Last Full Day

Saturday, September 14:

 

Today is my last full day / overnight at the cabin.  It hasn’t been a true full day as I went home briefly this morning to take Missy home and yes, check out the progress on the renovation…

Today started at 4:28 AM for me – Missy decided at about midnight that she would rather come in and have cuddles and sleeps with me and Jasmine and that at 4:28 AM (I checked) she was awake and insisting that she needed to go outside.

 

Ahem.

 

Nope – not going to happen.  She has had a BALL down at the cabin this past week – spent most of her time outside (day and night) hunting.  She’s had a tubby little belly all week long and the snakes that normally live near the compost pile we have here have been absent.  I think she’s had a great time eating snakes, small birds and mice all week long!

 

Anyhow, not trusting that I would be able to convince her to come to me (I know some people have trained their feline companions to come when called, but I have had zero success with that concept!) if I left her here with me and Jasmine right to the last minutes on the beach, I decided to take her home this morning in advance of closing up the cabin tomorrow late in the afternoon.

 

So I found myself stumbling across at the barest of walkable low tides in the dark at about 6 this morning carrying a cat (meowing) in a crate and holding on (for dear life) to a dog’s leash and a flashlight that powers by squeezing its handle repeatedly. 

 

Yeah – not one of my finer plans.

 

I did make it all the way across without falling down (yay me!) and made good time back home to drop off the cat.

 

OK – yes, I admit it, I also wanted to see the progress on the renovations.

 

The curtains were all closed (a good sign that my contractor is paying attention to home security) when I pulled into the driveway.  There was a large pile of debris (the old bathtub, the old vanity, some drywall and some pieces of wood I have to assume were cut out of the wall when they created the “through way” from the bathroom into the laundry room spaces.

 

They were actually not as far along in the project as I had thought they might be.  OK – I admit it, I don’t know enough about these kinds of renovations to know how things will look as the days progress, but I thought that at this stage (with me expected home around 5PM tomorrow that the work would be mostly finished and that perhaps the only things left to be done at this point would be things like painting and maybe installation of floor and door mouldings.

 

What I saw made me worry that I may not have a bathroom when I get home tomorrow. The bathroom floor (which has to be fully removed and replaced) was still in place… this means that the plumbing and electrical that needs to be completed is not yet done. The old windows are still in place.

 

Granted, I didn’t expect the windows to be done since the guy who was placing the order for them let slip that those can take a couple of weeks to be made ready (and he was actually supposed to come measure them a few weeks ago, so I have a feeling that my contractor wasn’t too pleased by that oversight.

 

I’m a little concerned that I will not get the hoped for bath in my new tub tomorrow night… hell, I’m a little worried that I may not have a toilet to use when I get home!

 

I know that they will have been working flat out all day today – possibly long through the night, and will be doing more of the same tomorrow… but I’m still a little worried at what stage things will be at when I get home.

 

Wish me luck!

 

With love across the waters…

The Real Deal

Monday, September 9:

I’m down at the cabin – the weather this week is projected to be absolutely GORGEOUS and I am looking forward to a quiet week with Jasmine and Missy at the cabin. I’m here now and once the cabin was open, I checked in with the neighbours (who are down for a couple more days and then they head home) and had a big lunch, I promptly lay down and had a 2 hour nap.  God it was wonderful!

My plans for the week do include some family time - lunch with my folks on Wednesday and maybe a visit with my brother and nephew on Thursday – but for the most part I will spend my time puttering around down here – walking with Jasmine around the islands (the tide it high most of the week I’m down) and sitting around reading. 

And yes, napping.

And while I am here, my house is fully occupied by my contractor and his team – they are going to be working away at gutting the bathroom and laundry room and building a dream space for me.  I’ll still have work to do on it in the form of building some additional shelves, installing some bi-fold doors, constructing a really cool cleat and pulley system drying rack that will hang from the ceiling and a counter space - but in reality, those projects will be small ones that will be easy enough to accomplish on winter weekends.

I head home on Sunday whenever I can catch the cat, and will spend some of my Monday doing laundry in my new space. 

Sunday night, though, I will be having a long hot bath in my new tub!  Woo hoo!

With love across the waters,

2013 Vacation - Part The First: May

I am coming to the end of my initial 2 weeks of vacation for 2013 (yes, after 22 years with the company for whom I work, I have a whole PILE more vacation booked) and this last couple of weeks has been spent doing great things.

 

I spent the first week of this vacation at the cabin - my own personal Heaven on Earth.  This time around I took both Jasmine and Missy with me.  I didn't take my camera, but I did take my iPod and so was able to get a few pictures here and there. 

 

Jasmine has been to the cabin a few times - and LOVES it there.  This was, however, Missy's First Time.  Missy likes it there!  She wasn't overly impressed with the weather, I am sure (it mostly rained while we were down) but there was great hunting (mice) and exploring, lots of happy cuddle time (I had the wood stove on) and I am sure that she found a few hidey-holes to curl up in outside because she would disappear first thing in the morning and not show her face again until supper time.

 

Here are a few pictures from the first week of vacation:

 

"Excuse me - it is POURING out there - you're
kidding me when you say come out there, right??"

Happy Kitty in the Window

 

Sleepy Fur Kids. 
But where am *I* supposed to sleep??

 With love across the waters,

A Change in Plans and Counting the Projects

My summer vacation plans were abruptly changed for me.  The new neighbours at the cabin put out Warfarin thinking to combat a mouse problem - and though they have since removed the poison, I do not feel it safe to take my pets to the cabin this year and so am electing to stay home.

I ran the gamut of negative emotions – as you can well imagine. Fury, anger and bitterness being the most violent of what I was feeling, sadness and disappointment now being foremost in my heart.  I had planned my vacation for the end of summer so as not to discommode any of the others wanting use of the cabin this year, but my timing acted against me.

So what am I to do with my two weeks off instead? Well, I’m trying to find a bright side in this.

Trying – some minutes are much harder than others.

I have two weeks now with which to, I think, accomplish some project work.  I’m going to need to be creative in this because with plans being to spend the bulk of my vacation at the cabin, I have no money set aside (or even available) to do anything large.

Yard work can therefore be one of my projects – the fruit on the Damson Plum tree was long ready to harvest and so today I brought in the rest of it, washed and froze it for a time when I can make jam. That will be another project for this next two weeks – making jam, I mean.

A Trug Full!

I have moved the Italian prune plum tree to a slightly more suitable location (it may not survive the transplanting, but I would not be devastated if that happened.)

I additionally need to buy a new hose and a sprinkler – the back yard is dry as a bone and I really do need to keep things alive back there.  That will be one of the minor purchases I make over the next two weeks.

I will need to spend some time combating the newest strain of dandelion that has been popping out. These ones are teeny tiny ones with little tiny flowers on very long stems.  Lawnmower should take care of that, I think. 

The front yard could use some attention and I will also measure up and have a hatch cut for the hole over the stairs at the front steps.

I’m thinking I can spend some time planning and picking out paint options as well – for the outside of the house, I mean.  I’m thinking that the grey blue of the siding would go nicely with white trim and then my red front door will really POP with this as an option… but I will spend a little more time thinking on that option as it will also mean eventual replacement of all of the tin around the house (soffits, facia, rain gutters and downspouts) and while I am at it, I may as well get up there on my ladder and clean the damn gutters out before the autumn rains are upon us.

While not how I planned to spend my vacation, I can take some pleasure in the knowledge that I will have some house-related accomplishment over the next two weeks.

With love across the waters,

Last Few Hours…

Well, as all great weeks off must do, mine is coming to an end.  It’s 5:00 PM on my last day off before returning to work and I’m just doing a little puttering and thinking.  In looking over the past week I had some great successes and some items not done.

First of all, I have to tell you that I had glorious weather for my week off – GLORIOUS!

A couple of days before it started I wrote out a list:

• Wednesday night – hang screen door
• Thursday night – have drywall done
• Friday night – relax
• Saturday night – primer
• Sunday – paint & have friends over for dinner
• Monday – Nephew and Grandma day
• Tuesday – Lay insulation in attic
• Wednesday – pull carpet & underlay
• Thursday – have friends from work over for coffee, have a load of stuff taken off to the dump
• Friday – Mum, Dad & Grandpa up for lunch & then do some gardening & yard work
• Saturday, Sunday and Monday – relax & go to the cabin for a few hours in there somewhere.

Lists are funny things.  They give me a guideline of what I want to accomplish, but remember the old adage of “man makes plans & God laughs”? Yup – that was what actually happened.

What I didn’t count on was having a HELLISH 5 days of back and neck pain accompanied by the most horrific of headaches – starting on Wednesday.  That took me out until roughly Tuesday.  It also changed how I got things done, but all in all, I managed most of it.  What didn’t get done was the insulation and having some friends over for dinner last Sunday… everything else eventually got done, just not as I had initially planned it. There were also a couple of unplanned additions – namely having to have Giant Hogweed removed.

Sunday, my first official day of vacation, started out sunny and bright, with me and Jasmine in the back yard enjoying a late and lazy breakfast and coffee. My neighbours were out as well and just in passing, the wife of the couple mentioned that I would want to get rid of what at a glance looked to be cow parsley.

I was game (if still a little sore and headachy) and thought that I would tackle it after breakfast.  My usual modus operandi is to just jump in and do things, but this time I thought it might be smart to see if I could compost all of that lovely green material or, like walnut husks, would it be poisonous to my compost… and so in after the computer I went.

A little bit of research later I found out that it WASN’T cow parsley – though it looked quite a bit like it.  It was actually something called Giant Hogweed (the Latin name is Heracleum mantegazzianum) which in pictures looks like HUMUNGOUS Queen Anne’s Lace, but in reality is considered to be a pernicious invasive plant, not native to North America and extremely dangerous to humans.  The sap is toxic and sensitizes the skin to ultraviolet radiation - causing third degree burns that come back over and over again, any time you get sunshine on it. If the sap gets into the eyes it can cause blindness - PLEASE take some time to review the information here on the Coastal Invasive Plant Committee website and here on the BC Ministry of Agriculture website.

After reading the information, I decided I needed help to get rid of this – for starters, I do not have a hazmat suit, completely rubberized gloves or, quite frankly, the bravery needed to attack this stuff – did you SEE the pictures???  It took me a couple of days to connect with the right people, but on Wednesday I managed to get in touch with the right person who sent out a crew to inspect the infestation & if within what they could do in one afternoon, remove it for me.

Tuesday was the day that I tackled the removal of the carpet and underlay - I did find a couple of surprises in the flooring, but nothing that can’t be dealt with eventually.

Starting the job & uncovering the painted wood floors

Surprise #1 - it isn't ALL painted!

Nice tight grain on most of the planks! This a a GOOD thing!

Surprise #2 - particle board AND tack strips to pull out!

Another pile of stuff to be removed to the dump...

Wednesday I puttered around and dealt with the rest of the flooring surprises issues, was the day the crew came to remove the Giant Hogweed AND the day that my extraordinary contractors came in to sand down and apply mud coat number 2 to the drywall.

Thursday did actually go according to plan – friends over for coffee in the morning and then the young fellows who have the haulage business came over and took away the carpet and underlay.

On Friday my parents came up for a visit and brought my Grandpa with them – his first visit to the house… it wasn’t quite as put together as I had hoped it would be by that point, but they were pleased to see all of my progress so far.

Saturday, eschewing responsibility and all of the unfinished tasks, I loaded Jasmine into the car and we ran away to the cabin for a few hours. It was great – warm sunny day, not too much wind, excellent visit with Rob, Carrie & Finn and traffic was relatively cooperative.

That evening, Kel and Roger (my contractors) came by to do the final sanding for me on the drywall. 

Wall completed, coats of primer done.

Yesterday I put on a couple of layers of primer and then painted the wall. I screwed up a little – I put tape on top of not 100% dry paint and when I pulled off the tape it pulled off the paint as well.  Oh well!

All done, furniture back in place - SO much brighter!

Pictures and masks back up

SO much nicer!

Today has been a do very little day.  I did some laundry, re-hung pictures in the living room, re-arranged the furniture, washed more drywall dust off of, well, everything, baked a cake and generally relaxed.

Tomorrow (sob) is back to work…

With love across the waters,

Another Quick Week

Last weekend, the Labour Day long weekend, I had Saturday booked off work (a rarity for me) and spent three absolutely glorious days at the cabin.  Jasmine and I arrived around 7:30 on Friday night and we were across, unloaded and into the cabin just a smidge after dark.

As you know from my last post, by the time I headed for the cabin, I still didn’t have my results from my IFC exam back (I have now, more on that later) and so planned to spend my whole weekend drinking copious amounts of cider and reading as many trashy books as I could in the course of three full days off. Planning a technology-free weekend, I left all forms of communication with the outside world at home.  The netbook on purpose, the cell phone accidentally.  I needed the cell phone.  Oh well!

Saturday morning dawned clear and sunny and (with breakfast in my belly) I got the chairs out and sat on the deck for some sunshine and reading of the aforementioned trashy books.  Saturday afternoon was the last salmon smoke of the summer and family had been arriving since Thursday night.  Mum and Dad arrived around 12:30, Rob, Carrie and Finn a little after that.  It was their (Rob, Carrie and Finn, I mean) first major outing EVER and what an outing it was!  When all was said and done, there were more than 30 family members there!

Finn was a total trooper (as were Rob and Carrie!!) and he handled the noise and many new people like a dream.

I, as per my usual modus operandi, ended up with sunburn.

UNLIKE my usual modus operandi, this one was on my legs AND has morphed into a half decent tan!

Sunday dawned clear and sunny as well, and Sunday morning Jasmine met me on the deck for reading:

Monday, also sunny and clear (what an AWESOME weekend!) I packed up and came home with the high tide (around 2:00 PM) and, once home, gave Jasmine a bath, had a shower myself and then started laundry.  I logged into the computer and……. No results yet.

Hm.

Tuesday morning I got into the office and, having checked at home, still had no results. At around 9:15 I had an instant message from the other staff member who wrote telling me that her results had just been posted and she passed… I logged in and checked and, YES, I passed!

Woo hoo!

Being a short week, things have been busy in the branch and the time has been passing relatively quickly.

On Tuesday my (former) crush was in the branch while I was on lunch.  One of my co-workers came back to tell me. I didn’t bother getting up to go look.  I’m actually quite proud of myself for that one!

On Wednesday the townhouse was shown to 4 different sets of prospective renters and, application approved, they have a new tenant set up for October 1^st so there are now no more showings need to be planned for or worried about!

Thursday, yesterday, was Nephew day.  I headed down to Nanaimo early on in the day and spent until about 2:00 PM with Finn and Carrie.  It was a good visit for me and Carrie, but Finn was a little fussy – we think it is the heat…. It has heated up here – over 30*C yesterday and today (with the humidity) and though yesterday I had to actually drag out the AC unit, today it has been breezy and I don’t think I will have to have it on tonight in order to sleep.

Today I spent my day puttering.  I have made some headway with contacting utilities to have things switched over and have arranged for my local construction guys to come out next Friday to provide an estimate on replacement of the toilet and hot water tank. I won’t actually be able to have the work done until after I take possession of the house (liability issues) but the estimate on that is most important at this stage as I am trying to plan out the money I have to finish this stuff off.  I have opened an account at the local Slegg Lumber office and so will be able to purchase the hot water tank and toilet (and new door) on account and pay it all off later on.

Since it has been WAY too hot to run Jasmine today, we went for a short walk up at the park this afternoon… I’m hopeful I can get out for a bike ride first thing tomorrow morning with her, but that will really and truly depend on what the winds do tonight.  If they stay coming out of the north overnight, things may cool down enough to keep the bike ride safe temperature-wise.  If they die off, we will be doing another short walk.  Poor mutt – not getting enough exercise!

Well, I should close this update off – I have promised myself that I will update my "to do" list, pack at least 2 boxes, and go through my closets and clear out the “not keeping” stuff to ready it for donation…

And I might just do a drive-by at Dairy Queen – it *is* very warm tonight…

With love across the waters,

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

Yup... still waiting for my exam results and still hopeful I passed and therefore don't have to re-write the darn thing.... 

I thought about this almost not at all this weekend - the weather was wonderful, the cabin was awesome and the relaxation was desperately needed.

Now that I am back to work, well, I just want the (positive) results to be there!

So for now, I am waiting, waiting, waiting... 

Back Yard – Feng Shui Finished!

I ended up coming home from vacation nearly a full week early. Yes, I am sick, and VERY unhappy that this is the second vacation in a row I have gotten a head cold at the beginning of the second week! It sure puts a cramp on plans of relaxation and rest when one becomes unable to breathe properly through one’s nose.

Ugh.

Ok, enough whining.

In light of being home and having close to a week of time to putter around the house (albeit slowly and with lots of rest in between bouts of putter due to the lack of energy and incredible speed at which I tire when I am sick) I thought this would be a good time to try and complete at least SOME of my Feng Shui activities.

First up was the back yard.  All it really needed was a lawn mow, weed-eat, light weed in the herb garden and…. Ta-da!  I also finally located a fairly inexpensive bistro set at Slegg Lumber.  I picked it up late yesterday afternoon and quite enjoyed sitting outside with my coffee and book first thing this morning – it really HAS become an extension of my living room and, with the patio doors open and dappled sunshine in the yard, it’s quite a pleasant place to be now! it's not 100% finished, I'm certain I'll tweak little bits here and there still, but the big stuff is now truly done!

The back yard - done!  Woo hoo!

 Ooh – and with the Clematis now really dug in and growing happily, the compost is more easily blending into the background!

Clematis masking compost bin

Next up, I’m going to have to spend some serious focus time on my Career & Life Path zone.  Time to quit fiddling around, bring myself that permanent full time job and once and for all settle down!

Stay tuned! 

With love across the waters,

Vacation Pictures Part II

This morning at low tide, Jasmine and I went for a walk around Cougar Island.  Here are some pictures from our excursion.  I'm not certain how Cougar Island got its name - perhaps that's a research project for tomorrow (it is supposed to maybe rain tomorrow) 

The spit at the lagoon

View of Lindner's Cabin

Interesting trees

A small patch of wild flowers

More wild flowers

A happy dog on a path through the trees

I *think* this may actually be a baby eagle feather!

Wild roses

Wild rose up close

Cool hollowed out stump - this would be an excellent place to hide stuff for a treasure hunt!!

Honeysuckle

Secluded bay

Lone Gary Oak tree on the rocks

Interesting stump

Another shot of the happy dog

Someone's fort...

The winds have started to come back up and I think it may be time for me to get some work done on the boat launch - my plan is to rake out some of the very steep hilly bits into a more levelled area for us to pull the boat up onto.

With love across the waters!

Sunset

The other day was slightly overcast for most of the day -clouds and windy for most of the day.  Just around supper time (as is normal) the winds dropped and the skies cleared for a really pretty sunset. 

This is the best one of the bunch, and, of course, here is my little watcher - making certain I don’t get too far away and that I come home safe and sound.

Sunset on a calm night

My Watcher

With love across the waters, 

Lotta Stuff Done in a Little Time Frame

Today was the planned day to come home from the cabin for an overnight so that I could do laundry, replenish supplies, check my mail and otherwise get things done around here that shouldn’t be left for two solid weeks.

At around 10 this morning I started to shutter up the cabin.  A few years ago my brother changed most of our cabin’s window shutters from screws to lag bolts and holy smokes that sure sped up the closing up process.  Yes, I know I am only up for an overnight, but people have broken in with less time available – so we don’t take chances.  As I was putting up the shutter on the storage room, my cousin Ruth let out a huge yell:

“ERIN – WHALES – OVER THERE – LOOK!!!”

Just off the cabins there were two large pods of Orca (Killer Whales) headed north in the channel. Close to shore,  we could see them playing as they travelled – and we could count them – the first pod had four or five in it and the second had eleven – some of which were young and therefore smaller than the adults.

What an amazing treat to have today!  While we were watching, the skies even cleared and the sun started to shine overhead.

GORGEOUS!

Ok… back to work.

Since Sis & Al (Sis is what we all call Ruth) were over near my cabin, they very kindly helped me to carry my boat down to the water – saving me some time and effort in the process.  That done, I continued to shutter up the cabin, and then carted my stuff to the boat, loaded it all up and headed across.

Once over on the “other side” I hauled the boat up the shore and locked it up and then loaded Jasmine and my stuff into the car and headed home.

Here, my tasks became orderly and planned.

1.      Shower

2.      Bath for Jasmine

3.      Laundry

4.      Mow the lawn

5.      Water the outside plants

6.      Costco

7.     Laundry - Part II

8.      Pet store

9.      Grocery store

10.  Laundry, The Final Chapter

That summed up today's chores.

Tomorrow I need to fill the water buckets, load the cooler, load the car, and then head back to the cabin.  I do need to make yet another stop at the grocery store – I forgot Kleenex – and a quick stop at the liquor store for more cider, but other than that, my up town adventure is done.

Just after I finished Jasmine’s bath and was starting to mow the lawn, Rob (my brother) arrived with a friend of his to dismantle and remove his bed from my spare room.  They also took Rob’s kitchen table, which I had (very gratefully) used as a study table when I was going to school full time just after I got back from Jersey, and a couple of his kitchen chairs which I had in my storage locker.

Challenge: My spare room no longer has a bed in it.  So now I get to investigate new bedroom furniture (or perhaps second-hand if I can find something attractive and relatively inexpensive) so that I have a spare available for company. I’m not expecting any company any time soon – maybe December? And so have plenty of time to plan and execute where this is concerned. Ooh – this means I can look at furniture with specifics of Feng Shui in mind!  Cool!

No pictures to upload tonight – I took a bunch of last night’s sunset, but the camera is still in the cabin and so they will have to wait until tomorrow or Sunday to be uploaded to a post.

With love across the waters,

… And The Sun Also Rises

Hee hee hee.

Ok, I have wanted to use that as a title for a while and, believe me, no disrespect is meant to the initial author who penned it.

Generally speaking, when you have a dog, sunrise isn’t actually much of a consideration.  Jasmine wakes me up when she wants to, not when I actually want to be awake.  This morning, thankfully, it wasn’t awake at sunrise (which was at 5:13 AM) but I was awake a little earlier than I would have liked to be.  

The great thing about the cabin, AND this time of year down here, is that it’s OK for me to open the back door and let her wander around at will and I can go back to the half-doze of sleep that early morning seems to find me in.

She, having had a damn good wander around, located herself yet another ikky dead thing (bone from long-deceased seal, if you are interested) and brought it back to the cabin where she lay down on the ground just outside the back door and proceeded to chew on it.  Me, being in the dopey sleep-state I was in, promptly started to dream that she’d found a golf club and was chewing on it.  This was taking place in one of the locations I have recently been walking her.

I’m sure there’s some Freudian meaning to that somewhere!

I struggled out from under the “ignore it and hope it goes away” state that early morning sees in me and dragged myself from my warm cocoon of blankets to confiscate the bone from her and throw it into the trash. If she found another one after that she (wisely) didn’t bring it back to the cabin to chew on.

Later, awake, I sat in the sunshine (yes, wearing a good layer of my SPF-50 sunscreen) and started to make a dent in my plan to catch up on reading.  I have managed to avoid sunburn and am now inside, long sleeves and pant-legs removing the risk.  Exhausted by heat, new scents, sunshine and general life, she’s now fast asleep on her bed on the cabin’s kitchen floor. 

This is, after all, the way vacations are meant to be!

With love across the waters, 

The Sun Sets

The first night down at the cabin after being away is always a real treat for me. Once in and set up, the afternoon is usually spent puttering or maybe reading (this is how I spent most of my afternoon) and the first night’s sunset is the capper to a great day.

This is probably my first time down here in June in YEARS and this year I managed to coincide my vacation to have me at the cabin for the longest days of the year. Well, almost. I have to head back home for a re-start to work on the 20^th of June, but the real treat for me will be the extra long days to rest and relax.

It’s about quarter past 9 now and the skies are fading to pinks - the kind you get when there’s been some cloud cover. I’m sitting in the kitchen and looking out over the island - tide high and still coming in a little more - and giving thanks for the wonderful place my heart calls home.

With love across the waters,

Wind and Rain

Normally I love the sounds of wind and rain. The combination makes me feel safe and snug. At the cabin it’s usually accompanied by the sound of surf pounding on the shore and the crackle and pop of the fire burning in the wood stove. No reason to go into the weather on a day like this means staying snug, warm, safe and secure.

Having a Jasmine means (while still in Comox, at least) getting dressed and going out into it – in the dark. Our morning and evening “constitutional” walks are shorter – maybe a kilometre – but still more than long enough to leave me completely soaking wet, chilled and bedraggled. Good thing I do this BEFORE my morning shower or evening bath!

It’s blowing a hoolie out there this morning – the rain will, no doubt, be coming down sideways. I like mornings like this, honest, I really do… I just wish I didn’t have to get out into the weather before 7 AM!

Home after, she is towelled off – which is a great game that she loves; I am stripped down and back in my robe. The wind is still blowing gustily and the rain pelting coldly down. I, however, am back inside and have another cup of hot coffee in front of me. Life doesn’t get much better than this!

With love across the waters,

An Afternoon at Piper's Lagoon Park

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here on Vancouver Island and, with the convenience of a low tide in the middle of the day in mind, I decided to take Jasmine to Lagoon.

Some history... my grandparents built our cabin in the 1940's when he came home from overseas (WWII.) My Dad grew up spending his summer vacations down there, and so did my brother and I. Now that we're adults, we spend as much time there as possible - but, of course, work *does* get in the way of being able to spend ALL summer at the cabin.

Jasmine had, until yesterday, not yet been introduced to either the cabin or rowboats. Since my brother and his girlfriend were down for the night, I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring her down and, with assistance, introduce her to the whole experience.

Since the tide was out we walked across.

Mental note - the oyster shells are almost too numerous to manage. With one cut foot pad (Jasmine's, not mine) I need to look into doggie gumboots. I wonder if Bosley's carries those??

Anyhow, we slowly made our way across and, upon arriving at the cabins, I noted that my cousin was down and in his cabin - so we went to sit on the beach and visit for a while. Jasmine, released from her leash, proceeded to explore the beach and surrounding area at will.

Jasmine and I also went up onto the big bluff to explore the camas lilies that were blossoming, and have a quick wander around and snoop. The more interesting stuff she's exposed to the better her socialization is, and so I am working to expose her to as much new stuff as possible.







Over at our cabin, later on, we had a wander around & I got some interesting shots of logs and flora...





And, of course, Herself...





After loading her in, and seeing how she would be with him... My brother took us back across in the rowboat.



I guess all of the new sights and smells and running around did her in completely. I got her into the car, and within seconds she was asleep in her dog hammock. Home safe & sound, she ate her dinner and was then down for the count - I don't think I have ever seen her quite that tired and am looking forward to taking her back down to the lagoon next weekend for a couple of nights.

Have a wonderful week!