Wild Wabbit Woad and other adventures
Jul. 26th, 2008 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angharaLast year ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rdeck and I, together with miketo and his bride, went on a birthday trip (mine and Mrs Mike's) to the San Juan Islands. Well, this year we figured that we would go visit little Lummi Island, technically just a hop and a skip and a jump from us, where none of us had ever yet been. So we piled into a vehicle and drove off to the funky little ferry that paddles back and forth between Lummi and the mainland - it takes only 20 cars, and we missed one by two cars, so we had to wait an hour for the next one - although the run takes 8 minutes between the two ferry docks and you can see one from the other, you could probably hit it with a well aimed rock if you threw hard enough. Well, anyway. We eventually boarded the ferry, which had a funky sign next to it (pics under cut, below) - it was explained to me that zero tide didn't mean what I thought it meant but I still found it amusing if I took a literal meaning from the thing. We stopped off at a tiny farmer's market just off the ferry wharf where smoked salmon was purchased, and then poked our noses into The Islander, the one and apparently only shop on the tiny island, the kind of emporium long vanished from everywhere else, the kind of place where you can buy everything from milk to shoe polish to toothpaste to postcards to breakfast cereal to locally made lavender sachets, including a little driving map of the island which yielded the information that one could go to a wonderful place called the WIld Wabbit Woad (what an address that would be for a children's writer, I said) and after that it became imperative to actually find the place, and so we did. We drove around the rest of the island on the scenic (and only) route, wondered why everyone we met was waving at us (either small island, friendly people - or else they thought we were someone else entirely....) and had a wonderful lunch at the Willows Inn overlooking the Sound. No orcas made an appareance, alas, but the lunch was tasty (including, apparently, a flower laid on rdeck's salmon, which he ate with relish) and the conversation great. Then we drove down to the other end of the island which was labelled as "scenic estates" on the map (it was a toss up whether it would be a gated community or a trailer park...) took a few pictures of the views, and made our way back to the ferry for which we once again had to wait almost an hour. Back on the mainland, back home, good times had with good friends.
(Isn't a tide under zero, er, no water at all...)
Wild Wabbit Woad - LOVE the cigar smoking bunny...
Didn't bring my filters so it's a bit bright, but the views were fantastic...
rdeck and I, together with miketo and his bride, went on a birthday trip (mine and Mrs Mike's) to the San Juan Islands. Well, this year we figured that we would go visit little Lummi Island, technically just a hop and a skip and a jump from us, where none of us had ever yet been. So we piled into a vehicle and drove off to the funky little ferry that paddles back and forth between Lummi and the mainland - it takes only 20 cars, and we missed one by two cars, so we had to wait an hour for the next one - although the run takes 8 minutes between the two ferry docks and you can see one from the other, you could probably hit it with a well aimed rock if you threw hard enough. Well, anyway. We eventually boarded the ferry, which had a funky sign next to it (pics under cut, below) - it was explained to me that zero tide didn't mean what I thought it meant but I still found it amusing if I took a literal meaning from the thing. We stopped off at a tiny farmer's market just off the ferry wharf where smoked salmon was purchased, and then poked our noses into The Islander, the one and apparently only shop on the tiny island, the kind of emporium long vanished from everywhere else, the kind of place where you can buy everything from milk to shoe polish to toothpaste to postcards to breakfast cereal to locally made lavender sachets, including a little driving map of the island which yielded the information that one could go to a wonderful place called the WIld Wabbit Woad (what an address that would be for a children's writer, I said) and after that it became imperative to actually find the place, and so we did. We drove around the rest of the island on the scenic (and only) route, wondered why everyone we met was waving at us (either small island, friendly people - or else they thought we were someone else entirely....) and had a wonderful lunch at the Willows Inn overlooking the Sound. No orcas made an appareance, alas, but the lunch was tasty (including, apparently, a flower laid on rdeck's salmon, which he ate with relish) and the conversation great. Then we drove down to the other end of the island which was labelled as "scenic estates" on the map (it was a toss up whether it would be a gated community or a trailer park...) took a few pictures of the views, and made our way back to the ferry for which we once again had to wait almost an hour. Back on the mainland, back home, good times had with good friends.(Isn't a tide under zero, er, no water at all...)
Wild Wabbit Woad - LOVE the cigar smoking bunny...
Didn't bring my filters so it's a bit bright, but the views were fantastic...
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-27 01:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-28 01:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-27 04:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-27 05:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-27 09:39 pm (UTC)Just to let you know I've reviewed your 'The Secrets of the Jin-Shei' for
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-27 10:05 pm (UTC)(If you want to return to Syai you might want to look for "Embers of heaven" - published in the UK but there are copies available here and there in the US as well as (the last time I looked) on Amazon...)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-28 04:40 am (UTC)As I mentioned in my review the book was part of the reading group collection for my local library.
The book was well-received by all the group present though some did express they'd found elements such as the ghost road difficult. They had more expected a work of historical fiction about women's lives in ancient China without the mystical elements. My own background in esoteric studies as well as some time when younger studying martial arts and Tai Chi meant I had a good understanding of such concepts.
I defended this aspect of the book on the basis that within the East there was not such a schism as we find in the West currently between the rational and the more mystical elements of life; something that can be seen in Asian cinema and other forms of storytelling.
Quite a few women in the group found themselves crying at the end of the book (including me). I find that always a good thing when a novel has involved me to the point I mourn its characters and reading the final pages. I shall let you know when I post about 'Embers'.
Vivienne
(ps: I also like the cigar-smoking bunny above).
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-28 04:43 am (UTC)And was the White Rabbit sent along to keep my Wild Wabbit company...? [grin]
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-28 05:51 am (UTC)I'll pass on your email at our next meeting at the end of August. I imagine a few might be shy of corresponding with an author. I'm published myself (non-fiction, now oop) and have quite a few friends who are well published in their fields so have never been shy about sending an email or chatting at an event.
I may have a question or two myself once I have a copy of 'Jin-Shei' again. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-28 03:10 pm (UTC)Rather than wait a year for the next trip, maybe we can get up there in December when some snow is on the ground.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-28 04:13 pm (UTC)