The days have been zipping along. I know technically time goes at a constant, steady rate and doesn’t actually speed up or slow down. However it certainly feels like it does. Time is one of those baffling things you think you understand until you really start to think about it. And then oh boy! There are so many rabbit warrens you could go down and spend a good chunk of time exploring.
My kid recently asked me: “Mum if time is the same always, how come when I’m sitting in class, a whole hour takes half a day, but then when I’m playing Fortnite an hour snaps by in two blinks? It’s really not fair!”
And I found myself repeating the time-old adage: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Or have a billion things to get done by a certain deadline.
Time drags as you look ahead, swishes by in a blur and slowly recedes in your review mirror.
June is a busy busy month. What can I say? I can’t believe it was April when I last posted on here. Where did the time go? What have I been doing?
Well most days I’ve been frantically working on completing the “third” first draft of my novel in anticipation of summer break and not having the solitude or the inclination to sit down and write for hours. Lots of company coming to visit this year and I’m excited to show them around our new home and community.
We have been enjoying the “mostly” fantastic spring weather. The last couple weeks have been rainy but most of May was unseasonably hot and dry here in the coastal inland of Northern British Columbia. We were melting. Even the nights didn’t cool down below twenty degrees Celsius. Which was utterly stupid. My husband hates being hot, so I spent the day pulling the shades and closing windows trying to keep the cool air in and hot air out. I would wear sweatpants and wool socks all day until evening when magically the house would heat up like an oven and retain heat until early morning, in which I would repeat the process and freeze all day to again swelter all night long. I like summer. I like shorts and t-shirts. I like flip-flops. I don’t like sleeping in summer temperatures. But it’s Northern BC, why would we buy an air conditioning unit? I’m pretty sure that’s like waving a red cape at a bull and would cause a cold rainy spell to stick around all summer. Not that I’m superstitious or anything. But still!
The kid started soccer and I have been volunteer assistant coaching his team. We had some overly hot days in which all the boys were dropping of heat exhaustion, flies all over the field. However our latest practice was done in a heavy rain shower that had us all soaked to the bone and covered in bits of mowed grass that got stuck everywhere. I mean everywhere! That stuff is brutal to get out of shoes and clothes! It has static cling and some weird kind of stickiness going for it. On top of that, the boys were incredibly squirrely and hard to coach. Just listen! Get back over here. Stop! OMG! Okay go tackle that kid. It’s soccer. Pfff. But whatever. Do your thing. Don’t mind me. I’m just the coach. The chaos of trying to coach them reminded me of trying to return escaped chickens back into the coop—completely futile. I feel for the poor teachers. God give them strength to not wring each and every one of their poor necks!
I’ve also continued to walk every day (with two big dogs, what else can you do?) enjoying the lush greenery and flowers blooming in the neighbour’s yards and along the forest trails. Bears have been sighted frequently around town and a couple mornings I had the privilege of walking in the footprints of a grizzly sow with three cubs who’d kindly left behind big and little steaming piles on the sidewalk to warn me. I generally wear my bear spray even around town and keep my head up, and eyes open. I like to sing loudly too. Thankfully my dogs are good at putting the run on bears. They’ve chased off five bears this year so far, while we were out hiking. Which is good of them. I think I’ll keep feeding them.
Finally, I took the time to sit down and tally up my kilometers from the last five months of walking. From January 5th to June 5th I’ve walked 1555.68 km. And if I add that to last years total of 4255.77kms then sketched it on a map I hypothetically will have walked 5811.45 kms across Canada. From Prince Rupert, British Columbia to nearly Fredericton, New Brunswick. I’m getting close guys! Newfoundland is only a wee bit further to the east. Looking at my progress on a map makes it look like I’ve accomplished something even if it’s just been a matter putting one foot in front of the other day after day. I’ve found this to be true for many things in life. A little bit adds up to a lot given the time.
heather renee's 