Winding Down the Sunrise Tour

There have been some awesome sunrises and equally magnificent sunsets along the journey of the past year, not to mention a wide assortment of sunflowers. I did not find a sunflower field along the way as hoped, however seeing that people all over the country enjoy planting them was enough for me. Karma is up for sale, looking forward to another adventure with someone new. A potential buyer has plans to take her to California for a visit, which pleases me. Karma needs to get there at some point, and if not with me, then with someone else. If things go as planned, I could be in Australia within the month, so will be embarking on my own new adventure and will be winding down this blog with a final post when that happens. In the meantime, the next few weeks are going to be busy with all the paperwork and arrangements of what emigrating to another country entails, and winding down my life in Canada for now. Stormy needs to find a permanent home before I leave for Australia.

I don't want to lose sight of the current adventure in the haze of preparing for the next, so plan to try and squeeze in a few more new hikes, maybe a drive to Port Renfrew next week to see a few more surfer hangouts, and a night on the town with some friends this Saturday night. And there is always time to take note of one's environment - stopping to smell the roses you might say.

This is what I heard tonight as I sat in the doorway of my cabin on a padded stool, Stormy standing guard beside me, the screen separating him from the darkness of night.
- the dripping of water somewhere. It rained today, like it has darn near every day since November. There is always something that is wet and drippy this time of year.
- the honking of the Canada geese that circle overhead frequently and hang out in the lake below. I think there is a mating pair in the marsh nearby.
- the ribbeting of many frogs - very recent
- the wind whispering through the thick forest
- the murmuring quacks from the ducks who live in the lake below
- the piano man thundering away on his instrument, singing along
- the caterwauling of dueling felines who tried to drown him out...or sing back-up...it was hard to tell as they stole the show. Stormy was very interested at this point.
- the occasional jet roar from a not so distant flight path to somewhere
- an occasional car on the highway nearby, headlights flashing down briefly across the lake. The property owners do not own all of what is around the lake, just a portion of it, so there is development going up all around this piece of land, and the forest will shrink again. They bought what they could to preserve the wilder look of the woods.

It's a somewhat clear night. I can see clouds but also some stars among the clear bits of sky. Spring is definitely in the air here. There are 4 different types of birds or more that scour the front of the cabin for birdseed that I fling out each day. Stormy loves the entertainment and as the air gets warmer, I open the door and just pull the screen across so he can smell the outdoors. He squirms and makes noises at the birds like he wants to leap after them, but he has already figured out that he can't walk through the screen, and has not figured out he can probably shred it with his claws. Sometimes it's his ignorance that keeps him safe.

I won't be up for sunrise in the morning...not unless it's a blinding sun...