I decided to pull out the potatoes greens that were overtaking my raspberry patch. Some came up only roots; others came up with potatoes (above). I have no idea how these potatoes got in there. But Pinecone Park now had a no-potatoes policy.
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My early morning work was tiring because it was so hot out (20° at 6:30). I moved slowly, grateful for the gentle breeze and any work that I could do in the shade. Having no deadline is a very good thing. I’m amazed by how much better Pinecone Park looks after a mere hour of cleaning up. I’ve a lot of raking and toting to do, but all the time in the world to do it. The entire week is going to be hot and sunny.
Yikes! I only need to look at sunshine to start sweating. I was weed-whacking, raking and toting. How I appreciate having a cool home in which to recover. My back was killing me after working, but the edible garden is positively shining (perhaps to my eyes only).
I was pleased with all the work that I was able to do before Her Highness and I left for Silva Bay and the food truck. I truly love my Sunday tradition of going to the food truck for fish tacos. They are delicious, and it’s lovely to be in the sunshine with music playing, kids having fun running around, lots of dogs, artists’ booths and I often meet people and have lovely short chats. I’m usually quite fluent with causal ‘chatting.’ Simple speak. I go to soak up the ambience of the park as I eat. After I’d eaten, we went to Drumbeg for a walk in the shade through forest and seaside. It was 27°!
Once back, I was not ready to resume working. It was just too, f’ing hot. Instead, both Sheba and I slept for a while in the house. It is incredibly wonderful to live in a log home. It is spectacularly comfortable in the house in Summer, and toasty warm in the Winter because I always have a fire going. The logs are great insulation.
Unwilling to lay hands on the rake or the shovel, I decided to adapt a gutter and get it up in the edible garden. This is my second gutter bed; this one is for wild strawberries. I don’t know if they will produce fruit, but I will see. It they don’t, I’ll replace them with everbearing bought plants. But I’m excited about this new addition to the garden. I have wild strawberries growing abundantly in the yard, so I just transplanted five. I’ll get more into the bed today.
After dinner, I went for a wee walkabout. I wanted to see how my newly transplanted wild strawberries were doing. They are fine. In this heat, I must water my two gutter beds twice every day. There are things I can do because I rarely leave Pinecone Park. I’ll need to find someone to water them when I go to Ashlee’s wedding. I reckon I’ll hire someone.
When you think about it, I have a job. I’m a gardener/handyman for Pinecone Park. Maintenance of the yard takes a lot of time. The place looks so nice when I have cleaned the driveway of all the cones and little branches. It’s the same with the yard. There’s a lot of wind here in the Summer. We’re an island in a wind tunnel between Vancouver Island and the Mainland and their mountains. Things are constantly falling into the yard. So, I rake and I tote a lot. But more than anything, I water the beds, shrubs and trees.
Once I get the place cleaned up, I am going to install more bottles around certain plants, and I’m going to experiment with one tree something I might do for them all. I want to circle the trunk with bottles that I can fill. Today is likely to be cooler than yesterday. I shall be in the yard after my morning Zoom.
Late in the evening, I was sitting at my desk writing this post. Sheba was outside, and while I was focused on what I was doing on the computer, she did what she always does, she scratched at the door. You know how Tourette’s is characterized by sudden oral outbursts? Tourette’s is neurological, as is my FND, and I have seizures and panic responses to sudden noises or movements.
I’m not comparing myself to someone with Tourette’s, it’s just that we both do things that cause alarm to people around us. It’s this aspect of my condition that keeps me at home, not my speech.
When Sheba scratched on the door, my arms jerked into the air, I leaned back because my lets tensed and stiffened and my heart started bounding. Soon, I was breathing hard and all I could do was beath and stay calm and ride it out until I could stand and let her in.
It’s quiet here. Her scratch sounded like a bomb went off. I was helpless. I had a massive over-reaction to a sudden noise. Not too far back, a fellow wanted to give me a fraternal hug, and I hurt my neck veering away from him. I thought he was going to hit me. Dr. S. has told me about my amygdala, the ‘fight or flight’ part of our brain that is there to protect us. Mine, she says, is stuck on ‘high alert.’
I sometimes wonder what I would be doing and where I would be if I hadn’t developed my FND. I had a lifestyle. I very big part of my life before the sudden onset of FND was long-distance walking. April 2016 to October 2017 is lost to me. It was seizures, extremely poor speech, and overwhelming anxiety.
Then I came here in October 2017, I came because life in the city was insufferable. I came to live a tranquil life. Equally important to me, was to move to everyone would know me as a stutterer and a person who has seizures. When I left the city, I came here to live my post-breakdown life. To them, the new me is the only me. I saw this house for sale on-line on a Thursday afternoon in September 2016. My condo was sold ten days later. I moved into a log home, a long-held fantasy, in October of 2107, got pets and started gardening.
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I’ve invited four women friends from my dog walking group for dinner. I’m very fond of them all, and I look forward to showing them my garden. Only Regina has seen my house, so Pinecone Park will be a new experience for the rest of them. So far, two have answered and are in.
I have only two things I must do this week: Zoom with Dr. Shoja today and go to the meet and greet for the new veterinarian who might be establishing a practice here on Gabriola. (Our two vets are retiring.) All the rest of the week is mine for watering and doing yard work. By the end of the week, Pinecone Park will be in good order.
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