Sincerely, Denise

Friday, July 4, 2025

It’s the 4^th of July! Probably not a lot of celebrating happening up here in Canada, but who knows. It’s my stepdaughter’s birthday today, Happy Birthday Jenn!! She’s on Blakely Island celebrating with our family and friends. It is also my bestie’s daughter’s birthday, Happy Birthday Angie!

Well the winds finally took a holiday and it’s a beautiful day here in Gorge Harbour. I decided to make today my adventure day so took the whaler over to Manson’s Landing, a short 15 min ride away. It’s an unmanned dock and there was no space to tie up anywhere, so I hovered for awhile to see what I could figure out. Another boat came in and rafted to a fishing boat so I idled up next to him and asked him if he knew the protocol for docking, which was “you raft onto another boat!” He then offered to let me raft to him so I was in business. The little town of Manson’s Landing is about a mile or so uphill from the harbor and that is where this group was going so I tagged along on the walk. The husband and wife were about my age, so we had that in common. The husband had grown up in Manson’s Landing and his wife had grown up in Squirrel Cove, also on Cortes Island, so they were a wealth of information and history! I so enjoyed their company. They also showed me where to get clams but warned me it was a red tide right now, even though some folks back at Gorge Harbour were actually eating clams from Manson’s with no issues. At the top of the hill was a small grocery store and the Burger Barn (a lunch shack), along with a health food Co-Op grocery store which was the winner! I walked inside to a real bakery and espresso bar, and a beautiful produce section – Score! The grocery store was adequate and did have a small liquor store, but the quality of their products was nowhere near the Co-Op. I was thrilled to snag a freshly baked loaf of wheat bread, still warm, and a couple other things. Mainly I just wanted to get off the boat and get in a nice walk, which I accomplished. Anyway, to my boater friends coming up here soon, this is a worthy stop for lunch, groceries and nice walk.

Back at the boat I whipped out the Quinoa, Arugula, Chickpea salad I mentioned yesterday, which was easy to make and REALLY delicious. After that project it was nearly Happy Hour time, so I put on my shorts and grabbed a beer in a koozie, and set out for a nice long paddle around the bay in my kayak in the warm sun, so peaceful. Upon return it was truly Happy Hour, and even though you’re not supposed to drink alone, I decided it was a great time to experiment with making a watermelon lemon drop, a drink I had at a night club in April and fell in love with. I made up some simple syrup from scratch and my recipe was this: 2oz watermelon vodka, 1 oz each of fresh lemon juice, triple sec, simple syrup. I shook it up and decided it was too sweet so happened to have ½ a lime sitting out and squeezed that instead of cutting into another lemon. It was superb! I will be making that one again. Dinner was leftover chicken thighs and my quinoa salad, absolutely perfect. Live Music played onshore until 10PM. What a great day!