"Home is the nicest word there is." Laura Ingalls Wilder

I've been thinking about "HOME"

I've left my home in Waterloo. I've left the physical Unit 44, the city, the province. I'm about to leave my country for the year.

I have found my home here in Tsawwassen, which is Cathy's house. I was at home at my Mom's camp in Sudbury, Stephanie's house in Toronto, Kate's house in Yellowknife. And for many days, I've been at home inside my tent, wherever it happened to be set up.
When you are away from home, people want to know where you are from. I say I'm from Waterloo. That's where I've lived most of my adult life and where I raised my children. But actually, I feel like I'm from Sudbury. That's where I started "being from".

"Home is where one starts from." --T. S. Eliot

Now that I'm about to leave Canada, I'm leaving home again. I am also making my home, whether in my tent or in some other shelter, in other places in the world. Home is stretching out. I was thinking about this as I flew a kite on the beach in Boundary Bay.

I've learned that home isn't a place, it's a feeling  --Cecilia Ahern, Irish Romance author

When I left you last, I had just boarded Via Rail from Edmonton (Craig dropped me off late since the train was hours late already). I slept for the first stretch and woke up just as the Rockies came into view:

Imagine riding comfortably in your train seat looking out the window at mountains and lakes and waterfalls all day! Such torture!

When I got to Vancouver, I was many hours ahead of Cathy who was flying in later in the day. I got her key from a neighbour, had a bath, made dinner. I knew the house so well already that I was already home. I've been in luxurious comfort, visiting with my dear Cathy, picking up the conversation and the laughter from where we left off, like we always do, since university days. 

Blackberries grow like weeds here and are ripe at this time of year. I made jam and got Cathy's winter supply portioned out in her freezer. Cathy is taking a course in energy medicine and is very busy studying and is also working. (Cathy is a voice actor, based in Vancouver. One of her most famous roles is "Spike" in My Little Pony) You'd never know that she's so busy though, because it feels like there's lots of time at last, to continue the conversation. Friendship is so precious, isn't it?

Last weekend I went to Langley B.C. to take "Wilderness First Aid". I am now equipped to take care of you in the wilderness until the emergency helicopter arrives six hours later! I need this certification to be a fully qualified forest therapy guide you see.

It was very interesting and fun. Our instructor, Luke, made everything hands-on, so we had lots of practice going through the ABC's of first aid. It was good to be reminded of the protocol for CPR too.

I got to see Malcolm before he returns to Ontario! I got to meet his love Marcela too! Malcolm, Marcela, Cathy and I had lunch together and spent the afternoon on the beach, before Cathy drove them back to the Vancouver Island ferry. I was glad to catch him, since I won't see him for a year and it would have been a year and a half!

I also got to visit with my godfather Lynn (for whom I am named) and his wife Joanne in White Rock. We had a lovely lunch at the beach, on the 'other' side of Boundary Bay. It was great to catch up. Years fly by. Lynn's godchild is a middle-aged woman!!

When I was telling Joanne and Lynn about my joyful experiences in Yellowknife, Lynn told me about "Jean Cretien's visit there years ago", and I was a bit slow. Hopefully, you won't be!

"Jean Cretien went on an official visit to Yellowknife wearing a fox fur hat. The reporters asked him why he chose fox fur, whether there was any significance. Cretien replied that he wore the fox fur hat on the advice of his wife. When he told her that he was going to Yellowknife, she said, "Where the fox hat?"."

Then I got to visit my Aunt Sheila on Salt Spring Island. I left Tsawwassen by ferry on Labour Day. I love ferries. This trip was beautiful, especially when we wove in amongst the Gulf Islands.

Aunt Sheila and Uncle Jim are 'home' in a beautiful and huge log house. It has large windows all along the front with this view of Aunt Sheila's deer and the bay through the trees. I slept in "my room" which Jim says has a reserved sign on the door for me now: the sleep was in the dark and absolute quiet. When I woke up in the morning sun was coming in the skylight which I hadn't noticed the night before!

My aunt and uncle took me on a tour of the island, seeing views and farms and parks. We visited the "Grandmother Tree" , a huge fir, where I made a wish and left a gift. 
The little tourist areas were pretty with shops and cafes, and walkways around the water. Before I left the island, we had a delicious lunch in the Seaside Cafe by the water.

Salish Bay

On my last day here in Tsawwassen with Cathy, we went to Point Roberts to the beach. We saw orcas leaping in the ocean! Such a pleasure! Then two seals greeted us, and then 100 sandpipers. The Pacific Ocean is a wonder.

I am heading out by Amtrak train from Vancouver to Portland, Oregon, leaving "home", and continuing the adventure.

The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

Maya Angelou