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This evening when i walked over to the Hen House to water the garden, i had some time to snap those pics i promised!
Everything is growing well, everything that is but the peas, beans, beets, and carrots. Those were all planted from seed, and there’s no sign of life yet…. i keep waiting and watching, oh so hopeful!
The Tomato-Chive-Pansy-Marigold Patch:
The Greens Corner:
Up close and personal:
Friends and food. Really, does it get much better than that? Okay, i know that wine, whisky (or other libation of choice), and hookah (or other romantic smoke of choice) are all factors in making things *even better*, but that’s beside the point. For the last few years, Thanksgiving has become more of a friends event for me than a family one, and this year didn’t disappoint.
About 18 people or so gathered into my friend’s place on Sunday afternoon, just as i was finishing carving up the turkey and the gravy was being strained through a cheese grater (5 adults under one roof and there’s no sieve? My inner domestic-diva does not understand this). Food kept arriving, in boxes, wrapped in towels, in bags.. ..people stood around, chatting, laughing, smiling, and just before we officially commenced the meal, it became comically obvious that the entire group of 20-somethings had split themselves by gender to opposite sides of the room. Not since my last Mennonite family reunion have i seen that. At any rate, i thought it was funny.
Well, we thanked, and blessed, and then, we feasted.
The happy buzz of chatter settled into a low hum, punctuated by the sounds of forks against plates, the clinks of glasses being set on the floor, as there were far too many people to even think of sitting at a table. At one point, someone made a speech or a toast or something to that effect.
i’ve heard a lot of people say that it takes a year to settle into a community, to develop friends and start feeling at home in a new place. i don’t know why that is, but it seems to be holding true for me at this point. Rounding the corner of 13 months in Calgary, i finally feel like i’m coming home when i drive out of the mountains and head east, not west. i looked through my cell phonebook the other day and realized that there are more Alberta numbers than BC. And, sitting in Abbotsford today, i had a moment of shocked realization that i actually wished i stayed a few more days in Cowtown before visiting my family this weekend. Then i shook my head rather vigorously and realized that such a ridiculous thought could only have occurred because i hadn’t had my morning cup of coffee yet (thusly restoring whatever powers of reason i have from the foggy depths of my morning brain).
Still, this year i’m thankful for the people that i’m getting together with. i’m thankful for a funky, cool church, Sunday nights at the pub, late night conversations, evenings spent driving from place to place in search of something to do and laughing at every foiled plan, Sunday mornings at the coffeeshop with newspapers and passionate debates, improvising kitchen equipment together, and generally just having people around.
In other news, and going along with this trend of being around more people, i’m moving in with a roommate for the first time in my life. Yes, you heard it. Unless you count communal living in a post-soviet dormitory for 4 months, i’ve never had to share my own space. And really, given the stereotypically strong personalities of my Eastern European roommates in Lithuania, i never really considered anything there to be ‘my space’.
And so, it is with a little bit of fear and trepidation that i’m venturing into looking at the Calgary rental market through a new perspective, that of the terms “house” or “3-bdrm” or other such formerly extravagant prospects. All this because the building i live in was recently sold, and the new owners are planning to evict the 4 of us tenants to scrap our apartments and put in offices. …like Calgary needs more offices, argh.
But i’m keeping hopeful! My neighbour and i have been talking about our options for a while now, and we both seem to keep coming up to the idea of moving in together. It makes sense in a lot of different ways, so i’m going a leap of faith on this one, crossing my fingers that i don’t turn out to be a selfish control freak when it comes to living space! So if you have good advice, words of wisdom, anything on the subject of being a good roommate, share it here!
g’mornin, April 10…, originally uploaded by jessica anne matthies.
Before i even opened my eyes this morning, i recognized that it was snowing heavily outside. i’ve grown accustomed to the sounds of a sudden, heavy snowfall: slowed traffic, the low growl of cars grinding their way up the hills in low gear, the high pitched squeals of tires spinning out, the soft crunch of footsteps through the shortcut-path behind my apartment…
i heard the heavy footsteps of the roof repairmen above me, and wondered if they would actually figure out a way to work in this. It wasn’t long before they packed up and left, leaving me to my quiet morning.
These snowfall sneak attacks make me smile, savouring the beautifully prolonged presence of winter. i like the way they force everybody to slow down, forget about a schedule for once (or at least, this happens in my idealizing mind), and come up with new plans for the day.
At least, the snow eliminated one of the options that i was debating last night – whether to stay inside one more day and keep cleaning up my apartment, or head out to my trailer to continue the fix-ups/painting. Over a foot of snow outside means the apartment wins out today.
Or at least, i hope that the apartment wins. It (and i) are fighting a war against accumulated junk, and right now the battles seem split. i spent the majority of yesterday afternoon and evening working my way through several BOXES of junk that have been packed up and hauled around from place to place for the last few years, ugh. Check one major win for me. But in this process, i came to realize that my newly bare floors and dresser-top left me feeling slightly anxious. The floors i can handle – no, wait a sec, i LOVE the bare floors, cleared of laundry and junk and boxes, cleared of the caution it usually takes to protect my feet when i crawl out of bed, or try to navigate a path through it all.
But the empty surface on the dresser? What does one do with that? i don’t want useless stuff there, but I have no idea what useful thing goes on a dresser top. Even having a dresser in my room is a luxury that i haven’t had since i was 18 and in my parent’s house. i seriously don’t know how to use that space functionally. My decorative collections are in the main room, my books all have a bookshelf, cosmetics are in the washroom, plants all die when i’m away at work for 4 days at a time… Nothing really seems to fit.
But more than that, it felt like a finished task. Empty surface=no more cleaning project. Then i quickly realized that if i get through all the paperwork junk, and finish up my studio areas, that will be the end of that too, because instead of just cleaning/storing, i’m actually getting rid of junk….and the goal is not to re-accumulate it. Potentially, i could be living with a relatively clean space – ALL THE TIME.
This is a novel concept to me. In fact, i do not remember a point in my life where i have not either been told to clean up my stuff, or otherwise didn’t feel like i had to anyway.
i am a messy person.
And, i am now attempting to change that to “was a messy person”.
i’m not sure I’m ready for this. This is scary – and before you laugh at me too hard, know that being messy has it’s upsides: it’s relaxed, it’s a great excuse to be involved in major cleanup projects, major cleanup projects are a great excuse not to have to leave the house, and not having to leave the house means i don’t have to face being in this city by myself.
Whoops.
Did i stumble onto something there? Oh boy. You caught me red-handed. Guilty as charged: i have a whole can of worms when it comes to trying to figure out how to feel at home and make friends in this city. So staying inside, working on my apartment (that I love) really does give me a sense that i am purposefully working towards being more at home here, without any of the daunting challenge of trying to recreate a new community for myself. But when i’m finished….well, I’ll be back at square one.
i don’t know whether or not completing this whole Apartment Therapy clean-up thing will give me the impetus to actually get out and get back into meeting more people again. i also don’t know that if i do move on, move forward, recreate a little community action, that i’ll find a new excuse for being messy. It’s likely that i will, and then i’ll have to cross that bridge when i come to it, i suppose.
i do know that i love the snow, that i love my quiet mornings, that true to Calgary form the sun is coming out once again, and that i’m feeling ready to pitch back into today’s battle against the paperwork junk. oh gosh.
