Oh okay, where do I begin?
Summer brought some changes here on the Coast, some good, some challenging.
Bad blogger that I am, I didn't capture any of them! The most recent event in our lives is that we're losing our home. Our landlords sold their house up the road and without much warning announced (apologetic and empathetic, which helps a bit) they're moving back in here. It's been an emotional time. I really didn't see it coming, though maybe we should have. We've really fallen in love with this house and neighbourhood in the last year and a half, and more than that, are so sick of moving and reestablishing ourselves every year or two especially now with a child. I guess in retrospect it's just a house, and we'll be fine, but the news was really shocking and it feels like enduring a death of some sort. The hardest part is leaving the garden that we put much labour and attention into. Losing the 1700 sq. ft, full ocean view, proximity to good friends, huge bathtub, writing cabin in the garden, several extra spaces for guests, bedroom as large as some people's houses, private balcony, hot tub and cherry trees hurts a bit, too! Yep. It's hard.
But really, it's the disruption of life. We've had a bit of a crazy last few years after moving across the country and with me commuting into the city and being in school full-time, both of us working all the time and trying so hard to be writers and good parents. We've moved, aggh, dare I count? The ratio of houses to years favours houses. We were just looking forward to staying put for a while.
But, so, that's not going to happen. We didn't have it in our hearts to find a new home to set up for the long haul so we went to the bank, got pre-approved for a mortgage, and chose a new home we can only assume will be pretty temporary. Our sights are set on stability, but we've got some time before we'll be rewarded. We're not making enough money to buy much at all on this market, but we're not too far off. In the meantime, we're going to work our asses off to save money and look more financially stable on paper then buy a tiny cabin in the woods where we can garden for a decades. That's the plan anyways. We'll see what happens.
So, now we're packing. We're leaving at the end of the month. Hard to believe that a week ago we had completely different standards. This morning I dug plants our of the garden. Next, we'll harvest all the food we can (we'd just planted a full winter garden) and bag all our soil, dismantle as much as we can and move some stable beds to my parent's yard. It's hard to dig up plants I spent so much attention establishing in the crappy soil here. I don't know if they'll survive, most are too big for long-term pot dwelling and I'm not sure they'll take to transplanting well. But I did it, because I didn't want to walk by some day and see all my plants replaced with pristine landscaping.
Our new yard is a tiny forest where someone has wild crafted around cedar trees. There might be room for some kale or herbs, but I'm not sure I have the energy to do it again just yet. The property we'll live on has beekeeping on the roofs and chickens, and permaculture gardens and is right in the heart of Roberts Creek so all in all, I think it will be an easy-going move. We'll be closer to culture again, just a stroll to a cafe and restaurant and post office and corner store and health food store and the farmers market. Ironically, this tiny village is going to feel like being urban again. I think it will all be fine. We'll adapt. The space is small, we've lost over 1000 sq ft and I'm nervous about how it's going to affect our creative space. It's a point of anxiety for me, not having a quiet space to write and freelance. And we'll be quite isolated from the town beyond the little village so we might need a car. But we'll see. I'll sure it'll all be fine.
