Sunday, August 25, 2019

August Check-in

Celosia plant on my patio

Time for an August check-in as this summer seems to be slipping away.  I've been busy.  In addition to our business, driving Mom around and volunteering this has been a summer filled with old friends and travel.  I've seen and done some new things and so far, it has been a lot of fun. 


The animal rescue I volunteer at has one event where they supply volunteers as timers for a Logging Contest (Campbell River Loggersports) and the organizers donate $2500 to our rescue.  I volunteered for one of the days to act as a timer and it was so much fun.  Something that never in a million years I think I would have wanted to attend but was extremely fun to watch.  There was burling (trying to get the opponent off the log while both are balancing and walking on it), ax throwing and lots of chainsaw events.  I definitely will volunteer next year as well for it as they do this annually.

Loggersports Campbell River 2019
 We had an invitation from a colleague of my husbands that he used to work with for a BBQ - in Sooke which is near Victoria.  That was a solid 3-hour drive both directions but since this summer seems to be all about connecting with old friends we decided to make the trip - Buddy had Grandma over to take care of him for the day.  I am so glad we went, although it made for a long day.  This gentleman's Dad purchased a 2-acre plot of land right on the ocean back around 1970 for $400,000 which at the time was a boatload of money.  It became the family cottage - including a 1940s log cabin.  It has stunning views and the house has been left exactly as it was originally built.  The father has long passed but the siblings are trying to keep it in the family.  That is harder than it sounds as the land alone now is worth $2 million and they have to pay extremely high taxes on it.  In Canada beaches are not private, only the land that comes up to it.
View from the cabin  - they own the property on half of this beach.

 Not only were the views pretty amazing, but there was also an ancient petroglyph on the side of the cliff of an orca.  We have many petroglyphs (drawings prior to written language of aboriginals who inhabited the island) on Vancouver Island and surrounding islands but none that I have seen before.
Orca Petroglyph in Sooke
 The town of Sooke is the closest part of the Island to the US, in fact, while we were there our cell phones pinged telling us we were roaming in the USA.  We called Bell to make sure we weren't overcharged - apparently, no charges have appeared yet.

It sounds weird but I've never wanted a home office, much prefer to work wherever I wish to in the house.  This is sometimes on the bed with the dog wrapped around my leg.  He likes to know where I am 100% of the time, this way he can doze off and know when I leave the room.

We basically drove from one end of Vancouver Island (Sooke) to the other this summer as we just got back from 4 nights spent on a lovely small island called Malcolm Island, population 600 for my 50th Birthday.  We had to drive 3 hours from Comox on an extremely quiet highway where there is no cell service or radio.  Yes, we had left civilization as we knew it.  We ended up in Port McNeil and boarded the small passenger and vehicle ferry for Malcolm Island where we had rented a pet-friendly house on the ocean.  Other than gas, ferry, and accommodation costs we spent zero money on the island.  There was very little to spend money on - a small grocery store (we brought all our own groceries), a pub and two small food takeout places.  We ate in like kings instead.  Lots of hiking, beachcombing and relaxing on the large balcony with a glass of wine.  You had no choice but to relax there.



 The sunsets were pretty there.  We also saw this Holland America Cruise Ship passing by - this is the route to the inside passage to Alaska.  This one was headed back towards Vancouver on its return.
 There is a park on Malcolm Island called Bere Point Regional Park.  Orcas can often be seen rubbing along the rocks on the beach below.  Not on the day we were there though as the wind was crazy and logs were being smashed onto the beach. Across the water are the Queen Charlotte Islands.
 Buddy enjoyed his time with us - he loves trail hiking and beachcombing.  He really liked the large dog-proof deck as well, we spent so many hours out there watching the ocean and reading.
 When you live on a small island with not much to do creativity abounds.  Someone had dressed up this dinosaur statue for the summer.
 The marina was very pretty - lots of fisherman in this area.

 Someone had taken an old fishing buoy and turned it into a succulent planter hanging from a tree - great re-use.
 Also great re-use of an old canoe as a flower bed.
 I brought some of my Ubrew wine from home.  It is surprisingly tasty and I have another batch on order which should be ready to bottle in about a week.  At less than $4 a bottle a true bargain in Canada where the cheapest wine is usually around $10 in the liquor store.
We have seen several friends this summer, many of whom we haven't seen in several years who happen to be on the island on holidays.  Life is busy but good.  Business is a little slower this year than last, we are hoping things pick up as we go into fall which is usually our busy season but in the meantime, we still have several weeks of summer left to enjoy.

We've had loads of tomatoes from our 3 plants, supplying both us and Mom plus now I am having to freeze some.  I am still getting a few strawberries every week from the everbearing plants.  I've ripped out the peas as they finished, really surprised at how many peas we ended up with.  My cucumbers are weird, growing into weird curly creatures but they still taste good and fortunately, I've gotten 3 so far with a few more growing on the vine.  Next year we are expanding the garden, currently making plans for that. 

Mom has had both her eye surgeries and is almost done healing.  She still needed prescription reading glasses so rather than her spend several hundred dollars on those I ordered some for her through clearly.ca where I order my glasses.  She paid $44 and they should be here this week, I hope they work for her as they are so much cheaper than anywhere else.

Have a great rest of your summer everyone!

22 comments:

  1. You live in a beautiful corner of the world and the places you have to visit nearby are unbelievable. Of course I have a fondness for small water-side towns.

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    1. I love small water side towns. Maybe one day when the orange man is gone and I wish to go back to the USA I can do the coast of Maine :)

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  2. Looks like you all had a good time. Buddy is so cute. Your part of Canada is so pretty. We vacationed on Vancouver Island before a cruise a few years back.

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    1. It is beautiful here - I love where I live, plus the island is so large we still have many places to explore.

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  3. Oh, what a great post! Loved every wood! You do have such a good life! Glad your mom is doing well.

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    1. Mom is doing really well. She thought she might not need reading glasses anymore but it turns out she does and not the kind you can get over the counter.

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  4. LOVE your pictures. I adore the ocean & everything looks really relaxing & the perfect way to spend the summer days. So glad you've had a nice summer.

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    1. We really have had a wonderful summer. It's not been too hot staying a nice moderate temperature with sunshine and a bit of rain (needed) all summer

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  5. Sounds like a lovely Summer. We are just back from Sidney by the Sea (just outside Victoria for non local readers). As you say 3 hrs, plus an hour in the ferry parking lot and 1 and 1/2 on the ferry. Sometimes I'm tempted to move over to your side.

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    1. I love living here..never been to Powell River but could easily see how you would feel cut off from everyone, really much like living on your own island with all the transportation issues there

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  6. Wow, you really have been busy. How nice to relax on a deck right there on the water. So cool too that it was dog proofed so no worries about Buddy. Glad to hear your mom got both her surgeries done. That must be a big relief. We had weird cucumbers too and we finally just pulled out all the plants. It's just too hot here to grow anything apparently. Love that canoe garden!

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    1. I searched and searched for the right place for Buddy, yes we paid more but it was worth it. It even had a covered area with a couch so when it rained you could still stay out on the deck and watch the ocean, it was lovely.

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  7. Wow, that looks like a lovely trip. I HAVE to visit Canada as part of my bucket list (which is forever growing longer). And congratulations on your 50th - it ain't so bad is it?

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    1. If you come to Canada Vancouver Island is simply the best part :) I might be a little biased though. No, 50 seems just like last week so far

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  8. I'm glad your mom is done with her cataract surgeries and doing well.
    You've been taking advantage of all a BC summer has to offer it seems. ;-)
    I saw a lumberjack competition show once in NH. It would have been more enjoyable if I wasn't fighting food poisoning at the time. lolz

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    1. Yeah food poisoning would have put a damper on things. The best part was that there were kids (12-14) competing against adults. They in a lot of cases are way more agile. It was great to watch. The day after I volunteered they had the world final events which were televised, I hope to volunteer for that day next year

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  9. Sounds like an idyllic summer. Sounds like you had time to do everything you wanted in a leisurely manner. Love that house you rented to celebrate your 50th. Congrats on that.

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  10. Happy belated birthday! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Who would not with views like that? Totally envious!

    Glad your mom's surgeries went well. Wow, it would be lovely to be able to purchase glasses for $44. Does she need progressive lenses? I do, and so I hesitate to try purchasing on-line.

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    1. Thanks! Mom needed progressive lenses before her surgery but paid an extra $200 per eye when her cataract surgery was performed to have that corrected (not sure of deetails) so only needs reading single lenses now - which made it so much easier. Clearly also sells multifocal lenses - but like you say more complicated and more money. You may want to take the risk though - 100% money back guarantee if you are not satisfied

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  11. what a beautiful area! I always thought those logging contests looked like fun. I never lived anyplace that had them.

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    1. We have a lot of loggers here lol - some of the contests on Sunday were for world championship with TSN/NBC taping them. It actually was really fun - especially to watch kids beat adults - there was a girl who was 13 who won the novice log walking (burling) beating out many grown men.

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