Destruction Day

Woo hoo! Rain is predicted for next Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m skeptical that it will be real rain. It’s likely to mean just a cloudy day or clouds and angel piss, but I hope it rains. I love the break from watering, and I’m happy that the forest gets a drink. Then we’re back to sunshine apparently, just in time for Steve’s arrive here.

Our morning walk yesterday morning was a great one. Stacy joined us and I walked without a cane. It was a really beautiful morning and as we walked the cinnamony smell of the forest was glorious, but with both hips hurting slightly, I was walking very slowly and rocking back and forth like an old, old man.

So, I started on the studio. I discovered something handy: GIRO our recycling organization takes electronic devices. I can get rid of an old TV and computer there. And I called our local disposal company for a quote. I’ve a lot of crap to get rid of, so I’ve asked for a quote on a truck full of stuff. I can hardly wait to be free of my dresses, although it will hurt a bit to see them go to trash. However, I’ll value having the studio clean and empty of stuff so that I can store my new dining set and my restored deck chairs through the Winter.

I destroyed all my dresses and cleaned up the 5 display mannequins. I called our local Gabe Shop that sells things to raise money for local health organizations, and they wanted 3 of them and a local gentleman wanted one, so I have only one left. And all 5 sewer’s mannequins are gone. So are all my jars of beads. Our community Facebook page works excellently for getting rid of stuff.

In the evening, I was speeding. I was stoned on achievement. I am excited about cleaning up the studio and making it practical in a new way. Bonus: I’m going to swap out the sofa in the studio with the one I’m currently using in the house. It’s a dead couch. But I’m going to offer the old one for free on Facebook, as well. 

I’ve still got a ton of crap to get rid of. I got rid of some beads on Facebook. But I’ve barely looked at what’s on the shelves. I started with the dresses. I reckon I can lose a lot of stuff. Then, in the Fall, I’ll likely pay to have a half-load taken to the dump in Nanaimo. Steve is going to help me shorten the legs to reduce the worktable to an eating table. I can have banquets in there. Not that I will. But I see great potential for a large potluck meal next Summer. Kris will help me.

It feels so good to be rid of those dresses. I’ve never felt attached to things, not even photographs. Only living things. My dresses died unseen by the public. Only my friends saw them, and I enjoyed showing them. I’ve been really touched by some things said to me about them. I was gushing when Dwight chose to tell me how he saw them one day. I will never forget that because those dresses earned me respect. What a gift. Moving on …

It started with the new deck. It’s giddy great, the deck. I sit out there now all the time. When it’s one or two people, we sit in my new refurbished chairs, just outside the kitchen, making it easy to fetch refreshments. The deck motivated me to build the new footpath and to buy the new deck furniture. And now I’m swapping out the sofa. It was a really expensive sofa. I’d sold my townhouse on the east side and bought a 700 square foot condo downtown where absolutely everything happened in the lining/living area, so I wanted a posh couch. But it’s past its prime.

I like all this change at Pinecone Park. It feels, more than ever, like a resort now. I owe it all to Pete. He did the deck. He project managed it. I love him for such a gift. I like change. It keeps me awake. When I was a teacher, I’d change the seating in the room to change human relationships in my classes. I changed it every month.

Gabriola: Life at Pinecone Park. Chapter Two. It begins. (I’ve changed the header/name of my blog again.)

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This morning, I’ll be taking my retired electronics to GIRO for disposal. Yay! I love getting rid of things as much as I love getting new things. And I’ll do more cleaning up in the studio and I may have more things to give away. Facebook has made the getting rid of stuff a very easy task. I love re-homing things that are no longer of use to me. I’ll also, of course, be watering the gardens. It’s become hot again. It’s going to be 30+ degrees again today. 

My Vacuous Life

Wednesday:

Wednesday was dreamy good. It was cloudy and uninspiring, and I was so cool, I decided to light a fire. I’m glad I did. I let it burn out and when it was burned out, the sun was starting to come through the clouds.

I’m not engaging the gardener to whom I wrote. I am an experienced employer. By the time I was 25, I had a staff of 30, many of whom were older than me. As an employer, I had to do a lot of hiring, and the gardener behaved in a way that makes alarm bells go off. I sense profound unreliability. Pete and I will move the big things, and I’m going to get serious about the small things today. 

Sosa was over today. He lives next door, and we leave the friendship gate open. He and Sheba played together for hours today and so from 5:00 onwards, she was dead to the world on our bed. He is an adorable dog. He’s a Doodle, like Sheba. He’s smart and less than half Sheba’s size. They loved each other the instant they met. I have seen Sheba do this once before. She was smitten with Minjou at puppy classes.

Last night, for the first time in 2 months, I tried doing my monologue and it went okay as far as I went. I didn’t do much, but I was surprised by how well I did. I have to get serious about renewing my mastery of it because September is going to be here soon.

I’m feeling that the sciatica is over. All that’s left is tingling in my leg when I rise after sitting. Slowly, I have almost fully recovered, so when I return to Cory, it will be for guidelines for living with a vulnerable back. I feel, however, like someone might who just had a malignancy removed. It’s great news, but now you wait to see if there was any metastasis. Over the past three months, I had two attacks between a few weeks of relief. I will need a good chunk of time to go by without any sciatic pain to feel confident again. But I will live by Cory’s rules.

Steve arrives in just under two weeks. It’s going to be intense having him here for five days, and then going to Victoria with him for one night. We were partners for 14 years, from 1980 to 1994. Next year, it will be 29 years since we broke up, but we remain very close. We talk, at least once a week, and he visits every Summer. I can hardly wait until he retires and can come for an extended stay. We are family to each other.

Thursday:

The day began with a thorough dousing of the gardens, and then, at 10:30, I hosted an online meeting of adults new to stuttering. Tracey, our regular leader and a speech language therapist, was busy assisting her daughter who’d been emergency admitted to hospital. It was a great session. I think I am a reasonable session leader.

And then it was time for lunch, then some sun time with my book, and then Ron arrived to walk Sheba. She was already pretty beat from playing all morning with Sosa, but the walk helped ensure that we’d both get an awesome night’s sleep. Then, when she was back, we went shopping in the village. I got supplies with which to try a new salad: Mediterranean Chick Pea Salad. Yum!

I changed my mind and accepted a consultation with the gardener. She’s coming on Tuesday and will provide me with a detailed written series of recommendations for the garden that she can do, or I can do with Pete. I think it’s worthwhile because she sounds knowledgeable and I am keen to have help.

Today will be like every other day of the past several weeks—minus the pain. But this morning began with worry: My right hip is hurting. Because I’ve just been through Hell with my right hip, this is troubling. I’m just praying it passes quickly and that it’s nothing. I’ll water today, like every day, and putter.

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I lead the most vacuous life. How did this happen? I blame FND. I was a person who slept only 4 hours a night and my long, long days were full of projects and activities. And now? Well, I do virtually nothing except water my gardens and read. At least I’ve started walking Sheba again. It’s good to be out and about in nature.

I think that today, I may get a slow easy start on my studio. I want to deconstruct my dresses and start using the studio to store my outdoor furniture through the Winter. I’m never going to use the studio, I’m sad to say. 

Just Another Lovely Day

Tuesday was another glorious day. It began with Kevin arriving to take Sheba for a morning walk, and then she came with me to the lab at the medical clinic where I got my blood testing done. Then, once back at Pinecone Park, I got to work moving plants around. I had Hostas in areas with too much sun, and other plants in shade needing more sun, so I got started on moving them, but I’m lacking in motivation. 

All I really want to do is read and chill, so I contacted a gardener to come and help me make decisions and to do some work for me. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to find someone because I did not want to post a help wanted ad on our community Facebook page. I did not want to place and ad asking for a female gardener because I thought I’d get shamed for specifying the gender. So, when I saw a post offering gardening assistance from a person named Bronwyn, I jumped.

It's getting hot again in the afternoons. It’s getting close to 30°, but that’s nothing compared to when we had the heat dome, and it was 42° here. Still, I don’t like working in heat, so I chose to chill in the afternoon.

Pete came by for a visit in the afternoon and he told me not to hire the gardener. He said he wants to help me do the work and I like that idea a lot. Pete has become a valued friend, and I reckon he likes my company as much as I enjoy his, so I’m bailing on the gardener.

Last night I had the best sleep because I found an old comforter that is much, much warmer and enticing than the one I’ve been using since I came here. I swapped it out for the one I’ve been using, and it is wonderful. I remember my first sleep with a comforter in Flüelen, Switzerland. I have never slept without one since I came home from that trip in 1968.

Today is a big watering day, and for the rest of the day I’ll putter and read. 

Back to Walking Sheba

 

Sir Grayson Perry is made a Knight Bachelor
by the Prince of Wales for service to the arts
at Windsor Castle. 28 June, 2023.

Sunday was a glorious day. I’d thoroughly watered all the gardens late on Saturday, and the footpath was finished, so the day was mine to enjoy. 

I decided to start by joining the big community dog walk. It’s been a couple of months since I last was part of the group. I took my cane and decided to walk at the back of the pack in case I wanted to turn back. But Sheba and I did the whole walk (an hour) and then came home for a brief stopover before heading to Silva Bay where the food truck in the park serves fish tacos. 

I love going to the food truck on Sundays. There are kids playing and lots of dogs to pat, musicians play (and yesterday it was the delightful Carolyn Bell, who was a colleague when I was teaching at Emily Carr Uni, and the food. Then we returned home so that I could participate in a Zoom call with my theatre friends. 

Not long after the call, it was time for Kris and Nancy to arrive for prosecco in the garden before we went to Woodfire for dinner. Kris and I were buzzing about CAYA. It was a lovely night to eat al fresco together. Nancy, Kris and Stacy have become wonderful, wonderful friends.

This morning, after a long time away, I am re-joining my small dog walking group—me, Sheba and my cane. But this may be my last day with the cane. I’m feeling so much better, and full use of my toes and ankle is returning. I’m still having a lot of tinglies and numbness, but I’m sure that will eventually stop. Woo hoo!!!

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Monday was also a great day. It was cool in the morning, but once the sun was up, it became a perfect day. I walked with my dog walking group, watered everywhere, had a nap in the sunshine and a spa. There was just one problem. Colleen’s crew are converting an old building on her site, into a woodworking studio for her husband. Yesterday, they brought in a pump and a truckload of cement to pour the foundation floor for the new build.

The pump is an amazing instrument. The truck pours the concrete into the pump, and it transports the cement to the site through a massive structure that extends to deliver the cement from Colleen’s driveway to the farthest corner of her lot. During the last half hour of the time the truck and pump were working next door, the pump operator blew a viciously loud honk over 60 times. I wanted to kill.

By evening I needed my cane due to a lack of mobility. But I’d had a great day, no pain whatsoever and in normal posture. I don’t see Cory until August 11. It’ll be interesting to see where I’m at by then.

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In my mid-twenties, I had to buy a return ticket to Ottawa and back. It was paid for by a client. I bought myself a return ticket dated many weeks after the departure date. And for the time in between, I bought myself a ticket to Europe. I had to go to a professional meeting in Ottawa, and afterwards, to a reception. At the reception, I staggered to the only person I knew, and asked for help getting to a hospital.

I have vague memories of arriving at the hospital and the next thing I remember is waking up between hanging curtains and feeling dreadful. All I could see, was a panel on the wall. It bore praying hands with wings and the words: When I die lord, take me to heaven. And I thought, wait a minute, that should say, IF I die lord, take me to heaven. Not When.

That’s when I realized I had phenomenal pain in my mid-section and I could not raise myself without feeling extraordinary and insupportable pain. And then I thought: Wait I minute, maybe that sign says When because I’m in palliative care. I moaned, and a voice said, “Hello.”

I said, “Sick. Gunna be sick.” 

And from the other side of a curtain, a priest in full regalia, came, grabbed a. kidney dish off my side table and caught my vomit. My vomit was green. It looked like the vomit of someone who’d had a meal of pea puree and had green food dye to wash it down. The green, the priest, the sign … that was the first time I thought I was going to die.

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Today I’m going to do some gardening and end the day with a Zoom session with elder stutterers, most of whom are American. It’s hosted by the American Stuttering Association. I’ve never met with this group before.

Bus stop, Japan.