After spending a few days off (tiny) island with my “up-island” family, I have taken hibernation to a whole new level. And my thoughts are starting to turn to “What’s next.” Yes, you may all realize that I am not very good at living in the moment.

I am beginning to think about the garden. This is spurred by my frustration at my diet lately. Now, do not misunderstand, I love turkey and stuffing and the works. What I’m having a hard time with is not having a garden to eat out of. I was spoiled this summer and autumn. But we did not plan well (as it was our first garden) and now I am lamenting not having a winter garden full of root veggies, kale and hearty winter beans. I turn my nose up at the imported veggies that the grocery store offers, and then I duck my head and sneak them into my basket. I still need my greens! What a shame! My lack of planning has lined my food with a guilt at buying into our silly food industry that insists on shipping kiwis from New Zealand in the dead of our winter. Or Mexican avocados so we don’t miss out on our winter nachos.

This type of thinking, this eating seasonally is still pretty new to me. Perhaps by next year I’ll know when to plant kale and the root veggies so that I can truly benefit from our mild climate.

Good news though, my dear friend Theresa has long ago put her garden to sleep, but yesterday she bravely tromped out there and uprooted a Christmas Carrot! Could there be anything more delightful than pulling up a bright orange vegetable  from the ground while we peel our imported chinese mandarins.

I might venture out to my stark little garden and see if there are any forgotten veggies.

And then I will scurry back to my warm nook to finish yet another cup of tea and dig into my new book, “Natural Beekeeping.” (Thank you Marc!)

Happy Christmas to you!

There is a flock of sheep on this farm we are caretaking. Somedays we count 4, somedays 6, somedays 11 and yesterday 16. They are geriatric. They have arthritis in their back legs so that they hobble when they run. From far away they look at cotton poofs, like little field clouds with legs. Cumulonimbus Sheep. I have not named them because last year we found a couple of chewed skeletons in the forest. Plus I cannot tell them apart so they would have to go by a communal name.

They go only by “Sheep.” Sheep have always run away from us but because the apples are ripe now, they come closer, looking for crunchy cores, afterthoughts of our nibbling. They are quite funny looking up close. They have rectangle heads, knobbly legs and protruding little lips that explore the apples we toss them. We endear Sheep to ourselves. It helps to look them in the eye so that when we hear them bleeting from our cozy bedroom, we say “Poor sheep” and we can step in their poo without malice.

We have a beautiful flock of deer as well. They are usually regarded as pests on Pender because they have no predators. We had the privilege of watching two sets of fawns learn to jump, lose their spots and still gaze at us wondering, with their ears alert, fluffy and white. We have a beautiful stag with a set of horns, a white muzzle and a white tail which we see more often than anything else. That is, his retreating rear end as he leaves the scene. We just want a good picture Mr Stag. We call the deer with him, his harrem. He is a lucky stag because he has many a looker with him, with big doe eyes, dreamy Mr Stag. Way to go!

Last time we went sailing, last weekend, we saw the retreating backs of black porpoises. It was so exciting. We were sitting in irons (a lull) waiting for us to drift into the wind again and I heard this “Pfhoof” and looked and pointed and jumped a little with a small squeal. (It was only small.) “Porpoises!” They are magnificent creatures.

When we pulled into the dock we met another little family.

Four river otters have taken to nesting in a neighbour’s boat. They are definitely pests, bringing shells into the boat, eating, sleeping and defacating in the boat. But man, are they ever cute when they tussle.

The only other rowdies that need mentioning now are the wiliest rowdies around.

(I think Ramona is posing for this photo)

I love having my own kitty. Better than all the sheep, deer, porpoises and otters.

Oh, and it must be mentioned, Ramona, thought to be a “he” is definitely a “she.” The vet said so!

I watched “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” last night, as a prescreening because I managed to get the movie to the film group on Pender Island. It will be showing September 19th.

This is a very inspiration movie about Liberian women who were tired of the war, they stood up for their rights and the rights of their children, and through a non-violent protest, ended the civil war in Liberia and got a woman voted in a democratic government.

It’s funny because back in June I remember having a discussing with Theresa and Ivan about how a woman is the emotional barometer in a family. A woman has a great influence on the emotional health or “un-health” of her family. Her moods directly affect the rest of the family to a greater extent, I would argue, than the rest of her family members. She has the ability to generate emotional awareness, emotional health, and peace within her family circle. I realize that to generalize is dangerous as the mother is not always the emotional instigator. But excuse my generalization. I think it’s an important responsibility that women must be made aware of.

This movie takes this concept to a whole new level for me. It said as women we have a responsibility not only to our families, but to our communities, to our regions, to our countries. The movie had footage of the rebel soldiers giving their guns to the women protesting for peace. They said “These women are our mothers. We trust their words and respect their pleas for peace.”

Women, we are society’s mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters. What is our responsibility?

I am again between bounding kittens. At home. Where the blueberries are ripe, the tomatoes are orange, the hawaiian lilies are in full bloom and the bees are playing leap-frog on the dandelions and lavendar bushes.

We ventured off to a neighbouring farm and “helped” with a swarm of bees.

Really, the bees won,

we all got stung,

but it was fun.

Then we ventured over to Pike Place market. Good spice market, a little bee-beauty stand, a cheese store and we were set.

We got to watch Hazel be milked. It is still one of my life goals to sit on a three-legged stool and milk a cow. But this was pretty close.

Hazel has an unusually large udder, if you were wondering. But she’s a very good Jersey cow who gave approximately 4 gallons of milk a day, and fed her calf Louie. That is a high-producing momma if you ask me.

After our stop in the states, we were on our way to Summerland for my brother’s wedding. This is my baby brother. (I have two.) You may remember him from this posting. We camped whilst everyone else enjoyed the hotel. We enjoyed camping and got to use their showers. It was a good situation for us all around.

We got to have a leisurely morning, (when the van would start) and meander our way to the hotel where the hustle and bustle grew as more relatives and friends arrived.

After much anticipation, it was the wedding day. Brendan was ready to receive his bride, and the hot weather held off, much to the relief of all the guests.

I thought it would be a lot more emotional, seeing my little brother getting married. But I was just really excited. I love Andrea (his wife) and her family is really nice. I’m really excited to see their marriage unfold. And I get excited when I know people I love will be in my life forever as family. It is definitely a good deal for me. With all the happiness, it is impossible not to shed a tear or two.

All is well that ends well. And we’re glad to be home!

This is the token update for the giant pumpkin that we got from P.E.I from Laura Jane at Whimfield. Apparently pumpkins off this plant can get to be 1100 lbs. I don’t know if we in our limited knowledge will ever attain such gi-normous glamour but we’ll see how she does. What shall we name her? Any ideas?

We have had a torrent of guests. The summers on Pender are always like this and we love sharing our island so it works well. And in the midst of these delightful friends, we have rescued a poor fellow, stung 8 times by a wasp nest.

The wasps were very indignant that I took their home and their family away and put them in the wood stove to meet their demise. Perhaps I need a stronger emotion word. They were very “stingy.”

We’ve gotten out in the canoe a fair bit lately. This makes up for Marc wanted to go canoing in February and my hesitation. I tried to stall him, to protest, to excuse myself and Marc often ended up alone, paddling around. Now I am much more enthusiastic about canoing. I am very temperature dependent. I feel sorry for my paddle being in the frigid February waters, I feel sorry for myself out in the canoe, freezing. But now, it is beautiful.

Aside from canoing and wasp-killing, we had a little adventure that I’d like to tell you about.

I went to Victoria for my brother’s convocation. He graduated with a bachelor in mechanical engineering. This is my baby brother who is getting married this year. *sigh* Sometimes life goes by so fast. Anyway I asked my brother and his fiancee to drive me to the ferry after. They said “No Problem” then I said, “Oh yeah, with bees…”

There was blank looks exchanged. There was doubt, confusion and then smiles. She must be joking, right? Nope! We went to my bee supplier’s house and picked up a hive of bees. After picking up my very trusty friend, Theresa, we duct-taped the bees very very very well in the parking lot at the ferry terminal.

Now these trusting people have all heard my story when I picked up my first hive and the bees began escaping as I drove down the highway to the ferry. They all know of my misadventures with stinging creatures. They support my hobby but I think they got a little over their heads on this one.

The taxi drivers in the parking lot at the ferry were giving us very perplexed looks. What are they doing with that box? What could be in there that they are so ferociously taping up?

I went and bought the tickets, and Theresa and I “bee-lined” for the elevator, hive in hand. We were not sure if they would mind if we had a box of live bees. Theresa told me to practise my “oh-so-innocent” look. We debated if we should say that there were weasels in the mysterious green over-taped box. Or snakes. Or tools. Or really, honey bees…

Walking on the ferry with a hive of bees is interesting. I didn’t know if we should announce ourselves, or hide. So we walked confidently by the ferry workers, like nothing was unusual about our trip. We marched upstairs and placed the box ever so gently on the deck, out of the wind, and sat down to wait.

It all went surprisingly well. The bees did not kick up a buzzing storm. They waited patiently in their little box. (Not sure they had a choice with the amount of tape we used.) We took them to the community garden and set them up in the corner. We lost a few to a stinging mishap as I tried to get the frames out of their secure little nuc box and into the full size super box. It was all very exciting and sneaky. Theresa and I were so proud of ourselves.

That is the community garden where we put the bees. It is in it’s first year. It’s very exciting to be a part of early on in a project.

It’s lovely being on Pender in the summer. I really enjoy living seasonally. In the summer, gardening, canoing and having active beehives. In the winter, I look forward to curling up around a wood stove with a thick book and a pot of tea. Every season has such different joys. I am so thankful that I get to enjoy each one as they come and celebrate the small things in life. The first ripe blueberry, the thick smell of honey, clovers between my toes. I hope each reader out there celebrates the small joys and accomplishments every day brings.

Happy Summer Wishes!