DIY, weenie roasts, and beer

 

 

Everything went okay. I kissed the girl goodbye, waved her and Mike off at the airport, went out for Chinese buffet with Laurie, lost my ability to meal plan in Costco (what can I make with Activia, creamed honey, canned chicken, blueberries, and bubbly water?), and drove home listening to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I am too tired to think, but happy to have 17 days to get myself into trouble, going out to find places to paint and listen to live music. 

Bullet point summary, because narration is hard after 6 hours of driving.

 

*Picked Mike up at midnight on the 30th, crashed at (2-bed) airbnb. I slept on the couch. 

*The next day was Canada Day, and all the stores and restaurants were closed (except for Tim's). Visited Signal Hill, stopped by my childhood home, and had concession-stand poutine at Bowring Park with the ducks before driving home.

 *First item on to-do list: fix the giant rotting hole in the roof of the tool shed and re-shingle it. Mike bought the supplies and a circular saw, because he's just nice like that. 

*Went down to neighbor's house to borrow a ladder; came back with a ladder, two lobsters, and invitations to come over for drinks, because my neighbors are just nice like that

*Wrapped my burn barrel in steel chicken wire and made a little spark-guard hat for it, tackled the burn pile (fallen tree that has been chopped up in the yard all year), and spent every warm evening drinking Quidi Vidi beer, roasting sausages, making s'mores, and playing cards with Zenny. 

*Fixed the broken electrical outlets in the living room and installed lights in the pantry and shed.

*Installed baseboards in the studio.

*Went to the dump with the gross old baseboards and roof shingles. Stabbed myself with a rusty nail. Preeeetty sure I've had a tetanus shot in the past 7 years...? We will find out, I guess.

*Watched the entire season of Widow's Bay in 4 days. (SO good.) 

*Went to Smuggler's Cove, ate bbq, played with the guillotine, and saw their mascot: a floating structure made of elk and moose skulls. (The place was founded by bikers.) 

*Went for an early morning walk along the seashore, saw a fat sunbathing seal, got screamed at by crows, slipped and fell all over the slimy rocks and hurt ourselves because we are old. 

*Rotated my tires, because the car was shimmying slightly.

*The shimmy stopped, but Mike forgot to tighten the nuts, so one of the wheels suddenly tried to fly off while we were halfway to Goobies this morning. Pulled over in time.

*While Mike was tightening the nuts on the side of the road, I spotted an old infant car seat laying face-down in some bushes and crawled/slid/fell down a gravel slope to kick it over and make sure there wasn't a tiny skeleton strapped into it. (There was not, just a plastic grocery bag full of broken beer bottles.) Army-crawled back up to the car. 

*Airport, chinese food, Costco, etc. So tired.

 

It was a really fun visit, actually, and we got so much done in just a week - and that right there is how this man gets me every time. When he's around, the nice times blur the bad times, and makes them feel like maybe they didn't happen, or maybe I was wrong about them - but NOT THIS TIME. This is why I left the country; he can't hang around for too long, and I can't just change my mind because it's hard sometimes. My brain shut down the feelings factory, there was zero romance in the air. It was a nice friendly week, Zenny was happy to watch all the repairs going on and eat good food and play games with her dad, and I had no problem kicking the man to the curb at the airport, giving him a bro-hug, and saying BYE. 

So that is done, I can relax again, and it is time to be my own creature for a little while.

 Pictures:

 

 

 

While I was loading those pictures, my boss back in Hawaii texted to say he's retiring, and asked if I wanted his job. DAMN it. I did want it. He had been talking about retiring for years, and that was always the plan. If I had that promotion 6 months ago, I could have kept my house. I could have been with my son for his last few months of high school. I could still have my 20-year career, retirement plan, cats, publisher, gallery shows. 

But I'd still be there, and still wouldn't have been able to make Mike leave, and still be miserable. This loss of income has paid for peace and safety. I feel like I fit in somewhere for the first time since we left when I was a kid. I'm not going back. 

But I am having feelings about it. And it was nice of him to check with me.

 

Goddamn. I am going to bed.