My Great Grandma

May 24, 1920-November 12, 2010

 My Great Grandma was a war bride. She came to Vancouver Island on a ship and then on a train with her two baby daughters, Mary and Margaret, from Scotland in January 1944.

She didn’t know if her new husband would ever return from the terrible war that was tearing the world apart.

She settled on Vancouver Island and had two more children, John and Jim. Her children grew up playing and working on the beautiful Island and they had children of there own. Her family has grown amazingly—she has seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

 My Great Grandma loved to knit, and bake (she made the best scones ever) and to garden. And she had some of the most delicious apples I’ve ever tasted—one year we picked so many we had to have apple pies for weeks. She loved jewellery and cats. But I think most of all she loved her family. And we love and will miss her.

A Beautiful Place

 Today I went to one of the most beautiful places on earth: A mossy green pool surrounded by cliffs with a ruby-red dragon fly zipping over the water and a frog clinging to a branch.

This is a sacred place, the place of Nacapule. Ancient Yaqui people believed that it was sacred because it provided them with everything they needed: food, water and shelter.

They touched their arrows and spears to the skin of a special frog who had poison on its skin.

The place is filled to the brim with beautiful butterflies, so many it could hold no more.

We scrambled over rocky cliffs and even up a sheer 15ft rock with only a worn out rope to hold us. All in all it’s a sacred place.

CIVILIZATION!

the view from the swimming pool

 We're back in civilization folks! I mean hot water, sit down restaurants, lettuce, fresh food, a swimming pool, doughnuts at the store. . . What more could a girl want? Anyways we're back in the CITY! Or rather, San Carlos. There's a supermarket here, can you believe it? I can't. Oh it's so exiting! HURRAH!

The Pizza Party of Death

The Pizza Party WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A REGULAR PIZZA PARTY. But no it was the pizza party of death! We were innocently watching a movie at my friend's boat in the cockpit when my friend's parents came home and told us to go inside (to put it mildly) WHAT THE HECK! Then it hit us (both literally and figuratively) BOOM! A CHUBASCO! AHHHHHH! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! BOOM! CRASH! MAYHEM! CATASTROPHE! We all tumbled inside. WE'RE ALL GONNA TO DIE! We all survived and my dad picked me up AT 1 IN THE MORNING! Ok we didn't die but . . . you never know.

GLOSSARY
(a chubasco is a big wind storm with lots of waves and lightening) pronounced choo- bass- co.

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Crafts on the Beach

Yesterday I dyed one of my favorite dresses. It was a white embroidered slip, which my mom thought was too stained to wear. So she suggested I dye it when we were invited to a dying class on the beach. I did. I dyed it purple and turquoise. Turquoise at the hem and purple for the rest. It looks really cool now. There were tons of colors to choose from but I eventually chose purple and turquoise. It sort of looks like tie dye but cooler. Some people dyed bags, others blankets and still others shirts. Anyway, I had an amazing day and I'm happy I did it. Dying stuff is fun.

A Sealion Under my Boat

Playing with Nadine under my boat

Nadine is a sealion in Bay of LA. My mom named her. She’s a beautiful young juvenile who loves to play. She also loves to taunt Charlie, (poor Charlie!) She’s small and slim and sleek. She makes woofing noises. She’s a very good friend.

She seems to like the shade of our boat and hides under the bridgedeck. 

My Birthday

My 9th birthday wasn't nice. It was awesome. I got so many nice letters! Oh, how on earth am I going to answer them all? I know! I'll write a blog post about my birthday.

I got lots of wonderful gifts like beautiful homemade clay beads (my mom), gorgeous black pearl earrings and a dance trapeze (my dad), a huge bottle of whipped cream (my friend Carolyne), and bacon (Jesse). I also saw dolphins and fireworks. The fireworks were in the anchorage. The dolphins were out at sea. We caught a giant dorado. The dorado was two feet long and yellow with blue spots. So all and all I think I got my moneys worth.

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The Tortilleria

I just got fresh tortillas today and can you guess where they came from? Yup that's right the tortilleria.

 The tortilla machine looks like a giant conveyer belt with a shmoosher, and a fire, and a cooling rack, all in one. The shmoosher shmooshes, the fire cooks, and the cooler cools.

We bought harina (wheat flour) but you can also get maiz (corn). You can buy medio kilo for 12 pesos or about 1$.

Playing Pioneers

 My friends and I wanted to know what it was like to live without modern resources . . . .

We dressed like them, we ate like them, we talked like them, we cooked like them and we even acted like them. And who did we do it all like?  1 simple question 1 simple answer.

My friend Carolyne took this picture

 PIONEERS we lived like them.

Expect for the house which was a cave, we lived like them.

When my friends Amy, Carolyne and I went to the beach, we set up a pioneer camp. While we were there we saw crabs, seagulls, and pelicans. And then it started to rain and waves came crashing down on the rocky shore. But we cleaned and cooked through the violent thunder storm.  And I would do it again.

yumm... potato leek soup

  Here we are cooking a meal.

My Article in Latitude and Attitudes

Fossil Limestone at Punta Santa Domingo

this is the cliff that looked interesting

Yesterday we were walking along the beach and we saw a big red cliff. There were lots of shells stuck together with sand in the top layer. We found a piece and thought it was interesting so we brought it back to the boat. (We also brought back my new pet hermit crab, but you’ll hear for about that later.)

Today we put the rock on the table and banged it open with a hammer. Inside were shells, crystals and well, rock. My favourite shell was a spiral half shell, half crystal fossil.

the shell limestone looks like this

The fossils we found were covered in sand and/or rock and were mostly gastropods and pelecypods. Fossils are formed when an animal or plant dies and the bones and teeth are buried under sand or mud. The fossilising process takes thousands of years. It’s quite common to find an unfinished fossil.

this is how it looked up close

examining a fossil

I thought finding the fossils was very interesting and I’m going to keep looking for more fossils.

The Water Totter

The water totter is a water toy and boy is it unstable! It’s a giant teeter-totter. You spend more time getting on it than you do playing on it.

As I named it the water totter I saw “water totter” printed on the hull. Darn! But the name stuck. Just yesterday my friend and I were playing on the totter and at the same time we pushed each other off. Once when my dad and our friend were on it I yanked the line that the totter was on and they flew off. The water totter is a cool toy and that is why I like it.

Swimming with sea lions

Hoppy

Hi! I have another pet. Its not a cat or a dog or a goldfish. Can you guess what he is? No? Well I'll tell you.

 meet Hoppy

He's a hermit crab! When I walked down the beach yesterday I saw a cool looking shell so I picked it up and there was Hoppy! ( that's what I call my crab) I asked my mom if I could keep him and she said yes. I'm teaching tightrope walking to him and he's very good . He does it up side down. Its pretty funny! Hoppy is blue gray with red at the joints and a white shell. He has black googooly eyes.

 he changes his shell every so often

His habitat is a glass bowl with sand, water, shells, and a big rock. Hoppy's not fuzzy but boy is he cute! He loves climbing up my arms and legs.

 Hoppy's habitat

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Home Sweet Home

My room was nice before, but now it's even better. I have almost an entire hull to myself. I've got a desk, a small playroom and a bunk to sleep in.

My current design plan is to paint copper coloured cats on my bedroom ceiling and turquoise swirls too. I've also got dark forest green curtains with multi-coloured straps to hold them in place.

Boats

Boats come in many shapes and sizes, I should know because I'm currently sailing on one and doing a circumnavigation, I've had tons of fun and made loads of new friends. I wish everyone could have the wonderful experience I am having. Sailing is so fun! (Except for when it's all lumpy and bumpy!)

We're seeing lots of sea turtles and dolphins here in Mexico. And for me, the sea can always substitute for a friend.

We get our water by using a watermaker (it turns seawater into good tasting water!). We get our electricity from the sun, using solar panels. Grocery shopping is much like shopping and living on land, except sometimes you have to shop in little tiny stores that only have rotten bananas and rice.

Garbage Clean-up on El Magote

Wednesday was the day of the bonfire and the garbage clean-up on a beach across from La Paz. The garbage clean-up started as walking around looking for garbage, then it turned into a race and finally it was just plain fun. Seven kids collected seven big bags of garbage. The bags were stuffed to bursting.

After that we built up a huge bonfire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. My friend, Holly and I went swimming in our clothes but nobody else did. We were on a peninsula so we got to swim in the ocean. Soon the bonfire died down so all the kids had to rake it and collect dry wood.

After that we motored home in our dingy.

Things are Different On a Boat

Lots of things are different on a boat like...

Making toast, Laundry,  You can Climb on the Roof, and Your Backyard.

Making toast on a boat is more complicated than making toast on land.  We don't have an electric toaster so we have to use a camp toaster on which you have to turn the toast regularly.  Making a piece of toast takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

Laundry on a boat takes a plunger, a wringer and a bucket and a bit of soap thrown in for good measure.  It's a lot more compliicated than just throwing the clothes in a washing machine and taking them out and throwing them in a dryer and then carting them off to where ever you live.

On a boat you can climb on the roof.  There are steps affixed into the wall of the cabin.  Climbing up two or three stair like steps means you are on the roof.

My backyard is ever changing.  One day I might see a city behind me and then the next I might see a jungle.  Sometimes I'll have two backyards at once. 

Easter Eggs in Mexico

In Mexico there isn't any Easter Egg dye. So you have to make your own natural dye. We used things we found in the kitchen such as turmeric, hibiscus and beets.

We put the raw eggs in with the colour, then brought it to a boil until the eggs were hard cooked. We thought the hibiscus would turn purple-ish red, the turmeric would be orange and the beets would be red.

We were wrong! The greyish one was the hibiscus (I thought it looked like a dinosaur egg), the tan one was beet and the yellow one was turmeric. Who knew??

They still tasted good, even if they looked strange.

Later we finished off with a book we read every Easter, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes.

Moments with friends

How do you shimmy up a coconut palm with only two people?

Scooters are the most typical transportation for cruising kids. You always know which boat has kids judging by the scooters parked out front.

Here we are in front of the local paleta (ice cream) shop having agua frescas (fruit drinks).

Supper with friends.

Sewing quilts with friends.

 Heaven! Dessert at a potluck!

Building a fairy home.

By the way keep an eye out for a future copy of Latitudes and Attitudes. You might find a story written by Mairen, Siobhan and I. We just learned that the magazine is buying the story we submitted!