SUMMER VACATION PART 2

Best weather ever!  Not a drop of rain for 2 months.  So the second part of my summer vacation was spent camping on the west coast of Vancouver Island, visiting artists in Washington, sailing, biking, having picnics and ended with two milestones!  LOT'S OF PHOTOS!!!

Tofino

Our annual camping trip to Long Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island for the fifth annual Strathcona Surf Contest.  We camp with Dori and Dustin but are joined at the campsite and contest with anywhere from 8 to 12 others.  Arnt won the trophy this year.

Get your board!

have grill ready

have lots of wood

bring your bike

set up camp

marshmallows

music

more music

share your instruments

pack up your board for the beach ride

bring the girl surfers

Judge Dori taking names and setting up categories

everyone is ready to go!

Strathcona Surf Club

audience

Bertrand saying goodbye to his trophy

costumes are a category

Chef Board R D

HULA GIRL

she surfed in this dress

dueling chefs

big banana

DOTTY

judge sizing us up and we are off

everyone has their own style

am I having enough fun

SSC team photo

Arnt designed the T's.  Sent Ken Lum thank you for inspiration and he emailed back "Happy Surfing"

boys brought the bar with drinks called "sex on the beach"

awww!  to the surf gods!

bring on the dancing girls

happy surfers

some continue playing

others chill

Beckly made the fire

now she is chillaxing

taco night at our camp

Julien and Marie Claude are having a taco off

Arnt is the winner of the day by standing on his head on his board and also surfing facing backwards!

moved camp to Uke

Dori's camp

Dustin's office

Beckly's office

will the surf come up? or do we start eating?

Beckly checking her email

Arnt loves his new barbecue

Arnt manning the Q

Arnt and Dori menu

Arnt grilling again

Dori whipping up the veg

nothing like grilled corn

Tofino's waterfront getting a great makeover

car of Tofino

the day's catch

do not leave your groceries or coolers unattended

take time to walk in the woods

Bye Bye see you all next year!

 Our friends from LA, Ca and Santa Fe, NM have a cottage in La Connor, Washington.  The timing was right to pay them a visit.

Arnt, Kent & Norma

La Connor industry

Now an art gallery

La Connor has Norwegians

baby birds over the doorway

Lucky Dumpster-half thrift-half art gallery

storefront

art gallery

active wood mill

storage?

fishing shack on the river

fishing shack on the river

beautiful barns in the valley with Mount Baker backdrop...I photographed a lot of them and will make a book

 Heidi's studio

a little of her amazing garden

 explaining her process

 painter, drawer & printmaker

Arne's studio (now deceased but his partner keeping it alive)

Arnt was loving the space and the tools

one of his sculptures

Kent's studio and a few of his paintings

then there was performance art

my partner in crime

lovely sunset over the valley

Our yearly sailing trip on Odin with Rob and Sharon on ERN.  Even though our motor died (I mean it is now an anchor) we finished our trip with sailing when we could and being towed by by ERN when there was no wind.

ERN under sail

rafted up at Sargent Bay

Arnt meditating

Arnt chilling

nice rock organization

full moon at 5am

abandoned

also abandoned

nice metal work

how does this tree grow

Feather

baby seal abandoned over night while Mom went fishing..she came back!

Sharon taking the dogs to shore

Alice relaxing

boys fishing

success

ling cod and spot sprawn soup caught by us and cooked by Rob

being towed

dinner on the beach

final night at Codfish Cod

apple pancakes by Arnt

Arnt ordering up our new motor

End of our summer vacation meant we were in Vancouver for most of August which we are usually still away.  So we spent many days on our bikes around the city.  Some cool events we noticed were:  6 pianos were placed around the city and anyone could play.  Saw some amazing performances.  See http://www.youtube.com/user/Paneficio1/videos  for one evening piano performance.  Outdoor movies, music & picnics were all good.  

OUR TWO MILESTONES
35 years together and 20 years in our wonderful home and studios!!

We celebrated by having a few couples over for music and dinner on the deck.  Our friends are an important part of our treasure trove of memories.

www.firesidewoodwindquintet.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/Paneficio1/videos    for one of their pieces.

Thanks all for catching up with us after the summer....now on to the fall activities!

SUMMER VACATION (part 1)

This summer not much art was made once the heat turned on but I am in nine shows for 2013/2014 which I am very excited about. Here are some highlights from my summer.

Palm Springs.... 
Way back in June when it was still raining in Vancouver, my friends Lee and Phil took me to Palm Springs for a hit of sun.  Was lovely and hot and we were surrounded with swimming pools.  It is the town for mid century art, furniture and architecture.  

the house under the palms

living room

kitchen/dining

all the meals prepared by Phil and eaten outside

just two rows of the 10 that decorate a store front

unusual chair in one of the many fab stores

metal scored flat and then folded

this store is in a house from the 30's and they filled in the pool

lots of public art

 

view from above

See the dry mountains and the lush valley.  What happens when they run out of water.  All those pools and golf courses.  They are as a city changing the plants to drought resistant but it might be too late.  They are harnessing lots of wind power though.  They need it for all the air conditioners running non-stop.

Very Cool Hotels

Went to a couple of neighbourhoods with mid century houses.  Great rock work on low houses usually painted white.

but really this is what it is all about...cocktails in the pool!

^{PAULINE & SIMONS 40TH ANNIVERSARY AND NINA'S 60TH BIRTHDAY.....} 
The party of the summer was hosted by Pauline and Simon who celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary and shared it with their best pal Nina who was turning 60.  About 70 people showed up in Red as the theme and took in the yummy barbecue and music by Late Thaw who Arnt drums with.  We also got to have dinner with P & S’s son Levon who we have known since he was born.  He plays basketball now in Spain.  He has an amazing apartment in the Woodwards building downtown and wanted to show us the placement of the piece he had bought from me.  He cooked us a great meal as we sat high in the sky looking at the fabulous view.

Pauline in red hat, Nina in blue dots and hubby Warren in white hat

Simon on the keys

Arnt on the drums

Nina with good pal Zubin who sang us some great songs

The official photographer Doug Cowell

Everyone came...old and young!

EVENING AT LEVON'S....

OLAS....

Arnt and I are on the board of the the Oarlock and Sail Wooden Boat Club.  We build small wooden boats in a float house on the Maritime dock in Vancouver.  The float house is open to the public for a visit on Saturdays at 10 for a few hours (except long weekends).  We will be in the Wooden Boat Festival on Granville Island Sept 22-25^th.  We had a summer barbecue to meet some members.

We will take this gartside pram to the festival to show its progress

ITALIAN DAYS....

You gotta love this festival…food, dancing, music and oh the characters!

 

That is what I did the first part of my summer vacation...pics of our surfing and sailing trip to come.