Me and Men

 Sunday, My Day, was excellent. I felt no pressure to hurry to walk H.H., I just lazed away the morning until I was ready for the forest. It was dark and gloomy outside; it had rained in the night, and I was happy to not have to water. We had a lovely long walk, meeting neighbours and new people on the trail. Everyone I ran into had a dog.

When we got home, it was time for lunch, and then I fetched my tools and got to work on the second box. I got it done, but it’s a miracle I did. I lost a vital drill bit, and the screwdriver head I use in my drill for screwing got rounded and wouldn’t work. I took a screwdriver apart to remove the heads that are stored inside, and I used one of the heads to complete my job, but the screwdriver is ruined. I have about four of them, so it doesn’t matter.

In the end, all looks good. I’m ready to put up the net, but I am going to wait until the last minute to put the netting up because right now the bees are all over the blossoms and I don’t want to interfere with the bees. The work exhausted me of course, but I am very pleased to be able to make minor improvements to Pinecone Park.

I stopped working at 2:30. I had more to do, but it was My Day and so I had a ‘fuck that’ attitude to more work. Instead, I rested awhile and then H.H. and I went for our afternoon walk. I chose to walk a route I haven’t walked in probably five years. It was a trail I used often when I first moved here, but it’s a muddy mess in Winter, so it just fell out of favour with me. But it was a spectacular walk. It had clouded over and was a very comfortable 14°. 

On the trail, I met Dan. I’ve never encountered him before. He’s an ex cop who was raised in the woods in rural Alaska. Then he moved to Barkerville in northern BC. You should have seen his bike. It’s his ‘bush bike,’ and my God what a machine. There are containers everywhere, bells for bears and cougars, and he’s licensed to carry weapons, but I didn’t see any. He was very chatty. He loves Gabriola, he’s fit as steel, and as we parted, he was extremely complimentary. This has happened to me before: Macho men finding something in me that they like.

One of the most wonderful experiences of my life was meeting a pilot from Arkansas who approached me thinking I was an elite athlete. Can you believe that? But I do have large calf muscles from all the walking I’ve done all my life, and I was wearing Hoka shoes before anyone had heard of them. Athletes love ‘em, and so did my podiatrist. Anyway, we walked the seawall together, chatting the entire time, and when it came time to go our separate ways, he shook hands with me with both hands, and then he put his hands on my shoulders and, like Dan, was extremely complimentary. He said he would never forget out time together; I haven’t either.

And then there was Rick. When I worked for Opus, Rick worked for a man called André, and André was Opus’ computer consultant. Every once in a while, I’d see Rick in the building, and we’d have the briefest of polite exchanges. He was someone outside my radar, but one evening, I got a telephone call from him. His girlfriend, of many, many years, had dumped him—he was in his late twenties. Hurting deeply, he called me, a total stranger, for consolation, and we became very close for several years. He once said, in one of our long conversations about heartache, that he loved me.

I’m very empathetic. I can be crippled by the pain of others, and I think people can sense it in me, and when they do, they will often open right up. That happened with Dan on the trial. We talked for quite a while; he wants to see me again.

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I’m trying to get some weight of H.H. The month she spent not walking due to her bad feet saw her put on weight and then came the prednisone that had her eating anything and everything she could. I had to always watch her when we were walking to keep her from feasting on Deer droppings. (And to think I so value sleeping with a shit eater!)

Late in the day, I was outside with the hose putting water into the fountain, and I saw some moss in the hole where the water comes out the top, so I pulled on it and out came a long, long thick plug of moss, and now the fountain is circulating water much more quickly, and the hummingbirds are back bathing where the water now tumbles out much more easily. 

Some photos of Pinecone Park:

I don't know what this plant is, but its leaves are extremely
high gloss purple, and over the summer they will turn green

My first Lilac blooms ever.

More Lilac. I could not be happier. My nose is
in heaven every day.

I planted Lily of the Valley in several places in
the yard.. There's something so lovely about them.

Daphne. This is one of my favourite plants. The fragrance is
absolutely heavenly

The Mock Orange is right beside the spa and all this week and
next as I soak in the tub, I inhale its magnificent scent.

The Butter Burr is enormous.

These are the two beds I'm going to net. You can see the posts
I built onto the planters.

Rhubarb blooming!

The huge Deer barrier that was far, far too visible and took up
way too much space is gone. Now I have a discreet fence that
can't be seen from the road. I'm chuffed by the improvement.

MyDwarf Lilac is about to explode with blooms.