Is this where I write a reflection paragraph? Should I be looking back on the last month when I start a new post, or building a thesis for what I want the month ahead to be?
Keeping paper journals is really helpful to visually see when things begin to slide. There are gaps and messes and days left unchecked. Both of mine have been sparse lately while I’ve kind of lost track of my tasks and felt too busy to pick up a pen. I shifted most of my free time to very different priorities. I stopped tracking my good habits. Maybe I’ll course-correct this month. I was in a good flow. My journal was colour coded.
Saturday 1 – Well, we bought a trailer. Forever gratitude (always, of course, duh) to Andrew for really doing most of the work to make it happen. I just added hesitation and anxiety to the process. But it’s a fun new adventure, another space for homemaking, and gets us out and active.
We took it for a first run over a few nights at Goldstream, which went really well. It’s such a luxury to have hot water and a warm bed while out in the woods. And to be only a few spots over from our last camping trip where we woke up on a deflated mattress with a bear in the site was a very contrasting experience.
Plus, it was Blair’s birthday, so we met up with pals for samosas and a sunny walk around Thetis.
Sunday 8 – Another weekend, another trailer outing. This time we checked out Pedder Bay in Metchosin to try the “full hookups” experience. Very easy livin. And it was mother’s day weekend, so the parents popped by to say hi for a bit and see the campground setup.
On Saturday we walked from the site to Matheson Lake. We followed a weird trail that felt like we were lost, but it turned up a beautiful waterfall and a secret soccer field. Just gotta keep walking I guess.
At some point in 2010 I made an iTunes playlist/mix CD called Comforter that was songs for not getting out of bed. I spent a lot of time not getting out of bed in those days. I was wrapped up in a comforter, laptop forever on me (desperately trying not to overheat), making music, chatting, tumbling. I was hungover all the time. Didn’t work much. I could really easily just look out my window through the blinds and put off the day a bit longer while these songs went by. Tell myself I’d get up when the playlist is through.
Somehow this mix of songs that don’t have too much in common all blended to be some perfect background music for a decade of my life. I hear them in order as though they’re a single album. Knotty Pine is always the song that follows Heart Of The Country and it feels wrong to hear anything else (sorry to Monkberry Moon Delight). It all just hums along.
Last year as that playlist actually became 10 years old, I decided to make a successor to it. We were losing our minds and desperately seeking hobbies to ease the loneliness and having a creative outlet even as simple as assembling a collection of songs was some sort of relief. So Comforter II picked me up and gave me some base of sounds that I could turn to that would level me out. It was a whole year of not really wanting to get out of bed, but doing so because the act of stepping outside was the best way to feel alive most days.
And now we’re in this place of counting the loss, of wanting to catch back up to where we think we should be, of cherishing moments we really took for granted. Now the feeling of staying in bed and listening to some songs is even more special. It’s not putting off life, or trying to ignore life, but just sitting with life for a while. Beddings can be bliss, but you can blanket yourself in all kinds of joy. Realizing that, it felt like a good time for Comforter III. Mark the year as the year has marked us.
Friday 14 – Inaugural firing of Tippi’s portable pizza oven was a massive success. I haven’t eaten so many carbs in months and it was a super treat. Also, if you manage to nab the lone table there, Cattle Point is a perfect picnic spot.
May Long Weekend – Got a spot at Island View Beach. Absurdly close to home, but it still feels like an escape. And waking up 20m from the ocean is always worth it. The weather was pretty unreal throughout, and one of those sunsets that bowls you over hit us on the Saturday evening. Felt like summer arriving with a show.
