My Billets

These are the people I’m billeting at my house during the August theatre and music festival here.

Crystal Precious is a performer, vocalist, host and founding member Sweet Soul Burlesque. She is the co-creator of the Vancouver International Burlesque festival and Vancouver’s underground venue Dollhouse Studios. Her first vocal hip hop record was released in 2015, featuring the video single “Apple Pie (No Pie For You).”

Wonderfunc is an underground deep tech house DJ/Producer who splits his time between Central America and Canada.

Elaine the Gardener

These photos show you my haul from Elaine and Darrell's
 allotment. I wish I had taken my camera to photograph the 
garden—something to do next time.

It’s raining. Today will be my first visit to a wet Farmers’ Market. I’m after fresh produce for dinner tomorrow to serve a cousin. I also have a 1:00 o’clock meeting with the other volunteers of the August arts festival.

Friday, however, was a stunning day. I’m more relaxed about water now, too. For one thing, we keep having showers between bouts of dry heat. Also, drenching the yard for Al and then seeing how quickly the cistern refilled has given me my first insight into the rate of water flow here. The dog days are ahead, of course, and Fall can be very dry, but so far I seem to have bought a house above a healthy aquifer.

Perhaps that’s the biggest change in my life since leaving the city, living with water and power insecurity and not taking either for granted.

Elaine came at nine am yesterday morning and we went to her allotment. What a paradise of a food garden: Peas, Rhubarb, Blueberries, Onions, Raspberries, Beets, Garlic, Artichoke and many more and all in incredible abundance. I so  wish I’d had my camera!

I ate a ton of Blueberries; I regret that decision said the man who spent the afternoon watching The Crown and sitting on the throne. How ironic.

Today I go to the market, bake a lemon tart with raspberries and make fresh ravioli. For a break, I’ll watch more of The Crown.

Trump Dump

The Mayor of London has given permission for activists to welcome Donald Trump to the UK with a giant inflatable blimp of the President wearing a nappy and throwing a tantrum.

‘Trump Baby’ as it has inevitably been dubbed, will be tethered to a spot in Parliament Square Gardens and gaze down in comic anger from 30m up on 13 July. 

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor supports the right to peaceful protest and understands that this can take many different forms.

“His city operations team have met with the organisers and have given them permission to use Parliament Square Garden as a grounding point for the blimp.”

The blimp is the culmination of an online crowd-funding campaign that has so far raised £16,762.

“When Trump visits the UK on Friday the 13th of July this year, we want to make sure he knows that all of Britain is looking ... and laughing at him,” the crowdfunding page said.

“That’s why a group of us have chipped in and raised enough money to have a 6-metre high blimp made by a professional inflatables company, to be flown in the skies over Parliament Square during Trump’s visit.”

An Orchid!

Thank God: My right eye is working much better this morning!

I could barely read all day Thursday! Dr. Spencer drops put three different kinds of drops in my eyes and the pupil dilation lasted well into the evening; it was torture to open my eyes because of how brightly light was to my eyes. 

I liked Dr. Spencer; he’s a nice man. And get this: I searched “Cataract surgery wait time BC” and got some terrific and very specific information on the BC government website. I was able to read that 50% of his surgeries are done within 39 weeks and 90% are done within 49 weeks. A year! Thank God my left eye is so good.

I had a seizure on the ferry coming home. It was short and discreet. I continue to believe that Clonidine, a blood pressure drug that works for the treatment of anxiety,  is working for me.

This morning Elaine is coming to take me to see her allotment where she grows vegetables and fruit. I’ll be picking fresh raspberries. (Elaine is Darrell’s wife; Darrell is the fellow who did all my renovations.)

Photo of plant

I’m chuffed!

A few days ago a posted the photo above. I took it because it’s a wild plant that I’d never seen it growing before. Yesterday I met a woman in the ferry line-up who leads tours here for the museum pointing out local flora, so I showed her the photo and she told me it is commonly called Rattlesnake Plantain. It’s an orchid called Goodyera oblongifolia. 

Atlas Moth

Atlas moths are one of the largest lepidopterans in the world with a wingspan measuring between 25–30 cm (9.8–11.8 in) and a huge wing surface area. Their habitat is primarily dry rainforests, secondary forests, and shrublands across South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, including the Malay Archipelago. The adults lack fully formed mouthparts and cannot eat, subsisting entirely on fat reserves accumulated during the larval stage. As a result, they live for only a few days during which their sole objective is seeking out a mate.

Bird Whisperer

I started this blog to document my walks; I recorded destinations, impressions obtained en route and posted photographs of things seen. I’ve since blogged about walking through France (almost), becoming a public storyteller, writing and performing plays, building my paper dresses, having a nervous breakdown and moving from downtown city central to an island. Everything was new to me; I wrote about everything with excitement. That was then. 

Now my life is pretty dull. Sigh. Yesterday morning was all about the cistern. I emptied it quite a bit by drenching the entire yard so Al could install the new floater switch. I’m very proud to say I actually understand what he was doing—and why.  

Al was impressed with the number of birds feeding at my feeder, washing in the fountain and filling the surrounding bushes. He said it was one of the most vibrant he’s seen, and that’s saying something because he fills his days visiting island clients. When my fruit trees start bearing fruit, the birds will be even happier. Chris Loranger: Bird Whisperer. 

It’s ideal weather of late: Sunny with some clouds and nice and warm. This morning when I got up at 4:00 am, it was 18° but there’s light rain—and thank goodness. When it rains, I think of the vegetables at the market!

Today I go with Patsy to meet Dr. Spencer, the eye surgeon. Patsy’s proposed having sushi for lunch. I haven’t had sushi since moving to the island! Yes!

Joseph, Mary Detained; Baby Could Be Taken

An Indianapolis church protested President Donald Trump's child separation policy by "detaining" statues of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph in a chain-linked, enclosed cage on their lawn.

“The statement with the Holy Family says as much about our policy as any statement would say,” the Rev. Canon Lee Curtis of Christ Church Cathedral, who came up with the idea, told NBC News. “We want an end for family detention. Families, all families, every family, is holy, and we hope and pray that families who are seeking out a better life for their kids are afforded that opportunity.”