Where are we now???

Sorry for the long delay in blog updates - it has been a long and hectic Summer. September was not much better either! We have been very busy - much of the time has been unproductive and not everything has been positive.

On the plus side, we have come to love Vancouver Island and truly no day goes by that we don't appreciate the beauty that surrounds us here. We had several visitors drop by this past Summer - Jan's sister Joanne and her husband Roy brought their dogs along and stayed with us for a week. This gave us a wonderful opportunity to explore the nearby beaches and some hiking trails. Then my parents dropped by and gave us a good excuse to visit Butchart Gardens, the butterfly garden, East Sooke provincial park and the Fisgard lighthouse. Then Jan's brother George and his family came and we took the opportunity to explore the old growth forests at Cathedral Grove and Goldstream Park, swim in the ocean and at Shawnigan Lake, go kayaking at Cowichan Bay and most impressive of all - go snorkeling with the seals at Snake Island - just off Nanaimo. Each of our guests brought us unique perspectives and an excellent excuse to see things that we would have otherwise not seen.

Between our assignments as tour guides, we managed to keep the garden going and harvest some of the fruit from our trees. Kailee completed her internship in sustainable food production at O.U.R. Ecovillage and followed this with a 2 week permaculture design course. Jan completed a one week course in natural building techniques where she helped to build a cob wall on the first new residential house at the ecovilage.

September came unexpectedly fast and with this came the beginning of the school year. Trevor made it back from Peru and Mexico and is now settled back in Vancouver where he is completing his MSc program. Kailee finally relented and she is now committed to trying one year at UBC in natural resource conservation. Krista started grade 11 at Frances Kelsey high school in Mill Bay.

With all of this busyness came some real challenges. Most significantly, Jan has suffered with consistently poor health with a range of symptoms that has prevented a consistent diagnosis. Mostly she has suffered with fatigue and physical exhaustion, but at times she has had severe pain in her shoulder and shortness of breath. We are desperate to get some solutions that will enable her to recover her health again.

This concern truly puts everything else in perspective.