Sunday, January 12, 2020

ROBBLOG #815- I Need Therapy!

I need therapy.

Apparently, I do.
Oh, not because I'm losing it.
No, I still have an ounce or two of my faculties left.
It's because I need therapy as in a "therapy light".
It's simply all the rage here on this Island My Dears.

A therapy light alleviates the loss of daily sunshine. One still needs to take a daily Vitamin D but adding the use of a LED Therapy Lamp to one's daily routine is supposed to be just what the sun doctor ordered.

The Mister and I have been using ours for a few days since the nice man at the door delivered the
Light Therapy package from
Is it working?
It must be since I haven't wanted to strangle the Mister in several days. This lamp emits some of the same stuff that the sun does. It fools your eyes and even friends much in the same way that Ray Ban Sunglasses hide huge bags under one's eyes only in this case the eyes think they see sunlight and one's spirit is lifted.

It doesn't removed winter's gaunt, vampirish look. You know,
that white, pasty, overtired look but at least you feel good about being white and pasty!
It's not a sunlamp.
There's no tanning involved.
I use mine a few times a day when I sit at the computer.
Like right now.
I'm so happy I could s***.
Especially when I look out the window and see white.

It has snowed in the Cowichan.
We were supposed to see perhaps, maybe a bit of white stuff.
Probably. Maybe. Not sure- as I tracked three weather sites, to see if the Cowichan was going to see appreciable snowfall. All sites were different but it comes to pass that we have some snow.
One site predicted 0.05 cm on the ground.
What the F*** is 0.05 cm?
You'll be happy to know that I believe it to be more like 5 cms.

Nobody's outside.
No cars are on the streets.
It's like a white Armageddon since Islanders don't know how to live with snow let alone drive in the stuff. I mean it's not too much. I saw more ice and snow when I defrosted our upright freezer back in the fall. I'll bet if anyone is out on the roads it's a former Ontarian and even they stay locked up behind closed doors knowing full well an occasional Islander will pretend to be an Easterner and still drive.

I'll bet school buses will be cancelled.
Schools will be closed.
Transit is either affected by cancellations or running behind.
Ferries to Horseshoe Bay and Tsawassen will be cancelled.
Shelves in grocery stores will be empty of bread, milk and bottled water.
It's like a war zone on the Island when it snows.

Now, I hate this cold, wet Island stuff. It is different from Ontario Snow.
It has a different flavour.
Our Island snow is wetter, heavier and has a fruitier piquant than Orillia snow.
It tends to melt fast and yet with all three weather sites predicting bone-chilling, record-breaking snow for Vancouver Island we may be in for a few days of a whiter landscape than usual.

I have knocked snow off my palms twice already and I don't think my cordyline's will manage with the heavy snow and cold temps.
This is a gigantic pain in the ass and I speak for all Islanders- unless you are 8 years old and own a sled or toboggan.
Most kids in the lower half of the Island do not. Santa doesn't bring Island kids in the southern part winter snow stuff like a sled.
It's a dream for kids here.

We have snow shovels but we all have to dig them out from under piles of junk meant for a summer garage sale or a trip to the nearest dump or recycle site.

The snow is pretty on the BC fir trees but fir trees crack and fall from the heavy snow on their limbs and then, the power starts to go out.
The Hubbie and I are getting a Generac installed this year not just for power outages caused by snow but earthquakes and wind as well.
All part of living on this beautiful, green Island.

One thing I gd know, a couple of days after this snow melts and the cold retreats, we Islanders have bad short term memories and will go back to telling Winnipegers and other Easterners that it never snows on the Island.
It's a bare-faced lie but one we all stand behind and continue to lie about.

It's the Island way.

Monday, January 6, 2020

ROBBLOG #814- Finding Place

What a world we live in.

What a time.
What a place.
Here we are in 2020 and things don't look better than the past decade.
Things are worse.
Politics stink.
Social media is a problem.
Changes are afoot.
We're all trying to find "place" and hold on.

Climate change is a major concern. I can't believe those people- many Canadians, who don't see it or feel it. We have new weather terms for storms here on the left coast. How about "Atmospheric Winter"?
I've heard that twice this "winter" season on the Island. If long range forecasts hold true we might see many centimetres of snow and unusual cold here in the Cowichan beginning next week.
Two years ago camelias were in bloom and we were cutting grass in early February!

War is always on the lips of many people across the world. In America, that little old country that sits east of us here on Vancouver Island, west and east to many residents of Southwestern Ontario and due south to many other Canadians, is always ready to go to war with the Middle East, North Korea and others. Citizens are being stopped and held for unusual lengths of time at immigration check points. Witness what happened at BC border points this past while.
It never changes.

I asked my sister who is spending the winter as usual, in the U.S. if her and my brother-in-law are prepared in case something comes of this current conflict the Americans- their big cheese in particular, have with Iran. She said they are keeping a close watch and will head north if something happens.
They are a fourteen hour drive from the Canadian border.
The idea is to be able to drive north- before the border closes.
Who knows?

Other family and friends are south as well and I wonder how they go about every day with the
"revenge plots" that Iran rumours to be considering inflicting. The world could be a changed place this year and decade.

I think about change.
I miss being back in old home. There are times I get all morose and sobby-eyed- if indeed sobby is a a word.
I begin wondering if :

a) we should have stayed there in Ontario
b) we should have moved to Florida for our winter warmth
c) we should move back to ice and snow

Then, the after Christmas let-down combined with my family being so far away seems to weigh me down in this post Holiday time. I mean, I hate January to begin with and February- who needs it?
It was bad enough living through the hell of freezing cold temperatures and foot after foot of snow back in Orillia, Ontario but this "river" of rain and overcast skies has held on throughout December giving us only a half dozen chances to be outdoors in the sun.

Now things are green here. Temps are about 7, 8 or 9 degrees most days- at least until that arctic forecast scheduled for next week comes along. One can walk about in a sweater and rain jacket- or shorts on the few sunny days we've had. Bicycles are still on the streets and joggers abound- one today was even bare-chested. Golf and RV resorts are open and the ocean's tides are still a remarkable event to witness at places like Cherry Point Beach.

The feeling of being unsettled or not having roots that go back more than three years is troubling at times. We've met lots of new people on the island and have formed many close friendships in a relatively short period of time. However, we still like to visit and have dinner with our former Orillia or Ontario friends who live here. We seem to hold a special bond with them that just feels right. That being said we have several very special, very close ties- family-like ties, with a half dozen folks who inhabit a special part of our Island Life. How could I give that up?
Change is good.
Or not...

I tell myself the distance from which we came from in Ontario- three time zones away, is not a small feat. It took guts and gumption.
We managed it.
It hasn't been easy, I can tell you that.
I feel hollow at times, without purpose and of course the way old father time skips merrily along faster and faster every day, doesn't help one little bit.

Will the world get through these times?
Will I?

Really, I don't know.
The next chapter is still to be written.