea~!)
6:00-7:00 p.m.------Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 p.m.----Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 p.m.----Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 p.m.--Question time in the hall
9:30 p.m.---Retire to your own room--Lights out

Of course I wasn't allowed to bring a camera (or reading material, writing material, essential oils, food, snakes, crayons, or liquids & gels) but this photo at right kinda implies the excitement of the meditation hall at the Vipassana Centre. EXCEPT that my whole group o' tators (that's "meditators" for those of us who travel at different speeds.... now......) had mega-block meditation pillows, all equipped with super-spinal supports and lumbar luxurious pillows and just all the new state-of-the-art meditation paraphenalia.

I brought a blanket. And they had to lend me headphones so I could hear the lessons. It was very uncool. Luckily, I've subsequently read some tales from other newbie meditators & I don't feel quite so stigmatized.

So I gave the whole "meditate for twelve hours a day" schedule a chance.... for the first four days.

Then, on the fifth day, a revelation: I really don't like meditating. I figure that - maybe -- I'm just not miserable enough for meditation (or at least the method that was taught by Mr.Goenka (shown below beside his lovely wife).

Actually, he was a hilarious teacher & I probably wouldn't have stayed thru the whole course if his lessons weren't so flippin' entertaining.... at least until the last three days when they started to sound like propaganda sessions from a hare krishna bagwan-brainwashing sect or something.... (repeat after me: ignore your sankaras and ragas and embrace the dhamma of anicca... now repeat again fifty times in a slow, droning & hypnotic voice to 100 sensory-starved, sleep-deprived, malnourished 'tators.... Vipassana!!)

I know that I'm going to get in trouble from certain friends& relations for being so (notoriously) sarcastic & closed-minded and... well, basically being myself.

BUT--- the good news was that I spent the last five days meditating quite seriously on some new business ideas and very creative re-financing plans that should potentially net me about $200k within the year and possibly millions over the next few years.

Now THAT was a divinely enlightening experience!

Of Festivals and Fortieths

2006-07-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

Who is that folksy pixie with the spritely green elf hat? (chapeau on loan from a certain Crazy Colombian.... thanks, Nene!)...

Why, it's "still-thirty-nine"-Tim at the Calgary Folk Fest AND awesome Feist up on the screen in the background!

Such great music at Calgary, as compared to Winnipeg (sorry, peggers...) Feist rocked socks -- she was a humanform energyball as she jumped & spun around the stage AND she plays a right mean guitar + drums! (who knew...?)

The long-haired beauty on this next big screen is from an Iranian/American band called Niyaz --- SO worthy was this spooky band that the other two little pixie-hippies beside us (pictured here, licking each other) almost got up to dance!! (but didn't....) Calgary was a much more subdued crowd than Winnipeg until...

Broken Social Scene hit stage --- that changed Everything!!

Don't know if the picture will reproduce it well enough but.... anybody recognize that bass player at the far right (stage left) of BSS...? Hobson!!!

We didn't even know he was in the band...

Anyway, after howling at the moon with the Calgary folkies, it was time to celebrate Tim's 40th birthday -- AND as it turns out, the birth of the newest member of the extended family.!!!... Welcome to the world, Sao Mai!!!!

There are lotsa pix from Tim's big day but... we're all old & ugly so I'm only including a picture (below) of the real "lovelies" in our family.

Damn, these girls are gorgeous! It's almost criminal! Wait'll they're all 40......

Shaggin' Down in Cow Town

2006-07-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Sundre, Alberta: one hour north of Calgary, and home to Tim's sister, Laurie's, expansive and seriously peaceful acreage.

It's 'critter paradise' out here --- with horses grazing right beside Shaggy, and farm kittens playing in the barns and cows mooing and chewing in the pastures.... I even bridled up one of the horses (too lazy to throw a saddle on, tho) and barebacked around the farm a bit --- not that anyone takes any pictures of me, though......

Tim, on the other hand, has been playing with all the farm equipment! Guess who wishes he had a tractor now!?! It took him about five minutes to figure out how to work the tractor, and then within a few more seconds he was lifting, loading and leveling some soil that he'd been moving around (for no real reason except to play with the tractor).

Laurie's got about 160 acres of rolling hills, with a stream running through it, as well as some flat pasture & farmland and a large area at the top of a noll where she has a trailer, an airstream (!!) -- see the pic at left of Laurie walking beside her 'silver bullet'. There are also several lovely log cabins on the farm --- We have Shaggy parked beside one cabin that Sami's is staying in....

Everyday we take the dogs for a walk along the horse-trails that wind through Laurie's lower pasture & alongside her stream. We've also been bike riding beside the endless cow pastures that make up this wide countryside. Whoever said that "curiosity killed the cat" has obviously never met a cow. I don't condone bovinicide (that's "cow-killing" for you lexiphobes out there), BUT honestly, these animals will walk right up to anyone doing anything. Nevermind "sitting ducks"..... try "standing cows".... they're live target practice, if I've ever seen it. (just kidding....) But they are endless fodder for dumb-animal jokes, we've discovered.....

There are also two big rivers that criss-cross at Sundre and we took a drive down to one of them for a swim. Both Sam & I felt some kinda gross & slimy, little fishlets scampering over our feet & legs, so we hightailed it outta the water while Tim & Laurie kept on swimming.

When I get a better internet connection (not just random roadside stops), I'll try to upload a bunch of the Sundre farm pictures to my photo website because --- it's just been so gorgeous out here that it's impossible to describe. I agree with (lovely) Emerson when he said that "as soon as we walk out of doors, Nature transcends all poets so far...."

It's been a good place, out here, to read & write & play with tractors.....

Here a Moose, There a Moose......

2006-07-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

First up --- "Moose Lake", Manitoba --

at the southeasternmost corner of the province, right next to both Ontario and Minnesota. In other words: the best d*&*#ed variety of bugs & flying critters that anyone could ever hope to encounter! From mega-moosequitos to flesh-eating-blackflies, we've got the holes in our legs to prove it!

My cousin's husband's family (otherwise known as "the relatives of Dick Shaney") have a beautiful cabin on ultra-peaceful Moose Lake, nestled among trembling populars & white pine, and we were fortunate enough to squeeze ol' Shaggy right in next to their toolshed for a few days of Manitoba-style "lake life" (until the eager Park Rangers told us that we couldn't actually camp in their driveway but... that's a whole other story....)

The first few days we were battered senseless by the kind of thickly intense and humid heat that can only be produced within the abusive Canadian Shield. The heat, accompanied by venomous insects, forced us all to drink the only known Praire antidote: mas cervezas.

Even the kids were drinking beers -- Moosehead, of course... Luckily, this particular prescription to ward off evil bugs & weather ALSO effectively quietened the kids (see picture of passed-out child below--- what luck!!)

We stalwart adults, however, found some energy to do such things as swim & canoe & such (between beers)...

If this d*&%med bad internet connection lasts, I might post Tim's newest movie documentary called "Moose Canoes" at my movie site (listed at top right of this page)...

SO relaxing was our time at Moose Lake that Tim even began to....

READ!! (not kidding)...

then again, who could resist reading when there were approximately 5000 magazines to choose from (Thanks Joan!!)

Next "Moose" stop was --- Moosomin, Saskatchewan --- where Tim's Aunt & Uncle have a large & lovely farm (which became our own private campground for a few days!... that's Shaggy, hidden behind the red tractor...)

I was in particular dreamland there because...

1) there were Purple Martin birdhouses all over the property & I was able to watch these crazy dive-bombing bugeaters defend their young while I tried to approach their nests and....

2) Tim's cousin has a huge Elk Farm just down the road and we got a great tour of his operation. It's been good for us to see all these working farms to help us sorta decide whether we'd like to go WWOOFing within the next few years.... it does seem like something we'd enjoy doing...

Next "farm stop" is Sundry, Alberta where Tim's sister has 150 acres of horses & praire & big sky &.... more to come!

The Flock Festival Diaries -- First Edition

2006-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

After a few frustrating days of fighting with my blogging program, I have emerged victorious. I am bloggin' again! Which means that I can post pictures from the start of our trip --- right back to when we picked up our Edmonton hitchhiker (that's her in the fancy cowboy hat --- a ubiquitous fashion statement across the praires, by the way)!

We also picked up one extra furball to make it a complete team-of-three, scratching and shedding inside of Shaggy (brought new meaning to her name, as the furballs were tumbling down her hallway....)

Anyway, this posting is really just a sampling of the wonderful and varied eye candy that the festival offered. Again, as mentioned in the post below, lotsa smoking .... is it really that cool or is it a praire thing....?

Spent an afternoon listening to a bluegrass band called the High Flyers, napped out on a ratty blanket in the hot sun, thoroughly enjoying their female slide guitarist(!) and trying desperately to get a good picture of this young hominid balanced in his native environment. The subject, tho' shy at first, began to take notice of my sneaky photographic glances and, eventually figured out that he was the focus of my lense.

The Flock Festival Diaries

2006-07-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

Winnipeg: where heat & humidity are an evil flip side to this region's deeply frozen winter windchill. To the degree that Winnipeg winters have given birth to the phrase "frozen solid", their scorching summers OWN the definition of unsurvivable heat spells. It is so bleeding hot here that air conditioning is just futile.

HOWEVER (according to my cousin's immensely informed husband, TRENT... aka "Dick Shaney") there is a new entymologist in the southern Manigawtoga region who has miraculously introduced the cure for 'death-by-mosquitos': Dragonflies (no kidding)!! These Winnipeg folk have purchased a good supply of killer dragonflies who have been
routinely patrolling the praire skies
in search of a bloodsucking feast. And, thankfully, they are
gorging themselves!! YA!! The evening skies
are full of fat, happy dragonflies cruising around
and filling up on evil mosquitos. Around sunset
every evening we all look skyward & give our
"thanks" to them!
In other words --- no (or, rather.... "few") mosquitos here on the praires!!

Which almost makes up for the unbearable heat & humidity.... (almost)....

Anyhew --- at right is our most awesome new set-up there at Birds Hill Provincial Campground. The uber-hubby positioned our netted, outdoor gazebo so that we could just truck right on into it from Shaggy & BBQ up whatever quick-&-easy meals we pleased.

Below is a silly photo of 'yours-truly' getting ready to dine at our indoor table. Honestly, we were both ready to fight-the-power of these mean & manhungry Manitoba mosquitos (with our handy screened-in eating area) and then.... there really weren't any bloodsuckers around. But we still hung out in the gazebo because it made us look so cool (& prepared!)

So, the Winnipeg F*&k Festival was an event-&-a-half. We were camped about a kilometre away from the festival grounds and the photo of Tim (at left) shows part of our daily bike trip to the music --- past fields of tall reeds and deer-filled thickets, a lagoon and a praire lake (among other sights). At night, when we would ride home, there were late-night shows of fancy fireflies in the meadows accompanied by a fat praire moon above. Amazing that there were no mosquitos... (did I mention?)....

The Freak Festival was.... well.... just that. It's amazing that we didn't suffer whiplash from the amount of "people watching" we engaged in. Fer instance --- the fellow below (to Tim's right) was really wearing a sequined, sky-blue miniskirt and a lovely embroidered halter top. I must admit that it was a wise choice to pair with his cascading dreadlocks and the eagle feather that he had balanced on his head.

The age of the crowd was nicely varied --- basically people of every age attended, from newborn to 92. Why on earth someone would want to take a newborn to an overheated, loud outdoor music festival, I can't tell you but --- one thing we noticed was that, in the "hippy chic" culture: kids are kool.

Like--- they're everywhere! Kids and cigarettes --- that's what's cool among hippies right now. Must run out & buy a pack of Benson & Hedges & get myself a bun-in-the-oven before summer is over. These dreadlocks just aren't cuttin' it.

Tattoos are also still very cool with the Flake Festival crowd (as evidenced above). Tim embarked on a serious study of the various tribal body art that the young women had emblazoned upon their skin. I was deeply impressed with his dedication to his studies (he could probably start his own blog just on this subject)....

There was all kindsa other stuff at the festival, too --- art installations, tons o' great food, handmade items. We kept finding all this cool art hanging in the trees and almost banged right into it. The photo doesn't do it justice but the material under which Tim is standing has all kindsa little intricate ornaments strung from it (like the clay eye below)....

And then there was the music. Some great (but also not-so-great) artists to enjoy like ---- Cindy Cashdollar, Hawksley Workman, Fred Eaglesmith and --- our faves of the festival --- the South Austin Jug Band.... awesome! They were a big group of (very) young bluegrass musicians from Texas who were just a multi-instrumental melee of foot-stompin' fun. We spent many hot afternoons stretched out on our blanket, sipping secret beers (don't tell!) and enjoying their groove. lovely......

The last night of the festival was, perhaps, a bit mellower than we'd hoped for. My memories of this particular folk fest include finale performances that got entire crowds of thousands on their feet.

It was much more subdued this year, tho...

The final performances were solos by Ricki Lee Jones and then Bruce Cockburn. Sombre and sober.... more background music than festival fare. There was a full harvest moon above the praire horizon as Bruce Cockburn rocked us to sleep so.... Tim & I hopped on our bikes & headed back to the campsite. Sorta anticlimactic but... we felt healthy in the morning! (for the first time in my festival history....)

Don't Fence Me In

2006-05-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it would appear that Sir Timothy has, at last, completed building the fortress of rocks around our Fifedom and, so, now it is time to contruct the Fences! (what next?.... a moat?... wait, we sorta DO have a moat....)

The fences will wrap all the way around the front of our property --- and, altho' I'm feeling a bit "fenced in" as he's building them .... actually, they're really cool!

Now I can stand way up at the top of the property - looking out over the valley & creek - and lean against the fence (don't tell Tim!) without fear of losing my footing and tumbling into the rosebrushes and marsh below (believe me, I've done it before...more than once!)

Things are filling in beautifully down at the creek & pond. Our resident nesting Mallards (Frank & Lucy) are with us again this year --- altho' they're sitting on eggs at present so we're not seeing them.

This means that, pretty soon, they'll return with a little clutch of downy ducklings who will entertain us for weeks as they paddle around our pond.

Lots of the plants that we've been feverishing planting are finally showing their beauty this year.

Three years ago, when we started this whole insane project, we warned ourselves that it would be five long years of building the structure of the garden, and another five long years of planting it. We're a few years ahead of schedule in both departments but, believe me, the work goes on. However, when the bugles start to open their purple buds toward the bumblebees and the ferns unfurl beside the creek, it feels very worth it all. Now, if only that wisteria vine would start to grow...!!

Notes from the Nanaimo Office

2006-04-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Still computing here in the lovely outdoors at The Living Forest Campground in Nanaimo....

The local island weather has been variable (some drizzling rain and little pockets of fleeting sunshine) --- but decent enough to allow us to bike and hike lots during the day and keep the "roadrunner adventures" a-happenin' !

We finally joined the 'responsible adult' world and.... bought bike helmuts.

Tim is definitely not handling this decision well and everyday (!) starts out with his asking whether we really need to wear our helmuts.

I've tried explaining to him that I like my head intact and without any large, gaping holes in it.

At least we didn't buy matching helmuts (like our matching bikes and raingear!!).....

As promised, there will be MANY birdwatching stories by the end of this trip (what luck for those who will hear them!) This little beauty above is a male Rufous Hummingbird who visits daily at a feeder that Tim hung just off the back of the motorhome. Tim caught a bunch of photos of the male and his (less colourful) mate this morning as we sipped our coffee in the back bedroom.

Yesterday we took a short ferry ride across Nanaimo Harbour and over to Protection Island.

It's a little one-horse town of about 250 houses and one great PUB! ---- The Dinghy Dock Pub and Restaurant.

After having walked the whole island and gone beachcombing and sight-seeing, we planted ourselves outside on the docks and drank fresh draft and ate deep-fried seafood!

The Dinghy Dock pub claims to be the west's ONLY "floating pub" and, believe me, I felt it. By the end of the afternoon, it felt like I'd been sitting on a small boat all day.... (oy)...

The island itself was interesting to see --- many crazy, artistic houses that (I hope) inspired my husband to do yet more back at Allison Place!

We also saw some of the largest (and most twisted) Arbutus trees that we've yet seen in our travels PLUS some beautiful fan palms (see photos below). I've put more of our pictures on our photo website for anyone who wants a fuller dose of our island adventures. Ciao!

Loving the Living Forest

2006-04-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

Our new home here in Nanaimo is at... The (lovely!) Living Forest Campground. In a word: Heaven. Truly the most spectacular campground we've ever stayed at (in our short career as campers). Spacious, natural sites, surrounded by old-growth cedars and arbutus and towering firs and native ferns and wildflowers and SO many birds that my heart is singing constantly! We've got a site right on a bluff that overlooks the Nanaimo Estuary that flows out to the ocean. We look out at islands in the near view and the massive Olympia Mountains far beyond. We're sitting at a million dollar view for about $360 per month. Not bad....

We spent the first few days here just hiking the 60 acres (and more) of campground that surround us. Nanaimo has a park system unlike most towns its size. What it lacks in nightlife and restaurants (!), it more than makes up for in biking and hiking trails.

Anyway, we don't need fancy restaurants because Tim has us set up with an outdoor BBQ and stove already, so we can do some great cooking in this gorgeous setting. We do, however, always need a good pub AND we found one! The Lighthouse pub is right on the downtown harbour and is actually built on a pier that sits out in the water. Killer pub food and good local beer on tap = happiness for us.

PLUS there's a brewery nearby so Tim is slap-happy. It's a very small-scale, craft brewery called Fat Cat Brewery AND the assistant brewmaster is a woman named Bunny (!) -- who gave us a great tour of the place, along with very ample samples of their yummy beer. Tim fell in love (with the beer), so we're set. We've become pretty spoiled back home living within walking distance of first rate wineries and always seek out something similar when we're camped for awhile.
There's also a small group of stores about a half kilometre away, so we've got easy access to supplies to help keep ourselves occupied. First set-up job was to make birdfeeders out of our empty milk cartons (!) --- and we've got them hanging all around. Expect many bird photos as the Nanaimo part of the blog continues.... (joy!)...
Also have collected some fun beach jewels in our travels and am finally in one place long enough to start to play with them (see silly art above, for example....). Also expect many "campsite art" pix over the next little while. All in all, we've only been here about four days (and are here until the end of the month) and we've already got Shaggy all set up & homey-like!

I've even got a new office! Well... it's really just a gazebo down by the main office but --- nobody's ever in there so, every second day or so, I cart my computer down to the gazebo, plug it in and cruise onto the internet (we don't have wifi at our site but it's available within an area around the main office).

I'm also reading Emily Carr's "Klee Wyck" (thanks, Carol!) while on the island. A lot of her stories have Emily venturing into coastal communities near to Victoria so... near where we are now! It's amazing to look at a 150 foot tree perched on the edge of a bluff and wonder whether Ms.Carr walked past this tree in her travels.... Also, am doing some sketching (of birds and flowers). There is a calmness to this seaside haven that makes one breathe a bit deeper. Of course, the thick Porter beer helps liven the soul, as well.....

Traveling Without a Net

2006-04-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Bye bye Victoria & beautiful West Bay Marina....

At left is the final view of downtown Victoria, lit up by a bright sunset -- and, also, the comfy bench that we strolled to visit everyday from our RV site in Westbay...

Off to Sooke now.....

Above was our site at "Sunny Shores" campground, right on the bay at Sooke. Sooke is famous for its hiking and biking trails, most noteworthy - the Galloping Goose trail, which we biked until our legs turned to rubber. That patch of heavenly stream (also above) is just one of the many rivers and streams and bays and inlets that the "Goose" rides over & thru.

Most of the Sooke pictures are of us hiking and biking and picnicking, so not a lot of "links" to offer. Also, Sooke is definitely not a very wired village anyway, which is why we've been offline for almost a week now. Can't believe we survived...

At left is a baby raccoon who decided to spend a whole day in the tree outside our RV. Baileys and Kiya were so very happy that he did this that they spent the better part of that whole day staring right up at him.

Next stop.... Nanaimo!

Sittin' on the Blustery Bay

2006-03-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

We are parked & set up (again!) in a new locale --- the new address for Shaggy (for the next week or so) is... West Bay Marina, which is in Esquimalt - just across the bay from downtown Victoria.

And, oh, what a location it is! Other than the record gales that we've had the past few nights (winds just rip & tear through this place!), we are set up beautifully; right on the ocean and we walk out Shaggy's door and down to a boardwalk and can easily walk along the ocean bay all the way to downtown.

At right is a mapquest map of the bike route we took last night from our campsite (marked with the green "start"), over to the Conference Centre in downtown Victoria.

The reason for the trip was the Victoria Spring Wine Festival --- which we attended enthusiastically (as evidenced by my well-practiced wine-guzzling stance below....) It was an international fest with wine reps from all over the world and we really found that our local Okanagan wines stood up beautifully against anything from California, Chile or Australia. However, the wines from here on the Island are, frankly, awful! But oh (!) the cheese and breads and meats and sweets --- there were about 50 tasting booths for wines and about 10 booths for local cheesemakers and bakeries and delis and... the food was sublime.

Further to our "eat, drink and be merry" philosophy of life, we also visited the local brewpub today --- Spinnaker's.

We'd taken a blustery walk along the blustery bay (but -- no rain!) and let the wind blow us right into the warm foyer of this awesome, two storey brewpub/guesthouse that overlooks the bay and city.

Our latest afternoon indulgence, in place of the former "cocktail hour" (at 4pm) is our "beer and fries" hour. So.... today we had Spinnaker's Indian Pale Ale and a large plate of Fish & Chips made from wild BC salmon.

Below is a very small portion of the map for the Galloping Goose Trail --- a large bike trail that we REALLY need to start travelling so that we can keep up this indulgent lifestyle. Honestly, we're biking and walking everywhere and we certainly haven't lost any weight..... but Damn! The cheese and wine and beer and bread and everything around here is just so good. Eat, drink and be merry.... must remember that. Actually the only stress in our lives comes from the fact that --- we have cable TV now! So every second commercial is about botox and diet food and "active lifestyles" and... I'm starting to remember why we didn't have television before.

Of course there are about 80 channels available to us here and all Tim ever does is flip through the channels grumbling about the crap that's on TV.

The picture at left was taken on the boardwalk trail that runs from our campground to downtown (called the Westsong Walkway) -- what looks like a row of small houses behind us is actually our RV campground. We pretty much walk this route everyday, past blooming hyacinths and trailing ivys and huge, inspiring arbutus trees (which we love!). Also, runs past some great brewpubs and wineshops and.... oh well....

We figure we'll stay here through the weekend and then maybe move out to Sooke and do some real hardcore hiking and biking (and wining and dining of course, too!)

Ohm Sweet Ohm

2006-03-19T12:36:00.000-08:00

We're thinkin' that we've mellowed quite nicely into the ol' 'island-way-of-life' in the past few days, (yah mon),.... So much so that we've even taken on some catchy phrases from the local vernacular, such as ....
"travelling at the Speed Of Salt" !!

which --- surprisingly --- does NOT imply travelling at anywhere CLOSE to a leisurely, nonfrantic pace.

In fact, we've never seen such speeding maniacs in our lives. I mean, LA traffic pales in comparison to this stuff. Like --- I'd rather bike the interstates of Southern California than ever risk my life on these roads again ... (said with a large & sarcastic-but-depressed smile....) Which begs the question: where the h*$% are these people Speeding to all the time?? This whole Island is only like 200 square kilometres!... sigh....

By our estimates --- given that there are approximately 10,000 people on this small island, and judging by the unending volume of (rushing) traffic that we are seeing --- we calculate that, at any given time, at least one of every five residents here is frickin' zooming along some roadway.

Simply put: these people are speed demons. And I don't mean scooters or horses or bicycles or anything other than diesel-guzzling, big-motored mass machines.

People have actually stopped us (while we were biking) and asked whether we know that we are taking our lives into our own hands. And, frankly, we have started to realize that we are risking life-and-limb everytime that we step anywhere close to a roadway in this town. Even a cross-walk is questionable. Strange.... but true.....

Be that as it may... we're taking those risks daily (along with the risks of passing those d*&$% Alpacas---man, they scare us.....) --- and today we happened upon a passle of snakes on a sunny stretch of death-road. (herd of snakes? posse?)

The snakes were really just a fill-in to prove that, by-and-large, we're communing with nature and not just, say, hanging around town buying stuff.

Well... we did go into town one day (yesterday), but only briefly because Tim was feeling particularly misanthropic and didn't last more than fifteen minutes among humans....

At left is Tim packing our saddle-bags with some "booty" that we bought in downtown Salt Spring.

We bought some amazing "Body Gelatto" at Salt Spring Soap Works, and some lovely, delectable chocolates at Harlen's chocolates, and some terrible-truly-awful wine from Saturna Island (seriously... yuk!!).

The day before, we did the most insane four hour bike ride all around the northern tip of the island -- called the "north end bike loop". We passed sheep farms & even stopped & talked to a farmer who had just delivered a set of black sheep twins (!) The ride was actually quite gruelling BUT we ended it with a visit to one of the best local bistros --- called the Raven Street Market & Cafe (which always has at least fifty actual Ravens hanging around outside!). We rested our tired muscles & ate "Burnt Oyster Stew" and drank nectar-of-the-gawds from Gulf Islands Brewery --- the lovely, the delectable Gulf Golden Ale (makes up for buying that awful Saturna Island Wine... ug!!)

Above is a photo of me basking in the beauty of the bounty of my purchases (much to husband's chagrin....) --- holding Gulf Brew & Salt Spring Soap & Bear Claws, Ultimate Peanut Butter cups, etc on the table from Harlan's Chocolates --- yum!!!

It's 7:15 at night now which is "fire time" for the husband AND if I don't rush to the stove & start making some vegetables, you can bet that he'll get a big bonfire roaring & make himself a heap-o-smokies for dinner (again). I can actually hear him cutting up the kindling for his "smokie fire" outside my computer window.

Below is a picture of Kiya, flaked out in front of our picnic table, at the end of one of our lllloooooonnnnnngggggg daily walks. Sometimes I forget that the ol' girl is almost 80 years old in human years. She's an "island dog" now!!

I'm going to go repose in Shaggy's library now & peruse the many tomes that I purchased at the little used-book store here on the island (fabulous place!).... Off to commune with James Harriot .......Ciao all!!

We are Shag-a-Laggin'

2006-03-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

So... two days ago, we hit that crazy Crow's Nest Highway and got ourselves (and our doggies) moving on the road toward the coast. Our first official stop was Keremeos ---a serious Canadian cow-town & a place of many youthful rodeo & camping memories for me.

We nestled ourselves in at the Ashnola Campground (run by the Lower Similkameen Indian Band) --- unbelievably gorgeous & simple campground, right on the Ashnola river with big sites & the sweetest caretaker ever! We both wanna head back, maybe in late May or early Sept, and check out one of their public Pow Wows. It cost us $10 to spend the night and there wasn't a soul around for miles (except Mary, the caretaker).

This old, red covered-bridge (at left) is one of only two rickety structures that span the Ashnola River. The covered bridge was under construction (as it has been since I was ten years old) and we had to drive down river a ways & take Shaggy over a narrow agriculture plank that seemed to be made of balsa wood. We survived (Tim kept his eyes shut).

Anyway --- we survived the bridges of Ashnola County AND the Crows Nest Pass and even stopped briefly at Hedley and Harrison Hot Springs (since we were in an "H" mood....AND a lot of my childhood "hippy" memories come from those towns....)

By Tuesday, those dependable BC Ferries had dropped us on Salt Spring Island, as promised, and we set up our "Shaggy home" at the Cedar Beach Resort on Saint Mary's Lake. (The picture at left is of Tim, checking out the "fishing possibilities" from the campground's dock.....) The Resort really IS surrounded by cedars (many) and we're one of only two vehicles camped here --- the other guy works for the Ferries so he's hardly ever around. Basically, we have the whole campground to ourselves. Which means that the *&$ing caretaker watches us like a hawk. She's already nailed Tim for having his fire "too early" in the evening (huh?) and for having Baileys off leash for a millisecond. I'm thinking we'll be the top of "Salt Spring Island's Most Wanted" list by the end of the week.

We've clocked about eight hours of hiking so far in the last two days (thanks to my intensely pushy husband). Everyday we walk past rolling hills of farmland, grazed over by fat, woolly sheep and threatening-looking alpacas (we're kinda scared of alpacas now....) We've done some beach combing (in the rain) and a bit of culinary touring (in the rain) -- apparently the sun will be showing itself momentarily this coming weekend. We look forward to that. The photo at right is from a hike we took today in this most gorgeous rainforesty gulley -- on a path that was lined with ferny tree trunks & moss-covered everything. I stood against a tree for a minute and moss started growing down my arms! So I had to move....

Everything is so lush & green & overgrown here --- and it's only March. We're enamored with the papery, peeling bark of the Arbutus trees and, altho it certainly has been damp since we arrived, we purchased really good raingear before we left so Tim is having an absolute BLAST "testing" the effectiveness of his anti-rain suit. In fact, Tim says that tomorrow we're spraying our clothes with some fancy aerosol plasticy stuff to further strengthen their water-repelling abilities. I'm quite happy to do it because, according to Murphy's Law, if we spend THAT much time on our raingear, it will definitely stop raining.

We stopped in at a Seafood Specialty company called Sea Change Foods today and bought, among other things, some Lobster Pate & Maple Smoked Salmon. They had Ice Wine-soaked salmon & the ice wine came from Quail's Gate ( a little "culinary coincidence" for us since we live right below that winery....)

Anyway, we hobbled home (after our four hour walk today), cracked open our afternoon bottle of Chardonnay and shared it with some Lobster Pate which we spread on this crazy awesome loaf that I bought here called "West Coast Trail Bread" -- full of nuts & raisins & goodness. We sat by the lake at our campground, heard a crazy screech & looked up to see the eagle (photographed above) perched high in the tree right above us. We think it was sent to spy on us by the "Campground Warden".

There's a gorgeous, handcarved wood gazebo at the lakeside here and we drank our wine & watched the sunset over the mountains while the eagle kept his eye on us.

It's supposed to be drier here over the next few days so --- we're hoping to pull the tarps off our bicyles & ride to the south end of the island for some wine & cheese touring. Then we'll hit the outdoor market on Saturday (if weather permits). Meantime, it's still lots of hiking (with raingear) & wine & seafood. Rough life, but we're surviving... island-style!

Heading Home....

2006-01-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

Bye bye desert.... sigh....

On our last(ish) day in Palm Springs, we visited The Living Desert Gardens and had a great day just walking around, looking at gorgeous desert plants & wildlife....

Late in the day the weather made an unfortunate decision to rain and storm and gail against us and by the end of the afternoon we were the only ones left in the whole park. How Canadian....! Perhaps it was just the harbinger of our departure & a bold signal for our time to leave. Another sigh....

SO, we pointed Shaggy northward and headed along the road home. We drove like Canadian maniacs completely thru the state of California without stopping (!), passing seriously flooded fields & towns on our way... seems there was some kinda monsoon in northern parts of California (that we didn't hear about, since we've been on a total "news fast" for months now). There was water everywhere, but people were in good spirits and the weather was actually great on our trip northward. Our first real stop was Eugene Oregon on accounta that's where Christopher Alexander did his Oregon Experiment, so I figured it was a good bet.

Eugene is a super mellow place and it took us about two minutes to find a gorgeous riverside walk for the dogs and an eventual beer stop for the humans.
We parked Shaggy at the top of a little mountain, overlooking Eugene and drank our newly-purchased, fresh 'beer-in-mason-jars' while watching the sunset over Eugene.

Later, we went to go see the Narnia movie (great!) and I felt mysteriously bonded to the White Queen.... (I wonder why.....) hmmmmmm....... Tomorrow, it's onward to Seattle & more oceanside fresh beer! We read about a Beer Cruise in the Beer Times while in Eugene. Beer Cruise, beer ice cream... beer obsessions prevail at present.... yum!!

Downtown Desert Nights

2005-12-30T19:56:00.000-08:00

So.... warm evenings outside, hanging out downtown with live music & street vendors... and someone actually had the audacity to ask me the other day if I was homesick. Sorry..... NOT!

Every Thursday night the streets of downtown Palm Springs are closed off & hundreds of vendors and musicians fill the area and people pack in from miles around and hang out & shop & groove and just be human. It is a good thing. Tim & I rode our bikes downtown last night and walked among the throngs (carrying our bike seats) and made our way all the way to the other end of town for our celebratory beer (see photo above, thanks to our tattooed waitress!).

Tim found his "beef jerky heaven" vendor --- lotsa HOT jerky for my little 'rock man'! I was in my own special heavenly place, too, because, not only were there multiple jewellry + handbags + soaps + incense + 'you-name-it' hippie artists everywhere.... there were MANY falafel vendors!! Must fill up on my falafel quota before Canada beckons us back. I'll miss it sooooooooo much!! I could buy presents for everyone I know & become queen-of-the-world (thank gawd all our budgeted money is spent....). We also sat & listened to a great duo of guitar & flute on the street & bought their CD. Their website is kinda new-agey-fruit-tutti but they were surreal & gorgeous and awesome people to listen and talk to. Later, after we rode home, we hung out in Shaggy & drank our "two buck chuck" while listening to their CD.

Also finally bought "Guns, Germs & Steel" by Jared Diamond and hopefully will begin reading again. Just really haven't been doing much of anything lately except the ol' Battery Recharge (such a good metaphor!)... I did start reading the book today but fell asleep after a few pages. Seems my body finds sleep & relaxation much more important than trying to learn the history of the past 13000 years (even tho' it won the Pullitzer Prize and all......)

Anyway, pictures at left and below are of the El Paseo area of Palm Desert --- open at night (of course). My brother explained that night time is a reprieve from the abusive hot of the summer days here. During blistering July and August, people hibernate inside air conditioned havens during the day & then venture outside to the cool spaces at night. Already feels like that to us Canadians, tho (even in December......)
Exceptionally lovely for the nocturnal among us.....

Anyway --- lotsa new pix from these two evenings at my photo page. Check 'em out if you get a chance.... ciao!

When in Rome... Consume!

2005-12-27T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well... tonight was 'Consume like a Californian' night for all of us. The evening started off royally with a way more-than-massive look right up Harry Potter's nostrils at the Desert Imax Theater. Official reaction to watching the newest "Goblet of Fire" installment of those wily wizards on such a towering screen was: "Wow"! and also "Holy crowly freeoly"!! Unfortunately, I am now completely ruined for the rest of my life as I can never again watch a movie EXCEPT on an Imax screen. Honestly, I will hunt for these Imax theatres everywhere I go for the rest of my life. I mean, forget those nature documentaries they used to show at the ol' Imax ---> Hollywood film + Imax screen = wonderful. I could go on & on but, suffice to say, that part of the consumption evening was well worth the megabucks that it cost!

We then took a stroll through the town of Cathedral City past this gorgeous mosaic fountain called The Fountain of Youth. It was the most mysterious water sculpture park I've ever been to because, just as it hits the ground, the water just kinda... well... disappears. Actually, the entire ground surface surrounding the fountain is made out of chopped-up, recycled tires so that (I guess) the water just flows down thru the tire-pebble-thingies & goes away somewhere. It was weird but wonderful but we sorta still got wet from all the mist.....

One sure thing we've noticed about the downtowns around here is how much artwork & landscaping & just general beauty there is. We were actually hanging around this sculpture park at night & there were little lights everywhere --- like, every single branch of every tree had strings of lights wrapped carefully from trunk to tip. Didn't bring my camera, tho', so I've just stolen these pix from some other sites....

The big indulgence for the evening was.... Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream. "What's that?" you say.... Oh, it's such a dangerous, dangerous thing. Sam explained it pretty well when she said that it was like a Subway-for-Ice-Cream. That's pretty much it. Except, instead of choosing a type of bun at the beginning, you choose a flavour of ice cream (which they then place on a Cold Stone). Then, you pick some toppings (like fresh-made brownies or macademia nuts or any other of the zillions of calorie-laden, extremely indulgent availabilities). Then, they do this fancy shmancy ninja thing with the ice cream & additions and they mix it & chop it and twirl it up & serve it & you mortgage your house to pay for it. Simple as that. The question is... will this be the next Starbucks or Subway? Should we all invest now & laugh at the idiots later who didn't think to invest as early as us or.... will ice cream always be a seasonal, once-in-awhile type treat that never takes off the way that, say, mocha mint frappucinos have.... hmmmm.... hard to say.... Someone'll definitely make a million or two from this product before it's thru, tho. I'd still rather head back up to the coast of Oregon and spend more time and money back at the Rogue Brewery. Now THAT was a worthy indulgence.....

Beer-flavoured ice-cream.....? has anyone ever tried it ....?

Motor-Heaven: The Shaggy Update

2005-12-23T09:58:00.000-08:00

So.......yesterday (after a kick-ass dim sum lunch) we wandered the downtown streets of San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter and popped in & out of cool shops -- in search of 'Shaggy decor'! Insanely gorgeous stores that we visited included Z Gallerie and The World Market --- their websites suck but the stores were awesome. They were like warehouse-sized 'emporiums-of-coolness'. Even Tim shopped for hours (that's the ultimate sign of a cool place!). We got tapestries & baskets & candles & tea & incense & all kindsa Shaggy-enhancing type stuff. Now I wanna live in my motorhome all the time..... (all the pix on this post are inside the new-&-hipper Shagmobile!)

Also went to Ocean Beach's outdoor street fest --- they call it a farmer's market but it's more like a groove market. All kindsa homemade food & breads & chocolates & essential oils & tons of cool jewellry and knitted hats & hippie clothes and good people everywhere. I bought two bracelets from this awesome chick & when I went to pay for them she said... "here, I'll give you a discount". But then I told her that I wanted to pay full price (which was super cheap anyway) but she just handed me back my money! People are actually pretty mellow down here. Everyday someone comes up to us & yaks about our dogs. Everyone loves Kiya because there aren't a lotta huskies down here so they all freak when they see her......

Oh yeah --- and I found a good link to the area that we're living in down here --- it's called Sunset Cliffs. It's right on the tip of a point called Point Loma & it's one of the surfing meccas of southern california. Every evening the roads are filled with people who have driven from all over to watch surfers in the setting sun. People hang out at the cliffs with their beer in paper bags and they just meet & yak & hang. All the dogs are off leash & well behaved. It's weird. I think that with the whole "yellow/orange/red alert" thing in America, that it's keeping all the conservative weirdos inside & allowing all the mellower people the space to hang together outside. At least, that's what we've noticed so far down here in San Diego. Palm Springs is different. There's just nobody outside. We're heading back to Palm Springs this afternoon to have Christmas up there. Lots of sun, tho! Palm Springs weather is still super sweet!

Virgin Bloggings

2005-12-20T21:56:00.000-08:00

Watched "Forty Year Old Virgin" tonight (for the first time... no pun intended....), thus tonight's theme.

Been hanging around Ocean Beach lots lately. It's 'ol stompin grounds' for me around here & hasn't changed much - except that there are significantly fewer middle eastern restaurants around... no falafel here anymore & that's a huge bummer. But, there's still lots of sun and good places to buy fish tacos & cheap beer & sit outside and watch surfers.

We also got invited to attend the next Rainbow Gathering down here. There's a small gathering on a remote beach just north of here in January before the big huge one this July. Tim's sorta interested. We'll see what we're up to in July. For great photos of last year's Rainbow Campout check out this page. I actually used to work with a bunch of Rainbow folks in Berkeley when I sold jewellry on Telegraph Ave there in the early eighties. Crazy times...... I'm still trying to figure out this blogging thing so I'm not even telling anyone about it yet. Must figure out pix & links & stuff. Must recharge more battery power first tho......

Why Knot ?

2005-12-18T00:24:00.000-08:00

In the true spirit of Rubber Sheet Topology, I'm naming these rambles as they are: knot(s). Knots are great math fiddly thingies because, sometimes they make a whole lotta sense (and, consequently, can be undone) and sometimes they're all looped up & remain entwined and forever twisted. I figure this blog will probably be some kinda knot. Will it remain twisted? I think I'll wait until more of it unwinds to decide myself.....

Anyway -- it's late and I'm exhausted. ...

"I stayed up all night trying to round off infinity"
---- Steven Wright

2005-12-18T00:11:00.000-08:00

The Sea & Sun in Oregon.....