I know it’s not officially summer yet, but it sure feels like it is. We went dancing at the Kits Showboat last night and it was glorious as usual.
About a month ago, there was a fire at the Showboat and we were all scared that we would lose our summers of free dancing at the beach on Thursday nights, but luckily the stage itself is fine. The whole thing may be torn down at the end of the summer and no one knows if they will rebuild it or not, so we have to enjoy it while we can, as we should do with everything.
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Last week we had Michel’s mom visiting from Ontario, and the weather was beautiful the whole time. We took a short trip over to Salt Spring Island right before the May long weekend when it gets busy there. I have been going to Salt Spring Island since I was a kid and I love it.
We stayed at Cusheon Lake, which I have never done before. The accommodations were nothing fancy, but the lake was beautiful and it was only a 10 minute drive from Ganges (the main hub of all the shops and restaurants and amenities on SSI). Michel’s brother lives on the island and we don’t see him very often, so it was good to catch up with him as well.
We went during the week and it was nice to have a little relaxing getaway with no plans. I worked on my current embroidery project quite a bit and I only dropped my needle through the deck once. That might have been the end of my vacation pastime but luckily Michel’s mom found the needle after a few minutes of searching (alongside me, Michel and a dog walker who was passing by and became invested in the hunt.)
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At home, we have re-started the great garage renovation project. If you recall, about 2 years ago we re-did the roof and then when that was done, swing dancing came back and we dropped everything else for quite a while.
Now that Michel is working at BCIT, he has more than double the amount of vacation he had before and has agreed to use some of it to work on my future art/dance/workout studio.
I’ve divided the project up into phases which can each be completed in a one week vacation period or over a few weekends, as time allows.
The first phase was closing in the back wall, which was where the big doors to the lane were. That is complete now. We also got some work on the ceiling done.
Next week, he is going to start on the wall that faces into our yard. We are adding French doors that I bought on Marketplace 2 years ago and those doors will become the only access to the garage, once we also close in the side door that we currently use.
It’s very exciting to see this finally taking form! I have all my hopes and dreams set on this being the key to unlocking my life goals. I don’t think that’s expecting too much from a rundown shed, is it?
If all goes according to plan, once the reno is complete, I will use the garage regularly as an art studio and a gym. I really do not know if this will be the missing piece of the puzzle that I think it is, but fingers crossed.
At the rate I have been posting in this blog, I might be able to tell you in my next post.
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Pearl Jam recently announced a fall tour, but none of the shows are close to us and the Canadian dollar is currently terrible, so we’re going to hold out for now, in the hopes of a spring tour that will include better options for us.
Instead, we are going to take a vacation like regular people do. In other words, we are going somewhere to see a new place and when we get there we are not going to any large dance events or concerts. Crazy, I know.
The trip will be to Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John’s, Newfoundland in September. We have had Newfoundland on our bucket list for a long time. We took the train across Canada in 2002 and it was the one province we didn’t set foot in. Then, a few years ago, we saw Come From Away, which is about the people on the planes that were grounded in Gander, Nfld when 9-11 happened and it renewed our interest in going there.
On our 2002 trip we only spent a single day in Halifax and it was my favourite place we visited. I have wanted to go back since then, so we are doing both on this vacation. So far I have booked the flights and the accommodations and just briefly looked into what we are going to do there. I feel like even if we don’t make any plans at all and just wing it when we get there, it will be fun and interesting.
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I mentioned briefly that I was working on an embroidery project when we were away. This is my newest hobby that I took up a month or so ago. I had seen some kits posted by a local yarn store I follow on Instagram and they were so beautiful that I decided I wanted to give one a try. As soon as I finished that initial project I was off and running on the next one.
It turns out that this craft combines many of my creative loves in one. It has a lot of the things that appeal to me about working on stained glass (get to use lots of colours, design my own patterns, requires attention to detail) but without the mess of glass bits, solder, etc. and you don’t need to set up a dedicated work space. And it has a lot of the things I like about knitting (indoorsy, easy to bring with you and doesn’t make a mess to clean up, uses soft materials, get to sit on the couch for long periods of time and still feel productive). Plus as an added bonus, it doesn’t cost much for supplies.
I am currently hooked and I have a million ideas for designs and things I want to try doing in embroidery. In fact, I should probably get back to it right now.
Dancing In Irreverence 