One of the advantages of not working in a city, is that you do not need to allot commute time into your daily schedule. In Vancouver, I was commuting about two hours a day to go to and from work and run my errands. Here on the farm, if work starts at 8:00 am, that means I need to leave my house at 7:59 am and walk out my front door onto the farm to begin my day. When work finishes, my personal time starts instantaneously.
There are a number of ways you can look at the benefits of this added time. First, financially, I am gaining about 10 hours a week of my time, to which I can allot a financial value. (Time is money don't forget.) Second, I have 10 extra hours, to pursue personal passtimes that I enjoy. Lately, that has been reading.
One of the best lessons that has come out of my trip to Haida Gwaii, is learning about Canadian author and poet Susan Musgrave. I learned about her meeting Michael from Masset, who is currently filling the position of caretaker for Musgrave's B & B in Masset, on our hike to the Pesuta shipwreck.
I really enjoy Musgrave's work because it is to the point, starteling, unusual and creative. She is able to articulate emotions and ideas about society with a wit and charm that I have never yet come across. Her work is both dark and humbling, hilarious and eye-opening. To top it all off, I am absolutely fascinated with her life story and am constantly seeking to learn more - for instance, she married a bank robber in jail after falling in love with the words he wrote for his autobiography which ended up on her desk for editing back in the 1980s.
So far I have read two collections of her essays and memoirs, both of which I would recommend - The Great Musgrave and You're In Canada Now...Motherfucker.
I would also like to share a poem that I really enjoy from the current collection I am reading, What the Small Day Cannot Hold: Collected Poems 1970 - 1985.
My Boots Drive Off in Cadillac, by Susan Musgrave
Always when I am dreaming
my boots, with my socks inside them,
drive off in a Cadillac
and I have to go barefoot
looking for nightlife.
The car, has California plates -
I'll never forget it.
I'll never forget those boots, either.
They were handtooled in Italy.
They were always too big for me,
they slipped off easily.
I never did think they were meant for me.
They were made for someone who was
far less flighty.
The socks had a special significance,
they were given to me by a sailor.
They were a size too small but he
wanted me to wear them.
He wasn't what you'd call a sophisticated
person.
I don't know what it symbolizes,
this dream where nothing fits properly.
It's almost as if I were going around naked
or worse, with no body at all
to make the old men wet their lips and ogle.
The men think they can buy me.
Up and down the strip I walk with a
hard line for takers - I'm no bargain.
I'm looking for a good time, a change
won't do it.
I'm dreaming of something more than a change
when my boots drive off in a Cadillac.
There are a number of ways you can look at the benefits of this added time. First, financially, I am gaining about 10 hours a week of my time, to which I can allot a financial value. (Time is money don't forget.) Second, I have 10 extra hours, to pursue personal passtimes that I enjoy. Lately, that has been reading.
One of the best lessons that has come out of my trip to Haida Gwaii, is learning about Canadian author and poet Susan Musgrave. I learned about her meeting Michael from Masset, who is currently filling the position of caretaker for Musgrave's B & B in Masset, on our hike to the Pesuta shipwreck.
I really enjoy Musgrave's work because it is to the point, starteling, unusual and creative. She is able to articulate emotions and ideas about society with a wit and charm that I have never yet come across. Her work is both dark and humbling, hilarious and eye-opening. To top it all off, I am absolutely fascinated with her life story and am constantly seeking to learn more - for instance, she married a bank robber in jail after falling in love with the words he wrote for his autobiography which ended up on her desk for editing back in the 1980s.
So far I have read two collections of her essays and memoirs, both of which I would recommend - The Great Musgrave and You're In Canada Now...Motherfucker.
I would also like to share a poem that I really enjoy from the current collection I am reading, What the Small Day Cannot Hold: Collected Poems 1970 - 1985.
My Boots Drive Off in Cadillac, by Susan Musgrave
Always when I am dreaming
my boots, with my socks inside them,
drive off in a Cadillac
and I have to go barefoot
looking for nightlife.
The car, has California plates -
I'll never forget it.
I'll never forget those boots, either.
They were handtooled in Italy.
They were always too big for me,
they slipped off easily.
I never did think they were meant for me.
They were made for someone who was
far less flighty.
The socks had a special significance,
they were given to me by a sailor.
They were a size too small but he
wanted me to wear them.
He wasn't what you'd call a sophisticated
person.
I don't know what it symbolizes,
this dream where nothing fits properly.
It's almost as if I were going around naked
or worse, with no body at all
to make the old men wet their lips and ogle.
The men think they can buy me.
Up and down the strip I walk with a
hard line for takers - I'm no bargain.
I'm looking for a good time, a change
won't do it.
I'm dreaming of something more than a change
when my boots drive off in a Cadillac.
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