Charcoal Lodge

I cleaned my fireplace Friday morning. I had to, there were too many cinders and they were preventing air from getting under my fires. I emptied the ashes into a metal bucket (as one is supposed to do) and then went to the woodshed to get some wood.

I came back and set the fire. Then I went to work writing. When it came time to check on the fire I found the ashes all over the living room carpet and floor and there were chunks of carbon turning up in strange places throughout the day and evening.

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When dawn broke there was no fog. It was a brilliant sunny day so I was out in the garden. Now all my plants are in the ground so I’m hoping for a big reward come Spring.

A word about gardening on Gabriola: This island is all rock — all Sandstone. So planting a tree means digging a large hole into which you plant the tree plus a bathtub full of real soil.

Digging the hole is nasty work that hurts my back. I rest after every tree or shrub is planted. When Darrell was building the fence I used his huge metal spike — I don’t know what to call it; it was like a six-foot crowbar without the crow, just a point. He uses it for digging postholes and I don’t have access to it now.

I also did something today that I’d been dreading (earning today’s pie.) I dismantled the fire pit. It’s gone. Now I have a large circular paving stone patio at ground level extending from my deck and I think it’s a perfect place for my picnic table and chairs. I think it’s nicer to be out in the yard instead of on the deck by the hot tub.

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In the afternoon the fog came in and I experienced a really neat natural event.

I have, perhaps, ten Fir trees on my property. They are extremely tall and largely trimmed on the lower thirty–to-forty meters. Their braches are way, way up and when the fog came in it condensed on the needles until it formed large droplets that fell as huge rain drops. All day there was a shower of these giant drops under the trees.

Also, with my laser flashlight, I could turn it on in the fog and see that fog is really gigabajillions of micro drops of water. So yesterday I saw the smallest and largest water droplets I have ever seen.

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Darrell finished all the siding on the deck and it looks very smart. He was here for just two hours today but we started talking about the sunroom. I’m as excited about it as I’ve been about the studio — partly because of what it will mean to have it to play in and partly because I’ve so much confidence in Darrell’s design choices, ethics and skills. I’ve no doubt I’ll love what he does.

And I moved the ex fire pit bricks to places where the fence doesn’t quite meet the yard to discourage the raccoons and otters — otters are particularly vicious with pets.

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Very soon, I’ll mark the two-year anniversary of having seizures, stuttering and seeing Dr. Shoja. On January 2^nd I start seeing her every second Tuesday for as long as I want. My current thinking is to continue until the end of August and then to start going monthly and then, in April 2019, to start going quarterly. I’m happy to have a plan I can both afford and that has me moving toward independence.