Ferries break down.

I think it’s wonderful that BC Ferries decided to take the Queen of Alberni out of service on the third busiest long weekend of the year.  I mean, it was wonderful that I wasn’t there in the line up.

Also, I think it’s wonderful that the rain held off until this morning.  That hardly ever happens, especially on a long weekend.

I am working on Tom’s resume.  Man, you’ve done a LOT of WORK in your life.  Just doing the functional summary is breaking my brain.

Holy crap…..

This stuff fell out of the sky and trashed chunks of Ft. Macmurray towards the end of July this year.  Cousin Gerald forwarded a lot of pics – all I can say is that the insurance adjusters must have been working like hens with two rear ends after this storm.  SO many busted windows and trashed cars.

ftmacmurrayhail.jpg

Food & drink

Me, Mike McG and Patricia wandered around the west end, but mostly ate and drank and sat on the beach.  Vancouver, this time of year, by the water… sunset….. it was all very wonderful.  I was much quieter than usual but I’m not thinking this was a bad thing.  I have a lot on my mind.

More cleaning

Yesterday I got to the Augur Inn, where I a) returned the penultimate Strangers in Paradise, b) cleaned the downstairs bathroom, removing paint spatters and glue which had been there since we moved in, cleaning the door, and putting the light fixture back up so that all that remains is scrubbing the floor and painting the door c) cleaned the railings in the deck, d) rewashed some windows, e) ran the loveseat cover Janice got through the laundry and hung it to dry as Zeek! bled all over it, f) started detailing the downstairs kitchen, g) scrubbed out the laundry room sink some more (it isn’t done), h) washed the exterior of the windows in the garage.  Partway through my day Katie took me out for breakfast.  It was yummy, and you can get steak and eggs at the Big 6 for $6.35.

About 3:30 I bailed and Paul drove me to the liquor store and I picked up beer, wine and vodka (the only mix I have is orange juice….) and helped me in with MORE boxes and some pictures (I left them in the garage) and then I spent a lovely four hours with Gail, Jerome’s mum, who’s a simply fascinating woman who has raised three simply splendid children, and whose brother Bruce wrote that Vancouver Map Book (before there were computers).  This is a book which shows what Vancouver looked like in ten year increments and which lived next to my bed from the time I got it to the time I moved (of course I can’t find it, but I will when I’ve finished unpacking…)

 

Then I unpacked my new vacuum cleaner and I LOVE it. It’s a new Hoover canister and it does everything a vacuum cleaner should do and there’s only two attachments and it looks like a bug eyed alien and is bright orange. I vacuumed my apartment (well, not the bedroom, the bedroom is a disaster still) but the rest.

This morning I got up and washed the pot and pans I got at Ikea and made myself coffee and breakfast, and now I’m going to figure out when the first bus comes and then go over to the Augur Inn.  Katie was going to take me to see Spiderman and Keith and Paul invited themselves along but that’s okay….

The weather has clouded over.  There are many, many birds here,  I could birdwatch all day.  This morning I watched a hawk kill something.

Burnt and his new bride are probably honeymooning somewhere.  I will get a full report on the wedding from LTGW on Monday, or so I hope.  Men never remember the details women want to hear, unless they’re gay or making a heroic effort.

I have started reading Master and Commander.  Stephen Maturin’s comments about thinking he was gonna die are very funny, and Jack Aubrey is the most admirable mixture of low cunning, high spirits and cluelessness that ever walked on the foredeck of any ship, real or imagined.  Sigh,  I can hardly wait for Pirates of the Caribbean III.

Paul has made revisions to the separation agreement (as have I) which I have not yet seen.  He says he’s not putting the house on the market until the separation agreement is chopped, and also I shouldn’t have moved out because it’s costing a lot of money.

Uh…. I wasn’t thinking about money when I moved out. I was thinking about my sanity.  I had a little hiatus there while I didn’t do much, but that had as much to do with the unbelievable YogSuggothian hor-ror of work as any other emotional background noise, and I was still going back to the house to clean rather more than I want to, because I am actually serious about getting the house sold.

I already know what’s going to happen.  Paul will stall until the house selling season is over, then move back into the basement and rent the upstairs.  He can do what he likes.  I still own half the house and when the time comes to renegotiate the mortgage, he can buy me out and experience the joy of doubling the size of the mortgage on one income with a renter who may or may not work out.  Even if housing prices plummet I will still be free.  This is why I find what Paul’s doing so amusing.  He keeps talking about money. He never talks about the emotional stuff, only about the inconvenience, and how the house which he spent many many hours complaining about has now majickally turned into a haven.  I already got what I wanted.  I have contemplated how I would feel if I lost every penny on the house.  I would be plenty cheesed, but you know, life goes on.  My spiritual advisor has lost just about everything, twice, in the last ten years, and all it’s done is make him a better person with a clearer understanding of what’s important.  I should be so lucky as to have life events that did that for me!

I want to sell the house and get the best buck possible not because I am a raving acquisitive bitch, but because I want to have the wherewithal to help my children.    Happy Mother’s Day, everybody.

Beeyutiful day

It’s absolutely gorgeous out, but a little on the cold side.  I am in a good mood for the first time in ages.  There’s a party coming up, and I have to pack, and I have received my bonus cheque, and it’s really sunny, and we MAY just have licked the bedbug situation, but only if Katie STAYS HOME for the next month.  Te he.  There’s a way to get her to come home at night.

It makes me sad to say it, but Paul and I are evicting Dr. Filk.  We both asked him to clean up his living space preparatory to the sale of the house, and his response to both of us was a polite, “No, thanks”.  Since we aren’t going to be getting the full sale price unless the downstairs is at least tidy, we regretfully gave him his notice yesterday for May 1st.  This is dreadful family news and shows that Paul and I are cruel, nasty people with no consideration, and that all we care about is money, and that we have no sense of fine family feeling or any clue about how truly upright and moral people live.  Since everybody in the known universe with the exception of my mother and a couple of close friends thinks I’m self-centered and crazy, what’s a little more fuel for the fire?  C’est la vie.

Snow in Japan

Oddly enough, it snows in Japan, too.  Dense snow followed by cold and steady winds under bright sunshine used to do things like this in Ottawa when I was growing up.  Can’t recall seeing it since. There’s something rather… hobbitty about this pic, if I may say so.  Fwd from Cousin Gerald.