Yes, it has been a while since we updated last. Life has been keeping us busy.

We were unable to get out to Edmonton this time around; car troubles prevented us from doing so. We did however have a great time in Victoria. There were many wanders and photos taken.

Thanks giving is coming up this weekend, seems like it will be another busy weekend. I get to see my nephew again, which I am really looking forward to.

Been a pretty good weekend. We had Kate’s sister and friend come into town on Sunday. I picked them up from the ferry, and then the adventure began. The plan was to go to the Merridale Cidery. Apparently it was an hour outside of Victoria. So I programmed the address into my GPS and was surprised to see it was only 20km from the ferries. Excellent! we will get there nice and early. Except the GPS wanted us to drive through the ocean. No as much as I would like to have an amphibious car, I don’t have the means to drive through the ocean. Okay fair enough. My GPS could just be screwy. Sometimes that happens with software. So Sharon pulls out her GPS. And the same thing happened again.

Well this is no good. We will just have to head back into town and go from there. We managed to make it back to Victoria, despite the two GPS systems yelling different directions at us in an attempt to prove superiority over the other (we listened to neither at this point). At this point they both start agreeing again, and we start out to the cidery once again. Just to have them send us into off-road/private road routes. Most likely at this point the just wanted to watch the humans dance to their tune. Again we make it back to the highway and drive a bit further, and the system sends us on this long circuitous route. But finally we are there.

So we went in, had our tasting, bought some cider and decided it was time for lunch. It was raining so we sat in the car, and started listening to some music. And apparently we listened to it for a little too long; we killed the battery.

So off to find jumper cables I go. Of course no one has any, and I finally cave and call a tow truck. Right after, Rhian asks some people who just pulled up if they had any jumper cables. Nope. of course not. What the did have however, was muscle power. I drive a standard, and there is this neat trick called a push start. So we push my car down a hill, and thank the gods, it worked.

Of course we still hadn’t learned with the GPS, and we try to follow it back home. Only for it to send us to to the same closed roads. At this point we figure they might as well be speaking Norwegian as the directions from the device were utterly useless. So we sett it to Norwegian, We figured it was actually more helpful this way, as at least we now know how to say “Turn Left”

~Dusk

After near 3 month, I finally get a weekend off. Should be a fairly busy one too, as Kate’s sister will be in town for Sunday. We will be heading to a cidery, and hopefully will get to spends some time at a beach for a picnic.

We go on vacation in a couple more weeks here, of to Edmonton. Certainly not the most exciting trip, but it is still some travel. It will be nice to gather some more of our stuff. I think we both need a break from work.

Trying to quit is hitting me harder than I thought it would. I know I am not good conversation. I know I am irritable. I don’t know how to push through either. And this is only day one.

To add to it I feel constantly hungry and bored.

I am not sure how much I want to quit. I am not sure if this is worth the aggravation. I guess that is the nature of addiction though.

Clouds paint the sky grey and silver, causing a dreamy feeling to wash down over me, like the showers that hang in the air. But instead of enjoying the weather, I sit inside my blue and grey cube with none of the diffuse sunlight in sight.

I am missing having a full weekend off, Split days leave little time to do anything. With the exception of Sundays, one of us is always working, and of course on opposite schedules as well. I find that our days off get too packed with things, that we either get nothing done, or have a harder time finding a day to relax.

We finally made it to the beach last week. The salt air, cool waters and burning sand was revitalizing. Sail boats lined the horizon, and sunbathers line the sand. I forgot how salty the sea is. We came back, covered in sand and salt, and with a memory card full of photos.

To finish of the day at the beach, we had a Mediterranean inspired meal. Pork stuffed with Spinach, feta and pepper, Hummus and pita, Feta Spinach pastries. All finished with a lemon shisha. The meal was deceptively colourless. All pale and greys and yellows. But one bite into a pastry or patty, and the colour and flavour poured out. Vibrant greens and reds quickly took over the plate. as we savoured our patio meal.

From there we went down to the Inner Harbour to watch the Symphony play. They were set up on a barge, in front of the Legislative grounds. The night ended with Fireworks to the 1812 Overture. The music was great, but the fireworks were rather lack luster.

This week hasn’t been the best on our bikes, Kate’s gears shattered on her Wednesday afternoon. My rear tire is blown. Tomorrow we will have to try and patch together the bicycles. Hopefully it won’t be too difficult to repair.

Finally have the car up and running. Took her out on the highway, for no real reason. Obviously we needed to have lunch in Nanaimo instead of Victoria.

I love being able to take a drive through the mountains along the coast, windows rolled down, music blaring, great company. after coming back to the capital, we drove along the Victoria peninsula. Lovely turquoise vistas, and green leaved tunnels lead us back home.

There is something in the dusk hours, that makes me long to go riding. The colours become so vibrant in the setting of the sun. Fire reds and deep velvet blues fill the sky. The electric colours of the flowers, and forest greens of the leaves start to gain this heavy saturation, bringing the colours out to play. As the world lies down to sleep, the flora, and heavens start to scream out with vigor and life. The peonies and holly, The roses and poppies start to glow, little splashes of colour rising from the growing darkness.

As the sun goes lower and lower into the horizon,  gets lined in the glow of the fire, causing the brilliant reds and oranges to mesh into the velvet blue sky as it becomes speckled with glowing jewels, some brilliant, some letting you see just enough so that you know they exist. This foreshadows the over saturation that begins to occur, as slowly the purples, pinks, yellows and reds of the flowers snap to near black.

This is in near direct contrast to dawn, Where everything seems to be covered in a haze of grey and dusty pink. Colour is leached from the world and slowly added back again. There is no where near the intensity that happens in the night before. The world is greeted to a world with promise, but still seems a little ashen. It is as if Mother Nature herself is not quite ready for the new day.

We went out for coffee tonight, as we did not have time to get downtown for the fireworks. As we were walking I noticed that you could clearly see the lit up dome of the legislature grounds. Once again, we were shocked to relearn how condensed the Victoria area really is. Because of this, we actually got to see the fireworks, vibrantly on the horizon.

This brought up the concept of perception; more specifically the concept of how we see differently. For example, when I look at the fireworks going off, I see the shapes of the fireworks before seeing the colour. I could see these faint smoke-trails that started eating at the negative spaces of the sky. Because of this, I knew how the burst would look well before the colours were there.

This was in direct contrast to how Kate saw the same burst. She could not see those trails without conscious effort. The colours were the first thing she noticed, and that was from the center out. I saw from the edge of the burst into the centre.

Perception is an interesting concept that we have been exploring as of late, odds are there will be more on perception as the days go by.

Today ended up being a beautiful day. There was this consistent mist that just begged for us to wander.We are finally starting to learn the area around us. Everywhere we go is so colourful. There are deep forest greens with spots of electric and saturated colors; the overcast sky’s caused all of the colours to pop brilliantly.

It is very different wandering on the coast. There is no flat, dull areas, every place has a story to tell. Roads curve , rise and fall. Trees and shrubbery create overarching tunnels and gateways. There is a life to the city and streets that is so welcoming. The city seems to embody the wanderer’s spirit that resides in us.

~Dusk||

The cloak of night, and shroud of the June rain create a magic in the air that begs us to wander. The rest of the world is sitting in a deep slumber. People never could understand the enchantments that begin to show in the midnight hours. A shame really, people need more magic in their lives.

The few who listen to the call are never disappointed. The over saturation of colours make the world seem almost black; the rain cools the skin and heart. The night reaches out its gentle hand and eases the burdens that the harsh daylight places on the shoulders of the people.

The day, in contrast, is busy, restless. It offers little chance to show the bright pinks and purples of the flowers; there is no time to catch the crisp scent of the birch and cedar that hangs in the air. No the magic has to hide in the world of automobiles and technology. Magic has no place there after all.

But as the twilight hours turn to coal black nights, the Fae that hide in the scents and colours start to dance and play, creating a world hidden to all but the select few. The ones who listen to the call indeed see a more livelier world