Thoughts for the May Long Weekend

The UK book tour behind me, I’m back to earth and once again dividing my time between writing, walking, and gardening. Oh … and participating in various Comox Writer Society tasks for Margaret Atwood’s visit on 2 June and our up-coming 60th anniversary event on 8 June. Truth be told – I’m not getting much writing done.

Pat and I haven’t lost any time getting back to our twice-a-week walks around the Valley. The hills above Cumberland are glorious this time of year with new growth and dogwood trees in bloom. While we enjoy our favourite Valley vistas, we’re already talking about where our next walking adventure will take us. We’re considering a hybrid of the Camino del Norte and Camino Primitivo in northern Spain, followed by the Via di Francesco from Firenze to Rome. Stay tuned for more on those ideas in coming months.

There was also a recent camping trip. Mike and I raised our sons to love the outdoors and to be proficient campers. What a treat to be invited to join them on one of their adventures and to not have to do any planning or driving. I just showed up and had fun. It was their Mother’s Day gift to me and was reminiscent of many weekends spent by the water as they were growing up. We found a nice site – but there were other campers to the left and more to the right. Not ideal. As Kyle and I finished setting up, Fly and Annalina took the ATV on an exploration further down the logging road. He returned on his own.

“We found a better site three more kilometres down the road,” he announced. “Do you want to move?”

We surveyed my tent, the tables, the bikes, the boat, the coolers, the beach games, our nearby neighbours and agreed. Reloading all the paraphernalia was a haphazard business but less than thirty minutes later we were unpacking and setting up again at a much nicer more private site.

That night we were treated to a northern lights display described as one of the strongest geomagnetic storms to reach earth in the past twenty years. We sat by our lake and watched fingers of light shudder and slide across the sky, reflect in the water and obliterate the stars. At times we saw faint reds and greens but for the most part the display was white. Our cell phones and cameras, however, picked up much more vibrant hues.

Why does my camera see what I can’t?  The anatomy of the eye – rods and cones – come into play. Cones – responsible for colour vision – don’t work well in the dark. Rods – responsible for night vision – don’t discern colour. Cameras, however, compensate for dark conditions by taking longer exposures that enable them to capture the colour our eyes can’t see.

Back at home, smoke-smelling laundry washed and hanging to dry in the sun, I stuck my finger in my veggie garden soil to discover it is now warm enough for me to finish seeding. In went the beans, always the last to be sewn. I’m already reaping the benefits of seeds sown in March. Spinach – anyone?

This being the May long weekend, I am marking it, as I love to do, by planting the annual flower containers. Geraniums, portulaca … and my favourite – marigolds to remind me of my friends in Nepal. I get such satisfaction from mucking around in potting soil and shoving all those little bedding plants into their summer homes.

This year – so far – all my watering is with roof rainwater run-off stored in multiple containers. It’s a bit time consuming – new shrubs, vegetable, herb and berry gardens, and now containers take me nearly two hours. But I can split that up into a one-hour session each day, so here's hoping this endeavor will be sustainable in terms of water and my patience with such labour-intensive hand watering.

But the writing? Is this writer’s block or procrastination? I started a story – fiction this time – back in December, but at the moment I’m not feeling the love. So, I’m struggling with blank page/screen syndrome. For an author, that’s a bit scary and I’m hoping it’s not a terminal diagnosis. Well, now I’ve just written this, so perhaps I’ll stop worrying about the dreaded block and slip outside to pull a few weeds. Such a satisfying occupation – pulling weeds, deadheading spent spring bulbs, watching the garden grow. Perhaps catching a quick read in the sun? Yes, it is definitely time for an afternoon read that might turn into a snooze – that would be OK too.

Happy May long weekend everyone. Here’s to contentment – whatever you are doing or not doing – and not worrying about the rest.