... the adventures continue ...

Shannon's Spirit @ Fox Isl.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and that may be so. I have certainly missed reaching out to all of you with tales of our adventures and other such tidbits. How did this happen? You might well ask.

The answer lies in the following explanation. As many of you know, I took on a difficult challenge shortly before retiring in 2003 and couldn’t bring myself to abandon it when I left ‘the job’. The project continued as a rather hefty weight on my shoulders, a niggling in my conscience and a project that filled every, otherwise empty, space in my life with paper, files, books, letters, forms and formalities. 

Being adventurers yourselves (or you wouldn’t be reading this) you will understand how short adventures like visiting Europe and sailing across the Mediterranean in 2007 and sailing our wee SV Shannon (Ontario 32) down the coast to Mexico in 2011 and then returning to the Sea each winter thereafter until 2018, took huge chunks of time. Preparing for and executing each of these detailed and complex journeys took most of our focus and much of our time over the span of quite a few years. Oh yes, we also fled the lower mainland and moved to Maple Bay on Vancouver Island.

Having returned our boat and selves from the Sea of Cortez in 2018 it was time to knuckle down for the final chapter of this challenge. We spent most of 2019 and 2020 pushing to complete the rather large manuscript now known as Vancouver’s Women in Blue.  Like many new authors I assumed I would find a traditional publisher and “voila", my work would be done. Not so; it turned out the heavy work had only just begun. For many reasons, including advice from several published authors who had become friends, I decided to self-publish. I wasn’t interested in arguing over white space (the space I wanted in place to show off some of the photographs and certain paragraphs) and I wasn’t willing to leave out certain, one-of-a-kind photos, which wouldn’t have met modern publishers’ standards. I wanted the story of our VPD women to be as complete as possible and to include all that I deemed relevant at the time of writing. 

And so, with cap in hand, I set out to learn how to publish what had become my beloved manuscript.  That, my friends, was a straight up learning curve. I needed a company (meet the RUDDY DUCK PRESS).  It needed to be registered and websites were required (meet www.ruddyduckpress.ca). It also needed an email address (info@ruddyduckpress.ca), a way to place orders and an invoicing system. Then there was the book itself.  ISB Numbers, professional cover designs (Kato Design and Photo), a printing company (Island Blue Book Printing) and other such activities consumed hours, days and weeks. In the end, and by May 2020, we had a pretty good product ready to introduce to the world. 

Of course you will recall what happened at the start of 2020:  Covid 19 joined the party.

A wonderful book launch had been planned, complete with the use of the Seaforth Armouries Officers Mess.  This would have been a perfect location as it was on those drill decks we recruits of Classes 1, 2 and 3 were put through our paces during recruit training. We were very disappointed (but felt it necessary) to cancel all festivities due to Covid and I went back to the schoolroom of self publishing to begin the process of marketing, sales and delivery. With the help of several others, also dedicated to Women in Blue, a process was developed and put into action. It worked. Sales were quite brisk and I was not disappointed. We had lots of very positive feedback from the women themselves, their families, folks interested in policing and local historians.  The book is in several libraries and secondary schools and orders continue to trickle in. Women in Blue is even gracing the shelves of a few book stores (hopefully more to come as marketing continues).

By August, we were able to down tools and headed out for what was to be a beautiful month on the boat. The heat dome arrived just before we left. OK, we left anyway. We found a beautiful anchorage (picture above), where we were able to go swimming off the boat every hour (who wouldn't? the water was 74 degrees F).  However, by the time we were heading home, we were dealing with a heavy SE on the nose and driving rain. A soggy way to end the month!

Keeping cool during the 'heat dome'

Chillin' @ anchor

Who knew August could be so 'freakin' cold'?

It’s now November 2021.  Book sales, once brisk, have slowed and that’s ok. My goal was to tell the story of the women who served in the early years with the Vancouver Police Department. Tick J Young women and men considering a career in law enforcement are finding the book useful and I’m really happy to know that. As well, families of women and men serving in law enforcement are learning more about the chosen profession of their loved ones. The work force has changed in many ways for women and the changes will continue and evolve. Having a good understanding of where we’ve come from is one of the best ways to understand how we got here and where we’re going.  Enough said about that.

                         Are we there yet?                         

                  Sailing is so stressful ...               

 

Now then, back to the SV Shannon – now SV Shannon’s Spirit Blog. Yes, I’ve missed chatting with you about what’s going on in our adventures and, for sure, the last few years have not exactly been filled with joyous exploration of parts otherwise unknown.... but.... I feel a change comin’ on, just around the corner J Those of you who know me well, know I’ve always wanted to write. I hadn’t planned on my first book taking so long and, as a result, you could be forgiven for thinking I might have given up on that dream. BUT, I have not. Re-activating this Blog is part of returning to the ‘world of words’.  I like to share our experiences and using the blog to do that is very good for my writing, so thanks for being there and thanks for supporting ‘the dream’.

                       Ricky & Lucy (with Maddie)                     
eager to 'hit the road'

The ‘new’ SSpirit blog (SSpirit is short for Shannon’s Spirit) will be a compromise between a writer’s blog (loosely connected to www.cjdaley.ca) and our adventure and travel blog. I hope you’ll come along for our journey(s). For instance, TT (Travel Trailer) Lucy and her big strong truck Ricky will be heading south on the 5:15 Duke Point Ferry on December 27^th. 

Yup, we’re going to get in line with the other snow-birders and head south to the Rio Bend RV Park in El Centro, southern California. I look forward to reporting on the conditions we encounter (both travel wise and human wise). We’ll be at Rio Bend for the month of January. While we’re there we’ll keep an eye on the situation in Arizona before deciding whether or not to use our wonderful state park reservations set for February and March.

Memories of a warm desert evening

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To all of you, thank you for joining us as we wander through our life.  TTFN (ta ta for now) CJ