hewers of wood

my trip to cranbrook was AMAZING and filled with side trips to kimberley (thurs) and fernie (friday). which is good since it took about 9 hours to get there. sure, the calgary airport is nice, but i would have prefered to spend less time there than i did.

i have to say up front, though, that the happiness of the trip is muted and muffled by the sadness of the fact that when i came home last night, i found out that my grandad died on friday night. and now i am numb and struggling to express all of the wonder i felt when i was away.

so here's the short version - i'm sure there's more in my head, but that's been erased or at least painted over by grief.

* industry - again, the resource economy is nuts and out in the kootenays, there is the lumber industry and the mines. sure those rockies are beautiful, but people are still working so hard to get by. one of the women i worked with is essentially a single mom since her husband works 4 days on, 4 days off, and yet, if he works overtime, which happens often, he's only home for a day and a half.
* speaking of industry - the interplay of nature and man is pretty evident. (i.e. huge mills set against the backdrop of the rockies)
* i'm not surprised too that these folks sometimes identify more with alberta since the landscape is pretty much the alberta flag (plus cows in the field).

that's all i've got right now, which is more than i thought i would have, frankly. i'm going to post the photos and then i'm off to ontario for the week.

love to all.
j. xoxox

the bitch has left the building

sadness - i took lulu to the SPCA on Monday. that sucked but i don't want to dwell on it other than to say that it was really hard (but less hard with julia's support and presence on the day of). and it is hard when it is so quiet at home. my vest was bunched up on the sofa last night, and i caught sight of it in my peripheral vision and thinking it was lulu, started to talk to it. it's a good thing i'm moving.

i have some pics i want to post of her, but for the moment, i'll just post this one.

but now i'm on the other side. my landlord has succeeded in selling the house, so the days of open houses where my fellow tenants and i would stand outside and wait eagerly for the people to ask us questions and guess as to who our new slumlord would be are over.

it is true too about how you make decisions and the world opens up for you. part of my decision in putting lulu up for adoption was so i could travel more and when i went to yoga last night, my teacher told me that she's putting together a yoga/surf retreat in mexico for november. i convinced her to do it the week of my birthday too (sucker!). so now i have slovenia sometime soon, a yoga retreat in july, a visit from my mom (maybe, hopefully!) in august, another yoga retreat in august, then mexico in november, and then home for xmas. yes, yes y'all.

and i'm moving. julia and jason leave tonight which stinks. but what doesn't stink is that i'm going to start moving stuff into their apartment on saturday. i am so stoked to be living downtown.

so stop cranking the billy joel (at least "uptown girl") and put on the petula clark, cuz i'm a-movin' downtown.

old me:


new me:

oh ya, and now i have to get back to work. i'm telling you though, that stuff about march coming in like a lion and leaving like a lamb better be true. it definitely came in like a lion, and i think i might be allergic to cats. but not to sheep - oh please, please, please, let me not be allergic to sheep.