Broken Clouds

“Not All Storms Come To Disrupt Your Life…Some Come To Clear Your Path – Goalcast

New windows have been installed in our apartment rental and on rainy evenings I’ve noticed a different rhythm, a staccato beat as the drops strike a gentle lullaby before sleep takes over.

The noise, dust and disruption has chased us to Vancouver Island where we’ve found shelter in a woodland studio amid towering cedar and gnarly arbutus. Winter sunlight has graced us twice resulting in languid walks through beloved forest trails and on the windswept beach where swathes of drying seaweed resemble undulating dunes.

This sylvan retreat guarantees respite from broken clouds – late winter storms and the warning whispers of an impending pandemic. There have been many stolen hours without the worrisome news, time spent walking, drinking coffee and cups of fragrant rooibos tea as the sun comes out to paint the dark green leaves of the many trees silver. We’ve arrived at a different time of year on this indulgent trip and these last days of winter have brought some unexpected delights – being woken each morning by the haunting call of a raven, the blue sky overhead filled with playful eagles calling out to each other and clear nights for stargazing with only the glowing moon to light the way through quiet forest paths.

It’s these delights now that calm me as the world holds its breath as an unleashed pandemic runs its course…

I’ve been for many walks in nature looking for love and human contact albeit at 6 feet apart on forest trails and by the ocean nearer to home – I found it observing a woman praying on a bench facing the sea, in words traced in the sand, “Have a good day”, coming upon solo picnics in the park and people tucked away among the trees, sitting on fallen stumps with their books and take-out coffee cups nearby.

We are doing well at the moment; we make a big pot of homemade vegetable soup (Spinach & White Bean), decanting it to freeze for 7 or 8 lunches and lately, have gone back to our Mexican meals – making a batch of refried beans from scratch to accompany omelettes, quesadillas and yummy fish tacos.

Each time I go out for a wander, I’m drawn to a grocery store or small ethnic convenient store where I find the item I used to buy regularly – most of them lost to panic buying -items that are kept on a wish list I carry inside my head and I’m grateful. We will get through this, find ourselves on the other side, find another pause filled with wonder and relief.

A driftwood fort constructed on Rathtrevor Beach near Parksville on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

On a walk back from the forest to our woodland studio at Tigh-Na-Mara, we came upon heaps of dry seaweed on Rathrevor Beach.

At this time of year (late winter) we noticed a lot of black rabbits and burrows scattered throughout the natural vegetation in Rathrevor Park.

Covid-19 update: I was sad to hear that ferry service to the part of Vancouver Island we love the most has been suspended for 60 days, another step in holding the line against an invisible enemy.