Weekend Wandering

I’ve ‘used’ long weekends more ‘usefully’:taking trips, doing projects, you know, important stuff.
These last weekends, though,I’ve been kind of hibernating, Not actually doing much, but enjoying that.   Errands. A little tidying.  In town meandering.  A little shopping.  I got out to Langley to pick up some stuff I'd left over at the RV store, talked to the guys in parts about a ladder installation. Talked to some guys at Rack Attack about a trailer hitch.
I got to Church.  I atttended meetings.  I visitted a friend.
I’ve walked the dog, taken out the garbage, cooked meals for myself, gone for swims. I’ve been enjoying reading books.  A little reading, then a little napping.
I’ve watching too much tv.  A movie every night and usually some NCIS or the new Helix or Intelligence. I even caught a new Homeland and a new Walking Dead episode.
I've been reading a lot of Facebook too, following the fascinating links of friends.
If I was watching Sochi I could sound ‘in tune with the world’ but .....well.....I don’t tend to be that interested in ‘sports’ ,unless I’m actually playing them at the moment. Right now if they had a couch event in the Olympics, I’d  tune right in.
It kind of ruins my idea of myself as a ‘unique’ individual.  I’m mostly mundane.  My dog gives me street cred but overall I’m fairly ordinary.    I work all week, long hours, as is  typical of Vancouverites in the private sector.  We support the arrogant entitled white collar  civil service and their blue collar cronies, those on the take somehow, and city of corruption and drug criminals.  There's probably more under the table industry than above the table industry here in the wild west.  
I complain about paying exorbitant  taxes to people who consider working citizens the enemy and instead represent every wing bat special interest group with endless funds for all manner of shameful public tit sucking.  For every doctor there's a few dozen 'regulators' and 'monitors' and 'activists' and 'media personnel' and 'lawyers'. The same goes with anyone actually 'working'.  All these other groups weigh them down.  All my professional friends are overwhelmed by the demands of perfectionism from the most incompetent and corrupt in society.
Then I want a government job or corporate income with indexed pension and company car or gang affiliation and a block.
But really, I’m pretty satisfied.   When I have check my attitude  and get into a state of gratitude, I'm living in grace. This is heaven on earth, especially with a companion like Gilbert who gets me of the couch.
It’s warm and cozy in my home. The water is clean. I have working sewage and the garbage is taken  away from the nearby bins where I drop it.   My refrigerator is full and I have cans in the cupboards. There are stores nearby.
If the zombies came today I could get a good start on them.  I think one of the attractions of the zombies is that older people like me, with sore feet, and painful knees,  can envision keeping ahead of them. When we were younger we liked those fast alien monster  flicks, but now older and slower, we like the slower zombies. .  
I’ve been hankering for motorcycling.  That’s next month.   I could go hunting the month after that. The tulip festival is coming.  I could go fishing even now but I’m lazy.  Best fishing is wet and cold. It's wet and cold. But I like being inside right now.  
For a type A driven sort of person with myself as my major competitor, I’m not at all Sochi material today.
I swam and soaked in the hot tub then walked the dog for an hour.  Now I’ve been reading and napping a bit.  Seems like they go hand in hand on the couch.
I drove out to Langley Saturday on an errand.  Missed seeing Andria.  She and her husband claim to live there but I miss them every time I drop by.  Had a coffee and cookie on the street with Gilbert.
Sunday after church at St. James Anglican I visited George. He’s my jazz musician, poet friend who was on call and certainly earning his keep with multiple calls from the hospital while I was with him.  He just moved and needed assurance that there would be order from the chaos. Having just moved from the boat to the RV I was well equipped to reassure him that, yes, there is life after the disorder of a move. I'm actually no longer stumbling around boxes and my clothes are no longer in green garbage bags.  There's hope.
He’s got a spectacular view of English Bay.  I actually opened my blinds today just to get a feel for this ‘view thing’. I’ve green all around me and it’s lovely. Usually I like privacy,  thinking the neighbours are like the old lady in My Favourite Martian. They aren’t. I just think that.   I loved George’s balcony.  He's got eagles nesting nearby.
Swapping tales, it’s hard to believe I was the professional dancer in my early twenties while he was playing rock and roll bands.  We seem like a couple of respectable older gentlemen these days.  He’s got children and grandchildren he adores.  It's easy to forget.   It was good hanging put with him.  He’s got a great electric keyboard with all manner of sounds including sitar and helicopters.  Reminded me of teen age days with music and conversation.
After, I visited my boat. The power had been unplugged so I fixed that.  Bailed the little boat too. Walked Gilbert along the dog only park on the north shore.
Today I walked Gilbert in the rain along the Brunnette River.  Even the ducks looked especially wet.  He’s a wet dog now.  He did his job though.  Got me off the couch.  As a dog, he takes pride in his work.

Frost on Dock, Vancouver

Gilbert woke me up this morning. Even though I went to bed around 11 pm, he'd crashed right after eating, having had a truly great dog day running all over fields and parks. His normal wake up time is 730 am. I like to sleep in an hour more on the weekend. I think he may even know that. He jumps into bed at 730 and curls up beside me leaning against me. I think that's his 'subtle' way of saying, if you want to get up and get me food and take me for a walk, I just wanted you to know I'm here for you. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

An hour later he pressed up beside me again like there wasn't that much room on the bed for him. It's really love. So I began to get up. Suddenly like a proverbial puppy shot from a cannon he's in my face licking away while his paws are baby punching me and trying to circle my neck. This is what I call my wet alarm clock.

 I decided to dress and take him for a walk. I worry about his bladder which is probably bigger and better controlled than a camels with all the piddling he does on every tree in the forest. My dressing makes him even more ecstatic so there's lots of circles.

 I'd read an Emmett Fox passage in the bathroom. He said the first attribute of God is life. God is alive and where there is life there too is God. The greatest expression of life is joy which he says is a combination of Love and Life. The Bible says we are to be joyful and in joy we meet with God who is life and joy and love. I always like the image in the Bible of David dancing when I think of joy. But joy was also on the face of the father in the parable son tale. Gilbert is joy incarnate.

The dock is covered in frost. My first thought is the water is frozen. Gilbert though leaps to the dock and careens down it's length only to run sliding back to me. Then he's sniffing every crevice for something new. He's forever like the story of the boy in the basement full of manure with the man. The boy is happily digging and looking everywhere while the man stews. Eventually the man asks the boy doesn't he realize we're in a basement of manure. Of course I do, answers the boy, but with this much manure there just has to be a pony somewhere. That's Gilbert.

I look up and it's a truly beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine. This is such a change from the gloomy rainy days we're used to in Vancouver. The air is crisp. There's fresh snow on the mountains making the white caps look simply pristine. Gilbert is prancing down the street looking in the bushes. I'm limbering up. It's a glorious new day. Gilbert does his business. It's healthy and good. On the way back I increase the pace to a brisk walk. I'm working up to joy. I wouldn't want to blow out a circuit board with a surge.

Gilbert's detoured by the place where his little yorkie girlfriend lives. I think he leaves especially fragrant notes for her to find where her mistress takes her out in the morning. Romance is surely in the air. I get back here to the computer and Gilbert's girlfriend Aim is has written him us a note saying she is getting married to Mark this summer. Gilbert's been invited to a traditional Thai wedding. Gilbert's ear perk up when I mention her name.  He's really happy for Aim and likes Mark too.

Now Gilbert's had a Little Caesar and drunk more water, he's gone back to bed. Joy is a bit exhausting. I'm thinking a little nap right now would be joyful too. After that we'll make our way to church for praise, worship and thanksgiving. Gilbert will be in joy all over again to see his friend Alice. Maybe Father Mark's dog Bear will be there too. Personally I'll be talking to God about a whole lot of other things.  I'll add joy to the list today. Life is to be loved and love and life are joy indeed.

New Year's Day Walk with Gilbert, 2013

This is Gilbert's favourite off leash walk. It's different every time we come. Some of the same dog friends and always some new ones. I chat with the owners while the dogs sniff butts, play chase or try to hump each other. Gilbert pees on everything. It's a really exciting part of the dog day. There's a nice view of Vancouver on the far shore. Then there's the Lion's Gate Bridge. It's right by the industrial part of the Vancouver Port with lots of going on at different times. Sometimes ships are being unloaded. Train cars come and go too.
There's different birds to
be seen. Lots of variety of ducks and geese. Recently there have been a lot of crows. The trees one
night looked like that Hitchcock film.






There's always great bums for Gilbert to snifff and dogs he really gets along with and plays ferociously with for a time.
It's all pretty rude but the owners are generally indisturbed by the normal politically incorrect canine communication. I always find it odd that the Darwinians are the greatest prudes in comparison. Dog owners by contrast are generally much more down to Earth


Sometimes the dogs play so fast they become a blur of activity. The tails go a mile a minute.

 It's all such a thirsty business too.  Now where is the next adventure