Spent a nice weekend on Pender Island to try and find some solid ground after a shaky week – I hadn’t ever been and it’s so beautiful. On Saturday we went to the weekly artisan’s market and picked up some fresh cakes and local goat’s cheese, browsed through pottery and jewelry, and I got these two beautiful spinning tops from some local wood turners:

The one on the left is juniper wood and has beautiful colours, and I think the striped one is fir. Later in the afternoon I went by Nu To You, the island’s thrift store, and found a whole load of goods for only $10.75: Nine West sandals, 2 dresses, 4 shirts, a mug and some knitting needles. The dresses need to be altered a bit and some of the items have tough (but minor) stains that I will have to work at – here are two of the tops:

On Sunday we went for a walk on one of the beaches and I learned how to make rock statues (more to come on that). We also scoured the beach, which was filled with crabs and life and interesting rocks. My friend’s mom collects bits of washed-up pottery and glass so the hunt was on, and we found quite a few shreds of once-loved creations (a few of the items shown here were found on previous occasions):

My eyes will forever be on the lookout now for bits of pottery and coloured glass when I’m on a beach – it’s a fun thing to do while exploring.

The rest of the weekend we fed deer in the back yard (one brave year-old boy, named “Nasty Baby” for his piggy eating habits, ate from our hands and even let Erin rub his fuzzy horn nubs), drank white wine spritzers, rocked in the hammock, telescoped the ocean view from the balcony, and watched the Euro Cup.