A Misty Morning Walk - Steve, Me and a Vodka Bottle - and a Tribute to George Donaldson of Celtic Thunder

Saturday morning, a bit rainy and a lot windy - a perfect day for Steve and me to hit Iona Beach for a long hike to the end of the 8 kilometre pier. And yes, that's only one way. The 8 kilometres, I mean.

Of course we had a mission - to toss a bottle containing a white rose, red ribbon, and a prayer/poem from a bestie in Calgary in memory of a much loved member of Celtic Thunder, George Donaldson. For those of you not familiar with this band and this singer, enjoy while you read on - The Parting Glass - one of my favourite songs. It's a bit sad. though.

The first step was to find a bottle. One may think that wouldn't be a problem, however, one would be wrong. I finally did find an empty Vodka bottle, although a Scotch one would have been more appropriate. If I lived closer to my sisters-in-law I don't think I would have a problem finding a wine bottle ... however, this lone Vodka bottle was destined to hit the briny ocean waves.

Next step - a white rose. These aren't as plentiful as one would think, however Save-On-Foods had a few in their Roses-By-The-Each Bucket, and the gal there was kind enough to give us some red ribbon, as my ribbon supply was obviously hiding some place where I couldn't find it.

Next step was a misty raindroppy drive to Iona Beach. Steve parked - the lot was almost full with cars - people getting ready for the Sun Run - and the roadways were crammed with bicyclers dressed in stretchy black pants zipping along on skinny tires. Busy place for a Sunday morning. And some of them had the joy of watching us try to push, shove, poke, and squeeze a nice fat rose into a vodka bottle. 

Poor little rose.

Then we started the walk along the jetty. Yup, that could have very well been the two of us below, pretty chipper on our way out ....

 ... with me trying to hide the fact I was carrying a vodka bottle with me at 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning.

The colours in the sky and the ocean were amazing -

 and since we were near the airport, we got to see the bellies of some of the planes that were arriving.

 And guess what shared the air with the planes? Right! Eagles - quite a few of them, actually. They seemed to be checking out what the low tides were offering for their Saturday brunch. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of them on the way back, even though there was one sitting on a post a few yards away .... you'll find out why later.

We finally made it to the end, where there were a few steps leading up to a lookout. I wasn't sure if I could climb these few steps, but I did. Steve got ready to fling the bottle - and I got ready to video it - but he suggested I take a panorama sweep, which I did .....

... at least, I started to do - before the battery in my I Phone died. But at least you can hear the wind blowing, and imagine the smell of the salt air - because this, my friends, is the big and beautiful Pacific Ocean!

So, I'm sorry to say, I have no picture of Steve with his throwing hand up in the air, as he pivoted and took a few steps forward, and let fly. That bottle just sailed up in the air, and arched over the waves - then hit with such a bang we were sure it had broken. But it hadn't - we watched it bob up and down in the waves for a while.

Even though we both hope it travels far and wide, at that moment we were both pretty much sure it would beat us back to the beach. 

However, from a loving lady in Calgary, Alberta, through the hands of two fans from Surrey, British Columbia, a big Thank You to George Donaldson for sharing his beautiful voice with our world. 

The Old Man
An Ordinary Man