The afternoon I arrived I ended up walking about 3 or 4 km through White Rock, on a search for a dress to wear for my friend's wedding, and various other things necessary to make me look civilized (for a change)
I needed to move after spending almost seven hours on a plane! I do a lot of walking on this property every day--trips back and forth to the barn and out to pastures, and I'm generally continually moving. So it felt good to be walking up hills, and all the way down to the beach for a lovely dinner with my parents.
A few things that struck me as odd in my first few hours. Blame it on my lack of sleep and what that can do to my brain, or my analytic tendencies, or the fact that I aced philosophy in college. Whatever the reasons, I think about things, then think about why I thought that thing, and puzzle at my feelings and impressions of what life throws at me. My first impression when I stepped out of my folk's apartment listening to gulls and too much traffic combined, was how odd it felt to be walking on concrete. It sort of threw me off a little, the feel of unyielding ground was so jarring at first I almost felt off balance. The most I ever walk on concrete is from my truck to the grocery store across a few metres of parking lot. Not unlike sea legs I suppose, or an astronaut returning to earth. It's just funny to me when something that most of us take for granted, like walking, and gravity, all of a sudden becomes a main focus.
As we walked up the steep hill from the ocean after dinner I laughed at myself a little, because I was admiring all of the lush looking dandelions growing out of cracks in the sidewalk. I thought my bantams would be so pleased if I picked those greens for them. It's taken a little bit of adjusting to this new version of myself, but overall it's been an easy transition, and a rewarding one. I like who I am now, what I've learned, and how I challenge myself.
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So it was so great for me to finally spend some time with my friend Jody and her boyfriend Nathan, on their new farm on Vancouver Island. It was a quick visit, but really fun for me! Wish I had more time there getting to know them both better. They were excellent hosts, and Nathan's family from Australia were visiting and helping with projects around the farm. I sort of felt like a visiting farm worker. (that's a good thing) I was eager to help out, and wish I could have spent a week or more tending to whatever they needed, as they both work full time as well as managing their new property. We all used to work at the same place, so have a history connecting us, but it's really our new endeavours that have provided this common ground.
I will post the few photos I took while there soon. I was having such a great time I forgot to pick up my camera enough. It was the most idyllic setting I've seen for a farm for a long time. The first afternoon I was there it was hot and sunny, and after we hiked to a gorgeous west coast river with the dogs, we met up again later after she was done work, and started to work on their sheep and hay shelter. My sweaty arms were covered in paint flecks by the end of the day, we worked and talked and drank cider and laughed at the antics of sheep, goats, dogs and crazy chickens.
I had to smile when Jody was on her way to work, but was already planning a fencing project for their young turkeys for afterwards. Most people I know plan gym time, shopping, meeting friends at the pub. Not that any of that is bad of course, G and I used to train on our road and track bikes up to six days a week. That left little time for anything else. Hobby farming seems rather like that. Except it's even more of a 24/7 type thing. The thing is that despite the occasional bouts of exhaustion and feeling like you can never do enough, it's rewarding in a way that is different than all of my previous life challenges.
I get the same feeling of oddness from shag carpets
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