Brent

I sat and stared at this photo on the Instagram of a fellow from Beirut. I tried to imagine what I’d do were that my apartment when everyone in the entire city is also going to be needing ways to repair their homes. It’s horrifying to imagine the depts of despair in that city right now.

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It was a shock to awaken to such a wet, wet landscape yesterday. It down poured through the night but the lack of water in the porch exhilarated me. Now I can store wood out there for easy access through the Winter.

I lit a morning fire to warm and dehydrate the cabin so that my outdoor cushions would dry out and by eight-thirty there were large patches of blue sky and the sun burst forth to evaporate much of the water off all the leaves, creating wispy clouds of steam.

I fed the birds and created a serious bird frenzy at Pinecone Park. Scores of them were buzzing around the feeders all morning. There were so many they looked more like bees swarming a hive, and most of them were beautiful little Nuthatchers.

At nine, Camen arrived to treat my cistern and the clouds rolled back in. As we walked to it, me behind him, I heard him say, “Oh, shit!” I looked where he was looking and saw water flowing out of my cistern down into the ground. He ran into my studio to where the water mechanicals are and turned off the breaker to the well.

After talking with him, he said he thought he could fix the control switch. And we upgraded the cleaning of my cistern to a full clean from just a bottom clean. He’ll add an agent that attaches to all the suspended particles in the water and sinks to the bottom. He returns late today to remove all the distillated crap from the bottom and to add the hydrogen peroxide to nullify the sulphur smell. As of tonight, I’ll have pristinely clear water that has no smell, plus a fixed control switch. Ah … life with a well.

After he left, I took Sheba for a walk and then I did nothing all day until it was time for another walk. 

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Sadly, my friend Bruce called to say our mutual “friend” Brent had died. I put the word friend in quotation marks because neither of us have seen him much since his career took off and he moved to Toronto. But we stayed in touch because he was one of the nicest men you could ever meet—and one of the most generously talented. He won a Tony Award for lead actor in a musical in 1993. 

For both Brent and I, our first professional show was Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver. Bruce was the musical arranger and pianist. The show ran seven months; the longest running stage show in Vancouver, previous to that, was three weeks.

My afternoon walk in nature had special resonance because of the impossibly sad news.

This is a t-shirt I’ve ordered. How apt is this?

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When I went outside this morning, it was thirteen degrees!  

Today, my task is digging two holes. It’s going to be brutal, but I have Kevin’s huge and heavy prybar with which to work. I need the holes so that I can move two Paperback Maples into them from places in my yard that prevent them from getting enough sunshine.

Rain!

It felt good to clean up the house yesterday before we went on the dog walk. The highlight of my morning: Hanging out the bedding on the line. I absolutely love hanging up laundry on a clothesline for some reason. I suspect it’s because it was a duty when I was a kid and it reminds me of a time when life wasn’t so complicated.

 The dog walk was great. It was a beautiful morning and I have absolutely nothing about which to worry. Everything is in good shape: Me, the spa, the generator (I started it), the cistern and well and my all garden plants but four, are thriving. I’ve to transplant two trees to a sunnier part of the yard; and two will go to the big garden in the sky. Later!

I went into the village to get a couple of plants (Satsia; Clematis), some soil, sandals and a t-shirt. They were all rewards for losing twenty pounds. (Baking used to be my rewards!) I used the soil to top up some gardens, did a bit of weeding and planted the new plants. 

Not easy!  Where I wanted the Satsia, I encountered something big and solid and worried it was a cap for the septic field or drain, so I asked Kevin to take a look and give me his opinion. He bought a long heavy metal pry bar with him and in no time, he’d pried a large rock out of the ground.

Then, of his own volition, he started looking for the caps to the septic field and he found them! Now I know how to provide access to a septic company that I might hire down the line to empty the tank.

The Stasia is in and it’s gorgeous! It gives my garden a lovely lush tropical look.

The line up to get into the food store was ridiculously long. I wouldn’t stand in line, so I had to go back later in the day when I thought no one would be there.  

I end every “working” day with a massive soaking of the gardens. Then it was time for a spa (once the sun had stopped shining on it) and then dinner and television. And then … the absolute joy of getting into a bed with linen that was fresh from the clothesline and was pungent with the glorious scent of the outdoors.

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I awoke with a start at four am this morning. I thought to myself: ‘What is that noise?’ It was rain, so I jumped out of bed and hurried outside to retrieve my seat cushions and to check on whether or not my car was under its cover because the top and windows were open. 

There wasn’t supposed to be rain until tomorrow. And it’s real rain. The flowers must be feeling giddy. I’d planned on weeding today, touching up gardens I did in the Spring. But, unless the weather changes, my plan will change to reading.

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I love my new sandals. I’ve rarely worn them in the past, but I love letting my toesies have some outdoor time. And I’m defeating my rash! Hurrah!

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The porch is dry! My work on the roof seems to have done the trick—at least for a while. When freezing temperatures come, they make wreak havoc with the sealing agent. However, for now, we have success!

“The spread of the Corona virus is based on two factors: 1: How dense the population is. And 2: How dense the population is.”  From a blog I follow.

Lost

We went for a walk, Tuesday morning, on a new trail and got lost. Well, not exactly lost; I knew where I was and I knew how to reach North Road, but I could not find the trail head to where my car was parked.

Consequently, our walk was really long because we walked back and forth on the central trail looking for the trail head to the route to the car. Luckily, I came upon some women who knew where the trail was that I wanted. 

It was such a beauty of a day that I didn’t care at all about the long walk; I knew we’d find our way out sooner or later. It was great exercise and Sheba was fine with walking in the cooler morning air. When we got home, she went straight to bed and slept for hours and she was absolutely not interested in an afternoon walk.

I had a rest, too. Then it was time to do some long-overdue work in the edible garden and water all the gardens. And I some had time for some primetime loafing.

Marina, Coin and Théo. I love these younguns!

Today’s predicted to be another scorcher here, but tomorrow they say clouds will roll in and that Friday may be wet. I hope so.

We’ll join our fellow dog walkers this morning and then I’m going into the village to do some shopping. I need more soil to top up some gardens and I want to get another Hydrangea to put beside my boardwalk where it meets the courtyard.

I also plan to clean up my long-neglected home—I’m constantly outdoors in this heavenly weather—and to get started clearing the surface of the last area of my yard needing attention. I’m not tilling it; I’ll do that next year. But I can remove the twigs, cones and branches and pull the worst of the weeds up.

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I’ve ordered more books and the library has re-opened. I’m anticipating that getting through this winter without guests and living indoors most of the time will be a challenge, so I want to have lots of reading material at my disposal.

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I’m taking us on lots of walks in a new area of the island. As I walk these new trails, eventually I will expand my understanding of the vast Gabriola trail network. I got lost yesterday because I’m learning a new area, but come Autumn, I’ll be far more familiar with this new part of the island I’m walking now.