The long warm days of August invite exploration and adventure. For us, it’s been seeking out local treasures, places we can go as a family and with a newborn. Since we’re sort of newcomers to Victoria (we both lived here before but only moved back in September) there’s lots for us to discover. From the gorgeous beaches and coastline of East Sooke Park to the sandy shores of local gems like Gonzales and Willows, there are plenty of places to cool off. Even a local pond, where boat enthusiasts race their remote control boats, is a great place to get on the water, albeit not in it (too many geese and ducks for that) and so it’s become Leif’s sailing spot. Leif has been puttering around in his little boat for nearly a year now, and this week we finally put the sails up for him.

We’ve also been keeping busy with new boat designs and book events. We’ve created a rowboat that you can sleep in called the RowCruiser and have partnered with Small Craft Advisor Magazine to host a workshop. They will be hosting build classes (Colin will be instructing for part of the course) in the historic maritime town of Port Townsend, WA early next February. The classes are designed for beginners keen to learn boat-building skills in a fun environment.

As for me, I am thrilled with the continued good reviews of Olive Odyssey, which has been featured in a number of publications this summer including Eat, Boulevard and the National Post. For those of you in Toronto, this fall I’ll be talking about Olive Odyssey at the International Festival of Authors.

Like always, there are a lot of great adventures to follow. One particularly heartwarming tale is that of Bradley Firth. Brad, known as Caribou Legs, is currently running from Vancouver to Whitehorse and ultimately plans to run to Inuvik to reunite with his family. He is currently in Edmonton and has 2,000 km to go to reach his destination. What makes Brad’s run even more astonishing are the hardships he’s overcome to reach this goal and the salvation running has provided him. He grew up in Inuvik and at age 7 had his first disastrous encounter with substance abuse, nearly dying from alcohol poisoning. Then his mother died in a house fire and he was placed in foster care. By the early nineties he was living on Vancouver’s streets where he subsisted for 18 years. During this time he started running marathons and completed the Vancouver marathon in 3:07 qualifying him for the Boston, which he ran, placing 102 out of 3,400 runners. Running has long been his passion and this run, which he’s doing to raise support for the Peel River Watershed, is steeped in personal significance for him. Thanks to Leigh Golby for letting us know about this journey.