happy family day!

I worked an extra day today because it was a holiday. It was slow. At the end of the day I emptied the tank of crab, since it'll be a week before we open again, to put them back in the ocean in their crate. Only, I grabbed a crate that didn't have a rope attached (thus, not able to tie it to the dock cleat). So I had to take all of the crab out of THAT crate and put them in a different one that had a rope. No I couldn't just take the rope off the crate that had one and put it on the one i'd put the crab into, because you see, I don't know how to tie a clove hitch. So, yeah…I was thinking about what I could possibly share about my day today, and that was what came up. Enjoy :)

The cold ice-driven winds have changed direction, and today was much warmer. I noticed when I walked out after work that instead of smelling like snow, the air smelt like - AHH, freshness, and flowers, and just HEAVENLY. I can't describe the loveliness of how it smelt. It smelt like an early summer evening. Then I walked home in the darkening quiet. I heard Eastre's meows as I was walking up the hallway to my door and was bombarded as soon as I got in. "hello, fluffy-nutter-butt," I said in a cheerful holler. I always call her that when I come home from work. She purred and chirped and trilled in a frenzy as I got her food. She is always the epitome of desperation when it's time for her to eat.
And now, I'm waiting for Shawn to come home so we can decide what to do for dinner.

And this shall adjourn my post.

back to the grind

this is my second day back at work. It's been quiet, but not too bad. And there's a fan blowing some heat in the building now, which makes it much more bearable - 'specially since it's been freezing cold. The kind of cold where you mindlessly dump the day's sanitizing foot bath out the back door and it freezes within the hour into a treacherous sheet of ice (which almost sent me sprawling down the stairs, as I walked out to lock the freezer in the dark). I had to send a text to my boss to warn him so he wouldn't break his neck. 

It was odd how the smell of fish when I first walked back into the building after my month-and-a-week vacation was a good smell. I…I liked it. 

So, anyway, I'm going to have to look for another job to fill in the gaps, because Trilogy's only going to be open on weekends for now. There's no where I want to work. I checked on the avemployment site (alberni valley), and the jobs listed there are all for Wick (no. NO!), and various other housekeeping, resort jobs. Or restaurant jobs. for line cooks and serving staff and stuff like that. Another resounding no. 

On the other hand, after coming home from cali, I went through this painting frenzy and covered up every single one of the 8 canvasses I got for Christmas. Plus some others that had old worn-out paintings on them. I've been renewed by vacation, and more than that - coming HOME, and also by using oil paints again. I'm more confident in my painting skills. I am thinking of taking these around town and attempting to sell them at coffee shops. Who knows? come summer, could be a fun source of extra income! :D

I was so buoyant when I got back from vacation. Now I have to rise above the ruts of routine. I've been craving a place with more light (light would help. it's so dark in here. all the time!!). Shawn and I have been talking about attempting to move to an apartment maybe on the second floor of our current building. They get WAY more light, as I know from when Maike lived upstairs. Speaking of Maike, I miss that lovely person. We correspond, but it's not the same as having a besty living in the same building as one. 

Oh, a job maybe is the coffee shop I used to work at. They have a new location now in town. Actually…right across the street pretty much from Trilogy. I go there a bunch to get coffee before work. The owner mentioned, one of those times, that he may be starting a bakery section for his shop. I'd so be into that. I'd like to do something down-to-earth. Actually it's kind of a MUST. a need. He told me during that conversation, when I mentioned having worked at a bakery before, to "dive in" - but it was probably just one of those things people say and don't really mean. I walked in there the other day, too, and his wife was just leaving, having dropped off some freshly baked cookies. ERgh (my hope dwindles). 

There's a new place to eat in town. Well technically an old place that's been totally remodelled and given a new name and new menu…so pretty much a new place. They bake their OWN DONUTS. flavours such as maple-glazed with bacon. REAL bacon. Chocolate with sea-salted caramel glaze. And classics too, like the boston cream and jelly-filled. Shawn and I finally tried one the other day. We shared it, because they're all huge. the maple-bacon one. It was really good. Not mind-blowing, melt-into-a-puddle good. It probably WOULD have been that good fresh, though. we went at the end of the day, to be fair. The glaze was quality. It had a home-made taste. Def going again when I need a sugar fix. OH. come see me and get some donuts!!

fresh air

Today I walked into town to get some needed things and to visit shawn at work. Had to stop out behind The Shore building to look out over the Sound. Since I've been back from vacation, I haven't been able to get enough of how peaceful it is here. Today, it smelt like spring, and the birds were singing as if it were.
Just as I started to write this post, I happened to look out my sliding glass door and saw that the sky behind the dark tree silhouettes was streaked with fuchsia and orange. so I went out and indulged in feeling and smelling and viewing the beautifulness.
 I've definitely been feeling the post-vacay blues, but also I've been so uplifted by this trip. It's given me new strength. Shawn and I have done a lot to organize our place, and we've been keeping it clean. I like lighting a tea candle under my defuser, which is equipped with a fat slice of cotton-scented wax, and letting loose a few precious drops of the oil France made for me into it. It's a mix of sandalwood, lavender, and orange essential oils mixed together in jojoba oil. I consulted her on the mix when I was reading my chakra book, which encouraged using oils in a defuser to help get one into a calm and meditative state. She told me that an ideal mix has a low note (sandalwood), a middle note (lavender), and a high note - obviously orange. I chose them for both love of scent and for their properties. They're also all good for the skin, so that's a double use.

I got so used to going out to the beach every single day and just enjoying the simple things when I was on vacation, that I have been keeping up the habit of going out every day just to enjoy the fresh air. The weather's been pretty obliging. We've had one or two days of rain since we've been back. I mean, it's cold, but I won't complain if it doesn't rain. Rain is what keeps me inside. Cold rain.
A couple of days ago, Shawn had his days off, and we spent a lot of time at Cox bay. The weather was mostly sunny and cold. The beach was amazing. When the sun shines, and turns the usually grey-green water into shades of sapphire blue and aqua and deep blue-green, and the froth of the waves is as white as it's possible for white to be…it's a place that has no equal. The surf-hardened expanse of sand, rippled like the waves, and criss-crossed with silvery sand-dust which gleams when the sun shines on it - so beautiful. The huge breadth of space. The sigh and heave of surf. The solitary "ha" of a passing raven.

Anyway Shawn is back from work now, and I'm going to start some dinner. Salad. And pizza.