Going to April Point Lodge

The photo above is of April Point Lodge. It’s on Quadra Island, north of my island. To get there, I will drive 2.5 hours north from Nanaimo to Campbell River where I will catch the ferry to Quadra. Pete and Ali will be going at the same time as me, thanks to my gift to them of their room for all the work they did on my deck. I am excited about driving to Campbell River with them. I hope we ‘convoy’ together, stopping at the same rest stops. I’ll have 2 nights at the lodge with them, then I’ll come home, and they will stay for another night.

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We went for a lovely morning walk together in the 707 Forest, and then I came home to stain the last two wooden chairs. Then it was time for lunch before applying a second coat to one of the chairs and then attending to the transplanting of the moss to the sides of the new footpath. It was a cloudy but warm day. It was nice to have a break from the hot sun while I worked, and to give the plants a break from the heat.

After planting all the moss, I called it quits rather early to go into the village for supplies, enjoy a spa and to do some reading/relaxing. Today I start cleaning up all the gardens and yard, and it excites me because all I do will improve the look of Pinecone Park. It’s thrilling to be on the final project of the season in the yard. Once the gardens are tidied, there will only be watering to do.

I’m going to get a few more plants for the courtyard garden. I wish Steve were coming this weekend. He’d see the gardens looking magnificent because the Ocean Spray is in magnificent bloom on enormous bushes on the borders of my property. Their scent is a sweet cinnamon smell that I find enchanting and tropical.

I’ve always loved working with my hands. Building the theatre that I later ran, building sets and props, inventing a game and crafting a prototype, a zillion gallery shows, yadayadayada. The garden may be my greatest achievement of all. This one, though, I did for me, not for others. When I go out in the garden, it is mine and it’s a wonderful feeling to be responsible for something that gives back so strongly emotionally.

My speech is better—a relative term. I feel more my normal broken self, not the extremely broken person. Thank God I quit the clinic. I’m still grateful I left. All this work on my home would not have happened were I still with the clinic. I’m far happier with it being out of my life.

I picked up another ham from Eoin and François, and being with them made me want more, so they, me and Jay are having dinner tonight al fresco at Woodfire, the best restaurant we have on the island.