JANUARY STILLNESS

As I was having morning coffee looking out over the Pond and watching the ducks skidding across on their bottoms I thought how fun it would be to "hostess" a Blog for our Community here at Chemainus Gardens. My New Years resolution:  to start a Blog that would serve to keep all residents interested in the doings of the Community up to date.  As I already pass along the Chemainus Community updates, I think adding this will be interesting at any rate!


A little background, for those who are new, about Charles and I. 

This is Hudson Bay Mountain  in Smithers, B.C. ( yes, Diana and Rick...we BOTH know all about this!) We lived here for 43 years.The photo was taken from Telkwa where we spent our last 12 years in the area. 
Beautiful and truly pretty, nevertheless cold. Shoveling snow can be a tedious chore after so long...walks in the rain are WAY more fun!

Cross country skiing was a great physical pastime, which we did as a family.  But once the kids were gone, it really becomes a matter of keeping warm and dry!  and winter just took too much time.  One couldn't leave before April and had to be home by end of September for sure.

We had looked for about 5 years in the area of Powell River for a suitable retirement place near our first son's place, as his children hadn't had local grandparents and we loved the coast. We were both raised on the coast!
Because Charles' mother was ill and we needed to be close by in case we got a call to come over the border to be with family, we decided in 2011 to cancel a trip to Alberta to visit friends and instead to tour the Island.  We were scheduled to camp with our kids at the Living Forest just outside Nanaimo but had arrived from Victoria with 2 days to spare.  We were just passing  Chemainus mural signs when Charles asked me if I'd like to stop in Chemainus for lunch. A friend of his had grown up in Chemainus and had recommended we visit about 25 years earlier!
So we arrived on a wonderfully breezy, sunny blue sky afternoon with the Farmers Market in full swing,the flute playing the song that was "our song" at our wedding!    We asked at the Tourist Bureau for a place to put our RV that was near enough to walk to town.  The rest is history.  We fell in love with the area and told our kids we were moving, sold our place 2 days after we got home and were back in a month.  Truly  this confirmed that we were in the right place! The day before we moved I met Rick (Lanihan) as I came out of the hair dressers and told him we were moving. When I told him where he almost shouted "WHAT?? we've looked everywhere and never found a place"  I gave him the name of the Gardens to look up on the Web...GUESS what??  He did!! We welcomed them our first Spring....


 Since then we have a nucleus of people that meet at the Bistro on Tuesday mornings at 10:00 a.m.  A variety of topics are discussed and for the most part it catches us up on whats what!  We try to avoid pitched battles over ( you guessed it) religion and politics! Not that these subjects never come up, but that we respect everyone's point of view. 
 Charles and I volunteer at Chemainus Theatre at least 2 times ( once as Usher and once as Coat Check and Ambassador) for each show.  We also care for the Chemainus St. Michael's All Angels Cemetery with many other volunteers from other churches. We sing in the St. Michaels' Choir and I tend the gardens at the church. We feel that volunteering is the best way to flow into a small Community like Chemainus.  
The Senior's Center is a great place to do such a variety of things with like minded people.  We usually go to the Coffee morning on Fridays.

 Now enough of us.  

The first of December "Lights on the Pond" happened.  It was very beautiful looking out at the colors shimmering over the water at night! It makes December go much quicker, waiting for dark so you can turn on the lights!  

   For the 25th of December Karen had a great idea...to put on an Open House for anyone that was home for Christmas and would like to greet neighbors in a place bigger than our homes!!  It was so much fun!  I thought there might be time on my hands, so I took along a book...which I never cracked!!  from the time Karen, myself, Charles and Barry came in to warm it up and set up the cider in the crock pots it was fun.  I couldn't believe how fast a 3 hour window could go by!
 Cleanup was a breeze, as everyone divided up the "leftovers" and took them home!  I think Chris got more than he expected!!
 A huge "thank you for coming" to all who dropped in and generously brought more than enough hot appy's and dips, etc.  Again, Karen took the prize for the best "healthy" sweet stuff! She is working on a cook book that I personally can't wait to see come out.. she's a wonderful cook.  I'm sure there are more of you out there!
 Well, I think that's enough for now.  Comments are at the bottom of the page, if you care to leave one.  Let me know what you think.