Another Day of Rest

 

Every year, the Japanese Maple that grows in the courtyard right in front of my studio puts on an incredible display (above). I had no idea how beautiful this tree would be when I planted a wee sapling eight years ago. Everything I did was just hap hazard, but I am thrilled that I planted it where I’d be able to see it from my desk where I spend so much time.

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Tuesday was another lovely day. I did chores in the morning; my favourite always being lighting the fire. But when I came in with the wood, I could barely walk from the shed to the back door because my back was hurting badly, and I realized how frequent the problem was becoming. This aging thing sucks!

We went for our morning walk and then we went into the village to fetch a prescription. On the way home, we had another short walk in glorious sunshine. It’s become quite cool in the mornings, but the sunshine still feels wonderfully warm on my skin. When we got home, I had to do some spot watering which is very unusual for mid-October.

I finished reading my book in the afternoon and then I did some SPACE work for Aidan before we went for our third short walk. Now, every time we walk, every time we go anywhere, I see how close we are to needing a ramp for Sheba to access the bed in the van. She really is struggling with her back legs and it breaks my heart. There are often tears of fear on my cheek.

I spent a lot of time reflecting on my experience last weekend. After ten and a half years of strong stuttering, I finally met another person who stutters in person. There is nothing like finding your people! But I can’t do something like last weekend too often. These trips sap all my energy. Yesterday, I was still feeling a powerful need to rest, but today I feel back to normal.

I’m very happy to see a largely empty calendar for the coming two months. And I believe I’ll only need to water the garden beds once more this season. Come Saturday, we may get rain and, hopefully, there will be more days of rain after that. 

Bonnie and Sue will be moving here from Kelowna in just over ten days. It was so wonderful to meet them at Silva Bay last Summer. We had an instant connection, and now I will have their company to look forward to periodically on a permanent basis. Now that I am not walking with my fellow dog walkers, having more friends on the island to visit with is wonderful. 

Today is going to be another bright and sunny day. Sheba goes to the groomer’s, I see Pete and Ali to take them to the ferry, and in the afternoon I Zoom with Aidan. All that, and I start a new book.

Still High from the Weekend

Monday’s high was a mere 13°. Sigh. But I got a wee bit of gardening done that I’d wanted to do. Mostly, I napped, read, did some shopping, and took two walks with Her Highness. My day was dedicated to recovery and enjoying the thrill of being home and the performance and film making behind me.

For the next several days, it is going to be sunny, which is nice, but for the next couple of months, I have nothing demanding on my plate. I had such a good time this past weekend, but it takes a lot out of me. The amazing thing is that I didn’t even come close to having a seizure. As I wrote here a few days ago, the progress in my neurological recovery is palpable.

My lungs are another story. I’m having monthly tests now, but I am also avoiding hills again and walking slowly. On Sunday evening, when I had half an hour to get some food at Thrifty Foods before the ferry arrived, I hurried to get there and thought I might collapse. It was very painful; I was so completely out of breath. The loss of lung power scares me. 

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The challenge of experiences such as my recent weekend is the stimulation.

During the trip, as I mentioned here yesterday, we hit kilometres of traffic on the highway. At one point after coming down a long steep hill called The Cut, we entered onto a small bridge and, being on the flat shoreline and about to rise toward the bridge, I could see the traffic jam extending onto overhead bridges, access roads and on the bridge itself. It got me shaking and hyperventilating, but I didn’t have a seizure.

It hurts to see all those cars. It really hurts to be in one in a tsunami of vehicles going in every direction and overhead on overpasses. It hurts my brain. It was extreme overstimulation. Urban life is not sustainable for me. Seeing columns of balconies the size of carpets, it sickened me to think of life in a tower. Elevators are sewers to my brain.

This angst of the trip, however, was blown out of my mind once I was in the company of my community of stutterers and allies, for the first time in my life. It was highly effective medicine. I did myself well by introducing myself to my local community with my monologue. I was Mr. Joy-Boy all weekend.

At the film shoot. I met James, and I had another immediately intimate friendship growing. He is in the film when the voice-over is about aphasia. I learned a lot about aphasics from him in the most comfortable conversation imaginable. We are family. We have speech challenges, and we can talk about them so fearlessly with each other.

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This morning, when I went out for wood with which to light a fire, it was 6° outside. Brrrrr! But it’s another sunny day, so we’ll enjoy our walks, I’ll read and do chores.

The Most Amazing Weekend

 I am so, so glad to be home. I love Pinecone Park. This is where my soul thrives. Every time I go to Vancouver, I hate it. The only pleasurable moments of just being there happened on Sunday morning. I had to be at the film studio at 9:00, and it was lovely to drive through the city when there was very little traffic and in glorious, intoxicating sunshine.

But let’s start at the beginning….

Saturday morning, I was up at 3:30 to ensure that all I needed to do got done, including taking Her Highness for a walk in the pitch blackness of very early morning. I left just before 6:00 to catch the 6:20 ferry to Nanaimo. On arrival there, I hurried directly to the ferry terminal. 

I always want to be at the terminal when I take the big ferry to and from Vancouver because that is the only way to ensure that I to park on the top deck. It’s the only deck on which passengers can exit their cars to go inside the ferry and then return to their cars. Ig one parks in the lower decks, you are not allowed to remain in your car.

We arrived at Horseshoe Bay at 10:00, and I went directly to John and Bunny’s, and before I knocked on their door, I took Her Highness for a walk. We had a good chinwag and then they served me lunch. I had to be at the performance venue at 14:00, so just after 13:00 we loaded John’s bike into the car and the three of us went to VIVO Media Arts Centre. John navigated to help me find the place, and then he rode home.

I was late because there was a miles long LA-like traffic jam on the highway. We crawled for miles and discovered it was due to a car accident on the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge. But my lateness was not a problem for anyone.

On arrival, I got a welcome that made me glow from head to toe. Aidan, his sisters, Luke Wyland, Sid and the other performers gave me a welcome worthy of Jesus. And Devon, Irfan, and Laura, all of whom are in my BC stutterers support group were there and meeting them in person after meeting with them online every month for the past six years was epic.

The entire day was just as uplifting and moving. Rehan, eight years old, captured my soul right away. He was one of the performers, and he was there with his dad and grandparents. His dad also stutters. We mingled together once all the marks and mike levels were set. Then, just as things were about to get underway, Dianne arrived. I was thrilled. 

The performance got underway with Devon and Aidan making introductions, and then Rehan did his bit. I was second on the program, and Devon made the most amazing introduction of me. Again, I felt like Jesus, she was so complimentary. I did fine. The parts I’d memorized rolled off my tongue without a single hitch, but when it came to the part when I spoke off the cuff in my real voice, it was I absolutely brutal. But that was the point.

Oliver followed me. He is a charmer with Down Syndrome. He is sixteen and adorable. And after him came Luke, the star performer who is also the warmest, most wonderful person imaginable. Remember, this day was the first time in my life I had been with anyone else who stutters. It was a sacred experience for me.

After the performances, we all enjoyed delicious food, donated from a stuttering man who owns a catering company, and assembled by Devon. I was in heaven. And then came a major highlight of the day. I found myself in discussion with handsome Sid, and there was a woman standing close by looking at us, so I introduced myself.

I regret that I cannot remember her name, but she took my email and said she would write, and I am certain that she will and then I’ll know her name. I have a feeling we are going to be great pen pals and that we will get together again. The magic happened between us because I noticed that when she stuttered, which was often, she had muscular contractions. I could see it, and so I told her I noticed them and that I had the same issue. It created a real bond between us.

Then it was time to go to John’s, and of course, more horrendous traffic because the bridge I used to get from the east side into downtown went right past BC Place where Bruno Mars was performing. It was insane downtown, but I managed to get back to John and Bunny’s by 20:00. They had saved some homemade pizza for me, and we had dessert together, and then I crashed into bed with Her Highness close. It had been a long and exhausting day.

I slept in until 6:00, when I got up, fed Her Highness, took her for a walk and then read until 7:30 when I heard John in the kitchen. We had a short visit, and then I left for the film studio. There was a huge crew of film makers and crew in the studio. I was first into makeup when the crew was close to finishing their set-up, and I was first filmed. It was smooth and easy, and I was out of there by 11:00.

I drove to a florist shop near John and Bunny’s and took a big bouquet to Bunny for all their kindness and then, joy of joys, I drove to John Lawson Park to walk Sheba and to meet Leslie and her dog, Gigi. 

Leslie has been MIA for a long, long time. We were extremely close friends for decades, but the last several years, I have barely heard from her, so I was thrilled to get a chance to see her. I was shocked to see how much difficulty she had moving around. She thinks her hip is out and so she promised to get to a doctor. She is so busy helping her Dad and her bosom buddy Libby who lost her husband a few years ago, (her dad died ten days ago at age 102), that she doesn’t look after herself.

When it came time to part, I said, “I’m sure you’ve heard this before, Les, but you have to start treating yourself as well and as caringly as you care for others.” And she teared up. I told her how much I loved her and then said good-bye. I cried as I headed up the hill to the highway to Horseshoe Bay. I reckon we’ll be closer again. I am going to keep in touch because I felt her love of me still lives. Oh, the joy of knowing that!

Once in the ferry line at Horseshoe Bay, I started to get excited about getting home. Sheba had spent so much time alone in the car, I wanted her to get back to our bed and the yard. As soon as we arrived in Nanaimo, I beetled it to the Gabriola ferry terminal. Once parked in line, I had half an hour to skedaddle to Thrifty Foods to get some groceries that I love getting there.

Then we were home. I was so happy! The cats were all over me as I lit a roaring fire to warm up the cool house. Then I settled onto the chaise to watch some television before going to bed early. Oh, the joy!! 

I am thrilled that I went to the city and performed and did the filming. I am proud of what I did and over the moon about being with my fellow wonderful stutterers. We are family. It’s an extraordinary community. I am blessed to be part of SPACE. 

Today will be a joyous day. I have nothing at all on my plate. It’s a day to relax all day and revel in the memories of the weekend.

My new SPACE swag.

In full makeup. Not much change.

It takes so much to be beautiful.

One wall of film equipment in the studio.

Wardrobe ready for my close up.

To the Big Smoke

Friday is always enjoyable in the morning. A gay couple I adore post a vlog every Friday morning and I love watching it. After I watched it, I went back to bed and had a nap before Her Highness and I went for our morning walk.

When I got home, I did some SPACE work and I had a long Zoom call with Steve, and then it was lunchtime. After lunch, H.H. and I went to Rollo Park and it was just spectacular. I felt euphoric in the warm sunshine and the silence of the park. No one was there but us, and the fragrances and the lowness of the sun over the horizon took me back in time to many mornings playing soccer before school started.

When we came home, I read and had a long Zoom call with Beth before Zooming with Aidan at 15:00. Aidan and I went over the plans for the weekend, and it was all good news. I shall be able to care for Sheba easily. I’m relieved! After the call, Sheba and I headed out for our third walk on a spectacular afternoon. 

We ran into several people, all of whom were chuffed by the weather and so, so happy to be walking in the 707 with their dogs. When I got back to the car, Christine was waiting for me. She is a paramedic and she noticed my car parked in an unusual way and that the back door was open. She was concerned for me. I arrived just as she was putting a note under my windshield. This is such a caring island.

When we got home, my new printer was delivered. There were virtually no instructions at all, but I managed to get it working. My old printer would not work with the new Mac operating system, so I had to get this new printer. Damn! I was relieved to get it going. Order restored.

We are off on the 6:20 ferry to Nanaimo, then the 8:30 ferry to Vancouver. It’s going to be a brutal day for us, and then tomorrow, morning is the filming. I can hardly wait to board the ferry for home already.

No post tomorrow; I’ll be back on Monday morning.