We have been here a month. I haven’t left the island except for a couple of trips by boat to town for supplies. I frankly have no interest in leaving. Maybe that will change but right now i am content.

I have spent the month in the garden. Looking back at the gallery of pictures for the garden I realize the progress I have made. With E’s help rototilling and some digging I have been able to have it tilled, weeded, seeded and planted. The paths are layed out in a random way that seems to meet with approval from the dogs.. I know this because Sammi follows the paths as layed out and doesn’t tred on the plants so much now.

When we first came, I would spend two hours up at the garden and would return to the house in a heap.. pooped and so out of shape. Now I pack my little bag in the morning with phone, camera, water, glasses, seed packages and notebook and head up the grind to the garden. The garden is about 100 feet up from the house.. I really only come down once or twice during the day.. If I was a guy and a tree was all I needed I wouldn’t even come down those times..

One month here.. whew.. Now the fun begins in the garden.. I can putter… putting the fun touches on my surroundings.. tidying  vines, cleaning out the shed… figuring out how I am going to set up a comfortable sitting arrangement that works for me… I need somewhere to sit and contemplate life, get out of the sun and put my water. ( read wine)…  But all of these things ahead now in the garden are not labour intensive just enjoyable.. puttering in the garden.

I am going to clean out the shed tomorrow I think. There is weeding to be done outside the garden in the rockery but I think I need a break from weeding… and cleaning out the shed sounds like a great day to me.. As Mom says, I always did like to make order out of chaos.. I think the kids just think I have mental issues that everything needs to be in its place.. whatever .. I want to tidy the shed.. it’s a mess of assorted empty plant boxes etc..

Our neighbours came for wine and cheese tonight and were asking .. after a month.. how are we liking it??  My answer is I can’t understand why we didn’t come sooner… two years ago when we sold the family house. admittedly this house wasnt available and it has alll worked out very nicely but… well no regrets right?

E however, had a less than perfect day today.. I have mentioned before how we are on a steep learning curve.. Well E was on that curve today.. He spent the day challenged by a huge problem with the generator. When E is working on projects on the house there are two sounds I hear.. One is him humming and the other…  swearing like he has turrets.. well today was a turrets kind of day.. (sad face).. but at 4  PM he figured it out. He always does. He loves puzzles.. Well he loves them after he has figured them out… But by 4 pm todays challenge had been met and conquered.. As he said.. I learned something today and I wont forget..  Tomorrow he will take on the next one..

We are currently not pumping any new water and had to go to the city yesterday to buy a new water pump… 1085.00 .. 😦 .. not planned on.. but very necessary.. The original one was 20 some odd years old.. and that is their life span so here we go.. tomorrow at coffee cafe he will hopefully find a friendly volunteer to help him raise the other pump up the 225 foot well.. It is a two-man job and I am no use.. Then we will have lots of water and lots of hot water too..

Then it will be to the next issue..

At this point we seem to have an insurmountable number of  issues.. But it will be good to have them mostly sorted out before the winter.

Earlier I had said that the thing I miss the most about our family home was the garden but I need to expand on that a bit I think.. I miss the garden from the family home but I don’t really miss the house or town. If I could be living in the family home with our kids young and playing in the backyard .  I would go back in a minute. But the kids have grown up.  As they are supposed to do and they don’t need us with them any more.. So we are here and we love it.

but I would give it all up to go back to 1996 and have the kids living

down the hall