Blue Skies

Today on this second day of the new year, I awoke to blue skies and sunshine, an event truly worth celebrating.

Here on the Wet Coast, skies have been gray and more or less drizzling since October 11th, so this is a very welcome boost to the waterlogged spirits, to say nothing of a very waterlogged GreenHouse. Out there the fuchsias are in winter hibernation under the benches, while the saturated cedar drips and the rivers of condensation flow down the inside of the windows. I mop up with sponges and run the fan all day long. The door hasn't shut properly in months.

Just as I was admitting how fed up I was with all this gray and wet, I spoke to Number One Son yesterday in Ottawa. "There's 5 feet of snow here and it is minus 24 degrees", he tells me. OK, I'll shut up. I prefer this for sure. He is also making plans for his return to British Columbia in a few months, to live here again, likely on the Island somewhere. I'm not holding my breath, but he does sound serious.

Sun or no sun, I still go for long walks most days. Yesterday I noticed a blooming pink rhodo in someone's garden near the ocean, as well as two well flowering hardy fuchsias. Daffodils I planted in pots and left beside the house under the eaves are showing their green tips. Hellebore buds are fattening up to bloom later this month. So some know that spring will arrive before too long. In a few weeks we leave for southeast Asia, where I will no doubt have my early fill of warmth and sunshine.

Christmas this year was quiet - no visitors, but still, by yesterday, I was well and truly sick of the whole thing. After staying up till midnight watching an old George Carlin performance on the Comedy Channel the night before, New Year's Day was a day of deconstruction as I took down the tree and the lights to pack away for another year. We officially celebrated New Year's at what was 9:30 in the morning New Year's Eve day here, New Year's in Yangon(Rangoon) where they were publicly celebrating with fireworks and all for the first time. Times appear to be changing in Burma, and I'm on my way.

Happy New Year - off to enjoy the sunshine before it vanishes again. New Year Resolutions? Yes I have one. I resolve to stop pretending I like dark chocolate and only eat the milk.

Happy Day

Today was blue sky sun shining, for the first time in well over a week. And why not? Today was my birthday after all. Forever young in Qualicum Beach. Works for me.

Last week we were in Vancouver where I had to travel to get an appointment with a specialist, sooner, that is, than the year it would take me to wait for one over here on The Island. Yes, year-long waiting lists. It's a little strange, stepping back into the Canadian/BC health care system after being away. In Manila the quality of care and the ability to access medical specialists when you want to, totally depends on money. Want an appointment with a specialist over there? "Yes, Mam, when would you like to come?" Medical tourism is big in places like Thailand and Malaysia, and the Philippines is trying to get a piece of the action - they even built a shiny, new hospital down the road from where we used to live, just for that business. Meanwhile, millions of their citizens have limited, if any, access to anywhere near decent healthcare.

So... I don't think I'll complain too loudly about wait times here, and a few days in Vancouver is hardly a hardship. The ferry ride over is totally relaxed, and it was about time anyway for a change of scenery and a taste of the big city. We always stay at my absolutely favorite hotel of anywhere, a suite hotel on a residential street in the West End, a block from Davie Street.

The West End is a mixture of low- and high-rise buildings, most of a vintage, although there are more and more signs of renovations. Renovations, not tear-downs, which I think is great. I have no clue about the politics and real estate of Vancouver, and why this is so; it's just me walking around this wonderful neighborhood and looking. It reminds me a little of urban neighborhoods of Montreal, where I grew up. We're 3 blocks from the water and close to Grenville Island, via the ultra-cool little passenger ferryettes, as well as to Stanley Park, to Yaletown, downtown and anywhere else we care to go - most of the time walking. On this visit it was grey and rainy, but looking way good to me.

The entire West End is all about walking and looking and vibrant main streets with lots of pedestrian traffic just blocks from where you live. I especially like Davie Street, or Davie VILLAGE as I see it is being called - our neighborhood. where there is such a great mix of people, most of them colorful, in one way or another. We've stayed there so many times these past years, it now feels like OUR neighborhood in Vancouver.

And not coincidentally to my love for it,  there is a cheekiness to Davie Street that is fun, fun fun. Love some of the window displays and the signs are terrific.

And P.S. to the healthcare story. After 22 years with Type 1 Diabetes, it seems I have no apparent complications, which is huge. This won't last. But for now, and for today's day, I am so very grateful for my good health. I feel great. And I don't even care that I just turned xx.

September

Every morning, while waiting for the coffee machine to heat up,  I have been looking through the garden doors at the clear cloudless blue sky sunshine,  smiling and saying out loud, "another lousy day in paradise", a line from a 'you had to be there' running joke from a long ago trip. Just when I had been, almost, bemoaning the short 6 week summer we had, along comes this - 10 days, and counting, of warm, sunny days. Record breaking highs for this time of year I'm informed by the online local papers (which is not all that high, if the truth be known, but it's all relative I guess).

It appears that this is a new season, an in-between summer and fall season. It very clearly is not summer. Although sunny and warm in that sunshine, at night those 20-something temperatures fall to lows of 8-9 and boy is it brisk out there as I venture out into the dew with coffee in hand to see what's happened overnight in the garden.

The garden is gorgeous. Things that have been underwhelming performers through the summer's heat are now putting on new growth and flowers. Everything was newly planted this year, as there was nothing when we came here, and shrubs and perennials are settling in, and those that aren't are being moved or sent to compost. I've been scrubbing out hundreds of pots (note to self - clean as you go), and caulking the windows of the GreenHouse, which I'm not at all sure will solve my leakage problems. New planting beds are being prepared, and ongoing water and deadheading maintenance gets one up close and personal with each plant. I spend almost all my time outside in the garden, working or reading - the rest I spend taking pictures, blackberry picking and exploring new beaches in nearby communities.

When Number 2 Son Mike was here a few weeks ago we went for a walk along a nearby trail and found a big blackberry patch. We stopped and picked and picked and ate and ate, until finally I had to say "I'm STUFFED", which is not a usual description of berry eating. I have been back to that patch several times since, picking pounds/kilos of the stuff, or "kilometers of blackberries", which refers to my ill advised attempt to speak Italian in Ischia, where one afternoon, while everyone on the island was in siesta mode, I was trying to order a "kilometer of cherries" in the local language. I recognized my mistake almost immediately, but the old woman in the shop didn't bat an eye and weighed them up for me, no doubt laughing her head off once I was out of sight. I certainly was.

The Fuchsia Summer GreenHouse

I've been photographing the Fuchsia Ranch collection and taking note of how the plants have behaved this season and what I may do with them next season. I use Aperture for my photo library and post-production and I'm playing with its book making feature as a way to keep a record of The Ranch this year.  This is in keeping with what has become a feeling that if I don't start to organize and produce something I can touch and keep, all these thousands and thousands of digital images I have on my computer and add to every day will end up one day in some massive crash or change of software or whatever. Which might not be a bad thing for most of it which leads to the point that it is also a way to better pay attention, select the best, critique the composition, reshoot, compare shots, adjust, and generally learn my craft. I have a few other projects in mind to get these photos off digital and published in hard copy form to share, so learning what this book feature can do, or learning enough to know whether I want to continue to use this software or go on to try something else.

Screenshot of the Aperture Book software

Fuchsia Deep Purple

Living these days outside in the sunshine has been wonderful but clearly this season is changing. The light is different, the angle of the sun is decidedly lower and by late afternoon the once long sunny backyard is in full shade as the sun quickly disappears behind the tall trees of the forest at the end of the street. Here at 49.3564 N by 7:30 it is dark out.

The town also feels different. The tourists are gone and even with days and days of sunshine, the vibe of this summer town has changed. We've been here, in this new home, for about a year, and we've barely scratched the surface.

Still. May be time for a change of scenery.

Springtime in the Garden

We are now one month short of the longest day of the year and the past 6 weeks or so of spring have been very busy - in a good way. We've had great warm, sunny weather for the past 2 weeks and it is only now that clouds and showers have returned for awhile - good thing, the rain is making all the new lush deciduous growth sparkle with infinite shades of green. Spring here in coastal British Columbia is close to breathtaking with all the flowering shrubs and trees opening up in a colorful sequence lasting many weeks. I've spent most of my time in the garden, hours and hours every day - digging, hauling compost and soil, securing trellises, planting, trimming, watering and just generally enjoying being outside in the fresh air, completely blissed out.

The Work in Progress

When we moved into this house last summer there was very little in the way of gardens. The back yard was an expanse of grass along with a concrete terrace and huge wooden deck. The concrete is gone, replaced by stone pavers, the deck has vanished, replaced by perennial beds, the fences have for the most part been replaced and the GreenHouse was built. A side yard has been transformed into what I call the Summer GreenHouse covered with an arbor with its roof of trellis along with the potting benches constructed courtesy of  #1 Son the Carpenter.

Found Space

The Winter Build

The Summer GreenHouse

The front yard was enclosed by a hedge of cedar soldiers, protecting us from...what?  They are gone now, opening up the area to highlight the enormous red cedar tree, with its signs of a resident fairy population. This now has possibilities for new shrub gardens to be filled with rhododendrons, Japanese Maples, California Lilacs and English Laurel, to name a few of my new favorites. This month the entire exterior of the house was painted in new colors - the siding is milk chocolate, the trim is dark chocolate and the front door is caramel. Yum.

The Cedar Hedge Army

The Mess (have faith)

Yesterday was finally overcast and drizzly but I still spent 6 hours in the GreenHouse, puttering, pottering around. At one point I was curious about what the results had been of our power shopping, seed growing and cutting taking, so I made a count - here's the inventory. We are now the (busy) custodians of 221 new shrubs, trees and perennials PLUS 94 fuchsias in the Fuchsia Ranch. The Pot House is flourishing. I'm growing all kinds of things in pots including 4 types of tomatoes, sweet peas, some euphorbia, hellebore and other shrubs and perennials, some waiting for an in-grown location, plus the big display pots of whatever takes my fancy. I've been moved to give these latter artworks names:

First Pot

Autumn Pot - sat there all winter and is now exploding with spring

This weekend's arrangement - the One Toke Over the Line pot

As if all this green thumb activity were not enough, we've also been getting the boat ready for the season, removing things from the previous owners' 20 years, scrubbing, reupholstering and repairing.

Spring in QBBC. Hard to see how it could get much better. Summer?

April Fools

To quote the great philosopher, Howard Brown...

March. In like a lion...out like an asshole.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yes I know that I declared that spring had arrived earlier this month, but this time I really mean it.

Yesterday morning I got up early.  When I opened the door to the back garden. I noticed immediately the sounds coming from the trees in back of our house. Birds. Lots of them, with all kinds of whistles and chirps and cries and odd little noises. Sometime between yesterday and the day before, the birds have arrived and are staking territory and seeking mates. Later in the day I went for a long walk around the 'hood with camera, looking at paint colors on houses (still planning the exterior paint job this spring) as well as front yard landscaping ideas, and ended up looking more at robins and all kinds of other birds with names I don't know.

All this week the weather has been changing every half hour it seems. Clouds, sun, rain, snow, partly sunny, partly cloudy, rain showers, sun showers, frost, overcast, bright overcast - we must have as many words for winter weather in Qualicum Beach as the Inuit have for "snow". But today, even as the morning was cloudy and drizzling (another descriptive), after noon the sun came out and stayed out. On my way home from my walk I stood in the road and chatted with neighbors I hadn't spoken to since December; we've finally hatched ourselves from our houses. I ended the day in the backyard sitting in the sunshine reading my book.

The signs are all there. Spring.

And spring cleaning. I feel an urge to sweep the floor. Need to recline until the urge goes away.

Bonus Day

 Leap year day yesterday. An extra day of winter. Although for those of us in the northern hemisphere, wouldn't we all rather have the extra day in July?

Truth is, I've been enjoying this winter in my new home. Back in the fall everyone was talking about the predictions for this winter to be a weather misery here on the west coast. Hasn't happened. We had a week of snow in January and that was it. I've also been waiting for all this gloom and rain people always mention when talking about Pacific Northwest winters. Well, first of all, if you want to live in a temperate rain forest, guess what, you need rain. And second, it's not at all bad and even when there is a rainy day, it rarely lasts the whole day, there is lots of clear sky.

Dennis helping. He has since been banned from the GreenHouse.

I've been paying a lot of attention to outside temperatures and daily weather patterns as I play in the GreenHouse. Every morning I take my coffee outside to check the min-max thermometers both outside and in the GreenHouse, recording everything. Keeping the temperature in there to my target range has not been easy and there is a lot of trial and error. I'm on my second heater, the first one lasted six weeks before its thermostat broke. Most mornings I linger in there, sometimes for an hour or two, checking on the plants, repotting, planting seeds, picking off aphids, watering, taking cuttings of fuchsia new growth, moving things around, adjusting lights, making notes, listening to tunes and, I will admit it, talking to the plants. It may be chilly outside, but inside that wonderful place I am warm and extremely happy.

Many afternoons have found me in The Bunkie studio "working" (playing) on the miniature theater. This winter I have been creating the actors and the Carnevale costumes. The gas fireplace heats the room and the space is cozy and inspiring. As I clip and glue and scratch my head trying to figure out how to do things, I listen to music or half watch concert DVD's or CSI reruns. Another week and I'll be finished this part of the project and will move on to something else, perhaps the woodworking of the theater stage itself. Eventually. Who knows when and how inspiration will strike again. This theater project has been in the dreaming stage since I commissioned the stage backdrop in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a couple of years ago. It feels good to have come to the time of actually putting it together. Here's a Sneak Preview - 4 of the 6 actors in front of Dusit's painting of the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

4 of the Carnevale actors - about 5-6 inches tall

Since I figured out how to dress properly (Who's the Doofus...) I have been loving the walks or hikes in the forests this winter. (What's the difference between a walk or a hike? Answer: One hour.) With the deciduous shrubs and trees bare, my focus is on the shapes of the forest now that easier to see the trees and I love to look all the greens (the colors man, the colors) of the mosses and ferns and evergreen leafed shrubs - and of course those huge cedars and firs. The cool air is refreshing and there are no people.

Speaking of which, I'm much more into flora and fauna these days than human beings. It's a whole new world, paying attention to things I never saw before. One day walking through "our" forest at the end of the road, we heard a very loud banging noise - a new sound, that turned out to be a red top woodpecker and two of his buddies. I'd seen evidence of them before - very distinctive rectangular holes in tree trunks - but to see one was new for me.

Pileated Woodpecker

Another January visitor to the backyard, a group of Varied Thrush stopping by to pick up some berries on the tree just over the fence:

Varied Thrush

It's March now and whatever the worst was, it's on it's way out. I've spent quite a lot of time in the Benjamin Moore store pouring over paint chips, trying to decide on colors for the outside of the house which needs repainting. I'm also looking at fabric swatches for the "redecoration" of the new boat. I rediscovered the Public Library which turns out to be a pretty lively place all things considered (could it have something to do with the fact that QBBC has the oldest population in Canada?) and spend hours at home stretched out on the couch in front of the fireplace reading mystery novels.

Hellebores

Road trips. We continue to explore. We've made a daring raid on Salt Spring Island to buy hellebores for the garden, a plant I was unaware of as they won't survive the cold winters of the East, arriving at Fraser's Nursery just in time for it to start pouring. We've hiked up the mountain trails behind Nanaimo in search of an elusive waterfall, and followed the signs along the dirt road to the Horne Lake Caves where the only person we saw was a maintenance worker (I did NOT go into caves). We hiked into a woods near the estuary of the Englishman River where the rushing water of centuries, millenium, eons, whatever, who knows how long, has carved big circular basins out of the granite. The only other people there on the huge rocks near the suspension bridge that day were a couple of guys along with a mother and baby smoking a joint. The guys that is, not the mother and baby. Everywhere we go we find amazing places and the air is so fresh it makes me yawn.

View of the Coast Mountains on the mainland from our waterfall mountain hike behind Nanaimo

Walks on the beach have been less frequent for no particular reason but one day in February the fog was so thick outside I could barely see the houses across our own street, so I grabbed my camera and headed for the beach. You couldn't see much beyond the shore birds close by the beach but the smell of the air and sea was amazing and the sight of the rest of the world vanished was magical.

Qualicum Beach February Fog Day 2012

Then today, I went for a long walk on the beach all the way around the bay where I came across this sight of these two hardy souls on the water. The days are getting most noticeably longer, there are buds on the trees, spring bulbs and early flowering shrubs are out. March 1st - I'm going to call it spring.

Qualicum Beach March 1, 2012

A F%@*ING Winter Wonderland

Snowing again this morning. Even the fairies are snowed in.

When You Come to a Fork in the Road...Take It

On days when I am not doing the cardio walk/run thing, I'm off on what I call "taking the camera for a walk" walks, which turn out to be long strolls with many stops to take pictures of whatever catches my eye. When I leave the house I may have some destination in mind - through the forest, down to the beach perhaps  - but invariably I end up somewhere new, somewhere unexpected. I'll pass by a road I haven't seen before, make the turn, and the next thing I know, I'm looking at something extraordinary. I take a lot of pictures.

I'm taking a series of pictures of hidden backyard cottages and structures in the neighbourhood. This treehouse was a delightful surprise; from its perch it has a fantastic 180 view of the Strait. I want to live in it.

The other day I was exploring a new road down near the water and came across a short beach access path. Among the things I find so intriguing here on the Island, are these public access points, which turn up in the most unexpected places. When I spent those summers in Victoria at Royal Roads, I used to go for a walk every evening, usually around Cattle Point and the tony neighborhood of Uplands. Tucked away between the waterfront mansions are these little public beach access pathways - fantastic "I can have the same view as the rich folk" places and I explored them all.

On this particular day last Friday here in Qualicum Beach, I found a new road and a new access pathway and walked down to the low tide beach. No one was there except for a large black dog going for his own solitary stroll. Even cloudy and wintery, it was beautiful. Lots of sea birds, fresh air, a breathe deeply, soak it in kind of view.

A new road to the water

Public Beach access off the beaten path so to speak

The Beach in winter

My cell phone rang. My son, calling from Ottawa. We started talking and then he said, "Wait a minute, did you say you were on the beach?" "Yes I am and it's wonderful". "You are so annoying", he replied. "There's a blizzard going on here." "Well perhaps you should move to BC". "I'm working on it", he says. Whatever that means.

However if I was inclined to gloat, and I'm not saying that I am although it's tempting,  that all changed in a hurry. When I woke up on Sunday morning I pulled the drapes open to find...

The Horror, The Horror.

I loathe snow. I'm spending these snow days either in the GreenHouse where it's warm and beautiful, planting seeds and watering plants and dreaming of springtime or in The Bunkie studio where I'm costuming the actors for the Carnevale Theater. It's all good. It's snowing again today and I've announced that I'm not leaving the property until the snow melts, which should be in a few more days.

I see the news of winter mayhem in other parts of the continent, January snow and ice storms and weather that will persist for months. Here in coastal British Columbia, where the forecast is for this to melt by Saturday, I may just gloat after all.

Couch to 5K

Last spring, as we were getting ready to leave Manila and move here, I started to think about what I was going to do to get/stay fit. I had quite a routine going for myself - private pilates lessons twice a week, cardio at the gym at least 5 times a week, free weights and eating clean most of the time. The gym was an elevator ride away in the basement of my condo so that was a no-brainer, and Brenda was an amazing pilates teacher. All was fine and I felt great. What was I going to do when I moved?

A friend of mine in Manila who was from Vancouver just happened to know Qualicum Beach very well. In fact, she and her family come here every June to participate in the Qualicum Beach Triathalon.  She told me that it was a fun, low key type of event - swim 400 meters in the pool no less, bike 18K and run 5K. Hmmm. Maybe this was an answer. Training for something like this would certainly keep me fit.

There were just a few problems with this bright idea. I didn't run, I'd never owned a bike, and on the very rare occasions I did swim, it was only a gentle breast stroke. Wouldn't want to put my face in the water and ruin my makeup now, would I? Oh well, details, details. Not going to let that deter me. Back in Manila, I started cranking up the treadmill to start running intervals. How hard could this be? When I got to Qualicum Beach I figured I'd buy a bike and even sign up for a stroke clinic in the pool, since the last time I had a swimming lesson I was probably about 8 years old.

Well here's the update. I did buy a bike - and rode it about 3 times. It wasn't exactly like "riding a bicycle" and it didn't come easy for me. What the hell are you supposed to do with all those gears? I managed to stay upright and moving forward but that was about it. More practice needed.

As for the swimming, well I know where the pool is in town but that's about it. The thought of actually going in it makes me cringe. For one thing it's too wet. For another all kinds of traumatic memories are coming back to me from my childhood, including a particularly vivid one of a little me sitting shivering poolside at swimming lessons, with those horrid little white tiles and the echo chamber sounds of that huge indoor pool. There was also the incident when I dove into the pool and chipped my front tooth on the bottom, scarring me for life. So let's just say that GETTING TO the pool is still a work in progress.

That leaves the running.

I have never run outside before. The only running I've ever done was on the treadmill in the few months leading up to our departure from Manila. However, undeterred, I went shopping (as in, when the going gets tough...) as I need the appropriate running gear, no? It turns out that running outside is becoming an unexpected pleasure where I live. A 5 minute power-walk away and I'm on trails and roads running through acreage properties where llamas, horses, Shetland ponies and market gardens are raised. Sometimes the llamas, there are 5 in the field I regularly run past, are lined up against the fence looking at me with very strange expressions on their faces. "What on earth is SHE doing?" The ponies in the field across from the llamas are also intriguing - can I call them cute?. The woman who owns them has a dog that is as big as they are. The wild also is everywhere to see - birds and ducks and deer. The air is fresh, the trees are tall and if I turn one way on a clear day I see the magnificent Mt. Arrowsmith of the Vancouver Island range. Run (or more likely for me, walk) up to the top of the rise in the other direction and the mainland coast mountains come into view across the sea.

Mt. Arrowsmith - Vancouver Island

With views like this, the running is almost enjoyable. Almost. One foot in front of the other. Still doing the walk/run thing, but the run intervals are getting more frequent and longer AND, by the end of the time I'm surprised to realize that I'm feeling great. Love it ... when it's over. All is well.

And while I did say I'd finish the Qualicum Beach Triathlon I never did say in what YEAR I'd do it.