Thur Aug 17 & Fri Aug 18: Storm Days in Blind River

Well, that was a terrible night - although we have had worse. The wind was fierce, and from the south, so it pushed all the water of the North Channel in our direction (Blind River sits on the north shore), with the result that big rollers came at us, even with the break-water wall in front of us. All the boats in the marina were like bucking broncos in a washing machine.  However, only two boats had people living on them. It's hard to sleep when your bed rolls from side to side...

But tea/donuts revived me AND I had somewhere to go. For the whole day.  That was NOT the rocking boat!  The library, you are thinking....   And that was Plan B.  But when we got to the marina yesterday we saw a notice for a basket making class - and, after dithering as is our initial reaction to anything, I signed up! My hesitation was the length. 10am-5pm is a long time for my brain to focus on one thing, but it turned out to be the ideal way of learning something new, with the additional benefit of NOT BEING ON THE BRONCO.

It was SO much fun!  I'm going to make you look at LOTS of basket photos, as that is basically all that happened Thurs.  And, yes, I do realize that 'I did basket weaving in Blind River' sounds like the beginning of a joke ...

Instructor Jackie. We were (supposedly) going to make a berry basket like the one on the far left of the table.

Yes - I, too, felt that such a beginning did not bode well.

Huh - somehow a bottom took shape, and the thin reed around the outer edge makes it look great, and supports it.

Wow - maybe I WILL quit my day job!

I love it SO MUCH!

I will never put berries in it - I will put it on a pedestal and have artistic lighting shine on it. Once in a while I'll have the Hallelujah Chorus play in the background!

Picture for Betty-Mom.

The class - the ladies were so generous in including me in their local gossip, and they all had ADORABLE Canadian accents, eh.

Meanwhile, back at the boat, Rick cleaned the bilge, caulked the sink, did laundry, bounced around, watched a metric-butt ton of rain fall, and kept the boat tied safely in the howling wind.  I suspect my day was more fun.

Fortunately Thurs evening was calm, and we had a good night's sleep. Friday the wind switched direction so, while it was still howling, we were comfortable on the dock. We worked on our route, now that the timing of the next two weeks is clear.  We finished a fun audio book: A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales. It’s a mashup of Jane Austin, Agatha Christie and satire!

In the afternoon the sun came out, the wind went down and we went out for a long walk thought First Nation territory on hiking trails that are x-country trails in the winter.

Notice the English, French and First Nation translations. The Mississagua people are branch of the Ojibwa Nation, one of the largest native groups in Canada.

X-country ski art!  That’s a niche market…

In the evening some new Loopers showed up, very sorry they had been on the water Fri-even after the wind dies down waves stay riled up for 24+ hours. We invited them to Nevadatude for docktails and commiseration.

Guess where they’re from!

We are ready to hit the road again tomorrow….