The Cyberangel Chronicles

Year End Review 2011

2011-12-26T17:03:00.000-08:00

2011 SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, one of the worst years of my life. It wasn't all bad, but the bad definitely took its toll on me.

I still have my house and progress is being made on the renovations, but I have spent most of this year in a panic looking for a new location for it.

We were terrorized the entire year by crazy, death- threat- uttering tenants, an enraged landlord, the entire police force and cranky neighbors.

We lived under the constant threat of death and destruction from the huge football- field- size barge that broke loose from its ties every other day for 8 months until the new buyer finally got around to taking it out of here.

I lost four of my best friends to cancer and am praying for a few more fighting the same battle.

My body HURTS like never before. I have suffered with bulging discs pressing on nerves, excruciating pain in all my joints ( possibly fibromyalgia), a huge weight gain since quitting smoking a year and a half ago which isn't doing my numbers any good and tendinitis in all the joints I need to do my job. I have spent about half of this year under the influence of Demerol and Advil just to get through my days.

I have battled depression, exhaustion, fear by the bucket load and way too much grief. I have alternated between wanting to give up and being fueled with rage to stand my ground.

About the only really positive thing to come of this year has been my work situation. At the beginning of the year I was working in three different clinics all of which were quite slow. I ended up working 6 days a week, treating a few people a day just to cover the bills. It really cut into my time to get anything done as I was always having to stop and go to work.

In April I was approached by an old colleague to do a locum for him so he could take a break to be with his newborn son. I thought it would just be for a few months but as the year wore on it became obvious he wasn't in any rush to come back. I was still juggling all my other shifts as well as taking on more days and clients at the new location. I finally asked him what his intentions were, and he said even if he came back it would only be part time so I could keep my shifts there. So with that in mind, I slowly over the months quit all my other jobs until I was only working at the new clinic in Steveston.

My last shift in Kitsalano was last Sunday. Christmas day marked the first time I have had a full weekend off in years. I took an extra day on Boxing day as a gift to myself. My resolution for this next year is to get out and attend as many events as I can. I have lived in Vancouver for 20 years and have missed almost every event, parade, and festival that happens here. So far I have been to the Solstice lantern Festival in Sun Yet Sun Gardens, the German Christmas Market on Christmas Eve, followed by a visit to Stanley Park that evening to see all the lights. Christmas day was a wonderful dinner at Shelley and Todd's place followed by a day in bed with leftovers.

I love Steveston, the small village where my clinic is. I like it so much, I realized I didn't want to leave when work was done. With that in mind, I decided to try and find a way to get my house moved down there. I am close to realizing my dream, just waiting for the slow-moving wheels of city hall to get a few things in place and hopefully I will be moving there soon.

It is the neighborhood I have been dreaming of all my life. All the stores are in a 2 block walking radius. Everyone knows your name and are happy to see you and be of help. It gets the best weather in Canada, the sky is almost always clear there. The air is fresh as it sits on the edge of the ocean and there are miles of walking paths along the dike.

My favorite part of this town is the fact that it is working hard to keep its heritage as an important fishing and canning town. There are maritime museums and Japanese heritage sites all around Steveston. It has kept its quaint seaside character which separates it from all the rest of the surrounding townships which are overrun with condo units. I can't wait to finally have my own home in a beautiful location, be able to walk to work and the shops and have clean fresh air and a park in my backyard to explore.

I have already signed up for a few courses at the local community center which start in January. One is called Taiko fit and is a course in Japanese drumming which is supposed to be vigorous enough to be considered a workout. The other is a yoga for plus size people course which sounded less intimidating to me than a regular one.

I have met the neighbors who share my building at work and have traded services with a few of them. I have had my astrological chart professionally read, acupuncture and cupping done and am getting my old age sun spots lasered off my face all in trade for my massages.

Manifesting a spot in Steveston for my home is what has kept me going. I see a paradise and I want to be part of it so bad. I can't wait for 2012, it couldn't possibly be any worse than this year, and if all goes according to plan, it should be a stupendous year where I finally get to realize my dreams and aspirations.

I truly hope that none of you had to face such burdens and that the new year is filled with grace and endless possibilities for a new future filled with love,light and laughter.

May your health be good, your pockets full and your heart glad, bless you all xoxo Rhianna

PS here is a link to a wonderful photo essay on Steveston, hope to see you there someday!

http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2011/08/25/steveston-fishing-village-a-photo-essay/

When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade

2011-12-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for a long time because things here have been a challenge ( to put it mildly), however life isn't sugar-coated so neither is my story. From every adversity thrown at me I have learned lessons and grown as a human so I am not posting a" woe-is-me" story but sharing how hardship is shaping my life.

I am not going to get into all the nitty, gritty details of " he said this" and "he did that" but our relationship with our landlord has completely deteriorated. People weren't paying their rent on time, new bills were being presented by the landlord that David had no idea that he would be liable for and the stress levels were mounting daily. It got to the point where David couldn't handle the insanity anymore and so relinquished his water lease back to the landlord. At that point, having resolved his responsibilities here, David went back to Ontario for a well needed rest. The landlord took his absence as an opportunity to shake things up here. His first order of business was to tell me that he had never had a lease with me himself and wanted me and my home off of his property ASAP.

Another tenant here had managed to convince the landlord that he could make him more money by filling the marina with boats in the space that my house was taking up, so the landlord hired him as the new caretaker (or "Harbour Master" as it was described in the notice we got) and made it his sole job to get rid of us. The first order of business was to cut off our power and water and to tell our neighbors that if any of them got caught helping or even talking to us, they would be evicted as well.

So since October 1st, I have been living off-grid, so to speak. People are always asking me "how do you do it"?

I wasn't at all ready for that scenario. It has been my long term goal to be self sufficient, but at the time this happened, my reality was that I was hooked up to 30 amp shore power which ran a few lights, a portable electric heater in my bedroom, my computer and charged various batteries. I had cold running water to flush the toilet and run in the kitchen sink. That was it!

I showered and did laundry at Davids house ( next door to me). I ate all my meals at his house and washed all the dishes there. The landlord told David, that if he disconnected his house from the property, that he would turn my power back on. David did ....and the landlord didn't.

Now we were totally screwed as my house didn't have any facilities built or hooked up and we couldn't access Davids house anymore. His house ended up sitting badly on the hard at low tide, cracked in half and within a few weeks, sank with all the furniture etc still in it.

So this is what my life has looked like for the last three months:

Cleaning:
I shower at local rec centers and occasionally a friends house.
I take my laundry twice a week to the laundromat.
I use buckets of water from the river to flush my toilet.
I use a broom, mop or carpet sweeper for the floors.

Cooking:
I buy large jugs of bottled water to drink and do dishes with.
All cooking/water heating is done on a propane stove and BBQ, outside in the rain and dark on the front deck.
My unheated kitchen is my fridge. Meats and perishables are kept safe in a cooler.

Heating:
I have 2 indoor propane heaters to heat the two bedrooms upstairs, which we basically live in, the rest of the house is whatever temperature it is outside that day.
I take hot water bottles to bed at night and have flannel sheets, 2 cotton quilts and a feather comforter to snuggle under.
I wear lots of clothes in the house and to bed.

Power:
After our first generator was sabotaged, I bought another smaller one which is brought indoors each night before going to bed. It's a small 1300 watt which powers 3 lights, a combination tv/vcr which is our entertainment and my computer and modem. We also use the generator to charge up car batteries which we use to run things like the answering machine and the computer late at night.

Light:
We use flashlights a lot to move around the house at night, a propane lantern for the kitchen, LED stick-up battery lights, which are motion-activated, for dark spots like stairs or the attic hallway. Sometimes we light candles and oil lamps for added ambience.
We have a few lamps which run off the generator when it's on.

Right now my costs are pretty high. I am paying for lots of bottled water, approx 60 liters of propane/month, 100 plus liters of gas/month, $40 plus a week in laundry costs, not to mention all the extra fuel and time it takes to go to the showers, laundromat, water selling places etc.

I am quite proud of the fact that I hunkered down and made the best of the situation. It's not ideal, but we are warm enough, well-fed, clean and dry. Now the trick is to lower my living costs.

I looked into putting a wood stove in, but to have all the legal clearances from the walls, the stove would have sat right in the middle of my kitchen. I have three doors in the kitchen which makes that set-up totally impractical. I need $2,500.00 to get a licenced gas fitter to come and hook up our propane fixtures. Once that is done, I would have a propane stove, fridge, dryer and hot water on demand system as well as a propane furnace which would heat the whole downstairs. If I run gutters down each side of my 60 foot roof, I could collect rainwater in barrels for showering and washing up. Some solar panels would offset the cost of the gas generator.

I am learning to live with less appliances, less water and less waste when it comes to power. I'm still not sure how I can produce enough power for all my eventual desires though. These are the bare necessities but I have things like an infra-red sauna, a Jacuzzi tub, steam shower and a bunch of beautiful light fixtures that I would like to be able to use now and again.

I miss having an oven ( although the pressure cooker has made some nice roast meals), I really miss running water. I would like to have at least one room with a heater that is thermosatically controlled so I can keep my plants alive over the winter. All in good time I guess, I just have to keep upgrading my system as funds come in.

I did have a spot of luck while all this was going on. For about 2 months, a friend who is a jack-of-all-trades came and did 2 hours of work a day for room and board. My wiring in the house was a total gong show. Before I got the house, someone had stolen the power box and left all the wiring cut. I had managed to get a few things hooked up in the beginning but most of it hadn't been sorted out yet. Dan managed to get a good chunk of it rewired and hooked up a bunch a light fixtures for me and set up all the connections in the bathroom for my spa units. He also framed in my bathroom doors and got the sliding door installed from the bathroom to the massage room. The steam shower unit is mostly set up, we just have to connect the water before putting the last few pieces together. The bathroom is about 75 percent complete. It's such a shame that I finally got thisclose to a bathroom but can't use any of it with no power and water. Still, progress is being made even admidst all the chaos in my life.

As if all this wasn't fun enough, my van did its usual balk at winter weather and spent 5 weeks at the mechanics. I had to bus it to work which added a lot more strain to my already very full days. I bought a bunch of water proof clothes and bundled up for the one km daily walk to the bus stop. The good part of this was: saved lots of money on gas, got to read books again on the one hour bus ride and got some sorely needed exercise. The bad part was trying to run all my fuel buying errands on my days off. Luckily good friends chipped in to lend me vehicles when needed. I finally got the van back, five hundred dollars later and it still runs like shit. Never when the mechanic drives it of course, only when I am alone and on the highway. Every engine light comes on and I sputter down the road for some time until mysteriously, they go out and all is well again. Oh well, beats walking!!

This whole time, I have been scrambling and looking for somewhere else to move the house. It has not been easy at all. My biggest drawback is my size. Most floathome communties have berths set up for something in the 20x20, 25x30 type of range. I am a collasal 28x66. Its like looking to park a bus in a smart car parking stall, not going to happen! After spending months phoning every single marina in BC and knocking on strangers doors with river front property, I decided to try a different method. That is another post in itself, so stay tuned for the story of how I manifested a berth for my home.

Updated: here is the link to that story
http://eclecticark.blogspot.com/2011/12/piece-of-history.html

Yesterdays News

2011-07-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well it seems my life isn't exciting enough these days. Most people start their day with toast and coffee. I started mine with a 50 force tactical squad aiming rifles at my head. Yes, this true. No this is not a joke.

I was lying in bed yesterday morning watching Amy Winehouse ( such a tragedy!) singing Back to Black, when I heard voices outside on a loudspeaker. I couldn't make out what they where saying because my music was a bit loud and at first I just thought it was a tugboat radio. As the song was winding down , I started to make out what they where saying. They were calling for Dave to come out of his house with his hands up. Curious, I got up and went downstairs to look out the window on the dock side. I saw a shadowy figure moving in between the storage containers above us but couldn't see anyone on the dock. Thought maybe I was hearing things so went back upstairs. Then I hear again, This is the police, come out with your hands in the air. WTF???

I ran to the back room upstairs and looked out the window to see a zodiac with half a dozen flak-jacket wearing policemen aiming assault rifles at my window. They told me I had to come out of the house with my hands up, and that the place was surrounded. At this point I am totally confused. This is like a bad movie or something. I know I have done nothing wrong, so can't imagine why a riot squad of police want to drag me out of my house. I call David and ask him if he has heard the loudspeakers calling for him. (He is fairly deaf, so chances are he hadn't, it took me a while before I got up to see what the racket was about). He actually hadn't so looked out his window and saw three zodiacs full of cops and guns pointing at him. He told me not to worry, he was going out to see what the fuss was about.

In the meantime, I quickly put on a dress and shawl, grabbed my cell phone and keys. Before I could get to the stairs, they were calling my name and telling me to come out. How the fuck do they know my name, I'm thinking?? I came out, locked the door behind me to protect my cats inside and start down the dock with my hands up to show I just had my phone and keys in them. I started to lower my hands at one point and was told to keep them up. There was guns at my back and front as they watched me coming up the ramp. I felt tremendous calm at the time. I know there is no reason for them to be here, we have done nothing wrong. For Christ sake, I am am old, fat, massage therapist. Honest as the day is long and totally gentle. Why would anyone be staring down a barrel at me with a twitchy trigger finger?

They were going to frisk me and maybe handcuff me when one of the officers told the other that it was pretty obvious I didn't have any weapons on me ( I was wearing a fairly diaphanous sleeveless dress that you could probably see right through) So instead they escorted me out into the street. It was only when I got there, that I saw the true scope of the operation. There were 8-10 police vehicles, a truck with a squad of armed men, the whole property was crawling with police, police dogs and more cop cars were speeding down the road at us as I watched.

It became apparent that a whole bunch of them were heading down the ramp to search my house, so I begged them to take the keys and not break down the door, or harm my cats that were inside. An extremely nervous looking cop pointed his rifle at me and asked if I was armed. A bunch more of them turned and started coming towards me. Panicked, I did the only thing I could think of.....I flashed them! Thats right, hauled my dress up right over my head, screaming,. I am not armed!!!! Put your guns down! The look on their faces was priceless... one of turned away saying " well you didn't have to do THAT!" Sorry guys , didn't mean to wreck your day, I know I'm no prize to look at , but needed to show you that I wasn't someone you had to be scared of. Mr Twitchy Finger was scaring the fuck out of me. I looked him right in the eye and tried to calm him down. Just told him," look there is nothing to worry about, there is no weapons, no drugs, no dogs, nothing wrong going on and nothing to be scared of. Just take my keys, be mindful of my home and look and see."

At that point, someone decided I would be better detained in the back seat of one their cars. Got to tell you, not a lot of room back there. Feel sorry for big people. They held us for half and hour or so while they terrified the neighborhood and searched all our premises. Finding nothing, they all just melted away like nothing ever happened. No sorry about that Ma'am or anything, just here's your keys , you can go home now, thanks for cooperating.....sheesh, like I had a choice...I'm not arguing with an Uzi.

So how was your day, anything interesting in the news? I think I'm going to go have a meltdown now, as I realize how close I came to getting shot if someone had got nervous or misunderstood my motives.

Back on the Roller Coaster

2011-07-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hmm, well I just don't know what to think anymore. I was able with great effort, to manifest my dream home, but seem unable to manifest a nice safe berth for it. I have been living in a state of sheer terror for the last few months as I have been evicted from where I have my home and can't find anywhere else to take it. I really don't think I can muster the energy to pack up all my belongings once again. This is exactly where I want to be, I cannot see myself in another home at this point. I have put too much blood, sweat and prayers into this place to just walk away before it is even finished.

It's not just a home, it's an environmental statement, it is a school for me to learn from, it's all my hopes and dreams for the future wrapped up in some cedar boards.

My life has been filled with many challenges through the years. Most of them came with buckets of tears attached as well as wonderful lessons learned. I wish the learning process didn't always have to be so painful though. Maybe in the grand scheme of things, I am not supposed to keep this place, maybe I just needed the experiance of living on the water to help me grow as a human being. It has certainly opened my eyes to the problems of pollution and sustainable living. It has caused me to do a lot of research and soul searching on ways to leave a gentler footprint on this beautiful planet of ours.

I just wish I could keep my home as a base to work from and be inspired by. I have no idea what the future holds for me now ( do any of us really) but at this moment don't have a plan B. I can't afford to rent anything decent anywhere near where I work, I'm exhausted by moving and can't muster the energy to do it all again and am fearful of where this is taking me in my old age.

I haven't had a stable home ever in my life. We were constantly on the move when I was younger and my homes as an adult were always being sold out from under me. I can't afford to buy in this economy and am tired of being at the mercy of landlords. What is a girl to do??

Just sending out a message to the universe, that if it is in the best interest of myself and the planet to please find me a haven to call home and to be a steward of. Thanks for listening xoxo

Desires

2011-06-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

I bought a book recently, called Angel Numbers 101, by Doreen Virtue. In it, she assigns a message from the angels to each number from 0-999. I often see repetitive numbers in my life ( as I am sure we all do at some point) and thought it would be nice to try and understand what the universe was trying to tell me.

One set of numbers that I see all the time is 1:11 or 11:11. This is what she had to say about them.

111 - This number brings you the urgent message that your thoughts are manifesting instantly, so keep your mindset focused on your desires. Give any fearful thoughts to heaven for transmutation.

11 - Stay positive, your thoughts are materializing rapidly, so you want to insure positive outcomes by focusing only on the good within yourself, others and this situation

1- Stay positive. Everything you are thinking about right now is coming true, so be sure you are only thinking about what you desire. Give any fears to God and the angels.

Do you see the trend here? So I started to think about my thoughts and how I word things and what manifests from that. As do many people, I sometimes let fear take over my thoughts and start thinking in a negative way when it comes to possible outcomes.

In the grand scheme of things, I worry about all kinds of worldly stuff and desire certain outcomes in my personal life. I decided that if the universe is that on top of my needs, ( I really see these numbers ALL the time) that I had better make sure I was asking for the things I really want. So this is what I want my life to look like:

1. I want my schedule at work to be comfortably full with balanced breaks. I want to receive payment for this work in a timely fashion.

2. I want to earn enough money to pay all my bills, renovate my home, take vacations and have enough left over for treats and a rainy day.

3. I want to experience good health and a fit constitution. I want a body that is a joy to have and behold.

4. I want to be surrounded by loving friends and family and to share my hospitality with them.

5. I want my pets to remain my loving, constant companions in excellent health for many years to come.

6. I want the people in my life to be happy, healthy and prosperous.

7. I want peace.Peace on earth, peace between neighbors, friends, family, peace and quiet.

8. I want my home to be all that I dream it to be. I want it to be my sanctuary, my inspiration, my gift to my friends.

9.I want to die, knowing that I made a difference. That I helped people, that I took care of the planet, that I learned the lessons that I was sent here to learn.

10.I want the planet to be ok .I want clean air, clean water and land set aside for all the other creatures that call Earth home. I want people to get off the plastic tit, RIGHT NOW! TODAY!

11. I want my story to inspire other people. Don't think your actions alone are too small to make a difference. It is the action of each individual person that got us where we are today and each individual person has the power to change that if that's what they want. I want people to take responsibility for their actions and make the changes necessary to create a better civilization. I want people to be better stewards of the land, better neighbors, better politicians etc. We have to work together for the health of all or we are doomed as a species.

So if the universe is listening and manifesting, that's how I want my desires to read, if you hear any other thoughts coming from me that are fear based, please disregard and file with the appropriate angel. Thank you and good night!

What would you wish for ?

Another One Bites the Dust

2011-05-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today is a sad day for me and many others who remember the "Bowie " with fondness. When I first met Dave he was living on that boat and I spent many happy hours there hanging with all the roomies on the back deck or in the hot tub. It was sold a few years back to a fellow who made some half- hearted attempts to fix her up, but he had pretty much abandoned her in recent months from what we could tell. It would have taken a serious transfusion of cash to refit her properly, which unless your a gazillionaire wasn't going to happen. So as Grieg pointed out today, she is now a river ornament. Rest in peace old girl, I can still hear the laughter of parties from days gone by on your decks, good memories and a few sad ones but definitely a boat to remember!

Blog, Blog, Blog.... and Blog Some More

2011-05-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Blogging has somehow taken over my life. It all started so innocently with this blog, which was just to be a personal diary of sorts to keep track of my convoluted life. Then I decided I needed a platform to share all my knowledge, so Wyldestone Cottage was born. After blogging there for awhile , I decided that I was really writing about two completely different topics on that one. Some posts were about my new floathome and other posts were about alternative health care. I decided that might be too confusing for my readers, so have decided to split Wyldestone Cottage into two different blogs.

I would like to introduce you to my latest creations:

the eclectic ark - all about building my floathome for free and decorating with recycled treasures
with craft tutorials and recipes

sage advice - posts on alternative health care, ways to save the environment, and healing for the mind, body and soul

I have reposted a good number of the posts that I had originally written on Wyldestone Cottage to the appropriate blog and will be adding lots of new content in the near future.

I have worked on these blogs with the intention of reaching a greater audience. I would love it if you can find a way to follow and share them through facebook and twitter.

I will continue to keep this blog going as a way to check in with myself as my life follows it's meandering bumpy path. Now I just need to find a way to squeeze 40 hours into a 24-hour day, so I have time to write all these blogs, work 5 days a week and finish building my house. Can anyone say insomnia lol.

I used to have a good quality camera that I loved. Unfortunately, it up and died on me one day a few years ago. I was told it would be cheaper to buy a new one than to fix it..... I was not impressed with that statement as the camera cost me over a thousand dollars. I think for that price they should last forever, but I guess the digital age comes with an expiry date!

Anyways, I was in Future Shop the other day, and for a lark decided to see what kind of credit they would give me. I lucked out and they ok'd me for 1,500.00. Now normally I don't want anything to do with credit, I'm all about... save up and pay for it in cash if you really want something. However, I need my cash flow too much these days for paying off the house and getting material for reno's, so decided to bite the bullet and get a camera on credit so that I have something decent to take pictures with for the blogs.

So I am now the proud new owner of a Canon Rebel T3 with an extra telephoto lens. As soon as I have read the ten-pound owners manual and figured out how to operate the thing, I hope to be bringing you much better quality photos for the blogs. Thanks for reading and sharing my life with me, I value each and every one of you.

Cheers, Rhianna

Please take a minute to check out my new blogs and find a way to follow and share them, much appreciated, thanks for being awesome!

It's Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings....

2011-04-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

....and I can't sing worth shit, so things are looking up! This last month was nothing short of agonizing for me as all I could do was wait and see how the chips fell, having no say in the outcome of things here. The short version though, it looks like we won't be moving from here after all, yahoo!

Our intrepid landlord managed to foul things up for David by refusing to agree to give the new(potential) owner of the water lease, first dibs on buying the place should he ever decide to sell. That was a deciding factor for the buyer and so he backed out.

In the meantime, as part of the sale proceedings, the property had to be inspected by the Port Authority. It turns out they don't have a problem with us keeping a floathome here as long as we put in a pump-out for the septic tank. Not a problem,as we have everything we need to do that! They did however note that we had exceeded our water lot by quite a bit in every direction, so we have to lose a bunch of stuff in order to fit into our alloted water lease. In reality most of the extra stuff is all Davids free acquisitions that weren't making us any money anyway and all needed tons of work and money thrown at them anyway.

So over the next few months, we will be letting go of all the excess boats, barges, spare dock material etc in order to downsize things here. It will be so nice to see this area cleaned up. I am so grateful to the universe for allowing me to hang on to my home. I had put off doing any more work to it as it didn't seem like a good idea to sink money into it if I was going to lose it. Now that I have some breathing room, I can't wait to get on with things.

I started a new job last week down in historic Steveston and things are going really well there. I am working three days a week there and am already averaging 5 clients a day which is wonderful. Ever since they brought in the new HST tax last July, business had died for me in all three clinics I was working in. In March I only had one client out of eight shifts at one place. That was scary to say the least. My other job had gone from eight clients a shift down to two or three. The last clinic, I was averaging one or two clients a shift as well. Hard to make a living with those numbers especially when I have to pay rent at each place. So I am thrilled to say the least. Summer is definately looking up for me now.

I love Steveston, I sure wish I could park my house there! It is the original fishing port in Richmond where they used to do all the fish canning. It lies in the southern-most area of Vancouver and as such gets tons of sunshine and fresh air from the ocean. It's a quaint village with tons of cool shops and trendy restuarants to peruse and as such has alot of foot traffic which is good for business. So far I have been lucky enough to be so busy that the shops are all closed by the time I finish work, heaven forbid I spend all the money I'm making before I can get it home.

I have a renewed sense of hope and optimism now and can't wait to get on with things. Now hopefully I can spend some time and energy getting a grip on my health. I quit eating chocolate for Lent and that is going well. I actually have lost my craving for all things sweet in general which is a good thing. Sadly that hasn't resulted in any kind of weight loss, which surprises me really as I ate a ton of chocolate every day. Oh well, it can't be a bad thing to cut out all that sugar.

I have been in tons of pain the last year with what feels like arthritis. All my joints especially in my feet, legs and hips have been giving me all kinds of trouble, so I finally made it to my naturopaths.I got a bunch of supplements that will hopefully take care of that problem. Once I'm not in screaming pain, I can start moving again and get some exercise. I'm battling my demons one at a time and am making good progress in cleaning up my lifestyle. I think my next goal would be to try and eat a raw food diet as much as possible. I am increasingly disturbed by plastic packaging, dangerous food additives and the high cost of groceries. I think the time has come to simplify my diet and get back to basics. Good wholesome organic produce and fresh fish from the docks should make a huge improvement in how I feel. Onwards and upwards, tommorrow is another day, and this time I am looking forward to it... cheers and thanks for your prayers!

Living with Fear

2011-03-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

In my life I have had many occasions to be afraid. Afraid I wouldn't fit in, afraid I wouldn't make new friends, afraid of spending my life alone but one of my biggest and all time overwhelming fears is the fear of being homeless. I have stood on this precipiece more than once in my life and it never gets any easier.

These last few months have been nothing short of terrifying. I'm in a horror movie that just won't quit. It all started a few months back when David put an ad on Craiglist looking to sell the "Sea Ferring".

(Some background on the "Sea Ferring"..... this was a 75 foot ferro cement boat with no motor that used to belong to Greig and Tana, the previous tenants of this marina. They moved and took it with them but eventually sold it to a man who ended up bringing it back here to be moored. This man through not hooking up his bilge pump after moving it, managed to let it sink. At great expense to life, limb and pocketbook, David finally managed to get the boat floating again. The owner refused to pay the bill for salvage or the rent and basically walked away. The boat sat here for over a year taking up valuable space that Dave couldn't rent out and being another chore to have to check on constantly etc , so in the end he decided to try and sell it)

The fellow that answered the ad (Rob) couldn't pay up front so entered into an agreement with Dave to pay $500 a month towards to cost of the boat and to help out around the shipyard 75 hours a month to cover his moorage costs.Everything went fine for about two months until one day when Rob showed up at the door and asked when he was going to get paid? Paid for what, Dave asked him? For the work he had been doing around the shipyard... no Dave says.. what are you talking about, thats our aggreement for your moorage.

The guy went beserk, started screaming that he wasn't going to pay moorage and if he couldn't keep the boat here for free he was going to sink it. He stayed up for 3 days straight sitting on his deck screaming at the top of his lungs the most vile shit ever. On the third day he pulled all the pumps on the boat and it started to sink. He wouldn't let Dave on board to fix things so we called the cops. They restrained Rob long enough for Dave to hook up the pumps and save the boat. At that point Dave told him he could have the boat for free, just get it out of here.
We didn't want him around anymore.

The next night we got a call around 4:30 in the morning from another boat owner, telling us the Sea Ferring was sunk. We scrambled out to see what was going on and there she was, completely underwater with Rob sitting up on the shore watching everything, threatning to kill David if he went near the boat. In the morning when we could see better, it was also discovered that he had cut through some of the major lines that hold the marina together as well as cutting a line to one of our biggest tenants (a vessel over 100 feet long with 6 kids sleeping aboard). Needless to say we were shaken to the core, he could have killed us all while we were sleeping, sent us all flying downriver.

This man then continued to harass and torment us for another three weeks. He wouldn't leave the property. When we pointed out to the police that he had no where to stay as the boat was under water, they told us to change the locks on the gate. We did that and he still got on the property. He went on another of Daves large boats and pulled the pumps on it to try and sink that one. He would show up at all kinds of times and wander around the docks. He phoned Dave, one call right after the other for hours and hours and hours on end. Dave can't turn the phone off as he needs it for business and emergencies. We had the police here probably a dozen times over this guy and every time they would say there was nothing they could do. They would put him on a bus and send him downtown only for him to turn around and come right back.

We were petrified, couldn't sleep at all, getting up to investigate every tiny noise (and down on the docks there are tons of stupid noises at night).Hours were spent peering through the windows trying to decipher shadows in the bushes. Just when we would let down our guard we would look up and he would be standing two feet away on the docks. He continued to threaten Dave and then enventually me as well. Threatened to sink the whole marina as a matter of fact. Some of our tenents couldn't take the stress anymore and moved away with no notice.

The final result of all this was that at the end of the month David couldn't pay the lease without the other tenants rent money so got threatned with eviction. Tired of the stress, David put his business and the marina on the market and found a buyer after only a few days. Suddenly it was a done deal, someone else is taking over here and they have their own agenda for the space which doesn't include my home being here.

I have been scrambling to find another berth for my home, but it's really not looking good. The province of BC has cracked down on the whole liveabord scene as it's not allowing it to happen anymore.The few marinas left who can do it legally have a ton of things they have to adher to now, which is making it difficult and very expensive for them to operate. That coupled with the fact that the Port Authority doesn't dredge the river anymore and everyone faces sitting on the hard at low tide is making it not financially feasible to run these places. This seems to be a lifestyle that is going the way of the albatross.

Once again I am staring a very uncertain future in the face. This gets harder to do with each passing year. I'm not so young anymore, work has been almost non-existant since the new HST tax, I can't afford to rent a space bigger than a closet in this town and I can't afford to run away.

I'm pissed off too. Once again I have sunk my heart, soul and money into something that I will have to walk away from. I didn't even get to finish unpacking. I didn't get to try out my beautiful steam shower that I spent a fortune on and payed to store for two years. Overnight my world has once again shifted as it seems to be doing for a whole lot of people these days. I feel like I'm walking on quicksand. God save us all! These are uncertain times indeed.

Maybe my dream home was just that, a dream.. right now I just want to wake up from this nightmare.

Looking Back 2010

2010-12-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

I think I have to say that 2010 was one of the highlights of my life so far. I've had some pretty spectacular years in the past so I don't say this lightly.

It all started with the Olympics. I think I'm still feeling the buzz. I had no idea what to expect. Too be honest, I didn't really think anyone would show up. Boy was I wrong! To see the normally frosty citizens of Vancouver dressed up in their best interpretation of the Canadian flag and filled to the brim with giddyness and joy was an experience I wasn't expecting. I fell in love with my country all over again. There is an amazing power that comes with strong patriosm that just sweeps you along for the ride. I'm so proud of all our athletes and their amazing showing on home turf. The final hockey game was the nail-biting icing on the cake. What a wonderful way to start the year.

The mild weather, while maybe not ideal for a winter olympics, was welcomed by me especially after last years frosty wonderland. I really don't like to battle the elements! It can snow all it wants to on the mountains, but please by all means, rain on my parade, I really don't mind at all.

I spent the spring living in a beautiful heritage home with a fabulous garden. Every day was a treat seeing what new life had burst forth. All the lucious scents and colours were a gift for the senses. After three years of living in an industrial park, all that beauty and life was like water to a parched plant. I spent hours in that garden, inspecting plants, taking their pictures, looking them up online to learn more about them and absorbing their lovely energy.

The nine months I spent in that house away from Mitchell Island was in a sense a rebirth for me. I got out and socialized more. I started the Wyldestone Cottage blog and finally put my interests together in writing so that when I'm ready to teach, I'll have my course notes finally in order. I quit smoking again but for good this time. And last, but not least, I manifested my own home.

June/July were anxious months for me as I held my breath and crossed my fingers and toes waiting for all the paperwork and neccesary manouvers to acquire my home and get it transported down here. The day it finally arrived was like a dream for me. I had to keep pinching myself to make sure it was real.

The rest of the summer and fall, I fell off the face of the earth and into a love affair with my home. It looks an aweful sight these days, full of my belongings and construction material all over the place, but I can see the final vision, I see past all the chaos to the castle it wants to be. Each project finished, each decision made, each new purchase is a moment of pure joy and contentment. I live for the day when I can fling my doors open to the world and say "come on in". I look forward to years of entertaining and working on many projects.

As for the rest of this winter, I just can't wait for it to be over. I live in fear of snow. I don't want to have to get up and shovel off my roof. I don't want to battle my way to work and back in vehicles not equipped for bad weather. I have a bunch of projects on hold because it's too cold to work downstairs. I am counting down the weeks until the worst is behind us. I can't wait to see what the new year has in store for me. It will be tough to beat this year, but a nice calm, middle-of-the- road year would be nice, no drama, just things getting done. Work when I need it, lots of sunshine and some headway on my thousand and one projects would be so sweet.

The only fly in my ointment is my weight. As I knew I would, I've ballooned since quitting smoking. I'm so ashamed and embarrassed, I haven't been to a single function involving my friends in over 6 months. Nothing fits, I look horrific, I have a massive 60-70 pounds to lose to get back to where I was when I first arrived here four years ago. It's such a daunting number, I don't know where to start and the thought of starving myself and exercising like a hamster in a cage just to lose one pound a week makes me feel so helpless. So once again, I start the New Year vowing to get control over my body. I don't know why I bother, none of my resolutions ever seem to go anywhere. Maybe this year, I will resolve to eat more chocolate, be more sedentary and not give a shit what I weigh. Maybe then the opposite will happen, a girl can dream can't she?

Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year, may all your dreams come true and do take some time to stop and smell the roses, it's those little things that make life worth living.

Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Tough Times

2010-11-26T11:32:00.001-08:00

Boy this week has been one of the hardest in my life. It started when Davids cat almost died. Smoochie had run outside, jumped onto a large box and off the other side only to land in a barrel of oil that Dave had just drained out of the tugboat. He was completely immersed in the oil and scrabbling like mad to get out. Dave heard the racket , hauled him out of the oil and tried to hose him off. The cat didn't like that at all and got away by running under the workshop and staying there for hours. Finally when he was 90 percent dead from hypothermia( the temperature was around zero, it started to snow later that night!) we were able to push his limp body out with a large stick. I spent the next 5 hours just holding the cat next to my body while wrapping him in warm towels and a hot water bottle to get his body temperature back to normal. I set him down for a moment to do something and he crawled off into an inaccesable corner of the attic where he stayed for 24 hours. Needless to say,I didn't get any sleep as I kept checking on him with a flashlight to see if he was still alive.

He finally came out of hiding the next night and I was able to give him a bath to remove most of the oil. His fur still looks way too shiny and spiky and he could use another bath but didn't want to stress him out anymore at this time. It took three days before he came out and walked around and had anything to eat or drink. He still looks completely shell shocked and spends almost all his time sleeping. Poor guy, I feel so sorry for him, his fur has started falling out and he is so skinny right now, but he does seem to be on the mend, so time will tell how he will recover from all the trauma.

That was the start to a rough week indeed. As I mentioned in my last post, winter hit us with a vengance this year. One of the reasons I moved to Vancouver was the mild winters we are famous for but this year I might as well have been back east. One day we hit minus 22 with the windchill and got all kinds of heavy thick snow. As long as the temperature stays around the plus 5 mark we can keep our homes comfortable with space heaters and the woodstove. Once it gets below zero, it becomes a battle to not freeze to death.

Our average temperature inside the house was probably about 5 degrees at best. I basically put on all the clothes I own and went to bed with four blankets and a feather quilt, a cat tucked under each arm and stayed there for the last few days. Dave on the other hand had to battle the elements and go out each day to take apart all the hoses and bring them in to defrost them in an attempt to get running water going again. He spent hours cutting firewood, shoveling the docks, checking all the boat bilges, shoveling snow off his roof and a meriad of other chores that left him exhausted and frozen. I'm so proud of him for having the moxy to get out there every day and do all of this stuff. I was a total wuss and just hid in my bed and moaned about the cold.

I made one attempt to flee the island on the coldest night and only got four blocks away before my engine overheated and something blew. It's still parked on a side road waiting for next Monday when my mechanic gets back from his holidays. I only pray that its a quick easy fix as I have no money for extensive repairs. Not having a vehicle has put me in a bad spot as I have finally gotten some calls for home massage but can't get all my gear to their house without my van. It's a catch-22, I need money to fix the van, can't earn any without the van , arghhhhh!

Last night was the final straw, the power went out for a few hours and things got really cold with no electricity for the heaters. My cell phone battery was dying, no vehicle to get out of here, no where to go, no money for a hotel room, my plants on the verge of freezing to death. I've never felt so helpless. All I could do was huddle under the covers with the cats and hope we survived the night.

Today we woke up to a balmy plus four and most of the snow melted. Halleluyah! Hoping this trend stays for awhile, so I can get on with things around here. That was a week I don't want to repeat again ever!

It's way to Cold to Kiss

2010-11-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

A song for winter, sung to the tune of Sealed With a Kiss

Yes we had to say good bye to the summer,
And now it's come down to this
Minus twelve in November,
Now it's way too cold to kiss
Guess it's going to be a long nasty winter,
I'm huddled in bed writing this
Too cold to get up and start a fire
Don't know how I'll make it through this
The water pipes are frozen
The propane hose is cracked
Ice is on the docks
Not enough wood got stacked
I didn't want to say good bye to the summer,
Knowing the heat I would miss
If I could have left in September,
Then it wouldn't have come to this
Guess it's going to be a long nasty winter,
Promises of lots of ice and snow
If only I was was rich, I could get on a plane and go
to Mexico
Where it's warm enough to kiss
And away from all of this

Bah Humbug, I hate winter and more so with every passing year. There was a few years in my twenties and thirties once I had learned how to ski, where I found a modecum of enjoyment from the sight of fresh snow, but now that I am older, stiffer and poorer that small joy is forever gone. Now it's just a struggle to survive each day. Living on the water makes that job even harder.

It's a constant battle against the elements here. We are limited to one hundred amps of electricity for the whole marina and that has to be shared by everyone. That means there isn't enough electricity for everyone to run a million space heaters
24/7, so alternative sources of heat must be found.

First you have to insulate EVERYTHING! Seal all the windows with plastic, stuff all the cracks with insulation, and hang blankets in all the doorways. Our main source of heat is the woodstove which eats firewood in amazing quantities. We seem to spend a large part of each day chopping wood which then vanishes in a a few short hours and requires setting an alarm to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire.

Luckily we live in a climate where it rarely dips below freezing but when it does we are in trouble. All of our water comes to us through garden hoses which freeze solid. The regulators for the propane tanks also freeze meaning no hot water or cook stove. Any dampness on the docks turns to ice making them extremely treacherous to navigate. If the cold snap lasts long enough, the river itself freezes, sending large dangerous chunks of ice sailing down river to crash into us.

Over the last two years, so much sediment has built up under us, that Dave's house sits on the hard at an angle during low tide. With last night's full moon making an extra low tide and the extreme cold, his house was making huge cracking noises which sounded like all the beams were breaking.Thankfully they didn't but the noise was something fearful to experience.

Even with 4 heaters and a fire going for most of the night, when we woke up the temperature in the house was at zero, the water pipes all frozen and this is just November! Our really bad weather typically doesn't start until the end of December.

I wish I was a bear so I could just hibernate until this is all over! Or rich enough to just leave for somewhere tropical for the next four months.

Giving Thanks

2010-10-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

I was out of town on Saltspring Island last weekend taking a course for my massage therapy continuing education, so didn't get a chance to work on things around the house but this weekend was very productive.Slowly but surely I am making some headway. I'm still working on the kitchen but can see light at the end of the tunnel now. The walls are all painted, the cabinets painted, knobs for the cabinets... you guessed it, .. painted as well.

The original white knob on the left, how they look painted green to match the kitchen colours on the right. Quite proud of myself for thinking of stringing them up on fishing line to paint all sides of them at once.

I got the two leaded glass sliding doors resized and proper handles put on them and they are now installed.( Go here to find out exactly how I made small doors bigger so they would fit the frame) The upper kitchen cabinets have been installed and the plumbing for the sink and dishwasher has been run through the walls.

The next step is to sand and varnish the floors which should take up most of my next group of days off. Once thats done, I can install the base cupboards and hook up the sink and dishwasher. I'm supposed to have an electrician here tomorrow to finish the job of hooking me up. I really hope he comes and does the job. I've been camping in here since July. I didn't mind at all in the summer, but it is getting colder and darker in here every day. If the temperatures drop much more I won't be able to stay here without heat.

If I get power hooked up, there are baseboard heaters in some of the rooms and I have portable heaters I could use in other rooms. I have a woodstove but am waiting to finish running the plumbing through the walls and floors before finishing the floor and setting up the stove. Also I have to cut a new hole in my house for the chimney and am nervous about doing that right. Don't want any leaks, don't want 15 feet of chimney swaying in the breeze either, not sure yet how I am going to do it. The other issue with woodstoves is keeping them going. I have no wood and nowhere to store wood,... meh!

God must have heard my pleas to send me someone to help as I got an interesting offer today. Friends of mine dropped by with two young men who have their carpenter tickets and want to find work in Vancouver. They are willing to trade work for accomadation while they get settled here. They seem to know what they are talking about, so I hope this works out. When I have a helping hand, alot gets done in short time. Trying to do this all by myself is extremely hard. Sometimes all I need is an extra pair of hands to hold something while I nail it in place, but without those hands, a small job becomes a huge hurdle. I figure if I could have an electrician, a plumber and a few carpenters for even one day, I could get a big chunk of the basics done and have the neccesities taken care of. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed and hoping I can come up with enough material to keep them busy if they do stay here.

I have so much to be grateful for in my life right now. I want to thank the universe for providing me with this opportunity, Daryl and my Dad for backing me financially, David for giving me a place to work on things, my friends who helped me move, gave me a hand with my projects and dragged me out of here on occasion to come up for air. A huge THANK YOU to each and everyone of you, from the bottom of my heart. Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy Birthday to my Dad who has the auspicious birthday of 10/10/10 and is spending it at the pyramids in Egypt. Hope your having the birthday of a lifetime Dad, you deserve it!

Big Fish

2010-09-16T11:06:00.001-07:00

Funny , I live on the water but don't give much thought as to what might be swimming by. This giant guy was caught upstream. Im never swimming in here again!

Big Fish Story

How I Spent Labour Day

2010-09-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Labouring of course, silly!
I don't know if it's the name of the day, but I always seem to be working extra hard on labour day. This year was no different. I've been procastinating about painting my kitchen as I've never had very good results with my painting techniques. This year I took the time to research and ask some questions from the professionals and wrote a post for Wyldestone Cottage about all I learned in the process.

Finally armed with some knowledge, lots of supplies and a room prepainted with primer by my good friend and expert painter, Rick, I was ready to tackle the job. Boy what a difference some knowledge makes! It still wasn't my favorite activity in the world but I am more than happy with the final results and no mess at all to speak of, whoohoo!

The next day, once the paint was dry, I really wanted to get a sense of how the room was going to look when I was done. I still need to refinish the floors(which I really should have done first) but I couldn't wait. I huffed and puffed and dragged all my kitchen appliances and cupboards through-out the house and into the kitchen. I then spent an agonizing 12 hours rearranging everything like a giant (HEAVY) jigsaw puzzle until I was happy with the final configuration of things. I can finally see what the room will eventually look like.

I still have lots of work to do yet. The floors need re-finishing, I need to build a stand for the sink and dishwasher so they are at the same height as the counters. I will be painting all the cupboards,finding and installing a counter-top and handles,installing light fixtures, plumbing in the sink and dishwasher, hooking up the stove to the propane after running propane hose through pipe from the balcony(storage area for the propane bottles), building a shelving unit for the other wall with glass doors and decorating in general. Wow, writing that list just took the wind out of my sails.....oh well, onwards we go, it will be done one day.

The day after that I was too sore to do much of anything physical, but it was a great day nonetheless. I had an epiphany!!! I was finally able to visualize the open downstairs space. It was weird, even though I could see through the open framed walls, I couldn't seem to see past them. In frustration, I started hauling large items around and arranging them where I wanted walls be so I could get a sense of the space I wanted to create. Armed with a measuring tape , I scurried around for hours planning and plotting and making sure everything would fit and traffic flow would be comfortable and I think I am happy with the results. The beauty of this, is now that I know what I want and where everything is going to go, I know what I need and don't need out of my pile of stuff and I can make a coherant list of projects in some kind of chronological order that makes sense. In a way, that was one of the biggest jobs of all! I am so happy to scratch that one off the list.

So here are a few pics of the kitchen in its rough form, you will have to work with me and use your imagination for some of these pictures but I assure you , It will look great when it is finished. Keep in mind the house is over 100 years old, so I am trying to keep some of that character in my design.

This picture is what you would see as soon as you walk in the door. There was a tiled corner there originally for a woodstove but after inspecting the chimney, I found out it was so far away from code as to be nothing but a danger, so no woodstove in that corner. Instead I ripped out the tiles, placed the corner cabinet there and will be building shelves that radiate out on either side. The white window frames you see there will be glass doors for the shelves. The white cabinets you see will be placed up on the wall over the shelves.

Looking to the left in the room, you have the stove which will have a shelf over it for the microwave and some of the kitchen cabinets( they aren't mounted to the wall yet, so will be higher than in this pic as well they still need to be painted)
Looking down that wall you see my kitchen sink project with a sunshine ceiling fixture that will be installed over the sink.

This chandalier wil be going over the table
Over by the front door I have placed a small bookcase which I am going to finish with those windows leaned up in front of it. On top is two of the oak spoon racks I found last year that will be reworked into spice cabinets and mounted higher on the wall.

I've been playing around with different ideas for the doors in the kitchen. This doorway leads to the room beside the kitchen and I like the glass letting all the light in.
I actually have an old dutch door with a window in the top that will be my front door but it was too heavy to move into place by myself , so I placed another glass door here for the moment to get a sense of the view and light I would be able to have.
Well there you have it. Thats the kitchen so far. I have a long way to go but being able to see what the finished look will be has given me the will to plow forward and get it done. I am hoping it will be a functioning kitchen by Thanksgiving. I would love to cook my first real meal in a full sized oven and serve it on an elegant tablescaped table. Wish me luck, or better yet, pop by and lend a hand.

Nothing is in stone yet, so if you have any great ideas, speak up and let me know what you would do if this was your kitchen.

PS, pretty much everything you see in all these pictures I got for free or very cheap, except for the chandalier everything is recycled. I paid $50 for the chandalier and saw the same one yesterday at Home Depot for $180. I paid $100 for the stove which cost over $1000 new. So far my biggest expense for this room has been paint and painting supplies, about $200 with Ricks discount. I'm guesstimating that my total costs what with what I've already spent and the rest that I need will be about $1000 total. That includes renting a floor sander, buying varnish and applicators, plumbing supplies, knobs and hardware for doors and cupboards,paying someone to install my doors and wire in my light fixtures. Not bad for a kitchen from scratch.

I am linking to Cindy's wonderful blog My Romantic Home

And The Walls.... Come Tumbling Down.......

2010-08-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month already! I wanted to post sooner, but was hoping to have at least one finished project to show you by now. It's all been more of a process than I anticipated. I have no power as of yet, although that is being worked on now. Someone had cut all the wires going into the panel box and stolen most of the breakers, so I was left with a big electrical mess to sort out. I have had someone here for the last three days trying to put it all back together with various components that we already had kicking around .

In the meantime most of last month was scorching hot so I wasn't too motivated to do heavy labor and by the time night fell and it cooled off, I had no light to see by. For years I have been drawing plans to design my dream home. It never looked exactly like this place, so I found myself just needing to hang out and spend time here feeling the place out and trying to visualize different ideas to see what I wanted to do next. I kept changing my mind every other day, so got kind of paralyzed and scared to start something. I've been slowly unpacking some of my boxes, trying to find all my tools and craft supplies. I have most of them out now, but won't show you the room just yet as I am waiting to find them all before I decided how to store them.

I've also been working five days a week, so had to wait for time off and some cash for materials before I could get much done. The first project is to get the two front rooms done so I can set up a kitchen and living room.

This is going to be the kitchen. I stripped off the wallpaper that was on these walls. Two of the walls were wood paneling that the paper just peeled off.The other two walls , it was glued on tight. I managed to pull the paper off but it left a paper backing stuck to the wall. I mixed fabric softner with boiling water ( half and half) in a sprayer bottle and soaked the paper backing on the wall.

It just peeled off the wall after that with a little nudge from a plastic scraper. ( The white wall is the first one I did, you can see the paper on the floor. To the left where the wall looks beige hasn't been done yet.)

The room beside the kitchen had horrible plastic looking paneling with plastic ribs holding it together. It looked like mobile home paneling from the eighties or something, seriously fugly anyway. Armed with a crowbar, I pulled all the molding and paneling down. What a horror show underneath. The first wall I did, had this large wood paneling which I thought, ok I can work with this.

But the next wall was all styrofoam insulation

and this wall had thick cardboard like sheets of wallpaper glued to the wood.The different wall paneling you see here is all the back of the plastic stuff that was on the walls originally.

I could of cried.....as a matter of fact, I avoided that room for a few weeks after.

As soon as I have some more cash, I will be buying beadboard paneling for the bottom of the walls and more paneling for the top which will then be painted sage green or burgendy( I haven't decided yet)

Then there is the upstairs ( sigh...)

I have one room set up as a bedroom and the door wouldn't even open all the way before it hit this wall.

The room behind that wall is a huge airless, windowless space filled to the brim with boxes of stuff. In the heat wave we have been having it was too hot and lacking in oxygen to work up there for any length of time. In desperation one day, I had a fellow come up with a saw and cut me hole in the wall so I could get airflow coming through from the other side.

Ahhhh , much better, light and oxygen!!

While he was doing that, I tore down the wall in front of the bedroom door, so I can easily access the space now and have some cross ventilation going on.

In the meantime, I am still searching craigslist for more material. I lucked out the other day and got all these tiles ,vinyl and wooden flooring for free.

From this huge pile that was free to pick from.

I got tons of gorgeous blue tile for the downstairs bathroom and some nice mushroom brown ones for the upstairs bathroom. I also got cans of the adhesive and grout I needed to do the job. I got some lovely tongue and groove wood and some beadboard style as well as three different styles of vinyl flooring. In total, I probably got in the neighborhood of four thousand dollars of material for free, all because they needed more room in their warehouse!

I also picked up a laundry room sink and a bunch of dressers and shelf units so I can create a large walk-in closet type-of-affair in that upstairs space.

Here is one project, I'm close to being finished on,

The First of Many Projects!!!

The Shirley Metal Kitchen. This was donated to me by David. It is an old (1940-1950) metal kitchen sink and cupboard unit. As you can see, it was seriously rusty and decrepted looking when I first saw it.

EWWWWWW!!!!!

I thought for about a nano second, that I might keep the original sticky paper that was on the shelves, just to keep it original looking , but decided against that when I saw the fifty year old dirt under the edges of it. Out it came!

I then spent a few hours sanding the whole unit down with various grades of grit, until the rust was all gone. Then I gave it a good washing with TSP and hot water, followed by a good long hosing down. Once it was dry, it got painted with 2 coats of self etching primer inside and out.

For some reason the colour I chose isn't showing up in these pictures at all, but this is the cabinet with two coats of sage green colour ( which mysteriously looks exactly like the military green tarp that its sitting on).

I found these cute handles at Home Depot. I guess over the years we have changed the standards of how wide our handles are for cupboards. The holes in mine were for about a two and a half inch spacing, but all the handles I found were three inch. So unfortunately, I had to ( get David) to drill an extra set of holes to fit the handles.

So, its pretty much done now. I want to build a small wooden frame for it to sit on as the doors catch on the ground, then as soon as the kitchen is painted, it will be installed.

All this work has aggravated my bulging discs in my neck once again ( 3 times in one year!) Each time it seems to take about 6 weeks to resolve itself. The last time it happened , I spent over a thousand dollars on naturopath, chiropracter, massage, physiotherapy and acupunture. Nothing works unfortunatly. They all say the same thing, there is nothing they can do for me, I just have to manage the pain and wait for it to fix itself. So a few advil and a demerol, then wait for it all to kick in and I have about 2 painfree hours to work with with before it all wear off. I then have to wait an hour before I can take more and it takes about another hour for it to kick in. Slowly but surely, I am making some progress. I'm off to paint the kitchen now, wish me luck, I suck at painting!

This post is linked to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Home Sweet Home

2010-08-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

If you have been reading my other blog Wyldestone Cottage then this is old news to you, but as this blog is more my personal story than the other, I wanted to document whats been going on as of late.

I finally have my own float home!!! All these years of blogging where I kept going on about how I wanted to build or find a floathome and it finally happened. I am over the moon!!

Home Sweet Home

Back in June, I found out that Davids other floathome that had been moored up in Mission had been seized by the baliff for non-payment of moorage fees. The tenants that had been staying there were involved in illegal activities, got busted and ran for the hills. When David went to check on things he found the notice from the baliff tacked to the door. He couldn't come up with the money to pay the bill and was going to lose the house, so I said, "if I can pay the bill, may I have the house?". He agreed and I went about begging everyone I knew to lend me the money. My Dad and best friend Daryl, came up with the majority of the money for me and the bill got paid just in the nick of time.

It took almost another month before I could get the house towed back here to Mitchell Island. I had to wait for the tugboat operator to get his boat fixed and for the tides to cooperate so we could rearrange the marina to make a spot for me. In the meantime, I was spending every day packing up my stuff at Diana's house and dragging it over here to store in the back of the shop. I managed to load and unload 6 vanloads of stuff over the period of a few weeks. Finally on July 14th, Steve and David were ready to go and get the house.

I was extremely excited and nervous at the same time. The freshet was still running quite hard, they were doing this with just one boat, and if anything went wrong coming under any of the bridges, I could have lost everything. I didn't want them risking their lives for me and my house, so spent the day praying as hard as I could that everything would go smoothly. I had David phone every hour or so and keep me updated on their progress. They had 60 km of river to navigate with strong tides to contend with.

They made much better time then any of us anticipated. I got a call around 4 pm to tell me they were coming through New Westminster. I jumped in my car and raced up there to see if I could get some pictures of them coming through the bridges. They were moving so fast, that by the time I got there, I only managed to grab a quick shot of them passing under the last bridge. I tried to keep up in the car, but they were flying down the river, so I beelined it back to the marina to double check that everything there was ready for them to dock when they arrived.

My first view of the house going down the river

The last of the bridges conquered

Lots of nervous anticipation and then suddenly there they were, coming around the last corner.

Passing in front of the condos across from us

A few more minutes and Steve had swung the house around and got it lined up with the docks.

A few helping hands to guide it into place and my home was home safe and sound. I was ecstatic to say the least. Everything went smoothly for them, the trip was uneventful, unlike the night we brought the Lucky 7 home, thank god! That night was too much drama, I thought we were all going to die.

The house sat for about a week at the very end of the docks while David finished rearranging things here to find me a better spot. Originally, I was to go on the inside of his house, but there is so much mud in there, it would take forever to clear a spot, so in the end I got put in behind his house and the 40 foot barge. I love this spot as it is right at the foot of the ramp and means I have the least amount of docks to stumble over to get stuff loaded into the house.

The previous tenants had left a virtual mountain of crap behind in the house, so I spent the first week, hauling all their stuff out and cleaning the whole place. It was a HUGE job. I literaly moved a ton ( 2000 lbs) of stuff in one day. ( I know because I weighed it!) It was back breaking work that I hadn't counted on before I could get on with the business of moving my own stuff in. Then I had to wait a few more days until the tides cooperated and gave us some water during daylight hours to finally get on with my move.

Last Wednesday, I borrowed a large panel truck from our neighbor and hired some helping hands and the great move began to get my storage lockers unloaded. We did two loads Wednesday night and another four early Thursday morning and finaly, all my stuff is under one roof. This is like Christmas for me, I haven't seen some of this stuff for 3-10 years. I can't wait to see it all again.

My house is not actually a house. It was designed as a workshop and had no kitchen or bathroom area. There are two rooms in the front of the house that are somewhat finished, a huge unfinished space in the middle and two rooms in the back (these will be a workshop and craft room.) The upstairs has one finished room on one end, a huge space in the middle and a smallish loft on the other side. I have my work cut out for me but have most of what I need to do the job. I have been collecting stuff from the free section of craigslist for the last year and have probably eighty percent of what I need to finish the job. Some doorskins and paint will be my first expenses as I try and get the two front rooms ready to live in. The next project after that will be to rearrange a wall or two and get my bathroom framed and plumbed in. By that point it will be a livable space and the rest will get done when I have time and money.

It is SO AWESOME to have elbow space again. I am capable of living in small confined spaces but I am really liking the variety of rooms to play in. I have already started on my beduoin tent themed room upstairs. I am loving it so much I am having a hard time leaving it to work on the rest of the house. I will be spending a lot of time in there in the future. I'll be back soon with some updates, right now its a lot of grunt work, shuffling stuff around, ripping down tacky wall coverings and trying to find neccesary tools buried in my boxes. I've taken this week off work to try and make some headway, so back to the grindstone before work comes along to distract me.

I'm a river rat again and I LOVE IT!!!

So come on in and let me give you the grand tour ( I have to say, I have a whole new apprectiation for real estate photographers, I couldn't get a whole room in one shot so these pictures are really hard to get a good idea of what the place really looks like. I think I will have to do a walk through with a video camera)

The view through the front door, this room will be my tempory kitchen, there is a tiled corner for a woodstove, the other room is just to the right, the door you see ahead leads out into the main area of the house

Looking to the left of the same room, I have already taken down the wallpaper in these pics.

Same room, wall to the left

Same room looking back to the front door

The ceilings in the two front rooms look like this

Looking into the second room ( I don't have any other decent pics of that room to show you, it has two windows)

Coming through the kitchen door and looking right( the wall on the left, I want to push back 5 feet and build my bathroom and a walk in closet in the space. I want to put a door from the second front room into the bathroom so that if I ever needed/wanted, the front half of the house could be a separate self contained suite)

Looking to the left is the staircase to the upstairs bedroom with a space for wood storage

Looking straight ahead you can see a fraction of the unfinshed space that will one day be a kitchen , living room. The two doors at the back are my tool/craft room(on the left) and workshop on the right

A picture from the back end of that room looking back towards the bathroom area

From the other corner looking back towards the staircase and front rooms

My tool /craft room with stairs up to the loft, looking in from the doorway

Looking to the left, I have a lovely view of the river out that window, my big desk will be going there

a view from the loft

Looking back into the room from the base of the stairs

The other room that will be my workshop right now has shelves on both sides. I am using these to store my hardwood flooring for now, once the flooring has been used, I will take down the shelves and open up the room to set up my lathe etc.

The bedroom above the front rooms, soon to be my beduion lounge

In between this room and the loft space is a huge room about 40 x16 feet that at the moment is stuffed full of my boxes, so couldnt get a good picture, and forgot to before the movers showed up.

My wonderful crew of movers, still smiling after moving my mountain of stuff

Casper is a happy cat, he has a new friend, Davids cat Smoochie, they get along like peas in a pod, so cute!

I still can't believe I managed to manifest my dream home, I'm looking forward to many years of joy and happiness within those walls and the joy of knowing I will never have to pack up my belongings again!

I'm linking this post to Cindy's Show and Tell Fridays

Wow , Who Knew?

2010-07-15T01:24:00.000-07:00

I just read this article about a beaver that was attacking and killing dogs. I had no idea that beavers were vicious or that they could be capable of taking down a dog. We have been living with one right in our marina for years. It just swims around and munches on grass, I've never seen it look the least bit peturbed by our comings and goings, nor of all the cats and dogs that are around the property. And to think I stood 2 feet away from one filming it for 10 minutes in our living room years ago. Sheesh, if I had read this first, I'd a been runnin' for the hills.

This is our resident rodent dining in his favorite restaurant. At least he doesn't gnaw on the house anymore!

Time for an update

2010-05-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but since I started my other blog, I couldn't log back into this one. I didn't mean to ignore it, just couldn't get in to write anymore posts. I finally had to change my account password but here I am again.

The new blog has taken up alot of my time. I am trying to write a post a day and some of them take me hours and hours to do, what with the research,sorting through pics and trying to sound cohearant. It has been more than a full time job for me. Its doing really well though. So far, in two months, I am averaging 88 hits a day and have had 2,300 readers to date. I am sooo glad I put a site meter on there, or I would think no one was reading. I have had over one hundred readers in a day but only 1-2 comments. If I was going just by comments, I would presume no one was reading.

I am glad I picked this forum to work with. I have often thought of writing a book, but this is easier for me. I can randomly pick topics that interest me that day, write my post and see it in print right away. As time goes on and more posts get written it is slowly becoming a collection of all my knowledge and a place to show off my inner Martha Stewart. I really need to get myself back into a home though. I have been collecting so much stuff,I'm starting to look like a hoarder. I need a real home to display it all and start entertaining again, which is something I love to do. I have a few big expenses coming up but they should be handled by the end of summer, then I will switch gears and start looking for my dream cottage.

I wish I could own my own home but, it looks like it will be back to renting for me. The worst thing about that, is I find myself not wanting to fix the place up much in case they decide to sell or something and I have to move. Besides I have a ton of cool stuff like my steam shower that I want to set up, hard to do that in a rental. Oh well just have to pray for a winning lottery ticket between now and September.

I seem to be going through a real shift this year. I have been exercising my very strong willpower to make some drastic changes in my life. The quitting smoking has gone well. It will be 3 months on June 3rd. I still get cravings once or twice a day, but they pass quickly. I find social situations the hardest. For some reason I guess I felt more secure talking to people with a smoke in my hands. I have been to the beach a few times this year but instead of being in the middle of things like usual, I am finding places to hide away from the crowd. It's a good time to quit tho, apparently there is a new law in effect starting in September that says no smoking allowed on any beaches or in any parks.
It's funny, buying cigarettes is legal but smoking them is becoming illegal almost everywhere.

Of course one of the side effects of quitting has been weight gain. I put on almost 10 pounds already. I wasn't skinny to start with so this has put me over the top. I wanted to start exercising but had to wait for the ok from the cardiologist and my physio. My pinched nerve episode lasted for 5 weeks and has me quite scared about doing anything that might irritate my neck again. Even though they had decided I didn't have a heart attack a few months ago, they wanted me to do a stress test to see just how healthy my heart was. I was quite pleasantly suprised to find out it is in awesome shape. Surprising in the least as I was an old,lazy,overweight,smoker. Apparently some are just born with stronger hearts than others. I'm very lucky as I definately haven't been kind to mine.

I really want to change my eating habits, especially my sugar consumption. I faired well quitting chocolate for Lent, but once the 40 days were over, I ate chocolate and pastries like there was no tommorrow.I think it will have to be like cigarettes, all or nothing.
I tried to diet for a week, changing my habits to include eating breakfast and more fish , fruits and veggies, but I just started packing on the weight and craving sweets so bad I was polishing off whole cakes. So I have decided to go on the Master Cleanse. It is a fast consisting of a drink containing lemon juice, cayenne pepper and B or C grade maple syrup. There is alot more to it and if you are considering doing it PLEASE go buy the book and read it FIRST!!! I can't be bothered to write it all out for you but there are things you need to know before starting it. Once I am done with the fast, my intention is to eat raw and organic as much as possible. I will try and limit my meat consumption to fish supplemented with some eggs,and to avoid sugar as much as possible. If I want a treat it will have to be healthy dark chocolate in small quantities. I want my body back, I'm so tired of being lumpy and in pain all the time. It looks like I might be around for awhile so want to be healthy and able to enjoy myself.

Anyways, it's been 2 days and Ive lost 11 pounds so far. I know the majority of it has been water but thats ok as I was really retaining a ton of fluid. The first day , I just took it easy as I was fighting cravings for food and cigarettes and feeling a bit spacey, but yesterday I made it to the gym. The physio has been giving me specific exercises to rearrange my posture so my neck won't be so comprimised and I have the go-ahead from the cardiologist to excercise so finally got a day off and went to the gym for 2 hours. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill (1.5 km),20 on the excerise bike (3.5 km)and 20 in the pool
(400 meters). My goal for now is to try and increase my distance in those time frames, then at some point increase my time or the difficulty factor (increase the incline etc). I would like to be able to go the distance in a mini triathalon.The distances I'm aiming for are run 5 km, bike 20 km and swim 800 meters. I can't actually run per say because of my neck, but can speed walk. That's ok by me, less strain on the old joints. I spent the other hour stretching, doing a few weights and spending time in the steamroom and whirlpool.

I'm feeling very positive this year. I am finally shifting things in my body and getting around to taking better care of myself. I love my new home even though it is small. The neighborhood is awesome, I love this part of town. It feels like the old neighborhoods of my childhood. Lovely homes with magical gardens, nice neighbors that say hi over the fence and convienient to the shops and work. I am coming to terms with being single again and am enjoying being able to spend my time,energy and money on myself for a change. The Wyldestone blog has been a blessing for me as it gives me a chance to do something creative which I need in my life. All my craft supplies and tools are buried in storage, so writing, taking photographs and posting recipes have taken the place of physical creations.I feel like a butterfly about to emerge from a coccoon.

I am still working on my transportation issues. The little car David gave me earlier this year was on it's last legs and was running on one cylinder at the end. My van had died a few months ago, and I hadn't yet gotten around to seeing what that is all about. It probably needs a few grand thrown at it but it's not really worth it anymore as it is so old and would still look like shit in the end.

My dear friends Todd and Shelley gave me an old car of theirs they weren't using anymore, but it is also in need of a cash tranfusion. The motor runs well but the ball joints need replacing, the electric windows don't work and I need all new tires. Not sure if I should invest much more money into this car as it is old and obsolete. The company went bankrupt and dumped all their parts so it is hard to get replacements for things. Even the tires are so rare, I could only find one store that carries them.

The scooter ran for about 10 minutes once I finally got it home but kept stalling when I tried to idle. I killed the battery trying to restart it constantly so it sat for a while. I finally found a mechanic that would do house calls and he has been working on it slowly. The battery got replaced, now waiting on a carburator from the States. The fuel tank needs to be taken off and something done to the inside of it to get rid of all the rust. I really hope I can get it running soon, I wanted it going for the summer.

Well I think thats all the news for now. Check out the other blog to see what Ive been up to. I will try and stay on track with this one as well as long as it lets me back in. I hope spring was good to you all and that this summer will be awesome.Stay in touch, I love to hear from you. If by chance you are reading the other blog, for the love of God, please comment (and thanks to those that have). I work very hard on the posts and don't know if they are anything people want to read, if they like them or not or find them useful. I really appreciate the feedback as I'm hoping someday it will make me some money so I can retire from doing massage therapy.

Thanks for reading,
Love, Rhianna

Wyldestone Cottage

2010-03-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to think of the best way to share all my knowledge for the last few years. I finally decided to use a blog format. The Cyberangel Chronicles has been more of an online diary for me,a place to keep track of the events in my life. It serves that purpose well but I wanted another forum to showcase ideas,knowledge, how-to's, recipes, decorating tips, remedies and inspirational thoughts.

So I have just given birth to a new blog Wyldestone Cottage. Please stop by when you have a chance and help me spread the word by adding me to your blog rolls and becoming a follower.

I hope to be posting something new every day and welcome your comments.

Cheers Rhianna

I'll Just Scoot on Over

2010-03-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

I used to have a moped when I lived in Germany. I loved that bike, cheap on gas, zipped through traffic, easy to park. It got stolen twice and I never saw it again after the last time. I have always wanted another one but they were never really popular or available here until a few years ago. When they finally showed up here, they were the price of a small car. I couldn't justify a $5000.00 price tag for a fair weather ride, when I would still need a car for business.

I finally found a good deal on one and picked it up today. It's 150 cc so I have to get a motorcycle liscence to drive it. I already wrote the beginers test and once I feel comfortable balancing on it and handling it, I can do my skills test. That will allow me to drive it around during the day. Eventually I will do the road test when I am comfortable driving it in heavy traffic.

I'm so excited, can't wait to try it out. Of course the minute I get it home, the heavens opened up and spewed a downpour on us. I don't want to start driving it under those conditions, so I'm tapping my feet waiting for the clouds to break. I guess now that I'm a "biker chick" I should get a tattoo ;)

( just kidding mom xxoo)

I'm Not a Quitter

2010-03-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

...but some things needed to be let go of. I'm also not affliated with any religeon in particular but I do find some of their customs interesting. I like the idea of Lent where you give something up for 40 days. This year I chose chocolate. It may not sound like a big deal to you, but I love the stuff and eat some every day. Chocolate whip cream in my hot chocolate every morning to start my day is followed by at least one chocolate bar and usually a piece of chocolate cake or a brownie before the day is done. It has been a challenge to satisfy my sweet tooth without resorting to chocolate. My main treat these days has been cinnamon hearts.

As if denying myself chocolate wasn't bad enough, I have quit smoking for the fourth and final time. I recently had a checkup and the Dr. informed me that my hemaglobin was very high. Apparently my lungs are so clogged that my body has made extra hemaglobin to try and grab what little oxygen that managed to filter through the goo. He said if I don't quit now, I will probably be dead in 10 years. I have noticed that I have been quite breathless alot lately and that was the wakeup call I needed to deal with this.

My health has taken a shit kicking in the last month. I have been dealing with another pinched nerve in my neck for the last three weeks. It's not quite as agonizing as last summer but just by a degree or two. Luckily work has been slow as I can only manage one or two clients a day at most. Last Sunday just as I was finishing up my first client of six, I developed severe chest pains. Long story short, I was whisked to the hospital by ambulance, given a battery of tests and xrays and sent home 10 hours later. It wasn't a heart attack but had all the symptoms of one. I can only think it must of been another pinched nerve that inervates the muscles between the ribs.I'm grateful it wasn't more serious but wondering what my body is trying to tell me when so many of my nerves are so inflamed that I am in agony.

The last thing I gave up this month, was the thought that someday I might become a parent. I haven't had a period since November, so had the Dr. run a pregnancy test. Of course it was negative and I have to face the fact that I am finally in full menopause and a family of my own is completely out of the question. I kind of figured years ago, that I would never have children but until now there was always that small chance that a miracle would happen and I still might become a mother. Now I have to deal with the grief of knowing that it's not going to happen. Funny at my age I should be a grandmother, but never having children has left me feeling a little like Peter Pan, like I never quite finished growing up.

My Shabby Chic Bathroom

2010-03-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

Craigslist has once again gifted me with some choice finds. I got this super-cute hand painted sink in an old desk and an old fashioned medicine cabinet to go with it. I think they will go perfect with this toilet I got last year and my steam shower unit.

I've never really pictured myself with a blue bathroom, so I have been looking at pictures of other blue bathrooms to see what I like and don't like. As all my fixtures are white other than the blue sink, I'm thinking either white beadboard on the bottom half of the wall with blue on top to match the sink, or keeping the room mainly white with touches of blue tile or trim.

I don't want to copy either of these rooms exactly, just looking at the difference of a lot of colour or touches of colour.

I would like to find a small crystal chandalier for this bathroom as well. I can't wait to have a home that I can decorate. I have so many great things hiding in storage. I find myself mentally going through my belongings wondering which would go best with what. I need it all sprawled out in front of me so I can rearrange and play with ideas.

I had to go to Squamish to pick my latest treasures up. I see the snow finally decided to make an appearance on the mountains. Too bad it's the week after the Olympics. The cruise ship in the distance was used to house volunteers or security during the games.

The lady I got the fixtures from told me to go check out this floathome that someone was building just down the road. I love the barge they are using, what a wonderful stable platform to build on. I guess the guy building it is a woodworker and is doing his best to build a one of a kind home. I would love to see it when it's finished.

All's Well That Ends Well

2010-03-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

I think I held my breath for the last 17 days as the Olympic party unfolded in our town. Things started off rough with the sad death of the Georgian luger, a serious lack of snow on the mountains and a few glitches during the opening ceremonies but once we won our first gold medal, all that was set aside and the party started in earnest. I have to admit I'm not one for watching sports but I ended up glued to my TV as the days went on.

I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the opening ceremonies. I didn't think we could come even remotely close to the spectacle that China presented at the last Olympics but I thought we did a fabulous job. The closing ceremonies were fairly hokey by contrast but we have always been good at poking fun at ourselves. We were so happy at winning the gold in hockey that a humerous light-hearted show was perfect for the giddy crowd.

And speaking of crowds, I have never seen so many people on the streets.I kept thinking the thrill would wear off and things would slow down, but neither work, nor rain, nor mile-long lineups stopped the people from pouring into the downtown core day after day. It was literally a sea of elbow-to-elbow red and white patrism. I've never felt prouder to be a Canadian.

Welcome to the First Ever Spring Olympics

2010-02-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well tonight is the kickoff for the "Winter" Olympics here in Vancouver BC. It's kind of wierd to know the whole world is going to be tuned into our city for the next few weeks.

The weather has not been co-operating at all. I can't think of two completly different winters than the last two we have had here. Last year was a record breaker for snow and bad weather. This year winter never really happened, other than a few days of cold snap. The temperatures have remained in the 5-10 celcius degree range for most of the time. For the first time since I can remember, the local ski hill Cypress has had no snow at all to speak of since Christmas. It definately does not feel winter-like here in the least, as a matter of fact, we have flowers blooming in the garden and when the sun comes out it is down right hot.

I'm torn between wanting the Olympics to be a huge success and proud to show off my beautiful city to the world but scared we are going to make fools of ourselves in front of the international community. We have alot of issues in our city that desparately need attention, such as a huge homeless population, rampant drug and alcohol abuse problems,underfunded or nonexistant care for mentally ill patients and so on. We could have used the money to address these issues and made this city a better place for those that already live here rather than trying to entice yet more people to come and raise the property values even more. I forsee lots of demonstrations as our city hangs out it's dirty laundry at the biggest party ever. I just pray it doesn't get ugly.

I don't know if it's a foreshadowing of things to come but an athelete has already died while practicing for a sledding competition on a track that has already seen other injuries.Not a great way to start things off. Thirty atheletes have just been banned from competing due to doping charges. That one I just don't get at all. They know it's illegal, they know they will be tested, so why not just get in the spirit of the game and just be your personal best without trying to cheat. Mano a mano, may the best one win.

For the most part, I just can't wait for it to all be over. I can't afford the exhorbitent prices to actually go see any of the events, the free ones sound fun but there is the issue of getting to the venues as a lot of the roads are closed down,so it's join the masses trying to vye for seats on public transportation,pray there are still seats available once you get there and deal with a military state while trying to enjoy the event. I just pray it all goes smoothly,no major incidents,and everyone goes away with a positive memory of Vancouver.I hope with all my heart that this party will leave a positive legacy for our city and that somehow the funds that we need to deal with our issues will be generated as a result of all the attention.

Go Canada Go!!!

Survived Another Year

2010-01-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone out there doing ok? Was this last year as tumulteous for you as it was for me? By the way if you read my blog and have never left a comment, I would love a hello from you and let me know if there is anything in particular you want to hear about.

So 2009 started with tons of good intentions
-quit smoking (lasted 6 months) :(
-work out ( lasted 1 month)
-finish my boat ( she went to her final resting place in March)
-start teaching some courses ( totally forgot about that one till I reread my posts) :|

Once the boat was gone I spent about 6 months trying to find somewhere to plant my feet.Lots of false moves and starts took all the energy and time I could muster.A pinched nerve in the heat of all heat waves to beat all set me back financially although my tan had a great summer.

I finally decided on building my own floathome. I got a float and spent the next 6months scouring craigslist for free material and appliances to furnish my floating dream. I eventually managed to fill a 40 foot container with my found treasures. At this point it is still but a dream in progress. I need a few things before I continue on. First , I need an architecht to help me put together a list of material and structural considerations. Then I need a sizeable chunk of change to purchase framing,siding and roofing materials. I not sure my float will be sturdy enough for what I want to do so am kind of holding back to see if anything better comes along. Then there is always the matter of where do I park it once it's built? I'm not sure how long I am willing to keep paying for storage but hopefully something comes together by this summer.

I finally moved from the marina in November. I spend about half the week here visiting with David and the other half at my new space in town. I'm enjoying this transition period alot. Being in town,surrounded by community, I have come out of my shell ( or escaped the Mitchell Island vortex) and started having a social life again. Whatever last year brought, it certainly brought lots of music and great parties. I've lived in Vancouver now for 20 years and finally feel like I belong to a community. I have the greatest friends in the world and live in an increadiably beautiful city.

The holiday festivities continued on. New Years Eve , I treated myself to a fascial, massage and a visit to my hairdresser goddess Dee.

I took the new me to a house party to celebrate and make music with my friends. The next day, a few of us treated ourselves to brunch at the Hyatt. A few days later it was my birthday and my dear friend Daryl had me and a few friends over for dinner,cake and music.

Yummy birthday cake with one discreet candle

The next day David got back from his trip home and we spent the weekend back at my friends cabin in the hills. Just what the Dr. ordered, peace and quiet, no phones or responsibilities.

Just in time for the boxing day sales, my refurbuished computer drew it's last breath. I got myself a great new computer on which this post is being written. I love it, it's very fast, Windows 7, lots of features. I've spent the last two weeks sorting it all out rebuilding my music library and finally going through 60 gigs of photos, deleting 8 gigs of bad ones and putting all the rest in indentifiable folders. Phew... huge job, but I feel better now with everything all organized.

So as always at the top of my resolution list is to get in shape again. Now that I'm reasonably settled in life, I'm hoping to have a better go at it this year.
My other goal is to just get out more. I live in a beautiful part of the world with all kinds of nature options to enjoy and music festivals to take in. I haven't done anything around here in years. I hope this changes this year. Going to the cabin was a good start, it's close by but feels a million miles from the city.

I wish for you all, smiles and sunshine,good health and fortune for this year.
xxoo Rhianna

Best Christmas EVER!!

2009-12-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

Hidey ho ho ho folks,I hope this Yuletide season has treated you well.This Christmas was packed full of fun and friends for me.

It started with the annual Wreck Beach Preservation Society Christmas Dance held at the beautiful Heritage Hall just a few blocks from where I live. There were about 10 different bands playing, all friends of mine from the beach. I am very blessed to know so many talented people. It was a wonderful evening of great music and good times catching up with everyone I haven't seen since summertime.

The following week my roomate decided to host a Christmas dinner here at her house. Somehow I got kitchen duty and ended up cooking a full on turkey dinner with all the trimmings for 20 people. Didn't know I had it in me as I usually get invited somewhere for Christmas dinner and have never been the host before. Luckily it all turned out awesome and no one got food poisoning, so I can add that to my resume. Martha Stewart would have been so proud of us,it's a gorgeous heritage home decorated to the hilt and the most beautifully set table I have ever seen, loaded with scrumptious food.

Christmas Eve I was invited to another friend of mine's cabin in the woods for a traditional Czech celebration. A group of 10 of us drove up to Cypress Mountain( a local ski resort in North Vancouver) and hiked into the forest to the rustic 100 year old cabin nestled in the snow covered pines. We chose a small tree behind the cabin, read a blessing to it then decorated it with all things edible for the local wildlife. There were pineapple and red pepper rings, bird seed bells, strings of cranberry berries ,a star made from an apple and carrot sticks and cooked noodles for tinsel. Candles were lit with a prayer for each one and sparklers were added on the tree. A small birdhouse nearby was also decorated as a tribute to the spirits of the woods. It was the most beautiful sight to see the tree twinkling in the snow covered forest. It didn't take long for the whiskyjacks( a kind of bird) to find us and they were soon eating right out of our hands.

Some of our crew at the rest stop at Cypress Mountain

Our Cabin in the woods

Getting the tree decorated

Decorated birdhouse

Our hosts posing with the tree

Proud tree decoraters

The tree all lit up with candles and sparklers

Feeding the whiskyjacks

My Turn

Feasting by candlelight

We then made our way indoors where a thoughtful caretaker had prelit a fire in the woodstove for us. The cabin has no electricity or running water so many candles were lit and we shared a potluck meal of foods that needed no preparing on-site. Eggnog was drunk, stories were shared, presents exchanged and smiles were shared by all.

I am admittedly not a big fan of snow but I do love to see it at Christmas. Living in the Wet Coast of Canada we often have no snow in December and wake up to Christmas drizzle and grey skies. Going to the cabin was perfect,there was snow all around us, decorating the trees and the ground, but the roads were dry all the way to the parking lot, so we didn't have to deal with the inconviences snow can bring.

The next day we cleaned up the cabin and made our way back to town. That evening I went to another friends house for a full on traditional turkey dinner. Shelley and Todd have had me over their home for Christmas dinner almost every year for the 13 years Ive known them. Bless their hearts for adopting me on a day when I can't be with my own family and giving me the perfect experience every time. Her home is gorgeous,filled with beautiful antiques,and its always decorated with all the holiday trimmings. A fire crackles in the fireplace and the dinner table looks right out of a foody magazine with yummy homemade wine to wash it all down with.

My gracious hosts, Todd and Shelley

The cheery fireplace

A closeup of the wonderful houses that Shelley made to deorate her mantle

The decorated dining room

A cool old radio that Todd refurbished into a hidden bar

Boxing Day I dragged myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 8 am and by 9 I was shopping for bargins at Homesense. I manged to spend over $200 (but saved $140) on all the gorgeous ornaments I would need to decorate my own home next year. It's incentive to me to actually manifest this home of mine. I dragged my booty home and spread it all out on the floor and just looked at it all with delight for a few hours before packing most of it away to join the rest of my stuff in storage.

My new Christmas treasures

Later that afternoon I headed over to my friend Dee's house where she was hosting a Boxing Day jam for all her beach friends. It was a wonderful gathering, lots of good music, especially when they started to sing carols. It's so much better to sing them yourself , then be inudated with them as muzac at the mall.

Making beautiful music at Dee's

All in all it was the perfect storybook Christmas.The only pea in the mattress was that I couldn't be with my own family or David( he went home to Ontario for a long overdue visit with his own family). My brother has offered to buy me a ticket to visit them in Ottawa next year. I am so looking forward to that. The last time I spent Christmas with my whole family in one room was 30 years ago. I'm hoping my Dad can join us so we can be all together again. But until that happens , I have to thank my Wreck Beach family from the bottom of my heart for taking me into their hearts and homes and making this holiday a most amazing experience. Bless you all, each and every one of you!

It's Kinda,Sorta Like Living on a Boat

2009-11-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

Except I don't get rocked to sleep and I don't have a bilge to worry about. In the best interest of both David's and my sanity, I finally got around to moving out. A good friend of mine had a spare room in her basement and until I can make further headway on building my floathome, I have decided to hang my hat here for the time being. I am living in 125 square feet which is compact living in the extreme. Good thing I had the practice of small space living on my boat, because I am even more condensed now if that is possible.

I have a small room, 9x10 feet, which is my bedroom and kitchen with a 5x5 closet that holds my clothes and computer. I have access to a bathroom with a shower on the next floor and there is a door from my room out to the garden. I miss the wide open space that we had at Davids but have adapted to my present conditions quite well.

My kitchen/bedroom

View of the bed,dresser and entrance to the closet/office

View from my doorway into the yard/looking at the garage

View from the garage looking at my doorway beside the stairs to the upper deck.

Casper ( my cat) wasn't to happy for the first week here as there are 3 cats living upstairs and in his mind, all critters are either predator or prey. He has since come to terms with sharing the house and yard and has made himself at home upstairs with his 3 new girlfriends. He continues to amaze me with his adaptability with my crazy life and continues to grow and become more loving all the time. Such a change from the terrified,shy guy that he was when I first found him. I am so grateful he is in my life, he is such a lovebug these days. It's wonderful to have another breathing being to come home to and cuddle.

Casper the Lovebug

My van is on it's last legs these days, barely starting most days and a meriad of funny noises that give me great cause for concern when driving. Luckily, one of Davids tenents had an old Geo Metro that he had no use for and gave it to me. I am so happy to have a reliable vehicle ( and super cheap on gas, only 3 cylinders!!) especially with winter breathing down our neck.

I'm really enjoying living in a real neighborhood again. Plenty of shops, restaurants and cafes within a few blocks walk and lots of lovely old heritage homes to drool over all around me. I am much closer to all my jobs now, which translates into a few more minutes of sleep time in the mornings ( it's a good thing :) )

In other news.... Here is a picture of one of the big barges that come down our river, gives you an idea why we get nervous about them losing control and hitting the marina. Look how big it is, it's blocking the view of the 3 story condos on the other side

Here is another picture of one of the boats down here that sank a few weeks ago. It had been moved from one location to another and the owner said not to worry about hooking up the bilge as it was late and cold and he wanted to go home, saying he would be back in the morning to deal with it. An old patch on the side had fallen off unbeknowgst to any of us and coupled with a night of torrential rainfall through an uncovered hatch caused it to fill with water and go down overnight. David got it floating again after 2 days of non-stop work which it looks like he won't be getting paid for as the owner won't return any of his phone calls. Tuff business, this living on the water. Makes me kinda glad to be a landmonkey again. That being said, I miss the water terribly and can't wait to get my house built and hang out with the beavers,otters and herons again. Hopefully that day comes sooner than later.

My Romantic Home

2009-10-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

Ive been following another blog of late,called My Romantic Home.

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

It has lots of wonderful cottage decorating ideas that I just love such as this great way to recycle old wood windows into a greenhouse garden conservatory.

Today she posted about these architechtual appliques that can be used to dress up your thrift store finds. I can see me buying a ton of these.Check out their site for lots of cool appliques.
http://doityourselfchic.com/

I love how she applied one to her bed and what a difference it makes.

Since Ive been reading her blog , I have been collecting thrift store finds that have that cottage feel to them. Unfortunatly, I get stuff so fast and toss it in my storage locker before I remember to take pics. I managed to take a few though.

Here is a rug I got for 45 dollars, its a beautiful soft green colour( for some reason it looks blue in the picture but its not, its green

I found these cool looking jars in thrift stores, the smaller one was in a different store, couldnt believe that I found a matching one.

I love this old candle holder

I found a deal on these at Canadian Tire of all places and bought a dozen of them. They have beautiful purple glass in them. I always wanted a relaxing pillow room and think these would lend the perfect ambience

More junk store treasures....two wonderful fanciful candle holders and a set of small hand- made birdhouses for the patio. I also got a lovely table and chairs that although they are made of resin, have a beautiful rose design in them that makes them look like wrought iron from a distance.Forgot to take a pic of them before they went in the locker.

I really pleased I was able to find two of these containers which I will mount under my home for waste water tanks.They are 4ftx4ftx3ft so should hold lots.Ive been trying to get some of these for months now, so glad that issue is out of the way as I need to install them first before I start building anything.

I got 4 of these windows from a house demo. I'm keeping two for myself and gave David the larger one with the orange frosted glass for his bathroom and the other one for the bedroom loft. It was dark as Hades up there and with no opening to air it out in the heat, quite unbearable on hot sunny days. He just installed it yesterday and what a HUGE difference. It makes the whole house look different to have so much light coming from upstairs and the view is awesome. We laid in bed and watched the full moon rise last night,gorgeous. It also nice to be able to see whats coming down the river at us without having to run downstairs to investigate strange noises. The other night a barge went by and almost took out the other shore from us. Very scary to watch three tugboats grinding away at the hull of the barge trying with all their might to push it away from our neighbors floathome.They just squeaked by with inches to spare.

Our new view from the bedroom

The marina as seen from upstairs

I cant wait to get my place built, as the seasons change, I find myself so restricted as absolutely everything I own is in storage. I may have to go buy a whole new winter wardrobe as I can't find my clothes and don't want to rip out my storage looking for them. In the meantime, I will continue to shop....sigh, life is hard :)

Movie Star Floathome

2009-09-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks we have had a couple different movie location scouts come down to the marina and take a look around. This morning we got confirmation that Nickleodeon wants to use Davids floathome for for some scenes in a movie. Filming is slated to start end of October.

I was talking to the location manager and told him I thought I would make a good location scout and he is willing to teach me some things about the job. I'm soo excited. I've wanted a career change for quite awhile now and had no idea what exactly. I think I could be good at something like this, either that or set/ props decoration kind of stuff. Either way,I would love a job that uses more of my creative skills and offers me fresh challenges. I hate routine!

I'm so proud of David for all his hard work in making this place such a cool home. We always get a good reaction from people walking in the door, but to have a roomfull of Hollywood bigwigs all in love with the place just the way it is, was grand to see. Sometimes my life is like a fairytale!!

Good for a Laugh

2009-09-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

Check out this link for a good laugh. Its a blog type of thing , where a young man named Justin, records all the funny things his old man says.

Heres a priceless example......"It's just a fucking june bug, calm down. Jesus Christ, what happens when something bigger than a testicle attacks you?"

http://twitter.com/shitmydadsays

Why am I always Laboring on Labor Day??

2009-09-04T22:10:00.001-07:00

I am having camera issues ( can't get one of them to work and seemed to have lost the cord for the other), so I do have pictures but will have to post them some other time..... Now for our regularly scheduled post.

Davids big barn of a house is finally getting the roof insulated. I found an ad on craigslist for 26,000 feet of free insulation from a tear down of an old folks home. We rented the biggest truck we could get from Budget and spent a day driving out to Maple Ridge and grabbing as much as we could.

At one point,I fell through a hole in the floor at the job site and thought I broke several bones, but was just badly bruised. Gave myself a good scare though. A few minutes for the shock to wear off and I dusted myself off and got back to work. I wasn't giving up on all that insulation. Winter is on its way and this place is a popsicle as soon as the temperature drops. I was sure we had more than enough to do his place and mine, but I think most of it will end up in here.

This job can't be over fast enough for me. I have been lugging insulation around for three days now and can't stand the pain anymore. I have had more cold showers than a horny teenage boy. The place is looking great though, such a difference already. I think one more hard days work and it will all be done. Next chore is get the woodstove in the kitchen hooked up with a chimney and we should be able to survive winter.

I have collected a few more things for my place lately. I got a beautiful hutch that I am going to place either at the end of my built in bed or the far bathtub wall as a place to have a tv and some storage for books or bath goodies. I also got a beautiful antique dish sideboard that will either go in the kitchen to keep with the country kitchen theme I am going for or it will end up as a dining room china cabinet. I have to play with things once I get some walls up and see what looks best.

I have been going to alot of concerts at the PNE this year and some house parties with live bands. Its been nice to be around so much music again. I have been sucked into the vortex that is Mitchell Island and it's so hard to get away from here for even a few hours most of the time. I went to April Wine, Headpins, Randy Bachman and got some decent pictures and an awesome video of April Wines finale. I think I could be a rock photgrapher. Sounds like a fun job to me.

I was at the beach last Friday and I have a funny feeling that that was the last real summer day for me. It was a good one tho. Every musician I know was there and they jammed all day long. I was surrounded by music in every direction. Jamie brought his drum kit to the beach and a bunch of guys had battery operated speakers and electric guitars and basses etc. There were a few banjos, a violin, sax, trumpet, flutes, handdrums, shakers, tamborines, you name it. Best Beach EVER!!!!!!! What a fabulous day. Wish I didn't have to wait another ten months before I have another day like that. That was the best summer I have had in fifteen years, can't believe it's over already.

I ended up selling my 18 ft runabout and the 80 hp motor the other day for the paltry price of $500. I basically gave it away, but it was taking on lots of water and I didn't want to deal with it. I'd rather get my house built, then waste money on an old boat.The thrill of cruising up and down the river wore off quickly once I saw what a gas pig it was. Next boat will be a sailboat for sure. I still have a kayak if I feel the need to go for cruise.

Well its back to the showers for me, I can still feel fiberglass tickling away at me.
Happy Labor Day all, hope your not working too hard!

Party Time

2009-08-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

It's Davids birthday on Sunday so we decided to have a toga party last night. It was awesome, we had at least 60 people here, most of them musicians. We had 60 pounds of bbqed salmon and a huge buffet table groaning with food. A good time was had by all.

Well my arm seems to be feeling better these last few days, so I am going back to work tommorrow, I hope it holds out, its been an awesome vacation ( well except for the pain ) but I need to refill the coffers.

A day in Vancouver

2009-08-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

This is a few weeks old now, but we had the wildest storm here on the night of the fireworks. Katkam is a cam that takes a shot every few minutes looking over English Bay in downtown Vancouver. Someone took all the pics from that day and put it into a montage video on youtube. It shows the storm rolling in, the sky turn the most unreal orange colour, a huge lightning storm and finally the fireworks. It's Vancouver in all it's glory, well worth watching, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNgk1pEHi_Q

Sorry, for some reason I still can't get the link thing to work, so you will have to copy and paste the url, but its worth it.

I'm Financially Set For Life...

2009-08-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

...providing I die before Friday!

Well July didn't turn out to be as lucrative as I thought it would be. After a few weeks of talking, I finally started work at my friends massage clinic. I was only supposed to work two days a week there and would have to build my own practice by going to the office and sit there all day hoping for walk-in business. After the first day, the owner told me she had bursitis and asked me to cover her shifts for the next week. It turned out to be a hectic week with me covering her shifts, my own, plus still working at the other clinic and doing home treatments.That brought in a good chunk of change but as always happens the minute I look like I'm getting ahead,things started falling apart.

My van started overheating and two trips to the mechanic and a thousand dollars later and it still overheats ...sigh. The last day I worked there, I had a guy come in to the clinic and give me some story about how he was a Doctor that worked nearby, knew my boss and he needed to borrow some money for a cab as his car got towed with all his money in it and his pregnant wife needed to get to the hospital, blah, blah, blah, anyway, I gave him 40 dollars to get him out of the office as I was in the middle of a treatment. Turns out my boss never heard of the guy, so I called the cops and found out he had been running the same scam all over town. I felt a fool for falling for it but after some thought, I realized it could have been much worse. He had come in after all the other businesses had closed for the day and had me cornered in the office. If he had pulled a weapon, I would have been utterly helpless. Needless to say, I was less than enthusiastic about going back to work there.

As things would have it, I wouldn't have to worry about it for awhile. I woke up Monday morning with swollen glands and a raw throat. Called in sick in case it was swine flu or something. A few days later we were hit with the heat wave of all time. I couldn't sleep in the bedroom so dragged my mattress out into the living room. I guess as I didn't have a headboard, the pillows fell off during the night and I woke up with a pinched nerve in my neck. That was over two weeks ago and I haven't been able to work since.

Ive been in excruciating pain all through my right arm and neck.I have a CT scan this Tuesday to see if they can pinpoint the problem. They tell me I can expect 3 weeks to 3 months to recover from something like this. All I can really do is manage the pain which I do with Demerol and Advil. This makes me too lethargic to do much of anything. The only relief I got was floating in our scummy river on an inner tube with my arm propped up and a frozen drink to cool off with. I never thought I would purposely set foot in our river but with temperatures soaring, it suddenly didn't look so bad after all. I spent hours drifting around in the lagoon half out of my mind with pain and overheating. Rough week!! Thankfully it has cooled off lately, now if the pain would just go away, life would be sweet.

Off course all this non-working means no money to build the house just yet. I think I have found most of the material that I can get for free. Now I need some cash for the framing material.

I did manage to score an awesome wood stove.

It needs a cleaning but is very cool looking. I like it because it doesn't take up alot of space but has two burners on top for cooking.It has lots of style and chrome which needs redoing but it will be worth it when it's finished. I can't wait to get the place built and see all the stuff I've acquired put together. I just have to be the heron and be graceful and patient and not give up.Hope your all having a great summer.xxoo

Lessons from Nature

2009-07-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have always felt a deep connection to nature. I am happiest in the forest or near any body of water. I feel so especially blessed each time I am able to sit quietly and watch the wildlife carry on its business in their natural surroundings. Living on the river has given me many opportunities to observe the local flora and fauna as they go about their day. Many of them seem to have adopted us or at the least they tolerate us mucking about in their sanctuary.

Yesterday, I awoke early and went out on the front deck to soak my aching bones in the hot tub. It's a different city at that hour of the morning. The traffic hasn't started its mad rush into the city, everything is quiet and the morning air is a clean, crisp prism that makes everything pop like a 3-D movie. The intoxicating scent of a fresh day sashays through the wildflowers,adding overtones of sweet promises of new beginnings and infinite possiblities.

Into this perfect stillness, a large blue heron glides silently through the honey scented breeze and lands ever so gracefully and softly on the river bank just a few feet away. He takes a moment to ruffle his feathers and adjust the fine silky down that drapes his shoulders, then pulling himself into a dancers elegant pose he begins a beautiful slow tango in the shallows.

Head held high, chest out, neck long, he glided one halting step in front of the other. At the end, he does a few vogue moves, holding himself still as a statue,the only perceptable movement,the wind caressing his downy mane. He slowly marches back to the middle then holds a pose forever, not even a heartbeat to differentiate him from the rest of the floatsome and jetsom nearby.

In the blink of an eye, he bends forward in a great bow and then stretches his neck to the sky, a tiny flash of silver his prize for being able to still his body and mind enough to become one with his surroundings.

Adjusting his silky mantle he ends his dance by spreading his impossibly large wings and lifting towards the heavens like an angel being called home.

Today, I learned to be graceful, patient and present in the moment to reap what this world has to offer.

Thank you beautiful heron for your graceful peformance and timely message.

(PS. These are not my photos, as I was in the tub at the time, so I borrowed some from the internet to illustrate what I was seeing)

.

Reflection

2009-07-04T18:35:00.001-07:00

Summertime and the Living is Easy.........

2009-07-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

(I've posted lots of pictures, if you want to see any of them clearer, just double click on them)

Well the month of June kinda went by in a blur. Work has been slowing down as all my clients take off for summer holidays and prepare for weddings, graduations etc. I'm torn between wanting to have lots of work = money for material, so I can get started building the house or taking time off so I can enjoy the weather. I'm such a sun slut. I can't help it, as soon as the sun comes out, I just want to drop everything and go to the beach. I don't mind working when it's raining and cold, but once it warms up, I just want to be outside. Unfortunately, I don't have two nickels to rub together, so some work is needed if I want to eat.

For years , I have been attending a big Summer Solstice party in the interior of BC. I didn't think I would make it this year as funds were non-existant. I missed it the last few years as all my energy and attention was down here at the marina and really,really wanted to go this year. At the last minute, David got a couple of very large boats come in to lease water space and figured we could afford to go.

So with a great flurry of packing, phone calls and a million stops along the way , we finally got out of town Friday night. We drove through the night and arrived exhausted at 2 am Satuday morning. A quick jaunt around the property to the fire pit to say hi to everyone, then it was off to bed for some sleep. The next three days were a huge celebration of life. A couple of hundred people came together and played music,danced, put on skits, dressed up in wonderful costumes,played silly games,celebrated Solstice, the births of new babies and reconnected with friends and family. I had the time of my life and a grin from ear to ear. Just what the doctor ordered.

Happy faces on both of us

Big grins as they wait for the mile long banana split eatin contest(no hands allowed!)

Some of the beautiful drums played over the weekend

The Ceasar girls come by with tasty libations to cure our morning hangover's

The Cross Dressing soccer tournament

I wish I looked this good in a dress!

Some music to entertain us

Making masks before the nighttime parade

David carved his mask out of bark

A very out -of- focus picture of my costume and mask

Hula hoops are the new craze this year. The girl with the orange one, gave me one to take home as long as I promised to practice and be in the hoop contest next year. In the picture you can see the outdoor stage behind and the peanut gallery also known as Hecklers Row to the left

I think I have a way to go before I can do this!

So I took on spin on the hamster wheel to get some exercise

Before dinner we did a blessing of the lamb and the sun

Which resulted in this sunset on another wise cloudy day

The carving of the lamb which had been slow roasted over an open fire all day

Food that everyone prepared was then brought into the circle to the fan fare of drums for a huge potluck dinner

The food is prepared in this outdoor kitchen which is the back end of the theatre

The next day we had the baby naming ceremonies which was preceding by a creation play

Some Solstice friends

The owner of the property, Laurie with one of his many admirers

Laurie, has the best hobbit house ever. His creed is "if your going to build something, don't make it just functional, it has to be pretty to look at as well". With that in mind, every aspect of his house is a work of art. He is a potter by trade ( as well as an author) and has built some amazing structures on his 50 acres of land. He encourages the artists among us to build art installations on his property, so there are all kinds of things to delight and amaze you as you walk around the place. There is an outdoor theatre with a kitchen attached as well as a full size labarinth planted from trees that is a couple of acres in size. We had a candle lit parade through the labrinth on Saturday night that was an amazing and beautiful experience. I always leave his property feeling reborn, rejuvanated and inspired. A great start to the summer.

A small meditation cabin or office sitting out in the middle of the pond

A large statue dedicated to Astarte makes a fun place for children to hang out

The firepit, a giant mushroom and Hecklers row

The entrance to the Grove of Forgiveness. This is where the parade ended and we let go of all of our grudges from the past year and give thanks to the universe for all our blessings

This structure holds the pumphouse for the cistern which holds his water supply

The pottery shed and some of the artwork on it
The dragon's legs are the door handles

The pump house for the woodfired hotub

The Hot Tub

The door to the sauna

The cold plunge pool between the sauna and hot tub

The Haul of Shame aka the garbadge/recycling center

Pictures of the house

Every beam has something carved on it

The part of the house that is made of logs is the original homestead, the rest Laurie added on over the years

Interesting squat toilet imported from asia with mosaic art

The bathtub set into a bay window

Banister carving

Beautiful doorway

Jar storage in Kitchen

Wall covered in cedar shakes, using the natursl shade variation to make a face

Cosy entrance to the home

Doorway detail

On my way home I recieved a call from the cousin of a good friend, who has just opened a new massage clinic. She was wondering if I would be interested in working there. Again, Im torn between jumping all over that and not wanting to be locked indoors for the summer.I can't really afford to turn this opportunity down tho, so will have to grab as much sun as I can the next few days before I commit to anything.

My pile of material continues to grow. I now have about 2000 feet of beautiful hardwood flooring, a kitchen cabinet with glass doors for the dishes and a pile of cedar shakes. Ive run out of room to store stuff which is a problem as I'm not quite finished collecting yet. I'm mostly needing framing material now and I can get started. Once I have some kind of structure in place, I have most of what I need to do the interior and some of what I need for the exterior. Not bad for two months and most of it for free. I cant wait to move in, I can picture it clear as day.

My cache of hardwood flooring

Yesterday was Canada Day, so I kidnapped David and dragged him to the beach. It was one of the busiest days, I have ever seen down there, must of been well over 5000 people. Although the sun was shining, we had gale force winds that had a cold bite. That didnt scare anyone away tho, they just bundled up and kept partying. All the musicians were down in full force and kept the beat going.

Playing in the wind

Impromtue beach sculpture, another random act of beauty

After the beach we went downtown to the waterfront and watched the fireworks.

All in all , a lovely day, Happy Birthday Canada, may you have many,many more.xxoo

And where would Canada be without the beaver? Here is our national symbol in our backyard enjoying a snack. For once its not our house he is dining on.

Full Circle

2009-06-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well its my 100th post and yesterday I saw the floathome that started all this for me 15 years ago. I had just graduated from massage school and had my own business that was doing very well. I saw a listing for a beautiful wood floathome and went to check it out. I fell completely in love with it. It was a log cabin with tons of stain glass everywhere. I went to the bank to organize a loan, but they wouldn't consider it, even with a 25% downpayment. Their reasoning was that someone could cut the ropes that hold it in place and their investment would just float away. Without land they wouldn't give me a dime. I was heartbroken. I never thought I would ever be able to afford this lifestyle and grieved that house for many years.

Yesterday, David and I went out to a marina up river to check out the situation with a floathome that was in need of more floatation to keep it from tipping over. We ended up having a very interesting and informative conversation with the owner of the marina for a good part of the afternoon. While sitting there, I was admiring a beautiful floathome that is moored there. I love swans and a mother and her chicks were dining in our little bay right in front of this house. As I was taking pictures I kept getting a sense of deja vu regarding the place but couldn't figure out why.

As we were getting ready to leave, we went back to take one last look at the problem floathome. While standing on the dock, a woman came out of the other home and walked towards us. I asked her if she lived in the beautiful wood house. She said she did, and would I like a tour? Of course I did! As soon as we walked inside, I recognized the place. She has done quite a few changes to the place which improved it even more but I knew it was the same place. I fell in love with it all over again. It was such a delight to be there again and the swans came right up to the front window while I was there admiring her river view. It couldnt have been more perfect. It was great to see how she was able to create such an amazing space on a 16x40 float. I have been struggling with trying to vizualize my lifestyle and furnishings in a limited space. Her home gave me a good insight into how to accomplish that.

She graciously allowed me to take some pictures but as she was on her way out, I felt pressed for time so just fired off a bunch of quick ones. Unfortunatly they didn't all turn out but here are some that did. It hard to capture this place on camera, hopefully I can go back and try again with more time.

The swan and her babies

My dream home( the tipouts,gables and back deck were new additions..part of why I didnt recognize it straight away)

Standing in the living room looking at the kitchen on the right with bathroom in back , stairs in the middle and entrance on the left

The living room with some of the many stain glass windows

Ceramic fish inlaid into the kitchen floor

The upstairs consists of two lofts connected by a bridge. The master bedroom on one side and a bathroom with a clawfoot tub and a guest room tucked in behind that on the other side. A cute window seat makes a nice nook to hang out in.

The bridge leading to the bathroom as seen from the master bedroom

The window seat

The guest bedroom

To cap off a wonderful day, our friend Mike who lives at the other end of Mitchell Island, dropped by in his cool speedboat and took us for a sunset cruise on the river

Life has been good lately. We have been having an awesome year as far as weather goes. A short mild spring, tons of sunny days and a June like no other so far. Ive been to the beach quite a few times already this year and my tan is well under way. The long days have completly changed my sleep cycle and for the first time in my life I am up and about at 7am every day. I know, dont fall over in shock! Im usually not seen about until noon so this is big news.

Im still collecting stuff for my home. I got all my kitchen cupboards the other day as well as an overhead light for the kitchen and a breaker box for my electrical needs. I did end up hearing back from Sandy( the guy with all the plywood for free) and 3 long drives out to the valley to pick it all up and I now have 40 sheets of wood. Thanks Sandy , your an angel! The rest of the stuff I need to start the building process is fairly specific to the job, so not sure how much more I will be able to scrounge. Now what I need most is an infusion of cash to buy the hardware and framing lumber so I can get started.

In the meantime, I have finally had a moment to play with my creative side for a change. We had a friend coming over who was using the shop to build drums. He showed me how and I made six so far in total. Heres the first two with paintings finished on them. The others are still being worked on. The big one is made of bear skin and has the most amazing sound. The design is a tattoo that was found on a mongolian shamaness that was found frozen in the ice. The bear claws around it are from another tattoo that Ive always liked because of its celtic look.
The design on the smaller drum is the local Native design for "thank you" or "Welcome"

It feels great to be doing something creative again. I can't wait to have my own shop and get all my tools and craft supplies out of storage and set up so I can use them.

So a rough start to the year, but at mid-point I see light at the end of the tunnel and am full of hope for the future. Menopause be damned, its full speed ahead.

Ok, So this is the Plan

2009-05-20T22:11:00.000-07:00

Now that the dust has settled, I have a plan. I bought the 20 by 25 foot concrete float from Steve and bought another 20 by 25 ft float from Roger. When I am ready to build a house , I will attach the two together for a 25x40 ft foundation. I am still in the planning stages so may even add some more concrete pods to have 48 feet in length. I wanted to build a couple of stories high, but got worried about the tip-over factor, so I'm trying to keep it to one story with living space in the attic. A good size deck space is important to me, so I have to leave some real estate for that.
I would like to build something that looks sort of like these houses

I have rented a second 20 foot container and have been scouring the free section on Craigslist for everything I need to put this house together and storing it there until needed. I am on a roll!!! So far I have aquired;
-a complete matching bathroom consisting of a jacuzzi soaker tub, toilet and two sinks with all the hardware, a steam shower unit, another toilet, the propane cookstove, a stacking washer/dryer, an under-counter dishwasher, four old-fashioned heavy- as -shit, water radiators, 20 french style wood frame windows, 4 interior doors,all my salvaged light fixtures from the boat and apartment, and about 60 bags of insulation.

Not bad for only three weeks into this. So far I have spent in total for all of the above $2,440.00 Most of that was $800 for the floats and $1,100 for the steam shower ( original cost over 3,500.00, I got it new in the box for a third of that, so great deal as far as I'm concerned).It's a shower/steam room and has jacuzzi jets to massage your back! I can't wait to try it out.
The bathroom fixtures were only used 3 times and are worth around 10,000( for free...they didn't like the colour...pale peach. I can live with that, no problem!)

So as it stands now, I need plywood and 2x4's, vapour barrier, black tar paper, cedar shakes for siding and roofing,drywall, some kitchen cabinets, a fridge, two bathroom cabinets, two exterior doors, a wood cookstove, a propane water tank and an electrical box and wire along with some plumbing. Some of this stuff I can get for free, the rest is affordable.

I'm thinking I can build this house for under $10,000. That's my goal anyway, it will be interesting to see if I can pull it off. Finding the insulation for free today was a super bonus. There was an ad for 60 sheets of free plywood the other day. Haven't heard back from the guy, so it might be gone already but that would have been enough to build my cabin for sure. Im still keeping my fingers crossed that it comes through.

Now that we have moved into Davids floathome full time, he has been putting tons of hours into fixing the place up. Things are coming along nicely. He hooked up the jacuzzi tub I got last year and a new stacking washer/dryer. The bathroom sink got plumbed in and the tool room super organized. The loft bedroom is now a reality. It still needs some insulation, the hardwood floor nailed down and a window installed for ventilation but its a wonderful space already with an awesome view out the main windows in the living room. We found a free hot tub on craigslist and finally got it running out on the deck. Its so awesome to sit out there after a hard days work and enjoy the sunset from the tub.

All the wildlife is back in full force. Bridget the duck and her beau come by daily for a feed and a visit. The geese parade their babies up and down the river. The little birds that were living in the boathouse when David first got it, now have a nest in the eves and we watch them building it from the living room. The river otters hang out on the deck and have staring contests with the cat. Every now and then the beaver comes by and takes a bite or two out of the house for old times sake. I really love having all these critters around, it makes living in the city more tolerable.

Some Things Never Change

2009-04-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

I have been back down on the water for a few days now and since then the list of challenging problems grows by leaps and bounds.

David is a master of many things but electricity is NOT one of them. Somehow he managed to rewire something so that we were getting 240 power running through the house. Needless to say, the appliances wern't too happy about that at all, so in a few days we fried the fridge, 2 microwave ovens, one toaster oven, a toaster, a 26 inch tv, the satallitte reciever,and the water cooler. I just bought a months supply of groceries yesterday and am sitting here waiting for high tide so we can bring down the fridge from the apartment and keep it from all spoiling. I am on the hunt for cheap new appliances to replace everything we lost.

We finally got rid of the the last of the non- paying squatters who were living down here. They could have been such nice people but got so addicted to crack that it took over their lives and made them most unreasonable to deal with. Stuff went missing down here all the time and they stayed up all night doing drugs and looking for ways to be a nuisance. They moved their house to another marina last week and it's so nice and clean and quiet down here now. Their house held Davids out from the shore and with them gone, we tightened up our lines on the house and docks. This resulted in being in too shallow water during low tide and putting a ton of stress on the house, so they were up till 3 am moving stuff around and loosening off the lines in the pissing rain last night. We are sitting pretty now though.

After much thought, David has realized that keeping the shop is a huge expense that he doesnt need at this moment in life, so he is letting it go at the end of the month. I had stored everything I salvaged off my boat in there filling an 8x6 room to the rafters. I also have a stove ,bathtub and bicycle stored there so now have 2 weeks to figure out where Im going to put all this stuff. My storage locker is already full and I don't want to pay yet more money to store stuff off site. I'm loathe to get rid of anything until I know for sure what my next place is going to be. You never know what will come in handy. David has his work cut out for him, he has the whole massively huge building stuffed with tons of tools and equipment, a mobile home, his office furniture, two forklifts, a bunch of building material,tons of his artwork etc. I have no idea were he is going to put it all but I'm sure the next few weeks will be very interesting as we scramble to get this all done.

My poor cat has been so stressed out with me packing and moving every two weeks. He was an abandoned cat and I am wondering if the people had to move, packed everything up and dumped him because they couldnt take him to the new place. He hates the moving boxes, scratches them to pieces, climbs inside and pees on things and generaly runs around screaming at me while I pack. The last few days he has taken to the loft in Davids house and barely comes down to be sociable. Not like him at all.I hope he can forgive me soon, I feel so bad for putting him through all this.

This year seems to be all about moving for me. Don't know if I mentioned how much I hate moving. Growing up in a military family we moved every year of my childhood. By the time I was 30 I had moved well over 50 times. They say moving, death and divorce are the highest stress factors in people lives. Well I have been pretty much packing and moving non-stop since mid-January and no end in sight just yet. I am praying for the day when I can unpack for once and all, hang up my hat and call myself home at last.

I Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry

2009-04-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

I dont know how to say this, so just pulling the band aid off and here we go....I'm NOT moving to the Queen Charlottes! After a week of emails and phone calls, I finally got to meet Patrick. We went out for dinner, had a lovely not wierd meal,talked about the best way to transport everything, made tentative plans to hang out on Saturday......and I never heard from him again! I finally sent him an email asking what was up and a day later got a reply that if I still wanted to come and be a cook I could but he wasnt interested in pursuing any kind of
relationship with me. Not that I expected anything in stone but he had gone on for the whole week about how great it was he found me, just what he wanted blah ,blah ,blah so quite a shock to be dissed like that for no apparant reason ( he had met me before and seen pictures so I wasnt a surprise). Anyway, I dont need to be stuck in the bush with no promise of pay, no love life, and no job or home to come back to in September, so I passed on that.

In the meantime as I had told David I was moving mid month, he had already rented out my apartment, so once again, I have moved, this time in with David at his float home. Not how things were supposed to go at all. Maybe the universe wants us to be together for some reason. I keep trying to leave and get thrown back here every time.

Since this all happened, Ive had a new idea every day about what to do next. One day I was going to buy my friends van and live in it. A good nights sleep on that idea and I decided it wasnt really feasable with the cat.

Then I was going to clean up the boat that sank here at Christmas and live on that , but it sank again the next day, so I passed on that too.

Then Steve offered me a 20x25 foot concrete float that I could put a trailer or something on, until I sort myself out. Ive been looking into the idea of putting shipping containers on it and bulding some kind of house out of them. Not really keen on living in narrow metal boxes tho, still trying to wrap my head around that.

I heard about a boat a guy was desperate to move and sounded like he would sell for very cheap. I just talked to him and found out he is making payments on 17,000 still owing on the boat....ouch, too rich for me and I told him so. He mostly just wants to not deal with the moorage fees right now, so has offered it to me as a free place to live if I move it here and pay the moorage on it. I wont own it, but will have a home for the time being while I work on what to do next with my life. I am supposed to go and see it on Monday, so will have a better idea then if I will go that route. I am getting a little leary of the whole boat senario.

I have been in such an emotional turmoil the last few weeks, I didnt want to post here, but then I thought, oh well this is my life, such as it is. Some day I will look back on all of this and think something about the way I handled it all. So I decided to take this all with a laugh and not stress about it anymore, its one day at a time, with things apt to change at a moments notice.

Stay tuned for the inner workings of a menopausal mind as I try and sort my life out.

A Preview of my New Home(stead)

2009-04-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

A map of Haida Gwaii (The Queen Charlotte Islands),located on the West coast of BC. If you click on it you can see it full view. Queen Charlotte City is our first destination to pick up supplies. Then its down to the National Park (the area outlined in green)Gwaii Haanas and Rose Harbour where we will be staying.

A view of Rose Harbour, the location of the homestead

A view from Rose Harbour looking out to the ocean

The same view at sunset

This is the Guest House where vistors stay

This is our house where we will stay and the meals will be served

Some of the local wildlife

The carved totem poles that the visitors come to see

Can't wait to get out there and try my hand at pioneering!~

I WON THE LOTTERY!!!!

2009-03-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well, not the "heres a check for a million dollars" lottery. Something much, much better. I won the "heres the life you always dreamed of on a silver platter" lottery. For all those who dont believe in coincedence or fate ( like my Dad), check out this story, its just too unreal.

So let me back up a little bit. If I could live anywhere, my dream house would have been a funky hobbitty hermit house in the woods, next to the ocean, off grid with a nice garden to feed me and a Daniel Boone kinda guy to do the hunting ,fishing and wood chopping. I was despairing that at my advanced age, that scenerio had passed me by in life and I was doomed to fade away in the city.

Since my boat is gone and after two years of trying my hardest to have David fall in love with me only to be regected in favor of some unknown "perfect woman" that he continually searches for, I decided it was time to move on. The way things have been going in my life lately it seemed the cosmos has been doing eveything in its power to get me ready for a complete life change. Well my instincts were dead on! I am about to start a brand new exciting adventure of a lifetime.

Last week I answered an ad on dear old Craigslist written by a man seeking " a hippie chick to go and live at his homestead eco tourism wilderness getaway in the Queen Charlotte Islands (also known as Haidaii Gwaii)". I thought that sounded right up my alley so sent him a picture of me and said "if your still interested , get back to me".

Well he was and did and sent some pictures and a more detailed description of himself, his business and what he wanted /expected from a woman joining him on this venture. Something about his name and location rang a bell for me and when we finally got to talk on the phone, I asked him if he had a brother named Benoit?

Well , yes he does,and how would I know that? Well, Benoit was a roomate of mine years ago and at some point his brother Patrick came to town and stayed with us for a few days while he was picking up a new boat to take back to his eco-tourism guiding thing in The Queen Charlottes. We hit it off very well and enjoyed each others company while he was here. Nothing came of it as he was happily married but I think we both felt we had met a kindred spirit in each other. He left town and I never heard from or saw him again.

Now,years later here he is again. His wife sadly passed away from cancer a few years back and he had moved back to Vancouver to get his electricians ticket. Apparently he has been posting ads for quite awhile trying to find a soul brave enough to go into the wilderness and homestead with him. He has to leave to go back there in 3 weeks and time was running out to find someone suitable.

Well not only do I want to go, but as the universe tumbles I was serendipiply( my own word ) totally ready to go at a moments notice. My stuff is all packed in storage, my boat has been dealt with,I am barely working these days, so finding someone to take over my clients was easy and I had finally accepted the fact that David was never going to be mine and am ready to move on.

So a mad flurry of activity is taking place as I decide what to pack, do last minute shopping, say goodbye to everyone and tie up any loose ends.

David has been a brick about all this. He is happy for me and willing to look after my vehicles and storage locker etc until I get a chance to see if this is going to work out and if it doesnt, I am welcome back here, where he will still try and get me a barge or floathome if it comes to that.

So with that bit of security to cling to , I am off. I will be leaving April 17th. We will drive over to Vancouver Island in his jeep towing a trailer full of our stuff. At the top of the Island we will be catching a ferry to Haidaa Gwaii.Once there, he has a house in Queen Charlotte City ( really a small town) and we will stay there for a few weeks gathering supplies for the homestead. When we are ready everything gets put on a barge and towed for a few days to get to his location.

When we arrive we have to clean out the main house and guesthouse(holds 8 people) , plant a garden and get things ready in general. The house is a solar powered, satallite for internet, composting toilets, wood fired hotub kind of a place. He runs a guiding operation from there, where people get to experience the homestead, organic garden type of lifestyle and he takes them fishing, boating,and exploring the national park during the day.

I am blissed out to say the least. This is a lifestyle I have dreamed of forever and now I finally get to give it a go.

So please stay tuned as I am sure I will have many interesting stories to go along with this new adventure. Thanks to everyone for their messages of hope when I was going through my meltdown last month. Im glad to say all is well, Ive dusted myself off and am ready to go forward into the unknown with an open heart and open mind.
I cant wait, I am absolutely giddy with anticipation. This is a thousand times better than a check for a million,.... you can't buy happiness.

One Less Hole in the Ocean

2009-03-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

With a heavy heart and thousands of tears shed throughout the day, the Lucky 7 finally met her demise. Everything that could be salvaged from the boat was removed and then with the screech and roar of saws and a bobcat she was most ungracefully dismantled and unceremoniously thrown into a dumpster. I am heartbroken that my beautiful home and all my effort came to this in the end. Farewell my friend , it was a joy spending time with you, lots of good memories, Im so sorry I couldnt save you.

Friday the 13th

2009-03-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

I had a funny feeling when I saw that boat the other day to not get too excited by it and I was right. We were half way out there today to start cleaning her up when we got a call saying she had sunk again.

This time the damage was much worse, it looks like she is about to split in half. So I will not be taking on that project after all. It's too bad, that boat definately had the space that I wanted/needed but in the end it was just another old rotting wooden boat. I think I have finally learned my lesson on that. Its too bad as I love the look and energy of wood, but the upkeep factor on a wood boat seems never ending. I read a great quote the other day about maintaining the wood on a teak deck. They said "the upkeep work starts about 10 minutes after its been installed and will continue until the boat has been abandoned". I almost pissed myself laughing, only 'cause I know that is really the truth of it all.

So its back to the drawing board. I am going to focus my energy on looking for a barge to build on. Boats are too restrictive in size and too prone to sinking for my liking. I want something that doesnt require a bilge pump or polishing once a week.

Boy this year has been wierd for me so far, its only 11 weeks into it and it feels like 10 years ago since New Years Eve to me. Can't wait to see what the rest of the year has to bring!

Manifested Dreams

2009-03-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's strange how life works. Last year David was out in Mission and he took a bunch of pictures of a 70 foot boat that he thought I would like. The pictures intrigued me but I never made it out there to see it or gave it anymore thought. Well he was out there again the other day and saw that same boat sunk at the marina. He asked me if he could bring it up would I be interested in it? As you all know , Ive been moaning about space forever and 70 feet sounds alot better than 30 so I said I would definately want to check it out. He got a hold of the boat owner and found out he had already pulled it up and was going to remove the engines and crush it. David made a deal with him to help him pull out the motors if I could keep the boat. So its a done deal!

Yes folks , you heard right . I am the proud new owner of 70 feet of wooden history. Apparently the Queen has gone cruising on this boat!

It has over 1000 square feet of space inside, whoohoo!!!!!! There is a full size fridge, stove, washer /dryer, small deep freeze, 4 bedrooms, 2 heads, 1 shower,a large kitchen with ooodles of counter space and room for a real table and best of all deck space. A covered deck on the back with somewhere to hang my hammock, and lots of deck up top to tan and lounge outside. There are several areas I could use for a workshop and once the motors and gas tanks are removed, I will have a decent size storage space available for water/sewage tanks or just storage in general.

Ive got my work cut out for me . It's a mess from being under water. I need to haul out all the garbage, powerwash it from top to bottom, dry it out and paint the whole thing inside and out. There is some damage to the right topsides and the left side of both roofs are a bit crushed. Im curious to see if the decks leak or not. If they do, I will need to get on that right away. The railings are gorgeous but need to be refinished and there are miles of them! The space inside is basically a blank canvas that I can design any way that suits me. I can't wait to create my dream home on it.

So here are some pics. I know she looks a sight now, but there is tons of potential here. Im thinking "Freedom 55" lol. Give myself 5 years to get her beautiful and fully functioning. Ideally I would love to be off grid. I would like a water distiller, wind/solar power and a composting toilet. All things to work towards. In the meantime, I'll have lots of wood to polish and cabinets to build.

My new palace

Decks Galore!

The Wheelhouse which will probably become the workshop/craftroom or the summer salon

The interior salon looking forward to the galley which is below the windows

The interior salon looking back to the entrance and the stairs down to 3 bedrooms and the toilet and shower

The Galley

The rest of the galley

The fabulous back deck where I plan to spend many hours watching the sunset from my hammock

It looks like I will be chopping up my old boat as it needs to get out of the shop its in. I hate to do it, but it needs so much work, there is really not much left of it. I will try and salvage any goodies like the bathtub and portholes etc. Im glad I had the year to live on that boat. I learned so much from that experience. I think I am a lot better prepared to make a go of it on the new boat. The fact that I have a fairly gutted interior to work with means I can insulate and prepare cabinitry that suits my needs right from the start.

So here we go again......this should be interesting :)

Good News !

2009-03-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

Good news, the boat is salvagable! ( HUGE sigh of relief) The shipwright came by this morning and informed me that I could recaulk the boat with sikaflex and paint over it and it would be good enough for sitting at a dock. It seems the biggest mistake I made in rebuilding the boat was not off-centering the new boards. It's too much of a weakness in the structure to have all the seams in the same place. I knew that from reading a book on boatbuilding but as I was originally planning to fiberglass it didn't seem an important issue at the time. I suppose if I really wanted to I could remove the boards and redo it but time is running out for me here so think I will forge on ahead. I don't really care if the boat is seaworthy, I don't plan to take it out unless it's to change location,as long as it floats and doesn't leak, I'll be happy
This seems do-able to me. I just need to get the top and side decks rebuilt and then I can use an airgun to spray the sikaflex in , then paint and I'm back in the water. Whoohoo.( well that and a million other little details like installing all new through hulls etc ,etc but as long as I have a structure to work with, its all good)

April Fools

2009-03-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Opps, not April yet? Oh well, deal with it, I had to. So February was possibly the stupidest month of my life. I am still reeling from it all. I was all set to give up on the boat. I was tired of hearing how my boat was taking up space in the shop and was too overwhelmed and cold to do anything about finishing the renos. I spent weeks packing and moving all my stuff from the apartment, the boat and Davids house and putting it in storage. I then moved a few vanloads of stuff over to Ricks. Once I got there Rick wanted to clear the back pasture and the basement, so I spent another week or two moving more stuff in between working at my job. I was feeling underfoot at Ricks and the insecurity of knowing that I couldnt relax there and wait for the universe to do its thing prompted me to move back out. As the apartment hadn't been rented out yet , I ended up moving back in here for the time being. I can't believe I just spent a whole month moving my shit in circles. I really feel like I'm going mad. The one thing this taught me though is how much I missed having my own space so I'm much more motivated to get the boat put back together again.

Soooo as far as the boat is concerned, this is the new plan. As I was inspecting things where the side decks attach to the main cabin, I couldn't help but notice that anything that looked like support was rotten. As I removed more of the structure it just got worse. This is when I really wanted to give up as now I was going to lose the thing that made the boat special to me, its character in the hand carved wood in the cabin. Then one day when I was looking online I found a picture of a boat that looks very similar to mine. I liked the top cabin and extra deck space it afforded. I was also realizing that the design of my cabin with its sloped windows was always going to be a problem as far as keeping things waterproof inside.

Their Boat

My boat

So I've done something completely radical and totally unthought of until now. I cut the whole cabin off! I want to extend the white cabin on the back all the way to front of where the windows used to be and build the upper cabin as in the picture of the other boat. I will lose the 10 foot high ceiling in the living room but it isn't so bad. There is still room for someone close to 6 feet tall to stand up inside and Im short so it will suit me fine. The square box will be so much easier to fiberglass then the cabin the way it was.

The cabin cut off

Im also going to remove the woodstove and the stand it was on as well as the staircase on that side and build a dinette area in its place. I liked the woodstove for its blasting heat but it was a fire hazard and keeping up with the demand for wood was a time consuming pain. I'm going to install the propane furnace and if it isn't enough I will buy a small furnace that burns presto log bits. Having a proper table to sit at to eat will be so nice. Once the top is built, I will insulate it and the interior of the hull and cover the inside with tongue and groove to restore the wood look without all the drafts.

A view inside of the cabinless boat(the stairs and woodstove on the right will be removed to make place for the dinette)

As the boat never leaked from sitting in the water I am hoping that I can recaulk the boat and leave it wooden instead of trying to fiberglass the hull. It was only the fact that I had rotten boards and the decks leaked that were the problem. I have no problem fiberglassing the top deck and roof. I will have to talk to someone in the boat building industry and see if I can do this still or if its too late with the way I have done things. Keep your fingers crossed for me please.

I have to say I had never gotten around to reading the blog called the Wendy Ann 2 before but all the other blogs I read were going on about them finally launching their boat. I got curious so read the whole blog in one sitting from beginning to end. What an inspiration that was! I feel a right fool for sniveling about my lot after seeing the size of their job and the sacrifices they made to get the job done and well done too if I say so myself.

I think what they have over me is ,for one thing, they are a couple that support each other and their dream for this to happen. They only had this one project to focus on ( as opposed to David and his one hundred and one things on the go) and they had friends who came by and helped. I have basically had my hands tied for much of the time as I couldnt beg or pay people to help me and being alone with no clue was so daunting I just gave up. Well we will see how much further I get with it now. Thanks to the folks with the Wendy Ann 2 and the inspiration they have given me, hopefully one day soon, I will be having my own launch party.

Day 51 - A Smoking Diary Update

2009-02-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

Day 51- Wow! I cannot believe its been that long already, my how time flies when your jonesing for a smoke. I am still a mess, super emotional, lots of anger, depression, sadness and edginess. It seems like everyone is out to piss me off (they are not really, I'm sure, but that how life looks through withdrawal goggles). I hate feeling like this, its not me at all, at least I hope its not.

I'm sure some of it has to do with the state of my life right now. I hate not having some kind of plan or focus for my life. As long as I have a goal, I am the tenaceous mountain goat, scrambling her way to the top of the challenge. Without somewhere to focus that energy, I am the balloon that got away just before you got the knot in it, bouncing off the walls in a wild frenzy till I'm spent and deflated.

Ive spent the last two weeks packing and moving everything I own and putting it into storage. I ended up filling a twenty foot container to the brim. The scary thing is, almost nothing in there is furniture, its just all stuff.It all seems useful and has a purpose but I could just as easily not need any of it. I wonder if I will ever see any of it again? I have no idea what to do next. I liked having my own home and living on the water. I dont want to give up the dream of having what I want, but without a crystal ball to tell me if its coming my way or not and when, I don't know how much to commit to getting into a lease situation on an apartment or house.

I really like having my own space. While I appreciate the company of a roomate, I prefer my own home. Even apartments I find constricting and annoying with their no pet rules and noisy neighbors. I can be quite the hermit to be honest, I need my own hermit cave. Hmmm... I'm picturing it already, the little stream running past the front door,pretty vines climbing around the entrance,birds serenading me from the trees,....sigh.

Oh where was I? Right, so not sure what to do next. I cant stay at Ricks for much longer, I am definately in the way here. The cost to rent a normal place in Vancouver is astronomical and I dont want to keep moving in and out of places. I might end up living in my van for awhile until I see where life takes me. It will allow me to save some money so that if a good opportunity does come up I have the means to make it happen.

I bought my cat a harness and leash today so if it does come to that, I can get him out for walks and fresh air. I feel guilty about the cat. He has been cooped up in my bedroom for the last two weeks. Rick has a cat that gets quite distraught with other cats around, so to keep the peace, I've kept Casper locked up. I have taken him back to the marina several times so he can run and stretch his legs and have a good play with David. He really seems to enjoy these outings and he sleeps like a log afterwards.

I had started going to the gym on a regular basis with all good intentions. That lasted for a few weeks, but the last two weeks have been hectic with work and moving. I've still managed to lose five pounds since New Years and keep it off, so I am happy with that. I would like to get back on track though as I was training for a sprint triathalon and was really curious to see if I could go the distance or not.

In the spirit of getting off my ass, I bought a pair of boys hockey skates at a second hand store and want to go for a skate at the speed skating oval. I have never tried boys skates before, I used to be a figure skater. I wonder how much I will miss the pick? I'm thinking a lot, but it will be interesting to see. I just cant wait to get on the ice. It's probably been 30-40 years since I last skated but I often have dreams where I can skate beautifully and it feels so good and graceful to do. I'm sure the reality will look like staggering, flailing and a sore bum but I'm eager to give it a go. Silly me :)

And speaking of my youth, I was tracked down on facebook by an old friend of mine recently. We had first met when I was 18 living in Lahr Germany during my air force brat days. I have run into her several times over the years. We both lived in Chilliwack for a while in the early 80's and later both migrated to Vancouver for awhile. We lost touch for years when I went out to Quebec,but found each other again around 2000. When I left to go to the fishing resort a few years later, we lost each other again. Last night I was invited to her sisters house for a special Christmas dinner with all their friends. What a hoot! Awesome full course turkey dinner, lots of belly laughs and so great to reconnect with people that I thought were cool 30 years ago, and am still proud to call my friends.

Its too bad they didn't have facebook when we were growing up. We were commenting on how lucky we felt we were to have had childhoods without video games and internet to distract us but the one downfall of a military lifestyle was the moving on of friends.I lost touch with so many people in my life because the technology wasn't there to make it easy. Luckily some of that has changed recently. I was inspired by my friend tracking me down, so I started to search for other people from my past and found quite a few. Its been so great to find out what ever happened to them and to find out, that they had thought of me in return. Nice to know, someone noticed my life here on earth.

Another Chapter Comes to a Close

2009-02-11T23:17:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like my life on the water is over for now. I have put almost all my belongings in storage and have moved back to my old house for some couch surfing until I can figure out what direction to go in next. I took a very good look at the boat and have decided it is way too far gone. The whole cabin is rotten through and through. My best bet would be to gut the boat and rebuild it. I didn't sign up to be a boat builder. These repairs have gotten too far out of hand. There isn't one inch of that boat that doesn't need work done to it. I do not have the skills, patience, time or money to do it justice.

I will offer it up as a project and see if anyone wants to take it on. If no one does, then I will strip it of all hardware and turn it into firewood. Its not the way I wanted things to go but I don't consider this quitting, just being smart enough to realize that I am in way over my head and would rather put my money and energy somewhere else.

Im glad I got to try life on a boat for a whole year. It was definately a learning experience in oh so many ways. I learned how to live with less. Less stuff, less space, less privacy, less spare time, less money, less heat. I also got more wildlife, more sunsets, more midnight adventures, more life skills and the chance to feel a bit like a pioneer for awhile. I chopped wood and carried water. I battled the elements and won. I was the Captain of my own destiny on the good ship Lucky 7.

I still want to live on the water but next time I want a floathome. If I ever got another boat, it would be in addition to the home and would be a (not wooden)sailboat. After experiencing the price of gas last summer, I would prefer a boat that has a cheaper, more environmently correct mode of getting around. It would be nice to have something seaworthy that I could technically sail to other lands.

I miss being rocked asleep by the gentle embrace of the water. I miss the satisfaction of knowing I survived another day with all the river could throw at me. I miss my little Hobbitt House and the sense of security I had knowing I had a home of my own for a minute. It seems to be my destiny to taste alot of what life has to offer but to never settle into anything permanantly. Once I've learned everything I want to know or had the experience it's time to move on and try something new.

I don't know if I will get back to the water. I don't know what life has in store for me now. It seems like a good time for something interesting to happen. The universe appears to be lightening my load and severing my connections with everything that consumed me last year. Right now I basically have no home, no boyfriend, no job, no belongings, one vehicle that is not running and another on its last legs. I should be worried but feel a strange sense of calm, a knowing that I don't have to fight this. The winds could blow me in any direction and I would be free to go.

Sheesh, this year is only six weeks old and my life has done a complete 180 since New Years. The quitting smoking is going well. I still get lots of cravings and mood swings. To that end I'm trying everything I can to detox and get a healthy lifestyle going on. I'm training for a sprint distance triathalon. I'm at the gym most nights doing a combo of stretching, weights, cardio and swimming. I've started a herbal detox program and am eating much healthier than I have for years. I've lost five pounds in the last two weeks and hope to make that twenty-five more before summer hits.

I didn't read this in the owners manual but....is it normal to purge your whole life when you turn 50??

Thoughts on Simplicity

2009-01-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

I was reading the "We Live on a Boat" blog the other day.

http://www.weliveonaboat.com/

They had a post about living simply with a link to another blog about a young woman who had given up her job and home to buy a sailboat and practice simple living.

http://sailingsimplicity.com/.

She in turn had a link to another girl who is living in her van in a effort to opt for a simpler life.

http://www.faliaphotography.com/

All these people and their ideas of what was and wasn't simple living got me thinking about my own experience. Now first off, I have to admit that I am thrift store addict and a serial pack-rat. Neither of these two attributes bodes well for me. My biggest claim to fame so far, is that I have not paid more than $350 a month for rent the last 10 years in six different locations in the most expensive city in Canada.

I guess first of all you have to define your idea of living simply. Is it living with very little possesions? Is it using very little energy resources? Is it having no technology, very few responsibilities, or is it making everything from scratch?

I have had a number of occasions to simplify my life in the last 10 years. Basically my philosphy has been "if there is room, fill it full of stuff". I am a master of tucking things away and like a seasoned magician, can vanish many truckloads of stuff into a stunningly small space.

My first downsize from was from a huge house where I had a basement studio for a clinic as well as two stories upstairs filled to the rafters. It wasn't too painful. I moved into an apartment and just deleted all the multiples of things that I had, kept the best stuff,and donated things I rarely used. I had moved a block away from two malls with all the shopping I needed and three blocks from my clinic. I was able to walk everywhere, recycle in the garbadge room and work part time from the apartment. That was a sweet deal. The place was small but very well laid out with everything you could want, in-suite laundry, dishwasher, balcony, small storage room and enough space in the living room for me to set up my massage table when needed.

Life shifted for me when the medical plan stopped covering massage therapy and I was forced into bankcrupcy. I closed my clinic and went to work for a summer at a fishing resort in the wilderness. My thought was I would bring what I needed to entertain myself indefinately, leave it there over the winters and go travelling. With that in mind I packed wayyyyy too much stuff to take with me. All my massage gear, craft supplies, a couple of hundred of my favorite books, a bookcase to store them, a desktop computer, a huge teachers desk, my favorite mattress and bedding, on and on. I showed up with a good size truckload of stuff. I was so embarrassed when I saw everyone else with just a duffel bag of stuff. I got it all in my room anyway and enjoyed playing with it. The job unfortunatly didnt work out and I had to take it all out again at the end of the summer. If I had known that, I would have brought less, but enjoyed having it all regardless.

The resort produced its own power from a turbine in the nearby waterfall. They had a state-of-the-art system that purified the black and grey waste water back into pure drinking water. All the buildings were built on floats or stilts so there was no damage done to the surrounding land. All garbage/recyling was taken back to civilization for disposal on a regular basis during the weekly shopping expedition. TV, internet and communication in general was accessed through a satalite dish and radio phones. All our food was cooked from scratch. Homemade bread, desserts, gravies, sauces, ice cream, you name it, nothing pre-packaged at all. Activites included non-polluting things such as:kayaking, hiking, rafting, catch and release fishing, rock climbing, spelunking(exploring caves)and swimming.

It was awesome to live like that. Such a healthy place and lifestyle. It still had all the comforts of home but I have to say, they didnt come cheap. That being said , if your going buy a house and install furnaces etc, you might as well make it off the grid as much as possible and save on the hydro bills and the hassles when the power fails. Producing and cooking your own food is a nice choice too if you have the time and space.

I've had the power go out for four days straight in the dead of winter at a time when I wasn't prepared in the least. Not even a candle. That freaked me out to realize I could die in the middle of civilization just because I couldn't use a light switch. I resolved then and there to never be in that position again. I took many courses in primitive living skills. I learned how I could be naked in the woods and still find ways to keep warm, feed, clothed, medicated and entertained. It was liberating to know that I could take care of my basic needs without snivilization's help if need be. Its as simple as a life as you could think of but not neccesarily easy. It takes a lot of time and energy to get enough food and nourishment in the wild. Still once you get your basic needs met, somewhere dry to sleep, something warm to wear, a supply of fresh water, the rest of your day is yours to explore and work on things.

Once I was done at the resort, I went travelling to Asia and New Zealand. I ended up travelling around New Zealand for three months in a van with three other people. We towed a medium size trailer filled with gear to set up stalls selling crafts and services at crafts shows. It's funny, when I got to NZ, I arrived with one suitcase, by the time I left I had enough stuff to fill a good size trailer. Most of it was a fairly complete market setup that I had added to as I was working around the country. I left most of it behind thinking I would go back the following summer and do it again, but never did make it back there.

I found it quite liberating to live in the van. I had one suitcase of clothes, some toiletries, a few books and a drum. I stopped at internet cafes when I wanted to check in with the world. I spent an hour a week in the laundrymat. We had a two burner stove, one large pot, one large frying pan, a kettle and a set of dishes each. We ate twice a day. Dinner was a whole chicken cut up in the pot with chopped potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, some rice and lots of tabasco sauce. The whole thing was boiled into a chicken stew. Left-overs were added to whisked eggs to make a large omlet for breakfast. Simple but tasty with fresh and dried fruit for snacks.
Showers were obtained at local gyms, hotels, campsites, homes of friends or even in rivers. We didn't neccesarily stay in all the above places but could often for a small fee or even free be allowed to shower.

New Zealand is quite open to this kind of lifestyle. There are tons of spots in nature that you can use for free with toilets, sometimes showers and no one hassling you for being there. In towns you can park overnight in parking lots, just have to be out by the time the stores open. They usually have washrooms in the parking lots as well. Canada is not so open. Especially in a city, you would have to be quite covert, no hanging around outside in your lawnchair with the doors open and the pop top up. We always sat and cooked outside, putting up a tarp over things if it was raining. You wouldn't get away with that here. Of course all this was possible because it was summertime. Didn't need to stay warm. Could work and eat outdoors, didn't need to pack alot of winter clothes and blankets,etc. That was about as simple of a lifestyle as Ive ever had. My vehicle was my bedroom, kitchen, transportation, worksite, and storage locker. Costs included gas, insurance, repairs, groceries, showers, internet and restocking of material for the craft markets. My work week was two days long, the rest of the time was mine to explore,travel and study. To bad summer doesnt last year round :(

My next stop was Bali where at one point I stayed with a very poor Balinese family for a week. These people really had next to nothing. A shed with no doors or windows, just gaping holes. No furniture except a cupboard that held the dishes, a few rough beds and a donated tv. The only appliance was a rice cooker. No running water in the house, just one cold water hose going into a rough bath house shared by four other households. No vehicle of any kind, not even a bike. A couple of changes of clothes each, consisting of sarongs. They ate mostly rice with some flavorings and sometimes added homegrown fruit, chickens and pork that were only eaten on special occasions. Now that was a simple lifestyle. Dad worked in the rice fields long enough to earn a bag of rice and a few dollars. Mom kept the area tidy and cooked the rice. They mostly sat around after that. Kind of boring for me, if I couldnt afford decorations, I would have used that time to make something at least.I can't bear an empty space lol.

I came back from Bali feeling very overwhelmed by all my possesions. It felt like I had enough crap to feed three villages for a year. ( I had stored all my belongings in a friends basement while I was off gallavanting for the year) I had huge urges to pack it all up save a mattress and a pot to cook with and donate the lot of it. Then I would waver and figure as I had this huge space to live in, might as well have stuff I already owned, decorating it. My clutter bunny took over and the stuff stayed and got added to over the years.

Then came the boat. Again a major downsizing was in order. I have to admit, a part of me wasn't ready to let go of all the wonderful things that had been a part of my life. I stored all my things I might need someday to work and my favorite ornaments and three thousand books in the basement of my old house. I gave alot of large furniture items to David to furnish his floathome with the understanding that "some day" if and when I ever got a bigger space I would take them back. I did manage to let go of four or five vanloads of stuff that got donated or recycled. The rest found its way onto the boat.

For a year I lived with sketchy utilities, a teeny tiny fridge, microscopic storage space and the equivalent of an outhouse. I hauled water and chopped wood. I stumbled over my dishes trying to find room to cook. I made various trips to my storage to pull out seasonal things as they applied. Trying to have exactly what I needed without having too much. My three main complaints were, no room for all the tools needed to live on a boat, no room to cook, no room in the fridge for food once all the condiments were accounted for. I dont know how to make those needs much smaller without compromising too much. Also the fact that my job here is massage and winter living requires alot more clothing, I spend alot more time and money at the laundrymat than I did in NZ.

So I have tried the simple life in many forms; downsizing belongings, working very little, living in tiny places, living off the grid. They all have their charms and disadvantages. Im still trying to decide what is the minimum amount of stuff I need to live a semi-comfortable life. It seems enough to say , well really all I need is a bed and a pot, but then the rest of your life insideously tries to sneak in. "Well of course I should have the laptop, and then might as well have the camera and cell phone. And what about those cute dressy shoes in case I ever get a real date? Might as well bring my drum in case I get invited to a jam and better have something to read in case I get bored and".............well you get the idea. I still have a mountain of stuff and an addiction to fossil fuels. Some days my life is simpler than others.

PS. here is my "simple life packing list for travel" ( this is for hot climates only)

I took only this with me for a 6 month trip

1 pair of long pants that convert into shorts
2 pairs of shorts
4 cotton long sleeve blouses
4 undershirts/tank tops (I dont like to wear bras)
4 underwear
2 pairs of socks
1 pair of light weight hiking boots
1 pair sandals (something like Tevas, waterproof, strap on, some arch support)
- good for walking in dodgy water or wearing in public bathing areas)
1 sarong ( has a multitude of uses- skirt, dress, blanket,sheet, beachblanket, privacy curtain, quick drying towel,or turned into a carry-all)
1 bathing suit
1 fleece Hoodie
1 lightweight rain poncho with a hood
1 Australian Style, lightweight foldable ,waterproof hat
1 pair of sunglasses

I wear the pants,an undershirt,blouse,hoodie and boots on the plane,everything else goes in a carry-on small backpack

A small flat camera, ipod and headphones, a journal, my bankcard, credit card, some US dollars, photocopies of all my documents/tickets, a doorstop( use this to jam your door from the inside to prevent break-ins while sleeping), a flat plastic sink plug, a small travel clothesline, my makeup bag, first aid kit,face cloth and small sample size toilitries take up the rest of the space.

*Note on the first aid kit contents( This is what I took for an extended trip to Asia. I could buy bandages ect as needed, but brought medications I wasnt sure I would find there, and things I could self- medicate with to avoid costly trips to the Dr in a foreign country)

-A couple of sterile packaged syringes ( if you need to get a shot, a lot of 3rd world countries reuse their needles, best to bring your own)

-Tube of aloe vera gel for burns

-Advil ( anti-inflammatory)

-Arnica gel for bruises and sprains

-Tube of polysporain (cuts and scrapes)

-Moleskin for blisters ( I love this stuff)

-Gravol(nausea)

-Tums with Calcium ( Im prone to heartburn/ulcer attack occasionally, calcium calms it as quick as prescription meds)

-Anti-diarrhea aid

- A small container of activated charcol ( this is awesome for any kind of poisoning, venamous bite etc)

-Deet bug spray ( I didnt want to take meds for Malaria as Dengue Fever was also prevalent and there is no prevention or cure for that. Best to avoid the mosquitos in the first place, so long sleeves and bug spray for me)

-A prescription for antibiotics for a bladder infection and some acifidofolous(this is hard as they should be kept refrigerated. Hopefully you can find some where you are, as needed, or have access to live cultured yogurt) to counter the yeast infection you might get from the antibiotics.

- Condoms ( a lot of Asian countries sell cheap, poor quality condoms, if there is any chance at all you might be needed condoms, I highly recommend you bring your own)

I carry a large canvas tote on board with me that has a book to read, a water bottle,a small pillow, a light weight blanket,1 pair of lightweight cotton pajamas, earplugs and an eye mask.

When I get on the plane, I change into the pajamas in the bathroom, get out my pillow and blanket, put on my eyeshade and earplugs and try and sleep my way through the flight. Just before landing, I change back into my bording gear which is still nice and fresh and not slept in.

I did one small load of laundry every 4th or 5th day often by hand in the sink. When I finished reading a book, I would trade it in a local used book store for another.I could carry onboard all my stuff so could always keep an eye on it and carry it easily through town. It made for easy , carefree travel. If I couldn't control myself and did too much shopping, I would mail the stuff home to myself on the slow boat. It was cheaper and I had time to travel and get home before it showed up.

I went on a trip to England for a month another time. It was in the spring when the weather could and would be anything from blazing hot to quite cold to pissing rain. I tried to pack light but with having to pack for three different climates I didn't fair so well. It was a serious pain dragging two suitcases through the London Underground for miles. Never Again! Tahiti here I come!

Bon Voyage!!

The Breakup Letter

2009-01-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

Tana found an article in the Ubyssey newsletter the other day about the authors "breakup" with snow. It was a hilarous read, thanks for that Tana. It inspired me to write my own breakup letter to cigarettes.

The Breakup Letter

Dear Cigarette,

I’m sorry its come down to this, but I think its best if we go our own way. I don’t want to be rude, but you can’t take a hint so I will have to be blunt.

I’d like to say it’s not you, it’s me…. but, it’s not, it is you! Frankly you stink. You take my breath away but not in a good way. You offend my friends and neighbors, everything I own reeks of your filthy stench, and you distract me all day long with your stupid “smoke breaks” so I never get anything done.

I’ve asked you nicely to butt out when I’m in the car, but you insist on being a part of every drive. I’ve told you it’s embarrassing for me when all my massage sheets reek of smoke, but you just can’t keep away from them. I think you have a thing for all my fabrics in general and that, kind of creeps me out to be honest.

Every time we go to a party, I have to keep you company out on the porch all night and end up missing most of the festivities. You leave your un-recyclable, un-breakdown-able filters, lying around everywhere like dirty used condoms. You’re a PIG! Oh yeah, and my lungs hate you! They may never have said so to your face, but they shriveled in disgust every time you came to visit them. For hours after, they would cough and heave in an effort to rid themselves of your foul cologne.

Oh, I know it wasn’t like that in the beginning. I still remember when we first met. You were the cool guy that would come around my parents’ parties. I was intrigued but too young to understand the attraction you had for me. Finally we were properly introduced at my school in grade 6. I felt so honored that you would include me in your exclusive circle of uber cool friends.

Our first meeting didn’t go all that well as I was so nervous, that after chain-smoking six of you, I went home and puked for hours. I got over my shyness though, and went on to become very close friends with you. Oh the times we had. Back then we hung out in bars, restaurants, movie theatres, grocery stores. Really anywhere we wanted to. We were so cool, no- one thought to tell us how rude we were by displaying our affection for each other everywhere we went. I cringe whenever I think of those times now.

You were my lover, my best friend, my ally in tough times, my backbone when I felt weak, and the best diet I’ve ever been on, so it hurts me to do this. However your behaviour of late is getting out of hand. You keep upping your price, my lungs are threatening to walk out on me, and you are way too clingy. I am reminded of you constantly by the stench of those rotten chemicals you hang out with. Could you have not gone green along with the rest of the world…sheesh! You really need to clean up your act. I can’t afford to be friends with you anymore. It’s you or my health, job and friends. I’m sorry but you lose.

By the way, you owe me about a gazillion dollars and a new set of lungs. I doubt Ill ever see that from you, your such a cheapskate. Please don’t contact me again. I want to make a fresh start with my new habit. You don’t know him. His name is exercise and he hangs out at the gym. Your kind isn’t welcome there, so stay away and leave us alone. And take your friend alcohol with you. I don’t mind hanging out with him on occasion, but I don’t want him taking your place. I’m hanging with a new crowd now, habits that respect me, me and the environment.

So been nice knowing you, don’t trip on the way out. And seriously, stop trying to wheedle your way back into my life. My mind is made up. Your no good for me and never will be so just piss off already.

Truly and sincerely, Rhianna

And for my friends that didn't see the snow letter, here it is for your reading pleasure.

The breakup letter (Dear Snow…)

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Snow,
Could you sit down for a sec? I think we need to have a talk. Now,
don’t cry, but…I think it’s time I saw other weather systems.

Look, it’s not you, honestly. You’re amazing. I remember that
Saturday night last month when you showed up in my life. You were
beautiful. What we had was beautiful. You made my Christmas such
a memorable one. I’ll remember it forever, babe.

I’m just not ready for this sort of long-term relationship. Don’t
shout, please. I’m not implying that a one-night stand where you
melt away would have been better. It’s just that when I’m with you,
there’s no room for anything else. Buy new clothes, cancel plans with
friends, stay at home…you just want too much from me. I won’t say
it’s a hassle, but…it’s a daily adventure. We can still be friends. I hope
we stay friends—heck, I generally like seeing you. Just a little less of
you.

Frankly, I didn’t expect this would happen. If I wanted this type of
relationship, I would have gone to plenty of other universities. This
sort of thing is just more appealing as a mountain fantasy.
And Sunday night? That was the breaking point. You can’t just
show up like that without warning. That crossed the line. It’s getting
to the point of harassment and stalking. I had plans that night, buses
I needed to take, and then you show up and…forget it. There’s no use
arguing.

Seriously, I’d prefer if you left, snow. We’ve tried this for a month
now. It was fun at first, but now, it’s more hassle than it’s worth. I
want to go back to the life I had before. Your icy, exotic personality
was wild for a bit, but now I realize you’re just plain cold. I never
thought I’d say this, but I think I’ll be happy to see rain.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Smoking Diary- updated daily until I have a grip

2009-01-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

Day 1 - New Years Day. I wait until David goes downstairs and chainsmoke two cigarettes. When he gets back and asks whats up, I tell him there is half a pack left and I feel like finishing it before I quit. We share each cigarette till they are gone. Then we straighten out butts from the ashtray and grab a few puffs on them. When they are done, we salvage what tobacco we can and roll our own. Yuch! I think thats cured me.

Day 2- I wake up and surprisingly feel very little urge to smoke. When I do, I take a few drags from the electronic cigarette. Im not real fussy about the taste. I thought the Marlborough flavor would be best but now Im thinking, as I want to quit smoking, having the taste of it in my mouth is just gross, like licking an ashtray. Should have gone with the mint! It's doing the job tho, I passed the first big test, driving the car without a smoke.

Day 3- Today goes easy. I dont even use the gizmo. I feel alot of tension in my jaw and face that is irritating. Im so used to stopping and having a smoke before I begin any chores such as the dishes,I keep feeling like I'm missing something. I feel very scattered and can't focus on anything for more than a few minutes. Trying to have a sensible conversation is nearly impossible.

Day 4- Still feeling ok, I go to work all day in the clinic. I am happy to notice that I did not cough once all day.I usually cough during every massage, its been a real embarassment for me. I normally dont smoke once I'm at work until I'm done for the day, so today is not a big stretch for me. My big test comes on the way home.

We get an unexpected blizzard that makes the roads super slippery. Geographically, I have to climb a hill and decend the other side to get to where I live. Each main road I drive by is blocked by buses and trucks that have spun out and are blocking the way. I keep driving east hoping to find a clear way home. Spotting a side road that looks good, I take a chance and vear off the main road. Big mistake. A few blocks up, I end up in a quagmire of vehicles all stuck in the snow on every corner. Twenty minutes or so to get one or more on their way and go one block and get stuck with another foursome at the next intersection. This is turning into a long,scary night. I just want to get home, I have to pee, Im hungry, my feet are wet and cold and now I REALLY want a smoke! I break down and have a few puffs on the gizmo. It does the trick and three hours later Im finally home.

Day 5- Today Im super emotional. Not sure if its the withdrawels, my menopause crazy hormones ( Im having a zillion hot flashes the last few days), or the fact its my
5oth birthday today and no one seems to care or notice. Im really missing my Mom of all people. She has been dead for half my life now, but today I really want to see her and give her a hug. Its my nieces 16th birthday today as well. Wish I was there to celebrate with her. I dont really feel like smoking but am on an emotional rollercoaster, I pray this ride ends before tomorrow.

Day 6- Today is Dave's turn to be sullen and cranky. I can't blame him after my melt-down yesterday. My mood is much better today but the munchies have hit. I think its from watching David, he is scarfing down anything edible thats in his path. The urge to smoke is the the strongest today so far. Everytime it hits me I stop and take a few very deep breathes, so far so good. I cant wait for this to all pass.

Day 7- Today I'm antsy. Antsy. Antsy. Antsy. I try to work on the boat, but every time I get going on it, David has some distraction for me and off I go. I give up after the third try. I seriously need to get my focus back, Im not getting much accomplished!

Day 8- I don't have the urge to smoke per say, but the withdrawal symptoms are very annoying. I'm edgy, irritable, cranky, sad, lethargic, spaced-out, and the muscles in my arms feel like coiled springs that want to reach out and punch something. I bought some vitamins tonight( C, calcium, multi and B complex) to help with all of this.

Im happy to say that so far I seem to be maintaining my weight. Weight gain is the main reason I went back to smoking in the first place. If I can motivate my butt out of bed tomorrow, I would like to go sign up for some Bikrams yoga classes.

They are done in a room that is 40 degrees celcius and about 100 percent humidity. Guaranteed to make you sweat and a total workout and stretch for every muscle in your body. The last time I tried one of their classes, I spent three quarters of the class lying on the floor trying to not have a heart attack from all the heat. This is making me leary to try again, but I think the workout and sweat would be a great detox.

Day 9- David is a mess. He pulled something in his back the other day and last night badly sprained his ankle when he wiped out on the icy docks. We basically spent the whole day in bed with him propped up on ice packs and me doing the fetch and carry.

I didnt make it to the yoga class so I pulled out a yoga cd I had kicking around and worked out to that at midnight. It was good, really loosened up my back and joints in general.I'm down one pound since January first. Not an impressive weight loss but awesome considering I havent smoked in eight days and havent done a whole lot physically. I'm trying to be concious of what I eat,adding more whole grains and eating a whole lot less sugar.

Ive discovered the BEST DESSERT EVER!!! If you even remotely like rice pudding, you have to give this recipe a try,its amazing.

Black Rice Pudding - makes 4 servings

1 cup sticky ( glutinous) black rice -rinse several times till water runs clear then cover with water and leave to soak overnight.

In the morning ,drain and rinse again, and cover with
3 cups of water and 1/4 tsp salt.
Crush a cinnamon stick and put it and 6 cloves (can also add some crushed cardamon pods if you have them)into a gauze bag tied with cotton and add it to the rice. Bring to a boil then simmer 45 mins with lid on.

Stir in 1/2 cup of brown sugar(I used rock sugar found in an asian grocery store), 1 15oz can of unsweetend coconut milk, 1/4 tsp salt and a couple of handfuls of raisens. Stir well, until sugar is melted. Remove guaze bag and discard.
Bring to a boil and cover and simmer for another 30 minutes

At this point the rice should be somewhat chewy and there will still be some water in the pot. Add 1 tsp of cornstarch to a small amount of water in a small jar, shake well and pour into rice. Stir for 5 mins until rice thickens abit.

If you want it very thick, let it sit for a few hours or overnight in the fridge. You can reheat it in the microwave, otherwise it is also good right out of the pot. Serve with milk, soy milk or coconut milk ( You can also sprinkle shredded coconut for a nice contrast in color to the black rice)

Make lots as I guarantee you will want seconds and thirds. It looks odd and is a process to make but well worth it. Bon Appetit!

Day 10- We attended a shamanic drumming and dreaming circle tonight. Basically what happens is our teacher plays a steady rythym on a native style round drum for 15 minutes. This steady beat causes the brain to produce theta waves which are the brain waves you have when daydreaming. While he is drumming, we lie on the floor and have something like a daydream where you go on a journey to ask your spiritual guides for answers. I usually have no problem having very vivid, detailed visions that are very profound. Tonight wasn't like that. I struggled to get anything and what I did get was disjointed and fragmented.

When we were discussing our experiences after, I mentioned that I thought the reason I had such a hard time was because I had just quit smoking and my thoughts have been quite scrambled and unfocused in general lately. My teacher pointed out that tobacco was considered to be the mother plant that nourishes all the other plants energeticaly. It is revered by the Native people and used as an offering in important ceremonies and prayers. It was never meant to be smoked on an everyday basis and exploited by the tobacco companies.

I think I need to do a ceremony to honour tobacco and ask forgiveness for abusing it. Maybe then it will loosen its grip on me and give me back my focus.

Day 11- Worked all day at the clinic. Had lots of clients I hadnt seen in 7-8 months come in today. It was fun to catch up with them. They are all proud and excited for me quitting . Me Too! I'm proud of David too. I know this is hard for him and the fact that we havent ripped each others head off yet, is a testement to his good humour.

Day 12- Did absolutely nothing today.Just stayed in bed all day doing nothing. I still crave cigs and I'm wondering if its the nicotene in the gizmo.

Day 13- Finally a burst of energy. I take advantage of it and clean the whole house and spend 6 hours running errands. Got a Chapters certificate for my birthday
( thanks Stu!!) and spent a wonderful hour or so cruising all the books. As much as computers have taken over my life, I still miss sitting down with a good book.

I meant to make it to the gym, but was so wiped out from all the shopping, I just went home. The urge to smoke was the worst tonight since this all started. Why ??? Its been almost two weeks, let go of me , you filthy,stinky habit.....please for the love of god, just go already.

Day 26- Ya, so still not smoking. I get one or two super strong cravings a day. They overwhelm me but pass quickly. I am totally cold turkey these days, haven't used the gizmo in weeks. Still feeling somewhat edgy, although the insomnia has passed and I'm able to sleep 8 hours again, thank god.

The good news is I haven't gained any weight at all, in fact Ive lost 2 pounds. I want to make a bigger effort in that direction. I'd like to lose 30 pounds before summer starts. Just Need TO GET OFF MY ASS!! I feel like I'm super-glued to the bed these days, dont know what thats about?? My craving for sugar has pretty much disappearred as has my bad cough. I hardly ever cough at all anymore, when I smoked it was 24 hours a day. Hallaluyah!

This quitting smoking has brought a lot of changes into my life. Like a snowball rolling downhill, each change begets another. David and I have parted ways. Ive been packing all week and sorting out the storage of all my belongings. I'm trying to simplify my life as best I can. Its hard to let go of 50 years of memories and collectables. My diet has changed, my lungs have really changed, I'm looking forward to see what this new year and lifestyle will bring to pass. I feel like a butterfly emerging from one form and transforming into another. Its a new world and new horizens to discover.

New Years Eve

2009-01-01T16:17:00.001-08:00

So a few weeks ago, David suggested we hold a New years Eve party down on his floathome. I had my doubts as it still needs a ton of insulation to cope with the freezing temperatures and at the time was in utter kaos from ongoing renos.
With all the recent bad weather lately, all our energy has gone into survival mode and trying to keep everything afloat down here. David spent the whole night on the
29th doing a salvage job on a friends boat that sunk. He didnt get in till 6 am and didnt get much sleep the next day. Too exhausted to get much done, we decided to get a good nights sleep and tackle the house in the morning.

I really thought there was so much to do, that we would never be able to pull it off. Goes to show you the power of positive thinking. I decided when we got up that this was all going to be ok, everything would get done in a timely manner and no stress would be required. I wish I had taken some before and after pictures but we pulled off a miracle.

In 7 hours we:
-got the power lines fixed and power restored to the house
-got the water hoses defrosted and hooked back up
-got the bathroom put back together ( he had ripped it all apart to install a jacuzzi tub)
-got plastic stapled up over the ceiling to retain heat
-dusted and vacummed about a half an inch of sawdust out of the whole place
-rearranged all the furniture
-washed every dish in the house
-decorated the place with a bunch of Davids artwork
-cleared all the decks,docks,ramps and paths of snow and ice,laid down salt and put down some chickenwire on the docks
-cut a bunch of firewood to heat the place
-made a trip to Richmond to shop for groceries and other party supplies and to pick up a drum kit
-cooked up a feast of food
-lit a hundred candles

Unfortunately due to the weather and other social commitments not alot of people were able to attend, but we had fun anyway. There were enough musicans to entertain us with song, enough food for an army and the house has never looked better. It was an honor to have our friends with us to toast in the New Year.

Me taking a moment of rest with the food in front and the decorations behind me

David in front of his art

The stage set for the musicians

A jam under way

My biggest concern with having the party was peoples safety. The weather has made the roads and docks very treacherous. Funny enough the only person to fall on the docks was me and I did it four times last night! One of them really wrenched my knee, so Im laid up in bed today with ice packs on it. Not how I wanted to start the year but hopefully it gets better fast and today I will just enjoy a relaxing day off with my sweetie.

Reflections

2009-01-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

Well Happy New Years to you all, may 2009 bring you peace, good health, and lots of new adventures.

2008 was an interesting year. Like most of the years of my life it was fraught with many changes and challenges.

The marina where I live underwent a ton of changes. Lots of boats and people had to leave and the whole energy of the place shifted dramatically. It was a time of high anxiety and sadness. Things have mellowed out here alot lately buts its very quiet and I miss the company of the people who lived down here.

I lived on my boat for half the year, then hauled it out into the shop for the other half. I didnt think I would be a landmonkey for this long. Working on the boat has fluctuated between being exhilerating, boring, optimistic, overwhelming and a whole host of other feelings. I had hoped to have it all done and back in the water by the end of the year but at this point I am nowhere close to that.

I didn't do a single thing to the boat all of December. Between work, the holidays and the weather especially, I didnt have the time or motivation. Hopefully January brings me a new surge of energy and optimism so I can get on with things. I was looking over my posts from 2008 and it reminded me how much I had already accomplished and how much love and energy I put into it. Not the time to quit now!

Work was good this year, I had lots when I needed it and time off when I needed it with always enough money to do what needed to be done. I enjoyed working at the clinic, it was alot less stressful then working on-call. It was awesome to have a steady paycheck and hours for a change.

For years now I have wanted to teach a course and/or use the material to write a book about all I've learned about health care and life. For some reason I never felt ready before but suddenly I do. Ive been going over my notes and references and putting it all together. I need a place to teach from but am sure it will manifest itself when the time is right. I am excited as Im sure this is what Im meant to do, but have been putting it off forever. Time to make the shift and watch it happen.

Physically it was a good year. My tendinitis finally cleared up after 6 months of hell. Ive gained some weight which doesn't please me, so will try harder to incorporate some regular exercise into my life and cut back on the junk food at night syndrome.I also vow to try and get at least one massage a month and take better care of myself.

My asthma has had a rough time of things between smoking like a chimney and living in this dustbowl, so to that end, David and I will try to quit smoking. The other day I bought an electronic cigarette. It looks like a cigarette, the white part is a battery, the filter area holds a vial of nicotene which sits on a vaporizer. When you take a drag on it, the vaporizer gives you a dose of nicotene ( it comes in flavors of Marlborough tobacco, cherry or mint). The end of the cigarette glows red when you take a drag and you breathe out a puff of water vapor. So it looks ,acts and tastes like a cig,but no harmful vapours or smoke to bother others. Wish us luck, Ive done this twice before, quitting once for a year and another time for eight years. Hopefully third ones a charm!

My relationship with David went through some ups and downs but we are still here and stronger for having worked through some issues. He has been a real inspiration to me to take life by the horns and think positively. Nothing is impossible in his eyes and his ability to get things done has made a big impression on me. I continue to learn and grow in this relationship.

For many of my family members this was a year of loss. We had uncles, cousins, life long friends and most recently my brothers mother-in-law who lost her battle with cancer on Christmas Eve, leave us this year. May their souls rest in peace, you are all loved and missed.

I wasnt sure what to expect at the beginning of 2008. It didn't go quite as expected but all in all a good year. I think 2009 will bring many more changes. I'm hoping they will all be postive ones. For this year I want to manifest my teaching career, a healthier body,and a reconnection to spirit. I will strive to find more balance in my life by making time for friends,the gym,and my creative side. May the universe give me the focus to accomplish this.

Best of luck to all of you for the New Year, may all your dreams come true! xxoo Rhianna

Lost and Found

2008-12-30T00:31:00.001-08:00

I tried this blogging thing back in 2005. I had spent 2002-2003 travelling around the world. I started by going to work in an isolated fishing resort for the summer, then spent 6 months exploring China, Hong kong, New Zealand and Indonesia. At that time I was way more computer illiterate. I was just learning how they worked and trying hard to master the keyboard. Typing was a time consuming, laborious process and internet connections were usually dodgy or outrageously expensive. I kept in contact with friends and family by posting an online diary of my travels and experiences. When I found out about blogging, I copy and pasted all my emails to a blog which I then immediately lost track of.

I often wondered where it had gotten to, and stumbled upon it tonight. So I present to you ......the Adventures of Cyberangel

http://theadventuresofcyberangel.blogspot.com/

Im sorry but apparently the concept of paragraphs didnt occur to me when I was writing it, if I can get back into it I will try and edit it to make it an easier read. I lost thousands of pictures that I had taken on my travels when my computer caught on fire about 2 minutes after I finished downloading them all( and yes, I had already formated the camera :( ).I think I still have a few kicking around on cd,s somewhere, so will try and track them down and add them to the posts .

It was another time of transtition for me. I had just gone through a bancruptcy after BC medical took massage therapy off the plan. Just when life seemed totally bleak, the universe stepped in and gave me the time of my life.Im glad I documented it and wished I had this technology when growing up as I have had many adventures in life. Oh well never to late to start and Im sure I will have many more adventures to entertain you with.

Happy travels, Rhianna xxoo

Global Warming??

2008-12-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

Not here thats for sure! We are breaking winter records of all kinds these days. Victoria had the most snow in all of Canada? Victoria... who would of thunk?

This is the first time in ages that all of Canada has been under snow all at the same time. We have been getting walloped in Vancouver. Three major dumps of snow in one week.

Snowy Docks

Huge avalaches of snow slide off the roof of the shop every now and again with a thundering crash. One of the areas it likes to let go is right in front of the main gate to the property. I would hate to get caught under it as it is enough to break your neck if it hit you dead on.

David has been out every day trying to shovel the snow off the roof of his floathome. The extra weight was pushing the place down very close to the water. With 2 feet of snow on the roof and another 2 feet on the way,he spent a precarious two days perched on a ladder trying to dislodge as much as he could. It did the trick and he is up about 3-4 inches from yesterday. There is still alot of snow left up there but the immediate danger is over.

Unfortunatly one of the other tenents here wasn't so lucky. He left for a few days to do some visiting over the holidays. We woke up this morning to find his boat at the bottom of the river.

There is so much snow and ice, that trying to salvage it at this point would be dangerous and extremely hard work. I feel for the guy, it was his home with all his possesions on board. Im sooo glad my boat isn't in the river. The danger from the ice and snow is great right now. My 18 ft boat is still in the water and Ive had to go out every day and shovel all the snow off it. The back bilge area is full of frozen water. I will have to keep a close eye on things as it starts to melt.

My boat had been completly cleared of snow yesterday, this is what I woke up this morning

We took a break from shoveling last night and went to Watermania, a nearby swimming complex. We spent a few hours soaking in the hot tubs and taking turns in the steam and sauna rooms. Took a few breathtaking rides on the water slides and finished the night by going to see "The Yes Man" at the movies. It was a good laugh and a good reminder as to how we miss opportunities in our lives by turning down offers and opportunities that come our way.

I turned down about 20 party invitations before I finally said yes and went to the party where I met David...and look how much that decision changed my life! So next time you are offered something and go to automatically say no...take and chance and say yes...something wonderful might happen.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all. xxoo Rhianna

Things I'm Grateful For

2008-12-20T12:57:00.000-08:00

1. That Im not living on my boat at the moment. Its seriously cold here. I never thought I would see this.....

The Fraser River filled with ice.

We went down to check on things last night and were shocked to see how much ice had come down the river.The sound of it grinding against the shore and the boats was seriously spooky. Tana's video of it crashing into their marina was terrifying to watch

2. All the water hoses have been frozen for a week.David keeps taking them apart and thawing them out, but they refreeze overnight. I am so grateful we still have running water in the shop.

3. My friends Shelly and Todd have invited us over for Christmas dinner. Yahoo, she is an awesome cook and has a wonderful cozy home, I can't wait to be there. My favorite part about Christmas is the decorations and sharing food and good times with friends and family.Im grateful to Shelly for providing that for us, I dont have it in me this year to transform our pile of half-finished projects into something that looks festive.

4. My awesome cat that has been braving the subzero temperatures ,to spend the night in the living room and do battle with all the wild creatures trying to get in here.
Racoons, squirrils and a host of rodents have had to do battle with him , but the food stash is still safe.

Bah Humbug

2008-12-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

I dont know whats the matter with me lately, Ive been in a real funk. Maybe its my imminent 50th birthday looming, or menapausal hormones or maybe its just a bad case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder)but I cant seem to get excited about much these days.

I love my boat but the extensive repairs needed on it are sucking the life out of me. More and more I picture myself chopping it up for firewood and moving back into an apartment or something. I really want a home of my own,one thats everything I ever dreamed of but as I took the grasshopper role in the drama of life, I am ill prepared finacially to accomplish that.

I dont know why this is so important to me. It must be all the moving I did growing up. The sense of constant instability has made me crave that which I could never have,a stable home that I could retreat to and feel nurtered within. I can picture it, just cant seem to manifest it.

I feel like I live in a paralell universe where I look through the windows of peoples lives and see them in their own home surrounded by family, children,friends,contemplating their retirement with winters in the tropics and wonder how did I manage to miss it all?

No long term marriage ,no children, no stablity, no home and no retirement for me.
I have had other blessings in my life like travel and many interesting experiences but now the grasshopper wants to come in and put her feet up by the fire.

It seems I am at another crossroad in my life but have no idea where or what to do next. Every time I try and take control of my destiny, it never goes as planned. I love the surprises the universe throws at me and try to not deal on my attachment issues but its an exhausting way to live. One foot over the edge of a cliff is what it feels like. I need/want/desire more balance in my life. A crystal ball would be nice too.

Im sorry, dont mean to sound like a moaner,I have lots to be grateful for in life,just feeling a little directionless right now and figured by getting this off of my chest I can shake this off and move on. I must make like a feather and see where the winds of change blow me next. Hopefully its a soft landing!

Have You Ever Wondered.....

2008-12-15T11:58:00.000-08:00

..how Olympians in obscure sports get their training? Ive have always admired the speed skaters and figured if there was ever a sport I might have been good at, that could have been it. But not once in my whole life have I ever seen a speed skating rink... or a bobsled track or cross country skiers packing rifles.

How do the youth of our country get the opportunity to try their hands at these sports. When they choose the best in the country to represent us, how do they know they have the best if 99 percent of us never even got to try out?

The other day I attended the grand opening of the Richmond speed skating oval built for the upcoming Winter Olympics here in Vancouver. Its a beautiful building with a stunning roof crafted from reclaimed pine beetle destroyed trees.

A vast expanse of ice

A closeup of the roof

I stood in awe looking at the vast expanse of ice, picturing myself racing around it. Excited at the chance to finally have a go at speed skating, I went to all the information booths they had set up to see if I could finally find out how I could get some training in this particular sport.

Not one person had the answer. They are planning to allow public skating at the oval until the Olympics start but all the skating lessons are for traditional ice skating and the skate rentals are for regular ice skates not the longer blades they use for speed. Im am soooo dissapointed.

After the Olympics are over they are going to change the interior of the oval to accommadate a more traditional style rink with the rest of the space being used for basketball courts or other sports. I wish they would offer the general public a chance to try their hand at speed skating, who knows the next gold medalist could live right around the corner.

Still Dreaming

2008-12-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon a program my brother had given me years ago called Punch Super Home Suite. Its a program that allows you to design a home.You can make a blueprint, then see the framing stage and the completed stage.It gives you a menu of furniture,walls,floors,windows,doors,appliances, and outdoor plants to choose from so you can decorate it and see how things fit and how colors go together.The plants have an option that allows you see how big they wil grow over a selected amount of time. There is also a built in cost calculator that shows you how many 2x4 ect you need so you can figure out your material budget.

My favorite part is the 3-d visual they give you. You can walk through the place and see the furniture,walls,windows ect or you can fly over it as it spins around ,giving you an aerial view.If you do this before you put the roof on, you can see inside the rooms.
Lots of fun.

All my life Ive been planning my perfect house. Ive drawn a gazzilion rough scetches on scraps of paper. This is sooo much better! I really want a floathome.Much as I love my boat,when I said I wanted to live on the water, I had always pictured a floathome, not a boat.This boat was a bonus I never expected and it would make an awesome cabin to escape to, but for full time living, I want real size appliances,a workshop and some space to entertain.

The place Ive designed is for a 40x30 float with a 30x30 home and a 10x30 deck. I had orignally designed an attic bedroom and on-suite but this programs limitations would not allow me that option.Ive redesigned it to fit on one floor with the option of using the attic for some storage with a pull down ladder.Having a staircase to get upstairs was going to take up too much room.

With my space all mapped out, Ive been scouring craigslist for deals for the house.So far I have a jaccuzi tub, matching toilet,another toilet if I deside on an upstairs onsuite all for free and a gas full size stove and 4 beautiful interior doors for the grand total of two hundred dollars. Ive seen some good deals on gorgeous french style windows from heritage houses and am keeping my eyes open for deals on appliances and fixtures.

Kind of silly to be collecting all this stuff ahead of time, but it takes time to find the good deals and by the time I find a free float, Ill be ready.

I wiped out on the docks last week and gave my self a huge bruise on my hip and wrenched my back and neck.

I was in too much pain to do much work on the boat, so I spent my time designing the floathome.

I find thats it good to put your dreams on paper,make them real,put a solid intention out there to the universe so it knows exactly what you want. I did that years ago,making a detailed list of my perfect man. David matched that list almost to the T.

So be careful what you wish for, be very specific and make it concrete(a list,drawing,model ect) Intention is everything! May all your dreams come true if its in the best interest of the universe.

Life Last Week

2008-11-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well last week was a full one for sure.

Tuesday I spent seven hours at the hairdressers getting a perm that had about four hundred rods in my head. It was an exhausting ordeal but Im now as curly as a lamb.

Wednesday I worked on the boat, then off to do 3 massages

Thursday morning we got up and the sun was shining, the sky was blue and I couldnt face one more day on this industrial dusty island.I kidnapped David from his zillion and one chores and we went on a road trip.

We started with eggs benny brunch then headed up the road to Squamish ( on the sea- to-sky highway midway to Whistler, the sight of the 2010 Olympics)I haven't been up that way in years and had forgotten how beautiful this province can be.It was a splendid day, no traffic at all and gorgeous views of snow capped mountains, lush forest and dazzling sea scapes.

We checked out a cool marina in Lions Bay, where all the boats are kept out of water in a three story covered hanger. When you want to go out, they grab your boat with a forklift, put it on a trailer and have it launched in ten minutes. Nice setup,no docks to worry about, no damage to boats in the water, no worries about sinking boats ect. All nice and neat and protected.Stacking them three high made optimal use of the space as well. I was very impressed. David wanted to check out the area up here for some water space to put his houses for the olympics with the idea of renting them out as accomadation.

We then made our way to Brandywine Falls for an ozone fix.My lungs hadn't felt that good in months.I could breathe all the way down to my toes, sweet fresh moutain air, got to love it!. Spent a little time tree hugging and soaking in the greenery, then it was off to Squamish.

Brandywine Falls

We found the slough where they moor their boats. Its totally gorgeous,tucked in beside the Chief mountainside.I could live there!

On the way home we stopped downtown to visit Davids friends at their new tattoo shop they just opened. I havent been on Granville street after dark in about 20 years.Felt like a teenager again. I forgot how vibrant that part of town is. So different from Richmond that rolls up its streets at dusk.

One of the tattoo artists had air-brushed this very cool painting on the shop wall. Its a little on the evil side but I thought it would be cool to do something like this on my hull.Just not the image I would chose for myself, but love the effect.

Friday I spent installing some boards on the boat and did some massages in the evening,not getting home until alomost midnight.

Up early Saturday morning and spent the whole day working on the boat.A quick shower and it was off to a friends house for one of the best jams Ive ever been too.
Awesome music going on in three different rooms. Didnt get home from that until 2 am.

Up at 8am for a full day of massages at the clinic on Sunday. Got home around 8:30 pm and was curling up in bed ready to call it a night when we got a frantic call saying Davids Tugboat was out in the middle of the river.

We raced down to the docks to find that a hundred foot section of concrete dock with the tugboat tied to the outside had been hit by a huge deadhead tearing it away from its moorings. The current was roaring as it was a 13 foot drop in tide that night and we couldnt do anything to pull it in. With no choice but to wait for the tide change all we could do was attach a mechanical come-along to a rope and tie it off to hold all it in place. Too scared to leave it and sleep, we spent a long night watching and waiting for the tide change.It finally started to shift around 4:30 in the morning.We then spent a grueling three hours pulling it all back in and getting it properly secured again.

Eight am and we finally crawled into bed, wet and exhausted.Slept pretty much the whole day away.Ordered take out food for brupper ( breakfast,lunch,supper), then it was off to do a few more massages.

Tuesday was another full day of work, nine massages.Then it was off to the other side of town to buy myself a new laptop. My old one finally hit the floor one too many times and died on me last week. Came home and spent several hours downloading software until I couldnt see straight anymore.

Yesterday was a day of a zillion errands, all over town.Hardware store, gorceries,drugstore,4 computer shops,the water store, laundry, dishes and a home cooked meal, then back to work for another 3 massages.

Whew Im tired just writng about it all.Time for a break, ...haha ya right.David is barking at me to get up and get busy.Sigh ...here we go again!

Im a Girl So...

2008-11-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

changing my mind comes with the territory. After spending a small fortune and several days on the plywood scheme, I changed my mind at the last minute and installed the boards instead. The plywood had started to warp quite badly from curing in a cold damp room and looked like it was going to be a hassle to install neatly,so I decided to try going with the boards after all. The reason I wasnt going to in the beginning, was I thought I was going to have to steam them all to make them fit tight. Lots of clamps, glue and a zillion screws later and they are in and looking fine if I say so myself.I'm very proud of the finished result and much happier to have real boards in there.

My arms are still going numb every night, so I am trying to avoid lots of repetative work on the boat. To that end, I hired a young man to come over last Saturday and grind the paint off the bottom. It was a chore I was dreading doing as it would require laying on my back and holding the heavy grinder over my head.

It was the best hundred bucks Ive ever spent. He did a great job and got it all done in one day. While he was here, I had him and David work on getting all the through-hulls removed.( Most of them had to be cut off as they were so rusted)David got most of the routering finished so Im having my helper back this Saturday to pull out the last of the caulking and to start filling the seams with fairing putty. Whoohooo...finally progress being made.I had my doubts that this would ever get done, but now that we are this far along, Im starting to feel hopeful.

The main challenge left now, is to figure out how Im going to rebuild the side decks and get the last boards just under them installed.There are a few patches that need to be installed, one over the big drafty hole behind the bed and I want to cover the two holes in the back of the transom. Im not sure what their original purpose was, but all they seemed to do was be a doorway for rodents to get onboard.Once all that is done, I'll go over the whole boat with a grinder and sander to smooth out any bumps and then the fiberglassing can start. I have no idea what I'm in for there but hopefully it goes well and quickly. I would love to have this done by the end of the year. Wishful thinking perhaps, but its amazing how much work gets done with a few helping hands.

Progress Update

2008-11-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well pretty much all the caulking is out now. Ive been picking away at it a few hours at a time over the last week and yesterday David spent the whole day on it. He has started routering all the seams to prepare them for being refilled with fairing putty.He has another good day of work to do before that job is all done.His hands are killing him as are mine ( ripping out caulking is HARD work)so it will get done in a few days when we have recuperated.

In the meantime, I got my plywood patches all covered in resin ( along with half the shop and a nasty resin burn on my chin). I ran out of catalyst, so off to the shops today to get more so I can install the patches tomorrow.

The bottom of the boat still needs to be grinded to remove the old paint and some boards need to be cut to fill in the places the patches dont cover. Then all the seams filled with putty and sanded.Once that is all done, the hull of the boat will be ready for fiberglassing.

Before that happens though, I still have to deal with rebuilding the side decks and window frames.So much to do, so little time, even less strength and energy. SIGH!!

As a diversion from all of this, we went out to a Halloween party Fridy night.What a blast! My friend Taylor had just moved into a 7 bedroom mansion in the tony North Vancouver heights.It has a spectacular view of the city, a living room the size of a barn and a gorgeous fireplace in the kitchen.There was a full band set up in the living room, a large dance floor space and all were dressed in costume.

I had noticed a large piece of fabric draped from the ceiling and was trying to guess what it was.I thought it was a hammock but was floored when I found out what it really was. Taylor came out dressed in a long flowing white dress, unhooked the fabric so it hung straight down from the ceiling. She then separated it into several pieces which she put around her wrists and ankles. Suddenly she was flying through the air on the coolest swing Ive ever seen. She could rearrange the fabric in different ways and do different poses that looked like floating ballet.Too cool, I want one.Apparently there are courses here in town to learn how to do it, I cant wait to try it out.Im not the most graceful person around, so doubt Ill ever make it look as good as she did, but looks like so much fun, Im willing to give it a go. Good thing David has a large open style house,its the perfect place for practicing something like this.

Taylor on her swing

The beautiful kitchen fireplace

Me and a few of my friends in costume

Does This Ever Happen to You?

2008-11-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

I have had a weird relationship with all things electrical all my life.I first noticed it as a child when not one watch I ever owned would keep time.

I dont just mean they were a few minutes off either.I could set my watch at noon and half an hour later it would read 9am or some such thing.What kind of watch goes backward at light speed? Funny enough when I would look at the watch it was always ticking forward at a normal rate, take my eyes off of it for a few minutes and it would read hours of difference. I gave up and have never worn a watch since.

In my life I have had a VCR that would turn itself off and on whenever it felt like it, a desktop computer that would turn itself on ( usually at 3 am scaring me half to death), a toaster that would only toast one side of each piece of bread,a million unexplainable computer glitches that magically sort themselves out after 10 computer geniuses have given up,and strangest of all, a mysterious black box that shows up on my tv screen. The box blanks out about two thirds of my tv screen and the only way to make it go away is to hit the volume button once. This sometimes cures it for the night, sometimes it comes back constantly for hours.Even stranger is sometimes this black box gets writing in it, like someone is using it for a computer screen, only the writing never makes any sense. Sometimes it looks like Russian, the other day it was an url repeated over and over. Strangest of all, is this is the second TV Ive owned that has done this at two different addresses.

Oh yeah, and I can blow out street lights just by driving past them. Happens all the time to me. The street I lived on in Richmond was pretty much in darkness the whole time I lived there. They would replace the bulbs only to have me drive by the next night and blow them all again. My record was seven in one night.

So Jamie(MV Katherine Jane) while I can commiserate with all your recent woes with modern technology, until you have had me on board to really screw things up, you ain't seen nothing yet. Hope it all sorts itself out soon for you.

My TV screen with its annoying black box, no writing in it today.

The Continuing Deconstruction Of My Boat

2008-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well Im still at it. David kept pointing at the patch job and telling me all the caulking had to be taken out,so I finally got around to doing that. All proud of myself because I spent about 3 hours doing it only to find out he meant the whole boat not just the patch job. That was another job I wasn't expecting and a brutal one to say the least.I spent eleven and a half hours working on that the other day and got about half the job done. I figure Ive done about 730 feet of caulking removal so far. All I can say is OUCH!! Each board has an inch of candlewick-like stuffing between it covered over with some kind of silicone-like substance that is stuck on there for life. I had to pry it all out one inch at a time. My arms were killing me when I finally called it a night.I didnt sleep a wink as my right arm went totally numb and tingly with a burning pain from hell that kept me wide awake. Thankfully that resolved itself the next day but had me scared for awhile.

I took the next day off and rested all day. That evening I went to the Parade of Lost Souls, always a treat for the senses and then off to a friends for a good jam session. It was awesome to get out, its been way to long since Ive had anything resembling a social life.

Originaly, I had intended to replace all the rotten boards with new ones, but that was looking like the job from hell, so decided to do something I swore I wouldnt.Im putting in large plywood patches instead. I spent the last two days making patterns from white board and cutting out 3 layers of plywood to fit the two big holes.

Today I finally gathered the courage to suit up and paint them all with fiberglass resin. While it was drying, I put in the rest of the new ribs.It all sounds so simple on paper but each job has many steps and lots of prep work to get all the tools and supplies together and the space prepared for the task at hand. When I look at the boat, not much seems different but I have spent endless hours on it. I can hardly wait till it starts going back together, the more I remove from it, the less it looks like something that will ever float again.

David has offered me one of his Dickinson diesel stoves for my boat. It needs a serious good cleaning/rebuilding and I would have to rip out the existing area where the wood stove is and rebuild it to fit the stove. Then I'd have to figure where to put fuel tanks and vents ect. I guess part of my mind set with this boat is worst case senario and the world goes to shit, can I survive on it? I could be off the grid with diesel and propane but in a complete shutdown of services I would still be in trouble. A woodstove with a cooking surface and a water coil would be ideal, but hard to find in the size I need to fit my boat. I do have a propane furnace which means just one kind of fuel for hot water, cooking and heat but thats alot of propane connections on one boat, kind of scary. Whats a girl to do?

The transom removed

A view of some boards with the caulking removed and one that still needs work

The gaping hole in the transom filled with a sawdust and glue mixture

The plywood cutouts all laid out ready for flooding with fiberglass resin