Paid Work!

Monday dawned cold. Winter’s last hurrah came in the night. Snow is predicted to be severe on the Malahat Highway just north of Victoria. Sigh. But we won’t get any I don’t think. The sky was bright and there was no indication of precipitation in the morning.

Showering was brutal in the cold house but once dressed and after the fire had a chance to do its job, the house slowly became comfortable. We walked with our friends and, as always, we quickly warmed up and I enjoyed the brisk morning air and the company of my friends.

When we got home, I puttered until 11:00 when I had a Zoom call with the STAMMA support group leaders and our handler, and when it was done, it was time to feed the brood. And then, although I was planning on working in the loft to fetch everything from there that I wanted to get rid of, Aidan sent me an email asking me to do some research—and this is paid work and not volunteer work (the speech language therapist database). 

I took a break to go into the village to order some prescriptions from the pharmacy and to do some grocery shopping, and then Her Highness and I went for a short but lovely walk. All afternoon it was sunny and although it was brisk to be outside, when I was in the sunshine, I was toasty warm.

The evening passed as usual.

This morning, I’ve been hard at work on a SPACE database of service organizations serving various illnesses that can affect speech (Autism, CP, Apraxia, etc.). We are polling their clients with speech disability about their experiences contacting service agencies. Clearing out my loft I’ve put off until this work is done. However, I have all my books collected for donation to our library book sale. It’s overcast and damp outside, and it’s still cool. I’m glad to have so much on my plate to do indoors.

Dinner at the Surf

 

Above: Four bundles of clothes, some for The Gabe Shop to help raise money for the medical clinic, and the majority to People for a Healthy Community to give to their unhoused clients. I also boxed all the books that I want to get rid of and wrote to the contact person for the annual library fundraiser. The library hosts a huge book sale every year in our community hall. Progress!

I spent a good part of the day trying on all the clothes, sorting them into piles and then bundling and labeling them. It’s work that I’ve wanted to do for ages but I’m a seriously competent procrastinator. I’m full of energy for this work. Thank you, Tezspire! For two years I did nothing. I hired people to do everything because my asthma was so ridiculously bad. But now, I have the energy to do chores and enthusiasm to do them. It’s like the old days!

I quite working at 13:30 and Sheba and I went walking. It was so lovely outside, I had to take advantage of it. Plus, I wanted to do a lot of walking during the day because at 5:45, on the first day of our new and stable Pacific Time, Eoin and François picked me up and we went to The Surf for dinner. It was a delight to be with them and to go out for dinner. I had a blast, and I was home early enough to chill for a while before bedtime.

I accepted the request for two cakes. They don’t want them until July 4^th. I’m not charging them, but I will ask them to pay for out-of-pocket expenses which will be very modest as I always have tons of flour, chocolate, butter and icing sugar in hand. They’re having 70-80 guests, so both cakes will be sheet cakes. They are very hard to make because I make large thin sheets of cake on a cookie sheet, and they are challenging to maneuver. I must flip them on top of each other and it’s brutally hard.

Dinner was a blast. It was wonderful to be eating dinner in daylight. On a beautifully sunny evening. It really feels good to be alive. Winter is over.  Spring officially starts in two weeks. I adore Eoin and François. We never lack for things to talk about, and we are all always ready for a laugh. It is sad that Jay is gone and that we are not three instead of four. Whenever I get together with them, I wear something of Jay’s so that he is still ‘with’ us. 

I spoke to soon. Winter ain’t over. Last night, Winter came to deliver its last cold breath. I awoke in a cold, cold house this morning. I was out in the cold and black fetching wood to light a big fire to get the house warm.

I got an email from Aidan who’s happy with my database work. He’s okay with me taking a break from adding people as I stay busy with a big Spring cleaning at Pinecone Park. Today’s chore is fetching all the crap in the attic space that went up there when I moved in. I’ll go through everything and discard as much as I can in advance of calling the disposal service.

No More Standard Time

 

Yesterday began on a high. I spent the early morning hours of darkness finishing the sorting of all my mementos. A huge, unsorted box of clippings, photographs, documents, receipts, letters, show programs and promotional materials, etcetera, etcetera, have been sorted. I now have three small boxes: one with old photos, one for letters and other paper souvenirs, and one with things for Steve to sort through when he is here in the Summer.

And then, at 6:30, it was evident from the sky that we were going to have a lovely bright sunny morning at least, and maybe an entire sunny day. I was happy to know that Her Highness and I would enjoy a lovely and warm morning walk before we went to the post office. I had several letters to mail to friends, each one with photographs I discovered and that they might enjoy seeing and keeping.

More good news: My cistern is 60% full. It’s filling nice and slowly. I shall be climbing back up on it today to spray the valve with WD40 today, and I’ll also be getting started on my closet. I’ve been wanting to sort through it and discard a lot of things for ages. It feels good to be paring down my accumulated things. It’s positively thrilling to go into my studio now and see total order. I did a thorough cleaning and sorting of things in it last Fall.

And finally, I did not light a fire yesterday morning. There was no need for it, and I like to save money and wood as soon as I can. However, I lit it for my evening on the chaise.

After lunch, I got busy in my closet. I took all my beautiful and terribly expensive dress shirts to The Gabe Shop. It’s a secondhand store that sells goods and gives all the money earned from sales to the medical clinic and other medical assistance groups on the island. They were very happy to receive every shirt. 

This morning, I got started on my pants. I have scores of pairs of pants and scores more of shorts. I don’t need as many as I have, so I am preparing another donation to The Gabe Shop, and I’m also packaging a lot of other clothes to give to People for a Healthy Society, an incredible agency on the island that supports the unhoused, homebound elders with meals on wheels services and many other services, and people with disabilities. 

Last night, the usual, but this morning began with changing my clocks for the very last time. No more Standard Time. We are now on Pacific Time permanently. 

This morning has dawned brilliant and clear, and it’s lovely and mild. We enjoyed out morning walk and then I came home to do more work on my closet and packaging clothes that I want to donate. I’m still on a break from the SPACE database, and I finished my first Kate Atkinson book, so I am focusing today on Spring cleaning.

A Wet Day

Friday was wet. I chose not to walk with our friends. I was not up for wet forest walking, and so Sheba and I went for a short walk close by and I came home to continue working on the huge box of ‘memories.’ Although it is not without some concern, I discarded photos that have meant a great deal to me in the past. Disenchanted with Françoise as well as Don and Connie, I chose to delegate souvenirs of their lives to the bin.

I was greatly affected by the death of a friend a zillion years ago whose estate I was part of settling. All his photos went into the bin, and it seemed so incredibly sad to see them in the garbage. I’m on a slow course of action to ensure that everything non-essential is gone from Pinecone Park. I’m collecting all that I want gone in the studio, and later this year I will call Gabriola Disposal and have it all taken away.

Throwing out all my ‘precious memories’ was an interesting experience. All my reviews of shows, articles about me in the press, over a hundred photographs, tapes, diplomas, and so, so many things about the Tyrell, York and Loranger families that once meant so much to me but that now evoke little emotion. Some things I saved, but the mementos that remain are now in a very small box.

I worked on sorting things from the huge box all morning. I put some things in envelopes to send to friends who are featured in the article or photographs, and I’m going through everything again soon to sort things for Steve to see when he comes in the Summer, in case he wants to keep some of them.

I’d been on the go all day, so when lunchtime came, I fed everyone and then settled onto the chaise to read for a while. I loved being still. It rained all day, but it wasn’t super heavy rain, so I went out to the cistern again after lunch and saw clearly that it is slowly filling. I had a regulator put on my pump; it ensures that the pump stays on for only 10 minutes per hour, otherwise, it would empty the well and the pump would burn out. Filling the cistern will take three days or more.

We went into the village to shop, and then we went for a walk in the rain. I got some new shoes, that’s why my bone spurs have been hurting. So, I soaked the back of my left shoe in water and did some bending of it before we went, and it made a huge difference. 

It rained all day, and in the afternoon low, low cloud obscured the treetops and gave a ghostly, bluish hue to the visible part of the forest. But it was warm, and I loved the eeriness in the forest. I am extremely happy here, and a big part of that is living in nature, in the forest. If only I’d known at a younger age.

Last night was the usual.

It’s going to be a dull and damp day today. We shall go into the village to go to the post office and to pick up some groceries, and then I’ll read and do more sorting of things and rearranging my storage of souvenirs and clothes. I enjoy doing the very practical chores I’ve been doing. I love getting rid of unnecessary things.