Our Sointula - photos and stories

We don't want you to get bored with construction only stuff so we're going to showcase the natural beauty and community of Sointula and Malcolm Island regularly.

True Story
Yesterday I was sorting out some recycling and garden refuse at the back of our truck directly above our property on 2nd Street.  A few minutes later I looked up to see 3 women and a little girl walking up the road, chatting happily as they approached me.  The little girl, wearing a pretty dress and good coat,  approach and asked if I would like a cupcake.  I held up my dirt covered gloves and said I would love a cupcake but I didn't have any money with me right now.  Her Mom quickly added that they were free.  "Her birthday's tomorrow and, every year, she likes to make cupcakes to give away."  I took off my gloves and picked out two.  I wished the six year old a happy seventh birthday, chatted with them for a few minutes then waved goodbye.  Forget the sorting... I quickly carried our two home made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing and a coffee bean on top down to the RV to eat with Jim immediately!  Another of the many reasons we are happy to call Sointula our new home.

Now....about the photos....During August and September last year we had lots of time to explore our Sointula.  Now you can see why we made a point of visiting Sointula whenever we were cruising and why we can't get enough of it!

A fish boat returning to harbour near dusk.

The view from the harbour changes in minutes as weather systems move across northern Vancouver Island.

Older net lofts and fishing related buildings remind us of Sointula's rich history.

Malcolm Island is a treasure trove of beautiful rocks; we'll be using some inside our house as a special feature.

Neighbour Jim Blohm took this last winter from his home.  View looking towards the village and BC Ferries dock.

This view from our lot last summer towards sunset.  How lucky and blessed we are!
We opened up the viewing corridor considerably since then.

Jim and Tricia Bowen

Jim creates our copper house numbers

During early 2018 Jim and I house-sat for friends in California, one hour north of San Fransisco in Sonoma County.  The rolling green hills were covered with cattle farms and vineyards.  It was lovely and we enjoyed the different scenery, walking on long sandy beaches near jagged outcroppings and visiting the local cities like Petaluma and Santa Rosa.  But Jim and I are both project driven people and Jim had just the project to work on.  Something for our future home.
Jim designed and built our "400" house numbers for Sointula.  Here's how it went.

Taking advantage of moderate California temps, Jim worked outside
tracing the numbers onto copper we purchased in Petaluma.

It took a long time to hammer the copper for the right look.

Jim designed wooden "0" and "4" forms and began shaping and hammering
 the copper around them in Fred's diesel mechanic's workshop on the property.

Jim's a skilled artist and craftsman and these hammered numbers show what he's capable of.

Moving inside to the breakfast bar to work, Jim prepared for a row of LEDs for night illumination.

Clamps were used to hold everything in place for soldering the little tangs used to hold the LED's in place.

LED's are placed under the copper tangs.  The numbers attach with the copper tubes; wiring runs through the tubes.

Set up in California on a piece of driftwood we found on the coast, which later became firewood.

The camera doesn't catch the effect accurately.  The light is really much softer and warmer in colour.

Next photo in this series will be when the  numbers are mounted on a piece of driftwood on our house.  We found a special piece of wood on Gonzales Beach in Victoria, where Tricia's family grew up and where Jim and Tricia lived for over 18 years.  Taking a piece of our old home to our new home.

We'll do more short blogs like this on specific things.  Here's a sneak preview.

What do you make with wine barrel staves from California?

They clean up great.  This is after a bit of sanding and oiling...more to be done!

The outside of the wine barrel clearly shows where the metal rings sat.

At some point we'll show you what we're planning to do with these beautiful pieces.

Cheers for now.

Jim and Tricia Bowen

Sointula Spring

We arrived in Sointula mid April, just as the cherry blossoms were blooming and tiny green shoots were showing up everywhere.  Gardens were coming alive....

This pair of eagles perch frequently on a tree right in front of where our house will be.

Coho Joes's - great for breakfast, lunch and baked goods.

Sointula's Cemetery 

An excellent example of shingle art.  We'll incorporate shingle art into our house on the wall facing the road.

More photos of lovely Sointula and Malcolm Island will come.

Cheers
Jim and Tricia Bowen

Tricking out our trailer and picking out our "Tree"

mid May... We'll, it's just over a month since we arrived in Sointula.  Things happened very quickly on the lot to begin with but have slowed down for the time being.  It'll take a few months to get the house to lock up.

The trick for us is learning to slow down (haven't quite mastered it yet).  We're living on 'island time' and Sointula is a wonderful place to reinforce that thought.  Having said that, things can happen very quickly on Malcolm Island.  Two weeks ago we needed to locate the water pipe running to our property.  Delwin, who is the most amazing local excavator / dump truck driver, etc. told us to contact Johnny about it.  I called Johnny and asked if he could perhaps stop by the next day to help us find the pipe.  He said he'd be there in 5 minutes.  Sure enough, Johnny was there before we turned around. After a quick chat with Jim, Johnny left to pick up Captain Ron because he had a metal detector and might find it that way.  Unfortunately Captain  Ron couldn't find the water pipe so Johnny called Earl, who worked on cleaning up the property up 10 years ago.  Earl knew exactly where the pipe should be and, after some digging with Chris' small excavator, we found the pipe!  Now we have water at the trailer!  In any city, if you called an official to ask for help to find your water pipe it might take days to reach someone, let alone get an appointment for an onsite visit.

Since we'll be living in a trailer for a few months we thought we'd make a few improvements. Last summer we created a shelter to keep us cool when necessary and dry when needed.  Since then we've moved up in the world.  We're living in a 26' 5th wheel trailer. We've added loads of shelving inside and out and created a great shady spot under the awning for outdoor living.  We have a big stainless sink, toaster oven and kettle outside along with two chair and a counter, which doubles as a work surface as well as dining table.

Hovel 1.0 Summer 2017

We brought our lunch with us while we worked at clearing the property.

Moving up!  Getting the trailer into position last September.

A happy but tired Jim amongst the chaos.

Creating our outdoor "Loo with a View"

Working sink with bucket, toaster oven, eating/working counter, hooks for coats,
etc.  What more could you want!

View from our temporary home.  Not too shabby!

We've had lots of curious visitors popping by, neighbours waving and a lots of local building inspectors, who come by almost daily to check on our progress.

A local building inspector checking our progress from street level.

These deer were born last year and are used to people.  We don't pet them
or encourage them to hang around us but we enjoy seeing them...
at least until we start growing our veggie garden!

Though it was quiet on the construction side of things for a few days, we were been busy none-the-less. Three quick trips to Victoria (nearly 6 hours south on Vancouver Island) in just over a month plus a day trip to Campbell River meant handling appointments, bringing truck loads of tools, construction supplies and personal property back to Sointula with us.  That lumber rack is sure coming in handy!

We've been getting a bit of gardening done, meeting more locals and envisioning landscaping ideas.

Since we'll be creating a very artistic home, we've purchased most of a large red cedar tree from logger Ken McGregor for Jim to make into a most unusual closet for our entry. This wood has been lying on the forest floor since the early 1900's!  A rare find for sure.

These logs were felled over a 100 years ago.  We'll be cutting 12 feet
off of "Tree" to create an unusual closet.

Jim started counting the rings..we think this tree is about 800 years old!

Here are a few more Sointula shots taken around 'town'.

View looking towards Port McNeill.  Check out this bench!

The new BC Ferries washroom building feature these great signs.

A local artist created this eagle on the BC Ferries terminal building.

The annual Loonie Raffle, tremendously supported by locals, raised $9,000 on one Sunday afternoon.  Now that's fund raising!  Funds go towards playground equipment, field trips and other activities at the elementary school.

That's all for now folks.
Jim and Tricia Bowen