2012 Year End Review

2012 ,all in all, not a bad year.

 January 1st 2012 saw us towing the house off of Ken Rowleys property and moving it slightly upstream. We had no power or running water  but we also didn't pay any moorage. Access to the house was pretty dicey and I conquered a lot of fear walking over those dodgy planks every day.

The winter was bitterly cold some days, but thankfully we had hardly any snow to deal with. We basically spent the winter huddled in our bedrooms watching vhs movies that I found in thrift stores and counting the days until spring.

The year before I had petitioned the City of Richmond to take on my floathome as a maritime heritage building, hoping to find a safe berth for it down in Steveston where I work. After 6 months of meetings, it boiled down to: they wanted the house but no one living in it and they had no money to buy it. We were back to square one.

 The Port Authority was breathing down our necks, threatening us constantly about moving the house out of their juristiction. Running out of options, in desperation we climbed in the car and started driving up and down the river asking total strangers if we could park in their back yard.

It took us the most part of the spring but by June we had found someone willing to let us moor at their dock. It was a lot further away then I had hoped for but in the end totally worth it! Our landlord was also a tug boat operator and offered to tow us up here but it would have to wait until the fall as the freshet was running very hard this year.

Now that we had secured a place and could give the Port Authority the assurance that we were going away at some point soon , we had some breathing room to try and enjoy life a little. Augusts heat wave was doing my lungs in so I took a week off work and we went camping up in the mountains where the air was so much cooler. We swam in small lakes, hiked through woods and cooked food over an open fire, pure bliss! On the way home we stopped and toured through the old mine at Brittanea Beach.

We managed to get tickets to Roger Waters :"The Wall" concert and thoroughly enjoyed that. We visited the pow-wow over on the North Shore, ate lots of good salmon and bannock. I made a point of going to Steveston on my days off and exploring the cannery and the Britannea shipyard. On Canada Day, we went there for the parade and local salmon festival.

In the fall it was time for the PNE. We went there a number of times and saw a few of the concerts,:Heart, Trooper and Burton Cummings, all great shows! The last ride I took on the old roller coaster seemed to have dislocted a rib. Over the next few days, the pain intensified to the point that I couldn't work anymore. It finally came time to move the house up river and I missed the ride because I had a chiropractic appointment that morning. By the time, I finished and drove up to the new location, they had already docked. I ended up having to take off almost 3 weeks while waiting for my rib to heal. It couldn't have come at a better time. We had a beautiful Indian summer and I got to just sit on my patio and relax and enjoy the scenery.

From September to December we finally got to work on the house and our surroundings. Dave did a ton of work building docks and floats, cutting and building a huge ramp, as well as building and filling a garden shed. The inside of the house got tackeled pretty good as well. We finally got running water, the gas stove hooked up, a pantry built, some more  sub-floor finished off, the tub plumbed in, and a 20 ton truck of stuff moved into the house ( I emptied my storage locker and finally took the rest of my belongings out of my old house, primarily my collection  of 3000 books ).

 While Dave was doing all that, I worked long hours at the clinic in Steveston. I left the house at 11am and got home at 11pm, had dinner and fell into bed. Days off we spent exploring our new neighborhood.

Our neighbors who rent the house on the property are a lovely couple who have adopted us into their large family. We have been honored to be invited to BBq's, family dinners, Christmas dinner and New Years Eve. It has really made the transition to living out here much easier.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the NYE celebration. Back in the spring I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Basically every muscle feels like its been run over and every joint feels like it has broken glass in it. Unable to bear the pain any longer, I have been taking Demerol on a daily basis so I can function and get things done. Unfortunately after taking it for so long, it has built up to a toxic level in my system and I have been feeling very ill for the last few months. I decided as I had a week off over the holidays, that I would use this time to get off of my medication.

I don't crave it as a drug, in fact if I had a good day pain wise, I had no problem not taking any at all, but after such a long time there was enough in my system to make me sick if I didn't keep taking it. It's too bad, as it really gave me many pain free hours for which I was very grateful for after living with daily pain for over 20 years. However, if nothing else, I need to take a break from it, so I have been cutting down my dose as much as possible for the last few weeks and now on New Years day I am on my fourth day of complete withdrawal.

 All I can say is, thank god for Gravol, it has been very helpful in controlling the nausea and stomach upset. I have horrible crawly muscle sensations and my restless leg syndrome is in high gear. I am irritable, restless, and finding it hard to focus on anything. I can't wait to feel normal again.

I've got two more days off and am praying that this is over by then. I look forward to starting the New Year with a clean body. Now that the house situation is under control, I really want to focus on my health. When I was first diagnosed, I tried every kind of treatment I could think of. Nothing seemed to work except my indigestion cleared up while I was on a three month anti inflammatory diet. I know that a lot of what was going on was related to all the stress I have been under. I am hoping that now that things seem to be going ok, my stress levels have dropped and maybe my pain is decreasing.

I want to take the time this year to be mindful of what I put in my mouth, make the effort to move my body on a regular basis and to do loving things for it like go for massages and some pampering now and again. I am quite happy with my resolution for 2012, I feel I did get out and do quite a few local touristy things. I finally made it to many of the local festivities and toured a bunch of the local sights.

So once again we turn a new page and begin a new year. I hope that 2013 continues the good fortune trend that 2012 turned out to be for me. I look forward to seeing how this year unfolds. All the best to you and your families. I hope that this dawn of a new age brings about the changes in the world that we need to see in order to remain sustainable,healthy and happy.

Love, Rhianna

52 Lifestyle Changes for 2013

Reminders to myself of the person I want to be.


1.Lose at least one pound a week
2.Seek spiritual guidence every day
3.Be grateful every day
3.Exercise every day ( before going online)
4.Take a daily picture of something that catches my eye
5.Perform a random act of kindness
6.Limit sugar
7.Aim for raw food when possible
8.Fast food doesn't exist, make another choice
9.Mindful Eating
10.Clean and sort one closet or drawer every week
11.Start saving 10 percent of all income
12.Attend at least one yoga class a week
13.Read a book before bed ( turn off the computer)
14.Play a game once a week
15.Have a "do not spend money" day once a week
16. Un-clutter a room
17.Record receipts once a week and file
18.Clear your inbox
19.Dance
20.Learn a new skill
21.Teach
22.Learn a new language
23.Study a new plant in my neighborhood
24.Work on making a smaller garbadge pile each week
25.Play an instrument
26.Be creative
27. Write
28.For every new thing I bring home, two things must go out
29.Learn the words to a song
30.Visit a friend
31.Feed the wildlife
32.Take a bit of all food I intend to eat and make an offering to the spirits to say thanks
33.Try a new food
34.Try a new restaurant
35.Pick up litter
36.Sign a petition
37.Take a course
38.Volunteer
39.Take a bath, make it as healing as possible
40.Breathe mindfully
41.Stretch
42.Get out of town, do something different
43.Walk in a forest
44.Sit by a fire
45.Moon bathe
46.Skinny dip
47.Star gaze
48.Remember and honour someone who is gone
49.Decorate a place in nature
50.Repair something that is broken
51.Plant a perrenial
52.Perform rituals and ceremonies to ground yourself and mark your passages

The Local Tourist - Christmas Lights at Stanley Park

On Christmas Eve, after spending a few hours at the German Christmas Market, I wanted to go see some Christmas light displays. The original plan was to go to Vandusen Gardens on Oak Street, which always puts on a huge display, but the place was packed and parking non-existant, so we decided to go check out Stanley Park instead.

 I'll know better for next year, but they have a miniature train you can ride that takes you through the woods which have over 2 million lights twinkling in them. It was booked solid for 3 hours in advance when we got there, and we didn't want to wait in the cold that long, so skipped the ride and just enjoyed the displays in the main plaza. Next year, I would book tickets online, so I don't miss the main attraction.

The whole show is a fund raiser for the Vancouver Firemans Burn Fund, a worthy cause if ever, so I was generous in my entrance fee donation. The plaza was ablaze in lights and filled with every Christmas/Winter image you could think of. It was if they had cleaned out every garage in town and confiscated all their outdoor winter decorations. Strangly, they were all clumped by catagory. A field of snowmen, next to a field of plastic Santa Clauses, next to a field of reindeer..... you get the idea.

Here is a couple of blurry cell phone pictures

It was a nice cheerful way to spend Christmas Eve, but a bit on the hokey side, nice for kids.

The Local Tourist - The Vancouver German Christmas Market

Although I was born in Canada, I grew up in Germany as an Air Force brat. They were magical years in so many ways, but sometimes it seems like it was all a dream. One of my favorite memories was the German Christmas markets. Masses of twinkling fairy lights, amazing aromas of cooking food, lots of tasty treats and a slew of hand crafted ornaments. All this washed down with copious amounts of mulled red wine known as Gluehwein and frosty beer. Those markets seemed to capture the essence of Christmas in a way that our malls with their muzac never could.

Well, now Vancouver has its own German Christmas Market and on December 24th, I went downtown to check it out. I was not disappointed! For a few hours, I was transported back to my childhood.

Excitedly, I dragged David from one booth to another as memories came flooding back. First stop was to the bratwurst stand for sausage on a bun as only the Germans can make them, yummy! Then we sampled the large bread pretzels ( damn, I forgot how good those were), I went back for more but they were sold out :(  We purchased some Gluehwein to wash it down,... now that's a seriously tasty drink! Everywhere we turned we were accosted by the fantastic smells of baking apples, molten cheese, gingerbread cookies and so on.

Once we had had our fill of food and drink, we turned our attention to the arts and crafts. The Germans have a long tradition of making beautiful intricate handmade ornaments. The prices were out of this world, but I bought a couple anyway as they had special meanings for me. I called my Dad when I got home to tell him about the market and when I mentioned the prices he said they had always been extravagent even back in the sixties and seventies. I really wish I had hung on too the ones I had, but they got lost in my many moves over the years.

These German Pyramids were a typical sight and the incredible detail and workmanship made them  a highly sought after item. They dont come cheap!, These can run in the hundreds of dollars but are something that can be handed down for ages. The heat from the candles creates air currents which cause the blades to spin. That in turn,spins the different levels around, each one carrying a carved vignette of life.

At the end of the evening, there was a beautiful old-fashioned carosol which we took a ride on, David on a gorgeous pink pony.... priceless. Mysteriously, I  lost my camera before I got that picture downloaded..hmmmm.

It was a wonderful experience to dust off old memories, I can't wait for next years, I'll be lining up early for the pretzels, and plan to take a taxi home so I can have a second glass of Gluehwein.

Heres a short video to show you what it looked like ( I lost my camera)
http://youtu.be/YcalAyciuAk

The Local Tourist - Winter Solstice Lantern Festival

I have lived in Vancouver BC for twenty years now and have worked almost every weekend of those twenty years. This resulted in me missing every: parade, festival, farmers market, ethnic day celebration, cultural event, health and lifestyle expos,.... you name it, I missed it! So this year it is my mandate to try and experience as many of these as I could. For different reasons, I didn't have my camera for the first few things I attended, so will post a few pictures that I found online to illustrate what I was seeing. I will try and do a better job of chronicling the rest of my adventures as I go along. So sit back, be an armchair traveller and join me as I check out my city and what it has to offer.

First up was the Winter Solstice Lantern Festival. It is held simultaneously in five different Vancouver neighborhoods on December 21st. I must admit, I have attended this festival before in two of the other locations. Once on Granville Island and the other in Yaletown. This time I went to experience it at the Dr Sun Yat-Sen gardens in Chinatown.

 The Secret Lantern Society hosts a number of city-wide lantern parades and events through-out the year and all of them are worth checking out if you have never been to one before. There is something magical about the glow and flicker of candle-light on a dark night, when all things wondrous might happen. The look on a small child's face as they gaze with awe at the fantastical creations is a joy to behold. The infectious music from the various carnival bands are a delight for the senses. The incredible creativity of everyone is inspiring. These are the perfect events to come and really feel like you are part of a community for you don`t just come to look , you are the parade, you are the show. This is your time to shine and entertain, whether by your fanciful dress, your creative lantern or your skills as a juggler, stilt walker, drummer etc.

                                                Photo: the Secret Lantern Society
The Dr Sun Yat-Sen gardens are wondrous on their own, but filled with glowing lanterns,  their light dancing in the reflecting pools, is a whole other experience in itself. A band played beautiful music in the central gazebo as people milled around on the many paths throughout the gardens. It was a sweet, gentle evening, perfect for lovers taking a stroll.

                                              A beautiful altar with prayers on white ribbons

                                                               Sun and Moon lanterns

                         A fuzzy picture from my cell phone of an ingenious stork lantern

Each of the locations has something unique to offer on this night that celebrates the return of the sun. The one at SE  False Creek had a wonderful fire show on a small hill. A representation of the sun cresting the top of the hill was lit on fire and dancers spinning fire poi`s whirled around in a frenzy of joyous celebration. At the Roundhouse in Yaletown, there were many activities going on, one of which is a magical labyrinth made of candles flickering in paper bags which created a place to take a sacred walk through the allegorical womb to be reborn with the sun.

The Lantern Festivals are a sweet, gentle way to celebrate the return of the sun when the world is at it`s darkest hour. I plan to go again next winter and will check out the celebrations on Commercial Drive this time. All- in- all , a very pleasant evening, suitable for the whole family. Two thumbs up :)

Year End Review 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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....

....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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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