Hello, hello
to everyone.
There have
been so many exciting events happening in the last couple of
months, I feel compelled to get out the newsletter before I
forget everything or too many more interesting things happen.
Weather continues to astound and amaze us by its
unpredictability this year. After a sun struck, atypically
windless and fogless summer, we have had a sudden freeze up of
ten days duration. This quickly changed to a southeast thaw and
a series of short freezes as the winds swung around the compass
to the northwest and back again.
One night it was so windy from the northwest that E.G. had to
move our fishing boat away from the float at midnight and into
the safety of Echo Bay. Bill P. moved the Ocean Dawn as well.
Our friends Andrea and Kai whose lovely “Black Witch” was tied
up at our dock woke up when their boat swung around after the
stern line to the dock broke from the force of the waves. So all
three boats went off into the dark with mast lights glowing. I
talked to E.G. on Channel 06 after he got into Echo Bay and
another soul out in the night came into the conversation. He
told me that they should stay at the dock, they shouldn’t leave
the dock tonight. I asked him where he was and he replied he was
out by the White Cliff Rocks heading for Blackney Pass and that
it wasn’t a good place to be right then. I was glad that E.G.
and our friends were safe and sound in the bay. We get hit by a
rough northwest very infrequently, but when it blows it is
formidable.
In spite of the freeze I continue to have roses attempt to bloom
and I bring them in and place them in vases. E.G. is keeping the
house so snug and warm they often open up in a couple of hours
and exude fragrance until they fall in a burst of petals to the
tabletop.
I noticed in the November Bird Studies Canada bird count that
November’s usual hundreds of Barrow’s goldeneyes weren’t in but
they have been increasing in number since then. I was pretty
happy, as was Bill, to come across the large group of turnstones
on a different rock from their usual. We were a little concerned
that they had completely disappeared and were happy that was not
the case. Now that it is cold we expect to see the swans in
Viner estuary in December.
My wildlife encounter highlight though has been with a sea
otter. These guys are fairly infrequent visitors in the inland
waters but it does seem that one has been showing up each winter
lately. We don’t know if it is the same one, or if perhaps there
are more than one….? In any case, I did see a sea otter swim to
my neighbour Alex’s float and climb out onto her boomstick.
Apparently this behavior is not typical at all. Yesterday I got
up quite close to one that seemed to be intimately engaged with
a couple of seals! Hm. He just sat right up in the water and
looked at me closely, then laid on his back with his front paws
folded on his belly and paddled slowly away. I shut my motor off
and drifted around for awhile watching him watching me. I always
feel so blessed when my presence doesn’t terrify a wild animal
and it can be as curious about me as I am about it.
E.G. and I worked like mad things to fire a huge load of pottery
in time for the Sointula Winterfest fair. Not all of the pieces
were ours; I have had a variety of students of all ages this
year, some from last summer even, whose work was part of this
big load. It took two days to load the kiln and then the usual
14 hours to fire. After that there is a 36 hour waiting period
as the kiln cools down and then…ta da! The grand opening, we
always hope for the best, of course, especially with an eager
audience. The glazes were generally beautiful and there were the
usual surprises of things that turned out far better or far
worse than anticipated.
On November 15th, off we went to Sointula, the weather was
beautiful, all the friends aboard had a fine time and we did
too. Our pottery was well received by the Christmas shoppers and
we went home with fewer pots and more dollars, as it should be.
Right in the middle of the intense pottery production E.G. went
hunting with Bill and on his first outing shot two deer. This is
absolutely unheard of, for us, and while it was a great blessing
for our winter dinners, the timing was not great. Andrea and Kai
came to the rescue, they really were our “angels” through
November. Besides being excellent company and great fun, they
helped in so many ways.
This week I made the acquaintance of Tracy and Randy Grout who
take people on wonderful tours up to the central coast on their
boat “High Seas Drifter.” This stately vessel was once known as
“Atlin Post” and I was pretty impressed with the shine of the
brass in the wheelhouse, the spic and span engine room and the
cunning arrangement of sleeping accommodations. These things
tell me that Randy and Tracy are careful and thoughtful people
that it is safe to travel with. I was thrilled to be asked to
join them on a two week summer 2004 cruise as
artist/instructor/guide for a group of eight painters. The first
cruise will run two weeks, the last week in June through the
first week in July and we are planning a second cruise for the
end of the summer, late August into September.
We will embark the “High Seas Drifter” at Bella Coola and take
in the most awe-inspiring wilderness coast BC has to offer. Hot
Springs, wildlife sightings, old canneries and Aboriginal
village sites, possibly a dinner and traditional dance
presentation will be some of the highlights. Plenty of time to
spend painting at some of the most beautiful and rarely seen
river estuaries of the British Columbia coast.
We are in the process now of designing the itinerary for this
painting cruise and preparing the advertising. Let me know if
you are interested in this awesome painting trip. Places will go
quickly to the serious painter/voyager.
Use this link to take you to
Tracy and Randy's site. You can also call me at
250-974-8134 or Tracy at 250-973-6571 for more information or to
get your name on the passenger list.
The other highlight of the fall has been the success of “Full
Moon, Flood Tide”, the book I co-authored with Bill Proctor. It
was selected for the BC Ferries Christmas book poster and has
been on the BC Bestseller list for six weeks now. Bill and I got
to see a few friends as we went up and down Vancouver Island on
our book promotion tour in October. We had a full schedule,
arranged by Alicia Miller, the publicist at Harbour, and I was
the designated driver. I must say Bill adjusted quite well to
not being the one in charge, as he is on Ocean Dawn.
We went to bookstores in Duncan, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay
and Campbell River where I read selections from the book,
(everybody loves story hour!) and Bill answered lots of
questions. There are an amazing number of people who have had
some association or experience of this area over the years. Our
book seems to really tug at fond memories for a lot of people.
Thanks a lot to all the wonderful book store owners we
encountered, to our friends who took care of us and to Alison
Watt, who gave us a beautiful introduction at the Nanaimo
Historical Society presentation.
You can order a book, a painting, a piece of pottery, or create
your own painting or pottery workshop at Searose Studio. Life
here is pretty exciting and enormous fun!
Bye for now, hope to hear from you soon.
Yvonne
