Brian McRae

One of my favourite things to do in the morning is sit at the breakfast table with a big cup of steaming coffee, plan out my day and do a scan of the Salish Sea to see if I can see any Orcas, Humpbacks or Sea Lions from our perch at the top of the bluff.  Sometimes I’m lucky, but more often it’s a text from one of the neighbours alerting me to the fact.  There’s also a Facebook group that is devoted solely to the movement of whales and dolphins along this stretch of the coast.  If a post says that whales are swimming South past Myrtle Rocks, then I have about 30 minutes before they are in front of our place.  It may be a regular occurrence, but my prairie-born heart will always leap when I see these beautiful creatures.  It simply never gets old.

Even if there is no sea-life activity on the strait, I love to use the binoculars to observe the ever-changing light on Texada Island, watch the water whipped up by a storm blowing up the Malaspina or spy on the various boats and ships making their way past our place.  Yesterday, I spent about an hour watching a 30 foot sailboat fight it’s way Westward.  I wouldn’t want to be on that boat being tossed around by whitecaps, but it was fascinating to watch from the safety of our kitchen.

Today’s plan was to get started on the grouting on the ground floor of the house.  We’ve spent several days checking out YouTube videos, talking to neighbours and getting the necessary tools ready to do the job.  Today was the day that the rubber hit the road.  So far, so good!   

Patience is my middle name.

After twenty long months, we were able to move into the Art Studio part of our new house on Twin Eagles Bluff – finally! It’s 900 square feet of coziness looking out over the Salish Sea. It will be our new home while we finish off the main part of the house over the coming months. Mitch has set up his office in the living room and I’ve set up my drafting table in the big room, so we can kind of keep out of each other’s hair while we’re working. The studio has a good sized sleeping loft and a fully functioning kitchen so I don’t have to worry about a summer of cooking outside.

I’m especially excited about getting back to the paints as my last painting was finished in December. The next three months are going to be busy while we get ourselves settled up here. I’ll need to find a balance between working on the house, landscaping the front and back of the property and fitting in as much painting as possible. It’s going to a bit hectic, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. I also find that physical work enhances my creativity. At any rate, I’ll sleep well at night.

Throughout my busy day, I’m finding that there are many opportunities to find little moments of zen here on the Bluff. It may be the fog draping itself on Texada Island or the sun creating patterns on the Salish Sea. Even storms chasing up the Malaspina make me stop and breath. There is something about this place that refills my soul constantly.