Desert Tripping

It was quite a road trip, so much better than my last US road trip with my daughter some years ago, mainly because IT DIDN’T SNOW! We set out for Indio, California for the Desert Trip concerts – Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, and The Who – killer lineup! My friend M. went with me on the road, as did Nash and two other friends flew down to meet us in Indio. Here are the highlights from the epic adventure:

·        We covered about 6500 kms in 15 days, with 4 days of no-driving while at the concerts.

·        We drove through 7 states – Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Idaho and Utah were new for me.

·        We saw the Grand Canyon from the North Rim, which I had not done the last time and it was simply amazing. Then we drove down into the Canyon and back out the other side – bloody spectacular!

·        We camped at Wal-mart about 4 nights – free and easy to find.

·        We visited the Calico Ghost Town, pretty cool, but not as ghosty as I had hoped…

·        Lost a muffler when it came unattached from the RV on one of the two clip/mounts. So I sawed that bugger off and threw it on the side of the road. I knew it wasn’t my current muffler as I had been shown when I bought it how they rerouted the muffler and installed a better pipe. I thought it was just the old one, but it turned out to be the muffler for the generator box. I don’t have a generator so I was fine leaving it behind.

·        The campground was pretty amazing but not as lush as I had initially thought it might be. We were just lined up on a big grassy field. My cord didn’t reach to the power supply, so we used just solar, which turned out to be fine as it was hot as hell and sunny every single day.

·        The music was simply amazing. I had seen all of the acts once before, and now I got to see them again. I think Neil Young was my favorite, with Roger Waters close behind. They were definitely worth the trip to see all six in one place. At one point, Neil Young and Paul McCartney were belting out tunes together, Give Peace a Chance and Rocking in the Free World. Epic.

·        The venue was quite well done and we had no real glitches other than having to leave our glowsticks behind at security – stupid fucking rule. We saw tons in there later.

·        We didn’t see any vendors other than the food and drink ones. Bummer. Had hoped to do some Christmas shopping there.

·        We went to Santa Monica Pier for an evening to watch the sun go down at the beach and then checked out the Pier, rode the roller coaster and the Ferris wheel.

·        Camped at a gorgeous campground perched atop the cliff in Malibu.

·        We had to stop in Hollywood to check out the Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater footprints/handprints of the stars. We also tried to get as close as we could to the Hollywood Sign. That was a bit tricky. It was a very windy bendy road area where the roads were quite narrow and wound themselves around the big houses there. Then I hit a low overhung palm tree with the RV and ripped the awning clean off the RV. It was a mangled mess on the ground. Seeing nothing to salvage, I threw it on the front lawn of the guy who owned the palm tree and got the hell out of there! It also popped off the top of my fridge vent, so I kept that, threw it inside and got moving. I called my roadside assistance to check out my fridge vent as I wan’t sure what had happened up there and I didn’t have a ladder. They took hours to get back to me and were going to charge a fortune, so I told the rude mechanic to bugger off and instead we went to Walmart and bought a ladder for $54 and popped that fridge cover right back on – no other damage other than a missing awning…then I returned the ladder at the next Wal-mart I stopped at, telling them it was too short for me. No prob. Fixing the RV turned out to be free.

·        We stopped at San Francisco of course, and hung out in the Haight-Ashbury district before heading into Golden Gate Park to hang out on Hippy Hill for awhile. Love San Fran.

·        We stopped to see the California Redwoods – amazing! We camped among them too but it was pouring rain the whole entire time so we did not get to see as much of them as we would have liked. They were gorgeous trees though and the smell – mmmmm.

·        Saw my first tumbleweeds! They tumbled right across the road in front of me, several times.

·        We saw a big herd of elk on the road and had to wait for them to clear before we could continue on our way.

·        The I-5 was just as annoying as it was the last time I drove it. Loud, too many trucks, not much to look at. We had been following the 101 up the coast, but then a typhoon was heading our way so we headed inland to the I-5 as I was not willing to risk our lives and my home to high winds.

·        Nash had an awesome time in the RV, but while we were at the concert grounds, he was boarded in a cattery. He didn’t seem to like it much and scratched anyone who came near. Poor fella. But it was impossible to have him at the concert grounds with 4 women in and out the door all day and night. There was also no room!

Hugo

·        My friend M. was the best co-pilot ever! She was back there mixing drinks day and night and got me whatever my little heart wanted. Beauty!

·        Hugo went with us and had a fantastic time. Hugo is a doll/creature/thingy that belonged to a friend of ours that couldn’t come. We dressed him up and took him everywhere, even in Walmart in the cart…we go so many stares and comments. M. also held him up to the window when we passed a trucker and waved to them. Some honked, some laughed, some didn’t know what to think…we loved it all.

So I guess I proved the old girl can really make a long road trip without issue, hot or cold climate. I was ever so glad to be back in Canada though. America is a great place to visit and play – would not want to live there.

Where's Waldo/Jude

Well, I know this is the longest stretch without a post since I started blogging way back in 2003, nearly 14 years ago. There are many reasons that I have not been blogging lately. Some reasonable, others complete laziness. Since my last post was in August, I’ll write a monthly summary for each month since then to catch everyone up.

September

I was getting ready for a huge road trip to California. Cleaning out the RV so I could make room for the 3 other ladies that would be sharing the space with me. This was no small task. I had to pack up so much stuff and drag it all into my friend’s bedroom (she was coming on the road trip with me). I also had to make sure we were clean to cross the border - they check for everything if they decide to inspect, so certain foods, crumbs, no garbage, herbs, etc.

I had training for several days for my fairly new position with the provincial government. I had been doing the job all summer, but we finally came together as a new team in September.

I went to a Permanency Forum in Richmond, BC. The forum was pretty good, but my first night there, I was in my RV parked behind the hotel where they had told me to park, and I had planned on sleeping in my room, but then decided to stay down with Nash that night. Good chance I did. Some fucking asshole broke into the RV while I was still in it. Yup, took a piece of rebar and smashed my front driver’s side window and grabbed my work bag from the front seat. It looks a bit like a purse, so I’m sure that’s what the asshole thought. Instead he got my gov issued laptop and my portable office stuff. He also took my feeling of security. I keep hearing that smashing crash sound which also reminded me of the night my house blew up and burned to the ground. Then to add insult to injury, I was parked at the front of the hotel after that, and some stupid taxi driver parked right behind me facing away from my RV. I had been rather upset and emotional since the breakin and finally decided to call it quits and head back to Victoria. I did not see said jerk taxi driver parked behind me as he parked just after I got into the RV, and he was in my blind spot. Asshole. I rammed right into him and because I thought I was on the curb and it was giving me the resistance, I slammed into him a few times, damaging his bumper. He came racing around, hollering at me so I stopped. I was less than impressed and gave him a piece of my crazy mind when he refused to move his stupid car out of the way so I could finally leave the ugliness of Richmond behind and make the next ferry. So I had a meltdown right there in front of the hotel. I gave him my contact info but he wanted to call the police – for a fender bender of all things…I told him to move his stupid car or I was going to RUN IT OVER. This was repeated several times…finally the manager came out and I explained to him that I had already given the asshole my info and he was refusing to move his car. Asshole finally moved his car from the NO PARKING zone behind my RV and I peeled the fuck out of there and just made the ferry. I won’t be going to Richmond again if I can help it.

The break-in was very stressful and created so many issues – because I had lost a government computer with very sensitive information on it, I had to go through a privacy breach investigation, and this was two days before I was to leave the country on my road trip. So a dozen or more phonecalls and emails explaining what happened. I was cleared because I had followed procedures for passwords and there were no files in the bag. The other big issue was the damn window – I could not possibly consider driving through the US with plastic taped over my window so I had to quickly organize to get a new window – managed to find the last one in the province to fit my old girl, AND to get it in before I left for America. It threw my prep schedule off by having to waste 6 hours at the shop when I should have been out gathering what I needed and packing up the RV.

October

This was Desert Trip month, which I’ll cover in a separate post or this one would go on forever. Also in October though, I began working from the provincial office in Victoria and my road trips for work were winding down as we shifted who we serviced. I also had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand, which I am still recovering from. The pain afterwards was absolutely excruciating and I had to get some Oxy from my surgeon who had discharged me without any meds…so back to the hospital I went. The healing was painful and annoying as hell. I still do not have full function back. I have the range of movement but almost no strength to squeeze or grip. I’m hoping that comes back. Until then, I am not even considering getting my left hand done.

November

November was when I finally gave up on curbside parking and headed to the West Bay Marina and RV Park in Esquimalt. I had been parked for a couple of weeks while my hand recovered as I could not drive it. Parking Enforcement asshole would seriously wait until 10:00pm on the dot and then slip a ticket under my windshield wiper – WHILE I WAS SITTING IN THE DAMN RV! Jerk. So I gave up and called the Marina and they had room for me. I’m going to stay there until the end of February, if not longer.

I absolutely adore the RV Park. I am surrounded by the West Bay harbour, and tons of cool houseboats and dozens of yachts. I have power, water, sewage, cable, and I signed up for Shaw wifi and Netflix – so all the comforts of a regular home. My solar works very well in the warmer sunny months, but once the winter rains set in, I struggled to have enough to watch even one television show. If possible, I hope to winter there every year, though the rumor has it the Songhees Nation did not renew the lease for the RV park, so we technically have to leave by February 28^th. I’m hoping they will simply just take over the RV park and run it themselves. At least I’m there for the next few months.

December

December brought us a few snowy days, but it didn’t last, as this is Victoria and it rarely snows and never stays. I was thankful for power so I could run the furnace and a cube heater to keep the chill out of the RV. It’s also my birthday month and I’m turning 50 – the big 5-0. Holy shit where did the time go??

I’ve been having issues with the Blogger app, so normally I would blog on my iPads and use my wireless keyboard. For some reason, the app is being an asshole, so each time I tried to blog, it crashed the program. I can use my laptop, but that means I couldn’t watch my downloaded shows while I write. Lame excuse I know, but it just frustrated me too much to even consider writing after that. I also had limited use of my right hand, so typing was a challenge enough as it was and I was mousing with my left hand.

So with Christmas around the corner, I’m pretty much all ready. I sent all my parcels out and have just my secret santa left to buy for.

So that’s it – nothing too exciting except for the Desert Trip. Let’s see what 2017 brings for us all.



Sunny Dazed

Finally went camping for the first time this year (I know, I camp all year in the RV that I live in) but it was the first campfire of the year, and by the sounds of things, just in time. There was no campfire ban all summer and it started the day after we got back. Last summer it was all summer long so we didn't have a campfire until October's Thanksgiving weekend at Goldstream. 

Sunny Daze is an unofficial campground with huge areas to claim as your own for the weekend. We took the Back 40 next to the river and the swimming hole. It also had a portapotty and garbage/recycle bins. Oh, and let's not forget a killer view of the river from the site. We had 9 for Saturday and 14 for Sunday - it was amazing. We had perfect weather, a meteor shower each night (I saw 7) and the babbling water day and night. There were lots of trees for shade and sunny patches to bask in. The water was awesome to swim in and hang out on a floater for hours. We did group cooking for the birthday breakfast and supper. I did breakfast with fruit and a pot of bacon, while another friend J. Did eggs Bennie from scratch. It was delicious! Then M. And J. each did a supper portion. M did philly cheese steaks in the fire, while J. grilled some crocodile sliders, kangaroo sausage and kangaroo burgers. I think we were rather spoiled for camping!

There were 3 traditional nylon camping tents, my friend C's homemade yurt tent (my term) that was huge, a hammock tent, and my RV. There were two other hammocks, one big canvas one that was pretty sweet for a swing, and my netted one I bought in Cambodia - awful and only big enough for tiny people as it felt like a sausage casing to me. I think it even got left behind there. I didn't care that I forgot it. My friends who only came for the day ended up sleeping over in their van with two kids. 

Most of us have war wounds of one kind or another - I got bit on the inside of my lip by an asshole wasp that had crawled into my drink can. It hurt quite a bit until I iced it. It swelled a fair bit too. I also broke a toe on my left foot, clamouring around the campfire late at night in bare feet. Nice and purple it is..I also have a few scrapes on my legs, not sure how, but it was a lot of climbing around to get from the riverbed to the campsite where all our stuff was. It wasn't far, but treacherous in the dark of night. I couldn't find my flashlight - where it has disappeared to, I have no idea, but now I need a new one. I couldn't use my phone as it was playing music on my Bluetooth speaker at the campfire, so it would have been an asshole thing to do each time I wanted to go get something, ha ha. 

We all went swimming in the swimming hole and had a turn on the floaters. Lots of alcohol, food, and other recreational items kept us busy and happy all weekend. It was glorious...

Duncan Detour

Nash and I have been house-sitting in Duncan for all of June and will be finished up by the 8th of July. It's been interesting...here are some highlights:

• It's been so nice to have easy access to shower, laundry, full kitchen, cable tv, and somewhere to park for the month...or so I thought.
• I can't park the RV in the steep driveway. Did it once after a note from bylaw enforcement about parking on the street, and when I tried to back it down, it took off like a freight train...never again. Terrifying.
• There is a fireplace, great for those chilly nights, not so great on hot days as the pilot light is pretty intense heat that I can't turn off. Nash seems to like it. Such a cat.
• Redneck neighbors next door have been rather entertaining, most of the time, when they aren't entirely offensive...beauty of it is, when I am in the back yard, they can't see me but I can hear them through the hedge. 
• There appears to be a lack of feline harmony...I am not only house sitting, but I am cat sitting a mature calico who is quite elusive, and won't have a bar of Nash, who keeps trying, despite being attacked by her daily. She managed to rip his ear which I'm rather upset about, but 
  there is nothing to be done about it. He isn't even a year old and already scarred...he also has not learned his lesson and keeps trying to engage her - it usually ends in growling, hissing, a scream (by her) and some thumping noises as they tumble over the floor upstairs. 
  
• I am mostly enjoying looking after the gardens. I have to water every two days to keep things from dying in the hot sun. Had a little reprieve when it rained for several days. 
• Garbage pick-up is ridiculous. They rotate what you can put out each week, and they are a different combination each week. What it boils down to, garbage is only picked up twice a month...twice!!! The rest of the weekly pickup is recycling and compost. So I have a huge garbage can that's been sitting out in the hot sun, filled with rotting trash and dirty cat litter. They rejected the can when I put two out, not knowing it was only one garbage can per pick-up. So fuck them, they can empty the steaming can of rotted garbage and cat shit next week when it is a month old...(I forgot to put it out last week, so have to wait two weeks again).
• There are a LOT of cats in this neighborhood...and they walk by the windows frequently, which winds Nash right up. The one notable cat is the poodle cat...yes, you read that correctly - it was an SPCA rescue, long haired and it was all matted so they shaved him down, poodle style. He looks absolutely ridiculous,  but I'm sure he feels better without the heavy matted fur. 

  

  poodle cat

• The patio in the back yard is nice in the morning...and then THAT"S IT...as the sun rises up in the sky, it turns the patio into the surface of the sun...so I sit on the front stoop instead. 
• There are children who love to climb the cherry tree in the front yard. No problem. But then they nicky nicky nine doored me...brats. I told them off. Then I remembered how many times I did it as a kid...I just couldn't believe kids still do that. 
• I have overdosed on HGTV - love the home reno shows, house hunting, etc. Still don't want to own a house though. I just go out into the RV and change or make something. It's been a work in progress as I settle into the RV and move things around for the best storage solutions. I hate feeling crowded so the more organized I am, the less anxious I feel. Ironically, I feel more claustrophobic in the house I'm house-sitting than in my RV. It is overstuffed with THINGS. Much like my mother's house. Not dirty, just STUFF! Tons of knickknacks, little tables, plastic flowers EVERYWHERE inside and out, counters are cluttered with tons of stuff, and rugs on top of carpets. I much prefer minimalist looks in some respects - I hate knocking shit over all the time just to move about in my space. Breathe in, breathe out. It will soon be over...

  

  new denim sofa cover

• since I've had to shift my base to Duncan, I now only travel to Victoria once or twice a week, sometimes for overnight and sometimes not. My AFABC job ended on June 15 and I had a week gap before starting with MCFD, but until my clearances come through, I am working from home. It's been so nice to work with high speed wifi connection. When I am just in the RV, I only have my personal hotspot, 10G/month, which doesn't take much to run up. 
• Had me some visitors - my friends and their two boys came for a night. We barbecued some big burgers, and the next day went for a few hikes around the local area - Kinsol Trestle was pretty cool. 

  

  Kinsol Trestle

• I have been curbside camping in Victoria as I had to give up my parking space while they did renos on the building - so they say. I drove by the other day - nothing has been touched from the look of it. I may be searching for a new space. Ugh. 
• Nash just loves hanging out in this house. Lots of windows to sit and watch, and stairs to race up and down. We sleep out in the RV though so the resident kitty can roam at will by night. 
• I finished a quilt I started in Alice Springs. It has Aboriginal dot print fabric, which is pretty cool, and the tones fit my bedroom perfectly, as I have also made new curtains. The old ones were just too light and let nearly all of the sunlight in. Boo. 

So that's about it...I'm heading to Victoria for the long weekend with my friends. It's Canada Day and the beginning of PRIDE in Victoria. 

May in Victoria

Well I'm not sure where May went, but is nearly the end of it. There are changes in the wind, but hopefully welcome changes. My current work contract finishes in a couple of weeks, but I hope t be continuing the same work with a different employer, which would be pretty awesome. I have to move out of our parking space, however as they are planning some renovations this summer and need the space. I hope to get back in by the end of July if I'm lucky, as I really like my space. If I find something better, however, I would be happy with that too. For now, I am heading to Duncan on Monday to housesit for a friend who will be away for 5 weeks. She has a nice big house and big back yard. I will be looking after the cat and gardens/plants, and in exchange I have somewhere free to park for 5 weeks and I can live in a house for awhile. Not that I mind living in the old gypsy wagon but staying at my friend's house will be like a vacation! She has a big screen television and CABLE which I haven't had for a few years, so looking forward to flipping through channels a bit, catching up on some HGTV. She also has regular wifi, so I don't have to fret about not using up all of my limited data package on my phone. 

So I will be Duncan based for 5 weeks. I will travel to Victoria once a week as I want to spend my Wednesdays off with my friends here, and I work in Esquimalt on Thursdays and have a drumming group after work that night, so will head back to Duncan on Fridays and spend the weekends hanging out at my friend's house. I work Monday's and Tuesday's in Duncan. The drumming group came out of a random lucky day last week at one of the agencies I work for when they were having a drum making workshop after work for anyone who wanted to come, so I stayed behind and made my own elk skin drum. We started with raw elk hide that had been soaking in water. We then punched holes in the pelts to use for lacing the hide over the cedar hoop.

Then we strung the hide over the hoop, stretching it as tight as we could, and tying the knots. My Girl Guide knot tying knowledge helped a great deal, ha ha. The Aboriginal man who was teaching us how to make the drums was very friendly and funny at times, which always helps when learning something new. Mine turned out quite good in my opinion. While I was making my drum with a bunch of folks, the women spoke about a women's drumming group they've been having and asked if I wanted to come, so I told them sure! Now that I have my own drum, why not? I made a case for a few days ago, and now I need to make myself a drumstick.

I've settled on how I will be celebrating my 50th birthday this year - a road trip to California in the old gypsy wagon with a friend, meeting up with two other friends in Indio (near Palm Springs) for the music festival of the century from what folks are saying - Desert Trip. I can't recall if I wrote about it before. There are three nights of double headliner concerts with some of the largest well known acts in music history and I can't friggin wait! I've seen all of them once before, but I am keen to see them all again. Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, The Who, and Neil Young. Wow. What a killer lineup. So my friend and I will be driving down to California, taking our time and I think we might travel on the inside of the Rocky Mountains on the way down to the Grand Canyon, and then meet the others for the concerts, and then we drop them back at the airport in LA, and we will spend a few days in the area, want to see Hollywood, some Beverly Hills mansions, and get on The Price is Right, ha ha. We might pop across the border to Tijuana for a bit of cross border shopping. Then we head back north on the coastal highway, stopping for a night in San Francisco of course! I hope the old girl is up for it. I didn't have any issues driving to Edmonton, which had me over the mountains a fair bit, so she should be able to handle this trip. I'll get her looked at over the summer to make sure she is in tip top shape. 

The Festival itself should be pretty epic, as well as the campground where we are staying. The festival itself is being held on the Coachella Music Festival grounds, and we booked an RV site right on the grounds. It was pretty expensive, but so worth it. No shuttling too and fro from a crappy hotel where you can't make too much noise, and risk missing a show. We are right onsite and Gertie will be full! I am going to leave Nash behind as I don't want him subjected to the craziness of the festival and have to worry about keeping the doors and windows shut, nor do I wish to stuff four people into an RV with cat littler. I'll miss the little guy, but he will be safer here for him. 

We are. Hoping to come across some celebrities in the RV park, or just randomly at the show. Given it's so close to LA. And the musicians are so epic, I am really hoping lots flock to the shows! You just never know who you'll see out walking their dog in their bathrobe. 

Sad news earlier this week about Gordon Downey, lead singer of the Tragically Hip has terminal brain cancer. They are, however, putting on a final tour this summer and the first stop is here in Victoria so we are truly hoping to get tickets when they go on sale. We will have to be right on the nail with it. I just love them, and had always wanted to see a full show of them. I saw them once before when they opened for the Rolling Stones. I HAVE to see them one last time. 

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.