As a testament to how over-tired I am, all of these pics have been posted in reverse order. An amateur mistake.

At the end of my time there, the executives were heading out in their ocean kyacks just as I was getting back into the tin water taxi. I fought to keep awake the whole way home, arriving just in time to make dinner for my boys at 7:00 pm.

Should I list the three things I'm thankful for here? Or at the bottom of this post, which is actually where the story begins. Oh, this is all so confusing.
The executives and their guests got some free time this afternoon - most of them chose to spend a few hours on the ocean, in little plastic floating vessels.

I spent my last hour on the island, off the island. I hung out on the dock, taking lots and lots of photos. 368 of them in case you're wondering.

The reason I was invited to Keats Island for the day was to sit in on the Fundraising session.

This was the trainer for the day, her name is Karen and she spoke for a few hours on all the ins and outs of fundraising. But the most interesting aspect of the training was listening to the executives who were taking her class talk about their successful campaigns. Very inspiring.

I love this pic. That's Miller on the gravel road, running down to the dock, where his water taxi is waiting to zip him over to Langdale to catch that ferry before it heads out again.

This is where I spent the day. At Barnabas; it's a camp on Keat's Island. Arrow holds it's week long seminar training weeks at this facility.

It's quite lovely.

Despite all the forecasts for rain today, the weather was perfect.

That white blob on the distant shoreline is the BC Ferry one would take to Langdale.

The boat with the wake in the foreground is the water taxi one takes to get to Keats.

Once you get docked, there's a bit of a hike to get up to the camp site. Normally not a problem. If you've got a stupid hip and a retarded knee, it feels like a 10 mile Mt Everest hike.

And this is a close up of the tin tug that transported me from the mainland to the island.

I got up at 4:45 am and felt tensely uptight the entire drive. I had to be at Horseshoe Bay by 7:00 or they wouldn't let me on the 7:20 sailing. I was feeling sick to my stomach at 7:00 when I was still on the upper levels highway.

Being overly anxious and frightfully tired is not the best way to start a day. However, despite my lateness, they did let me on, but I was to hurry.

Hurry?

I was carrying a huge jacket and cane umbrella for the forecasted rain. All my camera equipment. And a huge leather bag to transport all the things that got left behind at the office. And, have I mentioned that my legs are not working so good these days?

Holy cow. By the time the ferry pulled out from the dock, I thought my head was going to explode.

As luck would have it, the spot I chose to collapse in, was the unwritten, but apparently well-known location for all the truck drivers to converge.

I was privy to their conversations.

And what did they talk about?

Glad you asked.

Marriage. They talked about marriage and divorce.

"Yeah, there was this one time, that my ex and I golfed together... she worked for Hollyburn Lumber - you know, just in the summer, and asked me if I wanted to go in their golf tournament. I said, sure and like she had never golfed before. Ever. Never ever picked up a club. So we go off to this thing, and it's like a real golf course - serious golf, and they pair us up with another couple. And she's never been on a golf course before. Did not have a clue..."

"Geez - you shoulda at least taken her to a pitch n put or driving range before you take her to a golf tournament..." one of the guys says.

"Yeah, I know that now. Probably why she's my ex..."

"Well, as long as you're learning from your mistakes. I've been married a couple times, each one is better than the last. The first one lasted 5 years. The second one 16. I'm 7 years into this one... hopefully I've got it figured out..."

I KNOW!!!

Truckers. Talking like housewives.

I wouldn't have been surprised if they started talking about air freshners and fabric softeners.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who e-mailed me re: yesterdays self indulgent post. Thinking I should probably delete it because its embarassing. How pathetic am I?

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. No rain. Yeah. No rain.

2. The change in scenery I got to enjoy today.

3. Allison, Max's tutor. She's amazing.

Shalom,