Sunday, Oct. 3
1:58 p.m.

On sunny mornings I like to go out and sit on the front step for a while. Once my upstairs neighbours return, I will feel less free to do so, as it is directly in front of their entryway and I would not feel alone enough for my liking. I would feel seen, which is not relaxing.

These are the steps that lead past the front door and around the side, to mine. The lack of a handrail worries me for Emil's sake. Even without ice, snow, or rain, a crutch could slip and that would not be pretty.

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My kidlets set their own alarm for six o'clock, get up, and eat breakfast without "bothering" me more than to come and give me a "morning kiss." I am enough of a cow to say "Don't wake me till seven!" but it makes no difference, Emil is in the habit of greeting me as soon as he is out of bed and he doesn't easily change his habits. But I doze off again for another hour.

They don't need to get up quite so early, but ... habits, like I said. That, and they both like to be ready early and have a free half-hour before we have to leave for the bus. This is their time to "get to do something," as Emil says, and he will usually listen to a CD in the bedroom. Everett will play a game or they might sit and read.

I have the best boys in the world. The only way I could be luckier is if they prepared my breakfast, served it to me in bed, and rubbed my feet while I ate it. But I'm content with things the way they are.

The bus stop is at a busy corner, and the traffic lines up down the street in every direction while Emil hands his crutches to the bus driver and makes his way onto the bus.

So far, only one impatient soul has honked his horn, and I had a quick urge to flip him the finger as I stood there seeing the kids off. I caught myself, remembered the driver must be a putz, and imagined lecturing him instead.

****

Karen and I have caught up to the tradesmen at the rink and can work no further until they finish what they're doing and get out of our way. Woo hoo, a free morning! So I will head over to Mom and Dad's after I drop the boys off.

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At the bottom of the hill (sortof), there is a fruit and veggie vendor. I've been planning to stop there for the past three weeks, but only got there yesterday. Had figured it won't be organic anyway so I might as well do the one-stop-shop at the grocery store, where I can use my credit card for purchases.

Only to discover that not only is the produce at the roadside stand virtually all organic, but it is offered at excellent prices and will only be open another two or three weeks!

The boys were already in bed last night by the time I got around to practising my two songs for tonight's Closet and Shower Singers class. I've always thought I was a pretty decent singer, but now I know otherwise. I hear every weak note now and think Ewww.

Off to work,
Kate

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suddenly the leaves have begun to change colour, so if I don't put the pictures up from our sunday walk up to the ridge, they will soon be outdated. it was a steep hike and good to get away from the housing and pavement for a little while.

sept29-04
wed, 7:47 a.m.

enjoying a last few moments before emil gets done in the bathroom. then it’s my turn to get in there, shower and dress, make my peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and begin the day’s activity.

it’s another day at the arena, and i dread it. oh, i’m okay once i get there, and don’t mind the work half as much as i expected to. it’s not that strenuous, though my body is tired by the time my five hours are done, and the bottoms of my feet ache so i want to stay off them when instead i must make supper or practise my tap dance or stand and sing my two songs for thursday or whatever. so much to do, so little time and energy!

scott called this morning around 7, as he usually does. today he is doing his last cement job, so a lot of pressure around getting it done before freeze-up will be lifted. he can focus on his farmwork after that.

i slept on the couch the past two nights because a loud machine has been going in my bedroom, drying the carpet. the restoration company is supposed to be on top of getting things repaired in there now. but they didn’t come back yesterday, to my knowledge, so perhaps it will take forever ... as it already has seemed to, for my landlords to get around to handling the problem.

i booked a flight to saskatoon for the thanksgiving weekend, while gord will be here with the boys. if i would do that, scott said, he would feel less pressure to finish up there and get out here; he’d be able to stay there a bit longer and get more done before he leaves. i am not looking forward to the travel aspect of it, but it will be a treat to see scott and be home for a few days, hard as i expect it will be to drag myself out of there again.

well, i’d best get going. the bottoms of my feet hurt from being on the concrete in the arena for the past two days. but other than that i’m not as stiff and sore as i feared i might be.

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  Tuesday, Sept.28

It's not that dark in the arena, but apparently my digital camera thinks it is. This is Karen mopping construction dust off bleachers. We started yesterday and boy did I feel it. The tips of my toes complained all night.

Er, did I mention Karen and I are cleaning up after an arena renovation? It will take us all this week and part of next. And we're making good bucks, so that makes the hard labour more palatable. The undersides of benches polka-dotted with chewing gum are almost not terrible to see.

At lunch time we strolled next door to a little park, or Japanese garden. Then we walked onto the little bridge so Karen could watch the fish for a while. She's a fish girl.

At home she has at least two large aquariums and some pretty gorgeous tropical fish. The dolphin fish are my favourites -- they're big enough to look like something, maybe.

I'm the lucky one, I get to bolt at three o'clock to pick up my boychicks at their bus stop. There's a nice little lull in between meeting Everett's bus, and meeting Emil's in the same spot a half hour later. Before Emil arrived we got little errands run at the mall nearby. Tomorrow we'll drive down to the fruit stand at the bottom of the hill.

You weren't expecting tips for what to do if your toes are sore, were you?

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Once we got to the Okanagan, we spent a week with my sister and her family. Her little one, age two, shadowed Everett closely while we were there.

***

Thinking they’d enjoy it and that it would be a nice opportunity to spend some leisure time together, I told my mother and sister that they would be welcome to join the little singing group I went to on Thursday, if they don’t wait too long. “Does the group sing harmonies?” they wondered, and when I said no, not so far anyway and I don’t know if we will, they both pronounced that terribly boring and not for them. They turned up their little noses. This sort of thing could not possibly interest them, for what would be the point of it?

I know exactly where they’re coming from, as I was thinking the same thing when I spoke to the instructor beforehand -- that it wouldn’t be much of a challenge without four-part harmony, and would be far less satisfying than my previous experience with musical theatre.

However, that was not how I felt once we’d run through a couple songs on Thursday night. It was such a pleasure to sing and to hear the piano that not having the minor challenge of harmonies -- and I say minor because I don’t find them a challenge, but quite natural -- was far from my mind. Singing just felt plain good.

Not to say that four-part harmony would not be wonderful fun and that I wouldn’t prefer it, but that plain melody feels equally satisfying to sing, if not to listen to. Since I couldn’t care less about having an audience and prefer not to have one -- unlike my mother and sister, who seem to feel that singing without an audience is hardly worth their while (hiding that bright light under a bushel) -- I am more than happy to be learning some new “old” songs and exercising my vocal chords again in a slightly structured way. Oh, and picking up a few tips about singing can’t hurt.

My own mother and sister, singing snobs! Tsk!

***

We’ve spent the day cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, and starting a batch of bread. Now it’s time to get out into the sunshine and see what can be seen.

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Friday, Sept. 24, 2004
10:25 a.m.

This photograph was taken from Shelly’s back-40 in Alberta, where I spent a night or two on my way here. Just another example of the Big Sky that I am missing back in the parkland! But I have to admit, I am beginning to appreciate the shadowy tones of the mist hanging in the valley against the mountains on the other side of the lake. I am starting to find something pretty here to admire. The view doesn’t lift my spirit as the Big Sky back home does, but it still has its pretty moments.

Last night I, as usual, did not feel like going out anywhere, to anything. But it was the first meeting of the Closet and Shower Singers, so off I toddled. There were only four of us in the group, middle-aged women all -- I may be the youngest -- and we were shown a few breathing exercises for singers and then the instructor, an excellent singer and pianist himself, led us in two songs: Cabaret and Unforgettable. He had lowered the key of the music because all four of us think we are altos. Anyway, the singing did wonders for my state of mind, as singing always does.

This morning the phone rang before nine but it was not Scott, as it would normally be, but Mom, saying we should come early rather than late to see them. The people who live below complain that when people walk around Mom and Dad’s place, the dishes on the shelves below rattle. So Mom and Dad are trying to accommodate them, as good neighbours tend to do. The people teach at a university so are not home during the day, thus that is the time Mom and Dad suggest we visit.

Me, I think those people should move out, get themselves a house. You can’t expect to live in a condo and never hear the footsteps of the people above you. Once there were a bunch of us over there and the neighbour came up and complained, saying “I’m embarrassed even to mention it, but we are trying to watch a movie in our living room and we can’t even hear the TV.” We apologized and said we’d try to tone it down. But it’s not as if we were dancing jigs up there! We were just walking around, picking pizza up from the table and getting glasses of water and so on and so forth.

Well, I can see Mom and Dad going out of their way to be considerate for a while, but really, it does seem ridiculous. I could understand it if we were having a loud party or something, but just normal walking around ... they have even complained about Mom and Dad walking across their living room floor, which is hardwood. Dad went out and bought himself a pair of slippers in hopes that might help -- he walks on his heels, as I do, so we are noisier than most and we know that and can attempt to adjust our gaits. Nevertheless, if the people overdo it, I know my dad. He will just tell them to go to hell. Mom will be chagrined, which is probably why he hasn’t already told them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.

The second time the phone rang it wasn’t Scott, again, but Mom, calling to tell me that she and Dad are going out shopping for a hide-a-bed for their den. She sounds full of piss and vinegar, and is feeling herself again -- well obviously she is, for this is the first time she’s gone anywhere “normal” for quite a while.

So I’d better start getting ready to go out and do some running around before we head over there. In Saskatchewan I paid about $800 to insure my van for a year, but the plates run out today so I am going to get temporary BC ones while I wait for my drivers abstracts for the past eight years to come in from Alberta and Saskatchewan. Insurance here in BC will, all told, cost about $1300 before the 40% discount my clean driving record will get me.

*** I notice there is some html screwup appearing, that yesterday's photo is stuck over top of text -- I don't know what causes that, or how to fix it.

***

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Here's where I went for breakfast one morning when I had a migraine coming on and didn't feel like cooking but thought hot and plentiful food might solve the problem. It didn't; I had to take a pill anyway.

My suite here has often been rented out, even by the week. Magnetted to the fridge is a piece of paper that states the name of the house is "Mountainside" and going on to list all the things to do in this area as well as where the best shopping is. This is where the restaurant above comes in, as the paper says they have a great breakfast special for $3.99. The paper must be old, because the special is now $5.99.

The café is in an old mini-mall where I have been doing my grocery shopping and making use of the drugstore, bakery, deli, and a little bargain shop that houses a tiny post office, where I always have to stand in line before getting to the counter. There is also a doctor's office and a winemaker's supply store. This is the closest retail outlet to where we live and near the corner where I pick up the boys from their bus stop in the afternoons.

***

Tonight is my first singing class! Hm ... the head cold I suffered with for the past two days has moved down into my throat, so my voice is deep, but oh well, I can still carry a tune. I guess I'll go, if I'm not too burnt out by suppertime. I'll have to make a point of taking a nap this afternoon.

Afternoon nap. Makes me sound like an old grampa. Or a toddler. I'll call it a siesta instead; that's better. Not that I'll sleep. Hell no. After laying there an hour, and when I'm just about to drop off, I'll have to get up and pee. Every frigging time.

The class is for people just like me, who love to sing but don't enjoy performing. There should be about 10 people in it; it goes 12 weeks, and is called Closet and Shower Singers. Doesn't that sound perfect? It won't include four-part harmonies, which disappoints me some, but hey, it's a start.

A good stopping point between Saskatoon and Edmonton is the campground near Innisfree, Alberta. It is next to an alkaline lake so that neither the beach nor the park ever seem to be overrun with people. The locals don't swim in the water. But there is a big grassy area where Emil could stretch his legs, and Everett and I made good use of the teeter-totter.

8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2004
Went to my first tap-dancing class last night. Whoa, it was a lot harder than I expected! I had a hell of a time keeping up on my toes AND relaxing -- almost impossible, since the two seem mutually exclusive. I was relieved when the hour was up. But I paid for next week’s class and borrowed the tap shoes I wore so that I can practise at home, and with luck I’ll be able to walk and chew gum at the same time by next Monday.

Am keeping Emil home a second day and will probably take him to a clinic today just to make sure there is no fluid in his lungs. Everett claims he’s getting sick too, but I’m sending him to school and he can call me if he gets feeling worse. Karen just phoned from Joan’s, where she’s babysitting, to invite me to go have coffee with her.

10:19 a.m.
The first time I came into this suite, I walked around and looked at all the pictures on the walls. A framed drawing in the dining room looked familiar, and I read beneath it: Church and Rectory, Legal, Alberta. Talk about coincidence. To me it was another little sign that I am meant to be here, that things are happening as they ought. After all, I lived in Legal for seven years up until moving to the farm with Scott two years ago.

Emil is home with a cold this morning so I set off with Everett to catch the schoolbus. He complained, naturally. Walk? What's that? That's torture! It makes his legs and feet hurt! Why can't we drive?

We hadn't gotten far when we met up with a neighbour boy who was taking a shortcut, so we trundled along with him through someone's yard. Another boy joined us and when we got near the bus stop I stopped and let them go on their way.

I thought my heart was going to explode by the time I reached the top of the hill we'd just walked down. Holy shitoly! I guess I should walk that every day, it might do me some good.

So now I'm home, about to start my work day. Have called Mom, she's feeling fine and would get Dad to drive her over before he goes golfing, but she doesn't want to catch anything from Emil. He, on his part, is worried that he might catch her cancer. I have explained to him several times that this is not possible, but he is still concerned about it.

Our suite is the row of windows you see on the ground floor of the house. My desk is just inside the tall window on the far right.

And now, I must quit yapping and actually start to work.