An Owl and Mechanicals

This cartoon from the New Yorker (of course) made me laugh
out loud in a restaurant yesterday afternoon. (If you can't tell,
the rabbis have scissors in their hands.)

This is what has become of "my" bed. Fred and Ethel all
cozy together and Sheba in the queen position.

I’ve thoroughly mechanically disinclined; I’ve driven since I was sixteen yet I cannot identify any part of a car’s engine. Consistent with that was my desire to learn nothing about the mechanics of the water system at Pinecone Park. But I had to and with knowledge came expenses. The more I came to understand it, the more money I spent repairing or replacing parts.

Today a new $400 well switch will be installed and my gauge will be repaired. Henceforth I will be able to easily now the level of water in my cistern and it will no longer overflow.

These repairs give me dominion over my water system and that left me with one thing left to “master:” My hot tub. It’s the last piece of monster machinery I should understand. I and every guest I’ve consulted have failed to lower the temperature and, therefore, it’s electrical consumption.

And it’s huge. I, a single man, have a hot tub that seats eight! I’m heating an enormous amount of water every day—all day—and I don’t use it when it’s hot outside. I seriously considered getting rid of it. But ‘m not going to. Instead, I called a technician who will come here and give me an instructional overview and, hopefully, lower the temperature.

•

My VISA card got refused the other day. I blamed the website. Then it happened again so I went online to check my balance. Damn!

I chose to receive my VISA statements electronically last March and since then, when they arrived I trashed them deciding that I’d take action when the paper statement came. I made a huge mistake; my balance was over eight grand!

Awareness landed like a concrete block to the head.

Another block is going to fall in November. 

I pay Hydro $67 per month. That’s the highest amount they allow! I’ve tried to call them to ask to pay more and to find out how much energy I’m consuming per month, but the wait time on the phone is 90 minutes. Plus, on their website, they advise customers that they will not discuss any account for which they do not have a year’s worth of consumption data. They won’t release data about my energy consumption until November and that’s when they’ll want the balance of my annual bill minus my $67/month.

•

Last night during happy hour I went outside and did something I haven’t done before: I went outside and just sat there and took in the view of my quarter-acre back yard. It’s not something Winter inspires me to do and it’s something I’ve been too busy to do until now. 

I’m stunned by what I’ve done for myself. It’s a park to this fellow who’s come here from a tiny urban condo. I teared up smelling my Gardenia; it’s miraculous that I can grow this plant that has been my favourite flower my whole life. When I moved here there was one plant: A Rhododendron. Now there are little gardens scattered around my property full of plants and trees—a few planted last Fall; most all of them planted this Spring.

As I sat there the glorious sunset avian serenade became a cacophony of noise. I looked around for a predator— a Peregrine Falcon or a Coooper’s hawk. And then somehow I noticed it: I saw a large Barred Owl in a tree right behind and above my studio. It thrilled me to see it looking so majestic on a low branch of the tree, it’s head turning like R2D2.

My love of this place only grows and by this place I mean both my home and this island.

Homework

Bruce left me with homework: Replace and electrical plate, clean my fans, clean my hot tub (“it’s slippery”) and lower its temperature and buy more coffee—I ran out. I can do it all except cool the hot tub (but I emailed a repair service). 

Bruce won’t be invited back! (I’m kidding.)  

•

Monday dawned spectacularly. I awoke in a penumbra of ennui as I often do after the visit of a good friend. I did not do his homework. Those tasks go to the end of the list and today I dealt started at the top—and the list is long! 

I was highly productive yesterday; I worked conscientiously all day and into the night. I only took an hour off to watch Endeavour—I was too tired to watch it Sunday night. One thing I did was move my solar lights from shining on trees in my front yard to shining on the three fence panels I did and it looks great at night!

Plus: I worked all day on an increased dosage of my new drug—a drug I believe is working. Next Monday I see Dr. Shoja and I’ll be reporting my first-ever sense pharmacological success.

•

Today, as with yesterday, there’s not a cloud in the sky. I plan to enjoy myself today after my day of diligence yesterday.

Thursday to Saturday it’s supposed to rain. I hope it does. Our weather has been swinging from hot and dry to warm and wet and so the produce in the Market is spectacular. My cousin Jo-Ann is coming for dinner on Sunday; I’ll be able to serve some fresh local produce I get at the Saturday market.

If it does rain, I’ll be starting on the cat hotel and large chocolate box I have to make for the Arts Council.

•

I’ve heard nothing about my play from Stephen at the Arts Club. I don’t expect to until the Fall; perhaps I’ll hear nothing.

I’m to find a knowledgeable person to read it. I need an opinion of its worth. It’s so weird to not have a clue about its merit; technical writing, my forte, is easy to assess. If an experienced reader were to think it has potential, I would continue to pursue Stephen. (Colin has quit the business.) If a professional thought it was trash; it’d be a gift to know that and I’d get on with showing the dresses as sculpture here instead. That's be fun.

I want to do something with my ladies. I wan to go as far with them as I can; I'd rather see them in my play than as a show—and then get on to my next project. I was thinking I’d build a puppet theatre but now I’m thinking I’d make masks that could be sold.

Recent Photos

Sunday was lay-zee! Bruce and I frittered away the morning, went into the village for lunch and then I took him to his plane, after which, Sheba and I went to see the petroglyphs again. The balance of the day was spent waiting for Endeavor,on Masterpiece Theatre. 

A Gardenia that I planted last October has bloomed. I cannot believe that I can grow Mother Nature’s most gorgeous smell and my favourite flower.

Some recent photos …

The huge cabbage from the Farmers' Marrket.

Praise Mother Nature: My Gardenia bloomed.

I found a beach FULL of sea asparagus. Yum!

Sea Asparagus. I love being a forager.

The fungus (?) I found growing.

A plant I've never seen in the wild before.

Below: Petroglyphs.

Market Day

Yesterday: Morning rain. Pooey.

Bruce and I went to the market and man-oh-man…the vegetables. Everyone is saying it’s the best Spring for growing. There were cabbages as large as huge pumpkins, Kohlrabi the size of small pumpkins, and the beets in an incredible variety of colours. It was the best market, yet. I know people now. I always get a pie from the same woman; we joke together like old friends. It’s the same with the marshmallow lady.

The afternoon was cloudy, warm, humid and inspiring. We went to Drumbeg and swooned about being alive. Then we went to find the petroglyphs and saw very unusual fungi growing as well as a plant I’ve never seen in the wild before.

A spa, dinner and a movie ended our penultimate day together.

We’ve broken sky today—mostly cloud—and no agenda. I take Bruce to the plane at 1:30.