15th Century Chinese Signalling Cannon

Mike, Wendy, Trevor and Hayden are aboard with us for two weeks holiday. Kent left at 4 am Tuesday to meet them in Seattle and had them to Egmont 16 hours later!

It has rained since they arrived with the occasional tease of sun between black clouds but it hasn’t dampened our spirits. The boys don’t seem to mind at all and enjoyed fishing from the dock, hitting rocks with baseball bat sizes of driftwood and wandering around Pop’s place in Egmont.

Kent and Mike finished off a few projects, such as mounting the electric prawn puller on the aft deck and chocks on the bridge to hold the dinghy securely while we are underway.

We left Egmont Thursday afternoon just as the sun peeked out, toured by Freil Falls and Harmony Islands then down the channel to the Spilsbury’s in Blind Bay where we tied to their dock for the night and began preparing dinner.

Dave and Gloria arrived an hour later and we spent the evening together. The boys explored Barbecue Island and the property until they discovered Dave has highspeed internet AND a helicopter video game!

Gloria showed Wendy and I her hand crafted/painted dolls, her fabulous (huge – well organized) craft room and the ribbons she has won in various doll competitions. We saw completed dolls, dolls in various stages such as requiring intricate, period clothing, face painting and firing. Gloria creates the dolls, even making woven straw hats on a milliners hat block (sorry, I don’t know the correct term).

We also saw Dave’s studio with his paintings and his Dad’s paintings. These are two extremely talented people – and great hosts of course.

Gloria suggested the boys would enjoy firing the 15th century Chinese signalling cannon. Dave filled it with black powder and put a piece of tinfoil in as wadding. Trevor rammed it with a mop handle. Dave placed it on a stand and Trevor and Hayden held it while Dave lit the fuse with a propane torch. We were all deafened for several seconds after it ka-boomed out into the bay. Luckily Dave doesn’t actually shoot a shell or projectile, otherwise it might have sunk the 60 footer anchored in Ballet Bay. As it was, it surely made the boaters spill their wine! I have it on video and will post it once I have high speed…

Wendy and I served a fabulous dinner of chicken, pasta, salad and bread and we visited until the mosquitos chased us under the covers.

The rain held off until 9:30 this morning but it is drizzling now. We’ll make our way toward Powell River to buy a couple of new batteries Kent says we need then we’ll be off to Desolation Sound, hoping to find the sun and warmer water!

PPP