Tag Archives: ecology.com

Decisions, Decisions

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Well, I certainly have had a lot of time to think about things, now that Ryan is getting over the surgery and I am getting over the stress of it all!

Seal Beach is a very cool area. Still laid back, lots of older houses that haven’t been torn down and replaced with MacMansions! The house is just two blocks to the beach and I have been walking along the sidewalk or along the beach at least once a day. The negative ions are doing me the world of good. It’s definitely a location worth looking at as a home base. Just about everything is within walking distance – grocery stores, banks, library, post office and Main Street has an eclectic collection of sidewalk cafes, stores, bars and full restaurants. It’s not the glitz of Newport Beach, still has the old beach town flavor which suits me fine.

When I spent the time with Cody and Mel in Apple Valley, I considered moving there, even went so far as to look at Spring Valley Lake, a nice area quite close to them. But the more I think about that, the more I know it wouldn’t fit me and what I want my life to look like. I just don’t think I am a suburban grandma!

For most of my life, I have done what other people wanted me to do – except my initial running away from South Africa when I was 18. But that was because I didn’t know how to handle the situation I was in, as I pretty much had no role models to learn from. That role model deficit followed me for a long time! So I have either run from situations or done what I thought was the right thing to do, which was pretty much always what other people thought I should be doing and not what my heart, intuition, gut was telling me.

But now it’s time to do what I know is right for me, regardless of what I am hearing from other sources about what I “should” do.

I love being close to the family here. That’s why Seal Beach is good – almost equidistant from the boys. One-two hours to get to either of them, or them to me. Close but not in their pockets! Whether I can afford to find a place here is another matter, but I have simplified my life so much that all I need is a small place. I do know I won’t go into an apartment in a complex. Here in SB, as in many other small beach areas, there are one-bedroom apartments over garages behind the main house. This would suit me fine. Or, if Betsy does decide to stick around and wants to share a place, I can do that.

Of course, for years I’ve talked about living somewhere other than the U.S., but my short stay in South Africa brought home the fact that moving to a foreign country as a single person is not an easy feat. Add the fact I am a woman and “mature!” makes it more difficult. It is a dream I have not given up on and who knows what the future holds for me. I just know that at this point in my life, I need to be here.

Of course, all this hinges on ecology coming through and I am ever-hopeful.

It also means I will not go back to South Africa to stay. The main reason being the boys and their proximity.

But a huge factor in my decsion is the fact that I can’t do the traveling I want to do there, due to the lack of safety in the country. I am too independent to live there and it is not a place for a single woman, regardless of age. If there was a companion or partner in the picture who was willing to travel and explore, I would think harder about being there. But I have to face the fact that on my own, those options are non-existent.

I will miss seeing that side of the family and my friends there. And I know how important  friends, especially girl friends are! And most of mine are in Washington, where I know I will never live again! If I am based in SB, I can visit there fairly inexpensively and the girls can visit me – which I know wouldn’t happen in South Africa.

So whether ecology comes through or not, somehow I will find the ways and means to stay here. On 23rd, two days before Betsy returns, I head up to Port Townsend where Susan has a place for me, as does Mardelle. Teresa has a small truck I can use for transportation so hopefully the weather will cooperate while I am there! But it’s Washington so….

And I will see my kitties!

Today, Ryan and I are going to have a BBQ with Cody and family for Mothers’ Day and am really looking forward to that. Such a blessing to be this close.

Normal Life

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avosSo 10 days since I posted.

Just sort of slipping into normal life, I guess.

I did do a nice little day trip to clear my head. Drove the Old Main Road down from Cato Ridge down to Hillcrest, through the Valley of 1000 Hills. It was a gorgeous day, and I needed to decide what to do about ecology.com. And knew if I remained sitting in front of the computer, I wouldn’t really think about what I needed to think about. So got in my little putt putt and headed out.

soul-singer

This guy entertained us at the Shongweni Market

The road is windy and narrow and things really haven’t changed much up in the hills. Cattle wandering around the roads with and old ikhehla (old man) herding them along. A couple of the places have changed or gone out of business, but really, everything was pretty much the same. I stopped at the craft market and looked at all the stuff, all pretty much the same, but the setting is spectacular. And right next door is the Chef School, which now has a microbrewery and deli, which I will save for another trip.

Then I went on down to Hillcrest and the AIDS Centre to see Paula, who was just on her way out to lunch. I was very impressed with the improved quality of the beading the ladies are doing, some gorgeous stuff and of course, I didn’t have my camera with me, so another “next time.” Paula still claims I put them on the map with the first article I did on them, when the ladies were doing hand painted fabric bags.

From there I went down to Pinetown, still on the Old Main Rd, down Fields Hill and into the center of town. The area has cleaned itself up a bit in the center, but the first impression is still not good; dirty and trashy but even that was a bit better than three years ago.

Bread

Bread at the Shongweni Farmers Market

My main reason for going down there was to find pectin – the lemons are dripping off the tree outside my window and I want to make sugar-free lemon marmalade. So have to have the pectin which most people haven’t heard of! Even at Knowles, the BIG supermarket, they didn’t know what I wanted! And that store is enormous and has just about everything you could wish for – except pectin!

Anyway, by the time I headed home, I had come to a decision about the job, so felt better about it. I will finish out this month, get the big water project published and then spend my time looking for a new job, the very last thing I want to do, but out of necessity, must do. When the funding comes through, I will then return to the job. Jane, Janis and John are really wonderful people and completely understand my situation and have said there is always a job there for me, when the funding is in place.

So spending time looking online for jobs, and am waiting for a response from an interesting one in Reno, NV. Not that I particularly want an office job, but I have to eat so will take what I can. I am also putting out the word that I do Internet Research as a freelancer. Something I can take anywhere with me.

Yesterday, I spent the day with Rosemary which is always fun. It’s amazing how we don’t see each other for years at a time, yet we slip back into our old friendship like the years in between never happened. Fifty years of friendship create strong bonds!

Today was Farmers Market. When I first went to the Shongweni Market years ago, it was a real farmers market, with lots of vege stalls, eggs, flowers and food. Today, although the whole market has grown beyond recognition, there were only three vege stalls, a couple of places that had eggs, one free range meat place – and what seemed like hundreds of craft or flea market-type booths. So I was a bit disappointed, but we had coffee and bacon rolls – well, Debbie and Mick and bacon and egg rolls, mine just bacon and onion but so good, and just like a remember.

Tomorrow is my birthday and when Mick asked me what I wanted to do, I said “Go to the beach for breakfast.” So in the morning, we are going to Umhlanga Rocks and will walk along the boardwalk and find a cafe. Maybe the one Chris and I used to go to will still be there. And then when we get home, I hope to Face Time with all my kids and kidlettes.

Voice found

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So now I have a “kid” voice for ecology.com - it was a challenge, but after several iterations, I got it. Now I have a series of articles to do, basically rewrites of existing, dense pieces to make them kid friendly. My current one is all about algae! It’s like going back to school, as I am finding it is actually easier to write these things from scratch, rather than trying to edit down, and totally rework. Doing it this way entails a lot of research, but it’s a lot of fun!

This is a perfect set up for me. Part-time, anywhere-I-am work. Exactly what I want for Bocas, or wherever I end up. Be out and about in the early part of the day, home and working in the heat of midday, then out and about in the evening coolness. Just perfect.

Crab traps on the boat

Had a great weekend, weather-wise. A typical summer in the NW kind of weekend, with sun! Yes it actually was out for two whole days! Went crabbing both days, snagged seven beautiful, big Dungeness. For the first time, we trapped a lot of females, which of course we threw back. Got to keep those girls producing!

Went out crabbing again yesterday, snagged four more good ones – but they are a lot of work if you don’t eat them right away. It entails cleaning them, then cooking them. Then the “fun” part, cracking them and extracting all the meat, then pressing the cleaned meat into cupcake pans, freezing, popping the frozen serving size portions out of the pans and then into vacuum-sealed bags for long-term freezing. Takes ages! And my fingers are cut up from the sharp shells. But still definitely worth every morsel!

Because November and December are getting into tourist time in Bocas del Toro, I have decided to go down earlier, mid-October. But will go to Southern California first for a couple of weeks to see all the kids and leave from there. That makes it only two months before I go. Time to get things in gear and start getting rid of stuff. Clothes, junk, organize paperwork, decide what goes and what goes into the rubbish bin.

I travel light.

 

Squish

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There is no denying that this is a beautiful area. Mountains, water, rivers, greenery but oh so much rain!

We planned a trip over to the Arlington Fly In on the other side of the Puget Sound. They have these events in the summer, because, well – it’s summer and the sun is out and it’s warm and nice. It rained the entire time! Not a heavy rain, just a drizzle, enough to keep any planes from flying, as it is all VFR. The Warbirds weren’t even there. Within five minutes, my shoes were sodden, and I squished at each step. The water crept up my jeans until I was wet to the knees. Fortunately, I had decided against sandals even though I had checked the weather forecast which said partly sunny! I did take a wide brimmed hat, thinking that with the lily white winter skin, I would need protection from the sun. It turned into a rain hat! It was so nasty I didn’t even take my camera out of the car.

We stayed a couple of hours, wandered around looking at vintage planes, some replicas, listened to stories of how they were rebuilt which reminded me of Biff rebuilding Morgans, casting parts etc when there are none available.

But all-in-all, it wasn’t a bust; it was good to get away from here, even for a few hours, get a different perspective on life!

The latest news is I’m doing some work for Ecology Today. I’m on a project that I hope extends out to become permanent. To start, I am reading everything on the site – a crash course in ecology! – and identifying what needs to go, what needs editing, updating and what can be used and repurposed for the kid’s section. And of course, this is something I can do from anywhere!

I have no idea what is going on with the nuts – so am just going to have to walk away from it, send the keys to someone else, close the bank account etc. It just boggles my mind that these people just don’t communicate.