It has been a busy time for me this past month. Had some silver linings amongst a few clouds. I’ve included several photos in this issue. Winter arrived in full force as you can see with these two wintry pictures. I was traveling in late November to see clients and thought that I would stop on Gabriola Island on my way home to visit my dear friend Sigrid. She and her husband moved recently to a Gulf Island from the big city of Vancouver. The day after I arrived the snow began and barely stopped for 2 days. Needless to say I/we did. One silver lining was that I got to spend more time with Sigrid, which is always effortless and lovely. You know, when you get together with a longtime friend and there really feels like no time since you were last together? Well, that’s what it’s like with Sigrid. On top of time together, we spent a day de-cluttering the kitchen. We emptied every cupboard and drawer and then set to re-organizing the kitchen for better use of space available. I think Sigrid was amazed at all the “stuff” they had and how many multiples of spices she had accumulated. Happens to all of us at one time or another. We ended up with a home for all that she/they needed in the kitchen, a garbage can full to the brim and a dining table full of things to give-away. There seemed to be open spaces now almost everywhere. Sigrid and Charles are very happy with the results and so far in talking with Sigrid, have maintained the order of how they wanted the kitchen to be. It is so nice now to open the cupboards and be able to see all that is there. Another bonus; we did it in our pj’s!

I finally did arrive home only to have another snowstorm a day later, which halted my travels once again. The picture with the water is our pondless waterfall with snow heaped all around it. Looked beautiful and sounded heavenly. The second picture is from the back of the house looking to the forest from the upper deck. See how high that snow is on the railing? We had about two feet of snow in a 24-hour period. It was amazing. Thank heavens we are back to the West Coast rain now although we still have snow on the ground due to cool temps.

Hooray! Hooray! We have the built-ins done around the fireplace. See for yourself...here’s a picture. We are thrilled with how it all turned out. The silver lining here is that because we had to wait a year to finally have this project completed, we were able to change the design and the look. David and I truly love this wall. I think it is my favorite thing in the house. It just absolutely completes the space and brings such warmth and coziness to a large space. We hired a fellow named Sam to build the cupboards. David painted them plus did all the stone work around the fireplace and the hearth. An extremely talented glass artist, Carol Swann, did the window panels in the cupboards (www.serendipitybycarol.com). They are magnificent and custom designed for the space. In each panel are etchings in the glass of starfish, clamshells, waves and sand. They are stunning and we are over the moon about them. They look different every time the light hits them. Thank you Carol for taking on this project and creating such a magnificent piece of art.

We are decorated up for Christmas at our house. Nothing too elaborate and I like the look. As you can see from the picture, Molly our cat is enjoying the festive season or at least the fact that there is a tree for her to play in and around. She has somehow managed to turn the tree completely around on more than one occasion and had plugs going in different directions. We will be missing our 12 yr. old cat Shadow who we had to put down last month. He was quite ill and his quality of life was very limited. Molly has been a bundle of energy and conversation since Shadow died and it's good to see her kitten-like behaviour return. I think her enjoyment was somewhat limited when Shadow was ill, as he was a tad on the cranky side with everyone.

Another somewhat cloud and rainbow story happened on Saturday. It was the 2nd anniversary of the death of my dear friend Annemarie. One of her sons organized a gingerbread cookie-making extravaganza at our house and invited her close friends. We baked cookies galore, ate some great appetizers, sipped wine and celebrated Annemarie. We were sure she was smiling down on us at our attempts to replicate her recipe. I must say, we did a pretty good job; they tasted comfortingly similar to the real McCoy.

We’ve been entertaining quite a bit in this little Village of Cumberland and it’s been great. As you can see the trees look beautiful with the snow on them creating the look of a Winter Wonderland. Our particular street has been a bit of an ice rink on a few days when the snow melted and then froze overnight. A whole new way of driving again now that we are away from the ocean.

We had a Christmas Village parade on the weekend with the lighting of the Christmas tree in the Village Square. The parade consisted of commercial trucks lit up and decorated for the season. I was fortunate to be one of the judges for decorations in the categories of Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Best in Show. We had lots of laughs as we drove around the Village Friday night looking at all the decorations. The prizes were monetary and big and I can bet you there’ll be more participants next year.

The butcher has moved to a larger location, which is always good news. He is carrying more fruits and vegetables, which just helps to decrease those visits into the city of Courtenay. We’ve had plenty of craft shows and a number of art exhibitions and music evenings over the past month. This Village is swarming with talented artists of all kinds. Really adds to the flavour here, which is good.

I did this past retreat at a guesthouse here and the house was perfect for us or for a group of four - a big plus for Cumberland, the owner and me. I am excited to say that I have another woman coming from California in March to do a retreat with me. We’ve spoken on the phone, set the date and are both looking forward to meeting and spending the time together. She’s from a large city and I look forward to showing off the Village and the trails to her in March. Maybe it’s time you did a retreat here so you could see for yourself how quaint and cool this Village is. I have a client from California and her husband visiting a night with us over the holidays too and I can’t wait to take them for a stroll downtown for a coffee. Before you know it, this place will be on the map!

Merry Christmas from my house in the Village to yours, wherever it may be.