The new normal?

What the hell does that mean?

So a year or so ago my hairdresser retired. She had cancer for the third time and now it was in her bones, her liver, her whole body.

So, I found a new hairdresser and though she is good, very good, we just didn’t have the same kind of connection.

You see my previous hairdresser, she is dyslexic, but really smart. She was a model when she was younger, very beautiful, Twiggy-like. And during my grueling three hour hair dye and cut session, we would have the most amazing discussions about movies and HBO, BBC or Netflix shows. We have similar tastes in film, always something different.

A year or so ago I let my hair go. No more dyes. I had been dyeing my hair since I was 16. Now it is all silvery and shiny.

Yesterday, she called me.

Today we went for a social distancing walk around the track near her place. She walked on the inside and me on the outside. Physically she is half of what she was before the cancer (which was small anyway), and of course half the energy.

We circled that track I don’t know how many times for an hour, talking about shows we’ve been watching and of course the “new normal”.

As we walked we both heard a house finch singing. My friend told me she has conversations with the birds in her backyard. She told them please, gather up this virus and fly it away with you.

All things bright and beautiful…

So as usual on a Saturday we decided to go for a hike but because of what’s happening in the world these days we wanted to make sure we went somewhere that wasn’t too busy. So we decided on Colony Farms Regional Park, which is a wildlife habitat/bird sanctuary. But before that we made a detour to our local Walmart.

Scared to enter..

I walked there the other day to buy some office supplies and some dishwasher detergent. When Darko went to start the dishwasher this morning he couldn’t find any detergent. We looked around a bit and I checked the receipt and it did show I bought detergent. Maybe I forgot to bag it? Anyway, it was worth a try so I went to customer service and the nice gentleman said to check on the shelf and if that product matched what was on the bill he would give it to me. So off to the detergent aisle which was close to the toilet paper aisle. There was a lot of paper and signs saying one per customer and people were just snatching them up anyway. After, I found the detergent I went to customer service and the man kept his promise and gave me the detergent. How great is that? He actually believed me. I hope I don’t find the lost package in the house somewhere. Well, I’ll take it back then.

Colony Farms Park

So off to Colony Farms. It was busy. No spot to park. We drove around a bit looking for a spot and then decided to drive back to the first small parking lot and wait for someone to leave. It worked, and we got out of the car, and started walking down the trail listening for bird songs. We only heard crows but we know that usually means there is something they are harassing. We looked up and there was a red tailed hawk perched on a branch maybe 10 feet up right beside the trail. It appeared to be injured and was having a hard time maintaining its balance. I noticed that its leg or talon was lame and hanging down limply. That is serious for a raptor because they need their talons to hunt. Anyway, it was just sitting there looking at us. I told Dare to stay beside it and keep people away while I went to the bulletin board to see if there was a number for wildlife rescue. There was, and I called the number but it was the wrong society and the man told me to call OWL which is a society that specifically rescues raptors. I phoned and a lady named Carol answered and said she’d be there shortly. And it was maybe 15 minutes later that she came with her rescue equipment and a determined look. She gave me a towel to throw over the bird in case it fell to the ground. She tried to maneuver it down but that didn’t work because the poor hawk got scared and flew up to a higher branch but it couldn’t balance there and flew to another. We followed it from tree to tree until it flew over to a tree across a small stream. No chance of getting it now. Carol said that all that we could hope for now is that when it gets weak enough from hunger, like in three days maybe it will fall to the ground and someone will find it, or some other predator will catch it. That’s nature. We’ve put out the word to a local raptor watch group so maybe they will keep an eagle eye out for it.

Help me

I’m not happy with all this attention

The best thing was that for an hour we forgot about COVID. People were talking to us wondering what was happening. All we could think about was that poor bird.

We’re only human

When I started blogging I was living in Qingdao on the east coast of China across from Korea. This was my 4th “attempt” in China. Each year I would say, enough, but somehow I would always come back. It’s maddening yet addictive. It’s China. That was the name of my first blog. When I was living in Northern China my first time, my next door neighbor was a young Russian teacher. He was fluent in Chinese, and I was fluent in English so we started up a friendship. That’s another story. But when I would get frustrated by bureaucracy he would say, “It’s China”. He was a Buddhist. A Buddhist Russian from Vladivostok who spoke perfect Chinese. It was great walking around with him because if someone would say something rude to us in Chinese he could reply. We had a lot of laughs. Oh “Where is This All Leading?” That was the name of my blog when I returned to China. And it came from a Jack Johnson song, ‘Never Know’. When I went on a spring break holiday with my sister to Sanya and Shanghai, I was listening to it on my Ipod. I couldn’t stop listening to it. It’s very relevant today.

Here’s the first post

https://sanshanb.wordpress.com/2006/05/04/were-trying-but-where-is-this-all-leading-well-never-know/

Resting my broken foot on the beach in Sanya.

via We’re trying, but where is this all leading? We’ll never know

Take me to church

Today I was feeling a little down so I decided to call upon Walkie to give me inspiration in these troubling times. We live in a temperate rainforest which allows the trees to grow magnificently and today it was glorious and sunny and the light through the cedars was like an Emily Carr painting.  So I walked.  Alone.  By the river, past the budding skunk cabbage, over the bridge, to the lake.  I took off my coat and sat down on it.  The lake was calm and in the distance snow capped peaks.  I let my mind go free as I summoned Walkie’s powers.  And all of a sudden, “QUACK QUACK QUACK”, two ducks circled overhead, making way for a landing.  And they landed right in front of me.  Barnie and Amelie for sure.  Thank you Walkie.

Sorry for those of you who did not experience the Opera blogging community.  It really was a community and that’s something we all need now.

New home

Well, it doesn’t feel like home yet.  Better move some things in first and then start decorating. 

It’s easy being green….

Rushing water

Colours of summer