family

I think I am going to have to split my blogs at some time. Some of my family says they skip over the guests entries and I am sure most of my guests are not too interested in what my family is doing!
Gives me something to think about!
So, exactly what is or isn't going on with Mainsail Developments on Scrub Island??? There is no activity there, I had asked Lisa to take some pictures, and it just likes like it is waiting for a hurricane to scoop it away! Inquiring minds want to know....I am sure with the rain a lot of that dirt just washed into the sea the last few days!





My very expensive lawn ornament was just painted black and the entire thing is going in a shipping crate! I hope he does not think that there is room on the boat for it. He will be renting another storage locker I am sure.



Now Bazza and I both are madly trying to check off all the other things on the list we either have to buy, complete or do before heading to the BVI! I have that feeling of dread wondering where the time has gone.
My mother (with some help from Bazza) are now onto building a table that she wants to do with seashells and seaglass etc. The back yard has now become a carpenter shop with my father and I (use then worthless in this department) running for cover. No, we do not want to help sand.

Apparently it takes a lot of arranging and rearranging where these pieces are going to go with many pictures and changes.

It even takes Bazza filing off the bottom of coral so it fits! (I know where we can get lots that does not have to be filed)

I know I have talked about our friend Geoffrey who owns Dolphin Expeditions in the Bahamas. This man has been free diving with these dolphins since his family started going to Bimini when he was a wee lad! We won't say how old he is now....

He sent on some amazing photos that Tita, his companion, has taken. She has really perfected the art of taking Dolphin pictures!

He was running a sailboat doing the dolphins charters and this season just purchased a swanky big power yacht that has accommodation for a few more guests.

If you like Dolphins we can say that Geoff and Tita do an amazing experience, and they are just off the coast of Miami in Bimini in the Bahamas. His website is Dolphin Expeditions

My Mac came back from the Apple Service yesterday, it had a few glitches and since I was going back to the islands for the winter, I figured I better give it a tune up. It also had an upgrade of RAM put in it so I can really work on the wonderful pictures I will be taking. Happy to have it back! That is it for me today.

Just received this information: Delta is increasing the number of flights to STT
One more daily roundtrip flight between St. Thomas and Atlanta. During high season, Delta currently flies one daily roundtrip between Atlanta and St. Thomas.
- Two more weekend roundtrip flights between New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and St. Thomas. During high season, there is currently one nonstop flight between JFK and St. Thomas on Saturdays.
- Adding four more weekly flights between Atlanta and St. Thomas. These flights will land on St. Thomas at night and leave for Atlanta the next morning.

Now that is really good news!

It has been a chilly weekend here in Victoria (starting to remind me of fall and why I don't even visit here in the winter!). I spent the weekend, cleaning up the Lioness and speaking nicely to her telling her that we would be leaving shortly! I even oiled all the wood and might have had a tear or two! We truly wish that we could put the Lion on top of Promenade, right over our hatch, and then we would have the best of both worlds! Bazza asked if it would fit in my suitcase!!
My mother decided that I had been sitting here doing nothing at all physical for long enough and I was going to have a heck of a time for a couple weeks moving around the yacht when we get back (she is right) so I have been forced out of my computer chair in the morning to go for walks.

Bazza is still working on his project (will it ever be done?) and has now co-opted my mother into helping! Knee pads at all. He looked at his options, between my father, mother and I and decided she was his best bet as my father and I are on about the same level mechanically wise!

I am not sure what this look is! I might have picked something other then pink to wear though! Mom always said she wanted a screwdriver instead of a pencil when she joined the air force, so now is her chance.


Another thing my parents like which I never got a gene for is gardening, flowers and picking and canning fruit. Not for this girl! Mom has been oohing and aahing saying she want a blackberry stick so she could reach the high branches without getting prickles! Bazza surprised her and made her one.

I would love to let them in on a little secret though, you can go to Safeway and buy it!

It was an occasion to get dressed up this weekend, and this is my mom and dad, my father in uniform (he pointed out that he was wearing his nice shiny shoes from when he was in the Military and they were still nice and shiny!)

The boat is on a last minute type emergency charter, which means the charter guests had to share the boat with Lisa's brother and Brents Cousin, otherwise the guests would not have had a cook or a deckhand! so it is a very busy boat this week. Had an email from Lisa saying that her new crew might just shape up just fine! I laughed, good work, put them to work Lisa and you sit back. Does one of them cook I wonder???
That's it from me today folks!

Soon to be another BVI Blogger as yesterday I purchased my tickets to come back to the BVI. July 28th is the day! It was a sad occasion, as the best deal was American, but they don't have it as easy to upgrade any more and we basically have to see the 4 points of the continent before we get to the islands! We will just leave that one alone before I depress myself and get on a soap box!
Richy, your pictures are getting fabulous! And it looks like the boat is managing to do some very nice diving this summer as well. We will just continue to pray for all the storms to stay away from us.

I have a mixed bag on my blog tonight, I have been busy the last day or so coaxing my mother and father into tagging names of long ago relatives on pictures and putting them all up on Facebook. It seems to be a great place for attempting some of these connections, as everyone can look at the pictures and fill in the names they know.
On my fathers side, it is Ukrainian, although the boundaries of where the country lines were much changed back then.

I will try and not bore you too much with this, but someone may do a search on the internet and come up with these names and places and be able to fill in more information on the old family.

This is the ship that my great grandparents and maybe more back came to Canada on. It is called the Armenia. These are my fathers grandparents on his mothers side. There was 16 children in the family I believe! Troubling to do searching as they all anglicanized their names and not to the same thing! They were all Faykes, Fakas, Feakes, you get the picture! Manitoba was the hotspot for them.
Guido (Petro) and Baba Faykes sure do look Ukrainian, although I think he is too skinny to be Ukrainian!

I believe this was the original old homestead in Gardenton, Manitoba.

This was replaced eventually, but I remember having great times at a swimming pool here in summer, and everyone would always be out there on the weekends.
On my dads fathers side, they were Hucul's, and I believe somewhere I have a copy of the papers, but my grandfather was born in Sustawala, what they called Austria then, but it was really more east of that. This is taken in the old country of my grandfather. I really don't know how they arrived in Canada, but they came to the Meadowlake Saskatchewan area.

And then for a good old fashioned Ukrainian looking wedding, my grandfather Peter Hucul, married Domka Fakas!

My father was one of two, he had an older sister called Marjorie (or Mary depending) This picture was obviously taken during the war years, and we really know much less about the Hucul side then the other side, I think there was a break way back then, but there is a lot of Hucul's out there, and some have connected with my mother and I on Facebook so we are hoping to put all the pieces together. My parents, and mother especially, have been interested in tracing the family lineage for quite a few years, and it struck me today that I could use my blog to help gather information! So, over time, that is what I will do.

Now on to other things, see not too many old pictures there! My computer screen on my MAC looked like this today. I be thinking that it is not such a good sign and I better be calling Apple before returning to the islands this month as we know they will not ship anything out of the country. At least I was smart enough to take a picture, as it only happens sometimes and you know what it is like when you take something in and they try and replicate it and can't and then shrug their shoulders at you?

My husband bought a very cheap propane tank at Costco. And then proceeded to spend $2200.00 to modify it to this!!

I think all our jaws dropped, and I am not sure that it is worth that much money as a lawn ornament! I can only assume it is very important to this project.

I was sent this picture today, with headlines screaming "wind damage from Edouardo" so I quickly opened it wondering what kind of extreme hurricane damage had been done that I had not heard about, only to see this picture. I giggled!

I think that is about I know today, it has been a semi lazy week, and I had to be convinced to get out of my pajamas to go out for dinner last night! I don't even have to do that on the boat! The only reason I think I went was because they promised me I could have a Peanut Buster Parfait afterwards (like I needed it!)

Finally found the pictures from my uneventful trip by ferry down from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. This is supposed to be a lovely view, but not when it is socked in and raining all day long! This is the best picture I took on the entire trip.

Most of the 16 hours or so, we did this...Nap, and when we weren't napping we were wiping the condensation away from the window to see something or eating!

There was a great picture in the room though of houses tumbling into the sea.

We decided to stop down in Telegraph Cove, and I took the opportunity to take some pictures

They were very pretty, on these old logging roads. I could have driven there for a week, and we promised to come back next summer when we were at the beginning of vacation instead of at the end where we just wanted to get home!



Loved seeing all the logs in the water.

And this is Telegraph Cove. Lots of sea kayakers around and it looks like it is going to be turned into an upscale little place, complete, like everything else on Vancouver Island, with condos!

We enjoy our walk around here though. Next time we will rent a boat and go out exploring for bear. (No moose on the island, sorry Bazza!)

There were lots of starfish in the water.

And this old train that was quite picturesque. Loving taking pictures. Really missed having my zoom lens which is in the shop for repair, the 18 to 70 mm is just not cutting it!

We sent Christopher home on the plane SUnday night, it was a good visit.

I don't know why I was sticking out my tongue! It was my parents 49th anniversary so we had a big night. We went to Swiss Chalet for dinner and then to see Mamma Mia, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. It was very good!

Bazzas toy, according to my mother, has lights, motors that drive blades, and a joy stick that makes it all happen. Ahhem. Her words not mine!

I have been jealous of Richies pictures lately, and cannot wait to get in the water again. I have however, been able to practice on my photoshop and aperture skills, this is the picture of the seahorse he put up last week and I played around with it. It turned out pretty good I think!

I was sent this PDF today, it is called "How to get a boat off the beach in the Bahamas" Look at it, and you will probably shake your head as much as I have and wonder about the history behind it!
How to remove a boat off a beach

Where are we going this evening? Well first I have to answer this comment I received about my pictures from up in Peace Country.
"Dear blogger,
I loved your photos. Was touched by Mennonite church. In-
teresting how German connections constantly recur in the more remote parts of Canada and the U.S.
Do you have any idea of the age, sex, and weight of that griz? Did you know that until the '30s the mighty plains grizzly was found in the Peace country.
I suppose those there now must be related; descended from those driven into outlying higher and more wooded parts, and now returning. Are they big?
I'd love to hear from you."

Thank you! Sometimes I wonder if anyone finds these pictures interesting as most people read me to find out what is going on in the British Virgin Islands and see the pretty fish there. This has been an interesting trip for me this summer to these places. All through up in that area there are "groups" of different ethnicities, they tended to stick together, ie, when they opened up these areas to homesteading, you would come over and write your family back in the old country and then they would tend to come to the same area, so they had a sense of community. After the war, many soldiers as well acquired land after being let out. There is many mennonite churches up in that area, in fact, there was an old mennonite church on my aunts property that was torn down back in 65 or so. My husband did a bit of metal detecting up on the church grounds and found a penny from 1917, and a few old brooches and buckles. When we get them cleaned up I will post a picture.
The grizzly had just come out of hibernation, I believe he was about 650 pounds, but would have been about 900 before he went into hibernation. He was not that old. He stood over 7 feet tall when he stood up!!!
We have had a busy week with my son Christopher here. We planned on taking Thursday and going up to Gabriola Island. My aunt and uncle have had a place on the water there for their trailor in the summer for 40 years. Of course we were going near water so it had to be raining! We have had the A/C on twice this summer, and I have sure enjoyed the low humidity.
This is the old dock in Nanaimo where you take the ferry over to gabriola Island. Apparently a hippy get away from it place many years ago.

We parked the Lion down by the water where we could watch the ferries go back and forth.

My aunt and uncle, it was the ones who just had their 50th anniversary that we attended in Edmonton also have an airstream there that they love and have had for many years.

Let me say that it is pouring! rain...We cuddled underneath the awning thinking it would let up, but no, so we finally had to go exploring in the rain.

Off we head to the beach, coats , umbrellas, rain hats and so on!

Bazza, always being a wuss in the cold had about three coats on!

The beach is looking cold and desolate with the tide out and the fog in....

My middle son is more ambitious then we are. She who has sat at her computer and ate is not too mountain goat at the moment!

My father took the safe route and watched us from the top of the hill. He looked like the buck in Bambi who told him "your mother can't be with us any longer son..You must learn to walk alone"

These are arbutus trees. They lose their bark instead of their leaves!

So now you are going to the seashore! And we do have beautiful seashore in Canada as well. Such a nice change to see! I love all the old logs that are up on the beach.

And all these strange rock formations. No stranger then the baths I guess!

Then we went to the tide pools to see what i could take pictures of. Bazza called this a louse, but I call it an isopod

a crab (they were all pretty tiny)

Rocks

Pretty, pretty pink and purple starfish, lots of them everywhere in the tidal pools



Apparently Gabriola was never inhabited by the Indians full time, but they did come over here to collect oysters and they sent their sick over here so they would not contaminate others in the tribe. ( I believe they claim the entire island as a sacred place now, but that seems to be about the state of all the land in BC!
They were formed millienia ago, by waves and sea and wind. The Spanish found them in 1792 and a 100 years later in the museum of Madrid a handwritten picture of them was found in an old trunk.

These are fascinating. Nice and wide and easy to walk in. I took a picture of the boys in there

and then just a couple more they are so pretty.



Picture of a Bay.

And a nice limpet

Then it was back to the airstream for some lunch that my father had made that morning.

My uncle Byrnes took us for a ride around the island to show us all the spots they have came to know and love. They have a good size marina, that apparently it is very hard to get a slip in. He has been on a waiting list for a few years.

What surprised me though was the amount of mold growning on the boats. All the sunbrella fabrics, the decks, the windowsills, (they even had moss growing out of them!) obviously a harsh environment for a boat as well. eye opener for me as I always think we have it the worst for boat maintenance down in the Caribbean!

I saw Bazza eyeing this boat and thought that maybe he was thinking that he would love that much varnish on Promenade! (Don't believe that!)

Thought of my friends the Weavers in Booth Bay Maine, as they live on the site of an old brick factory, and there was an old brick factory on gabriola Island as well. this is a short boat with a long tow (seamanship one oh one) carrying a load from the island!

If you get a chance to go here, it truly is beautiful. My uncle is talking about getting the boat out for awhile when we come back next summer!