Di and Bev Arrive

I had several chores to do around the house once the brood was fed and the morning fire had been lit. I vacuumed the guest rooms, washed the guest bathtub, cleaned the stove and it’s all ready to receive Tom Turkey, plus I cleaned the microwave and the cattery. I got everything done that I wanted to do.

I washed a rug and chopped some wood to have at the ready for fires during Di and Beverly’s visit, and I finished with chores (except for some shopping) at 9:30. My back was killing me. I needed a sit down before heading out for our walk.

After I posted on my blog, I took Her Highness for our morning sojourn through the forest and then we went into the village to shop for supplies. And then … and then … I did some watering! We haven’t had any rain for five days and there is no rain in the forecast, so some spot watering was in the cards.

Yesterday morning was out final Saturday morning farmers’ market at the Agi Hall. Another sign of the dark and wet to come. Sigh. We got all the things that we needed in the village, and I got busy using my blower to clean the deck, courtyard and front walk of all the accumulated needles.

At 12:30, I was done with duties. It was time to relax. I kept calling Dianne to learn of her ETA, but I got no answer. However, I reckoned she would arrive at around 14:00, but she and Beverly didn’t get here until 15:00. They’d had a very long day of travel, so we got them unloaded and settled into their room. I’d bought some gorgeous smelling lilies, and I had several blooms on a single stalk in each room. I was thrilled when Dianne opened her door and she exalted in the fragrance of the flowers.

We called The Surf to reserve for dinner because Beverely was craving fish and chips, but they were booked solid. They suggested we come shortly before five, and they’d try to fit us in. We did, and they did. We all enjoyed a delicious meal and then came home for cake (it is delicious with the orange cream) and a movie.

I didn’t make it through the movie. I was exhausted, so I was in bed at 21:00, and quickly went to sleep.

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It’s another day of clear sky, but it was a chilly 9° when I rose at 4:30. I sorted the living room and lit a nice roaring morning fire. We’ll improvise through the day, but I know Bev and Di will be going to visit some of the artist studios that are open. Most of the island artists open their studios on Thanksgiving weekend, and lots of tourists come to visit the island and take in the Studio Tour. In this gorgeous Fall weather, the island is crawling with bicyclists. 

It’s going to be a great day, and tomorrow we cook and feast.

Summer in October

 

Beth told me about Frank and Percy. It appears that tous les grands are in this film except Judy Dench. And it looks like delicious fun for this old gay man who wants nothing whatsoever to do with partnering.

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Friday began with a visit to Life Labs. They have precious few times available each day, so I leave here at 7:20 to line up in hopes of getting a time. I did. I had to wait until 9:15 to give blood. And then I found out that there were some shots that cannot be done on Friday, so I must return. I also got a booking for a flue and Covid shot in mid-October in Cedar. I must take the ferry and go all the way to Cedar to get shots that I usually get here on Gabe.

Then we came home and I made the frosting and frosted the cake. It’s a big cake, and I’m really looking forward to tasting it. I have never done what I did this time to a chocolate cake I often bake and that everyone loves. This time, I piped a sugary marshmallow frosting heavily infused with orange zest onto each layer and then I covered the piped flavouring with a thick layer of chocolate butter cream frosting.

As soon as I was done, I fed everyone and then, on another stunning sunny day, Sheba and I went to Elder Cedar to walk. Oh, the beauty of it all, and oh how good I felt having finished the cake and with the house ready for guests. It was a beautiful walk, full of wonderful fragrances and a soundtrack of Raven tones.

I wish that you could hear our Ravens. They make single note tones that are very loud and really beautiful. They are short bursts of sound, very unlike their other calls. I’m often asked by visitors what the sound is.

When we came home, I tried to print something and found that my printer is no longer compatible with the Mac operating system. It’s always something. I have such a love/hate relationship with technology. I had to buy a new printer, but the good news was that they are not very expensive.

Then I tried to access my bank account to pay my VISA bill, but I could not get in. I called Vancity and I had to answer 5,000 of their security questions before they would let me ask my question. This is the bank that I love but also the bank that flagged my account as possibly fraudulent due to my stutter.

Finally, at 15:00, I was done with my self-assigned duties. I left vacuuming and making up the guest beds until today. Instead, I cleaned some windows. Now that the sun is so low on the horizon and another tree has been downed in my backyard, sunlight blazes into the house and shows just how dirty some windows are.

And then I was in the spa. Heaven!

And so, it begins. Di and Beverly arrive at some point today. Jane has decided not to come, so we’ll be three celebrating Thanksgiving together at Pinecone Park. There’ll be chatting, there’ll be cooking and eating, and there’ll be movies on my grand 55-incher. 

Baking Day

Thursday was bright and sunny and lovely and warm (18°) in the late afternoon. I was inside baking, tidying and cleaning all day. I had a long nap at noon, and it reminds me of being an ill child to be in bed in daylight hours. But oh, it felt so good to have that nap. 

Because it was so lovely, Sheba and I went to walk on the Elder Cedar trail while the cakes cooled. It was beautiful in the forest. Walking the trails is palpably cleansing. All trouble leaves my mind amongst the trees. Even in Winter, it is uplifting. What a wonderful place I live in.

When we got home, I worked on the marshmallow filling that will go between the layers of the cake. I didn’t like the result, so I added a lot of orange zest and I’m much happier with it now. I shall pipe strands of it on each of the two layers and then smother the whole cake with chocolate butter cream.

We walked in Rollo Park in the afternoon and came upon Regina who was walking Billie. It was great to run into her because I miss her and all the gals with whom I walked three times a week for eight years. Then I came home to feed the brood, have dinner and watch a movie.

It was a busy day, and I made a mess baking that had to be cleaned up, to the evening was busier than usual. We went to bed later than usual, and I had a great sleep until Fred came howling onto the bed at 3:30. I stayed in bed until 4:30 and then got up knowing I couldn’t eat or drink anything but water because I have to go to the lab at 7:30 for blood tests.

Later today, I’ll finish the cake, do some SPACE work, and tidy up in general, especially in the guest bathroom and bedrooms. Di and Beverly arrive tomorrow to stay until late Tuesday.

Sophie

Yesterday was my ninth anniversary of living on Gabiola day.  The day dawned bright and sunny. I was thrilled because I loathe going to the big island on cloudy or rainy days. My condition makes highway driving very uncomfortable. When it is raining or dark due to a thick cloud cover, it’s even worse for me on the highway.

However, on the plus side, I was going to the vet’s office on my own time. I just had to drop of Sheba’s stool and urine samples and pick up her liver medication. I did not have an appointment; I just had to turn up at my convenience, so that meant fall less anxiety for this trip. Plus, there was sushi for lunch to look forward to, and lots of delicious groceries that I can’t get here.

Doug’s visit last weekend, followed a week later by Dianne, Beverly and Jane’s visit this coming weekend, and then, four days after Di and the gals depart, I go to Vancouver for the SPACE event. It’s all too much too close together for me to feel comfortable. I am going to be very happy when the SPACE event is over because I will be living my easy solitary life again until Christmas when Paula comes to visit.

I left very happy. I’d been worried about getting urine and stool samples before leaving, but I was successful at getting both. I didn’t care about timing, I had no deadlines, so I just left the house with Her Highness when I was ready, and when I got to the terminal, I was waved onto the ferry. I was the last car on. It was the first time I have arrived and driven directly onto the vessel.

Everything went quickly at the vet’s office, so then we went shopping. I love Thrifty Foods, it feels so rich compared to our store. Every shelf is full to bulging, and there are so many delicious looking pre-made foods and baking. I got sushi to have on the ferry on the way home, and I got a turkey for thanksgiving and lots of veggies.

Then we went to the ferry and had to wait a while because every Wednesday there is a ‘dangerous goods’ sailing at 10:15, but I was home before noon. And on the way home, I stopped at the pharmacy, picked up my pills from St. Paul’s in Vancouver, and I booked an appointment in November for my RSV vaccine. Sheba and I were both extremely happy to be back home.

The highlight of my trip happened as soon as I was loaded onto the ferry to go to the big island. No sooner had I parked, thana woman came by on my passenger side, and she saw Sheba and melted. She came round to my door, and in her first words, I heard a French (not Québecois) accent, so I responded in French because I know no English would come out of me.

Her name is Sophie. She’s a lovely woman. She’s also very esoteric, she’s ethereal and she talks a lot about destiny. What brought you to Gabriola, I asked. Destiny was her reply. Then came a need for a word I didn’t know in French, and then came am English name, so my stutter became the subject our conversation. She asked me why I spoke French; I told her proudly that my birth mother was Québecoise.

Then I told her about believing I was French very early in my life. I was young enough to need a babysitter, and I met a girl bus who lived near-by and was French. I told Don about this girl and asked that she be my babysitter.

My sensibility to things French began early and there are other things I could tell you that seem like scenes from Twilight Zone; it was things I did that made me believe I might be French. And it boggles me to believe that my behaviour gave me correct insight into the language of my birth mother.

I had no birth story and grew up disconnected from my adoptees. The sense of having some kind of link to my origins was profoundly meaningful. I went to France to learn French for a year, ten years before I met Françoise, my birth mother.

The social worker told me about finding Françoise, and the moment I heard that name, I knew. When I started speaking in French, she cried. Of course she did, she’s an actor! I went to. Montreal to meet her. Steve came with me. Our friend, Briam, arranged for his parents to billet us in their home.

I get up early every day, no matter where I go. I was up long before Steve and our hosts. I got up, I picked up a keychain I’d purchased that had a flag of Québec inside a thick plastic tab, and I sat on the landing of our floor, with my feet on the next step down of the stairs, and I sobbed, as quietly as I could, rubbing the tab all over my face.

You must have nothing to have that as the most emotional moment of a long life. But French is HUGE in my identity because it is the thing that is more true than any other truth. I call the day I became conscious of perhaps being, probably being, French, my Fatima moment. That girl saw a saint; I saw une mére Québecoise.

I lacked confidence through my teenage years and as a young adult. Having a satisfying and successful career in the arts gave me something to be proud of and it boosted my self-esteem. But the thing I’m most proud of, is sensing I was French.

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This morning has dawned bright, sunny and the temperature is 12°. I could not speak to the animals this morning, and when David called to chat, I could not get any words out. I got quite depressed and worried about DI and Beverly’s visit starting on Saturday, and about my performance next week. However, by the end of my call with David, I was speaking well enough to not worry anymore.

I shall bake today. I want to bake a cake for my guests. And we’ll walk and I may start a new book.