Absolutely gorgeous day today. Sarah and Leighsa were putting the jibs up on the Swift this afternoon. I lashed on shear poles on the Grace and lots of sanding was done above and below deck. It was nice to get up on deck for most of the day.
Tag Archives: victoria
A Ring of Endless Light
Here endeth my first week of work. Last week was great; we spent four days doing an Old Testament survey and talking about our relationship with Creation and how we can convey it to the trainees. It was also a great way to spend time with the rest of the crew not on the boat.
Today was the first day in the shipyard! I spend the morning in the galley (actually, I spent the whole day in the galley…) exploring. Sarah taught me how to light the stove and it began to get warmer in there. First, I had to find the galley. Not locate it, but find it underneath all of the things which managed to accumulate over the winter. There is a new cabin being built in the hold, so there are lots of tools and miscelaneous other things lying all over in the hold and galley. Then, there was cleaning of the counter tops. Next I had to sand the rail around all of my counters in preparation for oiling this afternoon. After lunch, it was cleaning out cupboards and investigating what is in the galley. I found a binder of info and notes from previous seasons and offshores (!!!) which will be a HUGE help! Bring on the season!
Last night was nice and still. I went to bed early but woke up around midnight/1am and couldn’t go back to sleep right away. I decided to walk down to the waterway and take some pictures… becuase I do that kind of thing and it is only about 50m down to a little wooden, covered platform that juts out over the water. I spent about half an hour out there enjoying the silence… well, the silence broken by ducks making lots of noise. My favourite surprise when looking at the photos when I got back in was a heron standing in the water which I couldn’t actually see when I was out there.
Here is the Bay Street Bridge in time exposure. You can see the Johnson St Bridge in the background. This is the one with my heron standing in the reflections from the bridge!
This one is also a time exposure of the appartment/office/?? across the waterway from here. The tide was going out.
The covered wooden thing I was standing in and taking pictures from. There were lots of clouds… apparently there was a storm last night, probably after I was outside, but I didn’t hear it… and they were all blowing across the sky at a fair rate.You know you’re from Victoria when…
…you walk to the grocery store in your Lululemon hoodie, capris, and Birkenstock sandals with your re-usable shopping bag under your arm. In February.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have become one with the city…
Photo Journal
I finally uploaded pictures from the last week onto my computer. In celebration of being back in Victoria for one week, here’s a glimpse of what I’ve been up to for the last week or so:
February 1, Nicole came over from Victoria and we took in the Canucks-Oilers game at GM Place. Unlike the previous Canucks games Dad and I have been to, the Canucks actually won.
We had great seats… lower than I’ve sat before!
Vespa, however, was less than impressed with all the noise and was pretty excited when we left to go home (on the skytrain).
That night, before we left for the game, there was the most amazing full moon rising over the Golden Ears. Yes, this is the view from Dad and Colleen’s place in New West. And I don’t have photoshop or anything like that, so these are all as they were photographed!
Now that I’m back in Victoria, I’m living in a new part of town (new for me anyway) – on the “other side” of the water in Vic West. The townhouses/apartment building is pretty distinctive and very cool looking:
And the apartment has incredible light from the zillion windows (and there’s a huge balcony)
my room… with a spare bed for when I have visitors… hint hint…
And there is a fab view out of the windows… this is a little fuzzy, but we can see all the way to Mt. Doug and, looking the other way, the Empress
Even better, I am super close to the shipyard where I will be working. Here you can see the Pacific Grace in dry dock. She was there for a couple of days this week, getting ready for the upcoming season which starts (gulp) really really soon (she is missing her top masts in case you are wondering why the masts look so short and stubby). And yes, this is the boat which will be my home for a whole year when we’re off sailing the South Seas and to the Far East.
These last two are not my pictures… they are off of the S.A.L.T.S. website. The first is none other than the Pacific Grace. This is the one I’ll be sailing on this year. The second is the Pacific Swift. People familiar with my sailing history will remember my fond tales of her. It is the Swift that I have sailed on for every trip I have taken with S.A.L.T.S. since my first trip in October 1999. And, incidentally, if you need a job starting, say, next week, and want to be a part of a wonderful organization like S.A.L.T.S., give me a shout because we need another cook. Not only would you get to sail, but you would get to sail on the Swift (and she is so much more the pirate-looking ship of the two, complete with a mini cannon!) for a good 4 months or so. Yes, you know you want to…!
Spring has Sprung…
Spring is here in Victoria! I know that may be hard for those of you in the -1 billion degree temperatures in the rest of the country, but, despite the rain or clouds (both of which are absent today), it has been a gorgeous 10 degrees all week. Whether it is the warm weather, or the cayenne pills I’ve been taking to increase circulation, or a combination of the two, I haven’t been cold in ages; I walked home from downtown this morning with my jacket over my arm and have even stopped wearing mittens, which for me, as those of you who know me well will attest to, is a minor miracle. And to further prove that spring is indeed here, I saw, perched on a tree along the waterway this morning, a hummingbird! I stopped and watched it sit on a branch for about a minute or two before it flew off. It was a brilliant green and when it flew away, its head flashed a vivid red. Truly beautiful.
This is the view from our living room – the Selkirk Trestle bridge of the Galloping Goose trail.
Back in Victoria everyone. See you at Ring Out tonight.
News Flash
I have an interview in Victoria next Saturday! Here is hoping I get the job and that I figure out how to sell myself as a potential employee even with the fact that I’m going to be leaving in May to work for SALTS. Anyone have floorspace next weekend?!?
I applied for a job. In Victoria. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
School
So sad leaving Victoria today. I don’t know when I’ll be back next. I love that city! I walked over to campus Monday morning and wandered a bit while I was waiting to hear from a friend when he’d get to town. I was wishing that I was going back again this year – this is the first year in the last 20 that I have not gone back to school in September. Crazy. I realize, however, that the wishing to be at school would last about until my first exam or paper was due if I was indeed returning to school this year. Its a good thing I’m leaving the country and expploring otherwise I’d probably go crazy not knowing what to do with myself.
Possibly the best reason I’ve heard to give money yet… some teenage punk came up to me downtown today and asked if I could spare some change for a “marijuana testing experiment”. Hmmm, um, no.
gillian's island 