As we were leaving Tsehum Harbour , i wrote this…..

There is something to say
for this harbour feeling
boats, all sizes,all shapes,
motor and sail
going in and out,all day
Tsehum harbour is busy,
several marinas and a fuel dock,
come out into this bay
the fuel dock has constant customers,
yawls, ketches sloops, huge motor vessels,and small,
some brand new white,some a deep red and black,
vintage, all wood,
in between swim the Canada geese,
babies in tow,
turkey vultures fly over,
in search of those fresh cut fields,
the odd seal pops up its head,next to our boat.
We do long for a quiet little bay,
but this marine feeling spells freedom!!!!
Curtsy is my small island
where i can be myself,
do my chores, my beading, my writing,
write down my thoughts,
there is no life like it!!!

We left Tsehum Harbour on June 10th, after finishing all the things to be done. Bert helped Margo paint her new bathroom, and the doors and casings in the condo.
We saw all our friends, went out to the movies, out for dinner, and had a very relaxing time.
I decided to start a cleanse, food wise that is, Erin told me about it, it is called ;WHOLE30.com
basically you stop eating any dairy, any grains, no bread, no baked goodies, no wine (that is hard), no food additives, just a lot of veggies, protein in the form of eggs, meat, fish, fruit is fine, NO SUGAR!!!!!, no sugar of any kind!!! I am so used to it now , it feels, and i feel very good.
Bert eats right along but does have his bread, and dairy, telling him he cant eat any Gouda cheese is just not a possibility!!!!!
I grow Night Scented Stock on board, a small pink flower, not looking very nice at all, but the scent at night, as soon as its dark is amazing, so soft and beautiful !!
Also i grow the veggies like i do every year, peas, arugula, beets and mustard greens, they are micro greens, and i harvest them once they are about 4″ tall, the peas and the arugula grow back again!!! My large pot of basil is doing great!!
My little bonsai has never been this green, it seems to like the weather too!!!!

Never so busy as getting our sailboat ready,scrubbing,cleaning,polishing,there is no end to it. The canvas has acquired ,over the winter, a brandnew green color, pollen , dust, dirt, cleaning all the side panels, the main sail cover finally off, very embarrassing how dirty this is, it is huge, and i clean it on the dock, a few feet at the time. Slowly but surely the proper green color shows up again, three washes later, and its good as new.
Bert scrubs the deck, amazing , the dirt, we had just cleaned it…. i think….
Folding bikes go into the V-berth, huge spinnaker in its bag,extra fuel on deck, water containers filled, we carry 520 litres of diesel in the main tank, enough for the whole summer.
Bert tested the watermaker, it runs perfectly, two propane tanks filled, enough for well over four months, and then the food, the supplies, but we dont go far, there are places to shop, but i stock up on most important items, and then there is the wine, cannot forget about the wine!!!!
On June 3rd we head to Tsehum harbour, just around the corner, but we still have some jobs to do in town, friends to see, we have all the time in the world, no rush this year, and it feels great.
We get to tie to Vaughan and Rita’s buoy, its in a good spot, and very trustworthy, we take the dinghy across into their marina, and tie in front of their boat.
Margo takes us back to Brentwood Bay, to pick up the Westy, and we are all set for now.

Now i am stopping for a bit, we leave this wednesday for Tsehum harbour.
Our friend Matt, who is the manager here at the marina , has accepted another job, and is therefore leaving, so on friday we have a get together to wish him luck and say so long, after that we head out towards Pender harbour.
So stay tuned, more to come, by the way, make sure you check the blog from svtheredthread.com Their adventures continue…….

We have been back now for 2 weeks, and have been going non stop, one fine morning we looked up at the mast, and noticed that it did not have the ones nice creamy white color anymore, but a dull, dark grey……DIRT!!! up there?? so, Bert hauled out his MASTMATE, not used yet, he usually uses a seat with safety lines and a climbing device, with which he pulls himself up, this MASTMATE goes into the track of the main sail, all along are steps, offset, made of very tough webbing.
He sets himself in a harness, ties a safety line around the mast, plus another for me to control from the deck.
I also haul the bucket with hot soapy up to him on another line.
I did look nervously up once in a while, as that bucket made its way up to him….
He went all the way to the very top first, and started from there.
By this time i really made sure i was well away from the mast, first securing his safety line.
He did an incredible job, slowly the lovely creamy color of the mast showed itself again, and after 4 full buckets of hot, soapy water, he was done…..but , he had forgotten to reposition a line from the top, so back up he went again.
This was one very tired lad when he was done, but the MASTMATE worked just great, Bert felt safe and secure up there.

By the time he was done, he got his one shoe stuck in the step, but he was hanging just two feet above deck, so no great danger, i should have taken a picture but i took pity on him!!!!!

Just North of Sooke a small coffee shop is nestled in between tall trees and a wonderful garden,it is in the small town of Shirley,so hence the name “Shirley Delicious”
We stopped there on the way up , joined later by Roel and Ineke, we had some lunch , a homemade soup, and a huge choice of sandwiches, also homemade sausage rolls, and are they good!!!!
Most of the baked goodies are Gluten Free, which suited me just fine!
We chatted with one of the owners, a fellow from South Africa, i love his accent as it reminds of my daughters husband, who is also from South Africa,the owner talked some zuid afrikaans with us, we could follow it as it is close to the dutch language.
If you go up that way ,make sure you stop at this cafe, its very worth while.
Several artists display their work there, right now Elspeth McLean has her art on the walls, i liked her work but the pieces are very expensive. check her out at :www.elspethmclean.com

We took the dogs out every morning and afternoon, in the morning ,Roel and Bert would take Suki and Lucy out, they loved going with the guys, loved putting their toes in the sand!!