Spring in Victoria

April is finishing up and what a beauty of a month it was. The flowers have been blossoming out everywhere in such bright colours. From cherry blossoms to bush flowers, to stemmed tulips - there are flowers everywhere and the sun has finally begun to shine again, bringing with it warmer temperatures. You can smell spring and just a taste of summer now and then. We had 23C or so last week - boy did I know it! It wasn't long before I had to open up all the vents and windows to cool things down, which it did before too long. 

I have to replace the skylight in the kitchen though as I busted through the screen to get the lid down as it blew off the track in a pissing rainstorm and I couldn't frig around with it too much or I would be flooded. Now I know how to take it down without busting through...lol. Thanks to the gal at the RV place.  She also made it sound like the whole thing was simple as anything. So the bottom part was, for the most part. A few screws, no big deal until you lose one down the sink...or at least I thought I had. Damn. I had finally managed to get things lined up to do it - a ladder, a sunny day and a place to park and do it all. I can't fit the ladder in my RV so had to park near my friend's place to use it. I couldn't continue without replacing that damn screw as it would not be water-tight, and I did not have the nine million screws my father had collected over the years in glass baby food bottles...though many times I wished I could. He had a tool and hardware collection to be envied. So I had to drag the ladder back up the street to my friend's house and up into the back yard as I couldn't be sure just how long I would be. Pack up all the tools, tie down the damn lid again and off to Canadian Tire again, got some screws, back to my friend's house, get the ladder down and finally get up on the roof to see the top bit. It looks nothing like what I have. Someone has covered the entire flange in some sort of putty that has covered all of the screw heads as well. The temperature was rising and I was to pick up my friend in half an hour - needless to say, I did not tackle the roof flange. But I can at least open the lid if it's really hot and not worry about the bloody cat getting out. I can't keep it open for long though because the damn top still flies off the track, and so instead of taking the whole thing apart again, I left the inside flange off too, and just have the screen and lid. Sigh. So now I have to either commit to ripping out the top part from the roof where it's cemented on with pounds of putty, or find someone else to do it for me. Either way, it must be accomplished. I wish my dad was around. He would know what to do. 

No other real renovations happening at the moment though I am anxious to get started on the floors. They are a crappy old light laminate floor in terrible condition and I am replacing it with hardwood floors. Cannot wait. I also have a couple of cupboard doors left to paint too. I am thinking about making different curtains for my bedroom - maybe a backer for the summer to keep the sunlight out as it's hard to sleep in with the sun up so early. 

We are on the hunt for a new parking space. The property manager was by with a 30 day notice. Damn, just when I was settling in and looking forward to a nice summer here. But apparently people living in the apartment building are complaining about the lack of parking in the lot, so they want to cram it full of cars, including my 50 feet. So I have been online looking all day with no luck yet, but a few more to hear back from still. Otherwise we shall be roaming come June 1st. So I've decided not to whine about it and look at it as a new adventure - there are many places I can park overnight now that I am feeling a little more independent. I didn't want to leave the Fernwood area when I first began living in the RV, and then I moved down here, just on the edge. Now I'm just as happy to find other places to park and explore. I drive to Duncan every week for work and stay the night, sometimes two, and have come across a few places I may stay for a few nights at a time.

My job has been just amazing. I really enjoy what I'm doing and the people I'm working with. I look forward to going to work each day. I am still waiting to hear about an ongoing position, so should hear soon. It's a budget thing so I'm really hoping I'll get the year contract, so I'll have a little stability for awhile. If not, I have a few other ideas in mind. 

Nash has been out on his leash a handful of times. He really liked the beach, but was rather skittish here at our parking space. I think the traffic freaked him out. We'll have to just take a few strolls along the beach now and then as we are out and about looking for a place to park. 

April Sunshine

Well I survived the sogginess of winter and early spring of Victoria once again. Spring has been busting out all over! We travel to Duncan once a week and stay overnight most times. I work two days in Duncan and two days in Esquimalt.  The scenery is gorgeous on the way to Duncan and back as we trek up and over the Malahat (mountains). Everywhere I look there are trees and flowers in blossom. I friggin love it. This is just another reason I love living in Victoria. Not only do we have snow-free mild winters, we have super early spring. The cherry blossoms have been out for about a month or more, and the magnolias are out these past few weeks. Stunning! 

So Nash and I have been travelling around a bit, and we often take a drive to the ocean and hang out for the day. Esquimalt Lagoon is a favorite. Sailboats and other sea traffic here and there, birds all around, people and dogs walking up and down the beach. Nash has tons to watch. I had him out on the leash for a few minutes too. He loves being out but is a bit headstrong about wanting to go wherever he wants to. But then a motorbike roars by and he's over it. TAKE ME BACK INSIDE PLEASE!!! He is such a fun kitty, and so personable. He loves to hang out, no matter who is around. I'm trying to get him used to hanging out in the courtyard (heh heh) with me on the leash but he is still getting used to being outside, so it will take time and patience. 

I've been trying to sort out the year's travel plans. I really wanted to spend the next winter in Costa Rica, but now that I have my dream job, I feel like I can't walk away from it. The issue is my contract is up next month, and they want to extend but they don't know about the funding yet, so I don't want to spend too much money yet until I know if I have an ongoing position. So then I began thinking about spending just a few weeks with my friends there, but it's quite a distance to travel for just a week or two and expensive if I'm not driving Gertie down. Scratch that then. From there I began considering booking an all inclusive to Mexico for a week, which I've never done but am so ready for an easy travel trip, and Mexico is easy on the culture shock, particularily compared to China. That's where I'm at now, but we kind of all have to book together if we want to stay in the same hotel so I really need to nail that down. It might be that I just go down with a few friends and then have a big party here in Victoria or on the island somewhere this summer. It's my 50th so I feel Iike I want to do something special. 

Which brings me to the next bit of news - I got a new tattoo today! I've been pondering ever since my last tattoo, which was the lizard one on my left wrist that I had done in Byron Bay at Shark Tattoos. This time I went for a dandelion. My dad and brother were both in the military for more than 20 years, so I grew up on a military base. My dad continued with Transport Canada on military bases so when I left home, they were living in Labrador. As a military brat aka base brat, we often talk about there is no place to call home and our friends are everywhere. So over time we have unofficially adopted the seeding dandelion as a symbol of how we feel - my home is nowhere, my friends are everywhere. I've set up house in so many places. I have tried to keep in touch with a few close friends in most of those places. I'd been looking for a way to recognize just how much that brat life influenced who I am today, and where I've come from. It may seem like a rootless existence to some, but for me, I feel like I have a huge network of people I can count on and together we stretch around the world. I may not have college besties that I went to kindergarten with, but these people collectively hold my life history. I belong to a couple of Facebook groups for military brats and we talk often about the life we lived on the bases, and we have so many shared experiences from life on the base, and knew we were different than other places in some ways. We made friends fast, because we knew our parents could ship out again within a month, a year, maybe two, who knew? So the tattoo - the dandelion is throwing petals to my maple leaf (existing tattoo). On it reads "the nomad life". I just love it. Dave at Tattoo Zoo in Victoria did it for me. Across the street from the tattoo studio was the Canadian Forces Recruitment office. Coincidence? Fate. And Dave did exactly what I wanted and more. Thanks, man. 

I've got some music shows coming up. The Who in Vancouver next month. Meatloaf here in Victoria in June, and Dave Matthews Band in September at the Gorge. I saw Blue Rodeo earlier this year. I want to see about packing a couple more in, so we shall see.