Today was just so relaxed, finding changes that were unexpected and running with them. I found myself remembering my Dad’s saying that nothing was impossible, sometimes it just took longer to come up with a solution. Most of my issues were with things being in the wrong places, or too big for their spaces, but all in all it was a very good day. There were so many good long hugs and it was fabulous when Ash arrived and when our friend Steph arrived on the plane from Cranbrook. There is such a peaceful feeling on the site compared to last year. Tonight was the volunteer meeting at Grierson stage and it is the first time in the 12 years that I have been a coordinator that I stayed for the whole thing as I was the mic sanitizer between all the coordinator introductions. We had a great meeting and I was so thrilled at the number who came out, especially the newbies, of which I have many. Every one seems very engaged. I even have a 12 year old Fest baby on my crew this year which makes me happy. I was with Cresslynn and Jean, locking up the Barn when one of the barrel bolts bit my right thumb in the dark. It hurt and was bleeding good when I got into the light so I stopped at First Aid for a clean and a bandage. We all had a good laugh when one of the guys said, we may need to get you a punch card Marnée. I hope this is my one injury this season as they are usually far worse, lol. I came back to the camp for a nice visit with Eli and Steph before we all tucked in for the night.
Or the day that I awoke refreshed, enjoyed a shower, a coffee, and a yogurt before sitting in the shade of the Construction crew living room and running payroll for back home. Now when I say living room, I mean it. Between two camper trailers are their awnings stretched out. Under this is a patchwork of mill ends from the carpet store, a wooden coffee table and various couches and overstuffed chairs they have collected by hitting up the free section of Facebook marketplace. It’s quite posh. The day was good for review of things on my own and with Doug, for big hugs from previous crew who were arriving, and a great but short visit with Camille. She picked me up and we went to Superstore for some supplies and ice. As we drove and wander the aisles, we found many similarities in a health issue we are both experiencing. That whole swollen esophagus thing that I deal with only periodically now is also what she gets and apparently its allergy related. I am sitting on my couch, with the star lamp casting on the ceiling of my tent, listening to classic rock from the neighbour’s and it is all improved by the wee puff I had earlier. Sweet Dreams!
I awoke from a very comfortable sleep, got myself ready to go and was treated to a delicious breakfast and visit with Kelly before hitting the road. She also gifted me with an incredible stack of puzzles. So much joy to look forward to! Kelly will be the first to admit that Glen is the cook in their house but I love these candids of her determination to be the superhost she is and send me off with a hearty breakfast.
The drive to the Horseshoe Bay ferry was uneventful and I was going to have no problem getting on the next boat in an hour. I was happy to See Big Little Lions advertised on the terminal bulletin board and can’t wait to see Helen for the Fest as she is an emcee. I spent the wait and the crossing nearly completing my book. It was an easy and interesting read and I recommend it, The Soloist by Steve Lopez.
I stopped at the Best Buy in Nanaimo and had incredible service from Nial who cleaned my watch and replaced the band for me as it was starting to break away and I didn’t want to lose it before I could get one of the ones from home. Next stop was a fabulous Canadian Tire where I picked up a great deal on a pair of chairs with headrests that go into one bag. Mine were all worn out and nasty, time for an upgrade. It was then time to head north up island and I arrived around 3:30 to the site. So many hugs, a great tour around by Doug and then I drove him as he Live streamed the arrival of the main bowl stage. I love being back with ‘my people’ in a place that feels like home. Blair came and picked me up and we went for our annual dinner out. The last two years has been at the Phat Parrot food truck and I had exquisite scallop and prawn tacos. We also went to Home Depot where I bought a 100 ft extension cord to connect me for my CPAP and charging station. When he dropped me off I took the time to set up both my glamping spot and Ashlée’s beside me. I wish I had also brought Steph’s tent as I could have made her spot ready. The only thing I didn’t think to bring was a reading light but I will finish my book in the morning. There is wifi so I am able to do this and am sitting on my couch listening to the music from the construction crew and the laughter and conversations in the night. It is nice to be here a day early just to spend time around the people I adore. The temperature is perfect for relaxing and sleeping as well. Tomorrow I will have to run some payroll and will help out where I can. My work begins anew the next day when all my crew starts arriving and we have our volunteer meeting.
My best hug of the night was from my little buddy Lincoln. We have made faces together for 8 years now. I can’t believe he is 12. i love him.
I was up and working on payroll early this morning. There was a problem with the VPN but I managed a work around while it was getting corrected. It did eat up a lot of time though, and I finally got away just after 10. The weather was decent and the traffic was mostly moderate, although it was frustrating as there is still so much work being done on the Coquihalla. It is hard to slow from 120KM to 60 as often as required. I stopped for cheap gas in Hope and headed to Aldergrove to see Julie and grab my Stephen King book that she picked up for me from an eBay seller earlier in the year. We had a short but lovely visit and it was great to have the Drive-by hugging.
Next stop was intended to by to see Jackie but it would have involved a big drive across the city and back so I decided to postpone that until next week and headed straight to Kelly and Glen’s. They have a gorgeous home and we have had a marvelous catch up. The last time we saw each other was at our 30 year reunion in 2010 and we have now been friends since we were 4, 56 years! It was easy to chat and fill in the blanks. I joined her to go to an appointment and while waiting wandered across the street to enjoy the view of the Harbour and downtown Vancouver.
Birthday gift for Kelly from the Kootenays.
Glen made a delicious dinner of Risotto followed by her mom’s coffee cake and oatmeal cookies. It was so nice to meet their daughter Angela who is creative and friendly. I sure am glad I was able to get here and am about to tuck in with dreams of breakfast before heading to the island in the morning.
I woke up before seven after reading until one, but it was a good start to a lovely day. I hung out and chatted and read and relaxed. Rosie and I finally got ready and headed out to find my friend, Kris from high school. There were a group of gals that all were besties in the day that called ourselves the Fab 5, Kris, Sherry, Sue, Julie and me. It turns out, through Facebook, I discovered that Kris and Wayne built in Blind Bay and were settling in this weekend. Rosie and I popped in to see them and ended up staying for a couple hours enjoying a wonderful visit and tour of their home. It was so great to catch up after all these years. I don’t even remember when I last saw her. We both look forward to the fact that I come through here at least annually and we will see each other. Their home is stunning. All the little details blow me away. It is not my world, I may be a little jealous, but ultimately am so happy for them.
After the visit, Rosie and I went to a little restaurant for a delicious lunch and them came home to try to watch A Door in the Floor which is based on the book I have just returned to her, A Widow for One Year. That was a flop as we couldn’t find it available online with out subscribing to random torrent sites so we watched The Father with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. It is definitely one you have to pay close attention to and may hit a little close to home right now but is a good watch. We paused it to enjoy a hamburger feed with Uncle Bryan and Auntie Lynne. I do so love them. After dinner we resumed the movie and then I convinced skeptical Rosie to watch Cocaine Bear which we both found terribly entertaining. It is very Cohen Brothers like. Over the top insanity.
It was another perfect reset day and plans have been made with my first best friend to stay with her tomorrow in Lynn Valley. I am in bed early to get a good sleep and get on the road early so that I can see my Jackie on the way.
I was awake far too early this morning but got up and started getting things organized for leaving. At 10 there was a zoom meeting with some of the ABCs, nice to see their faces as usual. I dropped out after an hour as I had to get serious about packing up the car. I took my time, making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. Ashlée’s friend lost his brother yesterday so she won’t be imposing on him to set up his camper for her. I stopped by to pick up her tent so I can claim her a spot as she and Steph won’t be arriving until Thursday. We had a really good visit, discussing what will happen when we arrive and the training that needs to occur for the crew. I stopped by Heidout to fill my Growler and throw it in the cooler and then Encore to pick up my two free crowlers for the month and have some prawn tacos before hitting the road at 2:30. There was a surprising lack of traffic and I listed to the end of the Matthew Perry book on Audible before starting one by Rachel Dratch. I enjoy both. I am still blown away by who Mattie’s parents were. His mom was the aid to Pierre Elliot Trudeau and his Dad was the original Old Spice Man. I arrived at Rosie’s in Blind Bay just after 7, unloaded what I needed to from the car and was treated to a delicious dinner of chicken souvlaki skewers and all the fixings as well as delicious martinis made with a Vernon distillery’s lovely purple gin. Rosie and I had a good visit and the we were joined by Uncle Bryan and Auntie Lynne. I am so calm and enjoying each day right now. It is a good space to be in. The only thing I have forgotten it seems is something to sleep in. I only brought fleece leggings and a shirt for when it is cold sleeping in the car. Rosie leant me a nightshirt and I will be sure to pick one up before Monday night when I stay at my friend Kelly’s.
I sure do love roadtrips across this province. We are blessed by the beauty of it all.
I’m not going to kid you, my life has been about as full as it can handle this week. With my Board obligations, work obligations, Mom obligations, Missy obligations, yard obligations and then let’s throw a big MusicFest obligation into the works and all I can say is LISTS.
Today is such a blur I don’t even know where to start. So, I think I will just be grateful that the alarm started to set at the office and when I ran to enter my code in the pad before it went off, I knew it was 11 pm and I should go home.
I was returning from an appointment when I saw a huge boom of dark smoke coming from the a point in the not too distant part of the city. I drove in a big circle to see where it was and surmised a house was on fire in an area where a few friends live. I voice texted my daughter to tell her and she replied that it was Amanda, a lovely co-worker. I don’t know exactly what happened but apparently all she owns now is a towel, not even her glasses nor phone made it out before the fire made a propane line blow. Thank God she is ok. I was glad to be able to give her a hug later in the evening. The house was engulfed and it didn’t take out the neighborhood, so there’s that.
I brought Mom her prescriptions for the next 4 weeks, labeling them by date for her and had a short visit before heading back to the office. I buckled down to get all my client’s PST filed for the month and answered some of their issues before getting my own binder ready. I am backstage central so there was no way I could leave without it.
One of the highlights was getting Minh to do my nails as I always show up with pretty pink ones. I laughed when he asked if he could do what he wanted. As always, he came through. I love them.
I visited with my neighbour, who will look after Missy, came in and unloaded the things I had picked up today such as lights for the golf carts and…. Super cute jean bib overalls that are 3 sizes less than I was wearing last year!
Now I have a load of laundry going and am going to chill out watching my show before tucking in for a last sleep in my own bed for the next 12 or so days.
So much done today, bits of pressure but a success in the end. Slammed through work, took care of more Fest stuff and then did all the things I needed to for Summer Sounds. Tonight was the first of our Thursday night music in the park nights. It has previously always been on Saturdays. I was so impressed with the young people who came out to work and help set up all the fencing. We offered money to non-profits trying to raise money that if they came out and helped set up and take down, they would get some cash and the refundables. No one responded. A couple of us did some footwork and found two interested parties. They will split the job for July and one will be full on for August. The first is a 16 year old heading to the Nationals in Victoria for Archery Field shoot and he was working tonight so his Dad and kid brother came. The second are a group of 12 (I think) year old gals who are in Girl Guides and collaborated to start their own business called Junk Jobs. They are pretty damned impressive. Their business model is that they work for a flat rate so there is no stress over time or how many of them are there and they just get random jobs done. These gals impressed the heck out of me by carrying heavy metal fence panels in the blazing sun, getting anything done they were asked of, hanging out for some of the music and then coming back at 9:30 to help with reversing it all at the end of the night. They even donated their share of the refundables to the archer which was pretty awesome. So great to see the Pandemic generation digging in and getting things done. Will and Sawyer were the water boys tonight and they did an awesome job. Came away with a good amount of tips as well! All in all the night was a huge success. Over 400 people came out to see two great groups of local performers, The Testers with tweeners The Hurricanes. It was all music of my teens and 20s and there was lots of dancing and singing along. They even played Sweet Caroline at the request of the girls. Have to love that. My feet are killing me but I sure had fun emceeing and taking care of the details. I won’t be there next week but I have left them with all the instructions for handling the money etc that I usually do. It was our first year using half the park covered by our liquor license and it was chill and went well. Even the RCMP were impressed as they came through at our request. So much better than drinking in a caged area.
One of the awesome things that happened was that I received an email from Airbnb that I had been a Superhost 4 times in a row so I was given a coupon for $100 US towards a stay anywhere in the world, good for the next year! That is a wonderful surprise and I plan to use it well.
It is after 11:30 but I still have a bit of fest business to take care of. I am not worried as I get to stay for a couple nights in Sorrento where I can catch up on sleep. It is all a lot until I hit the road. 2 more sleeps!
The lead up to Vancouver Island MusicFest is fraught with stress as I try to recruit and schedule up to 70 volunteers over 6 stages and the Lock-up, Schlepper and HQ areas. I do feel bad that I never have the time to meet with my crews even by zoom as there is so much to accomplish in my work and personal life before I go. Then, the day comes when I feel like I broke the back of it and the excitement finally kicks in. Today was that day. I woke up early, did a swack of chores around the house, beginning the pile of things that I must take with me and making lists. I then headed into the office and got all my client’s remittances done, dealt with a few more small fires and took Mom to her Bone Density test at the hospital in the afternoon. I had a plan to take the jeep and be at the weekly car show in the park at 5:30 but had a meeting set at 4 with a dear gal I knew from back in the Salt Spring days who desperately needed to get her sole proprietor taxes filed. I love her dearly but she shows up with her bank statements and we work our way through it all. It was 8:15 by the time we were done! I then kicked into overdrive to finish getting the binders done, answer crew and tech emails and feel ready. I was home by 10:35 and it is near to done. I just have to score the stickers for the lock-up tags and then be sure I have my oversight binder to my liking. It was a lot to do in one day but it sure beats the old way when I would spend hours in the Courtenay Staples printing and collating. I had the idea to bring them home with me last year and will continue to do that going forward. Tomorrow I will finish all the pressing things I need to do for work and get my info ready to emcee at our first Summer Sounds of the season which has moved to a new night and a new layout. I have to be there for 3… this should be interesting. I’d best remember to eat! Stale chips and dip with jalapeños in it was not the ticket today. The only really disappointing thing of the day was finding out that Jake will be in Cranbrook with his serious girlfriend while I am away. I will have to rely on the feedback from the family, lol.
I just paused my show to blog and realized the delicious irony that I decided to start watching a show that feels like my life at the moment. Little fires everywhere… yep. And yet, I am calm and relaxed and got sooooo much done today. I was at the office by 9:30 after laying in a tub reading my book for an hour. It was the perfect relaxing way to bring the weekend vibe into what will be a very busy week. I completed all 12 payroll, rewrote a client’s Chart of Accounts for them, and managed to get a lot done of June which will take the load off when I return later in July. I then switched over to MusicFest binder processing and finally made it home by 10:02 and I am not in the least overtired. I guess I am a good Fire suppressor. I am so looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones that all the crazy that is this week.. just melts away. I did laugh when I flipped my Banksy calendar to find he had painted me on vacation.
I still have a hard time finding my space between Mom and Nana. I have a 28 year old son who keeps me young and a 16 year old grandson who just took a dear friend to prom for her graduation. I am so impressed with the lovely young man that Gene is. I wish his namesake, my Dad, had gotten to see him now.
I woke up very early this morning so I tidied away all my stuff, ran many payroll from my laptop and read my book. When Mark awoke he made us a delicious brunch of Eggs Benny with fresh strawberries. It was such a treat. After I showered and packed the car we played several rounds of a new game that turned out to be a lot of fun. ARGH Animals Revolt aGainst Humans. It is fast paced and we got better as we learned strategies. I had downloaded the app for my Garmin and was ready to hit the road to make a ferry that would get me home to Cranbrook at a decent time. I wanted to unpack the car, leaving things in it to take next weekend but also make sure I got all the bedding etc washed. I loved the drive, found the Ferry crew to be grumpy already and summer has barely started and made sure to stop in Creston for gas where they sell fresh made samosas and then a little further on some cherries! I rolled into town before 6:30 having lost an hour with the time change and managed to get all the chores done, including changing my bed and 3 loads of laundry. I even finally finished the book I borrowed from Rosie nearly a year ago. I have read quite a few John Irving books including The World According to Garp in my late teens and A Prayer For Owen Meany some years later, both of with were amazing. A Widow for One Year felt like a slog to me but I wonder how much of it was my own mental state. It is actually three books in different eras with interwoven characters. I was told that the first section was made into a movie called The Door in the Floor. I will have to find it to watch.
I must say this weekend felt like a complete reset for my mental health. I am ready to get what needs to be done in the next 4 days before I take off toward Vancouver Island. I am grateful to old and new friends for reminding me that there is so much more than work and obligations. The opportunity to disconnect was just what I needed.
And, I am just a little obsessed with my Dash-cam. I will have to get used to taking photos with it as well, the timing especially as they all seem too far away but that will come. I made myself laugh on playback as I was talking to myself and my audio book is on. I was listening to Matthew Perry’s autobiography narrated by him. I didn’t even realize it was recording audio, lol
I believe it was a bear in the distance TEST.2TEST.3CranbrookGeese near home
I awoke well refreshed although from a phone call from my neighbour that Missy was in her yard. This was not a complaint it was a worry. I assured her it was all good and thanked her.
I wandered to Steve’s trailer and he was cooking up scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon. I enjoyed breakfast with him and his daughter who has much pickier tastes. she was enjoying apple sauce. I deciding was leaving today, so I took my time to pack everything up, say my goodbyes and connect my Garmin Dash cam mini 2. Once I finally headed out I made a plan to shop in Nelson for Crown and ice. It was a lovely drive along Kootenay lake and finally I was visiting my Mark. He made us our own homemade pizza (mine with white sauce, his with red), we played my Halloween version of Patchwork (sp much fun) another of his games tbat we argued too much about and then finally settled on a 2016 movie to watch, The Nice Guys I think it was a good match for both our tastes. And it was amusing which is what I really wanted. Mark hoped I would watch RRR but I need to hold it off for another day as I want to hold on to the reset I experienced this weekend.
Before I left camp I hooked up my new Garmin Dash cam but I neglected to download the app. I did that once I reached Kaslo and will know by the time I get home that it is working prompt.
Landed on my arm, creeped me outFun game of Halloween PatchworksIt was delightful’
As I am on mountain time in my brain, I woke just before 6. It was lovely to lie on my couch and read my book in the silence of the camp. Eventually the buzz of 5 families including one of 3 generations began as they arose. The day was simply lovely as I lounged and read my book, played crib and corn hole and most of all enjoyed some great conversations with individuals. At one point I wandered down to the creek along the old railway line. The dog, Tilly, followed me and then lead the way to the trestle where everyone has been swimming. I came back and helped the ladies decorate for the birthdays being celebrated tonight. Mike roasted a pig and we had an amazing dinner together. Hanging out around the fire was most enjoyable as we swilled the ‘Beaver Piss’ from the cooler backpack. Curaçao, raspberry vodka, and lemonade to start and later tequila and more was added. I am mostly relaxed but already making a plan to leave. I do need to keep focus on just being in the moment.
View from my bedThis dog is lovely it freaks me out a littleBreanne and her booze backpack My chair gave outSarah & Mike, the birthday kidsWhat I gave SarahAveryChesney, Steve, MikeChava, Robin, Sarah, Evan
Today was Chava’s first Canada Day as a Canadian. He set off two fireworks. My favourite part was watching them run away
I worked my tail off today to get everything done so that I could finish packing my car and hit the road. 2.5 hours later I was setting up among a lovely group of people and the evening has been fantastic it was martini Friday and I am buzzed. I feel no shame kicking off early as I have the time change as well.
triumphgal 