Up on the ridge at Saturna Island

For the first time this year we managed a getaway to Saturna Island, to the cabin on the ridge.  We went with five friends and had such fun.  Two lovely peaceful days.  Here are a few highlights.  The photo above is the essence of the Brown Ridge experience. A chair on the deck in the sunshine with a killer view.

Here's the door to the cabin, reflecting the woods outside.  And on the other side, this is the view.

It's so peaceful outside, but inside is pretty nice too.  We brought up a bouquet of flowers from my neighbour's garden. It looked nice on the dining table.

The first evening we enjoyed some appetizers on the deck before a wonderful dinner as dusk fell.

The next morning we awoke to fog after a night of rain and wind.  The view had completely disappeared.

So we headed down to Saturna beach for some play on the swing and a walk, then a visit to the winery. Sadly it was closed so we couldn't enjoy a glass.  

But we weren't fazed, we headed off to explore East Point Park, a beautiful point of land with sandstone rocks and the old fog horn building, now a museum.

Then it was back up to the cabin for dinner on the deck and a view of the goat parade.  There is a herd of about 25 feral goats that live on the mountainside and just about every night they walk along the ridge in front of the cabin.  It's a wonderful sight.

We're home now,  renewed from our visit to such a special place.

Transformation of a room

In just over a week the room is transformed.

Before, showing the blue painted floor and the walls and ceiling without drywall.  Note the unique window with the sill angled because of the hip roof over the kitchen on the main floor.

Here the walls and ceiling of both rooms are boarded with one coat of drywall mud. 

Already the room looks bigger.

Now Lewis, the floor restorer has removed most of the blue paint on the kitchen floor.

The floor in the living room area still has to be done.  You can see the door to the found space behind the kitchen. This will be the utility and storage room.

Ta daa! The sanding is complete.

And here's a view of the floor with the sealer coat on.

Isn't it beautiful?     

                   It doesn't look like a brand new floor but it looks rich and warm and it has a story to tell.

Sadly we only got to look at the floor for a day or two as the drywallers are returning this week to finish the job and we had to cover the floor with cardboard to protect it.

The next time we see the floor the painting will be done and the kitchen installed.  Then there will be two more finish coats to apply and it will be ready to go.

Late August morning

We woke up to another lovely day We can't work at Yukon Street today because the floors were sealed yesterday and it needs a couple of days to cure. So we're "at home" today. And what a perfect day for it, with with blue skies and a little breeze.

After taking the dogs for a swim at the lake we returned to the house for a leisurely breakfast of boiled eggs, canteloupe and toast with this year's blackberry jam.





Yes, the blackberries are already ripe. They're early this year, along with most other things.  Just look at what's happening in the garden.


 Tons of sweet yellow tomatoes

And the larger ones are getting huge. Usually we never get to eat these off the vine but one is already turning red.

The apples are starting to ripen already--and it's only August!  Same goes for the Italian plums.

I'm off now to join this honey bee and do some puttering in the garden.

As for Harry, he's decided to take the ironing out to the patio.  Not a bad way to spend a morning in late August.

Renovations and historic finds

It's been a while since I reported on the progress of the reno of our upstairs apartment.  That's because things have been moving ahead but not in a dramatic way.  The plumber has roughed in the pipes for the sink and the washer and dryer, and the electrician has been installing new outlets, updating wiring for the stove and dishwasher etc.  It's slow work retrofitting a suite in a century-old house.

But now we're on the verge of a couple of big leaps forward. The other day the drywall was delivered and today they started to put the boards up on the walls.  We've been getting the walls ready for them for a while now. The new room has been framed up and insulated. The ceiling has been strapped and everything is ready.

It's kind of like archeology renovating old houses.  Traces of previous lives keep turning up.

We've found old cigarette packages, telephone books and newspapers.  But my favourite is the spelling list we found in the bedroom. Some young child wrote his spelling words on the wall. Don't you wonder when this was written. It could have been any time since 1898.

Harry's calculated that if the guy who plastered these walls originally was in his forties at the time the house was built, he could have been alive when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.  History's not really that far in the past.

Good morning sunflower

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34 straight days of sunshine!

Victoria set a record this July for the longest stretch of sunny days.  From June 27 to August 1st there wasn't a drop of rain. Please don't think I'm complaining here. We've all been loving the sun and the warmth.  The gardens are growing like mad and the fruit and vegetables are thriving. The blackberries are ready for picking now--at least two weeks before their usual time. And the grapes are swelling already.

















It rained August 1st and 2nd and now it's cleared up and again we are having cloudless skies with unadulterated sunshine. This must be what summer feels like in the rest of the world. Here's hoping we'll have another long stretch of sunny weather. Long enough for us to get sick of it. Well, I guess that would be about 10 more weeks!

Perhaps I'd be unhappy about the water bill to keep my garden going with that kind of time frame, although by then everything would have been harvested. In any case, everybody I know in Victoria is rejoicing.

Here are some sunny weather images.

Street in Funky Fernwood.

Kite boarders along Dallas Road

Sunset at Moses Point

A performer at the Busker's Festival at the Inner Harbour

Bathing beauties at an afternoon pool party.

The view from my sister's back deck. 

You'll notice there's not a cloud in sight!