Today was the Alpacas 6 month pedicure & shots

Thanks to Dave and his helper we clipped the toenails of the three alpacas and gave them their shots. They are quite a handful even for the three of us but it gets better every time. Turns out Dave's helper is an "alpaca whisperer" - they would follow him anywhere. These are the very ends of the nails with a dime. The actual nail was about three times this length and curved like a mini-shofar.

Two Extremes

Our MLA really worked the crowd, I hope his words help us get where we want to go, he certainly put a lot of energy into it. Steve Elder, as always was great on the sound system - he also knows how to relax . . . .

Country Hoe-Down Fund Raiser

A crowd of over 200 listened to country music and ate pancakes, eggs, sausage, baked beans etc. - we raised over $5000 for the clinic. The music was fantastic. Tessa worked at the pancake and baked beans station. I was supposed to be at the "Wellbeing Survey" station but ended up talking with our MLA Doug Routley and giving him a tour of the clinic. He certainly said all of the right things. He is coming back next week for the Tour de Gabriola - we will be in New York for Evan's BarMitzvah.

While we work the Alpacas play as close to us as they can get.

The alpacas like to be close to us, especially when we are weeding or taking out the long grass - they love to eat it. That's corduroy having a dust bath in what was the winter stream. The plant in the foreground is our fig tree. Its has about 6 little figs on it. The fragrance of the apple blossom is really overwhelming.

A week of working in the Garden.

Its been a lovely week. We have worked every day preparing the vegetable garden. Lots still in the greenhouse but the ground is prepared. That's garlic in the foreground and Tessa is working on the herbs. The view of the house from behind the greenhouse looks very lush

Michael has started to paint and creat word art

Michael, who usually spends more time in the house than out has started to spend all day out on the deck making word art and painting. This is very new and seems to be accompanied by him reaching out to communicate better. These are three examples that he let me see - I know that there are some really great word lists etc. but I haven't been allowed to see them yet. He used to paint in one color and they were pretty scribbley these are way more interesting.

Sustainable Gabriola Spring Fling April 24th 2010

Two of the "stilt dancers"


































Paul and Ziporah, originals from the 1960's






















The community Hall wasn't packed but a lot of people did come out to see how we can work together to make us more sustainable. The guy in the centre is George Georgiev who designed the worlds fastest bicycle. http://www.fogonazos.es/2007/06/worlds-fastest-bicycle.html

Skul's out . . .

As you can see the view from my work station was spectacular - looking out into Silva Bay. For part of the time a big wooden boat was in dry dock to the left of my station and this added to the very nautical atmosphere. The two guys contemplating boxes are Heron and Trevor who were our instructors, and very good they were. There were 9 of us in the group. Five of the group can be seen working on the technical drawing of the tote we made as a project in the second week - it was all angled at 10 degrees which made every single joint or cut very interesting. I learned a lot about sharp tools, blunt fingers, and accurate markings to say nothing of using a dozuki saw to cut to the line even if it has a ten degree angle. Two weeks of hard work, standing all day but definitely worth it. Many of my class are going on to the 3 month ships cabinetry course - I will try to drop in and visit. Still to come a picture of the tote I made.