First Weekend
May. 9th, 2015 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormWell, here I am in Fort St James.
It's my first weekend up here -- I got to Prince George via a 12-hour overnight bus last Saturday, got picked up on the Sunday, and got in to town Sunday evening. A pretty full work week started in which I tried to catch up on my sleep, so I did pretty much nothing ecept work, feed myself, and sleep.
That doesn't sound too different from my routine in town, but it's been much more relaxing than it would have been in Vancouver. To start, I'm not particularly mobile at the moment, and there aren't many places to eat out. This has meant a lot more cooking, and improvising from the same set of ingredients since I'm cooking from one again and it makes no sense to fully stock a kitchen for the summer. I'm staying at a house a little out of town, on the lake (or maybe the river that flows out of the lake) so there's lots of green and quiet and birdsong and flowing water around me. I'm going to bed between 8 and 9:30 most nights, with a little bit of reading before sleep.
I've been iterating on potatoes and eggs and cabbage and butter, and have just added bacon and flour to my available ingredients.
I have few demands on my time outside work.
I *am* going to look at a place in town I might stay, later today. In town would have benefits in terms of getting to the post office and going shopping, and being on the swimming beach and close to carpool rides to work. Where I am now has the benefit of having an amazing patio overlooking the water on which to eat breakfast, a very social homeowner who knows everyone in town, and room to do archery. There's less privacy here than there would be in town, though, and the bedroom situation isn't ideal.
I am content here right now. I miss Dave really a lot, not painfully but in the same way that you miss fireplaces when you move to a house with central heating; I guess it's the aliveness an the warmth of him. I've been calling him my partner, which is significant, and that doesn't feel like its gone away at all. We've been taking turns being a little jealous of each other; he is jealous of the excitement of my going away and having advenures, I'm jealous of the latitude he has to do interesting city things and also to take vacation time.
But, yes, content. I have time to think, and to listen. I have time to soak in my environment, and I can do that instead of constantly having to shut off a stream of unpleasant sensory input. When I look out the window there's water moving, and when the leaves come out there will be aspen leaves sparkling and tossing in the tiniest breeze (their petioles are designed to toss the leaves like this). It's quiet: clock ticking, birds, the sound of a very distant boat's motor but no traffic or people yelling or playing music.
We've been doing training for the last few days, the whole forestry office, and some of us went to the Northern Interior Cruising Convention on Wednesday and Thursday. That was the first time my work ever paid for a hotel for me. NICC was a great start to learning my job, but the training has been especially good. It's been a chance for me to get to know everyone at the office before I pair off for the summer for bush work. It's been a chance for me to brush up on things like ATV use. And... I like these people.
Part of training was setting up a fire pump in the corner of the lake. We were all in boots, and went in the lake a little, and... it was warm, maybe a degree or two warmer than the ocean right at the edge there. Apparently the ice has been off it for a bunch of weeks now. With the days we've been having, hot during the afternoon and cool at night, it's so inviting. I'm looking forward to making the lake's acquaintance, maybe practicing swimming some. I've always been a little nervous of lakes, so this is a place to start.
Air and water are both very different here. The city is supplied by a well, I don't believe it's treated. The house I'm at now has a water softener, which makes what I consider to be delicious water, though I like the local water either way. No one local likes the local water, and from what I've seen a big water cooler is a standard feature of most places. I suspect I will not have my electrolyte issues this summer. The air is much drier than at home, and honestly I've never experienced anything quite like it. Even after being nervous or active or even indoors for a day I don't feel sticky and coated in weirdness like I do in Vancouver. Water spilled will dry. Lotion will undoubtedly be pretty important as the summer progresses.
So. I'm sure you'll get more later, but that's about where I'm at right now.
It's my first weekend up here -- I got to Prince George via a 12-hour overnight bus last Saturday, got picked up on the Sunday, and got in to town Sunday evening. A pretty full work week started in which I tried to catch up on my sleep, so I did pretty much nothing ecept work, feed myself, and sleep.
That doesn't sound too different from my routine in town, but it's been much more relaxing than it would have been in Vancouver. To start, I'm not particularly mobile at the moment, and there aren't many places to eat out. This has meant a lot more cooking, and improvising from the same set of ingredients since I'm cooking from one again and it makes no sense to fully stock a kitchen for the summer. I'm staying at a house a little out of town, on the lake (or maybe the river that flows out of the lake) so there's lots of green and quiet and birdsong and flowing water around me. I'm going to bed between 8 and 9:30 most nights, with a little bit of reading before sleep.
I've been iterating on potatoes and eggs and cabbage and butter, and have just added bacon and flour to my available ingredients.
I have few demands on my time outside work.
I *am* going to look at a place in town I might stay, later today. In town would have benefits in terms of getting to the post office and going shopping, and being on the swimming beach and close to carpool rides to work. Where I am now has the benefit of having an amazing patio overlooking the water on which to eat breakfast, a very social homeowner who knows everyone in town, and room to do archery. There's less privacy here than there would be in town, though, and the bedroom situation isn't ideal.
I am content here right now. I miss Dave really a lot, not painfully but in the same way that you miss fireplaces when you move to a house with central heating; I guess it's the aliveness an the warmth of him. I've been calling him my partner, which is significant, and that doesn't feel like its gone away at all. We've been taking turns being a little jealous of each other; he is jealous of the excitement of my going away and having advenures, I'm jealous of the latitude he has to do interesting city things and also to take vacation time.
But, yes, content. I have time to think, and to listen. I have time to soak in my environment, and I can do that instead of constantly having to shut off a stream of unpleasant sensory input. When I look out the window there's water moving, and when the leaves come out there will be aspen leaves sparkling and tossing in the tiniest breeze (their petioles are designed to toss the leaves like this). It's quiet: clock ticking, birds, the sound of a very distant boat's motor but no traffic or people yelling or playing music.
We've been doing training for the last few days, the whole forestry office, and some of us went to the Northern Interior Cruising Convention on Wednesday and Thursday. That was the first time my work ever paid for a hotel for me. NICC was a great start to learning my job, but the training has been especially good. It's been a chance for me to get to know everyone at the office before I pair off for the summer for bush work. It's been a chance for me to brush up on things like ATV use. And... I like these people.
Part of training was setting up a fire pump in the corner of the lake. We were all in boots, and went in the lake a little, and... it was warm, maybe a degree or two warmer than the ocean right at the edge there. Apparently the ice has been off it for a bunch of weeks now. With the days we've been having, hot during the afternoon and cool at night, it's so inviting. I'm looking forward to making the lake's acquaintance, maybe practicing swimming some. I've always been a little nervous of lakes, so this is a place to start.
Air and water are both very different here. The city is supplied by a well, I don't believe it's treated. The house I'm at now has a water softener, which makes what I consider to be delicious water, though I like the local water either way. No one local likes the local water, and from what I've seen a big water cooler is a standard feature of most places. I suspect I will not have my electrolyte issues this summer. The air is much drier than at home, and honestly I've never experienced anything quite like it. Even after being nervous or active or even indoors for a day I don't feel sticky and coated in weirdness like I do in Vancouver. Water spilled will dry. Lotion will undoubtedly be pretty important as the summer progresses.
So. I'm sure you'll get more later, but that's about where I'm at right now.
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no subject
Date: 2015-05-10 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-05-10 04:23 pm (UTC)I've been keeping an eye on your transition with interest; I know a fair number of people who have ended up around Quesnel lately. Your move also seems to be perfect for you, in more ways than you originally anticipated, which makes me pretty happy,