When I’m traveling on the ferry, no matter what I am doing, sketching, reading, knitting, I frequently look up and out at the magnificence of the journey. When I looked up this time … This is what I saw!

It’s not everyday you see something like this; A guy balancing on the ferry railing.

I first noticed this guy as we were about to drive onto the ferry. You see, the announcement had been made for “All drivers going to the Gulf Islands to return to their cars in preparation for loading”. He had arrived late and I guess he hadn’t heard the announcement so as I looked on wondering what they doing leaving their car now (and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one wondering) he and his 2 buddies playfully and casually walked towards the ferry market place seemingly oblivious of the situation.
Then I forgot about them as I settled into my seat on board. Until I looked up and saw more of his shenanigans [Defination: silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief.]

After a first fail he tried it again.
But to tell you the truth … ?And I am Only telling this to You….
His friend saw me photographing him thru the window called the balance’rs attention to me. Once he saw me, I circled my forearm to encourage him to try again.
It was all in fun, he had an audience now! … and there were others
So he tried again and went up ….

And up

And up … It looked hard

Oh nice!

Almost there!

Oh my! He’s going to do it! A hand stand on the Ferry Railing!!

See that little sign to the right? It says “Restricted Area”. He is So not allowed to be doing what he is doing!

This is where it’s not fun anymore. He is Faltering. He is Falling. He is way too close to the Edge. My hand is over my mouth in horror!

There is no next picture because he DOES go over the edge! Really! He just DISAPPEARED!
….. But only onto the bow of the boat. But it IS just a small space. He really could have gone flying over into the sea!
So Easily
Everyone who was watching breathed a collective sigh of relief and we laughed our tension away when he reappeared behind the railing. At least I did. I was pretty scared there for a second.
But it was pretty entertaining and he was fine and pretty happy with his Risky Behavior

I can be pretty annoying to walk with sometimes. I can even be engaged in a conversation with someone when suddenly I will just disappear. What actually is happening is that I will have spotted something interesting and will just have to photograph it. Meanwhile, my walking partner will have kept on going ….. I don’t mean to be rude but there is just so much amazing stuff going on that I just have to stop to take a closer look. Like for instance these bird tracks that, I swear, went on for 5 or 6 sidewalk pads.

And these shoes …..

She had a whole thing going on here.

Here is a Ginormous Thimble in the Toronto garment district, and a tape measure sidewalk.

A fabric shop store front made up of thousands of sewing straight pins (nails).

Now I am in New Hampshire visiting my mum. I am staying a 10 minute nature walk away from her care home. I pass these sweetest little wild flowers, that are the very lightest hint of blue. They grow everywhere here and there, willy-nilly in little circles in the grass.

They are called Bluets. I can’t find them in the west.

You can hardly see this, but sitting on top of this contraption is a little fledgling robin, right in mums common courtyard area. It’s probably flown out of it’s nest for the first time.
This enchants mum. She’s got the ‘have to see’ bug too. The apple doesn’t fall far from this tree.
We are having a good time!

Now I can show you the top I’ve been working on.

I might double the grey for the top lace for a lite more structure. I’ll see.

I have been actually knitting more here on steady land than I had on the train and now I realize just how much I was nose to the window on the train. The constant passing scenery is mesmerizing. Maybe we are wired that way. Our eyes seem to latch onto a moving object. So …. A train moving through the landscape, or shall I say, a constantly moving landscape out the window is hard wired into us.

I didn’t have a chance!

But my knitting is coming along now that the windows have stopped moving!

Getting closer to the city. There is a mix of wilderness and communities, you can tell when a group of houses are coming up by the junk near the tracks. The farms, for the most part are pretty tidy

except for a few pieces of abandoned equipment.

We still pass a few areas of birch trees. If you look way into the woods, you’ll see a few birches laying down, fallen. They are still white and they look like fallen soldiers to me.

I’m all packed now and am just sitting in my roomette getting a few more stitches in as I watch the world go by.

I’m feeling kind of funny, I’m not sure I’m ready to make the transition into a big city.

~ But my dear, it’s clearly time to go ~

We had a short stop in Hornpane, Ontario while we were having dinner last night, so we couldn’t go outside. But this was our view.

It looks like I photoshopped this image but I really didn’t.

See those broken windows on the 2nd floor? This is an old train station. I think it would make a nifty place to fix up to live in.

And we continue to move forward…..

We are in birch and lake country. I’ve seen snowdrops and trilliums, many many marshes with beaver dams, lakeside cabins and someone saw a moose …. but I missed it.

Ok …. I did boost the colour on this one ….

There has been a lot of train talk about our delay. The freight carrying grain and oil and commodities have track priority. So much oil is moving that the grain was fermenting in the silos waiting to get to market. There was serious talk about maybe even having to have lunch on the train if we would be that late getting into Toronto …. Much wringing of hands, much murmuring and guesses about just how late it will be.

Well we got the diagnosis this morning.
We are 5 hours late!!!! There is a lot of disappointment on the train, missed connections, boredom …..
Me? I AM THRILLED TO BITS!!!! 5 extra hours on this baby!
I get to do this!

We are in the Sudbury area, once so barren that the astronauts practiced moon walking here until the Sudburians thought to plant a bunch of trees.
We are here ~

We Should be here ~

Cheryl, the knitter on board, is traveling with her sister Gail who is crocheting a blanket for her grandson in his football (soccer) team’s colours. We all sat together up in the dome car yesterday like a knitting magnet.

Apparently there is a 90 year old knitter on the train but I never saw her.
By the 3rd day folks were really settling in, the in changing landscape also allowed us to remove our noses from the windows too.

Judith was painting.

Bird lecture was happening …. Did you know that the Great Horned Owl can retract its ears!? It just raises them like antennas to communicate. And! Because they don’t have a sense of smell, they can eat skunks! …. And they do!!

There was a beaver here, but it missed the photo op.

We have mostly been off line which is a lovely reprieve but a bit disruptive for my blogging efforts. A few posts were rushed off before I could edit them because we were passing though a town with internet connection. But towns like this are in the dark.

Some one is a bright light here!

We got on the train in Vancouver on Friday evening and will arrive in Toronto Tuesday morning. This is our last full day. I have been savoring every day. We are in Ontario now, coming into Sioux Lookout.

I woke up at 5:30 to this, a whole new landscape.

We are on the great Canadian Shield. All grey rock, blue lakes and birch & fur trees for most of Ontario and Quebec. Look out the window once and you’re done for the day, it’s all the same view. Just kidding …. there will be lots of nuance to see and I am hoping for a moose.

I think I knit about 4 rows yesterday. I have to be careful that I don’t knit too high up, this pattern is meditative enough to keep knitting and easy enough to look out the window.

This little chickadee always lives in my current project bag of the day. My daughter felted her years ago so she has see me through many knitting projects.

Last night we were still on the prairies. During dinner we past this.

A VERY old grain elevator. So much history and stories here!

Built right next to an old grain elevator.
The modern one was just a ways up but it’s not interesting looking I know we have to progress and we figure out how to do things better (or more profitably) but the new ones don’t inspire me. I can’t see their stories….. so they don’t get their picture taken.

The prairies gave us a spectacular sunset show last night while we were in the dining car having dinner.

And this incredible color was at the door between the cars. The vestibule is the link holding the cars together. You have to cross them of course but you are not supposed to linger there. But the sounds/music of the train is there and there is fresh air and the coolness of the outside there.

So I linger

We have arrived at Sioux Lookout and I’m going out for some cold fresh air. See?! It looks the same outside.

nancywalkerstudio.com

Another post from Training across Canada
Knit2purl2repeat.wordpress.com

I am on the train to Toronto. Come with me! I am blogging over here:

Knit2purl2repeat.wordpress.com

It’s my knitting blog so yes, I am knitting across Canada, when I’m not looking out the window. It truly is an amazing journey.

We came down from the mountains last night. This little sign is right at my nose when my roomette bed is down, luckily I have a huge window. My entire side wall is all window!

Hope to see you on the Train!

There seems to be a need for yarn bowls out there in the Land of Knitting and I hear the call.

I have been working on a design and will settle into this one for now. Soon I will make knit nest with Owls, Fish and Foxes.

And maybe even make enough (over time) to list in my Etsy shop Talking Clay…. that remains to be seen. Each one is hand built using a fine porcelain clay and they have a sturdy base … no tipping here! Over time I know they will evolve …..