Oh hi

Hey friends and readers. Yes, I'm still around the Cowichan Valley, still volunteering at Providence Farm, and still doing some reno work. I have been so busy I hardly have time to do laundry, much less blog. But I *do* miss you and miss writing! So fear not, I haven't forgotten you.

Immigration status: it's been almost a month since I applied for my document from Japan. That's the only holdup now. I received the one from Korea last week. We aren't clear about if I just need the long form of my birth certificate (which I have) or the Registration of Birth (with signatures of my parents back in 1974), so to be on the safe side I'm sending off for the latter today. I also forgot about the photo, so I'll see what the requirements are, take a photo of myself, send the photo to Dan who will muck around with it in Photoshop, and he will send the file back to me in ready-to-print format.

Homestead status: At the moment there is one adult rooster, three laying hens, five teenagers (three hens and two soon-to-be-frozen roosters), and three little ones. I have lost track of how old the youngest ones are - there were five but two disappeared a few weeks ago, one on the same day I found a juvenile sharp-shinned hawk in the chicken run. The three 'teenage' hens should start laying in September, which will bring up the daily egg production from two or three to five to six. So that will be good. The garden is raging out of control and I honestly haven't been home/had time to help with weed control or harvesting. We are eating fresh fruits and vegetables out of it every day, and last week Toni and I put up a bunch of zucchini. We found a U-pick cherry orchard just down the road ($1.50/pound!) and gathered 45 pounds of cherries on two visits, then later made preserves and jam. I spent two and a half hours on Friday night pitting cherries.

Knitting status: Alas! I have had very little time to knit these days. I finished the duck, which I blogged about, but haven't really had time to do much of anything. I am (I think) a few hours away from finishing the cardigan I started in the spring. I picked up my Brother Amos Hellfire Lace socks again, started back in 2010 but got frustrated with the more-intricate-than-necessary construction and have been inching away at them. I did start another Runner Duck cosy, so that will probably get most of my attention for a while. I am also working on a simple shawl with yarn donated to the farm, as my mindless knitting (I let myself work on it for a few hours on Sunday, desperate to knit something).

Emotional status: as of Saturday, I think, it will be three months since my last depressive episode. I am actually doing very well, and being busy has a lot to do with it. I think the other thing is doing work that I really enjoy. Toni and I have been talking about my work experiences, and the jobs that have given me the most satisfaction are the ones that: have physical activity; have tangible results; keep me busy/use my brain; and involves working with people I like. I think that is really telling. In most of those cases, those jobs haven't paid very well but that hasn't seemed to have made an impact. In fact, years ago I left a job making $12/hour for one that paid $8/hour, and I was WAY happier at the cheaper job. On another note, I miss Dan a lot, as it has now been six months since I have seen him last, but we are increasing our efforts to have actual phone conversations twice a week instead of one, and we communicate by text message every day. We know we are near the end, and whether he is able to make it out for a visit or we just sit tight until it's time for me to leave, we are managing okay.

Weight status: I might as well tell you that I have gained back some of the weight I lost last year. I lost something like 30 pounds in the first half of 2011, and in January (or so) of this year it started creeping back. I blame the bread. Well never mind what is to blame, it's coming off again. I'm working really hard at this physical job of renovation, so I'm feeling my muscles all day long when I'm there. It's *great*. I'm also not beating myself up about it, because I know that I will take the weight off again.

Geographic location status: I will be moving back to Victoria at the beginning of September, and I'll be scaling my volunteer time at the Farm from three days down to one. It's more of a transition time, really, which I think (I hope!) will be good for everyone. Toni and the Skipper will have their basement back and they can once again host house guests. They can also sleep downstairs when it's really stinking hot outside and the basement is a haven, as I have joyfully discovered this summer. :-) Sam and I will be in a different room in my in-laws' house, as the step-bro-in-law has now moved to Montreal for grad school, so we won't be so cramped and there will be room for Sam's two new scratching posts. I'll have time to repack all my stuff before the trip. I won't have to drive into Victoria for an hour each way to work at the renovation job. I'll help with cooking and other things around the house. My truck will be available for the family to use. It will be an easy taking-off point for when I need to go to Vancouver for my immigration medical check and to Montreal for my visa interview.

I feel like it could be soon. I've been disappointed time and again by my wishful thinking, but this really does feel like a time of transition. I have done so much inner processing and personal work in the last year that in some ways, I feel like a new person and have quite a different outlook on life. Toni says she has seen some major transformations in me, and I think that that is not only encouraging, but a testament to how her care, mentoring, influence and presence has been immensely healing for me. (O great I'm going to start crying) No really, Toni is an amazing person and I am incredibly grateful for having this opportunity to attend the UofT (University of Toni) this year. I'm near graduation though, and it's time for me to start the next phase of my life.

Whew! I didn't mean to write such a long post. I was actually just going to drop in and say hi! I'll be back soon! And then I got rolling. O well. I hope you are all well!

St. Patrick's Day adventures

so...

A friend of mine stayed overnight on Friday, which meant we had all of Saturday for exploration and adventure. Now that I've been on this part of the Island for a few months, I've gotten to know a bit of the terrain and investigate a few of the interesting places. It's fun to hang out with a friend and do some exploring, checking out places neither of us had been to!

Our first stop was Cowichan Bay village. It's small and parking is hard to find even in the winter, but we managed. Cow Bay has lots of interesting little shops to offer, including True Grain Bread and Hilary's Cheese, as well as the Udder Guy Ice Cream. We popped into the Spinning Ninny and found the proprietress needle felting mustaches. 

We had a lovely exchange with her about ideas for future moustaches. My friend is a creative, and she had lots of great ideas for themes and names of moustaches-on-sticks. 

I didn't catch the gal's name but I strongly encouraged her to get on Twitter - if she was tweeting stuff like this and had an etsy shop, she would be making money hand over fist! (Maybe she is - her stock was almost completely different from when I was there last month - and that's in the winter.

Then we headed into Duncan. Duncan used to be this run down sleepy little town that wasn't very interesting, but over the years it has gotten to be a mecca of young families, new farmers, people wanting to live the organic and sustainable lifestyle. It's cheaper than the city (i.e. Victoria) and offers all services, located in the beautiful Cowichan Valley where there is a huge local food movement. Duncan has lots of neat little shops downtown, some of which I had never been to, and it was fun to explore. 

Sadly I didn't think to take more photos on our blog-able adventure, but I will say we went into a few antique shops, a few second-hand stores, and the photos below show the pot of gold we found at The Celtic Connection. It was St. Patrick's Day, after all, we *had* to go in! They were serving tea & scones with jam and freshly hand-whipped cream. They were doing a good business that day, people buying hats and T-shirts for their later festive engagements. We entered the draw for prizes but I don't think we won. We had to guess how many gold-covered pieces of chocolate were in the pot (yes, regretting not taking a photo) - I guessed 187, my friend guessed two hundred something. O well.

It turns out that it was also the first day of the Duncan Farmer's Market!We rolled in ten minutes before closing, but it was good to see all the vendors full of cheer and glad to be back doing the market scene.

We then headed into Victoria, to have a growler of Hoyne Brewing's Dark Matter filled up. As we were about to enter, my friend ran into a couple she knows, who happen to live in Cowichan Bay. While we were inside, a couple I knew came in! There must have been something in the air... I dropped my friend off and headed back up Island.

After the overindulgence the night before, I was fine with not having a big St. Patty's day bash. I think we all even went to bed early that night. I had a great time with my dear friend, chatting about all sorts of things. When I got back to Backyard Feast, I was ravenous and delighted that we had so many leftovers from the night before! I reminded her to please send me the link for the recipe for the awesome salad that she brought - you all must try this! Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad  It's SO good you'll want to eat it every day for a week!

check one off my bucket list

Adventures of my hair continue.

Today I had a bath, then decided it was time to give my hair a trim. I wasn't especially fond of the shade of auburn it was turning out to be and was thinking about how long it will be before it grew out long enough for me to cut it off leaving my natural colour. I got out the scissors. Snip, snip. It's not easy cutting your own hair when it's really short, especially the back, so I got the clippers out. Just to do the back. Not being in any way adept with these things, I wasn't able to make a smooth transition from the shaved back of my head to the two inch strands on the top. I could have waited and asked the Toni or the Skipper for help with tidying it up but... I thought no, I'll just keep going.

And so I did it. I have always wanted to have a shaved head, and not necessarily completely bald. but this will certainly do. 

The camera only catches a few of the whites, but there are a lot more than is shown here. And there are a lot more than there was before I started dyeing my hair blond in 2010. So I come to face the reality of my hair, the ebbing of my vanity, and, surprisingly, the freedom that is really short hair! My first thought when I looked at myself was: I look like Pema Chodron! Which, considering she's an awesome Buddhist and all, is not such a bad thing.

See, changes are afoot in my head, and I'm reading and studying and learning so much right now it's hard to gather it all into a group of words and organize them into a blog post. I have started meditating. In fact, I started an eight-week meditation course presented by Sounds True (it's free!) last week and have been meditating every day. I am also beginning a new yoga practice. I have long been a fan of yoga and was once quite adept, but have been shocked lately to see how inflexible I have become. I must get my body back to that supple and limber state.

I have had to face the music with something else as well: I have gained some of my weight back. I stepped on the scale again and felt only a little discouraged but have new resolve. We have been having an awful lot of fun with food here at Backyard Feast, and I think we have all three of us gained weight since I've been here. (Sorry!) I think I had better slow down on the bread making. I want to have more and bigger salads. I'm not employed and while I have some 'duties' (tending the chickens when my friends aren't home), my schedule is my own so I need to organize and manage my time better, especially now that I have new things in my routine like meditation, yoga, and reading (I have been reading a lot of books from the library lately). This is all to say more changes are in the cards for me and while I have been sorely neglecting my readers, it's really for my own good. I have lots to tell you, all in good time.

I'm not ignoring my friends

I'm sitting here in the living room at backyard feast while our good friends from Stellar Coffee are here visiting. We are curled up on comfy furniture, knitting and beverages to hand, having had sushi and pound cake for dinner. It's been an awesome New Year's Eve party.


So when I say I'm not ignoring my friends, I mean my friends in the room. I'll rejoin them shortly. But you know me, I'm a bit of an Internet junkie so I just had to come see what you are all doing. Go see Amanda - she has completed her goal of knitting/sewing/crocheting a scarf/cowl/neck thing for every single day of 2011. Stop by and congratulate her for getting there! And while you're out visiting my friends, go tell Ellie you're glad she's finally joined Twitter.

Right, not to partying like it's 1999 (but I admit I'm having way more fun tonight).