Moving In

On Wednesday morning, June 5th we met a Bandstra moving van at Canadian customs. To our relief and delight our Settlers' Goods list was quickly stamped to allow our goods to enter Canada without duty and we were on our way to Quadra. No problems, no hasslel, all good to go!

Our first glimpse of the van waiting for us at customs in Campbell River. There, inside of it, were all of our Hawaiian worldly goods. It felt a bit like Christmas. Very exciting.

After clearing customs, on the ferry the van went.

Two walk-on passengers going to Quadra to play golf.

Backing down the drive and squeezing through the gate.

Here comes the dinning table.

The table, waiting to be unpacked.

More unloading. How lucky we were that it was a cool sunny day.

And finally, the mochi bowl. Driver John points to the spot where it will go.

Now what do we do?

Shoving it off the dollie and getting ready to roll it a few feet.

Ta da..the bowl is in its temporary place awaiting its permanent spot in the new garden to be. It is so good have our special bowl here on Quadra with us.

Just a few things to unpack and put away. We received 115 cartons.

 What is in here? Where shall I put  it? Who decided to keep this? Ahh, look at what we kept. Nice.

The shed is full of empty boxes, a few unemptied boxes of tools and items for our garage sale.

The table is unpacked. It and all of our belongings came through the big move with out any damage or other mishaps. None of our fears were realized. Thank you to everyone who helped us make the move happen. It feels good and actually quite normal to have our Hawaii things around us. Everything fits well and makes the house feel like it really is our home.

And then it was time to take a glass of wine out to the point and enjoy the view.

This is an experiment...If you want to take a video tour (amateurish) of our living/dining area copy this link into your browser and see if the video really does play. It might even work if you simply click on the link.    https://vimeo.com/67657781

Road Trip May 2013

What a concept...going on a trip without flying on an airplane. We packed our bags, hopped into the truck and headed south to Nanaimo where we caught the ferry to Vancouver. 

Lighthouse island on the way to Vancouver.

Hello, Vancouver where we spent two nights with Carol and Wendy and had a marvelous time. We had supper at Bishop's, a fabulous high-end restaurant whose meal was worth every penny and lunch of delicious dim sum.

Yikes we Quadra folks are not accustomed to seeing this!

The American flag at the border, which took us an hour and a half to cross. Coming back on the ferry to Victoria is much quicker.

US 5 our road to Oregon.

Exit to Mt  Vernon where days later a bridge collapsed.

This is either said bridge or one just like it.

Good old Seattle traffic.

Yep, we are passing through Seattle

Still on US 5 and headed to Portland. Hooray.

Trucks, trucks, trucks and ...

 the occasional logs.

Fiannly we made it to Thad and Jessica's. The boy's cool it with a frosty beverage.

Jackie and Captain figuring the bottle out. Good excuse for a cuddle.

Playing with bubbles using his latest obsession, a key, to pop them.

Down low,

up high.

Love the impish expression. Key still in hand.

Mr. Cool posing under the mushroom lamp at Rock Creek Tavern. The pose was his idea.

Rock Creek Tavern...Linda and Larry (AKA Grammie and Grampie), this one is for you. We will meet you there in September.

Jackie and Captain cruising the parking lot after Jackie has identified all of the cars. Car ID is his other obsession. He is an expert and can identify cars as they fly by at 50 mph.

Onion goggles; what an eye saver and so silly looking. I'll take comfort over fashion any day.

Jackie reading to his Mommie. Sometimes he reads the right hand page before the left.

We took a side trip to Eugene. I was not good about taking photos of the friends we saw, except for Augie, his mom Kelani and his aunt Jessica. All Larsen cousins. We stayed with my longest time friend Linda and her husband, Denny Howard. What a wonderful visit. We had dinner with other long time friends Rick and Phyllis Morrow. A great evening. And Linda and I lunched with Barbara Davis...from elementary school and later high school. All fun such fun  we know we will be back.

The Howard's nemesis trying to get to the bird food. It is a hilarious man-against-squirrel battle.

Interesting barn and silo on a walk we took with Linda and Denny.

Linda, friend Patty and I visited Carol who makes birdhouses, (I bought one for our yard.) is a fascinating person and who has a fabulous garden.

On the road back to Portland. We went via the slow, beautiful roads less traveled.

This house reminded me of the Bates Motel in the movie Psyco.

The Pink Cafe in Independence, Oregon. Cute, warm and friendly, with excellent food.

Red barn along the way.

This tickled me for some reason. Not your average message.

Guess who has a bit of motorcycle envy?

Back to Portland. Jackie shows us how he can ride the scooter.

And work in the garden. Love the helmet.

Posing with Deedo.

Lunch at Alan's Mexican food which we think is the best in town. The waiter Leo is Jackie's special pal.

Off we go again...heading north on back roads to Port Angeles for a night at the Red Lion  hotel. Bridge taking us from Oregon to Washington.

Another bridge. This one is a drawbridge near Bremerton, WA.

Pretty scene along the Olympic Peninsula.

Yes, I like bridges...and barns.

Buck snapping down the snazzy new top we bought for the truck bed. It is waterproof and can be locked to keep things safe.

After breakfast at the Smuggler's den a cafe beside the ferry yard we caught the 8:15 Blackball Ferry to Victoria. It has wireless Internet on board. Amazing.

Landho.

After lunch in Victoria, we drove to Sooke and checked into the heavenly Sooke Harbour House.

The halls, and all public areas, are like art galleries. Most of the pieces are on consignment but some are the owners' private collection. We did our own art tour several times and could have done it several more.

In addition to all the interesting plants the garden was decorated with whimsical creations such as this bird. The garden is mostly planted with edible pants that are used in the inn's restaurant.

A crab with starfish and mussel friends sits beside a flower bed.

The elevator was painted as though it were under the ocean.

This chef stands guard over the garden.

We discovered these salmon peeking out of a flower bed.

One of many interesting garden gates. I came home with all sorts of grand and wonderful ideas.

Hummingbird for Sara and Kali.

Ocean side of Sooke Harbour House. The dining room is on the left and the food is 5-star.

A resting spot carved out of a huge driftwood tree.

One of the orca at the entrance.

Pretty flowers blooming and many more about to bloom.

Our bedroom's sitting area. Each room (there are 28 of them.) has a name and a theme. Ours was the Emily Carr room. She is a Canadian artist who fascinates me since she was quite a character and scoffed at the Victorian mores of her time. If I had had a choice I would have chosen the Emily Carr room for us.

The bed. Love the fir tree.

Huge soaker tub with view.

Breakfast was delivered to our room. It too was delicious.

Evening view from our balcony.

More view from our balcony. We are looking at the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula across the way as well as part of the lovely grounds.

Portrait of the travelers.

This is for you, Thad. It was down the street from us.

This is part of a beautiful boardwalk that starts up at the top of a park and winds its way down to the ocean. Really stunning and beautifully built.

We spotted this creature while on the boardwalk. It looks like it is a part rhino monster with long arms.

We left idyllic Sooke Harbour House and took the long way home via Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan. It was another lovely, relaxing  drive.

We stopped at fairy Lake for a picnic lunch

This little tree has its own island on Fairy Lake.

Another spot was to walk in and old growth forest. Buck is rappelling up or is the correct term uppelling?.

Lovely old trees. The poet Joyce Kilmer would have loved them.

Another bridge, this one, with hardly any guardrails, is high over a river .

The Gordon River.

This tree fell and spit its neighbor in half.

Our trusty, comfy truck. We considered naming him Toulouse Le Truck.

Back home to Quathiaski Cove. It was a great trip but oh, is it good to be home.