VANCOUVER MUSINGS

POST # 51


Well here we go again. It's blog day and I woke up wondering just what the heck will I write about today? This seems to be happening more as time passes, and I wonder if I am running out of ideas for a weekly blog? Probably I'm not, but by making that statement I guess I've given myself a built in "out" if I decide to stop writing every week. Maybe one day in the future I will just write, "Sorry, I've run out of ideas, THE END." In the meantime I'll just keep on writing whatever comes into my brain.

So what is in my brain this morning is somewhat of a jumbled mess of thoughts.

I could write about the fact that in the past week alone I have slept in three different locations. Now that keeps things interesting because when I awake it usually takes a few moments to figure out just where I am at. At least enough time has gone by that I don't feel like I am on my sailboat any longer. Also in the past week I have been both in Canada and the USA, and I had to wonder just which country the bed that I was in, was located. This kind of reminds me of the book I just read called "Borderlands" and in it the author is riding a motorcyle along the border between the US and Canada when he comes to a town that straddles the border. There is a library there, and the back half of the building is in Canada but the entrance is on US soil. If you live in Canada you have to cross the border to enter the library, but then you can leave the library through the back door, which pops you right back in Canada. How unique is that? When one looks it up on google maps, not only is the library stradling the border, but it appears that there are at least two houses doing the same thing. So lately I feel like I might be in one of those houses, with one bedroom on the Canadian side and another bedroom on the US side. Or maybe a bedroom on one side of the border and the bathroom on the other. Imagine having to clear customs each time you need to have a pee.

I could also write about the fact that I have made the transition back to dogs from cats for a while at least. My last two housesits have been cat houses, most recently with Shadow the cat and prior to that Oscar and Felix the cats. But as of a few days ago, I am comfortably settled back in with Jackson and Peach, my little Yorkshire terrier mates, here in Vancouver. Maybe that is the best way to figure out which bed and which country I am in. Just check out the animals living there and then I'll know. I'm hooped if I end up with a housesit without pets though.

Maybe I could write about the weather. If it gets down to that, we know the blog is on it's last legs for sure.

How about writing more updates regarding the progress of my leg? Well there isn't much to report on that front other than the fact that I seem to be enjoying incremental improvements as the weeks go by and so that is probably the best I can hope for at this stage.

I could write about the fact that today would have been my dad's 96th birthday if he was still alive. In fact, my dad came up in conversation recently, most likely because I was thinking about his birthday, and that lead me into talking about how he would make crepes each Sunday while I was growing up. Well before I knew it, I was emailing my sister Gerry, to find out if she could remember the recipe and soon after that I found myself in a kitchen churning out crepes as fast as people could eat them.
Gerry obviously had the right recipe (thanks Ger) and the proof was in the eating. Lots of smiling faces and satisfied tummies all around. Perhaps I'll do it again sometime in the future because it was kind of fun, and the crepes tasted pretty damn good as far as I could tell. Just like the old man made all those years ago.

I could also talk about yesterday. Why yesterday? Well, I have some Dawson friends visiting Vancouver at the moment and we had arranged to try to get together in the afternoon, out at the place they are staying which is a long skytrain ride from my current housesit. I took the skytrain out to the Loughheed Town Centre, one of the large shopping malls in the greater Vancouver area. The plan was to call them once I arrived in order to see if we could rendezvous. Well unfortunately that didn't happen, but for a while I found myself hanging around a shopping mall. These days, me hanging around a shopping mall would be like a vampire hanging around in a room full of silver crosses. In other words, not my favourite place to spend time. But as I was there anyway, waiting for the appointed time to call my friends, I did a walk around to give my leg a work out. Here it is less than a month before Christmas and you could have shot a cannon down any walkway and you wouldn't have hit a soul. The place looked deserted. And in addition to that there were a few shops with signs advertising 80% off sales, and one shop was having a going out of business sale. Certainly a sign of the times, as the industrial civilization continues to wind down and/or the fact that too many people are in too much debt or too broke to think about going out and buying more stuff. This unscheduled mall visit just happened to coincide with the theme of the book I am reading at the moment, titled, "Too Much Magic" by James Howard Kunstler, a follow up to a book he wrote in 2005 titled, "The Long Emergency" and as far as I can tell by looking at the state of affairs at this mall, Kunstler has nailed it right on the money. I think there are plenty of people who know that things aren't quite the way they were, but still we try to hang on and pretend that things will be ok if we just wish a bit harder.

And now I've just found one more thing to write about which wasn't even on the thought agenda when I began this blog. A few minutes ago, Peach was looking up at me with that "can I sit in your lap please" look, and so of course I obliged her. What she didn't relay with that look was her ulterior motive, which I have now found out more than once, was to get settled in nicely, fall asleep and then ever so quietly start letting out little Yorkie farts, which pack a surprising punch for such a little dog.
Thanks a lot Peach. But she looks so damn content in my lap, that I am happy to put up with her farting. That is, until my coffee cup is empty, and then the party will be over for a while at least.


Well, it's a grey morning here in Vancouver, but for now it's not raining, so I'll have a quick look at the satellite weather map and if the conditions look good, I will hop on my bike and head out on a mission. The mission? To track down some Chimes ginger chews, which is a new taste treat I recently had the opportunity to try. They are so good, that it will be worth the search.

Time now for a second cup of coffee. Sorry Peach, you'll have to move and go fart somewhere else.

Back in December.

All the best,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

WINDING DOWN WITH SHADOW

POST # 50


Yikes!!!!! It's late, almost 11am and I have only now just begun to write a few words for this week's entry. Usually on "blog day" I am up early and for the most part I have had at least a seed of an idea or two to get my writing started. But this morning I seem to have drawn a blank. I can think of a reason why, as my mind lately is on other things, but be that as it may, I have committed to writing this blog four times per month, so let's get on with it shall we?

The truth is, I did wake up early today, and I had every intention of getting out of bed, and then before I knew it, Shadow the cat had jumped up to join me and he was purring up a storm, so what else is the housesitter to do, but stay there and do his job, petting the cat and enjoying his company for a while.

Of course I knew why he was there, and it wasn't to wake me up to let me know that it was "blog day." Shadow has two missions in life, the morning feed and the evening feed, and he was trying desperately to tell me that it was time for the former. "OK, I know you're hungry, furball, but hey, it's only 6:30am and wouldn't you rather stay here and cuddle for a short while?"

I guess I must have done a good sell job on him, because after I lifted up the covers slightly, he crawled under them, did his little cat turn and settled down on my right arm, purring loudly, and that's the last thing I remember until I woke up again around 9:30am. My arm at that point felt detached from the rest of my body, as Shadow had been lying on it, and had managed to do a pretty good job of cutting off the blood circulation to it. So I began my day today with a wonky right leg and wonky right arm.

Needless to say, Shadow beat me down the stairs to the main floor. Even if I had two perfectly functioning legs, I would be no match for this cat. He literally runs down the staircase, and in a second or two is standing in front of the special door in the kitchen, where the cat food is housed. Because we had such a late start to our day, he is totally focused on the task at hand, which is to have his morning meal. It takes only a moment or two to accomplish this and then I am free to continue on with my day at least until tonight when once again, Shadow and I will be doing the sacred food dance in the kitchen. But for now, my time is my own.

Over the couple of weeks that I have been here at this housesit, I have become quite attached to this long fanged, long haired, long, cat. It happens every time for me with each new animal that has been placed in my care. I guess that is partly why I like to do this house/pet sitting business. And if the pets are happy, then the owners are happy, and everything is as it should be.

Speaking of the owners. They return late tomorrow, from their holiday in Mexico, so I have only two more days including today, to spend with Shadow, so I will try to make the best of it. My guess is, that we will have one more sleep in together tomorrow. But who knows? Shadow might have other ideas about that.

Starting tomorrow, I will have a three day "vacation" prior to my next housesit here in Vancouver with my old dog buddies Jackson and Peach. Now I know, I know, most people who know me think that I am now on permanent vacation because I don't have a regular job to go to, but a vacation for me these days, is living without the responsibility of caring for an animal or animals. So I look forward to this short break, and I know I will have a wonderfully relaxed and enjoyable time prior to my upcoming housesit.


I happened to look back on my blog entry from a year ago, and I was surprised to see that there had already been snow here in Vancouver at that time. No snow yet, but lots and lots of rain. Welcome to the new normal.

Shadow is downstairs now with me, stretched out on top of the pool table, having a nap. What a life. I'll finish these last few words and then it's time to get some food into the petsitter's mouth, and then make a plan for how to spend the rest of the day. Perhaps I will finally get over to the restaurant on Victoria Ave. that makes the Roti Chanai that I talked about in my last blog. Or maybe I'll just hang out with Shadow.


Happy trails,


Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

SHADOW, TIME, AND ROTI CHANAI

POST # 49

Success! I am writing this blog from the comfort of my housesit compared to the last one when I tackled it at the library. I discovered in the meantime that I can accomplish this by using a different browser on the net than internet explorer, which saves me the time of riding to the library and back. And since I have returned to Vancouver the weather hasn't been exactly the best for riding, with plenty of grey wet days.

Shadow the cat is happy about the weather, as it has kept the housesitter for the most part, indoors. This has allowed the two of us to bond in a very short time and whereas before he would usually find another spot in the house to camp out while I was doing whatever, that is no longer the case.

The day begins with a Shadow wake up call, meoowww!!!!! It might be a wake up call for me, but from his point of view, it's a "get your lazy butt out of bed and feed me now, please." So right from the get go, I am being "shadowed" by Mr. Furball.

We sleep on the upstairs level of the house, so once I'm up and dressed it's time to head to the main level where the cat food is located in the kitchen. Shadow easily wins the race down the stairs. My leg continues to improve and as a result, stairs are no longer the challenge that they once posed not so very long ago, however I am not to the point of being able to run down them, especially as fast as a cat. I doubt if I will ever run down stairs again, and if I would have been as focused back in March climbing down a hill, as I now am anytime I descend a staircase, I wouldn't now be in the position I am, but maybe that's another one of the lessons to take away from my fall, that being, to be more aware of my present moment in time. So it's all good, and within a few moments I have arrived by the special cupboard which houses the cat food, with a meowing, purring Shadow cat rubbing up against my leg in anticipation of breakfast. With his food dispensed into his dish I am free to go about my morning routine which includes stretches, etc. while I wait for the water to boil for the morning coffee.

Now, I've been here for a week and in that short amount of time, Shadow has lived up to his name, because he shadows me now, wherever I go. The house has three levels, and whatever level the housesitter is on, the cat can be found close by. That's nice, because one of the reasons that I like to pet sit, is so that I can spend time with the animals that I am caring for. Also, because I don't have a "regular" job to go to each day the animals have me around more hours of the day probably than even some of their owners would be around. This certainly helps with the bonding process and keeps the animals and the housesitter very happy indeed.

Speaking of being here a week. I am amazed at just how fast the time has gone by. It seems like only yesterday that I arrived, and in another week I will be leaving. Time is a strange thing. At least I think so. For me, when I am looking forward, it seems like whatever date I am looking forward to, can feel like it's a long way off in the future, however when it arrives, and I look back, I can't believe just how fast that portion of time has gone by. This always happens to me, and I imagine that it is the same for others. In fact, I just got off the phone talking to my next housesit owner, and I commented to her how I couldn't believe that it was already November and that I would soon be back there housesitting. I have known about this upcoming housesit for many months, and back in the summer time it seemed like November was a million years away, and now here we are, and soon it will be goodbye to 2012. As I don't subscribe to the Mayan calendar premise, that everything comes to an end on December 21st, I expect to be around when we turn the calendar page over to January 2013. Yes, I've learnt, especially this year, that there are no guarantees of being around for a future moment in time, but the odds are pretty good. And maybe it all comes down to odds and good timing.

Finally, a comment about the two words in the title, "Roti Chanai." Prior to yesterday this wouldn't have made it into the blog today, however as I returned from my daily bike ride yesterday, I stopped at one of the markets close by, located on Victoria Ave. The area I am currently living in has a very big Asian feel to it, and the markets are always interesting places to wander around in. Afterwards, I decided to ride slowly south on Victoria Ave., to see what other shops were in my area. I came across a restaurant which unfortunately is closed until November 20th, but as I looked over the menu in the window, I discovered that they had Roti Chanai on the menu. As I stood there in the afternoon drizzle, my mouth, literally began to water, just thinking about this dish which I haven't tasted since I was in Malaysia in 1979. The Roti is a simple bread, which is sort of flaky yet chewy, which is kind of hard to describe, but delicious all the same, and it is accompanied with the Chanai, which is just a curry flavoured sauce. You simply tear off a chunk of the Roti, and dip it in the Chanai, and then pop the whole thing into ones mouth. Just the thought of that, was what caused my mouth to be watering. As I am here until November 22nd, I plan to sneak over there and try some out. By the time I write next weeks entry, I will hopefully be able to report back as to whether my mouth watering yesterday was justified or not.

Now, as I look at my list of things to do today, I find that it is rather long, which is not usually the case. The weather appears to be on the drier side of things, and so it's time to get on to my bike and head out to get some exercise as well as to continue to check things off of my list.

Back again in one week's time.

cheers,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS

POST # 48

Back in the concrete jungle of Vancouver, only the Shadow knows for sure. Shadow is the new furball in charge of cat operations at my new and latest location for petsitting on 33rd avenue.

I arrived back in Vancouver yesterday, November 7th via a new bus service called Bolt Bus, which offered a safe and comfortable journey back across the border. My friend who was expected to meet me at the bus depot, was there, however for some strange reason we never saw each other, so I had to arrange for a plan b and that was easily enough done. Eventually though we did connect and soon after I was happily settled in at my new digs.
Shadow the cat, according to its owners is 39 inches long from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. He is all black and a very friendly gentleman indeed, and I expect our two weeks together will be very relaxing.

This will be a different sort of relaxing as I am now back in the big city, and that is always an assault on the senses after spending around a month surrounded by the green, peace and tranquility which Orcas island is famous for. I am currently suffering Oscar and Felix withdrawal pains, however I think Shadow will help to make some of that go away as time goes by. I wish other pains would disappear just as easily, but such is life.

This being a brand new housesit for me, it will take a couple of days to get settled in to a routine which works, but it will also be an opportunity to get familiar with a different area of Vancouver, and with my trusty bike always close at hand, this should be a fun new adventure.

I am writing this blog entry from the warmth and comfort of the Vancouver central library. I ended up here, because the computer at the housesit allows me to access The Thoughtful Wanderer, blog, but for some reason (a computer glitch??) it doesn't allow me to write a new entry. However it's not all bad, as I needed an excuse to get out on such a wonderful sunny day for a bike ride, so a trip to the library provided me with that chance. But here, I am on the time clock as the computer only allows a certain amount, and that will be my excuse to keep this a rather short entry. It feels strange sitting back here at the library. This was a second home of sorts for me during my time in Vancouver because this was where I would get an opportunity each day to check the internet as well as read, read, read. As I sit here now, in some respects it feels as though I never left town.

However all I have to do is think about all the wonderful times I have experienced recently to realize that yes in fact there is life beyond the confines of this city and I am very grateful for the chance to move about and meet new people and think about new ideas. It is always a good thing to get outside of ones comfort zone now and again in order to stretch and grow as an individual.

So for the next couple of weeks I will be happy to spend my time with Shadow the cat and get to know all his habits, likes and dislikes. This will be my last cat time for a while as my two Yorkie buddies wait in the wings for their trusty housesitter to arrive later this month. In the meantime, it's just Shadow and me.
And ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS.

The journey continues.

Happy trails.
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

Delay

Readers please note that November 7th will be a travel day, so my regularly scheduled post for that day may or may not be delayed, but it will get done eventually.

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer