Me Chingachgook

Yesterday began with a notice in my inbox saying that we were to expect dangerously strong winds during the afternoon, so I prepared to lose power. I’m sick of this cold; with strong winds it will feel even colder. I committed myself to keeping the fire roaring all day, but I was equally committed to walking with our friends in the 707 Park in the morning.

Our walk was great. Every walk in the forest is great! I seem to be the only one in our group that easily orients in the forest. I always lead our group. I like being upwind of everyone, and I like being ahead of the noise my friends make. One of them has a dog who barks relentlessly, and another speaks very loudly because the is hard of hearing. When I made one turn, I faced a mutiny.

“We go this way, don’t we?” she asked me.

“No, that leads to the path with enormous puddles.”

“I think we should go this way.”

“Okay, you go that way, and I’ll go the way I like to go. If you go that way, be sure to turn left when you come to the main trail, and you’ll arrive back at our cars. I’ll likely see you at the cars.”

“I think I’ll go with Chris.” Cynthia knows that I know the trails.

Everyone wound up following me, and when we got back to our cars, they all thanked me for leading them on a route that avoided the puddles. Also, Cynthia told them that I always know where I am and which way to go. I’ve always been good at orienting myself on walks. It’s been that way all my life, and it surprises me that my friends still get confused about the route because we’ve been walking the same three trails for eight years!

When we got home, I fetched the clothes I wanted to get rid of. They were all bundled and labeled, and Her Highness and I went first to the offices of People for a Healthy Community, and I was thrilled because they were thrilled with my donation. The same thing happened at the Gabe shop. When I came in with a package of nine pairs of trousers, the woman recognized me as the donor of the shirts that they were so impressed with. It felt very, very good to recycle everything!

When we got back to Pinecone Park, it was lunchtime, so I fed the brood, and then I got the ladder so that I could get up and onto the loft floor. But then I decided not to do the work. I wanted to chill and read, so that’s what I did after I built up the fire. It had started to rain, and I wanted to wrap myself in the electric blanket and enjoy a bottle of Diet Coke and get back into my book. I am loving Kate Atkinson’s series very much. She’s a great writer.

In the late afternoon, we went for our afternoon walk, and then we came home to fall into our regular evening patterns. Last night, I watched one of my favourite movies: Goodbye Christopher Robin.

Today: Rain most likely, loft cleaning, some reading, walking and our regular evening.

Cold!

Yesterday we walked early in the morning, and then I took Her Highness to the groomer just before 9:00. It was cold, but the sky cleared early in the morning, and it became a nice bright day. I came home after dropping her off, and Steve called to chat. We had a long talk, but then I signed off so that I could get back to the SPACE Listening Equity database.

At 10:30, I had to return to the groomers to pick her up, and then we came home for lunch, after which I had a great Zoom call with Aidan and Ezra about SPACE communication planning as we have a board meeting coming up on the weekend. When the call was finished, I completed my work on the database, so I did a bit of reading and then Her Highness and I went for a long afternoon walk.

The evening was the usual.

It’s unmotivating outside this morning. It’s cold and cloudy, but I have no SPACE work to do today, so I will enjoy reading and I’ll also get started on de-junking the loft. However, the most important part of the day will be keeping the fire going so that we stay toasty warm all day after our morning walk with our friends.

Cave pearls form when water is moving too vigorously to form

a stalagmite. A nucleus of matter (a grain of sand) gets coated

in calcite and then the current rolls the tiny orb and it grows.

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.