Meanderings of a Mermaid

After neglecting my garden all summer, it's given me its all. Crazy. How does that work? Most people in town couldn't grow a toenail this year..... Sure: I bought seeds and placed them in the ground. I watered them twice that first week. And then the rains came. Time to thin out seedlings came and went. Not done. I visited everyday with the garden, stole bites from it. So now I have this large harvest. I'm forced to clean, process and store these riches, for when I'll need them. I can't let them rot now! Not after all that neglect. Take a look in those neglected corners. See what you can find.

This past week has been quite a remarkable one. I registered on an online dating website, and placed one tiny ad at another classified ad website. Presumably, the idea was to scope out the single men in the region, who like me, find themselves looking for new friends. Clearly I was immersed into a busy, populated world of interactions, full of smiling faces and the odd beefcake photo. Initially the response pulled me into a fuzzy zone. A little overwhelming to say the least. There are so many fabulous people in the same situation as you are. People worth getting to know or share a laugh with. The humour seems to be the unifying glue. Well, the sleep patterns fell apart, there was fur growing in each food container in my fridge, and the dogs were looking wistfully out the window at other dogs being walked. (Okay, it wasn't quite that bad). But the online dating scene is both fascinating and mesmerizing. The remarkable thing is what has emerged so far from this experience. It has tur...

I'm mad about hats. There are a couple of my favourites. I could be the Amelda Marcos of hats. And me as the Queen of Iqaluit, Baffin Island. Resplendent in my sealskin parka and silver fox hat.

Okay the raw me after dancing until 3 am (Oct 19). Still better than the pictures the dogs tried to take! I clearly recall my eyes feeling like sandbags.....now I can see, yeah, they look that way too!

Not one to have ever had lots of pictures taken of me, I am now scrounging around a little to find suitable pictures to place on an online dating website. Yeah, it was time to try something new. At least it is new to me. And although I have only signed up a few hours ago, some fine-sounding guys have said "hello". It's a bit strange to first meet someone electronically. I'm so used to observing the facial expressions, the body language, etc. All that unspoken stuff. A shy smile, an impromptu giggle, a coy look, a fun little dance down the sidewalk. I suppose the email chats are just the foot in the door and then one can head down the more traditional path of actually meeting and gazing upon one another. Somewhere I have some more interesting shots of snowmobiling in the arctic mountains and fishing the Quetico muddy pools. Now where did I put them????

Just pretty. And it's my favourite season.

Not that I want to be. Honestly, each time I go to camp now, it becomes harder to point the vehicle away and return to the job and the house. ( I w arned my boss that it could happen soon, my "non-return"). I think it is because I am approaching the attainment of the DREAM. To build the garage and studio and to begin using it. I can taste it now folks. It is easy to visualize it now. I can start to use the studio even with the old furniture and stuff I have put in there just now. So I have my hand on the DREAM and can feel it. Basically the wool stash has to be transported there somehow - anyone have an eighteen wheeler? Bear with me while I gloat and show you some pictures of the third and final propane stove. This one is in the studio. One warming shelf is still missing. There are some funky mitten warmers too. Take a look. You pull the steel rod up and catch it on the edge of the shelf and hang your dog-hair covered sock. Or mittens. Very cool, don't you think? and ye...