Tag: travel

now to figure out how to permanently move to seattle

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september, seattle, fire spinning at gasworks park

One of the most amazing things about this trip, past the fact that it’s happening at all, is that Tony and I are going to get to spend an entire two weeks together, the longest period of time in each other’s company we’ll have had since we met in 2002. Once he gets off today’s bus, we’ll be inseperable until November 29th.

Tony’s such a fox

Tony

NASA CONFIRMS WATER ON THE MOON.

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Somehow somewhere in the next twenty-four hours, the maddening mess around me has to coalesce into a travel ready me. I’ve no idea how I’m going to accomplish this, as I’ve put all my warm clothes into a suitcase and discovered it’s still half empty, even when it contains a sleeping cat. Apparently over time I’ve renounced being an Owner of Sweaters, or even of Pants or Long Sleeved Shirts, essential ingredients during the last biting Montreal winter I gleefully survived. I suppose today I’ll take a bit of time, disguised cleverly as my lunch hour, and unearth some, though I’m not entirely sure anymore where such things are sold. The Le Chateau sale place is close, though, as is Winners, and if I don’t find anything there, I might as well give up until I can go shopping along Rue St. Denis or St. Catherine’s, a plan that gets shiner with every passing hour.

Most of our plans for Montreal are the shiny sort, (Go Directly To Santropol, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Get $200 Dollars, and the equally obvious Purchase A Warm Coat Already You Foolish Girl), though they did a bit of an unexpected shimmy recently, shaking off the drive down to NYC with Melanie and Lung, leaving us with some uncertainty in regards to our adventures. I remain optimistic, however, even as I face the terrible pressure of being an inexpert wedding photographer, as according to a quick poll over on Facebook, which very quickly took on some serious consistency, everyone’s favourite thing to do in Montreal is eat delicious food, a skill at which I am pleased to claim to be somewhat of a master. Om nom, om nom indeed.

ITEMS STILL MISSING: warm clothes, camera flash, ear cuff, bras, ipod cord, jammies, one lime stocking.

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A beautiful picture of a crescent Earth, taken by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft.

taking a deep breath

Scientific concepts depicted with photos of everyday objects.

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The rather intense list of things that need done before we step on a plane to Montreal on Saturday morning is shrinking, but not fast enough.

The rent for the month is paid, the furniture David and I listed on Craigslist has all been spoken for, (the biggest piece already gone), the two smaller sets of shelves we needed to replace the sold items have been brought home and put in place, and finally, after a month of pestering, the landlord has blessed us with laundry tokens.

In turn, I still need to see Silva, get a paycheque, do my laundry, all of it, hours worth, final polish the latest Secret Knots, purchase a warm coat, sort through and clean all my camera cards, my room, and my suitcase, find my appropriate power cords, find a bloody flash for the wedding, contact my friends in Montreal, pry out their schedules, get Lung‘s address, arrange a possible ride to and or from the airport, and finally, blessedly, pack.

poking a mammal with a stick

His smile crackles, a semi permanent halo. I watch him from the window as he jauntily walks to work, fizzing with the knowledge that I am lucky, so lucky, to have him in my life. As he turns to wave, vanishing behind a building, I smile back, and mock groom the fluffy ears of our shared white monster hat. I love him so much in this moment, as I am sure he loves me, and with that thought, he turns, pouncing from behind the corner with his hands up like paws, trying to surprise me, as if his backpack hadn’t been poking past the bricks as he hid, the feet of a child who hasn’t quite grasped the intricacies of being unseen.

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Hundreds of free animated all kinds of films now available through National Film Board’s new iPhone app.

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We’re going to Montreal soon, for Michel‘s wedding to a very clever woman I’m not sure I’ve met and to visit with Lung and Christine and Dee. I’ve hit that place in my travel plans where the imminent departure date has begun to make me nervous. Do we know where we’re staying? Where we’re going? Does everyone know when we get there? Daft concerns, the sort of fretting that helps no one. If I don’t know yet, I soon shall, so put a lid on it, will you brain? It’s not a panic so much as a very low grade adrenaline hum, as my subcutaneous tissue tenses in anticipation, as if I’m about to run in a race, pounding the pavement to music playing slightly too loud but just under the edge of my hearing.