A good number of friends have expressed awe, appreciation, even envy over what we are up to. Depending upon my mood, I have different reactions. My most sarcastic response is something like this “You too can lose your house and most of your income and live this magical journey”. More often, I wax philosophical about making lemonade from lemons and how we never would have been doing this if the housing market hadn’t sucked. I do feel grateful and appreciative to be living this interesting life. Just a few short months ago I was commuting 90 minutes each way to work a forty hour week.

Just a few days ago, with the glow of planning our move behind us, settled in to our first longish house sit in Canada, I was feeling what I can best describe as bored. Now, I am not someone who gets bored. I have always had more than enough projects to turn to and have been busy with many hobbies. One thing that was a big change with “the big move” was that I left behind almost all my STUFF!

Some projects I might have turned to when some time opened up were:

•  my pottery studio where I cast and fired my goddess sculptures, made glaze tests or just organized my supplies, all sold or in storage now
•  a quilt I have worked on off and on for years, never to be completed now
•  my garden, now in the hands of mother nature
•  crocheting an afghan, stored with family until a cozy winter visit
•  collaging vision boards, materials now dispersed around Sonoma county

I could go on, but suffice to say, I have not got much crafty things going on here. I did pack a lovely assortment of beads for jewelry making. As yet, I am but a beginner with the tools and, compared to most, have very little to work with in terms of supplies. I need a few more classes to get my gumption up for making jewelry.

Another interesting question about this arose this week, when I spied a very interesting four week ceramics class being held right here in Mississauga. If I make stuff, what do I do with it? Raku pottery class got kicked off the list pretty rapidly.

So, in this magical time of spaciousness and freedom, I got a bit unsettled about how to fill my need to be creative. True, I enjoy cooking and baking, but I am also focused on fitness and away from spending so much time in the kitchen. I did a bit of work in the garden, less creative but more about getting into the earth and making things lovely.

I also have done some chatting with myself about what would happen if I just let things be slow and unfolding and see what happens. It is all such a beginning journey at this point. Mornings are slow and easy, unfolding with no pressure, a lovely walk, a late breakfast, a book to read. Neil and I usually get together for lunch, if we have not done so earlier. We check in about the afternoon and sometimes make some plans.

Yesterday, we decided to head in to Port Credit to people watch and see what the happy hour looks like on a Friday night. Not much going on there at 5PM, so after a bit of driving around we headed home for gin and tonics on the deck. It was a warm and humid night, a most recent change in the weather. We fixed our drinks and headed for the deck with some cheese and olives.

Weather in these parts is magical in itself. In a short time, the balmy summer night became a big wind, dark clouds rolling in and lots of little tree parts falling on us and into our drinks. We headed inside and spent a good half hour in the glass sun room watching the roof get pelted with rain, the needles and pods twirling through the sky, the lightning and thunder adding to the drama.

No crafty project, no great field trip, but I was totally entertained, and grateful.

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