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Tuesday, October 21, 2014

MY NEW BLOG

Dear blog follower friends,
Now that our house in May's Garden is complete I really don't have much to add to this blog (as you have probably noticed).
But I have been busy writing and would love to share my scribblings and photographs. So I have created a new blog.
It's called "Living Well Away" and here's the link http://livingwellaway.blogspot.ca/



I hope you stay with me as I  make this transition and please send me your feedback -- good or bad.
Also feel free to share the blog with anyone you think might enjoy it.
Thanks!
Andy Vine

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Keeper?

Not a keeper!

Keeper!



This nice ling cod put up quite a fight. Twice ran off with 50 feet of line. I bowed to him once I had him on board. He's now fileted and in the freezer.

Friday, July 25, 2014

July report from May's Garden

Oh deer, looks like lunch for the turkey vultures... and there were a few hanging around where I found this carcass.

My new band saw, courtesy of my pal Brad. A great addition to my workshop.

New spuds from the garden. Mmmmm

The orchard and lawn are starting to look pretty good.

This has been a busy summer so far with family and friends visiting; building a new pump shed and demolishing the old one; gardening (of course); a couple of gigs at the Gorge Marina plus a bit of sailing. Life on the island is very sweet in the summertime!


Friday, May 9, 2014

Home again

It's Friday afternoon and I lit a fire in the wood stove to "chase the humidity" as my dear wife likes to say.
The painting over the piano is by my friend Mike Absalom. It depicts a music session in Ireland with his usual wit and vibrancy.
I've been back here now for just three days and I'm still feeling a bit tender in terms of accepting the quiet and peace of this place.
Projects keep me grounded. Today I installed a new pick up in my classical guitar. Yesterday I installed bifold doors on the bedroom closet.
Slowly I'm gearing up for the major project this year, building a new pump shed.
Meanwhile, the community beckons... organizing music for next Saturday's Seafest. Attending Friday Market and hearing a bunch of youngsters playing celtic music.  Tomorrow, a CD release party.
All this while I am still very much, in transition, from city to country. But as my friends tell me, just give it time...



Saturday, December 7, 2013

Chilling out on Cortes


Enjoying some time alone on Cortes Island where there’s enough snow to make everything very pretty. However, last night’s minus 10 Celsius played havoc with my water system and I spend most of today thawing it out. Finally, it got going about an hour ago and I was able to have a nice hot bath. Today was also the Christmas Craft Fair in Whaletown and what a lovely event it is. Lots of beautiful arts and crafts and lots of friendly faces. When I mentioned my water problems, the typical response was “welcome to Cortes”. I am definitely not alone on this one. However, it is a good reminder that I need to rebuild my pump shed so that all the pipes are properly insulated and protected. Other than the water problem, our house is very cosy and welcoming even after being empty for a month or so.  Tonight… a nice fire, a glass of wine, dinner and music.
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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

October mists and magic

 Up here on Cortes for a few days. The fog is still lingering and I took this shot on my way to do some winterizing work on Gwneth this morning.







 While fixing a leak in the roof of the trailer I realized it's a fine vantage point for a shot of the property. The black plastic in the garden was the potato patch this summer.






The small tree behind the trailer yielded this crop of apples. They reminded me of Joni Mitchell's lyric, "give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees."
I took them to our local you-brew to be made into cider.





This is the pile of wood chips from our huge pile of branches. Now they can be used for pathways etc.
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