Waterborne - A Live-Aboard Blog

SATURDAY MORNING

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:48:00 +0000

Michael drove me to the ferry yesterday morning, and then I got the bus from the ferry to the YWCA. It's been years since I've been on a bus, so that was a weird experience ... but it went well. :)

I love the 'Y'. The rooms are basic but clean, it's right downtown but feels completely safe, and it has a knitting room. Oh... sorry... I mean a common kitchen/lounge area. With a view!

Wanna see that view a little closer?

Vancouver is almost as pretty as Victoria -- but it's definitely got the 'big city' thing going on. But look, those are sailboats!

Even as I read about the Women's Ski Jumping team losing their court case (against VANOC, the organizers of these Games, for discrimination for not including their sport in 2010), I'm pretty stoked about this volunteer commitment.

I'll post tomorrow morning from Hailey's place!

FRIDAY the 13th

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Hmmmm....

I'm getting on a ferry this morning... are you superstitious?

I'm off to Whistler for the weekend, for my Olympic driver training seminar. I go to Vancouver today and for overnight, then there will be a shuttle from downtown Vancouver in the morning to take us up to Whistler. I'll spend tomorrow night with Hailey, and be back on Sunday. (Should be a fair amount of knitting time in there, too...)

I'm taking my laptop, so I hope to keep my NaBloPoMo commitment intact!

I'll be here if you need me...
(Photo from Whistler Tourism)

(Hailey's little hide-away) :-)

PLAYING HOOKEY

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:14:00 +0000

The sun was shining, and neither one of us had anything pressing that had to be accomplished, so.... what to do? Go for a dinghy ride, of course! What's that you say? It's the 11th of November? Tell these folks...

We took a little 'jaunt' over to the Inner Harbour to check out the boats...

Then we headed over to Fisherman's Wharf, since we were still warm ... and caught up to someone's left-over jack-o-lantern along the way...

We stopped by and chatted with the retired principal from River's school, whose float home is for sale there, and then noticed this one next door.... 'all the comforts of home!'

It was a lovely little outing ... and we were still not cold when we got home. :)

VICTORIA WEBCAMS

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:22:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post about our local webcams for awhile and I'm finally posting in the morning again, so this seemed like a good time.

I check these webcams pretty much every day (and donate to support them financially, too) -- it's a great way to find out what's going on in and around the harbour. The first one I always check is Dallas Road -- this is the Juan de Fuca approach to the harbour, and it's what I see when I'm at Clover Point. Here's a capture from this morning, and it's pretty typical of what you'd see along that stretch most days -- Race Rocks light is gleaming in the background (top right in the photo) with Washington's Olympic Mountains behind.

That's also the cam we check if we're leaving the harbour to go anywhere -- it shows us the immediate conditions, as well as the wind speed and direction.

And here's the link to the cam so you can check it out whenever you want.

The next one I check is a fairly new one here, and I love it! It's at the Ogden Point breakwater, which is the entrance to the harbour ... this breakwater takes 15 minutes to walk one-way, by the way. :)

Here's the link.

And finally, I usually check the Inner Harbour webcam, too. Here's what I captured this morning at daybreak:

That webcam can be found here.

Our marina is just beyond the blue bridge span you can see almost dead centre in the photo.

I think later today I'll upload these links to the sidebar so they'll be more permanent. :)

IT'S BEEN A DAY ....

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:27:00 +0000

... in which I crossed several things off my 'to-do' list -- and still don't feel like I accomplished anything.

I did finish the brown socks, though, and a 'quickie' charity hat. Had long conversations with three different friends on the phone, so that was nice -- and confirmed my Olympic schedule, as well. I'll be doing 19 shifts, all 6 a.m. to 4 pm., with several days off during the actual games, so I'm pretty excited about that!

I've been trying to decide what to do with a LOT of left-over sock yarn, and I think I finally found a good idea:

It's from WendyKnits.net, and she has several other good ideas there, too.

Now we have River overnight, and I think it's popcorn and movie time. :)

WE CAVED

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Picture this: I'm 27 years old with two small children (from previous) who are 4 and 1.5 years old. My eyes (and my mind) have finally really opened to see that the sweet man I've loved and lived with for the past year is also a violent, unpredictable alcoholic.

Then I discover I'm pregnant with #3 -- and I know I can't stay in this situation another day. So I pocket the rent money, intending to spend it on plane fare to my sister's, in another province, to start again. But first, I needed to challenge that man with one last chance to change his ways...

That was 31 years ago last night ... and change his ways he did, indeed. :-) Michael called AA that night, and woke up sober in the morning, to be taken to his first meeting. He's never looked back, he's never taken another drink, and as a result, he's become the amazing guy I still share my life with today.

We celebrated with a cake at our 7 a.m. 12-step meeting (Dontcha love it? Cake at 7 a.m?), and then out for brekkie.

Then we celebrated by going for our H1N1 vaccination together this afternoon. Yup, we caved ... and I *think* I'm glad we did. How romantic, huh?

WEEKEND LOLLY-GAGGING

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:31:00 +0000

(Is lolly-gagging a word?) Even if it isn't, it sure sounds a lot like how I've spent my weekend. For the first time since we got back from our holiday, I've had two days of absolutely no agenda... except for helping my client a bit yesterday, I've stayed in pj's until noon both days, puttered around the boat, played computer games, and knitted. It's been delightful!

First of all, I decided since I'd learned some lessons on the newsboy cap, I might as well apply them immediately -- so I took the brim off the first one, frogged it, cut the template down, and re-knit it. It looks much better now!

I've also finished a tweedy toque which may be a Christmas gift for someone I know and love, or it will go to the charity drive, and I've almost finished another pair of socks for family for Christmas.

Even though I generally love to cook, it's often a casualty of our busy life -- it's easier to grab something 'to go', or pick up deli on a daily basis, than to plan and execute a whole meal from scratch. So tonight I'm baking a stuffed halibut and cheese potatoes, and making a salad. Just for the two of us! (And I do settle in to cooking more often in the winter than the summer, so this is a good start ...)

Hope everyone else had a nice weekend -- and I *will* be posting tomorrow morning, because it's a special day in our lives, and that will get me back on track. :)

A LEISURELY SATURDAY

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:45:00 +0000

Here I am again, posting at supper-time. It's been a lovely day, though! This morning Michael had some things he needed to do around the marina, and I was helping a client sort out some image files.

Then Michael suggested we go for a drive ... this is a rare occurrence, folks ... this guy is such a 'home-body' most of the time. I grabbed some yarn and needles for my next project (a Christmas gift hat) and away we went -- just around the waterfront, but it was sunny and warm (as opposed to most of the rest of today -- we've had torrential rains!) and everyone else seemed to be moving at a leisurely pace, too.

We took ourselves to the Oak Bay Marina coffee shop for 'lupper', and got back here to the boat just at dark. :)

Remember this?

I knit this for Mischa for Christmas, intending to felt it. Well ... it wouldn't felt. (Of course, *then* I remembered something about how white wool doesn't felt). So someone suggested that I boil the c--p out of it, which I did -- it not only still didn't felt, but all that lovely cranberry red dye ran, and created an unfelted PINK Christmas stocking.

It went in the garbage.

But day before yesterday, I was in London Drugs ... and saw this:

Lined. $14.95. Bought it. No regrets.

(I'll even 'fess up that I didn't knit it!)

WANNA BUY A FREIGHTER?

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:20:00 +0000

A few weeks ago -- on the way home from Susan's memorial, actually -- I snapped this picture of a freighter laying at anchor just off Chemainus.

I was curious about it, but never took the time to pursue it. But yesterday
this story was in the local paper. Apparently it was for sale, and there's lots more where that one came from!

And speaking of our local paper, this morning there was a gorgeous aerial shot of our harbour in it ... the marina we live in and manage is just off to the left of the red hulls you can see, centre left in this photo.

I'm off to Knit'n'Cafe!

NEWSBOY CAP COMPLETE

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:42:00 +0000

So I went to my spinning circle this afternoon ... but I didn't take my spinning wheel. It was pissy outside, and I wanted to finish a couple of other projects, anyway (and then there's that lack-of-confidence thing, which I'll have time to address one of these days ...)

But I finished the first newsboy cap! Here it is, unblocked and enjoying the scenery at Esquimalt lagoon:

And what a process it's been to create this thing! Here's Alice modeling it for me:

The original (vintage) pattern, as I mentioned before, was not written for circular needles, and had a mistake or two in it -- so I started it twice and ripped it out while trying to figure that all out. The third time I started out with creating a gauge swatch (can you believe it??) and then went to my trusty (also vintage) Harmony Stitch Guides and looked for a lace pattern with approximately the same multiples, and with purling every other row -- pretty simple to translate that into circular knitting! Sure enough, the 'fishtail' stitch (which I think was the original pattern) worked perfectly!

So I knit the main part of the hat first by following the basic shaping for any hat, and then knit the brim part of it separately -- that took a little more math, AND, believe it or not, I'd never done wrap-and-turn short-row shaping before, so that was an extra challenge. This morning I went to the thrift store and bought a plastic place mat to create the cut-out 'stiffening' that has to go inside the brim. I took that along with me to spinning today, and sewed it in, and up.

I've learned a few things, and I have two more to make (in different colors and with different wool), which I'm hoping will be even better.

(And, no, I'm not going to start blogging at this hour on a regular basis -- I hope to be back to my usual early-morning routine SOON!)

DAY FOUR

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:24:00 +0000

... of NaBloPoMo, and I almost forgot to post today.

We had River overnight last night, and of course, getting him out the door to school in the morning is a little different from my usual routine!

I had a great day today, though. The tooth has settled down enough that I only need an anti-inflammatory twice a day now. Thank God ... toothaches, on the pain scale, are right up there next to kidney stones and childbirth, in my opinion. Not fun!

So I got lots of writing/editing work done this morning -- best work I've done since before Susan died, I think, so that was nice. And then... I spent the afternoon in my yarn room.

Yes, I have a yarn room, for those of you who've come late to this party. It's a storage room about 10' by 10' (with 8' ceilings) here at the marina (sandwiched between the marina washrooms and the Sunset Room arts/music venue in the same building which my son owns and operates), and two walls of it are mine! I really should have taken some before-and-after pics, because I've been slowly giving it a major overhaul since the FibreFest, and *attempting* to get organized (don't laugh too loud, Hail!). It's looking the best it ever has right now ... I mean, I can actually walk in, and walk around, AND find yarn I want to find in my stash!

Michael worked with me, and Jason was there, too, un-decorating from his Hallowe'en events; we ended up working hard and staying late .... and then ordered pizza for supper. :)

So I'm finally relaxing after a looooong day. I did manage to almost finish the first newsboy cap, working at it a little throughout the day -- pictures tomorrow!

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:06:00 +0000

The first of at least two 'newsboy' caps is underway ...

... in bulky weight yarn, so it's a quick knit.

Didn't get as much work done yesterday as I needed to (still hurting, mostly the tooth problem), so it's nose-to-the-grindstone today, for sure ... after I have a morning coffee with Michael, take him to Mischa's to look after Gibson, treat myself to a latte, take that to Clover Point for some mindful knitting time, and then pick up some groceries on the way home.

Hmmmm.... it's starting to sound like not much work today, either. :) I was supposed to go to Vancouver tomorrow for the first of two Olympic volunteer training sessions, but that's been cancelled, so I have the next two days to get work done now!

THE NEWSBOY CAP

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:58:00 +0000

The astute among you will notice a new button on the right-hand sidebar that wasn't there yesterday. Yup, I've again committed to blogging every single day in November for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo)!

Since yesterday, after casting on for yet another pair of socks, I've been side-tracked by another project.

I want to make a 'newsboy' cap like this one (without the pom-pom):

The pattern I have is a vintage one, with a more recent conversion, but I've started to knit this three times: first, the yarn was all wrong for it, then the needle size, then I discovered mistakes in the original pattern... and then I realized that I really want to convert this to work it in the round.

If I can actually pull this off, does that mean I've created an original pattern? :-) It'll have to 'simmer' for day or two now, anyway ... I have work (you know, the actual 'paid' variety) to do today.

Happy Monday!

ODDS 'n' SODS - Nov.1

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:51:00 +0000

It's been a whirlwind!

First of all, I found a great spot (two blocks away) to watch the Olympic torch relay go by on Friday. FOR THE RECORD, before I say anything else about this, let it be known that I am deeply ambivalent about the whole Olympic 2010 thing, in general! For example, the torch relay... when you read the stories of the individual torch-bearers (many were 'ordinary Canadians,' but to me they were extra-ordinary!) ... a 16-year-old First Nations boy, an 80-something woman who was a gunner in WWII... you can't help but be touched that they got the opportunity to participate in this event. But then, I was there to see it... here's where Runner #1 is going to come from:

And here's the crowd gathering at the bridge, where Runner #2 is about to be dropped off:

He gets delivered by the first of many 'official' vehicles:

Now Runner #1 is coming ... along with the entourage of 'officials' (our Prime Minister was here, apparently, and I suppose the VANOC big-wigs, our Premier, etc., as well as the 'security' -- police on foot, police on motorcycles, police on bicycles, police on horse-back)...

Runner #1 finally emerges from the entourage ...

... lights the torch of Runner #2, and then gets on the bus that dropped off Runner #1.

The crowd closes in, and the event moves on...

So ... on a positive note, I felt a great sense of pride in Canada and in our young athletes, while I was watching all of this -- and I love history, so I'm also appreciative of the heritage of these games.

But ... the torches. I really thought there would be ONE TORCH, passed from runner to runner across however-many-hundreds-of-runners-across-Canada-for-the-next-3-months. But instead, each runner carries one torch -- one very expensive torch -- and lights the next runner's torch from it. Seems a little extravagant, doesn't it?

And that entourage... didja count how many vehicles there were in that parade? For WHO?

Like I said, deeply ambivalent.

Moving right along now... 'Show and Tell' from Friday's Knit'n'Cafe! Esther's adorable child's slippers (made from Cowichan wool) and more of my 'cork-dudes.' Apparently I forgot to mention that part in my last blog entry, and everyone thought they were much bigger ... well, they're wine corks, and I think they're cute!

Went to sleep Friday night looking forward to driving up to Duncan for the Cowichan Valley part of the torch relay, to join the Cowichan knitters in a show of support. Instead I woke up on Saturday morning in terrible pain, and a cheek like a chipmunk -- an abscessed/infected tooth. So instead, after I dragged myself over to the clinic for some antibiotics, I ended up spending most of the day in bed with a cold pack on my face! NOT fun...

I finished another pair of man-sized socks, though...

Good thing, too... didja know it's only 54 days until Christmas?? :)

PULLING MYSELF TOGETHER

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:06:00 +0000

... or at least, I'm attempting to.

I went to the spinning circle yesterday, and I'm really glad it was a small group. The spinning wheel never actually made it out of the van, but I brought the gorgeous fleece I bought at the Cowichan Fibre Fair and we combed a bunch of it. Well, mostly Rosalie separated and Alice combed .... I watched and learned and tried to stay focused.

Then Wendy turned up with her stunning finished hand-spun baby blanket ...

... and we ate and laughed and enjoyed each other's company. And nobody else did any spinning either!

This morning I woke up knowing I had to knit something completely FUN ... so I went searching for this pattern, which I knew I had in a binder somewhere. Found, and one created (forgive the 5:30 a.m. lighting, please)!

I think these things are absolutely adorable and right now I feel like knitting about a thousand of them just to keep myself 'cheered up.' I'll go watch the torch relay go by (a block away from me) this morning, and go to Knit'n'Cafe this afternoon, so I think I'll have a good day!

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:13:00 +0000

It was the amazing Elizabeth Zimmerman who said "Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crisis." She also said "Knitting is good for the troubled spirit... and it doesn't hurt the untroubled one, either."

Both of these lines have been on my mind all weekend, as I completed one pair of socks, started and nearly completed another ...

The drive up was really nice ... lots of fall colors, and even a rainbow...

Susan's memorial was lovely ... and really difficult. Not just because I love and miss my friend, but because of all the layers of weird reactions and emotions we all have around death -- so when everyone's having them all in one room at the same time, it's pretty stressful!

We had planned to spend the night at my sister's, but by the time we left the service we realized we just needed to be alone and to not have to interact with anyone -- even my sister and our niece, whom I know would have been wonderfully respectful, but still... so we checked in to a motel in Parksville right on the beach, and it was lovely.

Yesterday morning we went over to Susan and Sri's for a bit of a visit (and that was also lovely and difficult), then to Julie's for a quick coffee before heading back down-Island. We made one more stop, for some 'baby therapy' ... my friend Monica from Mayne Island was visiting her daughter and two-month old baby just south of Nanaimo, and invited us to stop in, and that was also lovely -- and not a bit difficult! :)

Much work to get caught up on today ... wish me focus!

COWICHAN FLEECE AND FIBRE FAIR

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:15:00 +0000

I'm so glad I went to the Cowichan Fleece and Fibre Fair yesterday. On behalf of CommunityKnitters I get an invitation to host the knitting circle and teach beginner knitting, while promoting charity knitting. I always take time to wander ... and spend money ...

And here's the best pic of them all...

I bought a pound of some amazing hand-dyed Romney fleece, too, but forgot to take a picture while it was still light ... later!

Anyway, I'm so glad I went and was surrounded by fibre-y goodness, fibre-y folks, color, texture and creativity all day ... because this morning we will drive up to Qualicum Beach for Susan's memorial. :(

Luckily Joshua has been here this weekend so he'll come back with us instead of his usual train ride (he lives in Qualicum, too) so that'll be a nice distraction on the drive up.

We'll probably spend the night at my sister's, and drive back tomorrow. Now I have to go figure out what knitting I'm taking with me...

ODDS 'n' SODS

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:10:00 +0000

WE AGAIN/STILL HAVE WATER TROUBLES ON THE DOCK. I'M NOT A HAPPY CAMPER.

So... now, for something positive. :) First of all, I have a few websites to share this morning...

The first one is all about Heifer International, and the 'longest scarf in the world.' My friend Wendy sent me the link for this project several months ago, and it was perfect for CommunityKnitters.com to take on -- the scarf I started for our 'team' here in Victoria went all around Vancouver Island, ended up being less than a meter long, and raised $235! Over $25,000 was raised by the project, and every cent gets used to buy fibre-bearing animals for people in poverty somewhere in the world.

I also want to let you know about KnitPink.com, "Hope for the Cure - One Stitch at a Time." You can download a lovely 2010 calendar with 14 original dishcloth patterns for $15USD, and all the profits go to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. It's Breast Cancer month, and I know, or know of, several women fighting this horrible disease - I don't 'run for the cure' but I can sure knit!

Speaking of knitting, I started another pair of socks day before yesterday ... and, in my opinion, this is how knitting socks *should* go!

Unlike that last pair, which took two weeks, it's been 48 hours of knitting in my spare time (definition: over coffee with Michael in the mornings, maybe 45 minutes 'mindful knitting' time at Clover Point each day, ten minutes while waiting for River to get out of school on Tuesday, and maybe half an hour while I was cooking supper last night)-- and I'm ready to start the heel flap. That's much more my pace, especially for socks -- if the same pair is on the needles for a week, they start making me crazy!

One more site to share with you ... SimpleKnits, an Indiana blogger, has posted over 600 links to patterns that can be knit with less than 300 yards of yarn. PERFECT for Christmas knitting gift projects!

MUCH work to do this morning, and much goofing off to do this afternoon .... :-)

COWICHAN SWEATER CELEBRATION

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:30:00 +0000

In case you haven't been following the current Olympic controversy, the 'authentic handknit Canadian Cowichan' sweaters that will be available during the 2010 games won't be handknit by Cowichan knitters at all -- they'll be handknit, because that was part of the contract, but by who-knows-who, apparently from 'overseas', and sold by the BAY.

Cowichan Tribes bid on the contract ... and lost, supposedly because VANOC's committee felt that the knitters wouldn't be able to produce the necessary volume. So while VANOC pays lip service to 'working with Canada's First Nations' and 'including ordinary Canadians' in the Games -- this contract went corporate (surprise)!

Well, the torch relay is passing through the Cowichan Valley on Saturday, Oct.31st, and a group of people in that area decided that would be a great time to create a visible show of support for the Cowichan knitters, AND show VANOC how beautiful these sweaters are, and how proud the knitters are to produce them.

Here's more on the story... .

So I'll be driving up to Duncan on the 31st to join this gathering, and I have a van that can carry six other people, if you'd like to come along. Email me for the details or pm me (Skipper) on Ravelry(or phone me, those of you who know my number) -- and wear your Cowichan apparel with pride!

SPINNING

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:33:00 +0000

Two weeks it took me to finish those socks! Unheard of in my world -- I' so glad to have them off the needles. I'm calling them 'Fraternal Twins' (as opposed to 'Identical Twins.') It's time to get really serious about Christmas knitting now.

And then there's spinning to be done.

... but, at the moment, it's making me crazy. I took the class on Sunday with these three lovely women (the one on the left is holding my skein of yarn because she messed hers up) ... and came home with two little skeins of pathetically overspun yarn, just like the last three times I sat down at a wheel. It's SO frustrating, because I so want to 'get it' but so far whatever it is that spinners make look so easy eludes me...

Other than that, I had a great weekend, and yesterday I spent most of the day making sense of my yarn room. Okay, well, it's a storage room -- but it has a lot of yarn in it... and a few of Michael's tools. And with the wreckage I left behind after I picked out the yarn to take on our holiday, and then yarn donations coming in for charity knitting since, it was pretty disorganized. I took a huge garbage bag of donations to a local mission the other day:

... which brought their total to 167 knitted items this year... and they need 500 by Christmas!

I'll spend some time playing in my stash again today -- I mean, sorting my yarn -- after I visit a friend who had surgery recently. Oh, and I'll get some paid work done, too -- I'm on a bit of a roll in that department!

SO MUCH FOR KNITTING

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:59:00 +0000

After I posted yesterday morning, I came to my senses and realized that the day was actually perfect to WORK FOR A LIVING. I have to remind myself that I do that, sometimes -- I can put it off really well, especially lately, when it's been hard to focus. :)

So I wrote ... for several hours, non-stop. Finally, at about 4 pm, I remembered that my favorite dress pants were at the tailor's getting mended, and I need those for a client's book launch and signing tonight. Off I went downtown, collected the pants (and, luckily for me, the gal was quite chatty) and headed to my favorite Starbucks for a latte to take with me to Clover Point ... to finally do some knitting. As I left the tailor's shop, an ambulance went by ... and then another.

When I got to Starbucks two minutes later, about 20 people were milling about on the street, which was blocked by about 4 police cruisers and the two ambulances. I have no idea what happened there (I went by later and the place was closed up solid), but I would've been in the middle of it if that woman at the tailor's hadn't been chatty!

Drove to another Starbucks, got my latte and headed to Clover Point, which was pretty much completely fogged in. I was taking pics of this sailboat...

... when this power boat appeared out of nowhere...

... and it seemed to be going back and forth across the front of the Ogden Point breakwater. I was trying to figure that out when my cell phone rang ... my friend Penny and her hubby Robin were at Ogden Point, where the biggest news story of the year was unfolding! (I found out later that the power boat in the fog may have been an 'undercover' vessel working with the authorities).

Anyway, here's what I saw at Ogden Point...

The 'Ocean Lady' had been monitored for a week, apparently, and when it came into Canadian waters yesterday, was stopped and boarded -- the entourage of vessels blocking it in included our military, the Coast Guard, Canadian Border Services and the RCMP.

Penny and I watched the ship, the news folks, and the fog coming and going ...

... until, by the time they were taking the people off, I was freezing cold and had to go home.

Hardly knit a stitch all day.

NO SPINNING TODAY

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:42:00 +0000

I went to bed last night looking so forward to today -- I've enrolled in a spinning class at Knotty by Nature, and I can bring my own wheel. Then I remembered another commitment for this evening, and thought I'd better double-check the times for these two things... and it turns out that the spinning class isn't until tomorrow!

What a shame ... it's gloomy and pouring rain outside. Guess I'll have to knit instead.

OLYMPICS 2010

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:32:00 +0000

When we lived in northern Alberta (from 1982 - 1988, when our kids were young), the Olympics came to Calgary, a three-hour drive away. It was the year of the amazing Elizabeth Manley, Eddie the Eagle ski-jumper, and the 'battle of the Brians.'

And I missed it entirely. We owned a janitorial business then, and we were putting in, sometimes, 14 hours a day. I barely had time to watch it on TV!

Well, the 2010 Olympics are in Whistler, and I have a daughter who lives there, so I wasn't going to miss it this time! As a matter of fact, I decided to apply to be a volunteer while I'm there (February 12 - 28th, 2010) ... and guess what? I was accepted! I'll be driving an official Olympics van! How cool is that??

I don't have my schedule yet, but they've told me I'll be driving athletes to and from the Athlete's Village to the sporting venues, and/or dignitaries or international media to and from various functions in and around Whistler. Can you tell I'm excited?? I was supposed to go to the Handweavers and Spinners Guild monthly meeting last night, but the Olympics volunteer person called to interview me just as I was going out the door, so I never made it there. But this was just the BEST news to lift my spirits right now ... and today is Knit'n'Cafe, so it'll be a good day!

WATER

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:53:00 +0000

It took three guys, $200-plus in parts, and eight days, but we finally got water back on the dock just before Thanksgiving.

Good thing we live on a boat -- we have a water holding tank that we'd just refilled before we came home from our holiday, and we also keep several gallon jugs full of fresh water aboard, too. Still, it wasn't fun -- having to heat it to do dishes and wash up, and having our showers in the public marina showers. And we were nearly out of all that stowed water by the time it was restored. I kept thinking of those images of women in Africa having to walk 5 miles to get water every single day, and it kept me very grateful!

Yesterday I had to drive out to Sidney to pick up some charity knitting that's been getting dropped off at the LYS (Beacon Yarn Studio) there ... and, of course, they have a sale on right now, and of course, I had to buy some yarn I really needed.

Stop laughing, I did so need it. . . to cheer up. And I behaved admirably, I only bought one skein of Kertzer 'On Your Toes' bambo/nylon sock yarn, for River, who has sensitive skin.

And a magazine. Oh, and a couple of skeins of some other yarn I really needed. For Christmas presents... yeah, that's it, Christmas presents.

:-)

CATCHING UP ... AGAIN

noreply@blogger.com ("Skipper") — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:33:00 +0000

Thanksgiving was lovely ... and I even managed to finesse two turkey dinners! Mischa hosted the family Thanksgiving, as always, and it was really nice -- Jeff has been three weeks without a drink, so it really felt like a family dinner this time more than ever.

Then on Monday Michael and I hosted a pot luck Thanksgiving dinner for marina tenants -- we provided the turkey, and everyone else brought a dish. (No, we didn't try to have 15 extra people on our boat... we used to have a 'common room' here for events like this, but two years ago, when it had hardly been used, we were instructed by the powers-that-be to rent it out. Luckily we rented it out to someone we have a little 'pull' with -- our son Jason opened a music venue that mostly only gets used on Friday and Saturday nights! So we hosted the dinner there, at the Sunset Room...)

Other than that, I feel like I'm in slow motion ... it has taken me 5 days to do an editing job that would normally take a day. And I've had the same pair of socks on the needles for a week -- I got them half done (I always knit both socks at the same time, on dpn's) only to discover that one sock had 8 more stitches than the other! The fact that it took almost to the heel flap for me to notice that difference tells you the state of mind I'm in. (And just to confirm it, I've had family all around for several days now ... and haven't taken a single photograph)!

However, I found a delightfully irreverent photo of Susan and I from last summer that I want to share with you... and what you need to know is this: what you're about to see was *completely* out of character for both of us. We had just won a euchre tournament against our hubbies in a glorious finish after they had gloated for weeks, and we were feeling pretty smug...

See? :-)

Today Hailey heads back to Whistler and things will get back to 'normal' here -- whatever that is! Susan's memorial isn't until the 25th, so I need to try to put that 'aside' for now and get some work done.

Wish me luck with that...