October 30, 2020

 October 30/2020

I'm writing this from the cottage in my mind. I've had to time travel to complete this particular post. Time traveling is an easier task than living with the regret of missing a day three days into my "write on this blog every day for 19 minutes challenge"

Yesterday we went to the cottage for the night. It's "the cottage" for us but it's a beautiful home on a Lake to our friend's Zack and Nichole. Before they even realized we were moving here they purchased it rather quickly and then had to leave it for the year while they go finish up their lives in Manitoba. She's a school teacher and he works remotely at Shopify. 

Back to the cottage. It's an a-frame majestic structure with a wrap-around balcony, double garage, and a boathouse. You can walk down over a stumpy path and reach the dock. The dock sits on a huge tree-lined lake. It's about an hour away from our house but it's an hour deep into the country. The road leading to the home is gravel, a bit rough at times, and capable of being a rough winter drive. 

But, my god, the cottage. It's got one of the most epic kitchens I've ever encountered. Double convection ovens, convection stovetop, cherry wood light up cabinets. A DREAM. I don't quite know how to use it so well yet, but I'm learning. 

There's also a jacuzzi. We've been taking advantage of that quite a bit. So far in our duties as caretakers, we've saved a mosquito net, fixed a leaky toilet, and killed 2 mice. The entire arrangement is as serendipitous as serendipity can be. They needed someone to look after things and we need to escape to a cottage. Need is a strong word for us...but is it?

Every time we go there it breathes new life into my soul. Sitting by the crackling fire, snuggling with my little Zoe on my lap, sipping a little bevey, and reading a good book. It's cozy 101.

We also moved some cedar planks this weekend which summoned about 6 chickadees and a nuthatcher. They came for the larvae, as an abundance of carpenter ants were attacking the planks. Good little chickadees. 

It's especially nice to have some semblance of a retreat during the covid times. It makes me feel like I am actually going somewhere and doing something. It is a lonely time. Even the social connection you feel with strangers is oddly sterile. Talking through masks you never quite get an idea of what people look like or how they express themselves. 

Everything feels like a hassle with a mask. The constant hand sanitizing, the people standing in lab coats at the entrances of stores, the counting of heads, the social distancing, it's all very isolating. In addition, we are simply not supposed to hang out with people. We are to limit our interactions overall. 

Moving to a new place with all of this in place will likely make it more difficult to make friends. It's already hard to make friends at this age. I will say that the friendliness of the people here has made it easier. I do get to have fun conversations with cashiers and random people at stores. The people here are friendly. They aren't operating under the guise of trying to grasp or reach for a certain appearance. It's refreshing. It's nice. Ottawa was exhausting in that way. 

In spite of the built-in comradery, I still feel a little lonesome. After nearly a year locked up in Serbia and the many disappointing events that led us to go/get struck there for a year I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But I do feel healthier in other ways. I feel new. I feel different. I feel more whole. I feel stronger. 

But I am a little sad and lonesome. I'm looking forward to meeting new friends. Leon has already taken on the friend meeting role since he's at school. He's killing it so far. It's been awesome watching him thrive and get excited about his program. I feel so fortunate every day that he is mine. He has given me so much love. He has filled so many voids. And now in this new chapter, he is my strength. 

School is an odd thing for him too though. The class size has been cut in half, they only go into the shop twice a week, and the remainder of classes are done online. He also won't get some of the work placement experience that would normally be a part of the course. Otherwise, we both feel incredibly fortunate that he can even attend and train. 

My husband is going to be a carpenter. That's a pretty cool thing. 

We are going to buy some land and build things. As we've been doing without the land. Our relationship has been a lot of building. A lot of tearing down. A lot of renovating. 

a good foundation. innit.