Saltspring Swag

I went with a mission: to find matching earrings for my chakra pendant. Mission accomplished—twice! I also found a silk scarf to accent my new faux leather (you don’t dare wear real leather to Saltspring Island) jacket. Looks like burgundy figures in my winter wardrobe palette this year.

With nothing much else to attract us in the little town of Ganges, Ter and I shopped. The earrings were my prime directive and neither of us was confident enough to stray off the beaten path on our first visit. It was a lot like driving the Saanich Peninsula or north of the Malahat. Silly me. If you squish Vancouver Island and all the Gulf Islands together, you’ll get one big rainforest island. The native flora doesn’t change from rock to rock. Only the fauna does, and the vibe we got from the locals was pleasant enough but I live in a tourist town. I know what the natives think when a stranger shows up in September, and we were most definitely strangers.

The ferry trip was fun; pausing for breakfast was delicious (doesn’t look it, but my toast was GF!); poking around the shops was fruitful, though I wish I’d pulled out the Canon at Black Sheep Books, a shop plucked straight out of Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter stories. Didn’t buy anything, but there is no better place to hang out anywhere than a vintage book store.

Best of all, on returning home, we agreed that Vancouver is too big, Ganges is too small, and that makes Victoria juuuuuust right!

For now.

The trip in pictures:

Ter and Tig in lane 31

the boat we're on

the boat we're usually on

the boat I'd have liked to be on

a perfect day to be on any boat

the wee kirk on the water

pulling in to Fulford Harbour

brekkie at ...

the Tree House proprietor

a tight fit through the front door

the view gets no better than this