Enter the Twilight

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.

Took the time to go and see Kick-Ass on Saturday. Highly recomend seeing it.

I went into the film not expecting much. Not looking at the source material before hand, I expected a campy psuedo-parody of the comic genre. Instead I saw a wonderful deconstruction turn into a great comic movie.

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”.

It has been a crazy month. As mentioned in an earlier post, Aaron and Christine came out to visit. It was a great weekend, filled with good food, great friends, and lots of laughs. We did a lot of wandering around Victoria, finding a great diner, a bakery, and some small out of the way bookstores. We saw Percy Jackson that weekend – a fantastic movie which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend.

We also had the chance to test out a couple of new roleplaying systems: Elemental Axes and Burning Wheel. Eric and Aaron both ran a session for several of us. And it was good to get the dice on again. It has been far too long.

A few weeks later, Kate’s father came out to visit for a few days, with the majority of our stuff that was still sitting in Edmonton. Of course we are still in the process of sorting out everything. The living room/bar area is mostly set up now. We have our books out and sorted, the furniture where we want it, and everything else in the spare room. It is nice to finally get our stuff here – I didn’t realize how much I missed some of my things. We still have a bit of our stuff back in Alberta – but the big things are all here.

It really makes the place feel more like a home.

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.

Since moving to Victoria, we haven’t had the chance to have many visitors. This is of course understandable–the majority of our friend base is a whole province away. This was not really much of an issue, we lived with Andrew, and being the somewhat social creature that he is, we always had people around.

Since getting our own place however, we hadn’t had any visitors. Again this is understandable. With Christmas, our trip to Edmonton and our hectic schedule, we really hadn’t had the chance to have anyone over. Of course this week that all changed.

Last Sunday we had our friend Sharron come and visit us from the mainland. She had the honour of being our first guest in our place. It was nice to finally have someone over to see where we live, and after being Sharron’s first overnight guest, it was nice to have her as our first guest. She missed out on being the first overnight guest though.

That distinction will get to go to Aaron and Christine. They will be coming in to visit us tomorrow evening. I have been looking forward to this for a while. Always good to have one of your best friends to come and visit, especially when you don’t get to see them often. We have arranged a bit of a larger get together on Saturday as well. An excuse to be huge geeks of course, but hey, that also means that they get to be here for our first party-like gathering.

~Dusk||

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.

Had a good weekend. It is always nice to have a lazy day off. We didn’t do anything really big for Valentine’s Day this year.  Not having the car up and running made it difficult to do much. Instead we sat around and watched the Olympics and went for coffee. It may not sound the most romantic way to spend Valentine’s, but being the first Sunday we have had off together since our trip to Edmonton, it was exactly what we needed.

I have the car back up and running though. It felt really good to get behind the wheel after just over a month of not being able to drive. I missed it.

The next few weekends are going to be rather busy. We have friends coming to visit the Island both this weekend and next. Sharron will be coming in from Vancouver on the 21st, with Aaron and Christine coming the weekend after. the weekends will obviously be filled with good times.

On the 21st we will be attempting to go and see the festivities for Chinese New Year. Even though the 14th was officially the start of the new year, The parade and such was moved to this coming Sunday because of Valentine’s. I have never really been to one of the lion’s dances so I am looking forward to seeing it.

~Dusk||