Sunday, August 26, 2018

It's National Dog Day today!

After the most exquisite day on Friday, Saturday sucked. It rained in the morning and the afternoon was dark and dispiriting. The sudden change in the weather may be why I had a bit of a rough day (two seizures).
For the flora and fauna the rain was welcome; I found myself at a loss for things to do and wound up watching TED talks and reading academic journal entries about anxiety. And I thought about the months ahead. It won’t be like last winter.
I was busy all through last winter—my first on the island. I had to learn how to live here. I had to learn how to manage garbage collection and my water system and how to deal with power failures. I had to get all the emergency equipment I needed and learned how to use it, plus I worked for months with Darrell to build the fence, renovate the studio and lay the courtyard.  On top of that, I was learning to live with three new infant pets and hosting endless visitors.
This winter is going to be much  different. For one thing, I’ll be going through it with one only one eye. I can only stand reading for a while and some crafting is harder because my depth of field isn’t working so keeping busy will be a challenge. I’m thinking I’ll be going into the city to visit friends more than I did last winter.
Last night I opened the back door to take Sheba out for a walk before going to bed and she shot out the door, crashing into furniture and barking like a banshee. She’s a very clumsy dog, she lost it trying to take a corner too fast but she recovered quickly and went berserk at a raccoon eating my birdseed. 
It was the first time I could not control her by command. She’s a very obedient puppy, but not when there’s a chance to fight with a raccoon. Luckily the ‘coon escaped staying on the fence so Sheba couldn’t get at it. I think Sheba would have sustained some nasty cuts and scratches and we’d have to check for rabies had they made contact.
It’s cloudy and dark and ominous looking again today, but today is community dog walk day so that’ll kick-start the day for both Her Highness and I. It’ll be very different walking through wet forest. I cleaned the fireplace so we can have a nice little fire when we get back now that the ground is wet from two days of showers and a half-day of rain.
How long does it take you to bake a pie? How many pies can you bake in a day?
Gwen sells pies at the market every Saturday. They are excellent pies. She is a fabulous cook. Her pastry is excellent and the fillings of the pies are unique and wonderfully full of favour. Her berries pies, to which I am partial, have a perfect level of sweetness.
She puts put about thirty-five pies each week; I’m too shy to actually count them in front of her. She sells out every week long before the market closes and her pies are twenty bucks each. So if I am correct about her number, she’s grossing almost three grand a month from her baking. And she’s a delightful person.
I’m sure she works hard but I’m sure her overhead is rather low, so she’s found a way to make a great long summer income on the island.


















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