Computer Revolt!

 

This video happened to come up on my YouTube page, and something made me watch it. Perhaps it was the handsome face and majestic smile of the young man performing. He is Rafferty Coope, and this old man who produced a lot of performing arts events, was captivated by his charm and stage presence. When he made his first performance on Britain’s Got Talent, he was sixteen and he won a pass to the finals.

This video is of his semi-final performance. (His inaugural performance was more impressing in my opinion. It’s also on YouTube.) He was seventeen at the time of this performance, and he’s six feet four inches tall. What grabs me is his confidence, his joy and his talent. His magnificent big smile is also profoundly alluring. What a guy! I hope he has a magnificent future.

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This morning when I turned on my computer, chaos ensued. For one thing, there were fourteen emails from a theatre company in Québec that I admire, today’s post that I wrote yesterday was gone (the file was empty), and there were a lot of files on my desktop that were not there yesterday and that were files that I don’t recall making. Weird!

Saturday was a good day because no watering was required. Her Highness went for a short morning walk, and then we went into the village so that I could get supplies for making laksa. When we got home, it was lunch time. The clouds that had kept the morning dark and cool dissipated, so while the pets ate indoors, I ate my lunch on the deck.

Then I made a nice big batch of laksa. I love it, especially when it is made by Banana Leaf restaurant, but mine is just fine. I had a small bowl when I was done, and then Shebs and I went to Elder Cedar to walk. It was a fabulous walk. I love my days alone and my life of low demand. I walked slowly, keeping Sheba ahead of me so that I could watch her and ensure that she didn’t find and eat any poop. We had all the time in the world. I love that.

When we got home, I had a spa while Sheba rested, and then it was time for supper and a movie. I watched a documentary about Alvin Ailey. I first saw his dance company in the late 1970s and I was immediately hooked. It was overwhelming to see Revelations, his masterwork, while sitting a few seats away from Leon Bibb who was the star of the very first professional theatre show that I worked on, because Leon, an incredible singer, sings two of the songs on the soundtrack for Revelations. I have quite a few heroes; Alvin Ailey was early on my list. What a magnificent man!

I got into bed at eight and read for a while and went to sleep at nine. Nine! Just like when I was a child. And last night I had a dream that I could recall in the morning. It’s the first time I’ve been able to recall a dream, or part of a dream, in over a decade. 

When I was young, I was plagued with dreams that were full of anxiety. I’d often awaken drenched in sweat. When I went on the AIDS cocktail, the second cocktail I was on, was psychoactive. It made my dreams and anxiety far, far worse. I endured that drug for five years, but when I had my breakdown, I asked if I could change the drug and my current cocktail induces neither hallucinations nor dreams. It was a surprise to be able to recall a dream this morning, but no surprise at all that it was an anxiety dream.

Today is My Day, but sadly fish tacos will not be part of it. The Firetruck Grill is gone until next Summer. Sigh. I shall water, read and tonight I eat with Eoin at The Surf. François is away, spending a month in Vienna.

Just Another Fine Day!

Friday was another stunning day, but I long for rain. It appears likely that the seasonal twitch from eternal sunshine to more of a mixed bag of weather is about to happen. I hope so. I need a break from watering, and I love the season of warm fires and good books.

Sometimes my mind wanders to recollections of things I used to really enjoy about Vancouver. Yesterday morning, I visualized walking along the seawall. It was an eleven kilometre walk from my place to the seawall, around the park, and back to my place. Once, I walked twice around the 8 K seawall. However, yesterday, the images that came to mind horrified me.

It was the thought of all the people and people noise that was always a part of walking the wall (except on dull and damp rainy days). That’s been a huge post-breakdown change in my temperament. I am now frightfully averse to contact with strangers.

I got an email from Blogger, the platform that hosts my blog, saying that they are going to remove a bunch of my videos and they included screenshots of the videos they intend to remove. They are not my videos, so I don’t know why I got the email and I wonder what is going to happen to my blog. Time will tell I guess. 

I decided to take Her Highness with me to join our dog walking group to walk part way with them, and then we’ll turn back. I haven’t walked with them for over a month, so it was fun to see everyone at first, but Sheba found some human poop, ate it, and got some all over her head so we turned around and I came home to wash her head. I was pissed.

What time is it? What’s up? What do you want to do? Worst of all, the name of the App we use at SPACE for communications: What’s App. I can’t say the words ‘what’ or what’s,’ and it’s driving me crazy. I say ‘wot’ or ‘wot’s’ instead. It’s the same trick I use for the words, ‘can’ and ‘can’t;’ instead I use the English pronunciation.

I Zoomed with Bonnie and Sue at 11:00. They are wonderful new friends. They are off to Greece and traveling up the Dalmatian coast, all the while checking their email to see if a house on Gabe has been listed that they like. They must vacate their current home, which they have sold, and that’s why they are do keen to find a place here.

When that call was done, I went outside to check on the garden beds. It turns out I had to do a thorough watering job. The forecast changed again. Now there is no rain forecast until next Thursday. Sigh. Mr. Hose and I spent the ensuing two hours intimately. Hopefully, today can pass without me watering again.

Last evening was the usual, but this morning was slightly unusual. The brood let me sleep in until 5:15. That is a real treat. I plan on reading today and working on my bit for the show in October. 

Saving Birds

Thursday was another bright and sunny day, and it looks like it’ll remain sunny until Tuesday when clouds return. I wonder what we’re in for this Winter as El Niño is predicted to affect our weather. Last Winter was very dry. We had neither snow nor cold.

I got into the spa while it was still rather dark outside, and then did some answering of emails that was long overdue before going over to Ali and Pete’s to pick them up and drive them to the ferry. They are off to Vancouver to see Brani Carlise (I am a huge fan). Then Her Highness walked the beautiful huge meadow that’s in a conservancy area before coming home to…..

Not work. I decided that today would be a day off from SPACE work and gardening. I chose, instead, to read and putter around the house and yard doing simple little things. 

One of the things I did yesterday, was order some pens that have white waterproof ink and with a 3-4 mms wide nib. I shall use the pen to put white lines running down several of my windows. Birds see the lines and won’t fly into the glass as happens every year, and it breaks my heart to find dead birds in Pinecone Park. That will soon be a thing of the past.

Early in the afternoon, we walked Elder Cedar. Her Highness continues to do well with walking now that we take shorter walks and her prednisone dosage is higher. When we got home, I had a spa, fed the brood and read until it was time to leave for Woodfire and dinner with Kris, Steve and Nancy.

The four of us have been getting together for many years now, and we are wonderfully compatible on every issue. We laugh, we bitch and we gossip; it’s always wonderful to be in the company of three great friends. Our reservation was for 17:30, so we were finished eating by 19:30 and I roared home to be reunited with Her Highness and the twins.

And then … bed. I love going to bed. I love sleep, and I’m very good at it. I just wish I could sleep longer.

Today is sunny again, but the forecast has changed and rain is predicted tomorrow, so I shall spot water today hoping the forecast is correct. I’ll Zoom with Bonnie and Sue, the new friends I made at Silva Bay. They have sold their house in Kelowna, and plan to move here. But tomorrow they leave for Greece. And I’ll read, walk and soak.

I Can Hardly Wait to See this Film

 

Wednesday dawned bright and sunny, and it was a comfortable 14° when I went outside at 7:00 to water the garden beds. I got a good chunk of the watering done and then, for a break, I came in to fetch Sheba and to go for our morning walk. 

I loved watering in the cool fragrant morning air. I hear lots of birds that made me wish I knew which ones they were that I was hearing. I loved the cool air on my face. I keep feeling euphoric due to my love of all things natural. I’m so lucky to be a person who’s inspired and moved by the natural world.

Our walk was uplifting, and so was doing the watering. When I was finished the watering, we had lunch and then we did a fast run into the village to shop and then I hurried home to chat with Aidan at 14:00. We had a great talk and we could have gone on and on, but we signed off at 15:15 so that we could have a break before our board meeting at 16:00.

The board meeting went extremely well. There are a few of us who do a lot of work for SPACE, but most board members do little between meetings, so Aidan led a discussion about board members taking on more responsibility for driving areas of SPACE concern.

When that was done, I fed my lovelies and then I got into the spa to slow me down. Then it was the usual dinner and a movie.

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It’s very cool that Canada may become the EU’s first associate member! It feels wonderful to also read that Trump is angry about Canada’s increasing trade relations with the EU.

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I love Ed Sheeran. I feel terrible about what’s happening to his tour and reputation due to Mackelmore’s comment about Palestine (with which I am sympathetic). What a drag that politics is playing havoc with a good man’s tour.

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Today, I won’t be watering. Instead, I’ll be doing some SPACE work and some reading. Tonight I dine with Kris, Steve and Nancy at Woodfire.