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Archive of ‘sun’ category

arm band, colors, seasons, sun, tea | 0 comment

Colorful World

Even if the sky wasn’t overcast, the brilliant changing leaves of gold and rust and blushing red would outshine the sun. The trees are on fire, the rain collaging the streets with leaves. It is a very different kind of beauty here than the perpetually green West Coast.

The new antibiotic I’ve been taking is supposed to be gentle, although it doesn’t feel that way from the inside of my body. I slept terribly last night. My body feels incredibly hot and cold all at the same time, so half the time I am unsure why I’m trembling. Aching in joints I almost forgot existed :P. It’s been a take-it-easy-slow-down-and-drink-tea kind of day. Gramma came over before I was up, and we all had food together (breakfast for me, lunch for everyone else), then tea, of course. Tea is a religion in my family. I consider it just tea snobbery (specific ratios of milk to tea, temperature, how much the water boiled, and brand of tea all enter into this ritual). I drink any color tea at any temperature with the tea bag left in all afternoon, a horrific practice in the eyes of my family I’m sure. There is something about that flavoured water that turns the most ordinary people into die-hard British tea lovers (snobs). Perhaps in 50 years we will find out that there is something in black tea leaves that makes it super addictive, like nicotine in tobacco. I am sort of joking but sort of not. I love my family, and their quirks :P.

Relaxing days for me generally involve a great deal of knitting. I finished off a size extra-small armband today in ‘Tahitian Sunset‘ -hot pink, orange, and lavender stripes (these colors actually go…I know it sounds like a strange combo, but they look amazing together). Already have it up on my Etsy shop. Talk about being organized, hmm?!

carpe diem, changes, family, inner harbour, ocean, sewing, skirt, Solstice Cafe, sun, tired, trips out, vegan, write on camera | 0 comment

Reflections in a looking-glass pool

Underwater life animated on a historic building

I thought that the days of summer were truly over, but today the sky was an exhilarating riot of vivid blues, stormy grays and white. A mix of sun and clouds, with a touch of rain, and the occasional brilliant-eye-squinting ray of sunshine. Dad and I went down to the Inner Harbour, walking along one of the few paved paths in Victoria that is in a moderately tranquil location.

Regal Parliament, resting on borrowed lands

We walked along the smooth path, taking in the sights like any good tourist. It is noisy in the Inner Harbour, with the sea planes taking off towards the distant mountain, motor boats tootling around, people laughing and skateboarding, biking, dogs.

no school like zee old school

The one thing that you must listen hard to find, to separate it from the roars of city life, is the sound of the ocean, persistently lapping against the raised concrete path. I wonder what this place looked like before the shoreline was smoothed out and raised up. Were there beaches paved over, and did they use the smooth pebbles littering those ancient beaches to decorate the gray cement? A small piece of the bay is still intact, where you can see the remnants of crystal pools of green water, which carve holes in the rock-face. There are no big waves that rock into the Inner harbour any more. Not since the extension and creation of the breakwater, a few kilometers away. The water feels almost stagnant, until some boat or plane disturbs its’ surface. Just remember that this water is also full of raw sewage, one of Victoria’s very dirty secrets. Yes, that’s right, in the historic capital of this great province, our toilets flush right into the once pristine coastal waters. Pollutants don’t belong here. Not anywhere.

looking-glass pool
We strolled across the Blue Bridge, a first for me. I’ve never crossed from Esquimault to Victoria on foot or wheels. From there, Solstice Cafe, a haven of organic and homemade (many vegan!) delights, is just a few stoplights and a hill away. Steaming cups of rich cocoa, and a granola bar. Isn’t that the definition of culinary heaven? 
history unknown
I have always been fascinated by this building front on Pandora. Only the historic front remains, an eerie skeleton, a face with no body, a lid without a box. Ironically someone painted a few blue pacman on the front.  In the good old days of my freedom with strong legs and a healthy sense of adventure and liberty (always willingly accepting serendipitous situations as they arrive), I used to think to myself that the bodiless building would make an incredible picture, or a sweet backdrop for a photo-shoot. Finally, camera in hand and blue sky to boot, I captured the haunting beauty of the place on film a plastic memory card. 
I was so exhausted when we came home, although I am trying not to show it. We started my IV antibiotics a few days ago, after almost half a year without them. The medicine is caustic, and burns my heart and veins as it enters my blood stream. I feel weighed down with sickness, as though my bones are suddenly filled with lead instead of 900 mg Clindamycin.
When in sickness or pain, try chanelling your frusteration into a creative outlet. 
Don’t speak the anger in your mind and body, but instead try to look at the flipside, turn everything terrible into something good. 
An example? Today I am really suffering, and I feel like crying with the pain of the medicine going into my heart and neck. 
But someday, when I’m a doctor, and I decide to put a patient on a drug with a biting, bitter, derisive and acerbic personality, I will be able to understand their suffering. 
I am being given the power to heal, through the knowledge of suffering I am receiving. 
A further plus side is my extension tubing is 14 inches long, leaving me plenty of room to knit!
Once you start moving in a postive frame of mind, everything become lighter and warmer in my mind. I hope it can do the same for you.
I channeled my pain in sewing this afternoon. I have many incredible animal-print tees from the Sierra Club, that Dad used to bring home for me, some of which I have had since kindergarten. The sky blue and navy octopus shirt, which is too small for me and a bit faded, has just been recycled into a trendy skirt. Cut off the sleeves and neck, added a bit of denim on the sides from a pair of pants I cut off into shorts, and created a waist band from a faded black stretch shirt. I will post pictures when I have it fitted and on ma body! Should be pretty sweet once it’s done…and all recycled…how cool is that? 
<3
cold, feel weird, inner harbour, light, ocean, sun | 0 comment

City Lights and Harbour Sunset

I have been healing nicely all week. Already the incision wound doesn’t hurt as much. It mostly pains me when I try to move my shoulder, pulling at the stitches, which gives me an odd pinching sensation. Its hard still to roll over in bed, or to pull myself up from the chair, but I know I will be back to my old self before long. I didn’t leave the house all week, but instead caught up on two seasons of Halifax Comedy Fest (best show ever, if you haven’t watched it! Atlantic comedy is where its at!) and the Winnipeg comedy Fest. Laughing hurts sometimes, as my ribs are very painful and tight, but it feels better. A nice ab workout, that how I like to think of it. Yesterday, I made a pilgrimage to the library, but it was a very brief one, as I could barely reach things off the shelves, which was very annoying. Its like being in a museum of soft toys and not being able to touch them! Alas.

The light today was of a pure, clear kind, with dark blue clouds against a pure baby blue sky. It is magically at sunset, at the Inner Harbour. I can see why it is such a popular tourist stop! It is perfectly situated to catch the final rays of the sun and it sinks below a treeline dotted with condos. If you squint your eyes, so the buildings all blur together, you can almost imagine what the virgin landscape looked like, before man’s machines shaped and twisted the land. I believe I read somewhere that the native Songhees called the area something like ‘cradle harbour’, and would put a baby’s cradle in the waters as a blessing of long life or wellness. I forget the details, but if any place I have seen had a more fitting name, I cannot recollect one.

The path is very nicely paved, and relatively flat. The odd thing about that area is the sheer amount of condos surrounding you, towers of glass and steel stretching up up up to the blue ceiling. And yet, there are never any people around. The streets nearly deserted, the only sounds from boats and planes touching down on the water nearby. Its like a background hum, which you can hear over the water lapping on the shore.

It is very relaxing being by the sea. I feel certain that there really is something to that old adage about going to the ocean for your health. The minerals in the air the are beaten off the rocks, the soothing sounds of water moving, the relaxing blue-grays. Peaceful. It was very cold, but just what I needed. Really cheered me up. I haven’t been feeling well these past few days.

downtown, New years, roy, sun | 0 comment

Resolved

For sanity’s sake, I cannot consider the changing year of our Gregorian calendar of much importance. If I pause to contemplate where two-and-a-half years of my life have disappeared to, I would mentally skid to a very abrupt, and painful halt. I’d rather make a big deal of New Years when I can have my champagne (not Pellegrino) and drink it too.

The sun sets on the ferry’s in the downtown inner harbor (Parliament Building to far Left)

All in all, the first day of the second decade of the second millennium went exceptionally well. People say that the way you spend the first days of the new year reflect on how the new year will be. That is absolutely ridiculous…every day should be lived as though it is the day, wonderful and fresh and free of mistakes in the morning, yet today’s actions will be tomorrows memories and consequences.

One of my goods friends from GNS, Roy, is staying with us, which is really nice. It is strange to think of all my friends living so far away, but wonderful to have them closer, even if its only for a few weeks. It was a beautiful day, where the clouds are streaked across the sky, the sun peaking between the slits in the sky. Pristine, and refreshingly cold. I was bundled up in true Canadian spirit.


War memorial at dusk

It was nice to just be downtown. I used to explore all over our wonderful capital frequently; admiring the views, meeting friends, checking out places, and just breathing in the crisp air. The city core has a wonderful feel. If you head away from the water, the amount of tourists who wander there become less and less, and you can discover the ‘real’ city. A major part of our industry is tourism, so there is a nice, marked up district, where there is an abundance of maple-leaf emblazoned items for sale, maple syrup, and mini native totem poles.
 
We ended up for a snack a small place in China town (fondly known as ‘China Block’, and a much more accurate name).  Good food!
Another day in beautiful BC.

Festive trees in Bastion Square

skirt, sun, wheelchair | 2 Comments

This chair is too small…this chair is too big…this one’s just right!

Heat wave. Finally. Victoria only gets a few days of real, glorious, hotness a few days a year, so we cold-blooded people have to soak up as much of it as we can. Its kind of a sticky day, but for once there is no hint of a cloud in the sky, and it feels like if you laid on your back and looked up for long enough, you could see clear out of atmosphere, past the galaxy, and into some far-off distant world.

Finally…the moment of truth.

It was warm enough today for me to wear my recently finished skirt that I made in my art textiles course, with the help of Lisa, my EA. I designed the scene on the bottom, which reminds me of a place in East Sooke that I love very much. It is surprisingly comfortable, sewn out of a light linen fabric, loosely fitting enough that I could walk, but not so much that it’s unflattering. The zipper is lightly off-center at the back, but unless I had told you that, I doubt you would have noticed. I’ve very proud of it. My first skirt!

I had a wheelchair fitting today. I’m getting a new wheelchair, which I am only too excited about. The wheelchair(s) I currently use are the kind someone would use for a few months with a broken leg. 2 years is really too long to be using a wheelchair with no support that doesn’t really fit me right. I will be so wonderfully comfortable to sit in something cushy. The wheelchair has so much padding it seems ridiculous…I’ll never want to get up (just kidding, tho). The bottom part of the one I chose feels strangely like brains…its a gel cushion. I am hoping to have part of the feel pedals in a toxic green color, which from the picture in the magazine looks like a lime green. I’m very excited about this. I am exhausted from standing up a bunch to squish into a bunch of different combination’s of backs and seats. It should be here in 2 weeks or so…can’t wait to go joy-riding with it…maybe a little racing too haaa.

choir, kilts, memories, pain, rain, sun | 0 comment

Kilts, Kousins, and Kantats!

I miss the smell of wet kilts! Can you imagine missing such an awful smell! The girls used to say they smelled like owl pellets, but having never smelled them before, I cannot say for sure. They picked up the phrase after some out-week trip, and the expression sort of stuck. To me it smells kind of like if sheep had been out in the rain… Actually, my kilt is one of the acrylics, so you don’t have that ‘wet-kilt’ smell. Sitting out on the grass, running through mud puddles, climbing things…life is just one big opportunity for a mess!

All this talk of wet kilts, and today was actually the first day without rain in several weeks. My cousin, of course, was ecstatic that there was a little sun…shes been here for nearly 2 weeks, and we haven’t had a nice day at all. There was SUN, real, bright and warm (sort of) in the sky, a blue tinge to the grey clouds that suggested that there might be a sky above them.

I went to choir today. My big outing of the day…twenty-five (exhausting) minutes of singing. I love choir…it feels just like old times. It feels like I spent ALOT of time in that choir room, but I guess we just had practice very often…and all of my good friends are also in choir! I love taking back a little part of my life, one of my favorite parts, actually. Our christmas concert is soon…so excited. At least I know most of the words to those songs!

I’m pretty tired today. I feel like my brain is a little swollen, pressing painfully against my skull at the back. Or maybe I got hit with a hammer.

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