Last night,March 9th and today ,march 10th,we are bombarded with quite the storm, the Northern parts of the island, and the sunshine coast, have many power outages, plus there is a very high tide this morning, i took some photos of the charts on passage weather, the one storm, from last night and early this morning, has hurricane force winds and is located in Juan De Fuca strait, not far from here.   Our stove blew out, then came back on with a loud bang, it has a fan underneath, which i then turned on, it helps , but once we went to bed , i turned it off , i wont sleep when its blowing, i lie there , listening to the stove, and everything else for that matter, Bert sleeps very well, i guess he knows i will be alert!!!!!    Being first mate is a tough job!!!

chart from passageweather, the storm is just hanging around in front of Juan de Fuca strait.

This is what it has looked like , the last few weeks, constant turmoil out there, in the Pacific ocean.

All the trees in Victoria and in Sidney are full of blossoms, i love the soft pinks, the whites, plum and cherry trees, it only lasts so long, and right now we are having another storm, tons of rain, high wind, it is so hard on them, the Japanese cherry trees are not out yet, so hopefully by that time the weather will be warmer again, with not so much rain.     My little bonsai is showing its leaves, very carefully i might say, but i keep it in the cockpit as soon as the weather gets too wild. Over at Vanisle marina, the Magnolia is blooming!!       Beautiful white blossoms, wrapped in soft ,protective petals.    I love this time of year, it is healing, a new beginning, the greens are so vivid, so bright, it feels sometimes just like it is all too much to take in, all this beauty, so overwhelming.      I visited the marigold nursery, where an old , black and white kitty followed me all over the place, i took photos of the colors, of the variety, the primulas are hard to resist, i do have some on the boat already…..

White MAGNOLIA, The buds protected by soft, fur like petals.

Such vibrant colors, every year again, i want to buy them all!!!

The view out of the galley porthole on a sunny day.

The view on a very rainy day.

Because of the diet i follow, check it out if you like: http://www.whole30.com       i have to be very careful what kind of goodies i munch on, i am usually always hungry, so it takes all my will power to NOT grab some “bad” stuff.     I can have almonds, i roast them myself, dried fruit without sulphites, but now i have found the most incredibly snack, Bert and i fight over the last pieces, so, here is the recipe, and a photo of what they look like.

PRIMAL FUDGE

1/2 CUP ORGANIC, COLD PRESSED COCONUT OIL, MELTED

1/2 CUP DUTCH PROCESSED COCOA POWDER.

1/2 CUP ALMOND BUTTER

2 TBSP. OF HONEY    THE RECIPE ASKS FOR MORE, BUT YOU DONT WANT IT THAT SWEET.

1/2 TSP.VANILLA    FROM MEXICO……IF YOU HAVE IT..

1/3 CUP OF ORGANIC UNSWEETENED COCONUT

Melt the oil, put all ingredients in a bowl, stir very well till blended, try not to taste……    you will lick the whole bowl clean, pour carefully , with small ladle into little muffin cup papers.     Chill in fridge, before chilling, you can also add an almond or two.

Primal fudge, the best snack ever!!!!!

After everything was done top side, Bert cut up new insulation, to glue into all the small spaces, we did wait for a few days, during heavy rain, if all the leaks were gone.    It all looked good!!

The insulation Bert uses.

Measuring and measuring again.

It is such a hard spot to work , hard on the neck muscles!!!

We arrived home to a nice, dry, clean Curtsy, everything looked good, nothing had leaked or was blown off with the high winds they had here while we were gone.    We did know though , that we had to replace the hot water heater in the engine room, it had sprung a leak the day before we left, it was 5 years old so that’s not too bad……apparently…….The tank is stainless steel, but the inside is not, it cracked on one of the corners, and the water nicely ran into a bowl, as if it was put there just in case….

Bert installed a new tank, and we are good to go.      Then, on a very , very rainy night, i heard a unfamiliar drip…… sure enough, there was a leak in the main cabin, alongside  one of the vents.    We had trouble there before , but Bert thought he had fixed it.     It leaked hard!!!!!       To this day i think it is a small miracle that it didnt leak while we were gone, not a single drop on the floor!!     (its carpet, so i would know).      While i was gone grocery shopping, Bert took the whole ceiling apart, and the floors, and everything else that was in the way, he then could trace the water as to where it was coming from.      Several tracks run in the area of the leak, so he proceeded to take everything off, clean, and reseal, with caulking.     let me show you what things looked like inside.

What you see here is the deck, Bert took off all the old insulation.

My hard working Ship wright.

This is good, one of the first things i read, once i was back home!!

GIVING :DO THINGS FOR OTHERS.

RELATING:CONNECT WITH PEOPLE

EXERSIZING :TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY

APPRECIATING :NOTICE THE WORLD AROUND YOU

TRYING OUT : KEEP LEARNING NEW THINGS

DIRECTION :HAVE GOALS TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

RESILIENCE : FIND WAYS TO BOUNCE BACK.

EMOTION :TAKE A POSITIVE APPROACH

ACCEPTANCE : BE COMFORTABLE WITH WHO YOU ARE.

MEANING :BE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER.

by DR. Mercola.

The battery ran out,in my camera…..yes, i have a charger, no, i didnt think i had brought it with me, because usually the battery is good for well over a month, not counting using the telephoto lens, which uses a motor, which uses a huge amount of power, and, well, yes, later on i did find the charger,but not till i was home, well tucked away in the Westy, lovely!!!     Even in such a small RV, things are still hard to find!!!!

So, just a bit of writing now then, we headed to the 101, and found that they had lots of problems here too, because of the severe rain, sink holes!!     In some places, the highway kind of disappeared, i think for almost 4 or more feet, so we drove through lots of D-tours.In Brookings, Oregon, we found a very nice RV place, clean, with excellent laundry facility, plus the lady at the desk, after looking outside as to what we were driving, had great pity for us and put us in a lovely , private spot, she could not possibly imagine, anyone person or two, sleeping in such a little RV, and i cooked in there too you say???   she said with total horror on her face!!!!     Too funny, but most Americans drive in huge motor homes, and take everything with them from home that they might possibly need…..

On monday , Feb.8, we stayed in Bruce Port County park, we even found it in the dark!!!We were surrounded by huge Sitkas, definitely coming back here.    We then headed to Port Townsend, just love that town, with its beautiful , old waterfront, and harbors full of wooden ships. We camped right in down town, at the water, expensive but fun!    Then, the next day, homeward bound, to the Peace Arch and the Tsawwassen ferry to Schwarz bay.

So far we drove 6722 km, the speedometer showed 192646km

It was quite the trip, we thank you , Roel and Ineke , we had tons of fun with you two!!! we thank you Americans and Mexicans, we found everyone courteous, and helpful, we never did see one accident, really amazing i think, as soon as we were on the road on the island, we were rudely cutoff by another driver, so figure!!!    Home again!!!!!

Close to Willow creek, we arrived at the Six rivers lookout, the road winds around the rock cliffs while the Trinity disappears down below, at one point, we pulled over and saw , way down below, these beautiful rivers, six of them, all coming together, they are the EEL RIVER, the VAN DUZEN RIVER, the KLAMATH RIVER ,the TRINITY RIVER ,the MAD RIVER and the SMITH RIVER.  The national forest is truly beautiful, it contains over one million acres, and over 137.000 acres of old growth forest.     Needless to say, this area draws a lot of people, camping, fishing hiking, and white water rafting are among the attractions here.  I can see why…..The old growth forests include Coast Douglas Fir, Tanoak,Pacific Madrone and White Fir.

Looking down at the Trinity river.