No sooner have we paid Revenue Canada a massive chunk of our hard earned savings when along comes the dreaded property tax notices. This year, we are paying for two houses instead of one. This has left me with an uneasy feeling. On a planet where a billion people are without a home, how fair is it that I should own two? It isn't fair. I am aware of this.

Anyway...I've been thinking about the psychology of geography; where we live and why, and how any given location may affect us. The truth is, where we happen to live is largely arbitrary. Typically, people live where they grew up - where their parents chose to live. It isn't until much later in life, once you're already dug-in, that you realize how environmentally disoriented you are. It is akin to growing up in a particular religion that isn't of your choosing; it becomes part of the air you breathe. So much about our lives is like this - what we believe, what we eat, how we raise our children...And then you reach middle-age and find yourself wondering, "What the hell am I doing here?" and "Why has it taken me so long to wake up?"

If I could do things over again, I would raise my children in a natural environment. I would insist that they have a connection to the earth and to animals - on a small farm, perhaps. It would have been better for them, and certainly better for me. I am convinced that today's kids are living an unnatural life; divorced from nature and increasingly addicted to technology. Their most important relationhips are with machines. If they aren't staring a their cellphones, they're sitting in front of a computer. Or it's a video game, a tv show; plugged into their i-pods - immersed in sound but deaf to the sounds around them. They talk about all their "friends" on Facebook. Boring old Mum in the background reminds them that it is a pseudo-community -that no one has five hundred friends. To them, the bigger the number the greater the status. Having one or two meaningful connections with real-live human beings is no longer the goal. In a consumer culture, human relationships become just another commodity in the industrial marketplace.

I think I'm becoming a Luddite. I find it all so weird and rather dangerous. Who knows what all these radio waves are doing to their health - a hazard that very few parents seem concerned about. My kids occupy a very small minority of students at their school who do not own cell phones. Some of their teachers find it strange. These are the teachers who can barely spell, let alone construct a coherent sentence that isn't rife with grammatical errors, so their opinion on my children's cell phone status (or lack thereof) is of no interest to me. But they do represent yet another obstacle; their world-view in in opposition to mine. It creates conflict. It isn't enough that I am already perceived as being a dinosaur, but now they have their teachers making queries as to why they aren't texting in class. After all, it is such an important life skill.


What I am concerned about, is what all of this technocracy is doing to their souls - to their ability to find themselves, on a spiritual level, in the midst of this relentless electronic interference. And trying to pull your children away from this is like swimming upstream - you are against the culture, against everything they deem valuable. You appear to be some sort of anachronism. It is a fundamental clash and I suppose I can only hope that my harping about it may leave some sort of residual impression. Lately, I feel bewildered as a parent. My kids are teenagers now and seem to inhabit an alternate reality. They are remote, and yet so very present. I am privy to the noise, the mess, the arguments, the conflict...but their inner lives are no longer available to me - I'm not invited. This is perhaps as it should be; this separation is a natural part of development. I just think it would all be so much easier if I didn't have to monitor the amount of time they want to spend being checked-out. I made my sons play Scrabble last night. They ended up laughing hysterically. These are small victories for me.


In light of all this, our cottage on Mayne Island becomes not just a place to go for superficial diversion. To me, it is akin to a blood transfusion. Because I've come to realize that I don't feel truly alive in the city - I am engaged in what I am doing, but often wishing I were somewhere else. Longing for a closer connection to nature, to the trees, to the quiet. To be able to listen to the birds singing and not have the experience spoiled by someone's leaf blower. My senses feel bruised in the city; the traffic, the noise, the predictable drone of power tools, lawn mowers all weekend long, ambulances..all of it crashing through any modicum of peace that you may be enjoying at any given moment. On Mayne Island, I always experience a sense of wonder - and it makes me feel alive and very wide awake.

I feel lucky in my life - to have a cottage, to have a great partner and good kids, a lovely home...and yet, there is an underlying unease. I think it might be eco-depression. I read today that five hundred thousand tonnes of pesticides were dumped onto North American soil in just one year. We have just lived through one of the warmest winters on record. We are seeing record floods, record droughts, record forest fires, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, decreased lung capacity in children...How can this not be front page news every single day? Instead, we're always hearing about the economy. As if it were a living entity - showing "signs of growth" as being "healthy" or "unhealthy". What does a "healthy economy" even mean? When do we measure the health of the environment, of the biosphere, or the air? And no one talks about the economic implications of continuing to destroy this planet. Kinder-Morgan is expanding but to watch to the news, one would assume that rising gas prices are of greater concern. Let them soar.  I could care less.


Our kids are inheriting such a mess, and they are worried. This is why I ran for the Green Party - I felt I had to put myself out there; to stand up for what I believe is the most important issue facing humanity right now. And then one of my kids came home from school and said, "My teacher said the Green Party is the same as the marijuana party." Once again, weird old Mum is marching to a different tune. They call me a hippie. I take that as a compliment.


Anyway, I've really blathered on tonight. But I'm thinking this cottage represents the next chapter in my life. When the kids grow up and move on, I won't be living here. It's definitely something to look forward to...
I took this photograph when we visited Galiano Island a few years ago. This is one of the most beautiful spots I have ever seen. Click on the picture to get the full effect.

On Friday morning, we left for Mayne Island planning to catch the 10am ferry. We dropped the kids off at school and arrived in Tsawwassen with plenty of time to spare. Much to our complete shock, we couldn't get on the bloody boat. It was full. And this has never happened - we've never required a reservation on a Friday morning unless it's a long weekend. Rather than go home, we opted to go to Victoria and catch a connecting ferry. What a long day, but we spent a nice afternoon walking around Sidney, looking in the shops, and then stopping for lunch. We didn't get to Mayne until 5pm which was frustrating as we had so much we wanted to have accomplished by then. Anyway, we got to the cottage and the first thing I noticed was all the trees missing. What a difference. And then I noticed the quiet. No matter how many times I go to Mayne Island I am always stunned by the peace. I walked around the property listening to the birds, breathing in the clean pine-scented air. This is the view from the back deck looking south-east. I am already mentally planning how I want to landscape this area. I want to have blossom trees, wildflowers, and perennial ground covers, such as sweet woodruff, that will cover all the spaces under the trees. There is deer-fencing already in place on one side, but we are going to fence in the whole property. This will keep our dog safe as well as allow us to grow all kinds of plants and flowers that won't get eaten by the deer. They're lovely creatures, but they can devour your whole garden in a single day...

Once inside the cottage, I took in the new windows. What a transformation. The main floor is a construction site, but the change in the light and the views out the windows is astonishing.
The last time I was there, you had to turn on lights even in the daytime. Now, the cottage stays bright until evening...

The first thing I did was make our bed. There was no cover on the duvet and no bottom sheet. I suppose guys don't worry too much about these things. When I saw the work my husband has done upstairs, I almost got tears in my eyes. He has worked so hard, and it looks so nice, even though it isn't painted yet. The upstairs has a clean, woodsy smell, and with the carpets gone it feels completely different. You can actually breathe without inhaling putrid carpet fibers. In case you're wondering, the gap beneath the window is for a baseboard heater...

We set up a double bed in this room for my brother when he comes over to help next weekend. After that, we ate some dinner, and listened to the frogs singing their hearts out. This is something new - last year, there was no frog song at all  - I guess chopping down all those trees may have done something, but who knows. In any case, it was the most wonderful sound; a chorus of croaking that seemed to fill the sky. I wanted to go out with a flashlight and investigate but I was too tired. The next day, we were up early and got to work. Lorenzo finished wiring the upstairs...

While he was doing this, I removed about five thousand staples from the floors in the bedrooms and hallway. The previous owners decided to staple the carpet underlay to the subfloor. I had to use pliers to get them out and it took up most of the afternoon. My knees are still sore. Then Lorenzo installed the new pine material for the walls to fill in all the areas he had to expose. It looks great. Here is how it looked before...

And here is how it looks now...

Once this was done, we hauled out all of the old furniture that the previous owners left behind - two dressers, an old dressing table, some chairs, etc. Carried it all down the stairs and out to the front lawn to be removed. Then I organized the upstairs bathroom because all the bathroom stuff was in boxes on top of the piano. I hung the new shower curtain which was pretty exciting - we can bathe! I should have taken a picture of the main floor once it was all cleaned up, because it's a huge improvement. I vacuumed every nook and cranny, brought all of Lorenzo's tools down to the main floor, gathered up stuff to be washed, etc. We listened to music all day on this amazing little stereo we bought. It's a Yamaha TSX-140. It plays cd's,
i-pod, and has am/fm radio. The sound is fantastic and it can fit on a book shelf. We popped in my i-pod and had continuous music all day which really keeps your energy up...

We worked until about 7pm and realized we hadn't eaten all day. We were so hungry I felt ill. So we cleaned ourselves up and headed into Miner's Bay for some dinner. We went to the Spring Water Lodge, which is the longest-running hotel in BC's history. It was built in 1892 and is the most delightful place to have a meal and look out across the ocean. On some of the other gulf islands, there is no waterfront place to eat a casual meal. This is one of the many reasons I love Mayne Island...

The Spring Water Lodge is an old, and somewhat rickety structure. The floors are sloping, the paint is peeling, and thick moss has spread in furry clumps over several parts of the roof. Time and salt-water have taken a bit of a toll but it only adds to the overall appeal. If it ever gets torn down I will be absolutely crushed - I love it there. It must have been a beautiful home for someone a long time ago, and you find yourself wondering about all the stories those old walls could tell. One of the waitresses happened to mention that it is haunted and was very casual about it. Apparently, it is a well-known fact - doors open and close for no apparent reason, and foot steps can be heard moving about upstairs when no one is there. I guess this explains why the rooms only cost $40 a night!

The weather was glorious on Saturday - we sat on the deck and ate fish and chips...with lots of malt vinegar.

The only time I ever drink beer is at the Spring Water. I treated myself to a glass of Piper's Pale Ale, which Lorenzo says tastes like swill, but I love it, and it's perfect cellar temperature, not freezing cold like most beer you get in a restaurant...

Here is my husband..drinking freezing cold beer...

This is the view from the deck looking down Georgina Point Road...

After our meal, we went upstairs to check out the haunted rooms. We didn't encounter any ghosts, but it was interesting to finally see the upstairs of the lodge. After this, we drove over to David Cove, then took a cruise around the island. I noticed something rather strange. Many of the trees in that area have a ghostly white appearance and what looks like stringy cob-webs attached to limbs that are showing no signs of life. I stared at them for a long time and I wish I'd taken a picture. We saw many trees like this and I wonder what this means. I hope someone is looking into this.
Back at the cottage, we made a fire in the wood stove and turned in around 11. It was so nice to get into our king-sized bed! The next day we caught the 8:40am ferry home. The kids said they had the "best weekend ever" which gave us pause...In any case, everything seemed to be in good form. Our neice stayed at the house with them but I think they enjoyed greater freedom than they're used to. Bye for now...

One of us left for Mayne Island on Wednesday night and it wasn't me. The kids are under the weather, coughing and sneezing, so I waved goodbye to my husband from the front porch. He went to the Spring Water for a bite to eat last night, and sent me a picture with a caption that read, "Wish you were here." 

Ah, Mayne Island. I'll be there next weekend - arrangements have been made, and my brother is going to come along to help out.

Last weekend, I decided to accompany my husband to Mayne Island. The preparations involved in leaving for two measly nights took up two days. I enlisted the help of one of my nieces who was going to come over and stay the weekend.  Ultimately, everything fell through because...well, kids have a way of throwing a curve-ball into your plans. So, we didn't go! By the time we'll be able to leave these kids we'll be senior citizens and too old to have any fun. BUT - we are determined to try again this weekend. We are going to put our foot down and demand our fair share of enjoyment out of this life. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

The plan is, while Lorenzo is finishing the master bedroom, I am going to seal the bathroom pebble tile. Here is the old bathroom, in case I didn't post a picture before...

As I mentioned, it was on the main floor, right beside the kitchen, and about 3 feet from anyone sitting in the living room. It also occupied the southern corner of the cottage, so all of the wonderful sunshine and south-facing light was being blocked by this badly-placed bathroom.
 The only thing we've salvaged is the toilet. The new bathroom - relocated to the upstairs - is nearly done. Because the ceiling is slanted, I needed to find a shower rod with a pivoting flange. It proved nearly impossible, but finally I found one. In Florida. Made in Germany. They mailed it to me and it arrived yesterday. What a little miracle this thing is...

It's a relief to know that we'll have a functioning shower curtain. Our bathroom already looks so cute. When it's all painted with the hardwood floors put in, it's going to be a very charming space in the cottage...

The goal this weekend is to get rid of all the furniture that the previous owners left behind and finish the upstairs. Then we'll be ready for paint. The weather is supposed to hold out, and I can't begin to express how much I need to get over there. I haven't seen the cottage since August. Everything that's been done - the tree removal, the windows installed, all the renovation - I've only seen in photos. Can't wait to take a look around and get out of the city for a few days. If any of our evil spawn decide to derail our plans, I will lose it. Anyway...have a nice day!

The master bedroom is the final room to be done upstairs, and it's about half-way finished. Here is how it looked before...

The carpet and wall panelling has been removed, the wainscoting on the ceiling has been installed. Left to do is remove the blue underlay and install the birch walls and trim. Then we'll be ready for paint, after which the floors will be put down...

Lorenzo commented on how much the air quality has improved since removing the carpet and underlay upstairs. Neither of us was sleeping well at the cottage prior to the renovation; in fact, we woke up most mornings feeling dreadful with swollen eyes and clogged sinuses.

I read that the average homeowners' carpet harbours about 200,000 bacteria on every square inch, about 4,000 times as much as their toilet seat. Here are some of the lovely entities that may be living in your carpet:  skin cells, pollen, carcinogens, fleas, norwalk virus (which can live up to a month) kawasaki syndrome, dust mites, salmonella, stachybotrys chartarum (house mould) norovirus, e-coli, staph. Just to name a few!

And to think that I was going to replace the carpet. Thank you to Liana for talking me out of it.  Instead, the entire cottage will have hardwood floors - we shall breathe easy at the cottage!   

Our feet will freeze in the winter, but that's what slippers are for...

The more I read about carpet, the more horrified I feel. And the aforementioned list doesn't include the chemicals involved in the carpet-making process which include toluene, benzene, formaldehyde, ethyl benzene, styrene, and acetone. If you have carpets, don't have them Scotguarded - it is toxic.

So, that's about all to report - just bought two crabapple trees for my back yard in Burnaby which I will be planting soon. My wildflowers are starting to spring up and it's nice to see the butterflies and bumble-bees visiting my back yard...   

Lorenzo called me last night from Mayne Island sounding discouraged. He gutted the master bedroom and discovered a bee hive, and tons of rodent droppings. He said it was disgusting. I think being alone in that cabin is becoming increasingly hard. He listens to the CBC and says having a fire going at night keeps him company but he misses being home. I wish I could be over there helping him, but I'm worried that my kids might throw a party in my absence. Anyway, here are a few pictures of what he's been working on...

I am engaged in a heated dispute with BC Hydro right now, as my Mayne Island bill is bigger than the one I have here. It makes absolutely no sense. There are 5 people living in this house, using electricity all day long. At the cottage, the heat is coming from the wood stove, there is no cooking, laundry, or showering facilities and it's empty most of the time. So I write to BC Hydro and they suggest that perhaps there was  "a new appliance purchase" or an "addition to the family" (?).  If Hydro were privatized, there would be accountability to the consumer, but instead, we're basically told to suck it up. And don't even get me started on the Smart Meters...
I would love to go off the grid and tell Hydro to stuff it. I am going to investigate the feasability of installing solar panels. I wonder how much it costs... 

So I'm ticked off about that. Also ticked off about the liberal government opening the door to year-round schooling. Great. As soon as we get a cottage, my kids might be sitting in a classroom during the entire month of August. Just in the time for the warm weather! Can you tell I'm in a testy mood?  I'll come back when I cheer up...

What a difference a door makes. Here is the latest bit of progress at "Stinky Hollow"...

This is the entrance to the bathroom. Looks much better with a door attached...

My husband managed to install most of the doors on this most recent trip. You'll notice that the bathroom door is shorter than the other doors. This was necessary for a number of cottage-related frustrations that are too tedious to get into...

In the photo below, you see the existing door leading into the master bedroom. It's one of those hollow-core ugly doors from the late 70's. The ones we have chosen are four inches narrower. We did this because of the slanted walls - if the door is narrower, it takes up less wall space which can be used for other things...like furniture.

A big dilemma right now is how to make the new match with the old. Although the bedrooms were covered in cheesy panelling, the hallway and staircase have rather nice wood. Unfortunately, the hallway and stairwell are the only places in the cottage where the wood is actually nice enough to keep. Strange... Regardless, we aren't sure what to do, as much of the good panelling had to be removed in order to run wire...

To paint or not to paint? When you see wood like this, with a durable varnish on it, you feel as though it's almost sacrilege to cover it up. But then again, would you ever choose this colour? Would you go into a paint store and say, "I'm looking for a reddish brown hue with muddy orange undertones...and super shiny."

And do we like knot-holes? Maybe if you're a bug lover! There's nothing worse than lying in bed on a dark stormy night, and finding yourself peering around the room. Every knot-hole seems to be staring back..or is it a spider?! And if there's a terrorist mosquito in the room, good luck trying to find it. The knot-holes act like camouflage, giving every rogue insect a perfect place to rest up right before dive-bombing your head. Going to the cottage to relax? If you've got knot-holes, you'll be up all night. Forget about it.

So, I decided to test some wood samples that my husband brought home. I bought some Broda stain (which is low-voc) and some Benjamin Moore latex. I tried one sample without priming just to see how it would look, but the paint didn't take well. Prime, we'll have to do...The first sample shows a white pickling effect; one side is brushed on, the other side is brushed on and then wiped off. The same goes for the sample on the far right. The middle sample is the Benjamin Moore, in a colour called "Overcast."
It's a lovely, beachy, greenish gray colour. My sample paint is eggshell, but the birch plywood sucked it up and it appears flat. A pearl finish would be a better choice. Anyway, my husband and I studied the samples for quite a while and enlisted the opinions of the kids...

I like the pickled-stain look...

But staining requires that the wood be conditioned first. Then you have to apply 3 or 4 coats of semi-translucent stain, and then you have to finish it off with a topcoat. Just thinking about it makes me want to pass out. Painted wood always looks fresh and cheerful and at the end of the day, you want your cottage to be bright, especially on a dreary day in winter...

Never underestimate the power of paint. Check out these before & after pics I found on the internet...

Think a red brick wall looks good? Guess again...

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It sure was nice to see the sun this weekend. I managed to get Marcello the bunny into the garden. He was so excited he wouldn't sit still to have his picture taken...

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Just finished reading a book called, "This Life is in Your Hands." The author was raised by counter-culture parents who were part of the "back to nature" movement of the early 70's. She was raised in a cabin with no running water, no electricity, and surrounded by hippies who would just show up to work the land. In the nude. With acoustic guitars and their bongs.
It's a heart-breaking read...

Her parents work non-stop running their farm. Her mother cracks under the relentless physical and emotional strain, and is so distracted by the never-ending urgency of farm chores that she and her sister are left to their own devices. One day, her little sister keeps pestering her mother who finally says, "Go outside - go play with your boat." She toddles down to the pond with her wooden boat, and drowns. Talk about paradise lost.

It makes you realise that technology, while having an insidious dark side, is nevertheless what has pulled us out of the dark ages. There is nothing noble about not having a toilet - sanitation saves lives. And electricity gives people an opportunity to read and not worry about setting the house on fire. (this happens in the story, too). I felt admiration for these people, but also a sense of horror in a way. It just seems like madness...especially for the women.

No one needs an i-phone or a microwave oven, but indoor plumbing should be non-negotiable. The simple life is very desirable to me, which is why having a cottage is such a dream come true. It's a break from society, from the never-ending intrusion of popular culture and technological interference. Simplicity, yes, but going back to some harsh existence that even the pioneers couldn't handle is not the answer. Hard work is good, but too much just makes you old. This is a pretty interesting read, food for thought...
I'm starting a new book tomorrow..

I've always been fascinated by how iconic, classic albums manage to be created. This is one of my favourite recordings, and the book is written by the fellow who produced one the biggest-selling albums in pop history. It's been given good reviews, and it's probably a quick read...