Saturday

I heard from the wood supplier. Phew. It’s over! They accepted my counter offer. I am relieved. I was horrified by their bill and sent payment withholding $300.  I have never ever done that before.

It was kind of scary walking Sheba Saturday morning. The wind was really strong and I didn’t like hearing the branches creaking, breaking and falling to the ground. I hurried every time I had to cross under hydro wires. We’d already had one power failure before I went outside.

I spent the morning pruning the wild bushes in my yard and burning my clippings and the fallen branches. And—wait for it—I started doing my taxes; I made barely a start but it whetted my whistle to get them done.

The wind calmed down somewhat just before I left for the Farmers’ Market. When I got home I was too pooped to do anything; I napped. I think all the garden building and wood sacking got to me.

I met Jennifer at the beach. She’s a nurse practitioner and her husband is a retired prof. They came to visit Gabriola on Dec. 21^stof last year. They came to spend Christmas here but when they saw this island they bought a home the next day. They fell hard for this place and they wanted out of America and its polarized politics.

It’s incredibly warm. It’s really exquisite outside. I have all the screened doors and windows open (and no bugs).

This is the density of pine cone bud wrappers that land
on my deck PER HOUR! Click on the photos to enlarge
them (but you lose the captions).

This is the side of Buttercup Street, the street you use to
access my house from North Road. There are tons of
daisies all over the island. 

This is the field to the left of where I took the curb-side photo
on Buttercup.

This is the field to the right of where I took the curb-side photo
on Buttercup.

above and below: The Farmers' Market this morning.

A favourite stop at the market is the Candy Girl. She's
a charmer and we talk every week. She's going to try to
make lemon rind marshmallow for me.

This is my street. You can see why I say I live in a park.

This is my  conifer garden. It looks better in 3_D but like
all new gardens, it looks like land with smallpox.

The tide was way out at Sandwell Park.

Walking way out, the Geoducks squirt water out of these
holes all over the beach. The water shoots out waist-high.
They are huge clams.