Signs of Love are Everywhere!...Even in Galapagos

Nature is our best teacher in life.

Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love and Hope abound! Here are some hearts I found during our journey through the Galapagos Islands and some other images I thought you might enjoy...
Happy Wednesday to you.
Coming soon...blue-footed boobies!

More Tortoises - in the wild...

The pix on my last blog featured the tortoises in the Charles Darwin Research Station.
In the following pix - they are in their natural habitat. Still on the island of Santa Cruz but now up in the 'highlands'.

Lonesome George and Co....

We showed up early to visit Lonesome George at the Charles Darwin Research Centre on Santa Cruz island as we'd been told that later in the afternoon, he likes to stay cool and hidden under some vegetation. We weren't to be disappointed. He made his grand appearance - slowly working his way out of his den. What an amazing creature! These guys look like they come straight out of the dinosaur age. Here's his bio...

Lonesome George (Spanish: Solitario Jorge) is the last known individual of the Pinta Island Tortoise (Geochelone nigra abingdoni) which is one of eleven extant subspecies of Galápagos tortoise, all of which are native to the Galápagos Islands.^[1][2] He has been labelled the rarest creature in the world, and is a potent symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos and internationally.^[3] It is thought that he was named after a character played by American actor George Gobel.

George was first seen on the island of Pinta on 1 December 1971 by American snail biologist Joseph Vagvolgyi. The island's vegetation had been decimated by introduced feral goats, and the indigenous G. n. abingdoni population had been reduced to a single individual. Relocated for his safety to the Charles Darwin Research Station, George was penned with two females of a different subspecies, but although eggs have been produced, none have hatched.

George is estimated to be 60–90 years of age, and is in good health.^[4] A prolonged effort to exterminate goats introduced to Pinta is now complete and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to its former state.

The presence of mixed race Pinta ancestry tortoises around Wolf Volcano, on neighbouring Isabela island, suggests the recent presence of at least one Pinta individual near Wolf Volcano. A possible purebreed Pinta candidate, male and dubbed "Tony", lives in a Prague zoo.

There is a reward of $10,000 for the discovery of a Pinta female.^[5]

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And here are some of the others at the centre - it was lunch time...
Not so lonesome George:)

An underwater ballet...

Before the shark incident of 2010 (not really an incident but I love the drama of saying I swam with sharks!), I got to witness one of nature's most beautiful and mesmerizing underwater ballets!
Having baby sea-lions swim and play safely with us in the water was soul-tickling but witnessing the moving and graceful dance of this sea-lion with a school of silver fish almost took my breath away (insert snorkel here).
It was a truly magical performance. It couldn't have been lit more perfectly by the sun gleaming down through the water and the fish glistening as the sea-lion broke through the group - dipping and swaying as if listening to their own classical ballad. Our private show went on for several minutes and it was nature's perfection. Who knew these creatures could be so graceful?
The performance may have ended with a few of those fish ending up in the sea-lion's belly and they might not have so joyfully called it a 'dance' but that's all part of the circle of life.

I swam with sharks!

What an adventure that was! I'm downloading all the photos (over 700!!!) and will attach a link for you here. Definitely a trip of my lifetime with treasured memories that will be hard to describe. I saw all of the below and so much more.
And...umm...I swam with sharks!!! (and lived to tell the tale:) Oh look, there's a sea lion, and a penguin and...look at those beautiful fish! "Shark, Shark!" screamed Walter, our naturalist/guide. I looked over to see if this was a warning to get out of the water fast or a call to come and have a look. He didn't look concerned so we swam closer to him. As we approached, he started humming the "Jaws" theme and laughing! I looked down to see at least 3 white-tipped reef sharks swimming (here's a video I found on youtube so you can see what they look like) right underneath us! Apparently they don't like humans unless you tempt them with blood. whew! I could hear my breath coming quicker through my snorkel but tried to remain as calm as possible. We continued to swim along and look at all the other beautiful sea creatures - happily leaving the sharks behind, when all of a sudden I looked down to see about 20 of them circling underneath us. I almost squeezed poor George's hand off and once again tried to keep my breathing under control. As with every other creature we saw in Galapagos, the sharks didn't seem to be too bothered by us and were happy to stay swimming with the bottom-dweller fish. I, on the other hand, am satisfied to say, been-there-done-that, and am happy to leave the sharks alone and move on to other adventures!

A Weekend Rendezvous...

This past weekend, G. and I snuck away to Seattle for our annual pre-Christmas getaway. Lots of walking, talking, re-connecting, wine sampling and yummy food. It's funny, we choose to go on one of the biggest US shopping weekends of the year and then we avoid the crowds once we're there. In years past, we've watched the lighting of the tree, bands, parades, etc. but it seems, these days, we much prefer to go in the opposite direction of the hoards of people making merry. Here are some pix...

our room (comfy bed & soaker tub!)

wine tasting at The Tasting Room in Post Alley

we didn't ship any wine home but...a display at Anthropologie (I love that store!!!) The skirt is made out of wood

I bought this teacup for our new house!lunch at Maximillians - Pike Place

All in all, a fantastic little getaway. Lots of laughs, lots of dreaming about our future and lots of just walking hand in hand enjoying each other's company!
Oh yeah, we also did a bit of shopping;)
Will show you the other shoes tomorrow!

and now with the details...

Since our financial offer was accepted on the house, we now have 7 subjects to remove by the end of next week so - as well as doing year end/inventory, etc. for the store, I have to set up appointments in Gibsons for the house inspector, the "pump and dump" and inspection of the septic system (eww!) as well as getting a lawyer, and a few other things. This is not the fun part of buying a house. When we bought our condo, it was brand new and we pretty much just needed to sign some papers - this is waaay more work:) The end result will definitely be worth it tho' so...onwards!
Also this week is the launch party of the new Crave Vancouver Book at The Cross in Yaletown. We have been chosen again as one of the featured stores - yay! It will soon be available for purchase at Bodacious. It features all women owned, independent businesses in Vancouver. Great for any friends coming from out of town. They also do a Seattle version and a few other cities.

Hope your weekend was great - I got to catch up with some friends, play some wii and eat some yummy cassoulet from Granville Island.
George and I have some getaway plans for this weekend - I'll fill you in on those later...

It's a slow blogging week...

sorry folks! My computer died and I'm now borrowing G's from work temporarily so no pix and not much time on here. Lots going on including a great one night getaway with our bootcamp group up at Whistler this past weekend! So much fun. We even squeezed (or is it squoze) in a workout before the craziness started. Big event at Bodacious this week so I'm trying to fight off this feeling that I might be catching something and focusing on having a successful event. Hope you can come:) and hope you had a fantastic weekend! My George was off again first thing this morning to Toronto so I'm missing him quite a bit. It certainly is making for lovely moments of reconnection tho';)

Warm and Fuzzy Weekend!

How lucky are we to live in such a beautiful province?

Well...my George is on his way home to me - Yay!
To cure my missing him...This weekend I spent time with some rellies over in Powell River that I hadn't seen in much too long. It was one of those perfect visits - we laughed (a LOT! - thanks Robyn;), cried a little (there was a lot of sharing going on:), hiked, sang, danced, ate yummy food, had a few drinks, toured around, enjoyed the sun and really enjoyed each others' company. Someone told me this past summer that I was "easy company" and that's what the whole weekend felt like for me. Such an ease and comfort being with these lovely people that seem to 'get' me.
Loved the positivity - loved the hospitality - loved the LOVE!
Thanks you guys! More pix on my flickr page How was your weekend?

Going on a Roadtrip...

Barb and I are heading off to Sechelt after bootcamp this morning to meet some ladies about doing some biz together. Our hosts have promised us dinner, drinks, hot tub and a comfy b&b stay. I'm so glad that it's going to be another beautiful day!
I'm so looking forward to this mini getaway. Happy Wednesday to you...

movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches...

Had a fantastic weekend visiting my dad and step-mom in Keremeos.

It's very beautiful country - nestled in the valley.

Walked along the river and enjoyed the cool evening air.

The highway runs right through town and it's the stopping off place to pick up your peaches, cherries, plums, etc on the way home from other warm climes such as Osoyoos and Oliver.

It's also become a hotspot for bc wineries.

The peaches in my dad's back yard were so prolific, they were breaking the branches off the tree!

On Saturday we drove to Kaleden to join my brother and his family at Ponderosa on Skaha Lake. Had one of my best swims of the summer - the lake temperature was perfect as was the company! Had a very hard time extracting myself to join the rest of the family for lunch.

Lake time is just so precious!
The bike portion of the Ironman Triathlon was heading right past Keremeos on Sunday morning so we went out and cheered on some of the riders. What a crazy, grueling event. It takes some of the participants over 12 hours to complete.
This was more our pace for the weekend...
I drove home very carefully - as the sign said - so as not to hurt any sheep. Unfortunately, I didn't even see any. Maybe the sign is more effective than they know? Ouch!

A fun video from the past...

In December 2005, George and I went to Barbados to attend some very good friends' wedding. We had a week to play before the festivities started so we amused ourselves by frolicking at the beach, shopping in Bridgetown, and spent one crazy day in a little shanty bar, tucked in a corner, partying with the locals. The video is of a woman outside the bar who was getting her groove on. I love it! Here's some more pix of some of the people we met that day...As you can see, the 'Banks' beer was in abundance!

A Weekend on the Island...

This past weekend we spent with the in-laws in Victoria and Chemainus. The weather, as you know, was fantastic and there were many great views to be had...


- from the ferry going over...

- the full moon coming up over the Gorge in Victoria from G's parent's balcony...

- this delicious breakfast and a garden full of flowers at Jarid's Corner B&B...

- Ladysmith on a sunny Sunday...

And then on Sunday night, we snuck away for a romantic dinner for two (an early celebration of our 18th anniversary since G. will be away) at our fave Victoria restaurant, Il Terrazzo. Amazing, yummy, delicious!

More pix on my flickr site...

Hope you all had a sun and fun filled weekend!