beaver tail.

I forgot what salt tastes like on my lips, or the way it coats locks of my hair, and settles on my skin.  The feeling of the sun taking up the water, warming your skin, but the salt remaining. Diving into the cool Atlantic, it hit me that it had been over a year that I've swam in ocean water.  You don't realize the difference between the fresh water of streams and lakes until you are dealing with the salt sting around your eyes, and the small salty tastes you get from diving under.  I didn't realize how much I had missed it.

From my travels, this day was definitely the dreamiest.  My old friend from Rhode Island and I met up, and took a true vacation day -  going to diner breakfast, and spending a long day on the rocky, cliffy coastline.  He taught me how to use a medium format camera, and I finally got a better understanding on how to use a rangefinder.  It was a photo excursion of sorts, and I'm excited to see how those shots turned out.

 

There's something about those rocky New England beaches that warms me up and makes me feel like I am home.

already reminiscing: salt spring island

Just 10 more hours of traveling and I'll be back in Vermont - it's so crazy to think.  I dipped down to Cleveland, Ohio to visit a friend from school and it's all starting to become real.  In just a week's time I'll be back, attending classes, receiving formal baking training, and spending as much time as I can dealing with the heat at swimming holes and waterfalls.

 And then, just 3 weeks ago I was here - on Salt Spring Island!  It was a beautiful day - waking up early on Saturday morning and biking over to Sophie's home (unfortunately, she, our crucial member, was sick) to be met with coffee waiting in a thermos in Adam's old Volkswagen Cabriolet.  I've never considered getting a different car until riding in this one. Riding around the island, wind blowing in our hair and drinking coffee, with the B-52's and the Life Aquatic music as a our soundtrack, it was so fun.

... stopping along the way at True Grain bakery in Cowichan Bay - amazing crusty breads using natural starters!

At the local Salt Spring Island market (where I picked up many things for this giveaway) we gathered cheese and hot pepper jelly, took them to a park, and shared them on our True Grain rye bread, right next to the ocean.

...and dorky photos were taken of me.

Ahh British Columbia, I'm already nostalgic, I'm doomed.

Also, for good measure: Wowwww I love it.

the last, vashon island.

I lose track of the date and time - the days blow by so quickly, my mind has hardly caught up to the long summer days approaching, that before I know it, my old life will resume in Vermont, everything abruptly the same, with all the magical moments from Victoria, like a dream, floating in the background.  But time is catching up and here we are, mid-June and my last time in Washington with my sweet sister-friend Melissa, before all my eyes see are the road ahead.  After doing our usual marinating in coffee shops and breakfast places we decided we go on a bicycle excursion and, blindly pointing our fingers on a map, we decided: Vashon Island.  

And what a great decision - it was so fun to bike onto the ferry and have really no idea what the destination is.  We were met with a long and gradual hill to bike into town, hard work, but the payoff being a view of wooden island homes with sweet window boxes, and groups of does grazing in the front yard.  Sunday evening means that Vashon Island is quiet, but we did manage to find Snapdragon, the most charming rustic bakery, to rest and share dinner, and, I mean, chocolate cupcakes.

And you gotta take time to respectfully explore around the abandoned houses, especially when the overlook the water and hillside homes of Seattle, just beyond.

I'm going to miss this girl.

clayoquot island

Once a year the Clayoquot Island preserve opens up their land to visitors, having ferry busses running back and forth from the small oasis of Tofino to the even more magical Clayoquot Island.  The people who live on this island are living truly off the grid, nourished only by the land and sea.  For a day I pretended I was one of the people.  I travelled the mossy forest boardwalks that led to caves and streams, sat by the lily-pad ponds, and laid for so long in the sand.  Humming and watercolor painting, I fantasized that I was the one living in the sea wench cabin and my day consisted mostly of harvesting the herbs outside and crafting by the water.

life in victoria from my mobile.

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i. My first trip to Beacon Hill park - the moment where it clicked, "ahh, this is why everyone said it was so beautiful here."

ii.  The kitten-cat Rowan on the journey here (who says cats can't stand cars).

iii. My first Challah braid!

iv.  The fires burn all day in the bakery so the ovens will be warm to bake the bread at night - so nice to stand near on a cold rainy day.

v.  The harbor, just west of the bakery.

vi.  The brick ovens I'm kneading beside all day long.
vii.  There are so many 'leave-a-book, take-a-books' here,  almost every little neighborhood near me has one, I love the idea.
viii - ix. Sunsets in the park.
x. A Tim Tam Slam event!  Where two new friends came over and we slammed Tim Tams to dramatic music and then tried to play a bit of music on our own.
xi & xiii. After getting out of work I bike down to the park and sit on a rock reading and look out at the Washington mountains on the other side of the ocean.
xii. Co-workers, meeting up and playing music all together.  I even played a piano duet!

And, after all this talk of keeping up with my blog, well, I'm leaving on long weekend adventure, so no updates for a few days.  I'm off to explore the interior of British Columbia with a new friend!  We are going to a place that every local has said is the most beautiful - nestled in the mountains with lots of rustic architecture and music all around.  I can't wait to take all of the photos.

A visit.

Sweet Melissa came to visit me from here new home in Seattle.  Sometimes when I'm biking the streets or just walking around the downtown - it will hit me - "hey, I live on the other side of the continent, what the heck?", so having a familiar face to process the beauty of this place was a comfort.  We were immediately like sisters again walking the perimeter of the island, laughing and catching each other up on everything, until I fully processed that she had the flu, pretty bad.  But that just gave an excuse for a cozy day with movies and tea and tiny cottage kitchen creations.  I'm so happy she's just a short ocean distance from me and we are at least living on the same coast again.

Also - floating home villages - what a dream!