As we enter our sixth week on the island with no trip to town, I begin to feel quite smug about how clever I was when stocking the pantry last summer. I do at least, until I remember how much we rely on the weekly community grocery delivery. Although we rarely order more than milk, butter and eggs, those few items and their delivery to the local dock here are an important factor in our ability to stay home.

Due to the recent flooding in our province there is currently a gas ration of 30 litres per visit. The boat uses 20 litres of gas just to take us to town to buy gas. Fortunately the boat was full when the rationing began. But we are going to need diesel pretty soon for our generator. You can see the issue. In order to make it worth our while to get a few months worth of diesel (60 litres) for our generator, we have to use 20 litres of boat gas. Math is very definitely not my strong suit but even I can figure out that it is best if we just stay home as long as we can.

This brings us to the discussion of the recent data recorded on the weather station here at the cliff. The total rainfall for the month of November was 273.80 mm. The highest sustained wind was 34.6 kmh with gusts recorded at 49.7 kmh. Needless to say our water tanks are still full and the storm watching has been great. Our solar panels do their job when they can.

Even with all of those rainy days in November we were still able to capture 72.8 kwh of solar to power our systems. Having said that, E thinks it should have been more. Sept was 183.1 kwh and Oct was 117.8 so he is wondering if a connection has come loose.

I have yet to begin my Christmas sewing. I confess to a certain seasonal melancholy and the hours seem to slip by with nothing of note accomplished. This time of year, I miss my kids and my life in town, my friends and the routine we had. Most of the feelings I am having are the result of Covid isolation but, at this point, off grid island living is easier to blame. If we hadn’t left town we would be seeing our kids more often etc. etc. yadda yadda yadda..

Having said that, I have no idea what I would do all day if we moved back to the city. Our kids have all been here during Covid to visit and we are seeing them at Christmas, so I have nothing to complain about and, at the end of the day, I do prefer just to spend my days with E here alone. But at this time of year, this feeling returns, albeit briefly, like clockwork.

We are currently working on our list of books to read and movies to watch in January/February. Hopefully, we will have wildlife to watch too. Once I see my family in December, I will be quite happy, almost excited to snuggle in for two months, just the two of us with nowhere to go. The colder the weather and the crazier the storms, the better. Just bring me wildlife to photograph.

While I waste my day with nothing more than another pot of soup on the stove to prove I got off the couch at all, E has been up at Santa’s workshop building

the family neige