Otherwise, you can have a room quickly filling with smoke.

A pitchfork is a great tool for aerating.

1. Cut your kindling before you need it.

Whatever can it mean?

The power flickered last night but didn’t go out. Nice.

This morning it’s gloomy, gloomy, gloomy. The forecast contains a continuing rain warning. Alas, January on the coast. The good news is that it’s a “pineapple express” with warm temperatures. Nice.

It’s a bit of a pain taking poor Kepler out into the elements to do his business, and yet it’s still cozy in the cabin and consulting work can continue.

This morning we saw an exciting sight down at the waterfront: pure white swan-looking birds. We’re guessing snow geese?

Snow geese visiting during the storm Photo: John McLachlan

They seem to be gone already and are perhaps just finding tasty morsels here and there. Perhaps they were taking refuge from the storm. Or, is this a regular stop on their annual voyage?

Will have to investigate this crucial issue. But for now, back to work.

Why? A combination of poor excuses and a robust year of “management consulting.” This was certainly not expected; hoped for, yes, but not expected.

One of our basic concepts of living out beyond included the whole notion that with technology a person could stay connected in a way not previously possible. The future economic outlook for places such as Hornby Island could be rosier through such a piece of infrastructure. (As well, many corporations are moving in the direction of remotely-located employees for both cost saving objectives as well as higher engagement.)

Indeed, it turned out that way for me.

Working from Hornby Island. Photo: Darren Bond

In April, as I recall, an old colleague from TELUS made contact with me. He had seen my profile in the social media portal, LinkedIn. It’s used extensively by professionals and consultants looking to expand their network of contacts. He had been doing some consulting work for a credit union in the lower mainland; they had asked if he could facilitate some strategy development for them. It wasn’t really his area of expertise but asked if it was something I could take on, since that was what I did at TELUS. Timing-wise it was perfect for me. He set up a call with the chief technology officer there, we chatted, and I got the gig.

It was an intense couple of months to fulfill the contract. Then, they asked if I could stay on for another five months to help execute the plan. Then, they asked if I could stay on for a couple of months to transition the knowledge to someone. So, here I am starting my last month. The contacts are great and I have picked up another contract with a consortium of large credit unions across the country. It should be another busy year on the work front, but hopefully a little less than last year.

What have I learned?

Travelling on the BC Ferries. Photo: Darren Bond

As expected, in the initial weeks and months, a fair amount of face-to-face time was required to meet and work with the various people on the project team and to let them get used to me. Progressively, more meetings could be held via audio conferences and they were very productive. So, I became a frequent BC Ferries traveller and acquired a corporate rate at a hotel. It wasn’t so much fun being away from Hornby that often – kind of defeats the purpose of being here – but was hopefully a worthwhile investment of time that may be rewarded with ongoing work that can truly be done remotely.

Eating in restaurants. Photo: Darren Bond

As time rolls by, I will need to continue to weigh the benefits (money) of consulting with the desire for a different kind of lifestyle here. However, it’s great to know that the option is there.

Once the new house is complete this year, and the finances have settled down, it will be time to take our walk to “decision rock” (an outcropping along the path towards Ford Cove that we take Kepler to during long walks) to map out the next steps in this journey.

Late summer afternoon at Helliwell Park. Photo: Darren Bond

130 Seconds of Hornby Island B.C from Grant Baldwin Videography on Vimeo.

Here’s my experience. In most cases, when there is a fairly brisk breeze and waves of a couple of feet outside my window, there is no wind warning in effect but when there is barely a breeze and the water is rippled or completely calm, I will often see a “Strong Wind Warning in Effect.”

The following screen shot and the accompanying photo were taken within seconds of each other. One shows the Strong Wind Warning in Effect” and the other shows the actual conditions. You decide!

PS – in case you want to point out that their warning may have meant that a wind was coming, it didn’t.

My dad, George, used to shoot in 8mm and then Super 8mm for years including our first trips to Hornby Island.

About ten years ago, I made some small QuickTime videos of some of this early footage. The video quality is unfortunately, not very good (especially in the 1962 video) and the narration is non-existent or really corny, but it gives a little glimpse of things back then.

Enjoy.

1962

1963-1965

1966