So I’m generally opposed to people posting information that basically alerts all thieves to the fact that YOU’RE NOT HOME, i.e. Twitter, FB status updates, etc. However, there’s not much worth stealing at my house, and the BIG children are there with their father, so, whatever. There are better fish to fry elsewhere, thief dudes.

I’m on Hornby Island with a dear friend!!! The water. The tide. The crickets! Oh, LORDY I’VE MISSED THE SOUND OF CRICKETS! Why aren’t there any in Burnaby? Were they killed? Is it too damp? I don’t know. I’ve missed crickets something awful. I’ve been writing in the morning, and then we go out around noon to the beach. Today was the first day of glorious warmth. We went to little Tribune Bay, and it’s the more local hippie beach. People are casually nude– young hippies, older couples, young families with little children, and I think how much my friend E would love it here. I’ve gone nude, too. I can’t claim that I’m a nudist per se. Only that if one is not socially obligated to wear a swim suit when swimming in a body of water, why would you? Alas, I’ve crackled my back… >__< . I LOVE SNORKELLING!!! And the water is cool/cold, so you don’t notice the sunlight getting you through water. OUCH! But I saw awesome things! Two different kinds of eels, one burgundy and small (baby?), one green and white-spotted, the same shade as the transluscent seaweed I’ve been calling “sea lettuce” in my head. Hermit crabs, some kind of spider-looking crab, and dungeness. I caught them in my hands, and was proud, thinking I could catch my own feed if we needed. Flatfish, purple, green and orange starfish, pink and green anemones. Entire communes of anemones! One brilliant white one, on a stalk, like a mushroom. A yellow sea slug. Ohhhhh, the slow back and forth of seaweed glowing in the sunlight, the brilliance of the algae. If I could, I would take the pills, I would accept the surgery that would allow me to return to the sea. Why did we ever leave? The air is overrrated…. Not to speak of gravity.

Tomorrow is going to be another sunny day. I will slather myself with sunscreen, truly! Apparently there are 6-gilled sharks in the area but I suppose they are down deep cold. I paddle about on the surface, staying close to the shore, where the water is warmer.

My friend and I have been looking up info online at our cottage. Sometimes S inadvertently  inputs “Horny Island” and I think it’s the FUNNIEST THING! Hahahahahahaha! The topography here is so distinct and varied. White sand beaches to beach hoodoos carved out 0f sandstone, slate, by the salty tide. The ubiquitous dramatic red and green limbs of arbutus trees, patches of rich rain forest. And the changeable weather, the changeable sea. Yesterday the surf pounded and roared– today was a soothing murmur.

I’m still writing, of course. I’ve hit 255 pages and counting. Sometimes I think about how many books George Bowering has published and it pisses me off as well as depresses me, but clearly I’m not George Bowering. I’m much better looking, for starters. (I can say this because he’s a friend. ^__- )

I’d been trying to meet daily writing quota with negative reinforcement at home…. But, man-oh-man– positive reinforcement model on Hornby Island sure feels nicer, I kid you not! I will try to develop a kinder program for me upon my return. An immigrant Japanese farmer Mennonite Baptist upbringing can screw a girl up…. (*o*)