My Dear Emily....I FINALLY understand.

Our recent move to the west coast found me in the company of my sister who helped enormously with the whole packing, driving and unpacking ordeal.  She had never been on Vancouver Island before and the one thing she wanted to do before she left for home and to her final year of her Master's degree was to go on a hike.  So we headed in to Goldstream park with my boys and our dogs to discover the forest.  Really, no words can describe the feeling of being in there.  The canopy soars hundreds of feet above and there is a sense of being in a protective cocoon; a secret and magical world completely sheltered from the hubbub of city life.  The trees are enormous!!!! Hundreds of years old.  The sound of nothing but stillness, water trickling in the creek and birds - so many birds I have never heard before!!  I stood in awe of it all, thinking "no wonder the fairies live in here...it's extraordinary...and SO peaceful."

Stone at Emily's grave honored by many who have left their drawing tools

As I walked I thought of Emily Carr and her trees - my favorite of her paintings.  And, for the first time, I GOT it.  I felt and I understood the love she had for these trees, and knew why (from the heart not the mind) she would choose to paint them.  I think it may be impossible to live here and NOT paint trees.

Stone near Emily's grave site in Ross Cemetery (Victoria, BC)

Ch-ch-ch-Changes....(OR, Never Look Back)

Ahhh.....it's been a LONG time, hasn't it?
Well, you know what "they" say about life...."it happens while you are busy making other plans."
To say my life has changed since my last post is a gross understatement! Had you said to me then that in a matter of months I would travel to Jamaica with family, complete renovations that have dragged on for years in order to sell our house, travel to Vancouver Island and purchase a new home in less than a week, manage to get to my folks' cabin for a week and a bit with family, have as many farewell parties and visits with friends as possible, sell and donate many belongings we no longer need, pack the entire remains with the help of angel friends and family, drive the lot of our possessions in 2 Uhaul trucks through Alberta and BC on to a ferry to arrive on the island, and then unpack and attempt to make sense of all of it in our new home...phew....I would have said you were absolutely nuts!! Oh, and did I mention this all happened with only 1 overnight stay in the hospital to monitor heart symptoms. Perhaps that was due to the stress.....ya' think?! So here we are now, living in a little bit of heaven on the West Coast of Canada in a place completely strange and new to us. A new adventure for our family has begun!
The (new) view from here: