Things continue to fall into place here, a little at a time.
I'm enjoying our quiet weekends. Allan is off every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; I work Saturdays until 5:00, then I'm off Sunday and Monday. This is more time off together than we've had in a long time, and having two consecutive days off every week -- without the added work from union responsibilities -- is so nice.
Every weekend we get out to explore some local beauty. We'll walk on the paved walk path along the bay, or poke along seaweed, shells, and rocks at low tide, or drive 10 minutes to a sandy beach where Diego can run on the sand. We always see birds. My many birding friends may enjoy this: I picked up one of these pocket guides to local birds, and I put it -- along with binoculars -- in the glove box in the car. I'd like to expand the range of birds I can identify... without making it a whole big project. (My ongoing quest against all-or-nothing thinking continues.)
I purchased the field guide at Cafe Guido, also known as The Book Nook, our local cafe/bookstore/gift shop/craft shop, across the street from the library. It's the sweetest place. The coffee and food are top-notch, and it's full of work by local artists. It's the kind of place you find in overkill proportions in touristy areas, but in Port Hardy, it's the only place like it in town. It's directly across from the library.
We had dinner in Port McNeill, which is about a half-hour down the "highway," and where another one of my libraries is located. We were again pleasantly surprised, and can now add Archipelagos to our short list of good local restaurants. This makes three! I think we'll end up with four or five places that we can cycle through, once a week. And when I think about it, that's really what we did in Mississauga. The difference is that in the GTA if we felt like something different, pretty much anything at all, it was available. (I can tell that when we travel, sushi and dim sum will be priorities!)
This means I'm cooking more. I'm getting into a weekly habit of cooking one or two dishes in a large batch, usually in the slow-cooker, and freezing it in portions. This leads me to want to expand my cooking repertoire.
We bought a big load of firewood. Someone posts firewood for sale in the Port Hardy Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook group, and then her partner delivers it to your home. A few days later, the firewood guy was on our street for another delivery, so he knocked on the door, and arranged to drop off smaller, "starter wood" (that's what he called kindling) during the week.
The wood is fir, and comes dry and ready to burn. Allan is going to get an ax and get some exercise making smaller logs, something he's not done since his teenage years in Vermont. (Don't worry, all safety precautions will be taken.) At night our neighbourhood smells so sweet from the smoke drifting out of the chimneys. We're hoping to contribute to that soon, and hopefully cut down on our enormous hydro bills.
We got our BC driver's licenses! Only temporary licenses so far while the real ones are being processed, and we've started the auto insurance process. Car insurance is public in BC. The North Island has slightly higher rates than "down island", as the many unpaved roads and changeable weather leads to a greater number of claims. Even so, our monthly premiums will be about the same as they were in the GTA.
And -- drumroll, please -- I got my hair done! This was the scariest piece, and I finally got it over with. I had a great cut/colour/highlights -- and Allan got a haircut, too -- at one of two local salons. It was as good as what I had in Mississauga, although much less expensive and I didn't have to step foot in the dreaded mall. Plus the stylist, who owns the shop, was really cool, and we had a good time talking. I often have to suffer through those conversations, but this was genuinely nice.
Also, we did all this right in town: driver's licenses and insurance in one stop, plus hair, a little lunch and the bird book, all steps away from each other on our main street, which itself is a five minutes' drive from home.
There's not a lot here, but on the other hand, there's everything we need. And as expected, we need less, and I'm enjoying that.
Several people have asked about photos... but Google street view will have to do for now. I often prefer to go out with out a camera, and I'm not into posting cell-phone pics. Sorry!
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