enough already....I'm done

Really...one last big push of vacation photos...so that we can move on to other things. This long drawn out task just makes me miss it all again...mosquitos and all. Jesus was here...

and then came Eem-er.

Some beads I bought in Lund as my vacation memento...don't you just love them?!? I do, though they are HEAVY to wear around my neck all day. It's like weight training.

Morning sun.

Evening sun.

Magic.

Sleep.

There is something about camping that makes you eat stuff you normally wouldn't ...like marshmallows.

Or Jiffy Pop.

We didn't pack extra batteries and when the camera's batteries died, we had nowhere to plug in the charger. Considering I had over a hundred and fifty photos to go through anyway, might not be such a bad thing.

We're tired...can you tell?!? Tired of going through these photos...there's lots I can't show you, cuz of that "no faces" rule of mine. Dang...not! We were pretty damn grimey after the first couple days! Only one campsite we hit had showers. That's the type of camping we do...so really, I am sparing you by not showing you our grimeyness.

Sorry to bore you...no big stories about camping. No wild creatures or anything...well, squirrels and chipmunks. Some good hikes. Some long days of sun and sky and sea and surf and sightseeing and smokies.

But I just want to move on to new things now... like trying to get you all a photo/video of our newest crack hooker...she's on roller skates. For real. You heard me. A roller skating crack hooker. Sweet. And the crack house down on the corner... and the new "hangout" over by McD's...

where does all the time go?

Hardly time for words cuz I have got to go to work in minutes, but worked on some more photos last night. We liked this campsite, Dinner Rock, so much that we came back twice. This photo is taken from our site. None too shabby, eh?

We thought this bottle floating by might have had a note in it, perhaps the meaning of life tucked inside it or something...but the tide kept it out just a little too far for us to reach.

We had some company.

As you can see.

Plenty of mosquitos and nothing, and I mean NOTHING, kept them away. I came home looking like I had a case of Chicken Pox.

Michael's zen.

My zen.

Eem-er's zen.

Lund.

Still more to come....better get to work now.

Gosh, I miss you all!

Bye!

Killing the blues....

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you just wake up to a crappy mood, to a crappy day... it doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything...except maybe synapses misfiring in your brain...like today. No reason for it. Just grouchy. I think it is the synapse thing cuz I have also been smelling peanut butter all day(I don't really even LIKE the smell of peanut butter)...and we don't have any peanut butter in the house, let alone spread under my nose. So yeah...will have to finish camping photos later...cuz when I am grumpy, sad, blue, whatever, all that helps is turning up the music and singing cathartically and vocally challenging tunes. It helps. Really it does(that and cleaning. Funny, you'd think I would be smelling tea tree cleaner or Mr. Clean...laundry soap.... not peanut butter)!




Though the neighbours may not think so!

bits and bits

This book is our guide....look at the tiny Chapter on the Sunshine Coast...there(and there and there) is where we went....after visiting Barb... in Sechelt,. You might know her as Green Wellies. We dropped off some starts from our passionflower vine in exchange for some rhubarb nectar....a pretty sweet exchange, if you ask me. Our first night on the Sunshine Coast was spent at Porpoise Bay... for real campers, this is like spending one night in Hell. If you have kids and want a place to let them run crazy, swim, etc, this might be the place. If you look to camping as your escape from it all, don't bother...Luckily, we were just there for dinner, drinks, bed and then Gone Gone Gone in the early hours.

On the road to Lois Lake....a Forestry Campground accessible by logging roads....although the clear cuts are a bit to take umbridge with, the actual campsite is astounding. The thing with forestry campsites is this....rarely will you find more than 20 sites. Nice, isn't it?

And yes, there is a lake at Lois Lake...I know, I know, sometimes....just sometimes....

I get carried away by the smaller things...things I don't alway have the names for...or the words for....tiny things that make me forget the larger pictures....What I am saying is this. No, I do not have a picture of Lois Lake. Just the small things. Google it for yourselves.

Lois Lake does have huckleberries by the hand full. In fact, there isn't a day of this trip that we did not have at least one (if not multiple) hand(s) full each of huckleberries. In a way(follow me with this, okay?), it makes me sad. To me, it means less and less(and less) people KNOW what these most succulent treasures are. It means less people are growing up in tune with nature.

At the same time, thanks to my Grandma, I know what a sweet treat these little berries are. More for me!!!!!

After Lois Lake, we headed further up the Sunshine Coast....towards Lund. We ended up at Dinner Rock, nearly there...but not quite. What a site. Whew.... overlooking the water of Desolation Bay on rocky cliffs...another Forestry campsite. Glorious. It was just us and one other campsite. How remote is that?

A fire, the boat lights going by, the lights of Vancouver Island visible across from us, diver ducks, eagles, seagulls, and little else. Sweet sweet isolation.....love that stuff.

We lingered.....we loved this space...the air, the colour blue of the sky, the heat of the stones from the sun, the fishing, the seals......................

there is more to say about this spot but it is late(r) and got to think about going to work tomorrow...will try to get some more photos together tomorrow or the next day.....

come back soon.

And? I hope I am not the only one buying this cd tomorrow....

or, for that matter, this one....

Oh, AND...I just tried this... and it works wonders...smells like fennel instead of bad stuff...covers grey, in case you need that sort of thing...not that I do.....wink wink.

It began in chaos.....

on Friday(a week ago)....Michael got off work later than we anticipated, we hadn't really finished packing(we discovered later!), and we headed off to the ferry in a state of hunger, poor caffeine saturation and no clear plan for the coming days.....much the way all of our vacations start!
However, we made the ferry with no waits, and pulled into North Vancouver in time to deliver Aethan's belated birthday present before bedtime, crack a few brews with Emily and Adam and catch up a bit. Y'all didn't think I would go on vacay without checking in with my soul sista now, did ya?
We were supposed to meet up with a friend in town from Calgary the next day....only we couldn't seem to get a hold of him....turns out, he had a really good time in Vancouver the day and night before and didn't even get out of bed until about 2:30pm. But really, that was alright because it meant Michael and I had more time to spend with Em, Adam and Aethan. Always a bonus for me. I had a full morning of the most delicious little boy hugs....sweeter than French Toast and maple syrup...and less fattening....
and then we headed off to Lonsdale Quay Market for some discoveries, some shopping and some lunch.

I don't know why, but this reminded me of this. She was talking to this old gull...and he seemed to be listening. I was in love with the moment. I am still in love with this moment. Aren't you?

Vancouver proper from North Vancouver.....

Vancouver proper from North Vancouver with cormorants........

Cormorants.....

So that was our sweet but short time time in Vancouver....er, North Vancouver. Just after these photos, we were on the road again...heading for another ferry....

heading for the Sunshine Coast....and new vistas....

new views....new dreams...new scents, sights, sweetness, serenity....stay tuned....

Cheers...and beers

We're home.... unpacking........ unwinding.... showering.... shaving..... luxury.
Talk soon?

I know it'll be hard,

but try not to miss us too much while we're gone, eh?

Vancouver Island Health Authority Strikes

Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've just been notified that The Balmoral Hotel is in the process of being purchased by the Canadian Mental Health Association. The first subject is to be removed on Monday June 30 (yes, today), the second on July 18, and the property transfer on September 2.

The plan is to use the building's 20 units on the second and third floors to house "persons who as a result of addictions and/or mental health issues have barriers to their maintaining housing."

The good news is that they plan to upgrade the building to improve accommodations and provide support services, and the building will be less of an eyesore. The bad news is that they intend to partner with VIHA to move The Living Room from the New Hope Centre into the former bar/lounge on the main floor of the building.

Here are the major issues:

1. Previously there has been a commitment by the City to distribute services throughout the city and not download all the pressure on to the South End. What happened to that commitment?

2. Past experience with the Living Room has shown that it is not possible to adequately manage the negative neighbourhood impacts caused by clients needing to score and use drugs in the vicinity of the site.

3. It is a mistake to try and develop stable housing options for folks and then bring the most unstable population, (street level addicts) to their home. The Living Room should be located in a separate location.

4. Managing negative impacts in the vicinity of the location. We are building a park for kids less than a block away....the equipment is en route right now.

5. Undermining our efforts to build a safer community by overwhelming neighbourhood resources. We've made a lot of positive changes since the Safety Forum 18 months ago, but we've still got a lot of work to do. The neighbourhood is still fragile and this certainly won't help us.

Representatives from the project want to attend the SECA meeting on Wednesday night.

Because of the short time frame, I can't provide more details about our own strategy…we're working on that now.



What's critical is that we show that we are a strong neighbourhood that is working together to make the South End a better place. We know you`ll be concerned about this project and its impact on the South End, so it`s important that you attend THIS Wednesday night at 7PM at the Princess Royal Centre, corner of Irwin and Farquhar.

And please pass this notice along or print and distribute to your neighbours.


Douglas Hardie

Chair

South End Community Association

(just passing along some information this morning for the South End Community Association, in case anyone can make it/needs to make it to this meeting tonight....gotta go to work now, bye)

and AGAIN: http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=8dfa2dba-81da-4e55-b32c-70fe4fd043cf

It ain't the 4th of July anymore....

Happy Canada Day, everyone. It's good to be here.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzooooooom.............

Another week....working really makes things move fast. I had forgotten that part of it. I forgot scurrying to put dinner together at the end of the day, packing lunches, squeezing some time out of every day for myself....wearing my hair up(beats a hair net any day, but I still hate it)....but even still, so far, I am enjoying myself...immensely. My own pocket change, time away from the hood here, great people to work with, and even how fast things move now.
We are heading into a holiday weekend, I hear. I haven't even been near a calender other than to look if I work that day or not. I think we are taking off soon...the following weekend? For a week of visits and camping along the Sunshine Coast. Michael's back is not real strong yet and still quite tender, so I wonder how enjoyable sleeping in the van will be for him, or even if he will be able to climb up into the pop top. But, we have another week, right? Zzzzzzzzzzzzoooooooooooooooooom.

I turned myself to face me....

Things are changing around here...and I am not sure if I will like the results. Then again, I am not sure if I won't like them, either. Amid all the bullshit of needle drop boxes and crackhouses and drug dealers running on the street, we have our personal lives to tend to, as well. In a neighbourhood where everybody knows everybody, and knows their business, it can be hard to know how to handle personal problems. Two sets of neighbours are seperating(one divorce, one trial seperation). The couple divorcing kinda rocked me back on my heels because I thought they were "meant" for each other. Really Like two peas in a pod, like when people use the term "soulmates." I don't always agree that finding your soulmate means you marry them, cuz I believe the soul is beyond all the bullshit of sexual identity and getting hitched...and I also don't believe your soul only has one "mate," but in fact, resonates with it's own "tribe," if you will, of familiar entities. But if two soulmates find each other and love...well, this would be them...forever. Then again, not so much, apparently. I ran into her the other night, and after some distressing email, she did seem radiant...and happy and ready to move on to the next thing...which is good, and healthy, and woman power!

The two heading into trial seperation are more than just neighbours, though. They are our friends. Good friends. Some of our best friends. And though I have often put the heel of my hand to my forehead over his antics and asked "HOW does she put up with that shit?", I am more than rocked back on my heels by the fact that she has, in fact, reached the end of what we ALL thought of as her infinite(somewhat saintly, make me feel lesser) patience. And I don't know what to do with what I am feeling...where do I go with it? How do I deal with this? What are my loyalties? Michael's loyalties? Do they go down the gender lines? Is there any such thing in these cases? What? Where? How? Why did I answer the phone?????? I know that it sounds selfish and such...but it's not. My feelings for her, and for him, are without question. I have no doubts about how to stand up for her...or for him....it's where this situation puts us that I question. You know? He is one of Michael's best friends, ....she is one of mine. You see where I am going with this, eh? But, maybe I am overreacting and all will be well.

I am in love with this man here, with our life, with the life I anticipate coming....He is my last, best boyfriend.... despite the times we don't always see things the same way. I love him. I love him. I love him.

I hate when friends break up. It opens too many doors, too many questions, too many wonderings....it disrupts my rose-coloured view of our world. But....then again.......it opens up a whole new world to my friends.....infinite, wide open and one that may make them radiant beyond all comprehension.

Hips of Fire

The Summer Solstice Party at Delicado's was Saturday night....bands, fire jugglers and hula hoopers, music, dance, and a street festival atmosphere...however this year, what with Michael's back and my cold, my first week of work completed just an hour or two earlier, we were not up to our usual party selves. We were content to sit on the outskirts, bopping our heads to the music with Eem-er and watch the happenings. We headed home early, without drinking too much and woke without hangovers the night after the Solstice Party for the first time in the four years we have attended. Gawd, we're old.
Michael has turned a corner with his back on Saturday, and today I think my cold is gone...or as good as gone. Things seem to be getting back on track. Last week was a rough one, and though my cold seems better, I find myself exhausted tonight though I have had yesterday and today off. I spent hours at BC Canada getting my SIN number for employment, depositing my first paycheck(woot woot), doing a little shopping with my first paycheck(beer, a fancy new halter for Eem-er and two organic chocolate bars). I made a huge vat of jumbalaya, baked some bread, did some laundry and wanted to make some banana loaves tonight but I think that will have to wait. It's nearly nine and I want to get to bed soon, read my book, and fall asleep early. I want to feel rested enough to get up and run tomorrow morning before starting my next work week.
I want to make that a habit...but it is so damn painful to give up that extra hour of sleep. It really is one of my very favorite things.
Wow, so boring now that I work, eh? Hopefully, once I get my stamina back up, I will be back, better and stronger than ever...like the Six Million Dollar Man or the Bionic Woman.
Well, we'll see what this week brings.
Talk to you all later.

Rest in Peace, George (as much as you can anyway). Thanks for the laughs and for never being afraid to speak your mind. You sure were something else.

Happy Friday, Everybody

Hope you have a good weekend.

Has it already been nearly a week????

Really? Thursday last, we boarded an early ferry(in our Fluevogs) to Vancouver...woot woot. One of my best girlfriends and I were on our way to see k.d. lang.....at long last. We got off the ferry, jumped on the express bus and found ourselves in downtown Vancouver. Exactly where we were supposed to be!

This is the Vancouver Library from the deck of where we stayed....sweet!!!!!!!! The Vancouver Performing Arts Centre is right around the corner, literally. That's where k.d. would be later. But we had hours to be tourists....and shoppers...and diners....and drinkers.

This is the inside of the library entrance. It is such a beautiful building. Glorious. Magnificent.... and did I mention that it's a LIBRARY?!?!?!

Fluevog's.... otherwise known as the holy land....although I have to admit that I was disappointed to find several of the shoes I was most interested in buying were made in China. That's a new twist, and one that I am not very fond of. It just doesn't work for me, John Fluevog. Sorry. I may, in fact, have to find a new favorite shoe. Are you listening? Pay attention.

We ate snacks at a lovely Italian restaurant and, later, dinner at Delilah's. And some martinis...cuz that is what Delilah's is famous for. When in Rome. Don't tell Eem-er, but I had RABBIT!!!! And guess what?!? Tastes exactly like chicken. No lie.

So, yeah, the concert...where to begin? The Vancouver Performing Arts Centre was beautiful. Thank goodness I dressed up in black velvet and Fluevogs( and my friend in silk and Fluevogs). It totally deserved it. As did k.d. Yeah, you ladies in your tie-dye? You must try harder next time, okay? It was k.d., not the the Dead. There is a time and a place for everything...and this was neither. Sheesh.

Dustin O'Halloran opened for her. He was soft-spoken and engaging...he played beautifully for about a half an hour on a piano that responded well to his touch, as did the audience...and then there was k.d.

What can I say?!? She was everything you hope for (and so very much more) in a memorable event. She was radiant and lovely, gracious and happy to be home in Canada after touring elsewhere. She made me feel like she'd hand-picked this audience to see her, like she couldn't have been happier to see anyone other than us...like she adored us as much as we were so obviously adoring her. Thank you, k.d., for your absolute graciousness, for your joy in the music, for making it feel like the first time you sang Constant Craving and not the one thousand and first, for having fun with us, for involving us, for singing your "bottle of vintage, " as well as

your newly vinted.... , for the jokes, for your smart, groovy band and you letting them have their own lead, for giving us your very best even though we all know you've been on the road a while now...thank you for giving us your best.

She had a standing ovation halfway through the show after reducing us all to jello with Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah directly following Jane Siberry's the Valley. A standing ovation and we still had 40 minutes of music yet to come!!!! Holy moly. The tears, the tears....I could barely see her sometimes...and we were only eight rows back, in the middle...so close, so close. Three encores.

Three.

Wrung-out, literally, we stumbled back to our room with a view, and had a glass of wine, watched the nighttime traffic for a while, then collapsed into sleep.

Next day, we hit the Vag, ate lunch and parted company...my friend caught a float plane home, and I hopped on the sea bus(yes, I said sea bus) and went to visit....

my very good

friends. So we visited, ate more food, drank some beers and I spilled some beers(poltergeist in the fridge, I swear!), and went to bed and then in the morning we all headed to Nanaimo on the ferry....we were on our way to a very important birthday party celebrating a toddler becoming a little boy....

However, when I got home, I found Michael laid out on the bed, unable to function....just home from an overnight trip to the emergency room and doped up on Morphine. Seems he'd fallen down the basement stairs the night before, and with nobody home, and the place locked up tight, he'd had to make his way back up, make some calls, and unlock the door so the ambulance drivers could get in. Needless to say, I missed the party.

Still, we had company overnight that night, and Michael managed to get out of bed for a couple hours. We bbq'ed and ate too much, visited. Sunday came, company left....I took Eem-er out for a little special walk, but there's no room for those photos here today.

Monday and Tuesday were hectic...up at 6:30 am to run before work, make coffee, make breakfast, pack the dog's dinner and the cat's....pack a lunch for me, get Michael to work(for as long as he can stand it with his back!), and off to work where it's busy busy busy, then come home and make a late dinner cuz Michael is useless with that stuff at the moment(normally he is fantastic in the kitchen but he's in a world of hurt right now!), clean up and hit the showers, in

bed by ten...and somewhere along the way, I picked up a cold. Nice.

Today is my only day off during this week of training...groceries, laundry, banking, dog walks, clean the house(hardly), take cold f/x, neti pot my nose(disgusting, I know, BUT IT WORKS!!!!), and make a giant dinner so there's plenty of leftovers for the next couple of days.....

How did I get so dang busy?!?

EEEEEEK!!!!!

Oh, and....I know I haven't commented on anyone's blogs for a while but I am still reading!!!! I am with you guys! I am!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I am beat...been so busy and stuff sort of fell apart around here(don't anyone worry)and started the new job today(went really well, I think)...and fighting a cold on top of everything...so you all will have to wait til Wednesday so that I can catch my breath and catch you up. G'nite, then.

gonna be gone, then gonna be busy

Heading to the big city tomorrow for the kd lang concert(at last!), some sightseeing, some shopping, some big city food and drinks, some visiting, coming home Saturday, which is another big, busy day and work starts for me Monday morning so I will try to fill you all in Sunday night..........






but don't hold your breath. I may be asleep.

Careful what you wish for........

Yup...after a good long run of unemployment, I go back to work next week. Eek. I hope I can handle it. It's not like I have hated all the time off. It's not like I haven't been busy enough.... but it will be nice to have my own money again, somewhere to be on certain days, feel like I contribute something besides clean laundry and dishes...I imagine it will be a shock to all of our systems, Michael's, mine and Eem-er's....even the neighbours. Kitty? Probably couldn't care less. But I think the rest of us have all gotten pretty used to me being home, the house clean, dinner done, shopping on a schedule, long daily dogwalks for Eem-er and Eem-er's friends, lots of playtime for Eem-er, taxi services for the 'Hood, etc. Might not be so much camping this summer(although with this weather, who cares?). The times are changing.
I am the newest employee at Piper's Meats, and I am pretty excited about it. It is a local meat and kitchenware shop. They provide antibiotic and growth hormone free meat from LOCAL farmers who only feed their animals a vegetarian diet(unlike me). It's where we shop. It is a choice we made quite a while ago to be conscious of how we impact the world around us, just as it impacts us. We support local businesses who support local farmers who, in turn, give us a product that I can have faith in...we all win. I like the people there. I like working for smaller companies. I like the idea of working somewhere I actually shop(unlike when I worked at Starbucks and drank my coffee at Batdorf and Bronson!!!). I think it's going to be a pretty good place to work and when Michael and I finally reach that small town life we want, it'll be one more marketable skill I will have to work with....and as I have learned from life in small towns, sometimes it requires a variety of marketable skills to keep yourself employed year round....

two days until k d lang............that's a good way to celebrate, isn't it?

signs

So today, I stopped by this place that I like....six weeks ago, they had a Help Wanted sign in the window and at the time, I was not legally able to work and I was sad about missing the opportunity to apply. Today, they were putting the sign back up...so I asked. Dressed like a street bum, with slightly damp and greasy hair due to torrential downpour, I had a VERY informal interview with the owner. I told him about immigration, not working for a long time, that I had wanted to apply 6 weeks ago but couldn't .....He was super nice. He told me to bring back my "updated" resume tomorrow. Since coming home, I am working feverishly on my resume and trying to figure out which of our summer plans I am going to have to axe. You see, I wasn't really prepared to look for work until after July because we have a lot of trips planned for the summer...but I really think I want to work here........and that's all I am saying at this point.....don't want to jinx myself.