Weekend travelling

A whirlwind tour of Salt Spring Island and Nanaimo thanks to BC Ferries. We had wonderful weather and had a great time.

The first stop was Salt Spring to visit Andrea and see her new house. We've only seen pictures which is not the same at all. It's very much a character house with tons of personality quirks. It was built about 25 years ago by folks of Danish heritage. There are some really interesting bits such as barn-style doors with interesting pieces of wood for handles. Or what looked like an old switch of some sort with a huge handle. It would appear that some of the materials were found from architectural salvage. Very neat visually.

As you can see from the pictures it has lots of windows for the water views and outside deck space to sit out and watch the boats go by. The decks are one of the priority jobs for the next year, though, as they need to be replaced. The property is quite big but mostly wild. There is a huge fruit and veg garden with a sturdy deer fence as they are constant visitors. But the garden was left for the last summer and is in need of a lot of hard work. It'll be worth it, though. There's lots of interesting stuff growing in there. In fact, the former owners had won an award for conserving heritage/native plants.

Inside there are three stories. The loft is where she is forced to sit and watch the boats while she works at her desk. The main is mostly open plan with huge high ceilings (right to the top of the roof in the living room) and big windows all around. There are exposed cedar beams which make heart-stopping catwalks for ambitious felines. But the downstairs is what I covet. There's a studio which runs the full width of the house overlooking water, garden, woods! Oh, I can imagine hooking my rugs here. Salt Spring has an artisan tour circuit and this studio has an outside entrance which would bypass the living area. I'm so jealous. The possibilities...

We did pay our 'rent' however. We undertook the restoration of the pathway lighting down to the house. For some reason, they had been put aside in favor of Christmas lights which didn't do much for visibility.

Then,on Sunday, we jumped on another ferry and drove up to Nanaimo for the (what is becoming) huge family Thanksgiving. It was one of the noisiest dinners in a long time. There are now four kids under age 5 running around pulling on arms and demanding stories to be read or balls to be thrown. The babies cry for their needs - or just generally cry - and all the adults talk at once. Or so it sounded. But the dinner was amazing and we were all decanted on to the ferry home with full tummies and happy memories.

Reflections

Well, it was pretty nice just sitting comfy in big purple plush armchairs after a morning at a HUGE flea market. I had my usual chai latte and Anne was sampling a salted caramel hot chocolate. It was all so nice and peaceful after the crowds of people and the jumble of stuff for sale.

So peaceful that I started thinking about what I was drinking. It wasn't skinny or decaf or any other kind of pretense at healthy living. And, although the hot chocolate did have the chocolate going for it, there was that salt shaken on top of caramel and whipped cream. And did I mention the apple fritter? Gosh! How could we be so irresponsible?

Definitely a downside to aging is being aware of what foods are contributing to health problems. When I was younger, I know I didn't really pay that much attention. We just ate whatever looked yummy. Weight could be dropped fairly easily with a little effort. Much of our current food knowledge was unknown. Blood pressure wasn't something we gave any thought to at all. Nothing to worry about.

Obviously, we weren't worrying at the moment so I pulled my thoughts from that kind of thinking. Back to the peace of the purple plush.

Investment

No, this isn't about the financial meltdown or recession or whatever the heck is goin' on. This is the kind of investment that makes my frugal soul sing.

Yesterday, I chanced upon two complete balls of gray sock yarn. Socken Wolle is made by Max Grundl in Germany and is very nice for socks. I have knit with it before and I know it retails for about $6 a ball. That would have been enough for a soulful tune. But, wait -

One of the balls had been used and rewound. And stuck right in the middle were 5 bamboo dp's in the exact size I use for sock knitting. And...they were Clover/Takumi which retails for more than the two balls of yarn together. My own C/T set has reduced to 4 because one had an accident. I've only been able to make up a 5-needle pattern by adapting to four or using metal dp's. I really love my bamboo needles but haven't felt justified in buying a whole new set just for one needle. Now, I'm really singing at the top of my lungs.

With a few days knitting, I can have a pair of plain socks. A couple more days and I can have something a bit more adventurous. And all for 50 cents. See why I'm happy?

Book to Cross

I'm always a little sad when I finish a book - any book. Somehow, books just seem to abandon me. The world we've been sharing for the past few days is over. And, sometimes, a book's atmosphere really lingers...like the wisps of a dream left upon waking.

"The Map of Love" by Ahdaf Soueif is just such a book. I've been living in pre-WW1, as well as, modern Egypt for days now. I've learned about Middle-East politics of the past and present and particularly the European colonial power struggles in that region. I've been given interesting insights into the linguistics of the Arab language. And, I've enjoyed a good romance. Oh, did I mention that the writing is pretty darn good, too. This novel was short-listed for the Booker prize in 1999. To be balanced in my review, I have to admit that it was a pretty long read. But when you're transported to another time and place, who really wants it to end?

I'm getting this novel ready for Bookcrossing later this week. If you'd like to have it crossed to you, just let me know. I usually leave my books on the bus stop bench down the street. It's been, by far, the most successful drop site for me. I even have a book that made it to Cairo. If you want to see my bookshelf, my ID is 'fiberlover'.