pender island . . .

here is the lovely and sunny b and b i stayed at on pender, and









here are putzi and wim -- the warm and welcoming owners of the b and b called sunshine hills.

it was located on top of a very high hill overlooking the other gulf islands and the strait of georgia...






here is the red tree gallery on pender. here i met monica and we had a wonderful visit, i learned so much about galleries and coops, i am thankful to monica.
if you are even on pender be sure to visit the gallery at hope bay.







nanaimo and SOJOURN

gera drove us up to nanaimo and sojourn


across the malahat... it was a beautiful drive and many overlooks over the strait of georgia... ahem... and we stopped at one overlook where this lovely totem stood...









well, sojourn is now over, i believe the scope workshop went very well, there were some great scopes made. and the demos and classes were superb...



here is the beginning, the room is all set up and we are ready to begin.....






here is cheryl with her itty bitty babies... how amazing to see how she sculpts these very tiny yet very accurate little souls. . .







and gera demo-ing her wonderful ideas based on klimt's great art...



this will do for tonight, i am tired and finding it difficult to concentrate....



the drive to tofino was just spectacular!!! being on a bus with very dirty windows, however, kept me from taking any photos...but i hope to have some from the pacific ocean tomorrow.

another fabulous day. . .

i have been so lucky with the weather for my stay here on the southwest coast of vancouver island.
three days of beautiful sun and warm days. but i am amazed to see that it is always wet on some parts of the roads, and the moss that grows everywhere... i have passed some trees so covered with it that it goes all the way up to the crown...

and i have been to the potholes, and even saw three eagles soaring
in the sky. . . i wish i could have gotten a photo of that.....




and seen some awesome rock formations,









here is my b and b, the lower building and the lower right hand windows are where i stayed. a magnificent view of the strait of juan de fuca.












and here is an amazing driftwood sculpture i came upon walking on the beach. from one side,


and from the other side







so ends another day, tomorrow i am heading for pender island and some great times there.

i am exhausted!!!!!

today i went hiking! i drove up the west coast of vancouver island to jordan river, a bit beyond it actually, to the china beach and the beginning of the juan de fuca trail. it is quite an experience to hike thru rain forrest for the first time. . .

it is very peaceful, although they say to look out for the black bear, i didn't see any, thank goodness, altho i talked to myself out loud often!
the trail was soggy, i guess it never really gets dried out under all that tall tree cover. some of those trees were ginormous... and there are great numbers of ferns, and small little waterfalls that gurgle down the cliffs to the water below. but the moss, wow, everything is covered with moss.

some of the trees seem to have green trunks so covered with moss are they...and some are very spooky! some parts of the trail are narrow and it seems a bit like the jungle to me, never having been there.

anyway, i didn't seem to be able to take very good photos, but i shall add some here.

a ray of sun poked through the trees to cast a shadow of this fern.





this is one of those amazing trees, as on most of the trees there are few branches at the lower trunk, and the ones that remain are twisted and broken and add a very mysterious feel to the trails.









these cutouts in this very old tree were for the loggers to get a foothold as they clambered up to cut off the tops of the trees. some hikers, i guess, have a witty sense of humor, as many have stones which give the look of a rather spooky face...









and once again, a wondrous sunset to close the day. . .

i have arrived in oak bay. . .

several days have passed, so i am going to have to do a catch up here...

this is gera's lovely home in oak bay, victoria. my room, ahem, is the one with that darling balcony on the left. . .

we went downtown and saw a lovely gallery, GoA, and had an absolutely divine lunch at an irish pub. i have never tasted such a wonderful clam chowder. . . and even got the recipe from the chef!

we went shopping, we learned some new things about computers, we ate wonderful meals that gera and chuck prepared, oooooooo a wonderful shellfish dinner of crab and oysters, and i had fun with gen and brendan too. of course, i must also mention shadow.....

and here am i with gera and kristine. we had a wonderful meeting and lunch at the marina, see below. . .



and here are liz, wanda and gen. it is so wonderful to meet those names i have been chatting with for several years on our great canadian online clay guild! with our amazing website done by liz!!! how much fun we had, and talked and talked and talked. . .





here is the marina, it used to be sea world, until a tragic accident closed it down. i don't really like to see animals confined, though, so perhaps it was all for the best. now it is a lovely restaurant and park and marina.

and so, i am off to sooke.... the name just intrigued me, and i had a few days to wander, so i decided to come here and see what the coast of southwestern vancouver island had to offer...


i am staying at a lovely bed and breakfast, a huge room with a kitchenette and a spectacular view of the juan de fuca strait and tonight there is a beautiful sunset. i am very happy to say, since there is usually rain here i am told. but today was a dry and blue sky day, with lots of big puffy clouds. it is also warm and i walked on the beach. however, those photos are on the camera and i don't have the attachment to download them onto the computer... tomorrow i will go back to the beach, and then you will have some great new photos to see... but here is the sunset looking over to the us of a and the olympic range which is somewhat obscured by the clouds...

i have arrived!!!!!


here i sit looking forward to walking thru gate 26 off to vancouver island and a great adventure.

it was snowing fiercely outside and as i had never flown in such nasty weather i was quite nervous....





but here i witnessed de-icing.... first they taxi to the deicing station, all the while the window is covered with snow and i can see nothing out there, until suddenly looking out i see us being covered with this bright orange spray....

orange you say, but the ground is green! sure enough, after the guy in the bucket was done with the orange, out came the chartreuse! the wings were green! nevermind, we went off without a hitch much to my great relief!

we flew over ontario, manitoba, saskatchewan, and here we are over the rockies of alberta. how magnificent they are...

we are up at 40,000 feet here.... there was a slight cloud cover, when this megalith appeared...

glorious



here we are arriving in vancouver... i know that this bridge probably isn't one one would write home about, but with the sun hitting the orange arch, it was just beautiful and in the right spot to get a great photo!





and here we are, off to vancouver island. gera, bless her, met me at the airport, and after a bit of difficulty finding the car, off we were to the ferry. the very distant horizon thru the struts of the ferry is where we are headed. it was a beautiful day, the ride was lovely and calm, and we passed lots of ferries, large and small along the way. as well, we met some very kind and welcoming folks who do this journey regularly... wow!


so, thus begins the adventure. . . stay tuned.....

it won't be long now...

i can scarcely believe it is almost time to go out west... i was last in victoria in 1975. wow, that was a long time ago! slowly but surely i am getting packed and getting all the stuff done i need to do for sojourn 08, the vancouver island polymer clay artists guild first annual retreat to be held this year in nanaimo.

i have never been to nanaimo, or tofino, or sooke, or pender island, and i have never seen the pacific ocean, but i am headed for all those-- plus victoria! on tuesday, i head out via pamela in ottawa who has so generously offered a bed for the night and to take me to the airport on wednesday morning... thanks pamela!!!

so, despite all this snow, so far wednesday is forecast to be sun and cloud with perhaps a few flurries in ottawa... that is good, i haven't yet checked calgary, where i must change planes, but i am fairly certain vancouver will be fine...

i have finished cutting and chamfering the mirrors for the scope kits i am taking for the workshop, and now i must sit down and finalize the lesson plan and instruction sheets. i just couldn't resist putting in one more plug for sojourn 08! and likely my next post won't be until march 2, when i am home again and will tell all about my journey. well, i am taking this laptop, but i don't know where i will find internet access... however, i will try.

i am also going to meet up with several artisan guilds to collect information for our land o lakes artisan guild. woo woo. . . i am also very looking forward to a great holiday!

thanks, g. and see you soon.

i am in awe. . .

several weeks ago my friend carolyn and her mum and dad invited me to their home for a preview run thru performance that valery lloyd-watts would later be playing with the kingston symphony. wow, was all i could say then. but today i must post about the wonderful performance we heard at saturday morning's rehearsal for the symphony's performance that evening. valery played rachmaninoff's variations on a theme of paganini. i have to say that piece has been at the very top of my list of favs for many many years, but i had never heard it live until saturday morning... what a treat!!!

carolyn made a video of valery playing and doing some tweaking with the orchestra, but i am afraid with dialup i am not able to post it here. however, you can go to http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xY0gPT86MZ4 and get just a small glimpse of a talent that has been nurtured to perfection. however, i do have a photo..... or two...


it was such fun to see the orchestra working together with valery to ensure a great performance. i was also lucky enough to speak with a couple of the symphony members and they told me it was a great and fun piece to play....i am totally inspired to work at my own art with renewed fervor. . . thank you valery!

i am blessed, no doubt about it at all!