We had good news yesterday and took full advantage. The fire in our area was deemed 100% contained, and while we are thrilled, I’ll do the happy dance when the fire is declared out. Still, contained is good news. I hope soon, we will look back on this, as part of history during our first six months of living in Sechelt.

It was nice to see the community come together during this time. Volunteers helping and supporting each other and the fire fighters, in different ways including keeping each other up to date with news. Volunteers prepared meals and funds were set up for the family of fire fighter John Phare, who lost his life last week fighting this fire.

The sky is, at times, blue again, and we can still smell smoke every once in a while. I started going on walks again, but my breathing is laboured, so I don’t go far, but I am able to pick blackberries for the freezer when I do go out.

The big and fun news for yesterday, was that Ken and I finally launched Pearl.

Ken built this rowing boat over the last couple of years and I have to say, she’s a beaut!
A long time ago, I made a business cards for Ken with the tag line… “if you can afford to wait for quality.” That tag line is perfect in describing Ken’s work as a craftsman.

He never seems to hurry on any project, and he always makes something so incredibly gorgeous, that the wait has always been worth it.

We put Pearl in the inlet yesterday. We rowed up and across from where the fire burned. It was the first time we saw any of the damage. There was still a bit of smoke among the burned trees, but it was more wifty than the big bellows we have become used to.

We also saw such wonders in the ocean as huge white jelly fish, that looked like big (really big) poached eggs.

We had a nice day and look forward to many more days on the water in Pearl.

Are we getting back to normal? No – with no orange kitty in the house, we don’t know anything about normal.