I find myself continually intrigued by Canada. I know the hype-we’re large and empty and it snows most of the year. We live in igloos, we skate or ski to work, or take dog sleds, (even in the summer) we have bad touque-hair. But I’m finding out Canada is a subtler country than that, with many more layers than I first thought. Especially for such a relatively “young” country. Looking for interesting facts, sometimes I find it frustrating; people remember the Hudson’s Bay fur traders, the coureur de bois, the rough rugged pioneers who found the country huge and cold, and strange when it was new, and no one seems to have updated their views of Canada since the 1800′s. But one fact stood out to me. Canada has pretty much always had a strong musical culture. A lot of Canadian musicians, singers, songwriters have international acclaim, and it’s easy to see why. Our musicians are popular, perform with a high degree of skill and integrity, and are always pushing the envelope.

Closely linked is the tidbit that apparently Canadians have always loved to dance.

This is just a brief, sort of little river of thoughts instead of a nice thick thought-torrent. There’s not a lot of detail in this post, and I expect it will be expanded later, but I just wanted to jot some quick impressions about music in Canada.

West coast music tends to be gentle, an easy walk on the beach with the tide lapping your toes. East coast-Maritime-music tends to have in the beat the memory of waves crashing onto tall rocky shores, harsh seas and constant motion. Music from the plains is mixed, sometimes it’s pretty industrial, concrete cities stretching against big stormy skies, sometimes I feel a sway of wheat and grass in a strong wind. I think generally speaking, a lot of distinct music comes from the coasts, where people cluster and inspiration seems to be more directly influenced by the surrounding landscapes.

Victoria’s SKA fest is one of my favourites-there’s a lot of good mixing of musical styles, great jam sessions, and I can clearly see the influences in some bands; whereas other groups’ musical roots are more directly defined by what individual members bring to the gig.

Just a blurb, I will define this post better later.

~H

Bought lime green crocs to wander on the rocky beach of Qualicum. Found them bizarre to swim in, because they were loose, but they stayed on, and they felt nothing like flippers do but anyway. I enjoy those little stands and shops by the sea, selling things like shiny pinwheels and  loud sunhats and bright can’t miss me neon green crocs. Had lunch at a place called Lefty’s, and the menu was peppered with little jabs and facts about lefties, and why they’re better than righties, and that lefties will rule the world one day…

Haven’t yet seen the sandcastle competition in Parksville yet, but the summer is still young.

I like the fact that this blog is both Dev’s and mine-we can each say what we want, and it’s cool.

Went wandering, and you should try ice wine gelato! Delicious stuff, made with real ice-wine.

We stumbled onto fresh fruit sorbets in 1/2 fruit shells when we were grocery shopping once,  and they’ve become one of our favourite treats. They’re so refreshing. I want to throw a party and have those fruit sorbets for a light lovely summery treat. I like them all but I think the lemon sorbet in the lemon 1/2 shell is one of my favourites.

Met Jacqueline Carey-an epic fantasy author. She signed a few books for us, and another of her fans took a picture of us. It was interesting to hear her speak. I thought she was maybe looking at us all as potentially weird characters that may show up in her books…the crazy cat lady with the purple hair and the wailing child and crocheted hat, the gothic teenager with inky emo tears… She was very sweet and had a really funny self depreciating sense of humour. Most of her fans have whole worlds in their heads from reading all her numerous novels…I’ve only read the first two, so I didn’t have as extensive a knowledge to draw on to ask questions as some of the other people there did. Mostly, I thought of some good ones to ask after the Q and A had closed. But she seemed very kind. Though no doubt she’s used to a slightly livelier crowd-I think some people in the crowd were just shell shocked that she’d was actually deigned to visit, that she was here, in the flesh, and were overcome with sudden shyness at being this close to their idol.

…Also, boning up on dinosaurs again, and here’s an interesting link about pterosaurs.

http://naturalhistorymag.com/samplings/292036/sailing-ancient-seas

that website has some fascinating articles-at least I think so because it lets me explore my geek side a little bit. (I’m discovering I’ve always been big geek anyway, but I’ve kept that side of me quiet for a long time. What happens when I let the geek out? Oh the fashion nightmares….)

Saw an eagle today, just drifting stark black and white over the downtown core. No one else looked up and saw it turning in lazy seeking circles. Even though the pace here is pretty laid back, no one had the time to look up and take note of, or enjoy, their surroundings.

We saw one also, before, when we were playing Go on the peninsula. It was silent and smaller than I thought it would be. I almost missed seeing it because I thought it was a gull, there are so many that fly around, but it was darker, so then I thought it was a hawk, but then I saw its unmistakable “bald” head. Tres cool, because I’d heard there were a lot of them on the island, I mean, they even have a sightseeing package where you can walk along their known flight paths, but I hadn’t actually seen one prior to that. Reminded me of the vivid azure Peregrine Falcons that live on the roofs of some businesses in downtown Edmonton…not many people know THEY exist either.

On the UVic campus, they have all these domestic-looking and really cute bunnies, but I found myself comparing these adorable nibblers to the wild, long eared, long legged hares that range over Edmonton, and for some unfathomable reason I prefer those rangy boxing Alberta hares to the cute BC bunnies. I twitch whenever I think of that. Summer is ripening. May 1st was technically the first day of summer, we had no maypole, but there was no snow here;  we had strawberry milkshake pink and white cherry snow and  starry drifts of white daisies, and shocking electric purple violets clinging to drab cliffs. Now, the darker wild pink roses are starting to bloom, and hot orange and yellow flowers I have no name for, burning mini suns everywhere, and the leaves are turning a graphic glossy green, and all summer the blackberries will ripen and swell until they burst into crow-black, juicy berries to stain any mouth or stray fingers in the fall.

Storytellers have value. If they have the courage to use their voice, they really can change the world.

Every musician whose lyrics you never listened to, because you were caught in the beat, in  the cheery rhythms, every incomprehensible poem, abstract art piece, cubist painting, every dance, all these things matter. They are all stories, all songs, all art pieces, and performances and showcases, and lovely larger than life warm sustaining things; even the crazy hippy wailers, strumming their one string guitars in the rain and mist, wearing  bright colours and lovebeads, and wonderful hats, they have something to say too.

I can hardly believe that once, I used to try to make myself to be nothing, small, insignificant, when that’s so clearly just not where my heart lies.

I can feel the weather starting to deepen into that beautiful bell of full summer. We found a beach when we were out driving at random on the weekend, and from the lack of signage, we think it must be a local one. Spent the days combing the shore for interesting shells and rocks and bits of sea glass. I found a tiny triangle of pale pink sea glass, from what I cannot guess, it’s edges dulled by the relentless surf. Got our feet wet in the c-chilly ocean new shoes soaked with salt and kelp, what a laugh. Corpses of crabs were festooned all over the rocks, a messy feast for hungry birds.

Been a year since we moved here and we’ve both come so far and been through so much. I think there is much still to go though as we let go of the shackles of our old lives and see that we are stronger for it.

My view is full of green and fresh scents and flowers and beautiful sky. I can see layers of blue hills in the distance, I can smell the sea.

I’m enjoying this easy life with Dev, walking along a beach, or down the throat of the Goose, or just meandering wherever the road takes us, it’s good we have each other.

Live by a Luthiers-see sad people bring their broken stringed knicked gouged shattered guitars and violas and violins in to be brought back to glossy health

Chillin’ to some icy funky tunes today-a mix up a mash up why not skys the limit and it’s a beautiful day, dancin’ in my skivvies with the window wide because the breeze is cool and refreshing and I’ve sugar in my veins

Kicking through drifts of pink cherry petal snow

scenting the fragrance of  java and Jamaican pastries on the corner-love that deep saffron yellow, love that Dutch licorice just beyond, but don’t you think it’s time you sold wooden clogs instead of these new modern kind, which really just look like glorified refined white sucre crocs?

Today’s a dance swing round round round jump one two three why not

today everything is gilded in the first glimmerings of summer, scattered with silver eddies of rain and twisting bird song. Think I saw a finch with it’s rosy head. Saw a hummingbird again, little propeller wings just a whirl.

Friday : Eric and Leseen visited and we had a great dinner. They taught me to play Chinese Checkers. We drank way too much tea-we were all floating on it but hey, c’est la vie. They are definitely decent company.

…Then we decided, since it was late already, why bother sleeping, I mean, we had to be up at 530am anyway, to catch the bus to get the early ferry to the mainland.

We caught a few zzz’s on the ferry, and saturday,

…was spent moving through Vancouver with Dev’s family. Finally met his sister. Everyone was so loud and bright and cheerful, it was great fun to wander everywhere with them.

We saw the Olympic Torch (Extinguished, but still…) and took the sky train everywhere. Vancouver is VAST and so jam packed with people and buildings and industry. They have a beautiful and enormous harbour, with mountains fringing it. We took the seabus to North Vancouver, where they have this really intriguing hidden market on the quay. I think it would be a good place for my dad to sell his pots.

Caught the last ferry back to the island, caught the last bus home, totally crashed.

It was so great to get out and spend a day on the mainland, with everyone. I really enjoyed myself.  Really had a lot of fun.

Sunday: chillaxing. Slept in. Took it easy. One of the Tim Horton’s we frequent also now has a creamery. So we indulged in hot java and cold ice cream. The Cold Stone Creamery section had just opened-we were among the first customers. Dev had a cheesecake fantasy and I had choc cake batter and oreo ice cream. We were offered lids if we wanted it “to go”.

Here is one of the primal pigments :

Red.

red, conveying love and death and hate and war-

mix with any other colour to make warmer;

too much and you have a bloody mess.

a drop and it is eye-catching, heart catching

sustained and it burns as a candle, as a naked flame.

Passion burns too

ignites you as a phoenix

who flies away from the ashes.

Embers are red

flickering

banked with a high hot heat,

it keeps itself warm as the night cools around it.

Vermilion

Scarlet

A name, a shoe, a face, a kiss

an action that marks you forever.

Red Rage was there when you swung the axe

and cleaved her head

her life seeping over your hands;

it was present, screaming, at your birth

and mine,

It will linger uneasily around you when you die.

Red is everything

or nothing

like us

a wavelength in the spectrum.

Victoria is so warm that if you try to skate outdoors, you have to have fake ice. I don’t know whether that’s funny or sad. The rink was little, was ontop of the Mayfair roof, and they had strung white lights across the top, which I’m sure would have looked lovely in the night. The view wasn’t bad, the sunset was all golden and lovely and we rented skates and they had good music, but the ice just wasn’t there. Literally. They made the rink look like ice, but it was like skating on a white cutting board with grease for glide. Couldn’t turn very well, couldn’t get up any speed-well, I could but then I went to turn the curve and then I have no speed. I had fun anyway, but it was just so ridiculous in the end. I never realized how much easier real ice is to skate on, I was expecting a grip and a smooth glide that just wasn’t there. Dev did much better than me, gliding round and round and round, and we stayed as long as we could but I mean really, it was just so weird after all. I’m definitely going to find a better rink for us, and I can’t believe I’ll be asking “so, do you have REAL ice?” when I call to ask when they’re open for public skating.

Sunday we watched some of the Olympics, mostly the skating competitions, and some of the skiing ones too. I was glad I wasn’t working on Valentine’s Day, for once. We got to relax and just enjoy the day, which was a wonderful treat. We went for coffee and ice cream later, and had a nice little walk.I thought it was just perfect.

I think working retail On Valentine’s Day has made me bitter towards the day. People get so greedy and fussy and they’re SO unbelievably rude I feel like being bitchy back, but of course you can’t. You just have to suck it up while they get in your face about the things you haven’t got because they came too late, and gee, we sold out, big surprise. They always think you’re holding out on them, that you’ve got a lot more product hiding under the counter and they think you’re secretly laughing at them. People think Valentine’s Day is a test they have to pass, and everyone fusses that “he doesn’t love me enough because he didn’t give me a big enough gesture,” or ” is it too soon to say I love you?” I can’t stand the crap people buy for each other; in a desperate attempt to “prove their love” they fling cheap ugly toys and uncomfortable lingerie, too much chocolate and expensive wilting flowers at their loved ones. It isn’t thoughtful, it isn’t romantic; and the gestures are meaningless when you start sticking a price tag onto the things you buy to show how much your love is worth. Sometimes I wonder if my customers ever asked their lovers what kind of flowers they really like, what colour is their favourite, what would be romantic to them? Valentine’s Day heaps on the stress, and I have seen so many people the day after St Valentine’s Day in tears or bitterly disappointed because “he just didn’t get it RIGHT, you know” and “how could he not know meeeeeeee?” I think, is that all you are doing? Holding up a metre stick to measure how successful your relationship is? Do you guys actually talk to each other? Do you know your lover at all or are you just thinking this is where you SHOULD be, and if you’re not there, why not? Do you reserve all your romance and sense of fun for one day only in the year and ignore your lover for the rest of the time? And you wonder why you’re breaking down and getting frustrated. Get real.

My Valentine’s Day was great: I didn’t have to deal with egomaniacs or fat greedy women or thin belligerent women or angry venomous men or any of the other myriad of people who hate everything and take it out on the girl behind the counter. I spent the day with my lover and it was a lot of fun, and very stress-free.