Tag Archives: pictures

Advent #1

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Advent Carol Service tonight for evensong.  The sun is going down around 4:15-4:30 right now and evensong starts at 4:30 so it was nice and dark to show off the over 500 hundred candles that lined the nave, gallery, and chapels.  It was absolutely stunning and the perfect way to start the season.

Something’s Missing

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This week has been a busy week of getting the boats ready for the winter.  Along with the normal things we do every year like take all the food off and give away what will not keep until next year, take all the mattresses, deck boxes, dories, life jackets etc off the boat, unlash all the sails and remove them and the booms/gaffs, and clean the boat really really well, this year we took a couple extra things off.  Those couple extra things weighing upwards of 5 tonnes…
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the barge Pacific Grace.
That’s right.  The Grace no longer has any masts.  It looks fairly strange to see her completely mast-less.  On Tuesday, the main came out.  It took the crane 14 tonnes of force to lift it out of its hole.  Today, the fore came out and it took 9 tonnes of force.  It is the strangest thing to see these mammoth sticks dangling in the air above the boat.  

When laid out in the lot, they take nearly the entire length of the parking area.  
We had some interesting maneuvering with two fork-lifts to get them out of the parking lot, around the corner into shop.  
In the shop, the main takes up over 3/4 of the length of it.  Tomorrow will be strange when we go for fuel under the Johnson St Bridge without having to raise it up.
Incidentally, tomorrow is also my last day working for SALTS.  Its been a fantastic last two years full of great relationships and wonderful experiences.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  At the same time, I’m looking forward to some rest.  While I will be out pounding the pavement looking for a new job first thing Monday morning (well, maybe not first thing!), I anticipate some well-deserved break time.  You can pray for me as I’m looking for work.  I think I’ve gotten a little picky, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it means I have to be careful not to turn my nose up at perfectly good jobs.

Changing Seasons

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And just like that, as quickly as the leaves are changing colours here in Victoria, the fall sailing season is over.  That’s it; no more cooking for me.  It is kind of strange to think about really.  All I’ve done for the last two years is cook on a sailboat.  Now I’m done.  Two weeks of shipyard and then I’m really done and unemployed.

Its been a fantastic last two years, I’ve throughly enjoyed my time on the boat: the people I’ve met, the people I’ve worked with, and the places I’ve been very fortunate to travel to both at home and abroad.  Soon I’ll be on to the next chapter.

Katie’s Married!

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This weekend, the entire offshore crew trekked over to the mainland for the wedding of Katie and Matt.  It was a great ceremony full of intimate moments and hearty laughs.  The bubble-boy and ring bearer (youngest two of Skipper’s kids) did a fantastic job as well!

The reception afterwards was lots of fun.  I enjoy wedding receptions where I know lots of people and those people are as crazy as the people I work with.  Pretty much nothing phases us anymore and we have no problem making fools of ourselves…  This is evidenced in our offshore tradition of re-writing famous songs in our songbook for special events on the boat, thus far, that has been pretty exclusively birthdays.  We decided to make an exception, and did a one-time only performance of a song we wrote for the wedding.  Antony, Sarah, Tony and I wrote it in about half an hour on Thursday after breakfast.  Karen suggested some changes then away we went.  We had two guitars and were supposed to have a kazoo but it missed its ride to the ferry (aka was forgotten).
The lyrics, below, are to the tune “I Will Survive”…
At first she was afraid, she was petrified,
Didn’t know how long she could go on and still survive.
She spent oh so many nights just dreaming of his face,
Because it was embroidered on her pillow case.
She took the year, let herself go
It’s the only time she could and Matt wouldn’t know.
She never shaved her legs and she tooted in the night,
Her hair was left unwashed and her clothes were getting tight.
Go on now go, sail out to sea,
Don’t turn around now, don’t you worry about me.
Weren’t you the one who softly said goodbye,
My name is Matt, I am a man and I don’t cry.
Oh no not I, I’ll grow my hair.
As long as I don’t cut it, your touch will still be there.
I’ve got only one year to last so I hope it goes real fast,
But I’ll survive, I will survive, hey hey hey…
(Drum and Kazoo duet…)

It took all the strength she had not to fall apart,
She journalled every day to you right from the start.
Matt you should know that you were really missed,
She brushed her teeth, just waiting for your kiss.
I must admit, I’m feeling blue,
I am so far away but still in love with you.
I was dreaming you’d drop in, just to visit me
Cause I’m saving all my loving for the one who’s loving me
And then you came, to Hawaii
With no shirt and a scooter down upon one knee.
You were the one that I wanted for all time
I could hardly wait, and now tonight you’re mine
And that’s the start, they will survive,
As long as they know how to love we know they’ll stay alive
They’ve got all their lives to live and all their love to give,
They will survive, they will survive, Amen.
And now for the requisite photo accompaniments:
The mildly offside, but oh so Katie, cake topper

George walking Katie up the aisle.

Katie and Matt

The cooks…

And the girls