New Year, New TV?

New Year, New TV?, a photo by sketchalina on Flickr.

Every relationship involves a little give and take. There's ours in the text on the tv screen (see below). The painting on the left is of Rufus Wainright. We bought it at an auction at a PAG fundraiser a few years ago. I still love it.

Text says: What happens when your man agrees to buy a house he's never stepped foot in, based only on you telling him you love it?  I now know. You find yourself standing in an endless lineup at Best Buy on Boxing Day, despite your aversion to TVs in the living room, cheering him on as he drags over the largest screen imaginable, complete with blue ray surround sound. Five minutes into watching BBC's 'Planet Earth' on our new setpup, I too wondered how we ever got along without it.

New Year, New Home

New Year, New Home, a photo by sketchalina on Flickr.

We rang in the new year last night in the dining room of our beautiful new home. We've lived here just over a week, and by sheer force of will (my specialty) we're all settled in. This dining room is one of the features I first fell in love with. Last night, with it full of good friends, good food and a glow of candle light, all the stress and strain of making this happen seemed suddenly worth it. Yogi is settling in nicely. He virtually disappears when he lays down on these 'Yogi' coloured shag rugs. All our furniture, including this big ol' pine table I've lugged around for over a decade, fit like a glove. As does this new chandelier we got at Briers. Yep, getting tucked in here just in time for Christmas is about the best Christmas present a girl could ask for. The house is full of cool little details; enough to fill at least one sketchbook. More to come!

Skagway, White Pass, and some Scrabble

Woke up in Skagway surrounded by cruise ships.  It's been so stormy here, there was actually one more ship that was supposed to come in, but it wouldn't risk it.  I'm glad we came.  Mom and I spent the morning lounging on the ship (hence the sketch), then we went in and boarded the White Pass Rail.  It's a rail line that was built during the Klondike Gold Rush, taking miners up a really treacherous pass.  You see bits of the original footpath that the rail replaced, and there are trestle bridges and some of the most beautiful terrain imaginable.  We cut back into Northern BC part way through the trip, into an area where you can see rain forest, boreal forest and subarctic land pretty much all at once.  There were some beautiful lakes up there.  Fish don't live in them naturally, since they sit on top of an impenetrable granite bed and freeze completely in winter, but they get stocked in the spring so the workers up here have somewhere to fish.  I'm sure the bears appreciate that as well.  We stopped at a suspensions bridge and had a big bowl of Bison Chili.  I should have asked the server "Is this wild bison?  I won't eat farmed bison" ;-).

We got back to the ship, had a little rest (I love cruise ship naps!), and let our ongoing battle of several decades continue.  Greg would tease me, anytime he saw me playing with the Scrabble ap on my iPhone, he'd say "Practicing up for your trip with your Mom?".  Which, of course, I was.  This wasn't our best game now that I look at it; a board full of 3-5 letter words.  We're usually pretty good.  We must be tired from all the excursions.  Or dulled by cruise ship gluttony.

Alaska Sketchbook Pages

The first few pages of my Alaska Sketchbook. More to come!

Back From Alaska!

What a great week.  My mom and I are just back from a one week cruise to Alaska.  It poured rain the whole time, and we rocked and rolled in 100 mph winds.  We loved every minute of it!  I'll post the whole sketchbook over the next while.  Forgive any wobbly lines.  It was a rodeo ride out there.

This trip was a total gift.  Greg was invited to Alaska on a fishing trip last May with his good buddy Ken.  He didn't want me to feel left out (what a guy), so he suggested we get my mom this cruise as a birthday gift and I go with her.  So, I ended up with the trip AND a freezer full of halibut.  Not a bad deal.

It's been almost exactly a year since my dad's been gone.  It was definitely time for mom and I to go have some fun.  We played endless scrabble games in our cabin, met lots of interesting people, and did some fun shore excursions.  More details to come!

Tragedy on the Sea Wall

Inspired by Cyberdave's Vancouver Sketches, I headed to the Seawall a few days ago to sketch.  Yogi and I have been running along this route every morning lately.  It's absolutely stunning, littered with great sketching spots.

The day after I sketched this, we headed out for our run.  7am.  We had the seawall almost to ourselves to ourselves.  I saw a paddle boarder drifting along slowly, fairly close to the wall. Then I noticed a Coast Guard vessel, also drifting slowly in toward the wall.  As the two of them converged on a point, my consciousness snapped into focus and I realized what I was looking at.  The paddler had spotted a body, and was leading the Coast Guard ship in for pick up.  Yogi and I stood.  It felt dismissive to turn our backs and walk away, and wrong to stand and stare.  We drifted awkwardly together with the couple of other people on the wall, all of us holding our hearts and shaking our heads as a woman was pulled up onto the boat.  Nothing has appeared in the news.  So sad.  I'm carrying a thought for her, whoever she was, with me today.

Lap Dog?

Dear Yogi,
No, this still doesn't make you a lap dog.  Besides, I know you can't even read, let alone use a keyboard.
But you're cute.
Love Mom