A Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful and sunny Sunday and what better way to spend it than wandering through other peoples gardens and homes, getting ideas and admiring their efforts. Yesterday was the 11th annual 'Gabriola Home and Garden Tour' which is a fund raiser for 'People for a Healthy Community on Gabriola'. Hundreds of tickets were sold and as usual it was a great success with two homes and nine gardens on display.

Thursday Night Fun

It is always fun to go to the art openings that happen in the village at Artworks and Jeremy Maude's Studio. This week we were lucky to catch two very different shows. Artworks had it's yearly objects show and this year everything was based around a pack of matches. The works ranged from jewelry to mosaics and 3D interpretations. Very interesting pieces, definitely worth catching sometime this week when you are in the village. At Jeremy Maudes Studio in the village it was opening night for the Karen Curry exhibition. Beautiful photography and large paintings of the skeletal ribs of boats on birch panels adore the walls. It was such a treat to get to view these pieces and I wish I could have brought them home with me. We are so lucky to have such talented artists on Gabriola, if you have the time this week I highly recommend you go check them out.

We Rode to Conquer Cancer!

What an amazing event to be a part of! The Conquer Cancer ride from Vancouver to Seattle was a life changing experience. The ride consisted of 1701 riders whose combined efforts raised $6.9 million for the BC Cancer Society. Waking up at 5 am on Saturday morning we prepared to leave from Guilford Center at 7:30. The ride meandered through White Rock and across the USA/ Canada border. We continued through Washington state stopping at the many pit stops that were arranged for us along the way. Lunch was provided by the amazing and supportive volunteers in a beautiful park in Lake Stevens. Continuing along to Mount Vernon, 132 km from the start, where the busy crew of volunteers had set up a tent city for the over 1700 riders and many more crew. A wonderful dinner was provided and many stories of survival and loss from cancer were shared. After a good but short night sleep we prepared to depart from Mount Vernon at 7:30 am. Day two was incredible winding through Washington State up to Lake Samish and towards our final destination, Seattle. We continued along Lake Washington to the University and the finish line. We accomplished over 260 km in 2 days and I can't wait to do it again. See you next year in Seattle! If you are interested in doing this ride or joining the volunteer crew visit www.conquercancer.ca for more information, or talk to me, I am organizing a Gabriola team for 2010.

A Day Away

A nice little day trip destination on Vancouver Island is Sidney by the sea, just outside of Victoria and about an hour and a half drive from the Gabriola Ferry. This is where the ferries from Vancouver to Victoria dock and it is a very cute little town with a main street that runs right down to the harbour. We walked around enjoying the shops and had a great lunch at the 3rd Street Cafe.

The Future is Bright

We've got some pretty good shopping on Gabriola, but it will soon be even better. The Madrona Market Place has been given the go ahead by the Islands Trust. In the early part of 2010 the first phase of this new shopping center will provide a pizza and pasta restaurant, coffee bar, retail stores and office space. This prime location at the heart of the Village was the home of the old T&T gas station. The owners and developers of this project are local residents with a vision and a great sense of design and color, our expectations are high and I doubt that we will be disappointed!

Walk On

We had the pleasure of taking the girls to the CD release show for The Kerplunks. The new CD is named Walk On and is chock full of upbeat tunes and snazzy songs that you will find yourself bopping your head to. The album is complete with voices from Gabriola's own children. The release show was packed with kids of all ages, balloon animals and of course cake. The girls had a blast and are very excited to listen to their new CD over and over and over and...
Visit their website for news, events and where to purchase their 2 CD's

Inside the Saturday Market

Although we have a good start on our veggie garden, it doesn't produce near as well as the market gardens, so a trip to the Saturday Market lets us grab a few things that we don't have, we can then browse the other vendors. Mmmmm Slow Rise Bakery bread and scones! So many stands, the soaps always attract me, and a pie for tomorrow night's guests, some plants for our pots and along the way so many friends to greet and catch up with. What a fun morning!

Local Delivery

Being a both parents work family we have to divide our time up wisely. One thing that we have done to create more time and feel good about the outcome is to start using the Spud grocery delivery service. Spud is a local Victoria company that allows you to order all your food online and have it delivered to your door weekly. We started receiving a delivery 3 weeks ago and received our 4th delivery last night. We ordered fresh pasta from Bagga Pasta in Victoria, Mount Royal Bagels also from Victoria as well as a plethora of fresh fruits and veggies which have been wonderful quality.
When you look at your statement not only does it give you the price you paid and the quantity received but it also gives you the distance traveled. Last week I managed to have my average distance that our food travel come out at 750 km, the average to a typical grocery store is 2500 km. This week didn't come from as close being that I received Turbinado sugar which had to travel a whopping 10490 km! If you are interested go to www.spud.ca and if you decide to order use this promo code CRVIC-MCMCAR to receive $25 off over your first four orders.

Tour de Gabriola

Tour de Gabriola is a fund raiser for the Gabriola Health Care Society and it is a fun way to help. With donations and a registration fee you sign in at one of the check points and then ride round our very picturesque island. For us it was both a family affair and something to do with friends. These girls are pulling two children in each of those carts and to see them ride up the brickyard hill was truly inspiring!

On the Strait Of Georgia

The past week has been a hot one on Gabriola, absolutely fabulous weather! And the best place to enjoy it is at the sea. This sandstone beach is along Berry Point Road.

Garden at my front door

For Mother's Day my husband and eldest daughter went to the local nursery and picked out some herbs to plant a nice little herb garden outside our front door. Just a couple steps away, I can now pick fresh chives, basil, rosemary, sage, thyme and mint to add flavour to our meals.