Marla, Unpacked

It’s been a while. After saying au revoir to my walking cast and crutches, I’ve certainly been making up for lost time. Let me catch you up on what I’ve been doing over the past couple of months.

An early morning visit to a lavender farm in the mountains. Lavender always makes me think of my grandmother, and I’ve had a lifelong love for it as a result.

The heady smell of lavender, the buzzing of bees and beautiful scenery was worth the drive.

My husband and I took part in a local bat count event. Yes, you read that right. Bats.

We spent a couple of hours on a Saturday night in the countryside counting mother bats and their pups as they left the colony to feed on insects. It’s a yearly event to assist with monitoring endangered bats in our province.

At times it felt like we were in a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s, The Birds, but in the best possible way. So much fun.

I’ve always dreamed of working in a bookstore with a resident cat. Perhaps one day I’ll do just that.

Until then I’ll keep visiting my favourite used bookstore, where I’ll search out the cats to give pets to.

Potato spirals at a street fair are fun, but I do wish I’d ordered one with less toppings. What didn’t land on the ground at my feet was delicious, but unnecessarily messy.

Each Friday night my parents’ make “pizza”, where they top pitas with whatever they’ve got in the fridge. I love this idea and not-so-subtly invite myself over once in a while.

This time I brought the bottle of gin I personally distilled, and cracked it open to enjoy a pre-dinner gin and tonic on their back deck.

The verdict? Delicious. It’s a nice addition to my gin collection, and I like to bring it out when I feel like a special treat.

I make a point of not running. Like, ever. Except when someone brings in donuts to the office, and in that case you better get out of my way. I’ve recently learned at a petting zoo that I will also run for capybaras. I mean, just look at them. 

A friend and I created a bookclub earlier this year, and decided it must follow a few rules: no one else can join, we read whatever we want, and each meeting must include delicious food. It’s basically an excuse to get together for a visit. For our most recent meeting, I prepared afternoon tea for two.

Camping to me is essentially pretending to be homeless. It sounds nice in theory but the bugs, effort, costs – I’d rather stay indoors, thanks. But my husband liked camping. Relationships involve compromise, right?

After several years of not so subtly suggesting we donate our camping gear and be done with it once and for all, my husband finally saw the light. We cut our last ever (insert cheering) camping weekend short and raced back to civilization.

The next weekend, we stepped back in time, to the days of the Cariboo Gold Rush. There we stayed in an old historical town and visited various buildings within the museum and took part in several activities – law court and Chinese classes being just a couple of them. We both love it there and are already thinking of our next visit.

It only made sense that we also visited an old copper mine, to imagine what life was like for those risking their lives deep in mountain tunnels.

Lots of drives into the countryside were made. My favourite was when we came across a field of sunflowers, all seemingly smiling towards the sun.

There were also a couple of trips to the movie theatre, enjoying lots of local produce, get-togethers with family and friends, and planning for future vacations.

It hasn’t been all sunflowers and bookshop cats though. I was bitten by a tick and am currently on strong antibiotics, several people close to me are dealing with their own health concerns, and the world seems to be imploding before our very eyes.

I’m doing my best to keep my anxiety in check, my elbows up, and my focus on what I can control. What does Autumn have in store? I’m not sure but I’m hopeful for coziness in all its forms.