Cool Moon

This is the lunar eclipse as my camera saw it:

But with my naked eye, it was pretty cool. My mom and I bundled ourselves up in fleece and blankets (she wore her hat!) and sat out on the deck watching last night's lunar eclipse. We warmed ourselves with mugs of hot chocolate and were out there quite awhile, til the clouds closed in. I kept saying "cool" mom was kidding me that the moon was cool in more ways than one (brrrr!!!, lol).

Only happens every 400 years or so that there is a lunar eclipse on the solstice, so it was a good thing those clouds had taken a break when they did, there was no rain, and I had set an alarm so I didn't forget. I was awake doodling when the alarm went about 11pm here, oh! And up we got.

After we were back inside, warming ourselves with more hot chocolate, I went onto Twitter to look at some pics. Mom was really intrigued to see pics from other places in the world, such as the one from someone in Argentina, as their pic had the lower right corner lit up (rather than the upper right hand corner).

Here is the best pic I saw on Twitter last night, by Jay Rodriguez (click to enlarge it):

Herb & Dorothy: the coolest art collectors ever

Just watched the coolest documentary...
The full title, with it's subtitle is: Herb & Dorothy: the incredible true story of a postal worker and librarian who built a world class art collection. Click here to visit the documetary's website. Here they are in earlier years with part of their collection:

Below is a more recent picture taken around the time the documentary was made in 2008 (the cat's name is Archie). In a nutshell, Herb and Dorothy Vogel, a NYC couple of modest means, made art collecting their hobby and passion, learning, visiting galleries and making their way to unknown artists' studios. They lived on one income and used the other to buy early works, storing them all in their 1 bedroom apartment ("I noticed their bed getting higher and higher" one family member said in the documentary, lol), being careful to rotate and cover the works to limit the light exposure. Herb has an incredible eye for picking out pieces, and understanding the artist's development.

Bursting at the seams, they eventually donated their entire collection to the USA's National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Truckloads of thousands of works. They never sold a single work, they didn't want to. When the gallery decided to provide them with a modest stipend to help them to "get a new sofa when they got their apartent back" (the old one having been buried ages ago), help with upkeep and deal with any health issues.... the Vogels turned around and used the money to buy even more art, which they donated to the gallery.... lol. The National Gallery eventually deemed they could not hold the entire collection (well over 4000 works), so smaller collections of 50 works were donated to all 50 states. How cool.

This picture is from Perfect Vision, W magazine's article on the couple, it is worth reading to get a sense of how they did it, and some of the works they collected.

The documentary was shown tonight on Knowledge Network, and mom and I were glued to the set (thanks in large part to my sister's markings in the December issue of the K schedule). It was fabulous!!! I will be watching for it to be shown again, as there was so much to absorb.

I have only been to Washington DC once in the past, but this has me wanting to return again. I just have to see that collection! And I love the fact that, thanks to the 50 works for 50 States program whatever American state I visit, I can see a portion of the collection in some gallery there. That's cool 50 times over.

Future Travels: Art Institute of Chicago

That's Chicago in the background of this Picasso sculpture. This is Picasso's immense Nude Under a Pine Tree. I didn't know about this work and really want to see it! And that was before I discovered that he painted it exactly 7 days before I was born: cool.

Both will require me to make it to Chicago.

It was completly by fluke that I came across this blog post on Midwest Rock Lobster on a guy's visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. I have had Chicago on my must-do cities list, but wowee, this convinced me. I am going to start seriously planning towards a trip one day. Anyways, the blog post is excellent, as he really gives you a tour of the works to wet your whistle.

And that it did. Their online catalog lists 344 Picasso works, yum! A quick browse and I know I'd like to see these: Cannes, Games and Reading, Man and Flute Player, Minotaur and Wounded Horse, Painter and Model, and a cool collection of 5 plates - all of which aren't currently on display. Thanks goodness for the internet, as I can still see them! Hmmmm... would be worth watching for an exhibit of Picasso works from the archives.... Also liked this curious sclupture entitled Figure. Truth be told, too many works to even look at online, lol.... was Picasso ever prolific!

Beside a decent collection of Picassos, there are Dalis, Miros, Kandinskys and more....

High Tea at Butchart Gardens

On a recent November day, we headed off to Victoria's Butchart Gardens - now one of Canada's National Historic Sites - for High Tea.
This was a special occassion, as all four of us where there together. Here are mom and I after our repast, which is served in the Dining Room, in the original Butchart family residence.

My sister and brother and brother may look like they are sitting outside, but that's just a really clean window. Great views of the gardens from here.

For each type of tea we had at the table -- it was the only thing we had to choose -- comes with it's own teapot (we had 3 types between the 4 of us), and individual straining devices. The teas were truly lovely.

And the food, ooh la la!! High Tea is what is served here in the winter, and is more robust in it's hot foods than the Afternoon Tea served in the summer. And, how scrumptious! We began with to-die-for candied ginger scones, followed by hot delicacies (we each got a cornish pastie, quiche and vol-au-vent), then a selection of sandwiches and savouries (4 types, and 4 of each, tho there was some trading off for favourites!), and finally the sweets. Ooh la la indeed! All of this, including the tea, is served for $26.65/person.

My sister and I also ordered the Backyard Flight of 3 wines, modestly priced at $12.95. How decadent to sit there sitting champagne! If you go, keep in mind that you need to pay for admission to the gardens to get in. In our case, we were treated on this occassion by my brother, who was, in turn, invited to High Tea as guests of the owners, with whom he has recently done some work. Lucky us! But for the quality of the food, and service, and the environment, the High Tea was good value and I would definitely recommend it.

From our table, we could see this statue of Mercury in the gardens (above).... and the water of Tod Inlet beyond, near Brentwood Bay (below).

There were still lots of autumn colours in the gardens...

My sister took this awesome picture of this not-so-green greenery.

One of the chandaliers.... ... and some of the old stained glass windows in the building.We didn't spend a lot of time exploring the gardens further on this visit, but we all wanted to come back for more. My brother and sister hadn't been there before, and my mom and I were unable to remember how long ago it was that we had been there together (20 years?!?), so I am sure we will be back. People travel here from all over the world to visit the gardens, so living 20 minutes away in Sidney does make it a must see! Thanks bro :-)

Relaxing

I am here. Lucky girl! Will post more on my little Mexican vacation when I have better connectivity. And when my poolside deck chair isn't calling my name. Btw, that is a swim up pool bar in the middle of the pool. It is heaven.

Home in Sidney

This is the waterfront just a couple of blocks from where I am living in Sidney.

A funny thing happened tonight, as I was coming home from a short trip to Vancouver. As I got off the ferry on the island end, I felt like I was home. Walking across the parking lot to my car at Swartz Bay, I felt like I was home. I am home here more than I am at home in Vancouver. Intersting. I still miss Vancouver, and would love to live there again, but I no longer feel like I am visiting here. I live here. This is home. I am building a life for myself here. I am home.

Interesting that this is one of the"recent doodles" I recently posted over on my beepdoodles blog...

Sidney moments

Just a few pics and reflections and random moments from life here in Sidney.
This is what happens to a Red Bull can if you put it back into the fridge half-full with clear plastic wrap over the top. Thought it was so cool. My sis took this and the next pic.

Me as Red Bull Misty Done Girl in the backyard in the days before the plumbing saga began. Ah, the quiet before the storm....

Backyard moon.

Two birds. One economic action plan project here. Your tax dollars at work. Mine too.

This is what they are up to: an upgrade to Lochside Drive. It's one of my fav spots, where one can just park the car and sit and watch the water. Or get out and walk. It is rough and unfinished dirt now for the parking, and a sidewalk. They are apparently paving the parking, and putting in a new retaining wall, upgrading the walkway. It is good, I suppose, but it's rather a bother that it's not so enjoyable while they work on it.

A recent outside breakfast at my fav breakfast spot, Beacon and Eggs.

One of the local residents.

The local movie house, Star Cinema. I haven't been to a movie there yet myself, but it's apparently a great little theatre. Looking forward to going there in the fall.

This gives you a sense of the pace around here. My sister calls it a sleepy little town. I think that describes it well.

LOVED this sign, found on a telephone pole on a walk into town. I think it says a lot about the community here.

A few other random reflections:

• Fall here is beautiful... when the sun shines
• It can cool off quickly here, our house is just steps from the ocean - there is a nice ocean breeze
• When it rains here, it sure can RAIN!!! We are thinking it would be a good idea to get the roof on the sunroom fixed before winter....
• Our mailman wears one red sock and one blue sock

I don't have much more brilliance today. It is time to doodle....

Moi: Klout says I am an Explorer

Checking out Klout today... this is moi according to my Twitter info:



Klout says I am an Explorer. Click on the thingee above to see what that says about me - or to get your own score..

I learned about Klout because I showed up as one of someone else's influencers via Twitter. I am not so concerned about clout, per se, but it's interesting to see how I am connecting online. I also got immediate benefit from Klout through the focussed suggestions it gave me on who to follow (some of my own followers who tweet on my interests that I may have missed).

btw, I am choosing not to connect Klout to Facebook... Klout may or may not be ok, but I do not trust Facebook as far as I can metaphorially throw them....

Pause: in the middle of nowhere

I am pausing here:

I am in a cabin on the point at the front of this picture. Middle Point Lodge is just outside of Tofino in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. And I am sooooo lucky to be here. We have relatives visiting from the UK and they were to borrow the car to visit Tofino, Ucluelet and Long Beach on Vancouver Island - it is about a 5 hour drive from Sidney (near Victoria) - and at the last minute the night before they left, they invited me to join them. I didn't have to think before I said yes! Right now my aunt Dawne and her granddaughter (21) are out exploring Tofino and considering whale watching. And I am tucked into our cabin.

It is pouring sweet BC rainforest rain. Sweet mainly because it is soooo BC, it makes things so green and because I am tucked in inside with no intention of going outdoors anytime soon. I am enjoying this interlude of having the cabin to myself.

A few reflections:

• This is great as while I could afford a room in the lodge here alone, I'd never be able to afford a cottage on my own --- splitting with them makes this moment possible
• I have wanted more spontaneity in my life, so I am happy I seized the moment
• I love the realization that this isn't such a long drive afterall... I think I got so tired of the Malahat when I lived in Victoria in the 80's and travelled the island 7 weeks out of 8 for a year and a half.... it had lost its charm.... now it has its charm back, and the roads are better than they were back then
• I am pretty sure I have not been in this area since I was about 4, or who knows, maybe it was 10, but I was a kid, and we camped as a family right on the beach at Long Beach...
• I shall be back, perhaps without the rain, lol
• I am contemplating the jacuzzi on our deck.... Elsa is interested in going out there with me, but my aunt Dawne thinks we are nuts.... I suspect we will do it at some point
• The lodge here is fantastic... we went up for breakfast (included and free from 8-10) and I stayed there until 2:00, curled up in a great big easy chair, looking out to the ocean, with a fireplace crackling behind me, and drawing... and, I admit, snoozing...
• Having great fun comparing countries and words with my travelling companions
• I am incredibly grateful for myt sister right now, as she happens to be at my mother's place, making it easy for me just to take off
• I love BC
• I need more nature in my life
• I am amused that I forgot my camera, as it means I am more present here (though delighted that Elsa will share her pics with me... and will let me play with her digital SLR camera at some point)
• I have been enjoying talking art with my aunt, as she only took it up 4 years ago (she is a very spry 79), and has been creating wonderful drawings and paintings... she has many tips for me for starting out at this point
• Dawne has lent me her set of graphite pencils for the afternoon, so I want to stop this and get drawing... these are so amazing, I can't wait to find a set for myself

PS - interesting outcome, as we had to cut our stay short by a night when we realized we had messed up dates and if we'd stayed as long as planned my cousin-first-removed would have missed her flight back to the UK. lol. After dropping her at Nanaimo to ferry her way back to YVR, my aunt and I had a messy, rainy drive back down the island on Thursday... but sand between my toes from Long Beach was awesome.

Plumbing Saga: The Final Flush

This is the conclusion to our recent plumbing saga story. To read the previous installment, click here. To go back to the beginning, click here.

Perhaps the best part of the whole saga was that mom didn't realize that we had put in the second toilet as part of the extended project, and she did not find it until 3 days later. My sister and I had gotten all the party favours ready to celebrate yet, still, she never went into the laundry room....
Finally, on about day 10, with company coming (and we wanted them to be able to use the new guest washroom!), we had to "trick" mom into going into the laundry room to make the discovery. We thought she might be mad at this addition to the job (though at this point it was really just thrown in), but she was gloriously delighted! Note the crown for the queen and her throne.

It looks pretty boring here, but this really is the most exciting outcome of the whole thing. Three women with two toilets are much more fun to live with than three women with one toilet. Absolutely!!

The overall clean up is continuing a week along and still not complete, although it's getting better. So far we have a new gate, our neighbors have their fence back, we have new pavement leading up to the back door and some early attempts have been made to get the rest of the backyard in order.

When it all began, we had no idea what would ensue, and I gather the whole thing was the talk of the plumbing and waterworks town, as it really was a drawn out mess, but it is all done now. And I am almost qualified to project manage a plumbing site. Well, almost. For now, I am happy to get to choose where I pee without a line up, and continue sweeping off the dried mud from the stairs....

To read the whole story from the beginning, click here.

Plumbing Saga Day 7: Let the clean up begin!

This is a continuation of our seemingly never-ending plumbing saga. To read the previous installment, click here. To go back to the beginning, click here.

I call this pic Still Life with Muddy Shovel. It is interesting how something so ordinary can seem so beautiful in the morning sun.And I call this one Goodbye Planter! This is looking out the back door to backyard, and this is Corey the city guy carting away a big old planter that got demolished in the process.

This pic is typical of our front yard for many of the days, lots of men, trucks and muddy dirt. This is the pile of dirt that had been hauled out of the backyard by the plumbers for the city to take away. I did not know that when you dig a hole, then fill it in, you have less dirt left over. The absence of compacting apparently. Anyways, all this had to go. Here Corey the city guy and coworker whose name I forget (really, there were soooo many) working under the watchful of eye of Joe the bossman-plumber (who had operated the bobcat to haul all that dirt out to the front yard) and his son Liam the plumber-boy watching on.

Liam was definitely the dashing young plumber in his mini-gear, seen here powerwashing the bobcat. He would later turn his efforts to the back of the house and cleaned off our stone patio. That was one messy job, and despite the awesome job he did, there are still bits of mud around a week later. It's the kind of thing that's hard to fully get rid of...

I asked Liam to take this shot, it is of the city's big machine loading the excess dirt into a dump truck. We sure had a lot of equipment around this house! It caused lots of interest along our quiet street, and even neighbors checking in that everything was ok with my mom. How kind.Inside the house, Carl the plumber replaced the old catchment pipe (?) below the bathtub and, glory be, it not only drained, but there was actually one of those little whirlpools when the water drains out. I'm not sure that has been witnessed in this house before. It was a glorious thing.

Later that day I picked up my mom and sister from the local motel. They returned home to a house that was mostly clean, and a yard that still showed strange evidence of the week that was....

The saga doesn't really end there, but that's the major stuff and, heck, 7 days is long enough to detail. Lol. I have one more little installment on what has transpired since - click here to read it.

Plumbing Saga Day 6: Mud, mud and more mud!

This is a continuation of our plumbing saga. To view the previous installment, click here. To go back to the beginning, click here.

I call this pic Still Life With Tools, and it's a fitting start to a summary of day 6 of our saga, as tools hiding from the rain piling up on the kitchen counter were typical of the day the rain fell. And fell. And fell.
I gather that on this particular day that more rain fell in that single day than it had on that date ever. Or for many years anyways. And it was a soggy one. Day 6 can be summed up in a single word: MUD.

I really felt for the guys working out in our yard. I believe this is Carl the plumber in the trench, with Joe the bossman-plumber alongside. What was already mucky clay turned to the stickiest mud I think I have ever seen. A short walk and you could gain 10 pounds simply in the weight of the mud on your shoes. Imagine all those waders and such! What you see in the pic above is our new cleanout for the sewer, also called an "I see" for reasons that I can no longer remember. But it was a glorious thing to have installed. Now, all they had to do was connect the sewer to the new line that had been run through the crawl space. Below is looking at the clean out from the other side (which required me to stand in the mud, hence my knowledge of the stickiness factor)... This was the part that required jackhammering into the house:

That's Joe the bossman-plumber above. Don the plumber must have been camera shy that day, but he was around. Heck, he practically lived at the house for a week..... The good news is that they eventually got it all hooked up, and all that remained to do was clean up. Now clean up is an understatement, if there ever was one... These are my muddy shoes:

There was so much mud that even with the plumbers being careful, there were little mud paths, wet and dry across most of the floors in the house, I'm sure of much of it from me. It was a night in which all the towels in the house were laid down to provide a clean way to walk from one room to the other. Oh, and the other great thing that happened on day 6 is that they (aka Carl the plumber) put in the line for a new toilet in our laundry room. As in second toilet. As in thank god, there will be another place to pee in this house!

So, progress was really being made at this point, and I actually believed there would be plumbing again soon. I wasn't sure if it would get hooked up that night or not, but in the end, it did get fixed and I was able to have a shower, a nice long one at home. Nice, that is, if you ignored the fact that they bathtub still would not drain, as was, in fact, worse than ever. Despite lots of new pipes everywhere under the house... Oh well... Would have to talk to the plumbers about that in the morning. And I settled in for the night....

To see what happened on day 7, click here.

Plumbing Saga Day 5: The Long Night

This is a continuation of our plumbing saga story. To view the previous installment, click here. To go back to the beginning, click here.
The day begain with the rather unusual sight of a bobcat still in our backyard. So much for the 1 day rental.... Maybe, just maybe, things would go better today, they would find the line, fix it and be off. But I didn't get my hopes up too much, as I was starting to get it that wishful thinking was going to have me disappointed, if I wasn't careful.

First to arrive on the scene that morning was Brad, the city guy, sporting another copy of the plan of our property with some handwritten notations. It seems that the city has records that have not yet seen the light of data entry.... Every year the city runs a little camera robot through it's sewer lines, recording data on where there are holes in the line, aka residential hookups. Now that it's Monday morning, he's been into the office, accessed those archives, and found two measurements that give coordinates of sorts (they are distances from two manhole covers, with our connection in between). Not exact, but pretty darn close. I play measuring tape assistant and Brad roughs the ground twice. He then eyeballs the probably line towards our property and marks the spot with where he thinks they will find the line if they dig. I'd say X marks the spot, if only he'd drawn an X....

Talked to my brother the night before and he wondered about just running a brand new sewer line through the crawlspace from the left side of the house to the right side of the house, directly under the laundry room where we were dying to put a second toilet, then straight out to the main sewer line on the easement, making a new connection there. I said I'd ask the plumbers.

When the plumbers arrive, they are pretty pleased to see Brad's marking, saying, "He's usually pretty accurate. I'll bet we find it."

I interrupt there musings to ask about my brother's idea, but before I can get it out, Joe the bossman-plumber says he was thinking the same thing. So that's two smart men with the same idea, so the idea gets advanced. Joe cautions that the city may want to charge for that, so not to get too excited.

Meanwhile Don the plumber gets to work and drives the bobcat back out to the front yard, then around the house and now enters the backyard via the the right hand side of the house, moving well along the new blacktop walkway that had been put in for mom when her driveway was paved a few years back (this pavement is essential to her being able to get her walker around to the door she uses to access the house). as they knock down the fence post closest to the house, and the bucket emerges into view, I figure she isn't going to be using this entrance to the house anytime soon.

Our neighbor Kevin had poked his his head over the fence for an update that morning, laughing a little nervously, knowing that the easement is on his side of the fence, and our project hasn't gone all that smoothly up to this point... I laugh back and wish him happy kayaking, and turn my attention back to "the dig".

Goodbye planter, I say, as the bobcat wipes it out. They'd asked me if I wanted to save any of the plants in it, consulted with my sister, and the verdict was no. So it got creamed. She had a bit of a look of shock on her face when she came outside later though, as there wasn't much left. She had been was thinking that we could rescue the herbs and flowers ourselves after the planter was pushed aside, but that turned out to be the thoughts of the naive. Oh well, live and learn...

At some point Joe tells me that the idea of a brand new connection to the sewer main was dead, as the city would charge alot to do that. Oh. Oh well, it was a good idea. But we went back to plan A, which was finding the existing connection....

"Dig right here," says Joe the bossman-plumber to Don the bobcat-driving plumber...

Once the hole was dug, Don was in there like a dirty shirt (getting a dirty shirt) probing around with a thingy until they found the line. And found it they did. Only thing was, the line was collapsed, almost completely. It was old clay tile that had definitely seen better days. So the bad news was that the sewer line was collapsed. The good news was that the line was collapsed between our property and where the line hooked up with the main sewer line on the easement.

It took me awhile to understand why this we good news, but it meant that the city was going to have to pick up some of the costs. Oh, yeah baby!!!

So the plumbers moved in to dig up that part of the line. That meant that our neighbor's fence was coming down, and their yard was going to meet the wrath of the bobcat. To be clear, this was all on the easement, but one doesn't really think that way of land that's within one's fence once you are used to it. This is Kevin's look of surprise, as he said, "Whoa... we only went kayaking for 2 hours!!!" Good thing that he and his wife Connie are so good natured. We tried to hide the fact that we rather fancied the extra light pouring into our yard with the fence down, but we couldn't resist. Nice neighbourly fun, all made possible by the city promising Kevin to make things right on the easement when they were done.

In the end, the trench was 7 feet deep. This is Cory the city guy poking around. Cory would become as much of a fixture around the house as Joe, Don, Carl, Liam and Brad....

To keep us occupied, or maybe out of their hair, Don the plumber had suggested that we might like to bury a time capsule when the trench was closed. Cool!!! Sissy and I had great fun gathering things. This was a feature about 150 years of Victoria history. Other items we include were: a Red Bull container, Lipton's Chicken Noodle Soup, liquid tea, Olympic momentos, stamps, a few coins, Purex hand sanitizer, Magic Erasers and various other bits from the junk drawer.

The dig did keep on rather a long time, and at one point we were forbidden from any flushing. We eventually went out for a drive, then to the library to kill a few hours (and use their facilities), then to dinner, then came back around 8:30 pm to see how they were doing on their estimate of being connected by 9:00 pm... I left mom and sissy in the car and made my way to the back yard, only to find a large hole, a bevy of tired men, and no connection. Their next best guess was midnight. I said we'd be back then went out to the car. And made a corporate decision and drove to the local Travellodge where I checked in mom and sis for the night. Back to the house to throw some things in a bag for them, back to the hotel to drop the stuff off, took a quick shower using their facilities (yeah!!!) then back to the house.

They were still at it, using big lights, but in the end, Joe the bossman-plumber told the team to call it quits at 10:00, as the next step was to jackhammer into the foundation of the house, and we didn't want any noise complaints. Just as well, I was tired, and I figured I was in for a night of "camping" regardless. So off they went.......

To view what happened on day 6, click here.