Day 6

School Day with Maddy.

3 generations of my family have gone to Gibsons Elementary School and I’m so happy that we were able to visit Maddy and her class for Literacy Day and do a short presentation for the kids.  The school hallways are decorated with coastal-themed murals and Thulani especially enjoyed this one:

Here’s Maddy with Justin & Thulani at her activity table.

The whole class got to hold Thulani and wish him good luck on his journey

Day 7

The sun came out today and we took the opportunity to walk around the original Gibsons Village.  Stopped at the statue of our town’s founder, George Gibsons.

Thulani was also interested in finding out about the little television show that put our community on the map – The Beachcombers. I’ll include a short page of information in the journal. Here’s Thulani in front of Molly’s Reach

Day 8

The Pacific Ocean

It was a glorious day, the sun was out and the air had the most wonderful hint of spring.  What a change in only a week.  We spent the day at the beach.

The little guy spent a goodly amount of time basking in the sun, simply enjoying the beautiful scenery and the calm, meditative sound of the waves.

Thulani even dipped his paw in the ocean

We ended this amazing day by sitting in the car (because the wind picked up and got a bit cold) watching seagulls break open mussels.  Would you believe that just as this picture was taken, one the darn birds dropped a clam shell on the front windshield and cracked it from one side to the other – what luck.

All in all it has been a marvelous adventure, now Thulani is off to Norway for the next leg of his journey.

I hope you will keep in touch with his fans here on the Westcoast of British Columbia.  With love

Cheryl McEwan and family

Thulani in Gibsons, British Columbia - Part Two

Day 3 & 4

I work in a nursing home from 7am to 7pm so didn’t have the energy on these days to do much with Thulani so he stayed home and rested with the dog.  Here I am arriving at work in my scrubs on one of our rare snowy days

 

Today Thulani came with me to my dentist appointment. Not my favorite way to spend an afternoon, but it’s one of those necessary evils.  On a positive note, NO CAVITIES.

After the dentist, we hung around the house and relaxed and stayed out of the rain.  Thulani shared a nice bowl of oatmeal with my granddaughter, Maddy.

Day 5

Hiking day.  There is a beautiful area of new and old growth forest here on the Sunshine Coast, home to some of the oldest Western Cedar in Canada. We stopped to take a picture of Thulani’s new buddy, Camie the Parson Russell, in front of a magnificent and huge old Fir tree. It takes about 6 people to reach all the way around the trunk of this tree.

We have had almost every weather system you can think of this week, from snow and hail to rain then some sun.  The hiking trail was really wet this week but that only added to the glorious, green scenery.

Thulani couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Along with Camie the Wonder Dog, we brought our little Canadian mascot on the hike.  A Beaver – and his name?  You guessed it – Justin, yep, Justin Beaver.  The 3 Amigos stopped for a rest on a lovely moss-covered old cedar stump – great photo op.

Thulani in Gibsons, British Columbia

Welcome to Gibsons
 

Gibsons, along with Sechelt and Pender Harbour, is one of the three main population centres on the Sunshine Coast.  The town got its name from George William Gibson, the first European to establish a homesite here.  In 1886 George, with his two sons George Jr. and Ralph, beached their hand-built sloop, the Swamp Angel, on the site of what he named Gibsons Landing.

George was looking for rich & fertile land to pre-empt.  He liked this area so he and sons each claimed 160 acres. Once established, George arranged for his wife Charlotte, their daughters and all their belongings to be transported to their new home.  The Gibson were hard-working, intelligent and community-minded and they encouraged others to settle here and took pains to see that a stable and thriving community was developed.

The town of Gibsons is a 40 minute ferry ride from of Horseshoe Bay, near Vancouver BC.

Day 1

  

The 4 generations of McEwan women:  Mary, 80, Cheryl, 56, Tai 28 and Maddie, 5 were all on hand to give Thulani a warm and friendly welcome.

Thulani arrived between a couple of nasty weather systems, the tail end of a snow squall and the beginning of a warmer and much wetter rain storm.  What better way to take cover from the westcoast weather than to make a stop at Tim Hortons for tea and a Timbit (which is a donut hole) .

Day 2

We visited the neighboring community of Sechelt where Thulani gained appreciation for the locally carved totem poles and First Nations art.