Mmmrrr

Last night was wonderful. Creme brulee (done with an oxyacetelyne torch), awesome people, biting, homemade tortilla chips, chocolate mango fondue, snuggling, chello&guitar playing, The Return Of Angus, baby rats, etc. So good.

So tired this morning. Woken by cat at three-hour intervals. Going to work now.

Outdoorsy

I like gardening slightly more in the rain than in the sun, but damn this was a lovely day to be outdoors-- my first working day with sun, in fact, and no complaints from me. Little bit sunburnt, though.

We worked in my North Van boss' garden. Apparently most people who do this sort of thing reserve a day or two with help for their own places, which makes a lot of sense from some directions. Gardening is a *lot* more fun when you're doing it with a couple of like-minded people to chat with, and also to keep tasks from going on and on.

Her garden is *amazing*. This is the permaculturalist, perennial-oriented, with two huge dogs that accompany us to jobsites. Her garden is under a walnut tree-- you know, the kind of tree that puts out toxins which kill plants --but except for the veggies, it doesn't seem to mind. She has tons of herbs, medicinals, and flowers (many plants are in multiple classes at once), bamboo, lots of blueberries, grapes, hops, honeysuckle, roses, koi the side of small/medium dogs, and actually more different kind of plants than I could list in an hour of typing, so I'm giving up. Her house is lovely inside too, and in general her place is a lot like my idea of paradise. I got to spend all day there, playing in the dirt with gardeners, and get paid for it. This is all such a blessing, you know.

It's been a long time since I've met someone who, looking at their lifestyle and general life as a whole, I've thought I wanted to maybe be like. Well, I don't know that I want, precisely, to be like this woman, but the shape she's carved out in her life is a very Greenie-shaped space. It's surprisingly relaxing to see a possible, desireable future for myself. Usually I feel like I'm creating it whole-cloth out of nothing, and that's both lots of work and doubt-inspiring.

Anyhow, work is awesome, yadda yadda yadda. Deep satisfaction, joy to do, good co-workers. Hopefully this feeling lasts beyond three months. It should, cause the work's seasonally changing, and therefore shouldn't get too monotonous, and there's lots to learn. I'm going to a native plants workshop on Friday, there's a landscaper's conference later on in September, etc. I'm hooked in to the network now.

Did I mention that I've been able to pick and eat berries while working from every property I've been to on the North Shore save one?

Now I just need to whip my *own* garden into shape.