During the last few months, actually since about December, we've had the luxury of an abundance of at-home family time. Alex has been working a few days a week at Fred's and on Gambier Island which have been fairly casual and fortunate jobs. We've caught up on some sleep, taking turns sleeping in and napping to make up for the madness of a cross-country move and, well, having a baby and enjoying leisurely afternoons walking to town with Sebastian or taking turns writing and getting the house and garden in order. We've also had a lot of visitors that we've had a lot of time for. But, naturally, with a graduate degree on the horizon (and possibly a bit of tuition and certainly lost work-days so Alex can stay home with Sebastian) and dwindling projects at Fred and Leigh's, it was time to move on. We've been really fortunate in how easy it's been for Alex to find work here. It's hard to make a living on the Coast. Half the population seems to commute daily to downtown Vancouver and the other half seems to work at the mill or in labour jobs here and there so we were a little worried about how to sustain a life here. But after an afternoon at The Shed chatting with people going down to the dock, I'd found Alex a job and, simultaneously, he'd found himself an assistant carpentry job. So he got to choose.
As of next week, he'll be working over on Keats Island five days a week and I'll be working the other two days a week at The Shed. Our summer is officially immobile, but that's okay. Our summer was more or less filled with people coming and going anyways, I don't know if we could have found the energy to go on a trip. It's also nice because travelling with Sebastian isn't always a great experience. And he's at the age where putting him to sleep on someone's bed at a party is long-gone. So we'll be here. Trying to cram writing and gardening and relaxing into the crevasses of non-work time.