As mentioned previously, Joanne and I were invited to partake in a 3 day/2 night ocean kayaking trip by Jude. This happened the first weekend in August and we had a blast! Other than us 3 (who knew each other through blogging and are now fast friends), there were 5 others on the trip – all friends of Jude, who knew her from her academic life. Those folks, and our two fabulous guides made a contingent of 10 kayakers on this adventure.
Our two amazing guides from Majestic Ocean Kayaking: Jeff and the aptly named Marina! Learned so much from them. 💕
Captain Gary dropped us, the kayaks and all of our gear off at Moon Snail Beach on Dodd Island.
Moon snail on its namesake beach.We each received a laminated map of the area, to carry with us while kayaking. X marks the spot we were dropped off (and later picked up) at Moon Snail Beach on Dodds Island. In the upper right (under Crawford Lake) is the location of the Broken Islands Lodge. Broken line indicates Captain Gary picking us up at the lodge and depositing us on Moon Snail Beach for our last day of kayaking.Joanne and I in all of our kayaking gear (including spray skirt). I think Jude took this picture of us. One of our first stops, at the tiniest of the Tiny Islands. That’s Marina (L) and Joanne (R) in the shot. Joanne in her trusty boat (with Jude in the background).Eventually we made it to our cozy, comfy lodge for the next 2 nights. Where we were amply fed and watered. Our boats in the foreground, awaiting tomorrow’s adventure.Apres kayak. View from my Muskoka chair.A young black bear came to forage at the lodge’s beach every morning.Our mornings started out calm and foggy.But soon enough, the fog lifted to reveal stunning views.We took many breaks, allowing us to explore different islands and their beaches.Jude and Joanne (and one of Jude’s friends) relaxing during one of our lunch breaks on yet another island.Guide Jeff made sure we made it to Willis Island, to experience a giant cedar tree growing there. Jude in front of it. I used panorama mode to try to capture the whole tree (and Joanne) in this shot. I think I took this shot just before we headed into the roughest waters experienced yet, on this trip. On the last day. Some of our group were quite shook up by this experience (especially the newbies). Guide Jeff had said it was nothing we couldn’t handle, so I felt quite safe and enjoyed being tossed on the waves. Was I too stupid to be scared?
I used my happy-birthday-to-me new GoPro camera to take some video and GoPro made me a short highlight reel. Yay!!! The clouds and fog started rolling in on the afternoon of the last day, and it was perfect timing to load the kayaks (and ourselves) back on the boat and head “home”: to Majestic’s headquarters in Ucluelet.
And I wasn’t home too many days before this happened. Many thanks to our guide Jeff for giving me great advice on what type of sea kayak to look into.
Meet “Libelle” (lee bell uh). Dutch word for dragonfly.
I hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride on this fabulous adventure of mine (and Joanne’s and Jude’s). It was challenging and thrilling and contemplative and awe-inspiring and, and, and….it was a wonderful experience that I feel so grateful and privileged to have been a part of.
In my post on my WOTY (Limber – in case you were wondering and didn’t have time to click on the link), I posted a photo of the January habit tracker page I created in my 2022 journal. This sparked a few comments as to the process I use when I journal. I use a dotted journal because I can’t stay between the linesmy handwriting is abysmal I find it more freeing. I use a very simple method of journalling, based veryloosely on a system called Bullet Journalling, created by a designer named Ryder Carroll. So many people love this system and you can go down a YouTube rabbit hole for days watching how people create and personalize their BuJos, not that I would know anything about that. 😉 It is supposed to be a very good system for personal productivity. I am so damn relieved and happy to be able to put personal productivity in the rear-view mirror of my current life so I don’t use my BuJo for that purpose but instead for habit-tracking and as a diary.
Prior to my current way of journalling, I was using a very fancy (to me, anyways) Japanese journal system – called a Hobonichi – that I really loved. But once I retired I found the format and size a bit limiting, and wanted something I could customize.
Last entries in my beloved 2021 Hobonichi journal…
Some people turn their bullet journals into literal works of art. They are gorgeous but I would never be able to maintain something like that. My journal is so basic, I don’t even use a ruler to create my lines. I freehand it. And I use purchased silicone stamps for the dates because my life span is too short to write out the days of the month over and over again it looks better that way.
It’s almost March 2022 as I write this, so it is time to create my March spread. I create only a month at a time, because I am fickle I am constantly refining my process. Follow along, if you like!
Step 1 – gather the goods.
Assemble the tools: journal, pens, highlighters, stamps, ink pad.
Step 2 – pick a highlighter pen colour for the month.
Green is very spring-like and perfect for March.
Step 3 – Pick a stamp for the month. (Snap-together set ordered from Amazon)
Step 4 – start the spread.
Open the journal to a fresh 2 page spread and stamp the month. I then freehand a line at the top of the page.
Step 5 – put together the date stamp for the month.
I purchased this set from Michaels; also available on Amazon.Affix the silicone stamps to an acrylic block, and you are ready to stamp your heart out. Pro tip: practice on scrap paper to get the technique perfect before you attempt it in your journal.
Step 6 – continue to fill in the spread for March with whatever you feel like tracking that month.
You will see that I added a couple of extra days of the month stamps, in case I dream up other stuff I want to track as I progress throughout the month.
The system I am using now is to have the left hand side of the spread for noting things like when I last watered the plants, flipped the mattress, vaccuumed underneath the sofa cushions, etc. In other words, my haus-frauing. I live alone and stuff doesn’t get dirty very fast so I like to keep track of when it was last done because my memory is faulty especially for stuff that doesn’t really interest me like housework. My mom had a rigid daily routine for housekeeping that my rebel heart has just never accepted as the way to do things. I like to work my cleaning schedule around the phases of the moon and when I damn well am in the mood to do so or I can’t stand the dust anymore or it’s raining or company is coming, whatever comes first. Take that, all my Dutch female forebears!
The right hand side of the spread is for the fun stuff I want to keep track of, and good habits I want to keep going or to build on. Under my habit tracker for this month, I am checking off (approximately) how many steps I have logged on my Apple watch, had I eaten at least 3 fruits and vegetables that day (F/V), and did I do my oil-pulling mouth hygiene routine (O/P). I am also including a space to record my occasional blood pressure readings because my nurse practitioner ALWAYS asks for this info. (I haven’t had a mini-stroke since 2016 – hoorah!!!!) On the calendar side, I mark off with highlighter the days that I have achieved those particular activities as I work towards certain goals.
As for birthdays, special events, appointments, etc., I keep those on my electronic calendar (Google) so that they are always in the palm on my hand (i.e. in my phone).
Step 7 – start of daily journal pages.
After I have completed the March spread, I turn the page and line the top and add the words “Daily Journal”. I make a journal entry for each day of the month, noting all the banalities, rants and musings of my day…sometimes it is only a few lines…sometimes it is more than half a page. Sometimes I dress the pages up with stickers, washi tape or To-Do lists, and sometimes not. It is my journal and there are no real rules (rebel heart-approved). Towards the end of the month, I guesstimate how many blank pages are yet required for daily journal entries, and flip the next page over and start to work on the following month’s spread of things I want to keep track of. And so on, and so forth…
That is my journalling method…at least what it looks like for March of 2022. Next month – who knows where my rebel heart will take me… 🙂
Do you journal? Do you track habits? Do tell please, in the comments. I would love to know what others do.
