Salt Spring Island, BC                                                    Sept. 30, 2016

The highlight of my trip

The highlight of my trip was visiting my sister Ann and her husband Geoff.  Salt Spring Island is just a short ferry ride from Victoria on the southern end of Vancouver Island.  We communicate by email and phone but visits are rare and are to be treasured!

So here they are:  Ann, Geoff, and Peco – a rescued dog, an immigrant from Mexico!  Peco has energy!

It’s easy to get more than 20,000 steps each and every day walking Peco.  Geoff sometimes gets 30,000 steps!  And by the way – Salt Spring Island is hilly.  Whew!

Here is the 4:30 neighborhood gathering.  Friends and dogs!  A nice life for everyone.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to live in this house.  They bought the house about 20 years ago, renting out the finished upstairs and living downstairs when they visited.  Over the years they added and modernized and updated the downstairs.  Last year they retired, sold the house in Bend and moved to the Island full time.  They still live in about 650 sq. ft. downstairs and guests get the entire upstairs – about the same size.

Bright!  Lots of plants.

Very comfortable living room.  Kitchen is to our right, a sunny sitting room to our left.

My chair across from them when I visited downstairs.

Sitting room and living room makes for comfy reading.

It’s not accurate to say they live in that small house.  Here is one of two storage buildings – this one for their toys.  Boats, bicycles, and so on.

Here is my upstairs and deck.  Well – I told them it was mine.  That I planned to move in if Trump won.  They politely said, “NO!”  They did explain they had 400 friends ahead of me and I’d have to wait my turn.  Damn!

Here is my kitchen.

This was my morning view.

To give you an idea of scale – you can barely see the very large morning car ferry center left.

Ann and Geoff are eco-activists.  They have solar panels for both electricity and hot water.

Their water supply is 100% rainwater.  They run a complete water filtration system, with no need for chlorination.  It’s a real professional operation.

When I showered, a value recycled the initially cold water; once it was warm enough I turned the value partially visible behind the showerhead and enjoyed my shower.

The car on the left is a fully electric smart car; the car on the right is their old hybrid which they used to cart me around!

Full vegetarians – the farmers market is a major food source.

Breakfast was a treat – select your grains, add raisins and fresh strawberries.  Then yogurt and almond milk!  A necessity after a hilly 3 mile doggy walk!

This picture just demonstrates that they are sooooo much more colorful than I am!

See!

Another highlight is the kayak trip.  My first time in a boat in three years – I’m going to buy myself a new kayak in the spring!

They are experts in both kayak and bicycle camping.  Their honeymoon was an 8 month bike adventure!

Salt Spring Island is also a incredibly beautiful place.  That will be for my next post …