Just like the old days

I was standing in line to get in to a film festival movie last night, and thought back to the lineups at TIFF or HotDocs in years gone by. I was even knitting a hat.

This festival is Doxa, a documentary fest. It happens a week or so after HotDocs in Toronto, and on the edge of the continent. I am not sure how these festivals work, but there is very little overlap in content. (Everyone here is looking forward to Yintah, which won the audience award at HotDocs.)

I was ushering, and able to watch the Zola Experience. It's the story of a woman putting on a play, but it's also the play, and the movie, and the rehearsals, so the lines between documentary and fiction are blurred. Is she really in love with him, or playing that on stage, or both? 

Another ushering shift gave me Union, which was one I had been hoping to see. It was a great story, and well told without narration or experts chiming in, but I was not as gripped as I had anticipated. The leader of the gang working to unionize is not especially likeable, and people going to work doesn't make for stunning visuals. I couldn't stay for the Q&A because I was supposed to be working, so I didn't hear the latest news. 

Yesterday I got to use two of my volunteer vouchers and saw movies back to back: The Movie Man and Années en Parenthèses 2020-2022. (You can click something on the top of that page to get English text.)

The Movie Man was the best so far! My Toronto-area friends might know of the Highlands Cinemas, a 5-screen cinema in the middle of nowheres-ville, Ontario. This movie, started before Covid messed everything up, shows us the man behind the crazy idea to build a theatre in a town of 300 people. We all love a single-minded, cat-loving guy, dealing with the unforeseen troubles we each had to deal with in our own little ways. Really fun, and of course locals should take the drive to Kinmount to watch it. 

Années en Parenthèses 2020-2022 was a mish-mash of visuals, poetry, politics from around the world, beautiful images... The director was locked down in Montreal during the pandemic, and unlike a painter or a writer, a movie-maker needs someone else to film and interact with to make a movie. So she asked friends and acquaintances from around the world to send her images or texts, and she carefully edited things down into a pretty cohesive movie. I was expecting something about Montreal, but I got Lebanon and Algeria and Portland, Oregon, Black Lives Matter, Jean-Luc Godard and more. Worth seeing. 

Today, no volunteer shifts and no movies. I am back in action tomorrow morning at 8:45 am!

Art on Friday

Today Stephen set up his booth at the local community centre art show. 

Tonight is a reception (actually, I believe they call it a vernissage) and then the show is on all weekend. 

He invited lots of people to come tonight, so that should be fun. A bit of free wine and cheese and check out everyone else's art, and then perhaps dinner out somewhere. 

I'd better link to his art pages, right? Here is Flickr and here is Instagram. 

Back in town

We started off our last day on Galiano at Bellhouse Park, a little provincial park near the "town." There were gorgeous rocks to wander over, great views of Active Pass and hidden in those trees, an eagle's nest. 

We took our bubble wand. Bubbles are hard to photograph but fun to look at. 

Our next stop was Bodega Ridge, which looks like a straight line on the map but while it may be straightish in one dimension, it goes up and down quite a bit! 

This is a camas lily. A bit rare, quite lovely. 

And this is the view from up top! Beautiful sea and sky and clouds and trees and all that. Even a few birds were hovering around off the cliff. 

A lilac in the ferry terminal parking lot, and then home. 

Things are heating up here: Stephen will be at the Art In The City show down the street this weekend, and next week is the DOXA festival. Stay tuned!
 

Rocks, trees and water

We took a walk to Lookout Trail. 

Such a lovely view, and several ferries went by while we were up there gawping at the islands, clouds, trees, distant things, nearby things. My brother can see the ferries as they emerge from Active Pass, so we figured he is straight across from here. 

After some coming and going on the little roads, we found a way down to the water, passing this private lookout on the cliff as we made our way down the path. I wonder if this house is ever rentable in the summer!

We have overdosed on rocks, trees and water on this holiday. This is why we moved here from Toronto. 

Lovely lovely lovely. And even better when the sun comes out!

The sun came out

We had a great day Friday, looking at rocks and trees and water. Galiano is very long and thin, with one road going up one side of it. The narrow bottom end faces Active Pass and the ferries between Victoria and the mainland go by often.  

This is a good environment for arbutus trees. They are really beautiful.

And then there was dinner. The sun had come out and dried off the chairs on the deck; the barbecue was fired up and we relaxed outside till the sun started going down behind the rest of the island. 

 Today, Saturday, it's a bit drizzly again, but we carry on!

Best laid plans

Yesterday we packed up some stuff, rented a car, killed time with a friend before our ferry, and arrived on Galiano Island in the dark and the rain last night. It is forecast to continue gloomy for a few more days. 

Ferries to Gulf Islands are necessary and affordable (sorta) and daily (at least). But they are not always convenient and ready-when-you-are. Since we had to rent a car and drive an hour or more to the terminal, to get there about an hour before the ferry leaves, the morning boat was not going to work. Next ferry: 7:10 pm. 

We have a friend in White Rock who we don't see that often, but it is sort of on the way to the ferry, so we had a nice visit with her. There is an actual white rock in White Rock. (Yes, they now paint it. Debates about the original whiteness: was it in fact just covered in bird droppings?)

The internet here is a bit spotty. When we arrived last night, we first had trouble even finding the cottage, since one doesn't waste electricity on lighting up the number on the road. When we did get inside, there was not a handy fact sheet left by the landlord, but we did eventually find the router and decipher the password. Even now things are not super fast, but we are on an island surrounded by forest, so I guess we can accept that. 

The sun came up and we saw where we were. Not far from a little inlet.

There are boats. 

There are rocks. 

We explored the little village nearby and found a coffee shop, bakery and bookstore, so we are set. 

I hope to be able to update here regularly, but I don't have super high hopes for this internet connection. Fingers crossed. 

I finished something

Once upon a time I bought this yarn. I started to make gloves out of it, but soon realized that was foolish, since this stuff needs to drape and flow and show off its silkiness. 

I was reading the vintage knitting group on Ravelry at the time, and found a vintage blanket pattern that I tried to rework into a cowl. The vintage instructions were just written out, no graphs... and that was okay, but apparently I didn't make any notes or even make a mark to tell me what rows I'd knitted. So when I put it down for a few weeks or months, I had no idea where to start. Also, I had to count and pay attention and all that! 

When we went to Spain I needed something small, easy, fun, unthreatening! I just did a couple of rows of garter stitch and picked a simple eyelet pattern and carried on. 

We came back and I did another couple of rows of garter stitch and got a bit more adventurous, and when it was clear that the end was in sight and this would actually become a wearable thing, I got swirly and eye-catching. 

Now I just have to learn to take a decent picture of myself.