sigh
In three hours I have to leave to catch a plane back to SoCal. Back to the crowds, back to the noise, back to the job I thought would be fun but has turned out to be very stressful and not much fun at all.
I’ve been home since Wednesday night. A friend of mine needed a place to stay, so I offered him the house. (He’s in Canada for Thanksgiving with his girlfriend’s family now.) Works for me, since it’s good for a house to be lived in. And he’s done a bit of tidying.
It’s so nice being someplace quiet! And dark! And the weather’s been lovely. There was rain this morning. 
I mended the fence yesterday morning, and had a friend over for charcoal-grilled steaks last night. I did laundry yesterday without having to walk to a laundromat. I’m listening to CBC on the radio, and hearing stories of places nearby. Yesterday I found myself in the back yard just… looking.
It’s high tide so I walked a football field’s length down to the beach, where a large number of ducks are floating in the calm water. A couple of gulls sit on a boat, occasionally shouting ‘Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!’, and a single hercon sits quietly on a post that juts out of the water. I could hear rain in the trees as I walked down the hill, but felt only the occasional drop pf mist. There might be sun later.
My friend and I had a nice walk with his sweet dog down to the corner market on Thursday. There’s a house for sale, across the road from the beach. Looks like one of those Lindal cedar homes. Nice place. Good lot. Excellent location. The asking price is $950,000. It’s a nice, large house; but not a million dollars nice! There’s also a half-acre lot along the way to the market that has eight rental cottages on it. $895,000 for that place. There’s a place up the street from me on the next corner. The owner wants $159,000 for it. My Canadian neighbour Angus said the floor is gone. The place is a ‘tear down’. I’m so glad I bought my house when I did!
Ah, but it’s back to SoCal for me. There have been changes at the office. Our team has a new manager, who doesn’t fly into panics like the old one. I finally got a mentor (after nearly four months!). I nearly walked off the job twice recently. I’m hoping things stay calm. If I can stick it out until mid-May, then I’ll have a full year. That would be a good time to move home. Especially when you consider how hot it gets in L.A. in the summer. (I can’t say I’ll miss the PNW winter, but it’s really not so bad.)
Less than three hours now until my ride comes. I need to pack my bag, have a shower, put away some tools, and do the dishes.
But there’s still coffee in the pot, so I’ll just enjoy being here a little longer…