i made it to the wee island again on the weekend. it has been almost three months since i have been there. i know people say this all the time, but it’s true, i can’t believe how fast time passes as you age. it doesn’t seem there is enough of it sometimes. often.

i went over to help my friend dave work on his rocket mass heater. i intend to build the same sort of stove, so i thought it would be helpful to get hands-on experience. turns out his will be a bit different than mine, in that his house is made of cob, and he has a dirt sub-floor which he will be digging ducting into, instead of having it above ground and building the mass up around it. so far i plan for my house to be wood frame, so my ducting will be on the wood and require a little bit different technique. the combustion chamber/tunnel however will be the same, which is all we had time to work on, so i did learn a bit.

sunday the sun came out to stay and i was gleeful to be on my beloved island biking around in the warmth and beauty. we took a trail to my nieces house from daves that i had never been on before. it is always glorious to find a new way, and this one was lovely and wooded. it’s nice dave and tian live pretty close to each other, it was about a half hour walk/bike. we revelled in tians no-longer-baby rabbits, oh cuteness. they do this thing where if you put your face up to their door, they will eventually come up and sniffle your face. oh my god. and it was just nice to be in their space. spring productivity is in full bloom there, projects on the go: a couch being built, a shed getting cleared out to turn into a workshop, vines being trimmed, a general awakening of projects. i am impatient to have land and be over there, working on getting a garden going, and planning out the buildings. homesteading. i have been waiting so long, and the waiting keeps going. but oh hopefully i am close now. a little more patience. but spring is here and it makes one excited and restless to DO. and GO. and MOVE. and PLAY. and WANDER away from home-base in the ever lengthening light.

lots of rambling in the forest of late. the darkness not coming til 8pm, there are so many hours to explore. i had a good guide into places unknown with dharma, and from there i was able to form a rough map in my head and head out again alone. i was pretty wary of exploring the woods on my own before moving back out here, indeed i was a little afraid of even taking fairly well used trails. it’s the cougars mainly (but you can throw bears in there too), the stories of people being stalked are enough to make me want to stay away. but it’s changed since being here. familiarity helps i suppose. and further knowledge that it is extremely unlikely to be attacked by a cougar. all that said, i went out a-wandering last night and got home to an email from dad saying there was a cougar seen in the neighbourhood about 15 mins before i left for my walk, and it was heading in the direction i had gone. ha. well. i’m glad i didn’t get the email til i got back.

in other news the shit is hitting the fan around here these days, and it looks like i have to move my home. this may curtail further posts for awhile, in case you are wondering where i have gone….