Tofino Part 2

The second morning we were in Tofino, we hiked down to Combers Beach and walked 2+ kilometers along the foggy beach at lowest tide up to Green Point. On the beach at Green Point, there is a rock formation that is accessible only during lowest tide- because these rocks are underwater most of the time, they are a great place to find all sorts of sea creatures. Jeff's parents discovered this while camping at Green Point a few years back and made sure we got there during the narrow window of low tide when it is accessible. I think for all of us, it was one of the best parts of the trip.

Foggy morning at Green Point

Mussels and starfish exposed at low tide 

  

Tide line at low tide is still right up to the rock cropping

Green anemones, starfish and assorted arthropods and clams

Caves underneath the rocks

Walking back toward Combers Beach, still in the fog

Tofino Part 1

As I mentioned earlier, we had a wonderful family vacation last week in Tofino. Here's some of what we saw: 

Ucluelet

Wickininish Beach 

Forest hike to Schooner Cove

View of Claquot Sound from our breakfast table

Forest hike to Florencia Bay

And two sunsets (and beach campfires) at MacKenzie Beach. 

Big Adventure

After several weeks of posting about the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, I'm going to return to regular blog posting... and this post will go off in a completely different direction!

Yesterday, I went to Vancouver for an appointment and a bit of shopping.  This, in itself, is a pretty big adventure for me.  Living two blocks from the ferry terminal makes these sorts of excursions pretty easy, and now that school is finished, maybe I'll do it more often.

Yesterday, however, I had a bigger adventure than I anticipated. When I arrived in Horseshoe Bay on the ferry, there was a LONG line at the bus stop. Rather than try to fit on the packed 257 Express bus to Vancouver, I took the slower (by about 15 minutes) 250 bus (with only 4 people on it) and rambled through West Vancouver. On one street, we were stopped by more than a dozen police, fire and other important looking trucks parked on the side of the road. The reason? THIS:

I'll admit- I used the zoom on my camera to get this shot (through a momentarily open bus window), but this guy was still too close for my comfort.

He wandered out of sight and we took an alternate route, but later news reports confirmed he was succesfully tranquilized and "relocated" back to the wilderness. Phew.

Quick update

I haven't posted for a few days as I wanted to focus the last few days of my visit on my parents (Sorry for those of you who have been waiting for updates!). It was really good to take time for conversations and begin processing the enormity of what has happened in the past 30 days.  Now that we are out of the "danger zone", that processing can begin; I think it was helpful to start doing this together before I returned home.

My dad continues to do really well. I have used the phrase "really well" so many times in the past month that it feels a little trite, but it's the best I can come up with! At this point in recovery, "really well" means:

• continuing to build strength and momentum each day
• remaining relatively free of pain
• keeping his incisions infection-free
• managing his physical limitations (with gentle reminders!) 
• keeping an absolutely consistent positive attitude

There is still a lot of healing to do and after a busy day, my dad seems to need a quiet day to catch up on rest. We are assured that his recuperation has been textbook perfect and for this we are just very thankful. In the coming months, my dad will continue to work with a cardiac specialist and undergo tests to explore the full extent of the arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) that was detected after his heart attack.  For me, it is just so reassuring to know that he is in very good hands. While there is lots more healing to be done and the normal risks following heart surgery are still present, it really does seem that the worst is over. 

For those of you who know my parents, you will not be surprised to hear that they released the story of my dad's "cardiac incident" for teaching and review within the local emergency response team. It was their way to thank the volunteer First Responders who saved my dad's life and stabilized him until the paramedics arrived. In releasing this story, the company that makes the portable defibrillator (that restarted my dad's heart) heard about what happened and decided to donate another machine, in my dad's name, to the town of Waldheim where they live. So, the final chapter of this story for our family is that my dad's experience will, we hope, somehow help save the life of someone else. It certainly draws things here to a pretty amazing close. When this occurs, I'll try and post information here.

For now, however, I'll stop with daily updates on my dad and encourage those of you who know him, to email him directly.  During my last week in Saskatchewan, he began checking email again. I know that he and my mom were encouraged beyond words by the notes of support we received and are so thankful.  Feel free to drop him a note- I know he is energized by the contact and I think it's a good way to keep him away from the temptation of driving combine this harvest!

Together, my parents, Lyndon & Jenn, and Jeff and I want to thank you all from the very bottom of our hearts for your love, support, encouragement, love and prayers. I can not begin to articulate what this meant to all of us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

While I've just arrived home to BC now, I leave this post with a few parting images from the past week in Saskatchewan. 

Fresh rhubarb and saskatoon berry platz

one of the more interesting dragon flies

Farmer Unger inspecting this year's crop

wonderful cloud formations looking of my parent's front porch

day 6 of raspberry picking

our compromise to my dad's insistence that he get to pick, too!

loving fresh lettuce every day

dealing with the fifth major power outage of my visit (thanks to some crazy electrical storms)

prairie sunset

Still here

After a 6 week blogging hiatus, I wanted to check back in and share some of our adventures.

In the past 6 weeks we have:

driven down the Florida Keys

trekked through the the Everglades

enjoyed a relaxing boat ride

explored the Eastern Caribbean

and seen some of the best sunsets we have ever seen. After returning home from vacation, we ushered in spring,

and celebrated Easter with several egg hunts- including this one that left Jeff searching for a Lindt chocolate bunny in the living room for several hours (look up at the ceiling fan!)

We puttered away at our bathroom renovation (photos coming soon) and tried maintain some of the relaxed pace of vacation as we returned to the rhythm of school, work, business trips and.... life.

I am now back at Royal Roads University in Victoria for 3 weeks, completing the second residency term of my master's degree. It has been another very busy (and tiring and brain-overloaded!) stint on campus but the weather has been glorious and I have made it a priority to make it outside more than last year.

Italian Gardens beside Hatley Castle

Garden angel

Giant poppies beside Hatley Castle

Italian Gardens

Some of the wildlife

Japanese Garden

Japanese garden

All of these adventures probably require more words and images to do them justice... and I'll do my best when I get back home. Once I get my thesis proposal submitted at the end of June, I'll be back here on a more regular basis.