Wednesday, July 23, 2008

moving

it's just so beautiful. i feel like i'm living in a painting. the roofers should be done tomorrow, then d and i are off to meaford friday morning to collect the uhaul and move all our furniture home! for work this week, my imac is balanced on a tray table and i'm sitting in a folding chair. furniture will make the place feel so much more ours, and so much more homey. the back rooms and hallways still need to be painted but it's getting there.

Friday, July 18, 2008

real work

this photo is from a post by gene logsdon on OrganicToBe.org. i don't really read the other writers on it, but gene's articles are always so lovely and helpful. i want to read his book, "the contrary farmer" but canadian amazon doesn't have it so i'm on the look out.

am reconnecting with the spirit of hard work. it's been awhile. i'm a software developer just moved out of the city - the pads of my feet are soft, my back weak and hunched, my nerves a little shaky. but i've been here nearly a week, each day filled with scrubbing, painting, lifting, fixing, and already i can feel my back is straighter, my feet tougher, and my sleeps deeper.

save for last night as there was a massive massive thunderstorm. lightning like i've never seen before and the wickedest cracks of thunder. i was shocked awake in the middle of the night, no love to squeeze for comfort, alone and a little frightened. i felt like a little girl for a minute before remembering my age and situation: a woman in her house in the country, listening to the rain. i had to recall this a few times after each bang of thunder but eventually i slept, smiling, feeling as if i'd made it through some sort of initiation.

ran some errands 'in town' today, list in pocket, car. a couple bottles of wine for the upcoming paint-a-thon and then to homehardware for supplies ("guess what i'm doing?," i say to the cashier. "painting?") and then to the groc for that other kind of fuel, food. the grocery store in fenelon is a mad house. it is a sobeys which means it's expensive and kinda slick and as fenelon is a hotspot cottager's destination, there are rich, slick cottagers everywhere (gee, been here a week and already waxing local!). surprisingly, happily, i run into my real estate agent's husband in the rice-milk aisle. they had dropped by a few days earlier to say hi (neighbours!) and drop of a hibachi house warming gift. we chat and it's nice and i like that i live in fenelon falls. on the way out, i ask the cashier about the insanity and she warns if the packers are out, turn around and come back another time. will do.

am thinking "plover" for the kitchen. or maybe "mercury glass"... beiges.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ta da

propped amid pillows and blankets, a suprisingly comfortable position on the inflatable bed, finally letting my achey bod rest. feet throbbing, the odd kink letting go as big breaths inspire muscles to relax... ah.

i'm at the farm and it's gorgeous.to own such a beautiful piece of land with a neat house that has so much potential feels surreal. not sure it's completely sunk in yet as d and i are in full on fix-it mode and it's yet to really feel like home. but it's definitely beautiful and comfortable and friendly and charming.

today was a day of painting. i twitch at the excitement of inevitable before/after photo posts. soon, as there's still stuff to do. am googling floor refinishing pics and gee, it's like night and day what a sanding and polish can do. we ripped out all of the carpet in the house (living room, hallway, office, and bedroom) and were pleasantly relieved by the presence of hardwood parquet under all of it. much better!

d's in toronto tonight to play a show, and then working in meaford for the rest of the week so i'm feeling out the 'home alone' vibe. so far so good. it's quiet and i feel friendly with all of the nature surrounding me, even the house flies and mosquitos that have come in (no screen doors! so doors wide open). tho i must admit, it does feel nice to have elvis around. even tho the neighbours are trying hard to convince him of his newly adopted home, he's confused about it and ends up spending most of his time at his old home - our the front porch. we took the cat, raja. she's miss independent but such a sweety when she comes to eat and get a cuddle. never thought of myself as a cat person really but raj is cool.

we're having a good time. between cleaning (the seller's filth was... astounding), trips to town (fenelon's beautiful but bobcaygeon has cheaper groceries), the odd dorky photoshoot (have yet to top d. wearing my new straw hat and posing westernly behind the kitchen's saloon doors), and, well, painting and fixing... there are moments of intense quiet and peacefulness that i haven't felt for awhile. in the city i used to really strive for it - meditation, exercise, big breaths - but here, it just is. i can feel it in the house, in the fields, in the forest. in elvis's bounding jog, in raja's prance, and in the smiles and conversations of everyone around. it's contagious.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

small towns

just a quicky to say i already love fenelon falls. i just called the CIBC there to confirm that taking out a bank draft (down-payment for le farm) would be okay even tho i'm not a specific client with their branch and they don't yet know me. she said as long as i bring ID and maybe a contact name from my regular branch, it shouldn't be a problem. that aside she said, "so you're movin to fenelon eh? that's nice!" with a super warm vibe, calling me "dear" after every sentence. i told her where the farm was and stuff. love it.

a few more days

have made a list of things for the first couple of weeks. as with the empty upstairs apartment we stayed in for a bit last month in toronto, we'll be packing the folding tray tables and my mom's folding chair (still bearing her maiden name in marker). also: the vacuum, mop, buckets, boots, inflatable mattress, paint clothes, kitchen stuff, towels, and so on. it will be a good way to start - a real, explicit beginning. we'll move the rest of our stuff in a couple weeks, after the fixin's.

received an email from the seller this morning (a sincerely lovely chap) saying he's going to leave a bunch of gardening tools (shovel, wheelbarrow, etc) for us. the number of times i've said "score!" throughout this process is really... awesome. not sure i've mentioned yet the last home-visit's discovery: a closet fashioned with florescent lights on each shelf for seedling-growing. score!

it is POURING as i write this - the sky is dark and the air is humid. it's a solid, summer rain. d is painting a house today (more like a mansion). after the carpentry job in toronto told him the cottage contracts up north would be delayed another month, he decided to come back to meaford and find side work until we move to kawarthas, then find something more permanent there. fingers crossed. he just called me to say he's waiting out the storm in his car.

here's a pic of perry chillin on the porch off my office. you can see my 'garden' - many anxiously awaiting a roomier space in the ground. soon babes!

Saturday, July 05, 2008

july

a weekend of leisure. splurged on a 'harrowsmith country life' mag at the meaford pharmacy this morning. "200 things we love about the country" is a feature that can sell me. browsing the list now sells me further.

noticing that "show-stopping annuals" in bold at the top of the cover makes my heart flutter. a sure sign of my aging, and happiness to age, as i approach next year's 30th birthday. gee, i think that's the first time i've written "30th birthday." seeing that big number staring back hurts the head a little. so it goes.

have eaten two cukes so far. alas, while in toronto for two weeks, one of the plants dried out and lost its fruits. this one should feed us well tho.

heading over to fenelon on thursday to meet with the lawyer and sign things and hand over the moola for the farm. a steal! keys on friday then a week off to clean, rip up carpet, paint, garden, etc. all fantastically great things in the context of owning a new home. probably move belongings on the 26th. and onward.