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DAY TRIP TO VICTORIABackstory or why we went...Still in awe and inspired by what my friend Holly had done with her latest trip to Antarctica, and having handled
Kate's new book as well, a
Blurb book is now 'on the boil' at Quail Hill.
The subject?
How about our First Trip To the UK in 1987? said Mr Bear.
We have a shoebox full of photos, languishing in the dark, and o yes, boxes and boxes of SLIDES.
Did I mention boxes and boxes?
A goodly mix of carousels and those black and yellow boxes- remember those?
Now comes the ah hem 'fun' part.
How do you convert the 35mm slides to digital?
Wallyworld had a slide converter for sale and we bought it, brought it home and HATED the results.
Too grainy and poor resolution (I am leaving out the descriptive expletives that Mr Bear used when he saw the results!)
We had tried a flat bed scanner a few years back and had the same issue.
Then I went online to look for a company that would do it - sure....at $5.00 a SLIDE!
That was a no go - not when you had 250 or MORE to convert!
So back to square one.
Mr Bear is a genius (I think I may have mentioned that a few times) and it's not a light bulb that goes off, its often a lightning strike! - so the Genius had this Scathingly Brilliant Idea.
What if we put the slide up on the screen, take a picture of that with his beloved Canon XT and see what the results are?
So we did.
And he was actually pleased with the results except for one problem.
Camera shake.
Since he is shooting in such low light conditions, to manually click the camera, causes it to shake.
So, that's why we were in Victoria at Lens and Shutter getting a remote switch.
And that's why he had his beloved Rebel XT Camera with him.
With me so far?
Good.
The Cable (remote switch) was tried out in the store, then happily bought and off we went to meet my friend Dale at the local Starbucks in the Bay Centre.
This should solve the
fuzzyfoto problem. (fingers crossed)
Since it was not quite dinner time, Dale suggested we take a trip over to Munro's Books.
"Who doesn't like Munro's?" she said.
Not us.
We try to make it there every time we hit the city.
While Mr Bear and Dale were perusing the tomes,
I wandered outside to take some exterior shots of the building and then happened to look down at my feet.
O MY.
(This is one of the reasons I bless, bless, BLESS, my friend John who said, "Never leave home without your camera.")
It has become my daily mantra:,
cellphone, car keys, cash, camera!These were done by a well known local street artist who has (as Dale put it sadly) mental health issues and absolutely loves to draw Vermeer's ladies over and over again, especially the 'The Girl With The Pearl Earring'. (here drawn at another location)
Dale was somewhat surprised that she was not drawn with the others as it is his 'signature' piece.
By the time I saw these Four Ladies,
(left to right) Woman Holding a Balance and The LaceMaker,
Lady Playing Guitar In Front Of An Open Window,
and The MilkMaid,
they were disappearing, becoming transparent, ethereal, and soon would be washed away by the street cleaners or the rain.
(To compare and to give you an idea of the incredible talent this man possesses, here is the 'Lady Holding the Balance', freshly drawn)
The artist was nowhere in sight, and the poignant handprinted 'Thank You' carefully positioned between each drawing, bare of coin.
Had he been there, I would have emptied my pockets.
A Small SegueThe 3 Miracle Day We interrupt this story to put in the following short vignettes.
No, I didn't get pigeon poop on my head nor did a low flying seagull bless me- instead these Miraculous Happenings involved other people.
Miracle Number One:Before we left for Victoria, I received an email from David in the UK telling me that (and I quote) '
the Car Found Us!'Since they are going to be doing a lot of 'fitting out' with their new Narrowboat, their requirements for a vehicle were very exact:
a) Honda Aerodec
b) Automatic Transmission
c) Air Conditioning
d) Reasonably priced
e) Within 50 or so miles of where they were staying.
Nothing too outrageous you would think, right?
WRONG.
Pointing to map.
This is Britain.
A country that does not believe in Automatic Transmissions, firmly clinging to the idea that if you can't clash gears going round a roundabout, its a car not worth having.
(case in point: I have a UK friend who drove her car in first gear for MONTHS before she understood about the second gear and shifting)
Air Conditioning is for wimps.
(After all, that's what the windows are for)
And o yes, the kicker:
Honda stopped making the Aerodec in 1999.There were maybe THREE cars in the whole of the UK which fit the bill (after they waded through all the listings online) and the ones that looked a likely prospect were either gone or 'ridden hard and put away wet'.
The joyous email David sent me gave me only the bare bones ( it was found 30 miles away and was in good shape.)
Later that night, he told me, that the listing had literally 'popped up' while they were searching, and they jumped on it and contacted the dealer who agreed to hold it for them.
When they drove out to see the car, it had been very well maintained, and 'lightly used'.
Of course they grabbed it.
Miracle Number Two:
My friend John wanted to go to the UK to visit his folks and also celebrate his birthday (June 24)
His British passport had expired and due to the new paranoiac restrictions that Homeland Security has in place, there is only
One Place in the entire North American Continent that does Foreign Passport Renewal.
Guess where?
Yes indeedy, that all time
Paragon Of Perpetual Paperwork: Washington DC.So off he courired his old passport, along with big bucks, forms filled in and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
He had couriered it at the beginning of May (plenty of time he thought)
WRONG.
A constant check of the online Passport Office would tell him that 'due to some techy glitch, there were going to be delays.'
So instead of the usual 4 week turnaround, he was looking at a 6-8 week turnaround.
As he was having such a hard time (health issues besides the passport finangle), I had mailed him one of my Brighidgine seed candles.
It plopped into his mailbox and Bless Brighid, his PASSPORT arrived by courier that Very Same Day!
He won't make his birthday in the UK, but now he can get busy and book his flight.
Miracle Number Three:(saving the best for last)
Meanwhile back in Victoria with Dale:If you are following me so far (and apologies for the above segue) we were now getting hungry and dinner at the local pub sounded ideal.
Dale asked us to meet her at her condo so she could change and we would then walk over to Spnnakers pub.
So I watched Dale mount her bike and toodle off, and then we got in the car and drove over to her place.
Mr Bear had just gotten out of the car, when all colour left his face, (he literally turned white) and I heard this:
"SHIT"!! shitshitshit......
What? I asked, thinking he had locked his car keys in the car.
"I LEFT my Damn Camera at STARBUCKS!"
Dale quickly said to me, "You phone and tell them that the camera owner is on his way and see if it has been turned in."
I was sick to my stomach and could hardly dial.
Finally after an age of wading through Telus Directory Non Ass-istance, I connected with Starbucks and this sweet young thing said to me,
"
We Have it! I saw your husband leave his camera behind and I quickly raced out there to grab it and put it behind the counter!"
(We had been sitting outside the cafe
on the street!)
When Mr Bear triumphantly returned with his beloved camera in hand to Dale's condo, Dale told him that he 'now had to be extra careful as he had used up his Miracle for the Day!'
Here is a very relieved, happy and thankful Mr Bear embracing his equally happy wife on the Foreshore as we walked to the pub.
We have since sent that exemplary employee a bouquet, and Mr Bear has written to the Starbucks head office, praising her to the skies.June 22 '09 will go down in my blogger annals as the
Day of the 3 Miracles.
I suppose it doesn't hurt to mention that it was my Brighidine Flame Shift Day as well? (g)
THANK YOU BRIGHID!
Brighid's Blessings to you all -
Shanti
It's hard to believe, but on this date two years ago, we 'inked' the deal and purchased Quail Hill.
and this amazing sunflower was simply reaching for the sun with all his might.
And just so you can see what we started with, when we came to purchase Quail Hill -
2 Years Later: After the Underground Sprinkling was put in: (photo taken July 9 2009)
Blessings of Abundant Water and Beginning Harvest -
