Beautiful Canada, a Homecoming of Sorts

Thoughts from a week on the go.

In the last seven days we have gotten prepared to sail, sailed out to Dungeness Spit and anchored for the night, motor-sailed up to Victoria, gotten into our slip at Oak Bay Marina, and enjoyed being tourists here for a couple of days. Since I have never been to Canada before, I was excited to set foot in a new country.

However, trying to get a good sense of Victoria by visiting Oak Harbor is like basing your opinion of San Diego on a few days in La Jolla. It is a beautiful old neighborhood of gorgeous Victorian homes with stunning waterfront views. Wide leafy avenues lead to a charming village full of bustling pubs and cafes.

We took a city bus to downtown Victoria and spent one day in the big city. Our meagre itinerary covered a lot of ground (The Empress Hotel, Munro's Books, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf. In short, we didn't see very much but managed to walk ourselves off our feet. Luckily, we took a break for pizza and beer at cool brewery we'd discovered at the night Market in Oak Bay village.

The Canadian people have been warm and welcoming and so very understanding about our disavowal of our country's current clown in chief. I'm sure many of you will be attending a protest tomorrow and I will be beside you in spirit!

Speaking of protests, naturally I've been closely following the situation in my original hometown of Los Angeles, along with the events in my current home city, San Diego. So much pain, for so little reason, except cruelty. As my friend David Phillips often quips “The cruelty is the point.”

My friend

Ann Hazard

just wrote a great post about the feelings of our Mexican friends toward all of us, as they watch the madness play out on television. Being a Mexican-American from Los Angeles watching this all happen from Canada, where I’m visiting the country where my grandfather was born, brings up all sorts of emotions, especially as we North Americans are suddenly so divided for no reason.

I recently posted how books and reading can save us in these infuriating times, and I stand by that, but I've been so overwhelmed with books to read, I am almost ready to cry uncle. Not just two manuscripts that I'm reading for potential book reviews, but three books for work as well, one of which is the second in Amanda La Pera’s YA series which I'll be content editing. It is a great satisfaction to be in demand as an editor but I did plan on having a lighter workload for this month. Life is like that!

I've recently read a wonderful new work of historical fiction, partly set in San Diego at the turn of the 20th century, by my talented friend Jill Hall. I'll definitely be telling you more about that book as we get closer to the publication date. I get so excited when I read upcoming works and know I will get to share them with you all.

I've been writing, too, and though I didn't get to 1000 words every day of the last two weeks of #1000wordsofsummer, I did write more than usual, which is to say that it was an inspiration and a boost to my output.

I was going to end with more images, but the wifi is being tricksy, so I will leave it at this, the view at dawn from our anchorage at Dungeness Spit (The longest natural sand spit in the United States). The lighthouse is in the foreground and there’s Mount Baker off in the distance. The first image is Mount Baker, seen enroute from Sequim.

Don’t worry, there will be more travel pics and notes, and sailing stories next week.

Hasta pronto!