It’s fall and there are lots of spiders in my home and studio all of a sudden. Sadly (for the spiders), all the flies have departed quick-split! It’s odd timing – but I suppose that’s the fall pattern: the flies die off and the spiders come inside.

We’re back from New York, me returning on Monday and Brian home yesterday after working in Vancouver for a week. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so good about returning home in all my life – something about leaving a mega-city and suburb in the US and flying into a small gulf island paradise made me want to break down weeping. I didn’t, of course – my float plane pilot would have thought that was strange – but I felt it.  And I’ve been feeling it all this week when I’ve mostly been working from home and getting out to walk or cycle or do yoga every day. And speaking of yoga! I normally hate it, but have discovered a class that I don’t. More on that in a future post once I’ve been to more than one class.

As usual my fall plans include “get in shape” and “eat less sugar and flour” which are on the boring side of things – but essential. I’d like to lose some weight and also just feel healthier. This summer was busy, but somehow not as active as I would have liked, and after a great winter/spring of cycling every day, I stopped doing anything too strenuous from June right through until this week. So I’m on a bit of a kick to be a little bit active every day. Today’s plan is a bike ride after I’m done work – 10 km – or so. It’s supposed to rain this evening, but it looks like the nice weather should hold until I’m done.

I’ve got a lot on my plate this fall, not to mention all the fall sewing projects that I’ve got mapped out on the mood board. We’ll see how many of these get started/finished. I’m working on a Bristol skirt at the moment, and I can’t say I love the pattern. I’m hoping that with a modification or two it will become easier to sew (mostly I hate the method they recommend putting the elastic in the waistband, and some of the pattern drafting leaves a little to be desired). I’m crossing my fingers to get that done later day, so maybe there will be pictures of that soon. I also just spent some $$ on a couple of pieces of merino – one jersey and one sweater weight for a top and wrap. And I’ve got scads of fabric to make shopping/tote bags. So much really – I’ve been on a bit of a fabric spree lately. And a yarn spree too – I just ordered enough yarn to make a baby blanket (the cutest one ever – just wait and see) and an afghan for use around the house. So I’m set for autumn making, and surely don’t have enough time to actually complete all the things.

And that’s okay – if I don’t/when I don’t do all the things I hope to do. I make a lot of plans, so if only 50% or less get done – I’m still ahead of the game.

In response to the question “I do too many things, what do I give up?”, my meditation teacher once responded “Give up thinking that you do too many things.” Which comes to mind frequently when I’m planning my time. Often it’s the *feeling* of being overwhelmed that is more the issue than actually not being able to do all the things. And also, letting go of things that don’t get done. Often the feeling of being “too busy” is about not being present and always thinking on to the next task or place we have to be. When I make plans to do many things, I am getting better about letting some of them go undone – which allows me to dream all I want without beating myself up when my reality falls a tad short. This doesn’t count for things that involve serious commitments to other people – but in the realm of making, household projects and so forth – there is so much latitude to enjoy oneself in the planning even if the work never gets done.

Speaking of planning things and finishing, I’m wearing a wrap today that I made on a whim in May while sitting in a two-day union meeting. Stultified by the affair, I ran to the local knit shop in Victoria and bought 4 skeins of the most beautiful yarn to make a wrap and a crochet hook in the appropriate size. Over the course of those days and a bit more time afterwards, I self-drafted this rectangular shawl which I plan to make lots of use of this fall and winter:

I really do prefer a rectangular wrap over a triangular one (on me). I had mostly forgotten about this project, but today when I was in the studio, it was a bit cool – and I noticed this hanging off the loom (awaiting blocking, which it still needs). I threw it on to keep warm and was reminded of how much I love the yarn and the chunky crochet texture. It’s worsted weight, so sure to ward off any chills.

So autumn projects are afoot! (I hear Brian in the music studio building a stage right now – more on that later too!) And I’m back to work.

I want to do a photo series titled “Birds Look At Things”. This would be my first entry – Cormorants looking at Connecticut (from Long Island). Taken yesterday at Caumsett State Park.

On Friday night, we dragged the fold-out couch from my studio out on the deck of the studio in order to watch the Perseid meteor shower. It’s now Monday and our outdoor bed has yet to be dragged back inside – and I think it’ll stay there the rest of the week even though I’m back at work today and I don’t get to luxuriate under the trees quite as long in the morning (though I do wake in time to see sunrise).

We’ve been here on Gabriola Island for about two and a half months now – and this is just one of the things so different from our last home – the ability to sleep out during the warm nights of summer (something we could never do in Hastings-Sunrise or Grandview-Woodlands because of light pollution, noise, and just general safety). Of course, this isn’t the only difference in my life these days, moving from the city to the country this time around has been much more of a transition than when I last took flight for rural community. This time around, for example, I am not commuting to the city for work. Not only that, I have elected to work from home three days per week so I feel much more fully attached to my home and community. So what else has changed?

• Although I have been working for much of the summer, my at-home orientation 3 days per week means that I work much earlier in the day and so finish much earlier also. Although my actual number of hours worked/to myself is the same – this orientation of time makes it feel like I have many more hours of my own with which to hike, swim, or go into “town” for things. It sometimes feels as though I’m summer holidays even as I’m completing work tasks and participating in teleconferences – the space around me is so different and my time allocation is more of my own choosing. Also, going from house to studio is a commute of one minute, which means I don’t have the hour plus commuting time I had in the city or the 2 hours plus commuting time I have when I go into Nanaimo for work.
• Working at home – I exercise my body differently than I do in a cubicle – standing and walking around during conference calls, sitting in the arm chair when I have to read a bunch of documents. In a regular office environment I sit at my desk in front of my monitor eight hours a day (often only leaving to use the washroom). At home, I do what’s more natural and move around my space according to where I need to be at the moment.
• We spend a lot more time outside here. Granted, it’s summertime – of course we are outside a lot! But Brian and I both notice that the orientation of our new house encourages using outside space seamlessly with inside. At our last home, the backyard was a level below the main floor of the house. At this place our back deck is contiguous with our main living room. Also, we no longer have neighbours close by which means that outside feels a lot more private and like “our space”. With half an acre (our house smack dab in the middle) we’ve got lots of room on all sides, plus lots of trees, shrubs, and fencing for privacy. Also, ocean swimming is right down the road and there are hiking trails everywhere. I’ve barely scratched the surface of places to go on this island.
• This is going to sound strange but…. I don’t feel the need to bathe every day here. I suppose it’s because I’m not grimy from the city or germy from taking public transit- but I average a shower every 2-3 days instead of every 1-2.
• We don’t have to lock up our bikes. I went into the hardware store the other day to get a chain and lock so that we could leave our bikes outside (instead of locked in the storage room) and the salesman refused to sell one to me because it was a waste of my money. In East Vancouver, I kept my bike in a locked shed, and I locked it to itself or another bike in the shed just to make sure no one would take it.
• I say yes to pretty much every invitation. Want to learn how to make ceramics? Yes. Want to come for a boat ride? Yes. Want to buy some pickling cucumbers from a neighbour? Yes. Want to stop by for a drink? Yes. I’ve got to meet people after all, and that means saying yes to pretty much every invitation which is the opposite of city-me.
• Further to that last point – I am much more willing to go out here. It’s just much easier when you don’t have to battle traffic, parking, or transit full of drunk teenagers. Also, I don’t mind going out alone here because it doesn’t seem to matter. Also, this island is full of really un-hip people (who are also very cool, don’t get me wrong) – so I never feel as though I’m not stylish enough or whatever I would often feel when I went out alone in the city. For that matter, lots of younger women have grey hair here also – there is a lot less makeup and chemicals in daily use by the general population. I love that.

There are other things too, I’m sure, that are working to take away my anxiety about this move – but these are the ones that most come to mind. Of course there is the other side of things also. I notice, immediately that I lack the sense of *centrality* that I have had at work and in the city for the last several years of my life. I realize that I am out of sight and so often out of mind for lots of folks. But that’s ego work that I don’t mind doing, because that sense was always illusory anyhow. I also suspect that until we meet more people, winter could be quite lonely, and it will definitely be very dark on this island with no street lights. I won’t know for some years yet whether we really *fit* here or not – I figure it takes about five years to truly get a sense of that (4.5 years is when I left the Sunshine Coast after realizing it wasn’t a good fit for me) – though so far I have met a great many people who seem like natural and immediate friends.

One thing for sure is that our home space and property are inviting me to dream up the re-creation of every corner into exquisite space – which means on some level I’ve decided that I’m staying and not just for a year or two (because some of these plans are years in the offing). When we first came here I was reluctant to invest too much into any changes upfront, but in the last couple of weeks I’ve felt eager to start making the spaces more *ours*.

It’s been  interesting, this time of transition, and only time will tell how this island will shape us and our future together – but so far I like these things that have changed. I like sleeping outside without fear, I like swimming in the ocean when I’m done work for the day. I like the combination of having privacy with friendly neighbours. So I think I’ll just keep going with that.

That photo above pretty much sums up our weekend-long house party that ran from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. Smiling people, music, drinks on the porch – and (not depicted here) some pretty amazing eating.  The cast involved some party mainstays, with a few dropping in at random times – for a total of around 40 people crossing our threshold – and 20+ of those people staying somewhere at our place (inside or tenting) for two or three nights. It was grand. It was busy. It was epic. I am truly grateful for the people in our life and the home that we have now warmed.