I had a great weekend, thank you

I hope that your weekend had all the features you’d gleefully anticipated.  Ours was

a pip.  Saturday Jude and I were joined by our friend Jerry to split the mounds of

firewood we’d gathered during Nathan’s visit.  But without her son’s young, strong

back, which had gone back to California with the rest of him, the thought of

splitting all this

 was daunting.  Fortunately, Jerry had just bought a powerful log splitter and was

looking for customers.  In less than five hours, we were done.  I set the wood, Jerry

ran the machine, and Jude brought logs to us and took away firewood to stack.

Jerry is  inspiring.  He’s ten years older than me, but has the work habits and drive

of someone half his age.  He’s had a colorful life as a teacher and a logger, among

other paths, and still thirsts for knowledge and wisdom.  He also has a superb col-

lection of independent film DVD’s that he shares with the community.  I recently

bartered three eggs for the loan of the Quebec film “La Neuvaine”.

After Jerry left, Jude and I worked in the garden until rain and stiffening muscles

pushed us toward the house.  There was a phone message that our neighbour Tony

was having a outdoor movie night, but we knew that after we cleaned up and ate,   

we would fossilize on our couch.

Sunday morning neighbour Sonia called, telling us that her husband Jay had just

returned from a salmon opening with scads of lovely sockeye.  We bought ten and

spent the afternoon cutting them up for the freezer.  Jude did, that is.  At 3 p.m., a

new friend of ours, Amanda, came by to learn how to set up a blog.

Amanda is in her 20’s.  She’s extremely talented.   She’s already a skilled photo-

grapher, and recently lit up the island community centre as Sophie in a rousing

production of “Mamma Mia!”  She wants to blog about sustainability and its

practitioners in our area, telling their stories through interviews and photos.

I’ll keep you in the loop as she develops it.

It was rewarding to share what I’ve discovered so far, and amazing to watch her

learn it so effortlessly.  Navigating a computer seemed second nature to her.  To

me, it will always be new-fangled and bewildering.   

She left after two hours, having picked my brain clean.  I helped Jude cut up the

last two fish, then headed to some neighbours’ home as she prepared to can.  The

neighbours are thinking about raising meat chickens organically, so they were

having an open coop to show what they had set up thus far.  I’m all for organic 

and local business, so I ordered five birds.

When I got home, Jude grilled some of the salmon.  Mouth-melting delicious.

We watched some tube, then headed to bed early.  It had been a very productive

and entertaining two days.  I had the good fortune of exposure to the tranquil

energy of a 75-year-old and the vibrant buoyancy of a 25-year-old.  Between

the two of them, I couldn’t help but be revitalized.