Dance of Life

Today I woke up to bright golden shafts of sun streaming in through the window. Lovely! The rain has finally let up, and me and Shawn have planned a picnic and fire on the beach. Our slump lifted yesterday (funny how it was in direct correspondence to the weather starting to lift yesterday...) and both of us had a productive time with good tunes working on different parts of the house. I scrubbed and shined the bathroom, and sorted through every scrap of clothing we have, clearing up our bedroom and our closet, while Shawn worked on the kitchen and tidied up/organized the living room. We went shopping for groceries and I bought a lovely hunk of fresh smoked salmon from Trilogy. I'm going to make smoked salmon potato cakes. Yes - it is time. I think they are my favourite meal of all time...I've only made them once before. I have to be in a special mood. This time I'm going to lightly crust them with Panko, and perhaps make a hollandaise sauce instead of an aioli..may as well go all out!

Shawn and I have been planning my 27th birthday celebration. I want to go to Victoria, and Shawn's mom's friend has offered for us to stay in her apartment any time we're in town. She lives in James Bay, and has a whole apartment she hardly ever uses because her boyfriend lives in the one below her. So we'd have it to ourselves! But also, as I'm predicting I won't yet have the funds for that when my birthday rolls around (I might not even have started working yet at Raph's, and my e.i. runs out beginning of April), we are planning a one-night camping trip like we did for my 25th. That time, we went to Mackenzie lake, which was beautiful (ringed with snow-capped, purplish mountains), but compared to other places around here, really not inspiring. plus the campsite (free, and unmaintained) was full of garbage..even though we found a place tucked in the trees right on the beach with a cool driftwood shelving built into a tree, it still had the feeling of a trashed place. And kind of dead. so this year, I want to go to Bella Pacifica. It's so pretty, with campsites tucked between huge hemlock, pine and cedar, kept private by the thickets of salal...and they all are right on the edge of the beautiful sandy beach. there's one me and Shawn used to hang out in when we lived near there. You have to duck to get in, because a natural tunnel of salal has formed around the entrance. It's like a private little hole, with a view of the beach. That's where I plan on spending my birthday. Shawn, however, is racking his brains trying to think of an off-the-path free spot we could go that I'd like. We'll see - he'll have his chance to convince me...but I don't think I want to go to cougar-bear land in the early spring, when angry hungry bears and starving aggressive cougars abound. Not that I think anything would actually HAPPEN, but I doubt I'd be able to stop myself from thinking about it at night...

I can't wait for Sarah to come visit!! I will have nothing but free time - I'll still be on e.i. Happy days! Perfect timing Stott, if I do say so. And then, probably after that, I will be planning my visit to 'fub. I'm hoping that my tax returns will be able to be used for this purpose. so there are many fun things in my future. many-a-fun thing.