ready for take off

bye

crush tag

I was tagged by biddie to tell you all about my crushes. Honestly, I grew up so BOY CRAZY that would take all day. Honestly. Totally ga-ga BOY CRAZY. Insane. Certifiable. So we will take the Reader's Digest tour, ok? You will thank me for it later. In Kindergarten and first grade it was all about Peter Gobat, red-haired and freckled. I fell hard but had recovered enough by 5th grade to really truly make a fool out of myself over Mark Prieto...but all the girls did so it wasn't so bad. 6th Grade? Robbie Jablonski. Cute as a bug. Then Jr. High through High School, I carried a torch for Chris Matzen. If you saw him, you'd know why...and Andy Sampson. But that is not what you want to read about, is it?

This is what you are here for....yes, both the Cassidy's. Good genes in that family...the 70's...ah, Starsky. Yup. Had it bad for him...and still do. He is quite handsome still, and finally has his hair under control! Dirk Benedict, but only as Starbuck. The A-Team killed that crush. Some glaring exceptions from my dark, brooding types were the blond brother from Simon and Simon and Shaun Cassidy. My most complex crush is Sam Elliot because I first had a crush on the character I was reading in a book(weird, eh?). Then the movie came out and I didn't know Sam then, but fell in love with him as Travis McGee. Joe Penny, I really hate to admit that one. Simon LeBon.
David Bowie. I have dreamed of Bowie for years. He usually comes around in my dreams when I have trouble with my eyes for some reason. He has been in every optometrist office that I have...in my dreams, anyway. And spent nearly a week in my dreams with me just before my lasik surgery. Since the surgery, he hadn't been around, but just last week he was back. It was nice to talk with him again.
John Corbett. David Duchovney(why don't you love me?), and Michael Weiss. Jesse Martin(oh, that smile).Hugh Jackman, but only as Wolverine so the crush is actually on Wolverine and not Hugh. It probably won't last, then. Viggo.

David Hyde Pierce...I adore him. Love him. Michael looks like him. How lucky am I?
Johnny, of course, for years and years...and years.
My Vincent, goes without saying.
But, hands down, the longest lasting crush that has held true against the test of time, just as strong now as then....Steve McQueen. I will still stay up all night to watch the Great Escape or Bullitt or Love With the Proper Stranger....Sand Pebbles....no matter how many times I have seen them all already.
Whew. Gotta go walk the dog and get some cool air!!! heh heh
I am tagging Cara, Aethan's diary, and greenwellies.

snow day(part two)

More snow day photos because I can't get enough, can you? We don't have it too much in these parts(snow, that is) so it's always something of a novelty and I just keep snapping pictures. It could all melt by tomorrow. That's how it works here. Emma really likes the snow. If I could let her off that leash, she would run, run, run. I took her to our neighbour's large fenced yard yesterday and she did crazy loops around and around, nose pushing up mounds of snow until she would have to stop to sneeze it all out.
Here is my red bamboo again. Our back yard garden... CS in the park today, taking advantage of school closures by sledding with her mom. How fun.
A joyrider.
Someone in need of a warm barn.
And one more of Emma...here, she is posing as a Beagle. The resemblance to a Beagle is uncanny though I am not fooled. The folks at the Beagle Rescue were taken in, but I know better. She is a Jack Russel Terrier or a Fox Terrier or a Rat Terrier in a Beagle suit. Sneaky little devil. Alrighty then, it's almost time for another walk so I better make sure the camera batteries are all ready to go...cuz you know you want more snow pictures, right? Right?
I am booked on the plane again tomorrow...fingers crossed.

snow day(part one)

Here's our house today..... ...and here's Em's house by the park. Cute, cute, isn't it? Looks so cozy and what a view! I love this park in the snow. It is one of the most gorgeous places in Nanaimo.
This is my favourite tree in Nanaimo that just so happens to be on the corner of this park...it is a Garry Oak. Maybe, definitely actually, hundreds of years old. Hundreds. Centuries old. Isn't that COOL?
Wooooooo hoooooo....people are playing in the park today....
The snow does make most things look more beautiful, doesn't it?
The methadone clinic doesn't look much better, though...not cuz it's a methadone clinic but just because it's one ugly building that the owner does nothing about...what an eyesore. Nobody around here minds that the methadone clinic is here...but does it have to be so ugly?
And the pawn shop doesn't look any better in snow, either. From my back deck here I should be able to see the water just a few blocks away. It doesn't look like I will be flying anywhere today either ..cuz it's a float plane and it takes off from the water...and lands in the water....so being able to SEE the water is kind of imperative, I guess...though I really just want to go see Em and don't care about things like VISIBILITY right now. My neighbour's sailboat in his back yard is the closest I will come to seeing the water from my back deck today.
I will take what comfort I can from being cozy and warm after a walk through the wonderland out there.
And I have more snow pictures but Blogger cut me off with these...I will post more later, since I have all day to fill now. I am close to finishing my art exchange things but don't want to trudge through the snow and slush to pick up mailing material, etc, since it might just be soggy and ruined by the time I could struggle back up that hill. People are driving out there but I am not one of them. I just don't have to drive in it enough to be good at it... so I do everyone a favour and stay off the road. Maybe some other folks should try that, from the amount of sirens I have been hearing.

i am supposed to be on vacation

in Sechelt.... ...but right now the planes aren't flying. I just need half an hour of visibility...one half hour and then it can snow, snow, snow! Cross your fingers for me!!!!

it's a little early for this here,

but it's snowing tonight.
I hope my plane flies tomorrow....

i'm leaving on a float plane

Emma and I are off to Sechelt for the next week starting tomorrow...to walk the beaches with Em(the Original) and finally put my feet up. Today, I can mop the kitchen floor at her new place and put up the clean drapes...and call myself done. The new carpets go in on the 28th and even I won't see the finished product until we arrive back in town in Em's moving truck (Budget)full of stuff.
Here is Em(the Original)'s view of Nanaimo today...that's what I will be seeing tomorrow after a brief float plane ride. Ah. Just a little hang time with a bestest girl friend...and my best boy, the leading man over here. Sweet. Oh, and her mom, too. I am pretty lucky to have such a reward at the end of my toil!!! Ha. AND even jeepgrrrl will make an appearance...just wish she'd make an appearance on her blog soon, don't you? Oh, AND there are treats from Cara there, too, I hear.

i am thankful

What? I was supposed to post a picture of a turkey? It's been done.
There is so much to be thankful for and I hardly know where to begin...I believe if you have been reading along with me on a regular basis, you may have a small idea...
I am thankful for finding some peace and joy in my family...it took a lot of years to get here, and it is a fluid thing, but it has made me who I am.
I am thankful for the love of an extremely good man, Michael...who is generous and patient and kind, though sometimes I have to drag him to it!!! Just kidding, I ALWAYS have to drag him to it! Oh, alright, just kidding...all the way around that.
For my friends: lifelong, short-term, seasonal, bloggers, delusional, make-believe, apeman or whatever...each of you have left some mark, some lesson, some piece of your life with me to puzzle over, to contemplate or to warm my hands with when I am feeling chilly. Some of you have saved me, you may or may not know who you are...but I do...and I thank you.
Thankful for all my pets...the littlest and greatest loves of my life...I am most thankful, of course, to Maggie, who kept me going in times of great crisis...and thankful, now, to Emma, who helps me remember to breathe.
I am thankful for fish in the river, mountains, sky, Cathedral Grove and the Redwoods...for the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde, for dog walking spots and fall leaves, ice forming, water flowing...thankful for every moment spent in communion with the higher powers, for each perfect moment I stand in awe of rain, or birds, or garter snakes. I am so VERY THANKFUL to have this gift, this precious gift of being able to get lost in dew on red bamboo and sun on a spider web.. and have been overwhelmingly thankful to share it with so many new and appreciative friends.
Happy Thanksgiving

fighting the offending foot

Here is Emma, fighting sleep...cute, yes? But Emma still has issues, issues we do not know how to help her with, and when she gets sleepy or a bit nervous, the battle begins. Remember her tattered ears? She still needlessly scratches them(actually just the one, her left one, the really damaged one) and I am afraid of further damage. At this point, it is really just a leftover nervous habit since there is no infection left to scratch...but it is like that foot has a mind of it's own and it's talking only to Emma... Here it comes, the Offending Foot. It just seems to rise up into the air, unbidden...unwanted...unneeded...unloved...unhinged!!!! "Emma, this is your foot talking to you...."
Resist, Emma, resist. Think of your tattered ears!!!! There is no need for this anymore!!!! Emma is looking at her foot like it has just said something horrific... something like, "Emma, I, your foot, COMMAND you to scratch your ear!!! You CANNOT defy me!!! I am The Foot!!!!"
Fight it, Emma. Fight hard!!!! It does become a struggle sometimes, good vs evil, light vs dark, Emma vs Foot.
And sometimes, she punishes not her ears, but the Offending Foot... another nervous habit that concerns me because she is not just nibbling here but gnawing.
What do you think the Offending Foot just said to her?!?
It must have been something bad cuz she is chomping down now like there's not enough time in this lifetime to punish that foot...
....that Offending Foot.

counting crows

I dreamt I saw you walking up a hillside in the snow
Casting shadows way up on that winter sky as you stood there Counting Crows

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for girls and four for boys
Five for silver
Six for gold and
Seven for a secret never to be told

more, you say?

Ninja gorilla or tai chi in the park?!?
I wonder what he is(she is) thinking about here....
ouch...poor thing fell off the swing...lordy, yesterday way a good day....

yes, i have already posted today BUT...

how could I not post this? I am so fricking thankful that I had the camera at Em's today to take pictures of the paint job...so very fricking thankful.... Aren't you? I mean, really, aren't you? C'mon, admit it....you all are so thankful, too. Aren't you??????!!!!!?????????????
I may have hippies and more parked across the street right now but this? This is PRICELESS!!!!!!!

crap

So it begins again...somebody is moving into the old building over there... everyone in there has been a problem, given us problems, made problems. Everyone goes in with these grand ideas of what they are going to do for our neighbourhood, without understanding that our neighbourhood IS going in the general direction we want it to go. Not to be heartless, but we don't want another homeless centre...we have several, SEVERAL within a few blocks already. We have the giant new Salvation Army going in two blocks from here in December. We have the drop-in centre, the methadone clinic, the two emergency shelters, the needle exchange all within 5 blocks....we have Spanglish there selling crack pipes....it is enough. But, hey, maybe I got it all wrong. Those three cars with no tags that appeared overnight? The other car with the giant roofrack and the Patridge Family from Hell bus? Maybe they are going to make music, not trouble...maybe Reubin and Danny and Keith will be here having bake sales and hosting potlucks...could happen, right?
All I know is that this familiar ache is back in my shoulder and I can feel a twitch forming in my right eyelid. It should have burned when it was empty.
I hope I am wrong. I hope I hope I hope.

friday night at em's

we may never leave this place..... happy dreams, everyone.
have a great weekend.

as I was saying...

Finally, I remember....I promised last week to finish up with my sis's photo...see how mom dressed her? She didn't rebel until much too late. Oh, the horror. We were dressed to play parts that were just not true, ya know? We were not these people. About ten years ago for Christmas, I had two dolls made based on this photo. My mom LOVED it. Might have been the best gift I have ever given her. My sister was creeped out and I have never seen it up in her house. Go figure.
Anyway, off to paint some more baseboard...I kid you not, I was dreaming about it last night...and Vincent D'Onofrio was there helping me!!! And someone from Em's dreamlife, too. Too extremely weird. I don't want to dream other people's dreams...Em, take him back!!! He was a definite third wheel!!!

details....

So here is some of my greatest work....ha ha. Honestly, that trim is going to kill me....look at that view, though....from one of the living room windows. That is the ocean back there behind those houses. View from the master bedroom.....one of the apartment's views of down town....great colour choices, eh? I actually want this colour for my bedroom but I want it in venetian plaster.
Another living room view of downtown AND the water and our glimpse of blue skies today.
How sexy is that trim and baseboard? It's enough to rent the apartment just for that baseboard, let me tell you.
Look at the size of that baseboard...my feet ain't "dainty" by any stretch of the imagination...it's taking forever to paint.....
But look at that character....it's worth it, isn't it?
I can't wait to have coffee on winter afternoons in this room....but I am tired now...and am ready to call it a night...there are miles more trim tomorrow...

west coast winters

Today the day broke, but the light did not arrive...
faces pressed against cold glass trying to imagine the sun...
We are children of the west coast, summer spoiled and rarely in need of thick winter coats or layers of socks...we welcome a snowfall or two every year as a blessing.

And yet, our skies for months will be dull and weak,
and the rains that fall incessant down can drown the will,
drain our eyes of colour, dilute the resonance of our our voices.

Every sound is heavy and wet.

We arrrive home drenched and muddy with smelly dogs, and the dryer is forever full of damp towels. The floor is filthy for months. Sometimes, sometimes, this will seem too much.

But not today.

six, seven, eight, nine, D'OH!!!!!

I guess when you have been awake for a few days on a terrific crack attack, your cognitive skills suffer a wee bit. Poor Rod was trying to figure out what here? How many baggies he'd used? How many baggies he'd sold or lost or couldn't keep track of? How many days he'd been awake or voices he was hearing? Get some sleep, Rod. Eat something. Go back to school. Learn how to count. I almost didn't want to paint over this. I wanted to leave it there and hang a frame around it. It seemed so tragic and I wonder where Rod is counting now. But, paint it I did. First a coat of Killz and then primer and then two coats of a rich chocolatey brown....for Em, whom I adore.
When painting with Killz, use a mask. It is called Killz for a reason. You want to feel that your home is clean beneath it all? Use Killz. That's all I got for you tonight, folks. I am having an early beer, an early dinner and then back over to roll some more paint...by tomorrow afternoon, the walls will be finished and then I can tackle the metre upon metre of 10 inch baseboards and trim....I may make it to Sechelt by next week!!!! Woot!!!!