I am having a wee bit of trouble getting online…so here are some ramblings from yesterday.

Written on the ferry June 25 :

Vicki and Hisola

Today dawned sunny and bright. Phoebe took a group out for a trail ride while I pulled my stuff together and did some laundry. By the time she got back the sky was looking threatening and it was time for me to go. “Come on,” she said, “lets go out for half an hour, I would love to show you the area.” and so we went. I was on Hisola a beautiful little Canadian horse. I’m glad I went even though none of my body parts remembered the years that it used to ride. Actually it was a little embarrassing but Hisola was kind and intelligent enough to make me not look too bad. The woods were deep and magical. Tall ferns, huckle berries, black berries and salmon berries lined the path. At one point we went through an area where everything was covered in a soft green moss. (no pictures ’cause I was hanging on with both hands) The spicy smell went straight to my head. It ended all too soon and then I headed for the ferry. By then the skies were threatening to really rain.

So now I am on the ferry with my back to the Sunshine Coast, heading for Vancouver Island and Comox. I am watching the water and wondering – why do waves break in the ocean or strait as the case may be. Waves that curl and froth in the shallows I understand. They are catching on sand bars and slooshing over the shallows but out in the deeps, to my mind, they should just heave and roll. I am sure there is some technical explanation that I would probably know had I just paid a bit more attention in grade 11 physics wave theory (see that stuff would have come in handy one day just like my parents said it would). All of this contemplation is probably just to stem the fear that I might get sick. Although our crossing is calm by all standards, it is much rougher than any I have had and I can feel the deck swaying under my feet. It is usually not too bad with my eyes firmly on the horizon and the wind in my face, but rain and a cold wind are making it more uncomfortable to be outside than in here so here so I am sitting with my nose pressed against the window watching the waves. The worst place for me was on the parking deck where I couldn’t see the outside. This ferry has closed in sides. I wonder if it is because this crossing can be rougher than some of the other ferries between the small islands have to manage. In any case, I can’t see anything but the walls and there is no breeze at all down there.

Sea and Sky

Sorry, do I sound like I am whining. I’m not. I can see the ferry terminal already and I
feel pretty darn good. Maybe I will be a sailor yet before I finish this trip.

I am also feeling sad about leaving Powell River. It is a unique spot, totally inaccessible except by ferry or air. I spent a lot of time watching the boats and container barges passing Laura’s and thinking about water being a main transportation route. So many parts of Canada or maybe all of them depended on the water routes for everything. That is not always the case any more but here it is. Life here works because of the water. I wonder if that makes people here more aware of it’s importance or if it becomes like asphalt roads…just a way to get around.

water highway

I also feel like I have made some good friends here. I have met people and had experiences that I could not have had anywhere else. Thank you Powell River and the Sunshine Coast.

I have come started to recognize a pattern in me. Apparently I get a bit jittery when I am moving on. In the short space of time I spent in the last place it becomes familiar. Of course there is always more to discover and learn. I have just begun to scratch the surface of what it is like to be in the area but then I move on. Although I am getting pretty comfortable with the ferry experience each time I head for a new place I feel like I am stepping off into the unknown all over again…new roads to scare Karma and a new bed to sleep in. I wonder if this feeling of hanging over the edge will ever leave me when I drive a new road or if it is just another one of those amazing signs that I am human, another marker to celebrate.

I am headed to meet Dominique, Gavin and their family. I don’t know much about them except that she is a La Leche League leader. In a way that feels like I am going home to family. Somewhere in amongst those butterfly wings in my stomach there is anticipation. I am going to stay with some kids the ages of my grandchildren and La Leche League seems like my spiritual home in so many ways. It is a group that helped define me and definitely helped shape my kids. Many of my best friends are women I met in my La Leche League days. I have been invited to speak at a meeting on Friday morning and am excited about that.

The ferry is docking. I have to go to my car. I will have more tomorrow if I am able to connect to the internet. Keep well.