All proceeds to OrcaLab!

Since I have been in Canada, I have been busy crafting away in my spare time, at first just to keep my fingers busy! I had some really nice comments on my pieces and it was suggested that I could sell them alongside the t shirts that are sold to guests of the kayak company I am working for.

It took a little while, but I finally have enough pieces to put a bundle in with the t shirts! The bundle consists of large killer whales, small killer whales, dolphins, little blue whales, and killer whale fridge magnets (which aren't in the picture I have here). They range in price from $4 to $15 and the best part is that I am donating all the proceeds to OrcaLab, who record the movements and vocalisations of the killer whales in the Inside Passage at the north end of Vancouver Island.

I was lucky enough to visit and have a tour of OrcaLab on one of my kayaking trips, which was a dream come true for me! I have known about their research for some time but did not think that I would have the opportunity to visit even while being in the same area as them. Check out OrcaLive which allows you to listen to the mesmerising calls of the killer whales in the area when they are close to OrcaLab's underwater microphones.

Last week I took a whale watching boat trip and had some fantastic encounters with the killer whales. There are strict whale watching guidelines which say how close you can motor your boat or paddle to the whales - but there is nothing to stop them coming to see you if you are just floating there - which is what happened! I took a few photos but mostly I was just taking in the experience and committing it to my own memory.

Blog posts are like buses...

It's been a while since I blogged, and all of a sudden I seem to have enough material to write at least two posts! I will therefore save some and write another one in a few days, to try and make the gap to the next round a bit smaller...

The subject of this post was in fact made near to the beginning of my stay in Canada but has had to remain a secret on account of being a birthday present for my best friend, who I know reads my blog (cos she's awesome). But now her birthday has come and gone, the secret is out, and I can show the world!

I am again guilty of borrowing this wonderful pattern from elsewhere - Nuno Life - a blog with some wonderful free patterns that I have used previously (see my post Back in business). The stegosaurus was pretty fiddly work, but I think he turned out just great:

To continue with the theme of my Canada-based posts, here are a couple of pictures from my most recent trip. The sea otters were so cute!

I have to point out that it would be deceptive to believe that the weather was this fabulous for the whole trip! These were both taken on the final morning, which was by far the sunniest most glorious day of all. However it did only rain during the day once in 6 days so it was by no means terrible the rest of the time.

Is it wrong of me not to mention the Olympics? Hope you are all enjoying it...I would probably be watching it too if I had a TV!