Looking South

I'm watching the Democratic National Convention and listening to all the references to the election of 2000.

At that time, we were in the process of moving to the States. In retrospect, I didn't really want to go. Don't know whether it was because I felt comfortable where I was .. in Ottawa, content in my quiet little Canadian existence. Or whether I felt ill winds blowing .. I don't know.

We moved to the mountains of Kentucky right around the time of the election. Barry was already down there when the election happened .. I was still up in the north country packing up our stuff. He was coming back in a week to load up the truck, pack up me and the cats and then be out of here. We were on the phone with each other constantly ... talking about what our new life would look like.

I remember the night of the election .. watching what was happening and feeling more and more like I didn't want to go as the election returns rolled in. And then travelling south down I-81 a week later, thinking .. this place is going crazy. (On top of it all, our car broke down on the highway, leaving us stranded in a hamlet with a gas station, a Burger King and a Best Western for two days while we wondered if we were ever going to get down there. I think I just wanted to turn around and come home).

When we got down there, Barry's co-workers at the Media Arts Centre where he was working said "you sure picked a hell of a time to move down here". And we didn't know the half of it ... the next year, the planes hit the towers, the country prepared for war and I said time to get out of here ...

In some ways I am glad that I spent two years in the States. After all, can we really understand the world without understanding the US of A? No .. but then again, can we really understand the US with all its contradictions, its sense of itself which doesn't match people in other countries' sense of the US? A country that can throw around the word "liberty" and "freedom" yet its actions demonstrate either that they don't know what the words mean .. or that they do and just don't care?

It was time to come home ... I wonder if I'm any wiser from having wrestled with some of the questions about the contradictions I saw. Or whether I'm just confused by it all.

I like this picture

I just like this picture .. feeling a bit nostalgic this morning. These were taken at WMMT in Kentucky. Hi Barry .. thinking of you .. hope you're doing well.

Living Alone - Pros and Cons

This isn't my house ... it's a friend's in Appalachia


I've been living alone for the first time over the past year since I was 25. This morning as I got up and drank my coffee, I got thinking about what I like and also don't like about this. Here's my summary.

What I love:

*I can decorate however I want. I can use the colour pink. And lots of lace if I want.
* I can fling my stuff wherever it lands and tidy up whenever I want. Or not.
* I don't have to negotiate space for my stuff and his stuff.
* I can have quiet and not talk whenever I don't want to.
* being able to concentrate on work without interruption.

What I don't love:

* waking up by myself
* cooking for somebody else .. I love cooking but I need an appreciative audience
* not having somebody to share morning coffee with. I end up drinking the whole pot myself and then I'm on caffeine overdrive all day.
* having to hang pictures, move heavy furniture and do all the household stuff by myself
* those wonderful spontaneous conversations which break out at unexpected times.

I think conversation is what I miss most of all. And the hugs too. For now, I like living by myself but I don't think I want this forever. That's been a bit of a shift in the last couple of months ... it's a good space to be in .. content but looking ahead to the day when I might want a change.

Hi again, everybody ...

Been a while since I've posted .. just wanted to pop in and let you know this isn't an abandoned blog, despite the fact that I now have THREE MORE!

This online habit is taking a lot more to organize. It's fun though .. I wouldn't do this if I wasn't such a queen geek.

In case you're wondering what I'm up to .. mostly working this summer. If you look back on my previous summer blog entries, I've been hardly working instead of working hard. It was good and a welcome break.

But now I'm back at it, business is growing well .. social life is doing well .. I'm happy. No big changes contemplated .. maybe I'll move somewhere but not until next spring. Planning my Guatemala trip the end of October ..

Until then, I am here .. and liking where I am.