Stop time at Salt Spring Cottage Resort

I discovered a new find for me on the island. It's called Cottage Resort and it's about a 7 minute drive from Ganges to its location on the South end of St. Mary's Lake. For the past eight years, the nine cottages on the property  - Morning Glory, Snapdragon, Forget-Me-Not, Sunflower, Foxglove, Tiger Lily, Holllyhock, Gary Rose -  have been owned by Randy and Cathie Cunningham. She was an RN who moved into a variety of alternative healing modalities such as cranial sacral massage. He worked in international shipping before they took over the property. I met Cathie when she was looking at my photographs at the market and invited me to drop by to see the property.

 These immaculately maintained cottages lend a romantic air and are perfect for an individual looking to do a retreat (especially in the winter) or for family reunions, special workshops perhaps even a gathering for a small wedding. In total, the property can sleep about 35 people. During the off season, the peace of the location makes it perfect for knitters on retreat, writers, artists or anyone with a need to get away from it all while enjoying a comfy space. The perfect place to remind yourself that life's complexity doesn't have to be what runs yours days. I love the view (above) out this window at the Arbutus tree angling its way to the sky.

There are all sorts of tiny, old fashioned windows on the cottages that let the light stream through to make the rooms even more enchanting.

This cute little one bedroom is called Gary Rose. 

Hollyhock and Honeysuckle sleep 8

Time for breakfast? 

The view from the dock.

The beach house down by the small beach.

Loved the way these oars looked up in the beach house rafters

You have to spend time inside the cottages to notice the small touches.

Don't forget to visit the chickens.

Cathie is working on designing a labyrinth that are meant to be walked at times of transition.

Or you could just choose to sit by the shore with a good book.

On Thanksgiving Friday, the guests were just beginning to arrive. Families waiting for other members to descend from around the province and carloads full of books, board games and turkey, of course.

This place makes me happy.

'Numbers, dreams and the fog'

I started to read Brian Brett's book, Trauma Farm, A Rebel History of Rural Life, and on page seven I was struck by a sentence that read..."History, real history needs to run with all of it  - numbers, dreams and the fog."

When I read that sentence, I stopped. I read it again. I mulled it over. 

Earlier in the day I had returned from a visit with "the ninja healer" and I had been sharing with him the fact that I'm approaching a milestone birthday and how when your life has not fit into the box because you haven't been married, you haven't had children, and you really haven't accumulated much of anything except experiences, some good friends and insights then approaching 50 can be really thought-provoking and not in a fantastic way.

 "History, real history needs to run with all of it...numbers, dreams and the fog."

 In his usual insightful manner he just said to me that I needed to go into and accept every thing about myself and every experience I've ever had. Accept. Look upon them with curiosity.  Be kind to yourself. Try to approach every issue with a "playful spirit", not judging, just wondering why, wondering about options, remaining curious and playful in your approach not blaming, feeling guilty or judging. 

I recently watched the new version of the new release of Karate Kid and I feel like this person is my Jackie Chan. He's my spiritual master and just the act of speaking with him and being in his presence allows me to remain on track, much more focused, as if for the first time in my life the word "discpline" has a positive meaning or any meaning at all. Having "discipline" is really about commitment to oneself and one's goals. A form of self love. Deprivation has nothing to do with discpline.

Now, that's not exactly an earthshattering way of thinking that I've never heard before but something about the way he has of knowing what to say to address current fears makes them seem so irrelevant, manageable, conquerable. Almost silly and obscure.

He's not a counsellor. I don't think of him that way.  I don't want a counsellor. Everything I need is inside of me and I have learned that well. He's trained in Capoeira and Qi Gong and has had a spiritual practice for a long time. We talk about spiritual matters in a way that helps me stay on a path that I need to get serious about; a path that won't allow me to make any more excuses for goals not achieved.  It's fantastic. I feel he could make a lot of money doing what he does with me and turn it into his life's work.

I recently signed up for an online workshop by The Renegade Writer and she sent us an audio of a talk by another writer Sage Cohen whose book, The Productive Writer, I've been reading. This books is all about getting serious. Staying on track. Systems and processes for doing, not dreaming. No time to waste.

So regardless of where you're at in your life, and what has or has not happened, ugly words you've spoken, beautiful words you've not heard enough, places you have or haven't seen, just remind yourself, You're still here! There's probably a reason for that. Embrace the beauty of the uniqueness of your path- the good, the bad and the ugly (judgements that you can choose to let go of right now).

Embrace every challenge you have overcome and every hope for a dream that you have yet to make true. Accept and forgive every person and situation you have ever encountered who has made you who you are today - uniquely you and undoubtedly wiser.

Embrace your own history, accept it, so most importantly, you can move forward lightly: "numbers, dreams and the fog..."

Is Santa a Volunteer Firefighter?

Like Santa’s elves I got up really early one morning last week – 4:45 am – because I had thoughts of what I needed to get done and I couldn't sleep.  Now, that's truly ridiculous because I don’t host a big family dinner and I don’t have cute little sugar plum kiddies to please beyond their wildest dreams. All I really have to do is enjoy myself and other people's company.

At no other time of year than Christmas am I more thankful for the fact that I do not have traditional female responsibilities. The average wife/mom/maid probably puts in a 200 hour week as a result of Christmas instead of her regular 90-100 hours.  Welcome to “The Holiday Season” ladies!

Salt Spring, like everywhere, begins to whip itself into a frenzy around December 17^th.

The firemen decorate the No. 1 fire hall in the middle of Ganges. It's a really old place with a bell tower similar to the one in that Steve Martin movie, Roxanne, that was filmed in Nelson, B.C.   I’ve overheard in passing, "What else do those firemen have to do  except buy shiny new equipment?  You better just hope Santa doesn't set your chimney on fire with that comment. Following that (flawed?) line of thinking, I guess they have loads of time to decorate as well. And, so they do.

They hang Santa’s bottom half out of their bell tower (above) which makes it look as if he’s about to dive into it, backwards. They decorate with wooden cutouts of sheep instead of reindeer (afterall this is Salt Spring). They blast Christmas songs too loudly in the 12 days leading up to the big day so no matter where you are in their vicinity it's impossible to forget the time of year.

Parking, just like in “The Big Smoke," becomes impossible to find. Everyone floods into Ganges village to do their shopping. The line-up at the post office (because there are only 2 post offices on the island) grew to 45 minutes the other day. Someone tweeted it on Twitter. Someone else at the back of the line was offering a home made roast beef dinner to trade places with the person at the front.

The local grocery stores are packed. Once you've lived here a while, doing shopping is a marathon event given the number of people you end up seeing to say Hi to or chat with. In Ganges, add on at least 20 minutes to every shopping visit as a result of social chit chat.  Yesterday I ran into Harry Burton, Apple King, and he said something that I thought was really true. "Well, at least on  Salt Spring," he said, "you can go to the thrift store, buy someone a present and they'll still really like it." And, that's true. In fact, I'd probably like it more! We love our thrift stores because they have cool stuff at absolutely the right price.

The other place with massive line-ups, of course, is the food bank. Yes, Salt Spring, like everywhere, has a food bank. There are some heart-wrenching realities and the closer the big day gets it’s as if every day is a full moon. (And, this year, that's almost a fact!)

I’m trying to maintain my own questionable sanity by going to deep water Aquafit at the pool twice a week. The fact that I can float without a belt in the deep end is a little worrying. This is, afterall, pre-shortbread, pre-eggnog, pre-Nanaimo bar, pre-Baileys in coffee, pre-turkey, pre-gorge fest.  Plant the sprouts for the New Year's crash diet.

There are a million concerts, sing-a-longs, and what else? Craft sales. Turns out you CAN have too much of a good thing. I’m beginning to think about crafts in the same way I think about IKEA merchandise. Just as I have never been able to figure out how it's possible to need an infinite supply of bathmats in a single lifetime from IKEA, I'm not sure why some people have a black hole of an inbox for jewellery, candles, and art work but thankfully, for Gulf Islands craftspeople (including me) they just seem to.

So, that's it.  I'm off to Vancouver. That ferry better be workin! 

Stay in the moment. Stay safe. Stay alive.  Find the beauty wherever you can. Chill!