sol-rise

the first leg of my journey home involves walking over a great big bridge. you can see the whole sky from up there.. the sunrise is amazing. the absolute best thing about working the night shift is enjoying the mornings. i'm most def a morning person, if any time of day was mine that'd be it. it's different when the morning comes at the end of the day, the sunrise greets me on my slow mosey home and sparkles on the dew drops collected on the grass from the cool autumn night.

after coming down off the bridge i walk through an older neighbourhood where there are many old houses that still use wood burning stoves for heating.. i love that smell. i take deep breaths and slow steps. as i turn the corner at the end of the road the sun warms my back, i see the steam rising off the roof tops and the squirrells scramble up and down the trees.

i'm almost there.. i slow down even further as i approach the house. the sun streaks through the trees and kisses the garden hello. i sit for a moment on the bench out in the yard and just breathe. i have arrived, i am home.

by the lake

i'm acting all like that vacation didn't happen.. no, not really, it's had it's way with me and i do feel better. but i haven't really written about it or finished going through the photos yet and i'm already preparing for another journey. [oh wait, i did write about it, i guess i need to write more.] time to slow it down again..

the weather was rather rainy most of the week, but it didn't matter much.. we were out there. i've always said going to the east coast is like going back in time. it's almost like time takes a hike altogether for a while and the moment takes over your senses.. there's nothing more to do than relax and enjoy it.

this year's souvenirs were moments, songs and feelings.. things we could put to better use when we returned home. we both picked up some new tunes to listen to, always key to keeping the east coast vibes alive. we are reminded to take care, take our time with what we are doing. preparing our food, cleaning the house, or tapping into our creativity.. to make ordinary tasks into rituals, and embrace the present moment. this means a lot to me.

22 days of nights...

...and i'm barely a week in. it's been a year and a half since i worked the midnight shift, i've been straight days ever since. flipping my schedule upside down has done some nasty things to the routine i've been working on, and my house is a mess. i have no idea when is a good time to eat without digestion issues, it's incredibly hard to sleep in the daytime no matter what measures i take to do so, and i'm just incredibly exhausted. it took me months to get used to the upside down schedule, and less than a couple years before i couldn't do it anymore.

i really had little choice in the matter this time. inventory is coming up fast, and we are nowhere near ready to be judged. what i have to do to prepare involves making an incredibly huge mess to clean and condense, something i just can't do on day shift with a bunch of people around. it wouldn't be safe, and what i can get done in a night would take me a week. thus, it is necessary. at least it's brief.

hopefully next week will be better. i work tonight, then i have the weekend off. that's one plus at least, i have no competition for my schedule, so i get the weekends off through the whole ordeal. i see a little more of matt since we're both on the same shift, we have gotten into a routine of watching a movie around noon to prepare for bed. that's about the only part of a routine i can nail down for now. i have to force myself to stay awake until the afternoon because i need to wake as close to work time as possible to save my energy.. but i'm so crushed the morning after my shift it's hard to accomplish anything else.

it's not all bad, i must admit that i do enjoy my walk home in the morning. the sun warms my back, and i can step slowly, no longer in a hurry. night shift is always more relaxed too even though there's so much more to do. not being business hours we can act as strange as we like, and holler across the store if we need each other instead of paging and calling. that and we can all break together. in fact, we must as the doors and alarms are only unlocked for the duration of our breaks. it's a tight team, that i also enjoy.

i'll be back on days for a week before i take off for my third and final journey of the year, i'll be flying out to the dominican to photograph a wedding for some friends. it seems so far away right now, but it too is coming up fast. it'll be a trip indeed, i've never been to an island. a dream to look forward to after the inventory nightmare is over. ahh well, such is life...

a breather

perhaps it had been too long since i'd last sat by the sea.. it's like hitting a reset button in my head, and in my heart. there's something about being close to the coast that i find soothing. maybe it's the fresh ocean air, the daily morning fog or the blanket of moss that covers everything.. or maybe it's the black sky at night that spares a view of the milky way that could make your heart skip a beat with it's depth and beauty. it's probably all of the above, and other things i have a hard time putting into words.

 

i'm glad i had a chance to take a breather, and take matt with me too. traveling together is a good way to get to know someone, and yourself. as if we travelled back through time, or eliminated time all together. we set up our home base in 'the shed'. every time i visit it becomes more and more like home.. this time the perfect addition, a bed. it just adds another element of reality to the dreams i have of living comfortably in a small dwelling on a spot of nature somewhere.

the garden out back of the shed fills it's fenced in plot, and overflows out down the hill towards the lake. there's something blooming or ready to eat each day, a new expression of nature's freshness to enjoy. not to mention the company, everyone out east treats you like family. when you come to visit there's always room, open arms and east coast hospitality. this too is refreshing, food for the soul. that and getting back in touch with old friends, i had forgotten where i'd come from, and was reminded to relax... relax.

the journey put us both back in touch with our creativity, and inspired us to pull out the paints and instruments and get back to the simple joys in life that we had too long pushed aside to be a part of the mechanical working world.. we had lost our balance. it's good to have it back, now we can get a better handle on our time management, and get the most of the moments we have once again. make time for creativity, learning, productivity, and remember to take a breather.

Sunflowers

...i just wanted to say, i love them.

[common roots urban farm, halifax ns]