Getting Back to Normal

I’ve done it! I’ve sealed the roof and tightened or replaced all the screws that had somehow come very loose. I can add roofing to my resumé; I’ve certainly butched up my act since moving here!

It was rather scary inasmuch I was on the porch roof that is flat, rather than the house roof that offers greater structural support. I worked on two short planks that I slid around as I worked so as to disburse my weight over several stringers below. Thank God there were clouds protecting me from the hot sun. I worked very slowly as part of my safety plan, and I lived through it. 

Then I took Sheba to the vet. Good news: She’s had some kind of accident and got an infection from licking it. It’s good news because the problem last week was different, and the vet doesn’t think she’s neurotically licking herself and causing hers troubes. I’ve a salve and antibiotics to give her for the next week; soon we’ll be able to do the long walks I’d hoped we could to together this summer.

When I got back, I cleared off a heaping wheelbarrow full of forest fall off the roof I’d fixed. Now another roof is clear (as far as I can reach) as are its gutters. 

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I’ll go on part of the dog walk this morning and then I’ll come home to dick around here until it’s time for Sheba and me to go to the Croquet game this afternoon.

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I’ve stopped my therapy and I’m half-way to weighing as much as I did when I had my breakdown. The last piece of the pre-breakdown puzzle to put in place is getting back to crafting.

You should see my dresses. The Peacock, Cheerleader and Doily dresses have faded out, the break in the waiste of the Wheat Dress that happened when I moved it here, is bigger, and the Crown Royal dress has lost a lot of its marbles. What am I talking about? These dresses.

I don’t want to work on the old dresses. In fact, I’m thinking of junking some of them. Instead, I’m pondering making an outdoor dress for the entrance to my property. I might build a mannequin out of branches and then dress it with varnished leaves and moss. Getting back to crafting would help me cope with Winter during quarantine and complete the return to my pre-breakdown life.

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It’s so busy here this summer that attendants at the ferry terminal in Nanaimo where you catch the ferry to this island on which I live are now asking ticket buyers, “Are you a resident, transporting essential supplies or a visitor?” For the first time, residents are being given loading priority.