5 And A Beagle
"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." John Lennon
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Wet, West Coast
A little snippet of information pulled from the Internet for prospective tourists set on visiting the Pacific Northwest, or more specifically, Vancouver in July.
July is the least rainy month in a city famous for its rain. Visitors can expect rain about 7 days out of 31 in July.
Who would have thought that those 7 days would be 7 days in a row and the very same 7 days that we went away to Vancouver Island on a wee little vacation. Apparently we didn't go far enough "away" so as to avoid the rain. Actually, we would had to have gone east over the Rockies into Alberta or way off west in the Pacific, perhaps Hawaii, in order to find the sunshine.
The first day was actually quite nice, #4 and our 'adopted' #6 went for a stroll along the beach and saw a family of otters (twelve Mom, there were twelve of them!!!) running (do otters run?) in front of their path, heading from the ocean into the forest.
#5 and her friend K went for a swim and had a grand time heading out for what seemed like forever on a sandbar.
Later in the day #4, #6 and I went into town to get groceries and I optimistically picked up a bottle of SPF 45 sunscreen. I recall walking past a display of umbrellas for a bargain $1.47 each, thinking "hmmmm, good price, I should pick up a couple." But no, I didn't listen to that inner voice. Too bad really, because that was the last day of sunshine and our day trips to
Victoria (NO ONE is out in the inner harbour when there's a downpour), Ladysmith, Chemainus (even the horse and his buggy stay home when it's raining)
and Saltspring (fibre artists pack everything into plastic rubbermaid containers when it rains-making it hard to fondle the fibre) would have been a lot nicer with those darn umbrellas. The bottle of sunscreen never even saw the light of day (literally and figuratively) until the day we were leaving and the sun made its reappearance
No worries though, this is just life on the West Coast. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And when you don't want to be outside getting wet, there's always alternatives.
Chess
Checkers
Reading,
Puzzles, Movies (the latest Harry Potter for 2 adults, 4 kids, popcorn and drinks for all and only.....get this....$40! At a movie in town, the popcorn alone costs that much!) and of course, there was knitting.
The German Stockings are finished but because I'm the fool that I am, I underestimated the amount of yarn I would need. The first sock was knit with Knitpicks merino that I had dyed last summer with natural indigo. Why didn't I dye two skeins? It became evident 3/4's of the way through the first sock that I wouldn't have enough to complete the pair so I picked up a skein of Indigo Moon in a colourway that I thought was pretty darn close. The second sock was knit with alternating rounds of each yarn. It looks close in the sunlight, but take it indoors and it's close but not quite. Take a look at these and tell me, would you wear similar, but not quite socks?
Any suggestions on overdying? Any suggestions period? As usual, the colours in the photo aren't quite true to the actual, the second (right) sock isn't quite so purple in hue, but as you can see, there's a definite difference.
They have to be mailed off on Aug 1st, so there's no chance I'll rip the first one and start again with alternating rows of the two yarns. But what the heck to do!!! Bend over and kick myself if I were pliable enough.
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July is the least rainy month in a city famous for its rain. Visitors can expect rain about 7 days out of 31 in July.
Who would have thought that those 7 days would be 7 days in a row and the very same 7 days that we went away to Vancouver Island on a wee little vacation. Apparently we didn't go far enough "away" so as to avoid the rain. Actually, we would had to have gone east over the Rockies into Alberta or way off west in the Pacific, perhaps Hawaii, in order to find the sunshine.
The first day was actually quite nice, #4 and our 'adopted' #6 went for a stroll along the beach and saw a family of otters (twelve Mom, there were twelve of them!!!) running (do otters run?) in front of their path, heading from the ocean into the forest.#5 and her friend K went for a swim and had a grand time heading out for what seemed like forever on a sandbar.
Later in the day #4, #6 and I went into town to get groceries and I optimistically picked up a bottle of SPF 45 sunscreen. I recall walking past a display of umbrellas for a bargain $1.47 each, thinking "hmmmm, good price, I should pick up a couple." But no, I didn't listen to that inner voice. Too bad really, because that was the last day of sunshine and our day trips to
Victoria (NO ONE is out in the inner harbour when there's a downpour), Ladysmith, Chemainus (even the horse and his buggy stay home when it's raining)
Saint Michael and All Angels-Chemainus 1994
Saint Michael and All Angels-Chemainus 2007
and Saltspring (fibre artists pack everything into plastic rubbermaid containers when it rains-making it hard to fondle the fibre) would have been a lot nicer with those darn umbrellas. The bottle of sunscreen never even saw the light of day (literally and figuratively) until the day we were leaving and the sun made its reappearance
No worries though, this is just life on the West Coast. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And when you don't want to be outside getting wet, there's always alternatives.
ChessCheckers
Reading,
Puzzles, Movies (the latest Harry Potter for 2 adults, 4 kids, popcorn and drinks for all and only.....get this....$40! At a movie in town, the popcorn alone costs that much!) and of course, there was knitting.
The German Stockings are finished but because I'm the fool that I am, I underestimated the amount of yarn I would need. The first sock was knit with Knitpicks merino that I had dyed last summer with natural indigo. Why didn't I dye two skeins? It became evident 3/4's of the way through the first sock that I wouldn't have enough to complete the pair so I picked up a skein of Indigo Moon in a colourway that I thought was pretty darn close. The second sock was knit with alternating rounds of each yarn. It looks close in the sunlight, but take it indoors and it's close but not quite. Take a look at these and tell me, would you wear similar, but not quite socks?
Any suggestions on overdying? Any suggestions period? As usual, the colours in the photo aren't quite true to the actual, the second (right) sock isn't quite so purple in hue, but as you can see, there's a definite difference.They have to be mailed off on Aug 1st, so there's no chance I'll rip the first one and start again with alternating rows of the two yarns. But what the heck to do!!! Bend over and kick myself if I were pliable enough.
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