The Kerplunks add colour to your life

The Kerplunks will be entertaining an enthusiastic crowd at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo on Saturday Nov 14, 2009. They're excited about this, so excited in fact, that they are having a colouring contest to give away some FREE TICKETS to their show!
To enter, go to their website and click the red ticket on the top of the site to download the colouring page.
Deadline to enter is Tuesday, Nov 10.When you're finished, print your name, age and contact information and send it to:The Kerplunks1970 Murray Road Gabriola Island BCV0R 1X7.
Remember this band is a lot of fun, go wild !

Stressed over the Holidays ?

I'd like to suggest Chocolate.

I'm in the midst of organizing the fundraising packages for the Nanaimo Diamonds Synchronized Swim club. Each swimmer will be visiting friends, family and neighbors to collect orders for Purdy's chocolates, orders will be collected by November 10th and delivered on December 14th. If chocolate is the answer for any of your holiday stress, then please plan ahead and come by the Coast Realty office on Gabriola and fill out one of the order forms on my desk. (submitted by: Tina Lynch)

Gabriola's Sleepy Hollow

The Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department with the support of the Community held it's annual fireworks display last night at Twin Beaches, it was amazing - the weather couldn't have been nicer & the bon fire & hot cocoa kept the viewers warm.

From there it was over the haunted house, hosted by Deborah & Jim, there amazing halloween display this year, surrounded the suspicious untimely death of Sir Edgar Allen Poe. Year after year, this haunted house is more and more amazing, thanks to the tireless efforts of so many volunteers - you guys are amazing!

For the next few evenings, the pumpkins that were around the island, are dropped off on North Road, in an area that islanders refer to as the tunnels. Come dusk, they are lit up! Beware that cars travel much slower on North Road during these evenings, as they go through the tunnel stopping at nearly all of the carved pumpkins. This years display is exceptional - if you haven't taken a walk or drive down the tunnel at dusk - it's a must do! Have a spook-tacular evening...

Fireworks are in the air!

We have absolutely loved the tradition of going to the Gabriola Sands Provincial Park (the “twin beaches”) on Halloween to watch the Fireworks since Jennifer and I were about 4 years old. This is a great community event, where the kids can get some treats, the firefighters serve hot chocolate, there is a large bonfire (well under control), and a fantastic display of fireworks to delight the eyes. The Gabriola Volunteer Firefighters have been treating islanders to this event for over 30 years. It’s always been a strong family tradition for us to attend, and with youngsters in the family we will surely continue to attend for years to come. If you’re looking for Jen on Halloween, she’ll be “dressed up” in her firefighting gear helping out at the Fireworks.Saturday, October 31. Fireworks start at 7pm.

Working with Glass

I had the opportunity of taking a fantastic Mosaic workshop offered by Karen Aaker (www.purpledoormosaics.com ) through Artstart on the weekend. She had the supplies & equipment well organized, and taught two classes with 12 in attendance. I choose a fairly simple design, and became excited about the possibilities of this art form. Well, I'm now hooked, I'm signed up for one of her courses that she's offering on Sundays from 11-1, November 8-29. My goal is to make my Christmas gifts this year, and this will help me take one off the list.

350.org

Gabriola Elementary School took part today for 350.org, an international day of climate action. Students of all ages had been preparing with letters, power point presentations, a song, & coming up with ways that each of us can reduce our carbon footprint, which they presented in a very powerful assembly that the community was invited to.

The teachers, students, parents & volunteers did an amazing job in pulling this together… It provoked thinking about our environment and the effects of climate change.

The 350.org website shows 4457 actions taken in over 172 countries to take a stand for a safe climate future. It’s also a great resource to help fascilitate conversations with kids, with activities that they can do. We chose to do a project on “Icelandic Butterflies” which we created with the kids and submitted on the 350.org website. The Butterflies created will be in the display gallery as of October 24, 2009 – the International Day of Climate Action. Mor-more, kept busy this week painting 3 kids shirt with the 350 logo - they looked fabulous...

The embracing of 350.org in our community, and especially by the school just shows that there is hope!

The Marathon.

It's now been almost two weeks since I ran my first marathon, a goal I've held for as long as I can remember. This year, I knew that this would be the year for me to do it. I've realized over the past few years that life can change in an instant, and I knew that I was in a time of my life when I had the physical ability to complete it.

I joined the Running Room in Nanaimo and completed my first half marathon in the Spring of 2009 and continued the training for the Victoria Marathon.

Some weeks of training went better than others, and there were a few little challenges that would pop up (limited sleep,work,young children, sunshine, camping, life, etc). I really enjoyed the process, and for me the nerves built as October 11 drew nearer, I was lucky enough to have the pressure of creating enough paintings for the Gallery Tour to distract me. On Saturday night, Lesley Standerwick, Keli Stapp and I packed up the car, left Gabriola and headed for Victoria.

My anxiety hit as we we're driving and I realized that I was in the car with two personal trainers- what was I thinking ? I started to relax as they brought out a two pound bag of jelly beans for the drive and told me that we we're going to have dinner at 9 when we got to Victoria, this was more my style.

The three of us completed our first marathons on October 11th. I couldn't imagine going through the process on my own and was so pleased to share this experience with such supportive and knowledgeable friends. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, there was no wind, and we had friends and family there to cheer us on along the way. (Submitted by: Tina Lynch)