The cycling has taken a back seat. Wasn’t as much fun cycling on my own, since my brother had to go off to Montreal to train people to be WWI soldiers for a film. Very cool stuff. I got to take care of his cat, and I was lucky she didn’t jump all over the shelves knocking stuff down. Her nickname is Monkey for a reason.
Since I finished my book outlines, I started writing. It has been fast and furious, and I am now on page 79. I think the book is going to be a long one, because the story is just getting started. I better be able to find a publisher. That of course will be the really hard part.
The past week I spent at a friend’s cottage. They are perhaps the most generous people I have ever met.
I like camping so, weather permitting; I always bring my own accommodation as you can see above. There is this little patch of clear flat ground on the otherwise bumpy landscape that fits my tent nicely.
The cottage is lived in all year round, and heated with wood stoves. So I make a habit of helping to chop wood to be stored for winter. This weekend turned into a major blitz though. We started chopping, hauling, chain sawing at about 9:30 or 10:00 on Saturday and didn’t stop until it was time for dinner. Imagine lifting weights for 8 hours straight and you get the idea. Then on Sunday we started the day with lifting all the bits of wood we chopped up and moved them to the shed where they are stored. We did this until about 4. So we had two days of heavy lifting in a row.
My soft city skin got pretty scratched up, but you have to expect that.
So I’m back in the city, and last night I was writing under candlelight on my deck, and for the first time since I have been downtown (almost 4 years), I heard the squawking and screaming of raccoons! On top of that I started to get eaten alive by mosquitoes! I have never seen mosquitoes downtown! I had to deal with both critters while at the cottage on an almost daily basis. Did I perhaps bring them back with me?!
Well that’s it for now. Not much more to report. Back to the boring city. I’m hoping to make it back to the cottage again in September to help out with the wood chopping. I do take a great deal of satisfaction in that every time I show up, we chop as much wood as they get around to in a month (they have like, 14 jobs, and two kids, makes it difficult to waltz off into the woods to chainsaw). I plan to document the whole thing next time, and set up a time-lapse camera in the shed to show just how much wood gets moved. It might be funny, as we get more tired throughout the day, we might slow down so much that even in the time-lapse photography we end up looking like we are at normal speed!
1 comment:
back to nature...
Sounds like a great time. Feel free to send the mosquitos to our place. I am peace-loving until an insect takes up residence in my kitchen. I squash them with a vengeance and leave them on the wall as a warning to the others.
uhum...
I understand the feeling of satisfaction after having chopped the firewood. Granted, my arms don't get as much of a workout, but I have that feeling when I finish baking loaves of bread or cooking 40 gallons of spaghetti sauce.
There is something incredibly rewarding about putting your muscle, time and effort into something so ordinary and seeing, or tasting, your efforts at the end. It hasn't cured cancer or brought about world peace, but for that moment, you know that you've done something worthwhile, though fleeting, and your time hasn't been spent on causing harm, indirect and unintentional as it may be.
These are the closest moments to prayer as I come.
yap yap yap...glad to hear you're doing well. Can't wait to read the book.
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