Saturday, June 30, 2007

Jobless- and life's great!


There is so much time! And I am learning how to use it; today I finished stripping and oiling an oak coffee table I picked up for 45 bucks at a secondhand store on The Drive. It was sad and unfinished-looking in the shop: someone had stripped the top haphazardly and left the legs covered in a dark finish so it looked like 2 different tables had been glommed together. Today it is stripped and sanded back to its intended colour, oiled with orange oil within an inch of its life so it glows a gorgous honey-brown. (I can't believe I didn't take before-and-after shots.) I thought it would take DAYS but with mom's help it is done a mere 24 hours after it first arrived at her place! Now it sits in our living room. Life without a job: I am walking, exercising, reading, photgraphing, pottering with new things... how will I ever go back to work again? This morning I sat at mom's table laughing and eating with her and our friend Ann and thought: Life is great. And the weather has finally agreed and sun shone down on the Drive today as mom & I walked the length of it twice. Tomorrow I will go on a photgathering expedition if the weather's still good.
I'm not gloating about my new-found freedom-well, not TOO much. It's just that I'm finding time to appreciate the small things in life right now: friends, hobbies, family. And that feels great.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

red

I type slimy-haired, head covered in goopy reddish dye, hoping to make my hair more vibrant, more interesting, more...
After trying the natural-colour thing for a good while I realized that I was just...bored with my hair colour as is: it's just good ol' BROWN, and there are more little dashes of grey peeking through that brown every month. With short, fine hair such as mine it's hard to make any sort of statement; it can drag down any kind of outfit & I'm sick of it! No more drabness! And I realize, with a little shame, that I am doing this to make myself more attractive- not just to myself but to others. If I dye my hair, lose some weight, dress like this, will you notice me? Will your eyes not skate over me as we pass but settle and approve? This is making me cranky, as is the fact that somehow this dye has gooped all over the bathroom floor, walls, my skin...
The price we pay for vanity. Sigh.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

...and the universe heard my prayer...


...and there was sun, tho' mixed liberally with clouds, for a good 6 hours or so. And I went for a huge walk/photogathering expedition to Hastings Park Racetrack, by way of the Port and New Brighton Park. 11:30 'til 4-ish. LOTS of fresh air and new places I'd never walked before. I love playing explorer in my own city. Thanks, Mother Nature, for the unexpected sun and the fierce little thunder storm you threw in when I was back safe at home. Here are the fruits of my labour:


greenery


Pounding rain/hail propelled me from bed (ok, couch actually) at 8:30 today. Now it is a gentle mist, steady but light, but half and hour ago... I was aghast because my balcony has a few new inhabitants that might be damaged by such forceful rains: plants my Mom and I carried home yesterday when it briefly seemed as if summer MIGHT make a comeback. A rock rose (named Rocky of course) from the Farmers' Market was first, followed by a walk down the Drive to find a Kalanchoe, Lobelia, Anemones, Verbena, and best of all, a little Jasmine plant that will hopefully open its tight little buds soon and drench us in perfumery. The cost: around 50 bucks for living green things that will hopefully make us happy to use the balcony all summer long. Much better than buying clothes with same 50 bucks.
I am almost getting angry with Mama Nature today: Here I am, Lady, with all this free time, longing to be outdoors, and even the few sunny days you've given us this month have been grudging ones, shadowed by clouds. When I was inside, sweating in a mosquito-ridden barn you gave us nothing but sun; now I'm sitting at my keyboard wearing sweats, long-sleeved t-shirt, "Where in the hell is Grindrod?" sweatshirt- cocooning against this shitty weather. I'm thankful that my city is still green. I know we need water to get us through the summer. But I'd like some sunny days now, please. Thank you.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Drifting


This has been the laziest day EVER! Getting up at 10, eating a bacon buttie (if you don't know what that is then you don't have English parents), liking it so much we ate another one, with eggs this time, then staring at the computer screen all day. J is sitting in the armchair staring at his computer while I peck away at the keys over at the desktop. It's now well after 5, and all I can say in our defense is that it's not so great outside so why leave the comforts of home? Oh, and I DID practice my jazz improvisation with this nifty book I picked up from somewhere AND kept the kitchen clean through all the bacon-frying. Although it smells like a greasy spoon in here. I've just been checking out some of my fave blogs- I have a couple bookmarked and it feels delightfully like being a voyeur, especially when I don't know the people at all. Funnily, the 3 I have bookmarked (people I DO know) are all blogs to do with parenting. It feels so random to read sites dedicated to teething and sleeping problems and baby-love while I sit so aimlessly at my computer, totally free of all cares right now, even free of work for the time being.
I MUST enforce some kind of schedule on myself this summer or it will all drift away in a pleasant but slightly unhealthy state. Doing too much nothing always feels unhealthy to me, like bingeing on choc bars or waking up with a hangover. J starts another week of work at the Playhouse tomorrow and I will attempt to get up early with him so I can get more done in the days and go to bed earlier at nights. More gym, less bacon, more sleep, less sleeping in, more music practice, less web-surfing. Let's see how well I do...

Monday, June 18, 2007


This picture really captures the fun and spontaneous-ness of the Runaway Moon Theatre Peony Tea, which I attended gladly last weekend. It was a chance to see the closing night of "Sparrows", which ended last Saturday, and then go to the Tea, which is a fund-raiser for RM, and then on to Kelowna to see Dad & June again. It was great to see the show 2 last times- it had really smoothed out and gotten comfortable (but not complacent). The Peony Tea was a chance to hang out with Sarah R and Tom Jones, eat waaaay too many baked goods, listen to some fun live music, and revel in the rows of white and pink Peonies, which you are allowed to pick, for a small donation.
It was odd to back in Kelowna so soon after my last visit. I was mainly there as a general companion to June, as well as cook, cleaner and dogwalker. As if they knew (and they probably do) that June was too weak to walk them, the dogs were very happy to go with me, whereas in the past Monty especially has been kind of sucky about leaving "mom" and "dad" behind if I am the only "walker". June was hanging in bravely, but her strength has diminished and that was scary to see. However, she is now at her 2-week clinic near Rock Creek and we are all just hoping that they can give her some strength and energy back. If she has to have chemo, and that seems as if it may be the case if she wants to live more than 6 months, then she HAS to get some meat on her bones and some energy! June is being very open and honest about her hopes, and of course, her great fears. She is doing her best to strengthen her mind with meditation but of course the fear creeps in all the time. That's why she needs lots of company. Had a great dinner with my dad the last night I was there where we killed a bottle of wine and opened up a bit- being very stiff and British it's hard for him to do that. Hard for me, too. We also had a great photo expedition to Myra Canyon my last day there- walked through a film set and came face-to-face with Sam Neil! Watch for a movie called "Iron Road"- it's about the Chinese labourers on the railroad and Peter O'Toole is in it (along with Mr. Neil). Both Dad & I were too polite to ask the crew if we could take pictures of the set, so all I have are landscape shots of the stunning canyon and the trestles, which is plenty.

Now I'm home, sleeping in too late, learning about digital photography, cooking good meals... got to get into some kinda routine though, or the summer'll be gone before I know it, pissed away bit by bit. Got to get back on the health routine too. Damn, it sucks to have to watch everything I eat...but then I could have to do it for much worse reasons, like cancer. So I won't complain too much.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

finally!


I know, it's been ages. My only excuse is that I've been taking tons of photos, so the medium of words has suffered as I learn more about pictures. I've inherited a Canon Digital Rebel from my dad, so I'm a very lucky girl with a camera that's too good for her! Right now it's a bit of a crapshoot as to how the pix turn out, as I slowly learn about shutter speeds, exposures, f-stops, and the like. I'll sprinkle this entry with some of the new shots so you can judge for yourselves how I'm doing...

A tribute to Ansel Adams.
Where to start? I wrote here during week 1 of rehearsals in Enderby, just before things started to get crazy. I'll sum up the last 2 weeks up there in a few choice words: script rewrites, heat, mosquitos, more rewrites, overtime, biking, tension, not-enough-time, more rewrites, Saba's fab cooking, Riverfront Pub de-briefing sessions, MORE rewrites, MORE @#$% mosquitos, girls' night out in Kelowna, dirt, dogs, mogs, Stephan's killer reefer, allergies, surreal cue-to-cue, did I mention rewrites, opening night!
There. Well, that doesn't quite tell the whole story, but it'll have to do. Let's just say that there were good times and frustrating times, that the play turned out to be good in the end, but getting there was challenging at times, and that although we had our moments of tension, I think everyone came out of it still liking one another. I'm going to be there for closing night, so it'll be interesting to see how the show has evolved. And I'll take more pictures this time- I only got one shot of the theatre while I was working there!
Lovely Jon came to see me (and the show) the last 3 days I was in Enderby. He rented us a wonderful little cottage on the river where Sarah May, Camille & I were healed somewhat by sausages and calm words one late night after a looong rehearsal.
After the cheerful chaos of Cathy's house, it was a pleasant shock to my system staying in Kelowna with Dad & June at their VERY neat abode for a few days. June, her friend Yvonne & I had a beautiful road trip the 2nd day I was there, driving south on highway 33 (a road I'd not explored before in all my years of touring this province) to an alternative healing clinic 13 km up Cougar Mountain, near Rock Creek. June is going back there in about a week to spend 2 weeks getting acupuncture and learning to meditate to strengthen her mind in this fight against this cancer. I really admire her spirit- the oncologist has basically said she has 6 months left and she has refused to take that overwhelming news lying down- she's determined to eat, meditate and will herself back to health. She is not yet feeling much discomfort, so this is a good time to fight as hard as she can, because once pain sets in it's much harder to keep your strength and resolve alive. I told her "You're going to come out of this with so much more knowledge about yourself and your spirituality." It's a fascinating journey she's taking- learning about auras, visualisation, meditation and naturopathy- I just WISH she didn't have to take this journey for such a horrible & scary reason.

And now I'm back in East Van (Greyhound having conveniently ended their strike just before I had to leave Kelowna) and I'm not doing too much of anything right now. Taking pictures, avoiding the heat, played a Reptiles gig yesterday, saw "The One That Got Away" at the JCC yesterday (an incredible play set in a swimming pool!), spent the day inside staying cool and reading trashy novels.
Things I'm happy about right now: having lots of time to hang out with Jon (and yes, hang out is partially a euphemism), some killer boots I scored from Burcu after my Reps gig yesterday, free time!, going to the Playhouse BBQ and seeing some old friends, Gord's BBQ tonight- ahh, this is summer!

The Boots!