View From The Top

It's only taken us 6 months and up until our last day on Salt Spring Island to make our way up to the top of Mount Maxwell to appreciate the truely magnificent view. Not only can you see Salt Spring in all it's beautiful glory, but America in the distance in one direction, and Vancouver Island to another. Talk about feeling on top of the world!

So that's it from Salt Spring, time for new adventures. I'll keep you posted!

Island Wanders

Before & After

It's a miracle, something I planted has actually grown! Maybe there's hope for me yet...

Weeds

Lately it's all just been about weeds.

Weeds and bugs, and rocks and weeds, and sticky grass things that get stuck to your socks, and weeds, and thistles with stems the thickness of my wrist (well not quite...) that stab you through leather gloves when you try to pull them out. And weeds. And sunny days which are gradually killing the clover. And weeds. And waking up in the night to feel something crawling on you and flicking back the covers to find a spider heading up your arm to find a nice home in your ear where it can lay all its spidery eggs and have babies...

Appreciative

  

We went exploring today and reminded ourselves just how lucky we are to have stumbled across our little piece of borrowed paradise.

We drove through winding tree lined streets that broke out into overgrown, pebbly pathways, surrounded by rolling meadows and quaint old farm houses, nestled amongst orchards, farm buildings and out-houses.

I could have sworn we had time travelled into an Anne of Green Gables storyline. In places, it was so unbelievably picturesque and seemingly untouched by the 21st century it was almost painful to see.

The roadside produce stalls with their little honesty boxes were overflowing all over the island, with eggs, organic vegetables, flowers and jars of pickles and jams and fruit, lovingly hand-labelled in curly whirly handwriting.

The geese trailed across the fields with their babies towing the line, turkeys gobbled and pecked at the earth and dust. The sound of bleating lambs could be heard even over the sound of the car engine as we wound our way through pure sunshine and fields of rich greenery and meadows of wildflowers, daisies, and wheat.

We picnic-ed at a picnic table at Ruckle Farm, with ocean to one side, and fields of cream and dusty pink coloured foxgloves stretching towards the horizon on the other.

I lay in the clover and thought of how appreciative I am that the universe spun us around and plopped us here for the northern summer, in this little paradise so near, and yet so removed from the hustle and bustle of 'the real world'.

 

                           

                           

On Nights Like This

On nights like this we meander through tall grass and wildflowers...

Heading towards the tracks down behind our volunteer property...

Once we see the sun beams as they slice between the branches of the trees...

We follow the track down, down, down, til we see the ocean ahead...

We stretch out on warm rocks...

We watch liquid sunlight bubble and tease our toes...

And we make friends.

Progress

Progress is becoming evident at our little Workaway volunteer posting. What am I saying, little? No, no.
We just keep getting more and more things to work on, which is great! It's a really nice feeling to know that we are helping someone to realise their dreams of turning a forested piece of acreage into a beautifully landscaped home.

And it has to be deer proof, of course, because deer roaming wild means having all your plants munched. So that means fences, fences, and more fences. And then what would a newly cleared space in front of your soon to be renovated cottage be, without a perfectly levelled and smoothed lawn out the front to lounge around on in the summer? So, we've been tackling that one too. Two weeks of levelling with a digger, rock picking and raking by hand, and it's ready for seeding. But we're already on to the next job, digging in some steps and barrowing gravel to continue the landscaping to our wee caravan.

It never ends, but it's good. It feels really good. And it's exciting to see the results!

There are little strawberries, raspberries and blueberries appearing in the orchard, and all our transplanted plants are thriving and on the verge of flowering. The deer can't keep up with the clover which has turned a stunning, rich green colour, and is soft and springy to walk on in bare feet (dodging the deer poop on the way).

We have discovered a nest of baby squirrels in a nearby tree - they chase each other up and down the trunk, spiralling as they go. Unfortunately, the neighbours cat has discovered them too... bugger!

Still, all is well in our little piece of borrowed paradise on Salt Spring.

Skipping Stones on Salt Spring Island

'The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but having new eyes.' - Marcel Proust

 

 

Volunteering - Salt Spring Island

At the start of the week we arrived on Salt Spring Island, a 3 hour ferry ride from Vancouver. This is where we are doing our first stint of volunteer work.

We are staying with a lovely pair of Canadians, Andre and Martin, helping them landscape and build a cottage on their newly purchased piece of land in the forest, overlooking the ocean on the island.
They bake us kiwifruit muffins and stream NZ news over the internet every day just so we feel a little more at home.

We are loving the cool weather, freshly cut firewood, our cosy campervan, all the deer and squirrels running around, the trips into the sleepy seaside village, and their deaf cat called Geek.

Who knows, we may be here for a while...