Paradise Found

You know you've found paradise when you're all huddled around a table, brainstorming on ways to make a living on Pender Island. We arrived at Pender on Friday night after two ferry stops and hours of great conversation. Winding our way through Pender's hilly streets, I had to laugh as Tam's natural reaction to being tail-gated was to drive faster and faster. She squealed her tires around a hairpin turn, kicked up some gravel and for a moment I thought we were all in the General Lee - yeehaw! We arrived at Uncle Ian & Aunt Murley's gorgeous new waterfront home, claimed our beds and cracked open the wine before our coats were even off. Murley had left us a little list of things we should know about the house. Two words stood out: Heat - none. Caroline kept re-reading it, "what does this mean?!?" We contemplated calling Italy to get to the bottom of things. Did they really mean there would be no heat for us? We literally could feel the temperature drop as we read the note. We threw on slippers and bundled up in a panic- heat: none!
We made Caroline an organic chocolate birthday cake - I helped in as much as I licked a lot of spoons. We sat around enjoying music, wine, cake and each other's company. We toasted one another and said what we think each person's best qualities are - I don't know if it was the compliments or the vino, but we felt warm and fuzzy.

Saturday: Caroline & Jay's Saturday morning facial appointments at the spa in Poet's Cove were bumped until Sunday thanks to some large gang of middle-aged women that had overtaken the island. (No, not us.) We went to the local farmer's market and looked at the display tables full of eggs, baked goods, soaps, cheeses and strangely enough, books on communism. It's like someone cued up that Seseme Street song, "which one of these doesn't belong?"
We explored the island and popped into the Hope Bay Cafe for lunch. When I think about our server, the Madonna lyrics "time goes by, so slowly" come to mind. Tammy and Jay ordered grilled panini's and Caroline and I went with the seafood chowder. We could see their sandwiches on the counter beside us, and so could our waiter. He kept walking by them, looking at the paninis, looking at us, then carrying on with his walk. One time he even walked up to the sandwiches, lifted the plates, and put them back down. It was as if he was terrified of the paninis. More importantly, our soup was no where to be seen. Come on people, it's soup!
But we were in holiday mode, so the service became more of a running joke than a nuisance.
We found a nice trail walk and meandered down to Welcome Bay where Caroline, Jay and I, in true Darwin Award fashion, scaled steep rocks to see what was around the corner. Around the bend were............more steep rocks. All of our climbing around in the sun made us thirsty, so naturally we sped off to the winery. Morning Bay wines are found in some of Vancouver's finest restaurants like West, Vij's and Gothams. We sampled Rieslings, Pinot Noirs, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, oh my! We bought a 2004 Riesling and the 2003 Reserve Merlot and patted the resident dog Benny before heading back to our waterfront haven. We dined in "town" at the french restaurant Pistou Grill. The food was mouthwatering -the Ahi Tuna special seemed tailor made for Care's birthday. Uncle Ian surprised us all and treated us to the amazing feast - as if staying at his beautiful home wasn't a gift in itself. We played games late into the night and surprisingly our team got worse and worse in direct proportion to our wine consumption.

Sunday: I had a life-list moment. Relaxing having our morning coffees, Caroline started leaping up and down, "whales! whales!" I frantically ran through the house to get my camera - I literally shoved past Tam in the doorway. Oops! Caroline ran to grab Jay and left chocolate stained fingerprints on Jay's sweater. I guess we know who having birthday cake for breakfast. Then we heard them. Darth Vadar-like breathing echoed across the water as a pod of Orcas swam by the deck. We were pinching ourselves. We were awestruck. We wandered back inside and then Janet started screaming again, "there's more!" We looked up and could see the giant fins rounding the Marina's corner, making their way towards us. We counted at least 20 pass by. The last Orca to pass us flipped on his back and smacked his tail against the water as if to say, "show's over folks!"
We dropped Jay off at the spa for her facial and headed to Higgs Point for some beachcombing. Tam had her zen moment on the rocks while Care and I ran around like kids on the beach, amazed by all the giant purple jellyfish washed ashore. Care and I met up with Jay at the spa and used the facilities. We all went into the steam cave and the outdoor "legionnaires" hot tub. Tam, Jay and I met up at the Poet's Cove pub patio and had lunch while Care had her facial. Seaplanes flew into the marina as we sat in the sun - it was such a gorgeous setting. When Care's appointment was over, we headed to Hope Bay so she could have a quick bite to eat. We laughed when we got the same incredibly slow server as the day before. My favourite moment was when he refilled Care's coffee. Tam and I leaned apart so the waiter could fit inbetween us and refill our mugs, but he just walked on by. The afternoon was topped off with more island exploring with pitstops at Port Washington and Boater's nook.
I am so excited for Uncle Ian and Aunt Murley's new adventure in island living. I am so thankful we all got to share in it. I can't wait to go back.