Christmas Craft Fair

Hey, my 100th post!

I'm slow posting these photos from the fabulous craft fair held at the community hall last Sunday. My photos are not great, nor do they show the breadth of crafts and food available. 'Twas a fun day for all though. Daughter P tested the local market for gluten-free goodies and did quite well with Christmas treats, including gluten-free butter tarts.


(Kids were welcome, too.)

Speaking of butter tarts, the fair was organized again by Jen Scott, she of the fabulous butter tarts (and other amazing baking; so good that after dinner at her place last night I had to lay on the couch for an hour before I could even roll my way down the hall to bed). It's a huge job, but I think this was one of the best gatherings in years. Sometimes it's all jewellry or all food (or so it seems), but there was a wide range of crafts out this time. Plus, it's just a fun community gathering. Thanks, Jen!





(If anyone with keep pockets is still looking for a gift for me — that "goose bowl" of Adrian's is beautiful!)

Jokes for Christmas

I thought you might like this. I saw it posted on the bulletin board downtown:

Latkes For the World

Yesterday a few Tofitians carried on the decade-old (or thereabouts; no one's quite sure) tradition of Latkes for the World. The event was started by one or the other (or both) of the Langer ladies — Shirley and daughter, Val — but since they're not here full-time any longer (but are here in spirit, I'm sure) the event fell to Tofino's self-proclaimed "Top Jew," Ron S with help from Nessa and a few hangers-on willing to give up a few hours on Friday night to grate potatoes, onions and garlic. Daughter P and I helped for a bit on Friday and serving the latkes on Saturday afternoon. It's a simple affair, but one that's been very popular and memorable — at least in our family — since the kids were young. Essentially the crew prepares and cooks latkes for the afternoon, as close to the first day of Hanukkah as possible. Then, people just drop into the Common Loaf Bakery for a free feed, a spin of the dreidl (Ron even put coins out for the kids) and to light the menorah. Thanks, Ron, Nessa, the Floodies, the Common Loaf staff and all the others who helped make it a very fun afternoon. It's the beginning of many wonderful, casual, relaxing holiday events in town, that makes me love staying home during the holidays.

Friday Photos (Courtesy Jeremy Koreski)

Jeremy Koreski graciously sent me some photos several months ago now and I am very slow in getting them posted here. My apologies Jeremy. Please check out this homegrown Tofitian's work here and on his website. The surfers in these photos are Peter Devries and Raph Bruhwiler.

After watching the photographers in action during the O'Neill Coldwater Classic, I have an entirely new respect for how difficult (and bloody cold) it must be to take photos of surfers. Brrrr.

Music (and Musings) for the Mudflats

I blether on a fair bit about the Tofino Mudflats here, but they really are a stunning — and ecologically important — part of Clayoquot Sound. The Raincoast Education Society had a mini-flick contest last year where people submitted their short videos on the theme of mudflats. Enjoy these creative (and wonderfully wacky) Tofitians!

No, It Doesn't Rain Here All the Time

Despite the reputation as being a place where it rains all the time we often have long stretches of high pressure, which equates to cold, clear, sunny skies. It lifts the spirits, no? Here are some pics of the sound from this morning, and of the pass from a few days ago.





On December 5 in 1927, George Jackson was experiencing similar weather:

December 5
Fine and clear this a.m. beautiful sunrise and like summer all day and ended with a glorious sunset. Went out to the landing for mail and stores this forenoon at high tide, but Grant was not in sight so I returned empty handed and then I cut wood. Tofino phoned in afternoon that Grant had been up late left my stuff, was then too late for tide so had to go and get stuff on the night tide. 10:30 - just got finished and everything in the house at midnight.

"The landing" is on the inlet side of the peninsula - Browning Passage - where the boat from Tofino would come up to deliver mail, supplies and people (who would then walk across the peninsula and on to Long Beach). "Grant" was Duncan Grant or one of his sons, probably Wallace or Bordie, who would deliver the supplies. Jackson's reference to "Tofino calling" relates to the fact that his house was on the telegraph line. Jackson's job was to maintain the telegraph line.

On the Mudflats with Margaret

Last week Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson visited the west coast and Tofino to promote their new books. The event was very well attended and quite fun. The FH was asked to introduce Graeme Gibson and he did very well, despite being incredibly nervous. He work on it for a week and had a lot of questions prepared, which, unfortunately, he didn't get an opportunity to ask on stage.

The presentations by both authors were thought-provoking and, at times, very funny (particularly Atwood). Greg, over at View from The Greg summarized the event well here. There was an article in The Westerly yesterday and even Ms. Atwood posted some pics from her trip on her Year of the Flood blog.

I made both daughters attend. Daughter A was attentive, but Daughter P a bit less so. Still, I told her that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and perhaps (perhaps) one day she can say, "When I was twelve, ...". Bob and I, with our friend Peter, also had a once-in-a-lifetime treat when we were asked to take the couple out birding. We had a lovely time on the mudflats talking about birds, predators, mud, the environment, even butter tarts.



(Thanks Jen from Sobo. They were delicious.)

It was a very enjoyable and memorable morning.



Despite how it looks, she is not recoiling from the eelgrass I'm holding. She was very interested and engaged in everything we talked about.

Designer Colours

Yellow and grey seem to be the colour of the fashionistas this year (or maybe it was last? I'm always a bit slow on the uptake). Regardless, I've been seeing this combo. a lot in design — home, fashion or otherwise. We see yellow and grey in combination all the time here:



You can see why they work.

Light postings this week so far, but I'm on the road. If you're in Tofino or Ucluelet, remember the meeting this evening — 4:30-6 pm in Tofino and 7-8:30 pm in Ucluelet. This article gives some important background.

Oh Susanna's Tough City

So the CBC's Great Canadian Song Quest wraps up today. As I mentioned before, Oh Susanna was chosen to write a song about Tofino. Her song, Tough City, is now available for download and you can hear a snippet here. (You have to click on the province to bring up her link.)

Here's a story from The Westerly on the creation of the song.

I've heard of Oh Susanna of course, but I think this close listen will be sending me back to iTunes for more of her work. (And the rest of the Song Quest album sounds very worth a listen, too.) Her voice is strong and her storytelling rooted in place. I see from her website that she was inspired by Bob Dylan, Sarah Harmer and Ron Sexsmith among others and that her band includes musicians from Blue Rodeo so that seals the appeal — I'm fans of them all.

I downloaded the song this morning and have listened several times now. I'm a sentimental gal at heart, so the song appealed to me a great deal. Tough City is the "she" in this song and in it we hear of the history ("when I was young / there were no roads to spare / only the ocean could carry you there"), changes in the economy (the decline of fishing, for instance), and some of Tough City's new reality ("new people come / with their buckets of money / no notion of staying / or knowing her story"). (I know, I know, that last bit is a sweeping statement, but you can't deny that it isn't/hasn't been true in many cases.)

So why don't you take a listen for yourself? Let me know what you think.

Books and Birds

Look who's coming to Tofino:



Okay, so unless you live here and have heard the buzz or are particularly attune to all things literature in Canada, you may not recognize authors, Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson in this photo (which comes from here, by the way). They are keen naturalists - as you can probably tell from the photo - and are willing to rough it a bit so I'm sure they'll love Tofino.

There will be quite an event tomorrow afternoon with a presentation by Gibson on his latest book, The Bedside Book of Beasts and then a reading by Atwood from The Year of the Flood. Since the event is three hours long I suspect there will be lots of mingling time (and perhaps a few nibbles?) and the proceeds are graciously going toward local environmental education initiatives.

Tickets and more information can be had from Wildside Booksellers, one of two fabulous bookstores in our wee town. I hear the event is almost sold out so act quickly if you haven't got your tickets yet.

(And don't forget that tonight is Jingle Into Christmas. Should you be buying gifts this Christmas, looking locally first would help give local businesses a boost through the slow months ahead.)