Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Blustery, blustery days


 So we've been having quite a bit of interesting weather the past few weeks. Last weekend was, apparently, just the first in a series of winter storms we can expect between now and, oh, June. The earthquake two weeks ago did very little damage, all in all, but this wind definitely left its mark.

These waves, despite looking rather picturesque, were about 8 feet high.

And now there's plastic awning all over our lawn.

This was a hearbreaker. I loved this tree!

Greenhouse will be needing some attention...

The front gate blew off it's hinges and now lives in the garage.

This is our bar, Howler's. It's not extremely well ventilated.


Before you, the RCMP parking lot. To the right, Howler's roof. To the left, the pole that slowed its progress.

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Winter

And thus, with barely a hint of fall leaves, winter has arrived in Haida Gwaii. My roommate L and I harvested our (mostly still green) tomatoes, bell peppers, plums and potatoes today, stuck all the herbs in the greenhouse, stacked a cord of wood in our garage and split a ton of kindling. Our house is freezing but the fire is starting to roar and hopefully we'll be warming up (and shedding some layers) soon. We're all officially obeying the speed limits again as there's ice and frost on all the roads and the sanding trucks have started making the rounds. There's snow on the mountains and a serious chill in the air.

Oh, and I may have whooping cough.

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Summer 2012 in Pictures

Bike trip from Charlotte to Port Clements!
Bought a wetsuit.

Canoe trip in Jaskatla Inlet

Urchin. I ate this one :)

All these rocks are from the same teeeeny island.

Our canoe, complete with all the waterproof clothing a girl could ask for.
$39.99/lb?? We pick these by the greedy, greedy handfull.
This is Johnny. Short for John. Short for John Snow. She's rad.
To be clear, the green ear is from her ID tattoo.
Solo car camping in Grey Bay. I love my truck :)
Roommate L and I went down to SKung Gwaii and Rose Harbour.

Rose Harbour. Such a cool spot.

Friday, 14 September 2012

The Two Most Important Days of Your Life...

... are the day you're born and the day you find out why.

It's been so long since my last update that I don't even think I can apologize for not updating for so long. It's quarter after three on a Friday and I'm in that exhausted, end-of-my-rope, super honest place that usually means the very last thing you should do is write a public blog post. But here I am.

I've reached an interesting conundrum. Since we talked last I've landed what I might describe as a dream job for me (not 'the' dream job, no such thing, but 'a' dream job for sure), working in community health and wellness, on the ground, in the trenches (kind of ), doing things and making change and transforming whatever I can transform up here. I've been doing this job for a month and half now and every day I see more and more of how much work there is to do here and how much I want to do that work. Ironically, and here's where the conundrum comes in, I've also been working on a medical school application that I've been focusing on, for the past year or so, as the path to 'what I want to do with my life.' But now I'm faced with the idea of leaving Haida Gwaii for six years to do the work I want to do, despite the fact that the work I want to do is here, now. It leaves me unsure how to proceed.

In other news, I spent the summer crabbing, fishing, learning to shoot guns, driving standard, going surfing, picking wild berries and making way too much jam, camping, paddling, falling in love, growing food, building my home and my life, and just generally continuing in this breath-taking and unexpected transformation of myself. I think it's pretty much safe to say that every assumption I've ever made, every paradigm I've ever believed in, every belief I've ever held and every truth I've ever known has been changed in some way over the past nine months.

Monday, 11 June 2012

Successes of Today

Today I joined the ambulance service.
Tomorrow: volunteer fire department.
I'm learning to spin fire poi. And getting certified as a Wilderness First Responder.
I've been camping up a storm, covered in bites from Haida Gwaii's charming collection of black flies, mosquitoes and no-see-ems.
And soon I will have a phone that treats all Canadian numbers as local. Meaning I can actually call you, whomever you are, and we can catch up!
Love,
Cait

Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Sniffle sniffle

Accomplishments of this week:

1. Split an piping hot Americano all over my forearms. Was laughed at by the President of the Council of the Haida Nation. But in a nice way.

2. Got a stupid cold, called in sick to work and then went to a going away party for a friend. That was at my work. Thankfully coughed like a plague victim all through lunch, thus proving actually had cold.

3. Made 8 loaves of bread. I'm a bread-making machine. All were cooked for 30 minutes at 400 degrees; risk of transferring cold to loved ones via bread: nill.

4. Hiked the Pesuta for the third time and found my first agate! So exciting. Only to me, but still. Also, subsequently found second, third and fourth agates on same trail.

Sorry about the lack of pictures lately friends but the good news is my lovely roommate L and temporary roommate C and I are going camping and exploring on Moresby Island this weekend so I ought to have something more visually stimulating soon!