Community

My new lights illuminate the walls of my living room.

The table is set for tea, with my tasty shortbread cookies.

Ethel reclines on my counter; mission control is in the background.

A Gabriola woman who still has no power was on the CBC national news Thursday morning. Full power will not be restored until Dec. 30^th; the storm was on the 20^th, so some Gabriolans will have gone eleven days without power!

Yesterday morning’s walk was lovely. The sky was overcast but there was nice bright light and no rain. I came home to bake: I made shortbread cookies and embossed them with the cookie presses I got from Lee Valley. I love the old fashioned designs and they were quite tasty.

Some good news: I got a pet sitter lined up so that I can go to Vancouver for three days at the end of March to see friends and go to nice restaurants. Now I’ve just to book my flights when the seaplane schedule for March comes online.

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Every so often I’m affected by a celebrity death. I was gutted when Gilda Radner died. She’d made me laugh more than anyone else on earth at the time of her passing. And because of her work with AIDS patients, I was also gutted when Diana Spencer died.

Well Sister Wendy Beckett died yesterday and when I read the news, it felt like the sun went down. I fell in love with Sister Wendy because of her TV show. She passionately loved art and did a skookum job of enthusing her audiences appreciation of art with that passion.

She was witty, slightly provocative and surprisingly open-minded. I fell under her spell on first viewing. When she smiled, nothing else mattered.

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Last night was ideal. I spent it reading with one eye, a skill at which I’m proficient now. And I ordered another Kate Atkinson novel to read (Behind the Scenes at the Museum); I’m approaching the end of Life After Life. I’m thrilled to be back to reading.

This morning I’ll go on a wet dog walk with my group and mid-day I’m taking Her Highness for a grooming. And whilst she’s coiffed, I’m treating myself to lunch in the village. This afternoon I’m doing some yard work and then I’ll come inside to enjoy the warmth and coziness of my cabin (see above) to stuff the 288 mural panels I’ve embossed into their envelopes.

This self-portrait mural project also involves the staging of a dance party, workshops for island residents who want help and inspiration, catering and decorating the venue. I’m focusing on the portraits and mural, happily leaving all the other aspects of this fundraiser to my colleagues.

I’d just parked my car and was heading into the North Road Trail when I heard a car honk its horn. The blue pick-up swerved into the parking bay and there was handsome, lovely David, just wanting to say Hi and wish me festive good wishes. We’ve made a date for dinner together in the new year.

I went to the post office to fetch my envelopes and decided to cross the street to get some lasagna at the gourmet store where Amanda works. There’s something lovely about Amanda! So I headed ‘round the counter to give her a hug, and she rushed to me with her arms wide open. Incidents like these give me goose bumps. Every day I feel more like a member of this community.

Visitors

Yesterday, Sheba and I went to our dog-walking group unsure of whether or not anyone else would be there. But, in spite of it being a very dull and rainy Boxing Day, Regina and her dog Molly were there so we had a lovely walk together, just the four of us. 

Then, with nothing in the house to eat, I went shopping. The storm, however, means no dairy or frozen food yet, and there’s no fresh bread yet either. But the marijuana dispensary had a Boxing Day Sale of 20% off all their products.

In the afternoon I read more of Kate Atkinson’s novel, embossed the watercolour panels for the portrait/mural project and prepared an agenda for our upcoming mural organizational meeting. And two neighbourhood women came by to invite me (and Dianne who will be here) to a New Year’s Eve party.

The best part of the night was that whilst I worked on the portrait panels, Fred stayed beside me and played with my tools on the table.

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It’s not raining and Kelly and Jay are coming for tea at 1:00 so I’m doing some baing this morning after walking Her Highness. I’m positively thriled the whole Christmas thing is over; now we just have to get through New Years—but I’ll be doing that with Dianne who’s up for checking out the neighbour’s party.

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Last February I had a dreadful date with a fellow I’d been seeing for ten years, off and on. I’ve heard nothing since and accepted he was gone for good—eventually. It hurt for quite a while. He texted me for Christmas; it felt good to know we are over but still friends.

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I’ve done some cleaning and tidying already this morning, in advance of the arrival of my visitors, and at one point I turned off the vacuum and went into my bedroom and there, in full resplendence, were Sheba, Fred and Ethel napping.  Everyone in this household—all four of us—have the same safe place.

Kitty Love

I get visions like this every day. I am absolutely smitten with my feline family.
Fred is almost twice Ethel's size but he is the gentle giant of our family. 

❤️❤️❤️

Re-Reading

When I woke this morning, my first emotion felt was happiness/relief that I have a working generator again. I bought myself a wampum machine. It produces 8500 watts of energy. Next time there’s blackout, I’ll be camping in a Hilton.

I also felt good about my toil of yesterday. Yes, my Christmas day was devoted to yard work! I had that incinerator choking on Fir needles, cones and branches. It’s going to be a shitty day today so I’ll just chill, but tomorrow I can get back to clearing the yard of the incredible volume of storm detritus that fell around, and on, my house. The challenge will be clearing my studio roof of its forest. 

Last night I let the fire go out before I went to bed. I’m wood wiser this year than last. But during the night, a cold front arrived so this morning the house was pretty cold. I quite like sleeping in the cool air of the unheated cabin, but the first thing I do every morning is light the fire. This morning I lit a bonfire.

Bruce is planning his trip to Europe. Beth is renovating her home and going to Europe to meet Bruce. Edwin is doing some of the most interesting work of his career and Dwight has two incredibly interesting jobs working with visual art and is raising his daughter with Laura. The busy lives of my friends make mine seem mighty dull.

But, as surprised as I’ve been by my choice to live a reclusive life, I’ve never lost my appetite for this quirky little life I lead.

Yesterday, to celebrate the season self indulgently, I raised the temperature of my spa and at the end of the afternoon, after all my yard work, I had a long and wonderful soak. And then, much to my delight, I read.

The legacy of the blackout is a good one: My generator is fixed and I rediscovered the joy of reading. I was once a passionate reader but when I retired I devoted all my time to writing plays, a screenplay and two books (no; not novels) and I started to think of reading as how those who can’t write engage with words.

But I’m not writing any more. (And I’m definitely not missing it…just the money.) Plus, I’ve got a library card and I walk every Sunday with Amy, the head librarian. 

I’m reading a book I found on my shelf. I can’t remember where I got it. It’s titled Life After Life and it’s by Kate Atkinson. I know nothing of her nor of the book’s reputation, but I’m happily and thoroughly engaged.