The weather was fabulous on September 30th when I arrived in Victoria, and it continued to be wonderful throughout the month with probably two days of rain max. Peter was on a four day trip with some private school students and arrived home that weekend. I had agreed prior to my trip, that I would be "somewhat" willing to be lugged along to yoga practice each morning. 5:30 a.m. (holy torture and completely uncivilized!!) Friday morning, there was a quick knock on my bedroom door and out of bed I rolled. We were at the temple in the Fernwood area of Victoria just after 6 and I met Jeff and Harmony, the beautiful couple who teach Ashtanga yoga. I have only done a wee bit of this type of yoga with Ali McGraw's DVD and was quite curious whether or not I could do it. Daunting to realize that of the approximately 20 people who were in the studio that day, I was probably 20 years older than most of them. Jeff and Harmony are kind and true to the real meaning of yoga practice; you do what you CAN do and perfect the postures instead of reaching beyond your capabilities. By the end of the month, I had improved familiar postures and learned new ones. I knew that I was considered one of them when Jeff began to tease me starting on day #2. He is relentless with everyone and very, very funny. So much fun! Peter is attending yoga whenever he is home and has noticed a huge difference in his flexibility and health. When he was a novice just over a year ago, he was working on a particularly difficult one legged posture when he fell sideways and out the emergency exit doors and into the garden. Apparently the entire class became hysterical with laughter and it was the story I heard most frequently as I met each of the yogi's.
Darla and Peter live in a house on property owned by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. The house was built around the 1940's and the design is unusual and beautiful. Natural wood floors that Darla and Peter discovered under layers of carpet were refinished by them prior to moving in and they are rich and lovely. The house is set in an orchard of apples, plums and pears and they have two organic gardens, one that is their personal garden and the other, a five minute walk away at the camp and started by Darla and Peter, is now run by two Club counsellors. Daily, we would see herds of young people who are on the fringe of society, being brought in to build and tend the gardens. They have installed an irrigation system, are working on a "living forest" where trees as exotic as Kiwi have been planted and other plants that will exist in harmony, are being integrated among the trees. The greenhouse was overflowing with tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and peppers while outside there were pumpkins, squash, kale, lettuce, parsley, garlic and beets. A high fence has been built to keep out deer and bear, although one day they discovered that deer had breached the perimeter by leaping onto a compost bin and into the garden. No one has figured out how they got back out! The weekend of my arrival, Darla discovered bear scat under several of the trees surrounding the house and, although we saw many deer in the early morning headlights of the car and again as the sun was setting, we didn't actually spot the bear. We decided to spend an afternoon picking the fruit before the wildlife ate it all. I was informed that I would be making apple pies as my contribution to their Thanksgiving feast the next weekend and so we had a lovely afternoon in the orchard, filling the golf cart.
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| Darla (the boss of us) and Peter |
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| Wormy one....yuck! |
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| Perhaps I can reach that last juicy one from the golf cart. |
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| Cortes and Tula |
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| Yup! Got 'er!! |
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| Pete's project, working on his surfboard |
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| Darla, Cortes (who believes he's human) and Peter |
Darla and Peter had invited friends for a potluck dinner on Thanksgiving and since almost everyone in Victoria is "from away", 16 took up the offer. Laura (one of only two native Vancouver Islanders I met while there) cooked the turkey since Darla is a vegetarian and the rest of the contributions to the meal were spectacular. 15 adults, 1 child and four dogs filled the house and it was warm and wonderful. Terrific people!
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| Peter, Laura and me, pretending I'm doing something |
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| Peter and Laura, chef extrordinaire! |
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| Laura's dog Norris, trying to hide and catch falling bits of food |
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| Pumpkin/squash soup...yummy |
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| Ian "Coop", Kirin and Lauren |
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| John and Marlene |
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| Nick, his cousin Alexandra and John |
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| The gang...well, almost all |
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| Relaxing after the meal |
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| Peace and gratitude |
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| Thanksgiving Sunday, our beautiful Sidney arrived from Vancouver |
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| Me and my girls! |
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| Peter and his girls |
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| View of the camp from the house |
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| Organic garden |
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| Darla's favourite mode of transportation at the camp |
As if 2 hours of yoga each morning wasn't enough, Darla thought it would be a good idea to take a hike to the summit (ha, ha, ha) of Mount MaGuire. Not a tall mountain, but a rugged climb. Darla left me in her dust and waited for me to catch up....frequently....and I successfully made it to the top....eventually. It was fabulous and the views were, as you can see, wonderful. When we climbed back down, she asked if I would like to do some trails......."no problem" says I, and a couple of hours later, she realized that we had to climb another cliff to get back to the car..uh huh...cruelty at it's finest! I slept like a baby that night.
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| Our Mount MaGuire hike started here |
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| Easy peasy... |
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| No sweat! |
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| Beautiful forest!! |
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| Getting steeper |
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| Pretending I'm not gasping... |
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| I can see daylight |
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| If Tula is resting, I don't feel too bad |
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| Still trucking |
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| The summit! |
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| The view |
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| Darla preparing a snack |
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| Cortes |
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| A little rest before we head down |
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| Eagles!! |
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| Back to the easy stuff |
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| Cortes chasing a squirrel...I love this photo! |
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| That old tree needed support |
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| That's one big piece of driftwood! |
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Who's pooped? At least I stayed awake on the drive home!
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| Darla & Sophia pretending.. |
We spent a long weekend in Vancouver to visit Sidney at her home in Kitsilano and after a lovely walk through the neighbourhood, had a great dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner, we drove to Port Coquitlam where Darla's friend Claire, her partner Ari and their daughter Sophia share a beautiful home with Claire's parents (and my dear friends) Ray and Janet. We had so much fun taking turns cooking, eating and catching up. I hadn't seen Sophia, who is now three, since she was nine months old and it was a riot. She is bright, articulate and a tease. Ray and Janet took me to visit mutual friends Don and Helene who now live in Port Moody. We all lived and were friends in Nobleton, Ontario and our kids went to school together so there was so much news to share.
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| Sophia in her dress-up clothes |
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| Pina and Norton nestled |
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| Ray and Ari pretending they don't notice the pie (fab Suzanne Somers recipe!) |
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| Claire and Ari |
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| Ray and Janet |
We returned home to Victoria to the sad message that the gallery in Tofino where Darla has sold her art over the past few years, was going bankrupt and asking if she could please come and collect the paintings that remained in the gallery. She has done so well at Cedar Corner however recently she sensed that all was not well. She checked her bank account online and discovered that the cheque she'd received the week before, had bounced. She and Peter are leaving November 11th for Sri Lanka to enjoy two months of surfing and so this was pretty bad news. Darla borrowed a truck and following yoga in the morning, we drove the 4 1/2 hours (one way) to Tofino. If you have never driven this road, trust me when I say that it is twisting and dangerous. The week before our drive, an ambulance and two paramedics failed to negotiate a curve and died in the lake below. Tragic! We arrived safely, packed up the paintings and had lunch. Darla was told by the gallery manager that the owner would like to see her in the early afternoon. I waited in the truck and after an hour, Darla returned with a big fat envelope filled with cash in her hand. Not only had the owner paid her all the money from the bounced cheque for August sales, he also paid her for the paintings that had sold in September. An honourable man indeed. Our return trip to Victoria was much more upbeat than the drive north that morning.
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| Darla and Peter summited this mountain |
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| Sadness |
On the return drive, we stopped at Long Beach which is a surfers paradise and one of Darla and Peter's favourite surf spots. It is known around the world and all the best surfers come to experience the surf in Tofino.
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| Perfect!!! |
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| Long Beach facing north |
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| Long Beach south |
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| A whole new meaning to "a walk on the beach" |
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| Caught the owner but he was shy |
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| Beautiful scenery |
Returning to camp we discovered that Peter, his associate guide and the young offenders, who had been at Desolation Sound, half way through a 26 day program, had returned to the camp. Peter's friend and associate, had a flare-up of a staph infection that required attention. They set up their camp in the trees behind the house and took day trips to the coast to hike the hills and canoe.
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| Sleeping accommodation for the boys |
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| One of the cabins on the property |
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| View from the cabin |
A couple of years ago, Darla and Peter met Lara and Nick and they fell in love immediately. When Darla told Nick that Bob and I were planning to spend a couple of months in Uruguay last winter, Nick insisted on an introduction to his parents, Margarita and Michael who live in Punta Ballena. If you have been following the blog, you know that, not only did we meet them, we fell in love with them as well and have become good friends. Margie and Michael came to Canada this past summer and, although we didn't get a chance to reconnect, they met Darla and Peter and spent some time together on Vancouver Island. I was very excited to be meeting Nick and Lara and my introduction happened at the Thanksgiving dinner when, not only did I meet Nick and Lara but also Alexandra, Nick's cousin who is from Boston and attending UBC.
They invited Darla and me to dinner at their unique sublet apartment in an old mansion in downtown Victoria and I heard some of the stories of their lives so far (only 30 years of age by the way!). Amazing stories of working in the slums of Beirut (Lara) and Nick, when he was 18 years old, trekking through virtually untouched areas of Nepal, meeting Buddhist monks such as we've never seen and who have rarely, if ever, seen a white man. I know that they have many more stories to tell and I could have listened to them all night. Sadly, they will be off next autumn, writing the next chapter of their lives as Nick completes his university degree in Sweden. We hope to see them again on their way through Ontario to Montreal, their home town, before they fly off to new adventures. It is a fact that they will be missed in Victoria.
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| Nick and Lara |
The month flew by and I had a wonderful time witnessing Darla and Peter's hectic and rewarding life, meeting their friends, people unlike any I have met before, at least never in one large group, enjoying great exercise and eating fabulous food. Bob, on the other hand, camping out at #59, did a splendid job of lining up contractors and demolishing that which required demolishing in the rental house. He was so happy to have me home and had messages and photo's all over the house, welcoming me back. We moved back into #61 after two days of me enjoying and appreciating the basic life he'd lived for a month, and we were pleased that our house, after being rented from May to the end of October, was in terrific shape. I have been home just over a week and I am beginning to feel reclimatized. It was all so special and I am grateful to Darla, Peter and all their friends and associates, Claire, Ari, Sophia, Janet and Ray, who made my time in B.C., a home away from home, a wonderful experience.
Safe travels to Sri Lanka Darla, Peter and Coop! Wishing you perfect surf, fun with your friends who await you there, sunshine in your house on the beach, and tons of love!
Namaste!
