Vacation Photo Round Up

Brace yourselves - I wanted to present some more vacation photos, but I am afraid there isn't much rhyme or reason to the order of the pictures.

This one is for Disco, who sent me two onesies for my niece, Dharma. The Sweet Pea one was too small, but that is okay - I will keep it for another baby I know is coming. Thank you!



This was the sky over Nanaimo as we approached the Duke Point Ferry Terminal - that mountain is called 'Jingle Pot Mounatin' - isn't that hilarious? The weather was so breezy and cool that day we had to break out our fleece jackets and wear those - I was in heaven.



My sister Teri wanted to straighten Willow's hair for her - and was shocked that Willow managed to sit somewhat still for it (with only minor gnashing of teeth from Teri). I think we were all shocked at how long it was.



My Dad told her it was much prettier curly and would she please go back to normal the next day. I agree. It's a novelty to have straight hair, but her curls are so adorable.



I'm not sure what is up with this facial expression. She and I were walking through a wooden park near my parents' house and this tree had a little natural seat at its base so I told her to sit so I could take the picture.



I wish I had put something else in this picture just to give the scope of this maple leaf - you will have to trust me when I say it was 12 - 14" across.



This picture was taken at the Duke Point Ferry Terminal on our way home. I love seeing these things in different cities - we have dinosaurs in Wilmington - and we have seen pigs in Seattle and cows in Denver. Apparently Nanaimo has orcas.



This is the swimming area near my parents' house - I didn't do any of the swimming this time because the days we could go swimming just weren't warm enough for me. Willow had no such concerns and was in the water every chance she got.



This is the apple tree off of my parents' back patio - the tree is going crazy this year - I foresee plenty of baking, freezing, and canning in my mom's near future. That is, if the bears don't get them first. Yes, I said bears.



Now, what are those little globular things between the apples? Grapes! My Dad thought he had trimmed back the grapes so much that they wouldn't grow, but apparently that isn't the case - there are grapes all over the apple tree. On the other side of the yard they have even started growing up a cedar tree!



My Mom, Dad, and Etu the dog:



The whole fam-damily. You don't even want to know how many pictures were taken to get one where almost everyone was looking at the camera and smiling. Thank heaven for digital cameras.



The water off of Duke Point. Once again, we don't have colours like that here. The water here is a greyish-blue - not pretty like this at all.



This is a famous creation statue in the Vancouver International Airport. It has great natural lighting above.



I love how there is this burnished area in front where so many people have touched the statue.



And - since I started this vacation series a few posts back with the first picture I took on vacation of the Thunderbird statue, I now give you the last picture I took on vacation - a wooden raven statue in the International Departures area of the Vancouver International Airport.



Willow and I had a wonderful time - I love going back to visit my family. I always wish I could stay longer and that our vacation times weren't limited to the summer or winter when Willow is not in school.

Here is a list of things I want to do the next time I go to Vancouver Island:

1. Take Willow for a fancy tea at Murchies or The Empress or the Oak Bay Tea Room.
2. Walk leisurely through Beacon Hill Park.
3. Tube down the Cowichan River.
4. Take Willow camping.
5. Drive out to Ucluelet and Tofino.
6. Eat fish and chips on the beach.
7. Eat more timbits.
8. Hang out in Chapters or Bolen Books and buy a bunch of books by Canadian authors for Willow.

Shan? Tara? Any more suggestions of things I need to do on the Island?

YPF: The Scenic Version

Stay with me - it's worth it.

Last Thursday my sisters and their children headed back home, so the population at my parents' house dropped from nine people to four people. Before we came out to Vancouver Island, I told my Mom that there was only one thing I absolutely wanted to do - I wanted to spend a day in Victoria.

A little background - I lived in Victoria for 5 years while I attended UVic and the place is just chock full of nostalgia for me. When I graduated and left for Japan, I honestly thought I would live and work in Japan long enough to pay off my student loans and then would head back to Victoria to live. I never anticipated meeting a tall, handsome (American!) man in Japan and getting married - much less moving to the East Coast when all was said and done.

So, as soon as Teri and Jaime left, Mom, Willow, and I hopped in the car and headed down the Malahat to Victoria. It was the perfect day to tool around a city on the water. After eating a quick lunch outside of the city, our next stop was the Beehive Wool Shop - and I know that those of you who have been on the knitting cruises know this shop very well. Incidentally, when I was in university (and barely even crocheted) this was not a wool shop, but rather a suspect place that sold all sorts of tacky gifts from Mexico and Central America.

Beehive is far enough out of the downtown core that we didn't have any trouble finding anywhere to park, but we were out of luck when we tried parking downtown. For a Thursday afternoon, every single parkade we came across was strangely full (damn tourists!). So, I ended up taking a lot of pictures from the car, such as The Empress Hotel:



Some of the hanging baskets that Victoria is famous for:



British Columbia's Parliament Building. I never considered how European this structure before - many government buildings here are very utilitarian (well, maybe with the exception of Philadelphia's City Hall which was designed after the Louvre).



While looking for a parking spot, I saw a couple of electric boxes on street corners that had been painted to look less of an eyesore. I wish I had thought to take pictures of some of the others, but here is one painted with apples:



And another hanging basket:



After circling the downtown core for far too long, we decided to head out to other areas of Victoria. We drove through Beacon Hill Park and parked a little south at Clover Point to walk down to the water.



Walking down the ramp I found this boulder (easily 3 feet across) that someone had carved a face into. It was beautiful - I just can't imagine how long it took someone to do that.



On our way back up the Malahat, Willow was determined to stop at one of the look outs - so my Mom stopped at the Split Rock lookout and I took this picture. I had to make it small here - but click on the link and go to Flickr and look at the larger size - the scope of the picture is amazing.



Okay - now for what you all have been waiting for as it is YPF - the yarn I bought in Canada.

This skein is Ultra Alpaca sock yarn, which I have never seen down here in Delaware. The colour is deceiving - at first glance you may think it is a denim blue, but when you get closer...



... you will notice strains of purple and dark green in it as well.



And of course I had to get some Canadian yarn! Here is my Fleece Artist Seal Wool sock yarn:



I like the muted colours and I am eager to see how they knit up.



And best of all - it is machine washable!



I also bought some Araucania Ranco Multy sock yarn:



I thought it was more blue and less purple when I bought it - but I still like it.



My LYS sells Panda sock yarn, but I have never seen the Panda Silk yarn there, so I had to snap it up. I struggled between the green colourway and the red colourway - and in the end the green won out because I know I have red sock yarn at home.



Aren't the greens pretty? I think these will make for exceptionally soft and shiny socks.



And lastly - a Willow original. She told me this is a picture of her and Lucky looking at themselves in a mirror. Pretty inventive, don't you think?



Now don't you think that was worth the long post?


*************************************************

On a personal note, thank you for all the emails, comments, and IMs. It really means a lot to me. I'm feeling better and I will be okay.

ache

hello
I've waited here for you
everlong

...

I wonder
when I sing along with you
if everything could ever feel this real forever
if anything could ever be this good again

'Everlong', Foo Fighters

The Highlight of My Trip

Contrast that picture with the one from this post of just me and Willow on the ferry five years ago. My Mom has had an explosion of grandchildren in the last 30 months. The photo is a little dark, but from L-R there is my youngest sister Jaime, her 2 year old son Will, my Willow, Teri (middle sister)'s six-month old daughter Dharma, me, and Jaime's eight-month old son, Hunter. Teri would have been in the picture, but someone had to play cameraman.

I could not get enough of Dharma - so much so that Teri accused me of trying to pass off her daughter as my own.



How could you not? She has a very sweet disposition and always feel asleep on me (something that Willow never did).

Here is my Mom and Hunter:



Now, he is a handful - 2 months older and about 9 pounds heavier than Dharma. He has started to eat solids, and in Willow's words, if he doesn't have food in his mouth, "he is yelling his head off!" In his defense, he was teething and two teeth popped out while we were on the Island. He has these bright blue eyes - I sure hope they stay that way.



Will is Willow's closest-in-age Canadian cousin, and the two of them got along famously.



Sometimes too much so. There was the odd bumping of heads and crashing into walls, and I am afraid Will took the brunt of it. He couldn't say Willow so he called her 'Lolo.' Teri and Jaime and their kids slept in a camper on my parents' property as my parents only have a small cottage. Will would tear into the house in the morning shouting, "Lolo! Where Lolo!?"



And no, he isn't angry in the picture. Teri made the mistake of telling Will to open his eyes for the picture (he was doing the same squinty-eyed cheesy grin thing Willow does) and that was the result.



I love the look on Dharma's face here - she reminds me so much of Teri as a baby, but Teri showed us a picture of her husband Carl as a baby and Dharma looks like him as well. Whatever the combination, she's a pretty baby.

All the P Girls and their progeny:



Okay - scenery pictures next time!

Safe And Sound

Willow and I arrived safely home this afternoon - after a car, boat, plane, train, another plane, tow truck, and 2 block walk home... more on that later.

I have over 100 photos to sort through - but just to get off to a good start, here is the first picture I took in Vancouver. The thunderbird is immense - easily 25 - 30 feet across, and you pass under it when you go through International Arrivals at the Vancouver International Airport.

Just To Cool You Off

It doesn't seem to matter what season I come to my parents' house, I never get great weather. There was the autumn vacation of 2003 where there was a huge unexpected heatwave and I had to buy all new clothes, the winter vacation of 2006 where we were iced in and had no power for a couple of days, and the best one yet - the summer vacation of 2007 where it rained heavily for 12 of the 13 days we were here.

I still can't download the pictures from my camera, so I looked through my Mom's pictures on her computer and found some beautiful winter ones - I figured they would be welcome respite in August's heat.

Cowichan Lake:



The view out the front door:



The view out the back door (not from the same storm):

Bitching aside, the weather hadn't been bad this trip. Not fantastic, but certainly not in the monsoon or heatwave persuasion. Willow and I head back to the US tomorrow, and I have to say I am absolutely dreading the return to humidity. I am not a summer girl at all. Give me snow, a fireplace, knitting in my lap and I am as happy as a clam.

Ask My Husband Meme

I first saw this meme on Karen's blog, then Pam's and Li's - so here you go:

1)What is your favorite thing about my knitting?

That you are really good at it and it makes you happy.

2)What is your least favorite thing about my knitting?

How time consuming it is.

3)What is something I have knitted, that you recall is good?

My hat. (Jo added: UPS hat knit from Brookstone Farms Fourplay in olive greens)

4)Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?

No more than any other hobby. You keep the expenses down to a dull roar.

5)Do you have a stash of any kind?

Yes (and that's all the answer I'm giving).

6)Have I ever embarassed you, knitting in public?

Never, I think it's cool.

7) Do you know my favorite kind of yarn?

The dark green, and also the stuff Lucky liked. (Jo: ???)

8) Can you name another blog?

Crazy Aunt Purl (Jo added: What can I say? He likes cats.)

9)Do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go?

Not so much so long as I get equal time at book shops or game stores.

10) Do you understand the importance of a swatch?

Not so much.

11) Do you read my blog?

Everyday, if I have time.

12) If I didn’t knit, what would be different?

You likely would still blog, and likely still have snail mail pen pals. You'd probably throw pots in the basement too, (if I could set up cable down there).

13) Anything you would like to add?

No babe, you're perfect.

Aww... now you see why I love him? Anyone have any other questions for him?

Best Laid Plans

I had so many cool ideas of pictures to put on the blog to describe my trip, but my Mom's computer doesn't want to recognize my camera, so I am kind of stuck. Don't worry - I have some great pictures, but they will all have to wait until I get back. In the meantime, the weather is lovely - sunny and in the 70s, no humidity, and I am enjoying the nature around me.

Gearing Up

Willow on ferry3.jpg, originally uploaded by jochibi.

I finally broke down and signed up for a Flickr Pro account tonight - I want to be able to download many more pictures and also view the ones that had been hiding since I hit my limit.

I found this picture of me and Willow from the first time we travelled alone together when she was 15 months old, and it is one of my favourite pictures of the two of us. We are on the ferry between Tswassen and Nanaimo, and my Mom took the picture. And yes, I did keep her in a leash. Sometimes I wish I still could - the kid nearly took a tumble on the escalator this afternoon.

Beautiful Lake Cowichan

Beautiful Lake Cowichan, originally uploaded by Tourism BC.

Sorry about the lack of blogging - I have been incredibly preoccupied of late. In a few short days Willow and I will be basking in this neck of the woods - and hopefully both my desire to knit and blog will come back.

Take 37

Okay, I played with this for a while and came up with a banner. I'm still not 100% happy with the colour of the font, but there is not much you can do to make it visible on top of all the flowers.

Trying Something New

The header picture isn't quite turning out how I planned - I don't want it so tall. Does anyone know how I go about making it a more manageable size?

YP Friday: The Oops Edition

So, I went to my local yarn store to buy some metal size 1 dpns because I keep snapping my bamboo ones...



And ended up with 5 skeins of yarn in addition to my sock needles

The first to jump in was this Panda Wool/Bamboo sock yarn. I have been looking for a pretty neutral sock yarn I can wear with my business clothes (because as much as I love my livelier socks, they are not always appropriate.)



Then came this Brown Sheep Lanaloft in red - I thought this would make a great winter hat (for ME, Dad, me!):



Then Willow decided she wanted a new hat, too - and she chose the pink:



And then threw the turquoise in the basket, too. I said, "Well, which is it - a pink hat or turquoise hat?" Willow: "Both, Mom - I want a striped hat."



Anyway, enough of my lack of willpower - check out some garden pics instead.

This is a Early Girl tomato bus - we have had 4 tomatoes off this one so far - made for some great tomato and bacon sandwiches!



This is my yellow pear tomato bus - can you see how I jerry-rigged it up? Apparently I used the smaller pepper cages rather than tomato cages, and this thing grew so long and leggy that a slight breeze would topple it over. So, I bought this plastic fan trellis do-hickie, bungee-corded my tomato (pepper!) cage so it, then connect the trellis to the fence. Not pretty in the slightest, but it hasn't fallen down once since I did this.



Here's a close up of the yellow pear tomatoes. They are slightly bigger than cherry tomatoes and have this long neck. They are very mild tasting and not as sweet as cherry tomatoes.



This is my heritage tomato - from my in-laws garden. They call this their West Virginia tomato. What is peculiar about it is that it grows oblong - short, fat, and with a pronounced flat bottom. And the flesh is very light pink at the bottom to yellow at the top when ripe.



Now - here is where I ask all of you a question - is this a hibiscus? It is growing intertwined in my snowball tree. I really need to trim it back - but do you cut back hibiscus?