MOVING ON UP

Tomorrow I move myself and the few belongings I have with me to the side of a mountain on the west side of Kelowna. A friend is going to be in Germany for a month with most of her family and I am house-sitting. Two cats, 3 levels, new tenants moving in to the basement suite, one son still at home but not home much, a collection of irreplaceable files and photo albums together in boxes in the garage ready to be tossed into the car at a moments notice if there's another fire induced evacuation, and a fabulous view of the lake in the distance. I think I can handle all that. I will, however, miss the pool. Looking down from one of the three balconies that span the back of the house, I have a view of the neighbour's pool, which I am sure will be very tempting in the weeks to come as the house has no air conditioning either, and I have been spoiled.

I will have use of a car. Which is a nice idea but I have no money for gas. I also have no money for food and so should lose some weight, which is never a bad thing. My phone bill is due tomorrow and it's for two months of service, as a voice on the other end of the phone explained when I freaked out at the amount, because they bill for the month ahead and so when I came back from Florida and had to get a new plan, I hadn't paid for July yet. Or something like that. It made sense at the time. But I don't have the money to pay it and if I lose my phone line, I never will because it's the only way a potential employer can get hold of me.

Speaking of which, the project for a new game at Disney has been scrapped so the position I interviewed for has been scrapped along with it. I got a call on Friday that sounded like they had another position for me that was mine for the taking, and it was arranged for me to come in and 'meet' the head of the department first thing Monday morning. I was encouraged by the use of the word 'meet' and not 'interview' and that solidified my belief that the job was mine if I wanted it. When ushered into the room for the 'meeting' it turned out to be a full blown interview with two of the most unreadable people I have ever met in my life. One of them could have been a cardboard cut-out person for all of the emotion he showed. His face barely changed expression the entire hour... although I did manage to elicit a ghost of a smile from him twice.

Anyway, I left feeling very discouraged as the whole thing just didn't feel like it went very well and I wasn't sure it was right for me. If it was the days before computers, it would be a total paper-pushing role. I remember one of the questions I was asked in the first interview was what about work gave me fulfillment and my reply was something along the lines of 'utilizing my creativity working with a team to accomplish a goal'. There would be no creativity employed in this role. However, I determined to take it if offered, and work hard until a better opportunity within the company presented itself. I was told at the end of the interview that they would let me know within twenty-four hours. So I went back home to wait.

Tuesday morning came and went without a call, and so did the rest of the day. At four I called the head of HR and left a message on her voice-mail. Wednesday morning at about ten, I emailed her. She called me two hours later to tell me the news.

The two who interviewed me think I would have no problem with this position. However. They are looking for someone who would want to move up to a Project Manager role in the future. Would I be interested in that? I replied that I would need to see a job description before I could answer that question. She told me to research it on-line and I asked if they didn't have a job description for the role particular to their company. She said that she didn't know and would get back to me on that. So I agreed to do some research and email her with my response.

A couple of hours later I sent her an email saying I would be very interested in progressing to that level and, should it expedite the process, would be willing to take a course or some training once I had the coordinator position. I still haven't received a job description from her and I haven't heard back as to what the decision is based on my email. So here I am in limbo.

In desperate need for some cash, I wrote to the insurance adjuster for the mall where I slipped and fell on some spilled water. Apparently they are still trying to determine who takes the blame so that they can then have the insurer of that department pay me. I can see this taking a long time.

I am having some resumes printed for me this afternoon by my friend and so will head out and find some temp agencies and anyone else who is looking for applicants. I hate job hunting with a passion.

Last night a new friend on FaceBook messaged me. He works at Disney and he used to be a Vancouver sound mixer for the film industry. My daughter introduced me to him when I was at the office for my first interview. He bought an apartment up here but now is moving in with his girlfriend so is putting his place up for rent. It's mine if I want it. It's two bedrooms and a good price. It overlooks a park and is a 5 minute walk from the Disney / Club Penguin offices. He wants to rent it out September 1 but will wait until October 1 for me. It would be so great to be in a position to take it come October. If I get this job at Disney, I just might get some semblance of my life back before winter sets in.

THE BLUE POOL BLUES

The sun is trying to shine through the thick haze of smoke from the Terrace Mountain fire. When I look out of the kitchen window for the first time this morning, I see a lot of black stuff floating in the pool. I am puzzled by it then it dawns on me that it is from the fire. I go outside and take a look and, sure enough, everything is covered in a coating of grey ash and black bits of charred bark and pine needles. I touch a pine needle clump just to make sure and it disintegrates into ash. I go back inside and eat breakfast and then back outside to clean it up.

I scoop as much of the black bits out of the pool as I can and then go turn on the filter to get the rest. The pool is still very cloudy despite being shocked earlier in the week. I decide to vacuum the drifts of sediment that has settled onto the bottom. I wrangle the hose off of the fence and manage to figure out how to hook it up to the filter and get started in the shallow end. I go really slow as not to disturb the sediment and it's taking a long time. After about an hour and a half I only have 1/6th of the pool done and I am hot. I go back into the house and change into a swimsuit and feel a lot better. After about another hour I am so hot it feels like I am about to spontaneously combust so put down the vacuum and get into the pool to cool off. While I am standing there I get a light bulb moment. Why can't I vacuum the pool while I am in it? So I grab the hose and shorten the pole and start to vacuum. What a great idea. Now I am cool and not having to reach so far with the long, awkward pole. I am about 20 minutes into it when a young couple stop by. This is the guy who is supposed to be cleaning the pool in exchange for time teaching scuba lessons in it. Granted, he just got married and is fresh off of his honeymoon, but in the month I have been here he hasn't done a thing to the pool.

'Hey." he says. "Are you house-sitting while everyone is gone?" Donna and Malcolm have gone to the coast to visit his sister and family and taken Moriah with them. "No." I say, "Bethany is still here, and I am just visiting." "How come no one's been answering the phone all morning?" he asks. "Well I have been out here cleaning the pool, " I say with a slight emphasis on the 'cleaning the pool' bit, "and I have no idea why Bethany isn't answering the phone." "So you're cleaning the pool then?" he asks. Didn't I just say that, and isn't it sort of obvious, me standing in it holding the vacuum and all? "Uh... yep. Someone has to do it. It's filthy. And this morning when I got up, it was full of floating ash from the fire." He asks if I have much suction in the vacuum and I tell him it was fine up until about 10 minutes ago and now I don't seem to have much at all. He goes over to one of the jets to make sure water is still flowing though the system, and it is. Meanwhile I ask his new bride how their trip to Mexico for the honeymoon went. "I want to bring my dad and two brothers over today for a scuba lesson." he calls out from across the pool. "Is that okay with you?" he asks. I had asked Donna before she left if there were any visitors to the pool planned while she was gone and she told me that all their friends know not to come on the weekend. There are a lot of moms and kids come and use the pool during the week, so I was happy about that as I planned to spend quite a bit of time in here over the long weekend. I want to swim a lot of laps to get myself back into shape as well as just relax in the water in this heat. So this is a surprise to me, being it is Sunday. Also, I don't want anyone in the water, disturbing the sediment. "Well, not until I get this pool cleaned. I want to vacuum the rest of it, and this has taken me two hours so far so it's going to take me the rest of the day to get it all done. If you guys come in then you will disturb all the sediment." He is quiet for a bit. I start to check why the vacuum seems to have stopped sucking altogether. There is no suction from the hose. I tell him and he goes back to check the intake and then the valve. "Could the basket in the intake be clogged?" I ask. "That should have come out before you put the vacuum in." he tells me. "Oh I didn't know that. It's in there. Could that be the problem then?" "Not unless you've been sucking up a lot of big leaves." "No, haven't done that." "Well, if we get in here and stir it all up with a scuba lesson, the filter should take care of it." "No I don't think so." I say. "The filter was on earlier and still all this settled to the bottom. And I really want to get it cleaned up. I don't want the water full of it again."

I click the vacuum head back onto the pole and hose but there still isn't any suction. I am frustrated as I really want this pool clean. "So then, I'll be back in a bit with my dad and brothers then." he says, "See ya later." And they leave me standing there with my mouth open. Frustrated, I get out of the pool, detach the hose from the filter, and coil it back onto the hooks on the fence. I would like to have tried to get most of it up before they come back but there's no point in wasting time vacuuming with a hose that isn't working. Maybe the filters will take care of the sediment if I leave it on all night instead of turning it off for most of the time like Malcolm does. But I have a suspicion that what will happen is I will get up tomorrow and everything I just cleaned will look as it did before I started.

Sure enough, it is now the next day and I get up this morning and look out through the kitchen window at the pool through the weird orange haze that the freshly risen sun is casting through the heavy smoke. There's no ash floating so their wasn't any wind last night. But the shallow end of the pool is dotted with clumps of sediment again.

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE...

The whole of Glenrosa and now across the highway down to the lake has been evacuated. That means that The Cherry Pit is closed for business so Shonah won't be able to take Ashleigh and Rob for breakfast there as she had planned. Overnight, the fire has grown to 250 hectares and is showing no signs of being contained. They are still reporting that only 3 houses have burned down but I can't imagine that is still the case. I see on FaceBook that some friends who had just arrived at the camp on the mountain I went to as a teen were evacuated right away and now the week of Family Camp is canceled.

note: above pic taken from site of the '03 fire burned trees in foreground

Ashleigh calls me at about noon to tell me that they are on their way home. They have to drive the long way around as the highway out of town goes right through the fire so is closed. She is feeling much better today. I am thinking that she must have had food poisoning. Even if she ate what everyone else ate, some of the food was take-out and hers could have been from an old rotation.

We watch the news throughout the day and learn that there are now two new fires. One is an enormous one burning down the valley on Terrace Mountain. It is burning unchecked as there is nothing up there but a ranch or two whereas the Glenrosa fire and now the Rose Valley fire threaten whole subdivisions and even the town of Westbank. All firefighters are needed at those two fires. The Rose Valley fire is heading over a ridge where a friend of mine has a house. She writes on FaceBook that it is snowing ashes at her house.

Shonah comes over at about 3 and we drive out to the far Mission to see the fires from across the lake. All we see is a lot of smoke, no flames, and there are 3 helicopters scooping water from the lake and then dumping it on the mountain. I can see that the Rose Valley fire has crested the ridge and is now heading towards my friends home. We take some pictures and Shonah decides to come back later when it's dark to get some shots of fire.

We drive to White Spot to get some yam fries and as we are driving back into town, we now have a full view of the smoke rising from the Terrace Mountain fire. It's immense. There is a massive cloud that extends from the mountain all the way down the valley to over Winfield. It goes from one side of the valley right over to the other. As the sun goes down, the play of shadows and sunlight on the ground is surreal in color and looks almost painted on. If this keeps up, there will be no sunlight at all tomorrow.

If you click on the third picture to enlarge it, you will see a helicopter fighting the blaze with a bucket of fire retardant on a rope dangling below it.

LIFE IN THE SUNNY OK

The trip up to Kelowna is fun and uneventful. Shonah drives all the way, despite my offer to relieve her at any time. When we get to my friend Donna's house, we unload my stuff and the girls keep going.

Donna shows me to my room. It's empty of any furniture except for a small table. Apparently, her daughter just moved out of the room today to take up her newly married brother's recently vacated room downstairs. Donna's husband appears, hauling a mattress to put on a wooden pallet on the floor. Voila! I have a bed.

I dump my bags in the room and then go back downstairs to have a cup of tea and get caught up with Donna. She is tells me that they are happy I am back in B.C. and really glad to have me stay with them until the end of the summer. She is excited about my interview on Tuesday with Disney Online Studios (as Club Penguin is now called) and tells me that they receive hundreds of resumes for every job posting so it's amazing that I have made it to the interview stage.

I head off to bed tired and with a huge headache, it seems I am not over the concussion yet, but happy to be with good friends again. Malcolm has made up my bed for me while I was downstairs and I sink into it gratefully. It doesn't take long for me to drop off.

The next morning, Donna gives me a handful of coat hangers so I can start to put away my clothes but it isn't going to be anywhere near enough so she suggests that I drop her at work and take the van for anything I need to do. Once I drop her off, I drive to WalMart and buy a package of 30 regular, as well as four skirt, hangers. I am sick of spending my precious dollars on hangers!! Especially when I have a big box full of them in storage but I need them and so there isn't much I can do about it. I also stop at Home Sense for a pillow as the one I had last night is too thin and I woke up with a headache and a sore neck. When I get home I discover that I am about 20 coat-hangars short. I should have bought two 30 packs. Later in the week I go back and get another.

When Donna comes home she tells me that their family has plans to go to Birch Bay for the weekend. They are using a condo on the water that a friend of theirs owns. One of their daughters can't go because her passport hasn't arrived in time so she asks me if I want to join them. I say that I don't want to intrude on family time away together but she insists that she wants me to come. So I agree to go. It seems funny to finally be back in Canada and now I am gong back to the states in a few days.

Donna's dad is in his 80's and lives in a suite attached to the house. A cleaning woman comes once a week to clean his place, and it is paid for by the government. Donna pays her extra and she cleans the rest of the house as well. Apparently the woman just quit to pursue other work and Donna wants to know if I would want to take the job over while I am here to make some money. If not , she is going to hire someone else but wanted to see if I was interested first. I say, sure, I will do it. I plan to do it on Thursday but when the day arrives, my head is still killing me and I can barely get off the couch all day.

Tuesday I go for my interview with Disney. I am interviewed by the head of HR and the head of Research and Development and they have a lot of questions for me. I am there for two hours and it goes very well. The next day, the head of HR tells my daughter (who works there) that she 'loved' me and would hire me tomorrow if it was up to her. That gives me a lot of hope. I won't hear for a while though, as this is a new position for a new team and the start date has not been finalized yet.

I get a call from the insurance adjuster for the mall. They want to make me an offer. The guy says he wants to meet with me to take a statement as to what happened but when I tell him I am going to be in the Okanagan for the summer, he asks me to write it all down and email it. I go to my blog, cut and paste my account of it from there, edit it so it doesn't sound so much like a blog, and send it to my son to see what he thinks. He tells me that, other than it sounding more like a novel, it's fine. So I send it off wondering how much money they will offer me.

Just after I got up here, a friend sent me an invitation to a cocktail party being held by the Okanagan Film Commission for crew up here to meet some producers who plan to shoot a movie in the fall in and around Kelowna. I go to the meeting and it turns out that the producer is a woman I have worked for in the past and got along really well with. She tells me that she is thrilled that I am up here and would be able to work on the show as it is a first time director and he will need a strong script supervisor. The job is mine if I want it. I tell her i would love to do it if I am not working for Disney by then. She tells me to let her know as soon as I know either way. I promise that I will. I also spend a bit of time talking to the head of the Film Commission and find out that there is only one script supervisor in the Okanagan and that there is a lot of work headed this way come the next year. He tells me to send him my resume and that he will pass it along to the producers of a TV series starting up in the fall.

Friday morning we leave early to get down to Birch Bay. I have the back seat of the minivan all to myself and I brought my pillow so I lay down and sleep part of the way. My head is still not right and I find I am tired a lot during the day. The miles go by quickly and before I know it, we are in Abbotsford. I notice that we drive right past the exit to the Sumas crossing, the one Donna said they wanted to use and I assume that, while I slept, they decided to use a different crossing. We pass the exit for the Aldergrove crossing about fifteen minutes later and soon see a sign saying the next three exits are for Langley.

"Why are we in Langley?" Donna asks, "Did we miss our exit?" I tell her that, if they wanted Sumas, we passed it half an hour ago. She isn't happy but I tell her that if they take the first Langley exit, we can cross at the 176th Street crossing. So for the next 20 minutes I give them directions as to how to get there. I direct Malcolm all the way down to zero avenue so that we can bypass any lineup on 176th and when we get there, there is a huge line-up and we enter it very close to the border without a problem.

I haven't been to Birch Bay in over 20 years and when we get there, nothing much has changed. There are no stores except for a small corner grocery. This place has such potential but it seems the residents would rather it stay the way it's always been. Our condo is lovely and looks out over the water. There is a loft bedroom upstairs that Malcolm and Donna will use, and another bedroom on the main floor with two twin beds and a huge deck outside the sliding glass doors. This is where Bethany and I will stay.

We stop long enough to drop our bags off and put the bit of food we brought into the fridge and then Donna is chomping at the bit to go shopping. She has talked of nothing but Ross since we got going and she can't wait to get there. We pile back in the car and drive another half an hour down the freeway into Bellingham where there is a Ross across the street from Bellis Fair Mall. We spend the next two hours combing through all the racks and shelves and in the change rooms trying on armfuls of clothing. I buy two tops, a long black dress, and a black purse. Donna buys about a dozen tops, some pants, and 4 or 5 pairs of shoes for herself; a couple of dresses and matching shoes for her daughter -in-law and the daughter that couldn't come; and 4 or 5 shirts and 3 pairs of shoes for Malcolm. Her cart is piled high.

We then head over to the mall where, apparently, Macy's has an incredible sale on. She finds a pair of Calvin Klein Jeans marked down from $175 for $12. She also buys another pile of shirts and who knows what else. I find one sweater top I like but I don't buy it. I can't afford to be shopping like this. The next day, Donna goes back and gets some more bargains and gets the top for me. She won't let me pay her for it.

We grab dinner at the food court in the mall and then stop at a grocery store on the way back to pick up some food for the rest of the weekend. The store also has a clothing section and I find a rack full of lots of different styles of flip flops for $6.99. They are buy one get one free so I find two pair in my size and toss them into the cart. If I had more money to spare, I would get some for my daughters as well but I just don't. Besides, I don't know what they would like, their tastes have changed a lot since they lived at home.

We get back to the condo, watch a movie - Martian Child, it's very good, and then head to bed. The next morning, after breakfast, Donna and Malcolm go back to the mall and I stay back with Bethany. I am all shopped out and I want to enjoy the gorgeous sunshine. Once we are dressed, Bethany and I go for a walk on the beach. We are out there for about 10 minutes and we are both freezing cold. It's a sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky, but the wind off of the water is has a bite to it and it's too cold for what we are wearing. We go back to the condo for something warmer to wear but, once we are inside, neither of us feel like being in the cold wind. The deck off of our bedroom is sheltered from the wind so I decide to change into my bathing suit and read in the warm sunshine. Bethany goes up to the loft and watches TV all day.

Malcolm and Donna were only supposed to be gone for a couple of hours, but it is dinner time before they return. We make dinner together and then sit in the sunshine on the deck until it is too cold to sit out there once the sun goes down.

We were supposed to stay until Monday morning, but at breakfast on Sunday Donna tells me that we are going home today. Her brother has hip surgery tomorrow and they couldn't find anyone to drive him to the hospital so they will need to be back to do it. I spend the day on the deck in the sunshine again while everyone else is up in the loft watching TV. By 4 o'clock we are all packed up and in the car ready to drive back home. I enjoyed relaxing on the deck in the sunshine and reading my book. It was nice to be by the water even if it was too chilly to be on the beach. It felt great to be able to sit out in the warm sunshine without sweating and needing to jump in the pool every 5 minutes. Not that I minded the heat and the pool in Florida AT ALL.... I love the heat, but it's just a different heat here, less intense and a lot less humidity, and it's nice.

Monday I get stuck into cleaning the house and doing the laundry for her dad. It's a big house and it hasn't been cleaned in a while and so it takes me all day. I have a pounding headache and am exhausted by the time I am done.

There is a huge in-ground pool in the backyard and I am dying to go swimming in it, but it's in dire need of cleaning. Apparently, a young friend of the family offered to upkeep it in exchange for use of it to teach a diving class. He hasn't kept up his end of the deal. I offer to vacuum it but when I go outside to do it, the vacuum doesn't seem to be sucking anything up so I give up after half an hour. A few days later, Malcolm cleans it all up ready for a pool party for Bethany's birthday. It looks great but when I go dip my toe in, it's freezing cold. I check the thermometer and it's 70 deg. WAY too cold to swim in. It's hot out and the pool looks so inviting so it is torture. I eventually do go in, a few days later when it has crawled it's way up to 74 deg. It's really hot out and so use my pop-up floaty thing to float around the pool and stay cool.

Friday morning, two of Donna's friends come over. They meet regularly, just like my Mom's group in Langley, and they have been praying for me while I was gone. I know both of the women from when I lived in Kelowna for three years in the early 90's so it's good to see them again. They ask me lots of questions about my trip and about my interview with Disney. The company is a huge deal up here and everyone knows someone who is working there. The three guys who started it go to local churches, one of which is Donna's church so many of the kids who have worked in the CR department since it's inception as Club Penguin are youth from the church.

I beg to be excused before they are done as I am meeting a good friend from the film business for lunch. We worked together on jPod and have stayed in touch since the show ended. Her husband is in the film business as well but the two of them sold their home in Vancouver and bought property in Oliver and have built and recently opened their own bed and breakfast and named it High Chaparral. She is coming to Kelowna to stock up on provisions at Costco and called to see if we could get together. I am to wait for her at the Mac's store just around the corner from where I am staying. Unfortunately, I told her to make a right where she should have made a left and so it takes a while, and a phone call to me, to find me. When I climb into her SUV, it is great to see her again. She is looking happy and well rested. We head up the road to a Japanese restaurant and spend a very nice hour or so talking about film, my trip, her B&B, and having a few good laughs. She really wants me to come down to Oliver to see the cabin they built for the B&B and I will as soon as I have a vehicle to make the trip.

On the weekend, Bethany has her birthday party but no one uses the pool as the water is just way too cold. The girls spend most of the time downstairs in her room.

I spend a lot of time tidying up and keeping the kitchen cleaned up. Donna has a crazy schedule due to the pastor of her church taking a sabbatical and she has picked up a lot of the work load. The kitchen tends to accumulate a lot of clutter as soon as my back is turned.

The weather has turned cool here, with big heavy clouds covering up all the blue sky. If the sun pokes out, it's a warm sun, but mostly the sun is behind a canopy of thick grey clouds and it's breezy and cool. Where is the gorgeous Okanagan summer Kelowna is famous for? I hope it comes back.

TRIP OF ANOTHER KIND

Fran drives me to Denise's, my friend who let me stay with her for the five months between giving up my house and leaving for Florida, so that I can pick up my suitcases of winter clothing that I stored at her place, and then to the mall so I can buy Ashleigh's birthday present; some items from her good dish set that she didn't get for wedding presents. When I get to The Bay, I select a cream and sugar, a gravy boat and three serving bowls. The cashier rings them in and they are 40% off so I add a casserole dish and a meat platter to the pile and it still doesn't come to what I had planned to spend so I am really happy. I carry it all out to Fran's car as I don't want to lug it through the mall as I make one more stop to pay my cell phone bill.

Fran says she wants to stop in at Cobb's Bread and the vegetable store so I leave her there and go inside to head to the Fido store. I am walking at a brisk clip in my flip flops and suddenly my feet go out from under me. I realize right away that I stepped on something really slippy, it felt like a piece of fruit or something. I also realize that I cannot recover and I go down hard on my right elbow and hip. I fall right in front of the dentist office and there are two women at the counter talking to two receptionists.

The two women are at my side before I know what has happened. "Do you have any health problems?" the one on my right asks me. I am a bit dazed and don't answer right away. I am thinking, 'health problems? I fell down, I don't understand the question.' The woman on my left says, "She is a nurse. She can help you if you need it." The nurse asks me again, "Do you have any health problems?" "No. Just a bad knee." I say. "My head hurts." I add. "You must have hit your head, it certainly sounded like you did." she responds. I feel the back of my head but it doesn't hurt and there isn't a bump. "I don't think I did." I say. I try to get up but they won't let me, "Just stay there until someone comes." they tell me. I can hear one of the receptionists calling for security. I start to feel silly just sitting there as people go by, turning their heads to look at me. One nice man stops and asks if I am alright and the women explain. Two handsome young security men come up, one is holding a first aid kit and by now I am standing up. I insisted on getting on my feet.

They walk me over to one of the padded benches and sit me down. The nurse tells him I have a headache and he asks me if I know what day it is. "Tuesday." I reply and then realize I am wrong. "NO, Thursday." "Date?" he asks. I want to say, 'sure but don't you think you are a bit young for me ?' but instead I reply "The 18th." "Great." he says. I am rubbing my elbow because it really smarts and I notice it feels funny beneath my fingers. I check the other one to see if I have the same lump in it and I don't so I say, "My elbow feels funny to the touch." He takes a look at it and there is a lump forming already. He takes out an ice pack and has me hold it on my elbow. I look at the other fellow who is just standing there watching and say, "Would you do something for me?" "Sure." he responds. "I am here with a friend but she is outside at the bread or produce store. She is short with dark short hair and her name is Fran. Could you go tell her what is happening?" "Absolutely." he says and goes off. The remaining security fellow asks me a bunch of questions about how I fell and what I was carrying.

Before long the other guy is back with Fran and she asks me how I fell. I tell her. She asks the guy if he has checked my pupils. He hasn't but now he does and says they are fine. My head is killing me now and he says I most likely have a concussion. I tell him I have had one before. Fran tells him how I got it. It was about ten years ago. I was at her house sitting on her couch which had a loose pillow-back with a hard rail backing behind it. She said something funny and I threw my head back in laughter and my head went between the pillows and hit the rail, hard. I actually felt my brain hit the front of my skull and for the next two weeks I had virtually no short term memory. It wasn't until I asked my husband the same question three times in a span of a minute that I realized something was really wrong and went to the doctors. Now the young guy tells me that once you have had a concussion you are more susceptible to another. He wraps up his report and then sits with me until Fran goes to get the car.

Once in the car, I tell Fran that I have to pay my cell phone bill as it is 4 days past the due date so she drives me around to that part of the mall and we go inside and I pay it. She suggests that I should go to the mall administration office and tell them that I am going to go see a doctor for my head as it is really hurting. I decide to take her advice and we walk to a directory to find out where it is. We find it and see it is beside Ingledews, a shoe store. She asks me where that is from where we are and I look up and see The Body Shop at a junction in front of me. Now I know this mall like the back of my hand but, for a full 15 seconds, I have no idea which way is which. It's a really strange feeling and I don't like it. I cannot for the life of me come up with the direction I am facing or where to go from here. Suddenly it lifts and I point to where we need to go. As we walk I tell her what just happened and she says 'That's it. I am taking you to a walk-in clinic as soon as we are done letting them know." I don't argue. That was scary.

We find the office and talk to the receptionist and then Fran drives me to the walk-in. As I stand at the receptionist desk it is all I can do to keep my eyes open. I just want to lie my head down on the counter and sleep. I don't know if this is because of the fall or jet lag but I didn't feel this way before I fell.

I get in really quickly and as I am waiting for the doctor, I hear a mom and a little girl in an adjacent room. The girl has the cutest little voice and, although I can't see her, I figure she is about three years old. She is chattering away and asking questions. Her mom has had enough and says, "Ok now you need to be quiet. This is a doctors office and there are sick people here and you need to be quiet." "But I want to talk." the little girl says. "No. You need to stop talking." "What's that thing for on the wall?" "I said, stop talking." "Do you have new shoes on, mommy?" "STOP talking." "Mommy. I said, are those new shoes?" "Ok, you know what? If you don't stop talking, the lollipop goes back to Miss Jane." "No it doesn't." "Oh yes it does." "NO! You are not my teller." "Oh yes I am your teller." "NO YOU ARE NOT!" "Yes I am. Now this is your last warning. Stop talking or the lollipop goes back to Miss Jane tomorrow." "Where is my lollipop?" "In the truck." "Well I will get it before you can." "No, I will get it first." "No you won't. I will and you are not my teller." "Yes I am." "You are not my friend." "BE quiet. Or it goes back to miss Jane." "NO!" "Ok that's it. It goes back tomorrow." "No it doesn't. You are not my teller and you are not my friend." "Fine then, be quiet or it is going back." "I will take off my shoes and socks and walk outside barefoot." "Well then you might step on something and get hurt." "NO! I will be careful." "Put your shoe back on right now." "Nope." I hear a rustling as the mom, I am guessing, takes her on her lap and puts the shoe back on. The little girl starts to cry. It is all I can do not to go in there and say, "Listen, you can take this for what it is worth but I have raised three kids and I am telling you now, if you don't stick to your guns, follow through on your threats and nip this in the bud, you are in for hell when she is 11 or 14 or 16." Not that I had this problem because I was really firm with my kids for the first three years and after that they knew who was boss. I have seen the results, over and over, of not sticking to your guns with little tykes. But I don't go in there and the doctor shows up for them and closes the door.

Soon it is my turn and the doctor checks me over thoroughly. She tells me that I have a concussion, my elbow isn't broken, and to ice it and my hip and to watch for certain developing symptoms as far as my head is concerned. She makes a lot of notes because there may be a lawsuit, she says. She tells me to take some tylenol for my head, if I like, and to lie down for the rest of the day and no reading or anything else that requires concentration. TV is ok.

When we get back to Fran's she makes me lie down and brings me a glass of water. She asks if I want the TV on but my head aches too much for that. I doze in and out as I lie there. Shonah phones me about travelling to Kelowna on the weekend with her and after 10 minutes of conversation I have to hang up because it is making my head pound. I lie there thinking of everything I have to do before Sunday. I need to go through all of my clothes, both what I took to Florida and what was at Denise's and repack for Kelowna. I need to wrap Ashleigh's gifts, and a few gifts I brought the kids back from my trip. I need to find boxes to pack away all the things I don't want to take to Kelowna, like my books that I took to Florida, and anything that won't fit in my suitcases that I am leaving with Fran. Most of this will take a lot of bending over as I don't have a bed at Fran's, just a big fat comfy foamy on the floor. I can't bend over without extreme pain so I don't know how it will all get done.

The next day, Tom puts a long folding table up in my room and now I can work on my packing. I wrap the presents at the kitchen table and that works well. My head is not as painful but I have developed a stabbing pain behind my right shoulder blade that is pretty harsh. I must have jammed it when I fell on my elbow. The women at the mall said I made a loud crack when I fell, they thought it was my head but I am sure it was my elbow. I am getting quite the bruise on it.

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, JIGGITY JIG!

So we do get water hooked up right away and I go turn on the heater. While I wait, I start dinner; chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots. Jake and Nancy have left to drop Bob off at home and then pick up Jake’s car at the Pet Resort. Before he left, Bob gave me a big hug and said he had really enjoyed getting to know me and hoped I'd had a good time in Florida. I tell him that this trip and the snorkeling trip he took me on were the highlights and thank him for taking me out on the water. He thanks me for rescuing him from falling in the water earlier today. He says he totally over-reacted but he was really afraid that he might get run over by the houseboat. I tell him he had a risk of getting crushed between the hull and the dock, the way things were going. He blanches and says he hadn't thought of that.

When Jake and Nancy get back, dinner is pretty much ready and so we eat. Then I get my much longed for shower and I finish off with a cool water rinse. It feels fabulous but the trouble with doing that is, the heat hits you that much harder when you towel off. But it is worth it.

There is a gorgeous sunset and I grab my camera and take some shots of it. It's one of the nicest since getting here and it's like a going away present for me from Florida.

I dry my hair and then try to figure out how to get the blow dryer and the rest of my stuff into my bags. They are literally bursting at the seams but I manage to find just enough space. I put the blow dryer in my carry-on. I decide to haul the heaviest suitcase out to the car. I have been a bit worried about lugging it from the boat to the dock but they are butting up against each other almost level and it’s a piece of cake. Lifting it into the backseat of the car isn’t quite so easy but I get it in and slam the door. One down, one to go.

I get dressed in the outfit I will wear to go home and then sit in the main salon and think I will watch some TV with Jake but he is sitting there watching the Direct TV logo bounce around a black screen. Apparently the dish is not pointing in the right direction, now that we have moved, and so he can’t pick up the signal. I can’t believe he is sitting there, out of habit I guess, watching a logo. He is drunk and so in a mood to regale me with stories again. Some I have heard already but I just let him talk. He has a good laugh over poor Bob hanging onto the side of the boat; he has brought it up at least 8 times throughout dinner and the evening. He asks me a strange question. “As a WOMAN, what was going through your mind when I told you the cleat was at your feet and you saw it?” “The one I picked up, you mean?” “Yeah.” “I thought, he can’t mean this but it’s the only one I can see.” He shakes his head. “What a blond moment.” he declares. “Umm, I hope you realize I wasn’t serious. It was meant for comedy relief.” He doesn’t say anything.

Eventually he heads off to get some sleep and I stay up and read. At about 1a.m. Nancy gets up to see why the light is on. I guess it is bothering her so I turn it off and watch the electrical storm over the everglades for a bit and then go to my room. It’s looking very bare now. There is just my purse, my straw hat, and my backpack. I lie down on the bed and read for a bit and then turn off the light and nap. I doze in and out of consciousness, listening to the wind howl and rock the boat, until 3 a.m. when I get up and put some makeup on for the first time in two weeks. It’s not hot inside and just nice and warm outside and I will be in a climate controlled atmosphere for the rest of the day so I figure it won’t slide of my face in 15 minutes like it has been doing. Once that is done, I try to wake Jake, who moved into the salon and is dead to the world on the couch. I can’t rouse him. This is the guy who told me last night that he ‘just has to talk to himself about what time to get up when he lies down and that’s it, he wakes right on time.’ Ya, right. I decide to haul my remaining suitcase out to the car and when I go to the back deck, the boat has shifted in the wind and now the small cement dock is to the far port-side of the stern. Fortunately I can still step off ok because it has become wedged hard between the boat and the land. The wind has whipped the water into a foamy chop all around the back deck and the water splashes over the carpet. I roll my pants up to my knees and wrangle the bag off the boat and onto land. I try to watch for poisonous frogs and any other critters that like to come out in the dark. It's hard to see much but there is a powerful light on the neighbouring property about a hundred feet away and so it isn't pitch black out. I don't see anything moving. This suitcase is much easier to get into the car. I go back for my backpack and once that is in, I have to try to wake Jake again.

I loom over him and poke his shoulder, “JAKE!” I say loudly. His breathing changes. This is progress. I repeat the process and his breathing quiets. I repeat one last time and he wakes up with a laugh, of all things. “Hehehe… I was right out of it there.” he says. “It’s time to get up, we need to get going.” I say. It is now 3:35 and I wanted to leave at 3:30, as in - driving away. Nancy has heard us and gets up to make Jake a cup of tea to take in his thermos cup. By the time we are in the car and pulling out, it’s 3:45. Jake say’s it takes an hour and a half to get to Fort Lauderdale Airport. My flight leaves at 6:30 and I want to be there no later than 5:00. He says I don’t need to be there ‘till 5:30. That is shaving it too close for me, thus my wanting to leave at 3:30. Looks like we have split the difference.

He moseys on at a leisurely pace, going 40 in a 55. At this rate it will take two hours to get there and I start to worry. He picks up the pace a bit but the whole way there he keeps dropping way below the speed limit and then, eventually, getting back up just to drop back down almost right away. I am on pins when the clock reads 5:30 and there is no airport in sight. Not even a sign on the freeway saying the airport is ahead.

Eventually those signs start to appear and the road divides repeatedly and more than once I have to call out, “You need to be in that lane there!” Or “You have to exit here.” “Where?” “There, coming up on the right. Now. NOW!” I can finally see the airport on our right and the exit for it is clearly marked as right ahead. The two far right lanes both exit and he is in the left one, which also leads to a second exit. He misses the exit we need and now we are headed onto a different highway, despite my calling out, “You need to go right. You need to BE OVER THERE. Great, you missed it.” He gets annoyed. “Maybe you should drive.” “No, I just want to get to the airport and we are short on time.” It is now 5:40. He, once again, takes this opportunity to say, “I don’t know how you think you could go sailing. You can’t handle a bit of a problem without panicking.” I want to tell him to sod off but I say nothing. He takes the next exit and now we are on a normal street. He turns right at the first light and it’s a private road leading into some sort of work-yard with a big security gate. He pulls a U turn and when we get back to the light I see a sign that says to turn left for the airport. I tell him to turn left and, thankfully, he does. I keep my eyes peeled for more signs for the airport and eventually, with me telling him when to turn, we get there. He asks me which terminal I am going to and I have just seen the sign that lists them and they are color-coded. I quickly pull out my E-ticket but there is nothing on it about what terminal. Jake has just seen a sign for Continental Airlines and so follows the yellow signs. I tell him to get in the far right lane for departures but he stays where he is and we go down a level to arrivals. It is now almost 5:54 and I am really worried. He stops at the Continental sign and I jump out to go find a cart for my bags. When I get inside, the place is deserted except for a big guy in an orange shirt waking towards where I am. I see the baggage carts but they cost $4 in coins and I don’t have any change. I practically accost the poor fellow and beg him to help me. I tell him that the person who drove me missed the exit for departures and I need to get up there as soon as possible. He asks where I am flying to, I tell him and he knows my flight number. I tell him I don’t have the change for the carts. He asks me where my bags are and I tell him they are outside still. I walk to the doors and he comes with me. When we get out there, Jake has literally dumped my bags all over the sidewalk. They are upside down, on end, and my backpack, which contains my laptop, is lying on its side. I don’t think of it right then as all I am concerned with is getting to the check-in desk but later I wonder if he tossed my bags and if my computer will be ok. Gladly, when I get on my flight in Houston, I get it out and turn it on and its working fine. Jake is getting back in his car and I am sure would have just driven off and left them there, but he sees me and asks, “Do you have everything now?” I say that I do. He gets in the car and drives of without so much as a good-bye. I was planning to give him something for gas and tolls. Oh well.

The big guy takes both of my large bags and lifts them. I tell him they have wheels and he drags them inside and to the elevator. I follow behind pulling my backpack, which is also on wheels. When we get to the check-in the line-up isn’t too long and I am relieved to see it. The fellow drops my bags right in front of the desks. I thank him profusely and press $2 into his hand. He doesn’t want to take it but I insist and tell him I wish it were more, as he has been a hero, but it's all the small bills I have. He takes it and leaves and I wait my turn to check in.

I am soon called up to the ticket desk and then the agent promptly walks away and leaves me standing there. I look down and realize that I need to check myself in on the computer that is there. It takes two tries as it won't read my passport but it finally works. Once that is over and I pay for just one overweight bag, even though the other was one pound over but she let it go, I head back downstairs to security. I hate this part. I have to go through the line with the thing that puffs air at you and I don’t like that either. It always makes me jump when it goes off. Then when I go through the metal detector, I set it off. I forgot I had my cell phone in my pocket. I take it out and go through again. All is good. Well, not so fast. They are looking at the x-ray of my backpack and see something they don’t like. They call a guy over and he asks whose bag it is. I say it’s mine and he takes it and me over to a table to go through it. He opens it up, removes a couple of things, pokes around at what is left and then puts it all back together. That was easy.

When I get to my gate, which is close to security for once, they are already boarding and have just called my row. I walk right up and, once my pass is checked, right onto the plane. That is a first for me. Usually I am there 2 to 3 hours before boarding. I hate being stressed out with last minute rushing and so never, ever check in less than 3 hours before my flight, and more often 4. I really wanted to buy a bottle of water as I am parched but there was no time. When I get settled into my seat, I am in the back of the plane, second to last row. The drink tray starts right at the front. The couple beside me sip, somewhat smugly it seems to me, on the lattes and waters that they had time to buy before boarding. Ah, well. I am on my way HOME and other than a dry throat, I couldn’t be happier.

I am leaving Florida without seeing Key West or going to Disney World, the only two places I would think to go if I was going to take a vacation here. It seems a shame but, one day, I will come back and do both. With some or all of my kids.

I didn’t get to learn how to sail, or dive either. My whole purpose for coming never happened. But it wasn’t a waste of time. I got to spend time with my cousin who I hadn’t seen for 18 years. I have a fantastic tan and feel very rested. I got to go snorkeling and see everything in perfect clarity, thanks to my prescription mask. I saw dolphins in the wild and experienced the thrill of one swimming with our boat. I made a new friend. And best of all, I had time to think about what is really important to me in this short life and, as I always knew, it’s my kids. Even though I was feeling like my job was done and they didn’t need me anymore, I now know I couldn’t leave them for more than a few months at a time. They mean the world to me and my world without them in it isn’t much of a life. I can't wait to see them.

THE BIG DAY

It’s Tuesday, the big day. I am awake early but don’t want to leave my room just yet so I sit in bed and type up my blog for the past few days. I get carried away and before I know what time it is, Jake knocks on my door and says I better get up. I poke my head out and see on the wall clock that it is 9:30 already. “You have about 20 minutes before we have to get off.” he says. We can’t be on the boat while it is on the lift. I hurriedly dress and grab my camera, phone and water bottle. I down my vitamins and run a comb through my hair and catch it up in some clips. It’s getting really long and I am thinking of going short again when I get home. And blond. Really blond.

We get off the boat and I take pictures as the process of getting the boat off of the supports and lifted begins. It takes a while. I walk out to the dock for a better vantage and look down into the water to see a huge school of Parrot Fish. Looking closer I see a small Ray of some sort as well. He is just sitting there not moving. I take some pictures of the fish and one of the ray and then I take some of the boat as it is driven to the water and lowered in. The houseboat looks so much smaller once it is in the water. It's weird to see it that low. They turn off the big rig’s motor and everyone walks away. I turn back to the water and look for more fish, and there are lots of them and I snap some more pictures

Sam, the owner of the boatyard calls out to me and asks where Jake is. I say I don’t know, that I thought he was over with him. “No. That cheque he gave me, the bank says there isn’t any funds.” “Sorry, I don’t know anything about it,” I say, “I am just visiting.” “Oh.” he says and walks back to the rig, fires it up, and lifts the boat back out of the water and lets it dangle there as he walks away. Ok, that's not good. It’s then I realize that Jake’s car is gone and he has left yet again without telling me and now I have nowhere to go. I can’t go on the boat, obviously, and it’s blazing hot out here with the shade rapidly leaving. I am not happy. I walk down the dock to where the people who live in a small houseboat there have set up a little makeshift bench of breeze-block and a plank. It’s in the shade and I sit down. I check the clock on my phone and it's almost 10 o’clock, which means it’s almost 7 at home. I dial Ashleigh so that I can wish her a happy birthday. I hope I am not waking her. I needn’t have worried as she is on her way to work. We chat for about 20 minutes and she tells me she can’t wait to see me. I feel the same and talking to her just makes me long all the more to get back. I am so glad tomorrow is the day!

Jake comes back while I am on the phone and when I look up after hanging up, he has gone again. Now there is no shade and I am broiling. Half an hour or more ticks slowly by and just as I think I might pass out he pulls in. I tell him Sam was looking for him and he says he knows. “That idiot tried to cash the cheque before we are even out of here.” he says. “I have been back and forth to the bank to sort it out.” “Is it sorted?” I ask. “Yeah.” I ask if that is why Sam took the boat out of the water and he says, “Of course it is. That’s the problem with being a thief; you think everyone else is a thief as well.” Funny because just the other day he was telling me a story about how he used to steal steaks in California, stuffing them down his cowboy boots and inside his jean jacket. He claims he did it so the kids could eat but I don’t think they needed steak. Takes one to know one I guess.

We wait around for 15 minutes or more for the guys to come back and put the boat in the water. When no one shows up and we are both dripping with sweat, he gets in the car. “It’ll be cooler in here.” he says as if I am stupid for not thinking of it myself. “Yeah it will. If it’s running and the air is on.” I reply. “What?” he says. I don’t repeat it. He starts the car and I get in. I have no idea where we might be going but I don’t care. The air is blasting and it feels fabulous and that is all that matters at the moment. He drives up to the yard office and gets out, leaving the car running. As I sit there I notice that there are three buttons on my arm rest and they each have a picture of a car seat on them. Two show waves of heat coming from just the seat on one and then from the seat and back on the other. The third button does not have waves, just a bright sun beside the seat. I push the button and immediately my seat cools right down. Amazing. Before long Jake is back and he tells me that when Sam lifted the boat back out of the water, a lot of water ran out of the bottom. I tell him I didn't notice that. Now Jake is freaking out that the welding job isn't good and the boat leaks. “Why doesn't he come and put the boat back in and take it out so you can see for yourself.” I say. “That’s what he’s gonna do, isn’t it.” he snaps back at me. Okay then. So that is what happens and I stay in the car and watch while there is a lot of talking and arm waving between them. Then Sam goes back to the lift, drops the boat back in the water and starts to maneuver it out of the slip. I turn off the car and get out as it seems wasteful to sit there with it running for so long. The heat hits me like a wall. Jake gets on the boat and one of the yard workers comes to help move the boat to the dock. I watch the slow process of easing out of the slip. Once it is free of the lift it starts to float to the dock and I can see that it is going to hit it. I run down the dock and get there just before the boat does and reach out to try to hold it back but there is no way I have the strength to push it away and it hits with a loud crunch and bounces off. I see that it has smashed one of the lights on the bow and it now dangles in pieces at the end of the wires. Jake runs forward and I say, “You just lost one of your lights.” “Oh, thank you very much. I really wanted that to happen.” he snaps at me. I am way too hot and cranky to take it lying down so say, “Oh, I’d guess you’d rather not know then? Rather I not tell you?” He doesn't reply, just gets the bow rope and holds it out to me. I take it and hand it off to the yard worker who ties it to a cleat and then I notice that the back end is drifting in towards a small dinghy that is tied up to the dock. “Oh no, we are going to hit that boat.” I say. I run back to see if we will clear it "We aren't going to clear it!" I yell, and we don’t as the boat hits with a sickening crunch. The yard worker runs to pull the dinghy out of the way but it is tied up too tight, there is no slack to move it. Somehow we get the houseboat down the dock enough to clear the dinghy and then I grab the stern line and tie it up. Jake gets off and then I see that it’s a bit loose so I go to tighten it up and he grabs it out of my hand. “THIS is how you tie up a boat.” he says and proceeds to do it just as I had. “I know how to tie up a boat.” I say. He scoffs and then yells, “Look at you getting angry because I am showing you the right way to do it. THIS is what you did.” he says and then proceeds to make a mess of it that looks nothing like what I did. “THIS is what you should do.” and then proceeds to do exactly what I did. I just get on board and walk inside.

He leaves again without saying a word and while he is gone I take another look at my luggage situation and hit on a solution of sorts. I am going to be overweight no matter what so I decide to put all the heavy stuff in one bag and therefore have just one overweight bag to pay for. Not ideal but the best I can do. So I set about switching everything around and because we now have no power on the boat and so no air conditioning, I am sweating like a pig. But I am so focused on what I am doing I barely notice. And to think I never used to let myself break a sweat. It seems that is all I have done since getting to Key Largo.

Jake returns in about an hour with Bob, the captain of the dive boat that took us out on Sunday. He helped Jake get the boat to the boatyard 5 weeks ago and now will help to get it back. I am relieved that Jake won’t be doing this on his own.
Bob asks Jake, "Are both motors running?" Apparently they weren't when they brought the boat here; they came the whole way on one engine. Jake replies, "I don't know." and I can see that Bob is not impressed. He shakes his head and grimaces as he heads for the cockpit.

Bob turns the key for the starboard engine and it starts up right away. Twenty seconds later there is a loud constant beep from the console. Bob groans. "Something is wrong with the engine" he says. He turns it off and goes back to where Jake is at the engine. They can’t see anything wrong but Bob thinks maybe it needs oil. Jake takes off to buy some oil. While he is gone Bob tries to fire up the generator but it won’t start. He calls Jake and tells him to pick up some starter fluid.

Jake gets back and they do whatever they need to do and the generator runs fine and now we have power. As for the engine, apparently the connections to the battery were really loose and have now been tightened. Once Jake is out of earshot, Bob shakes his head and comments to me how unprepared for this trip Jake is. Five weeks of sitting high and dry with nothing to do all day, Bob thinks that would have been a great time to check the engines and make sure the genny was running well, not to mention cleaning up all the crap on the decks so that a person could actually get to the ropes without tripping over something. I can't disagree.

Bob starts the starboard engine and the beep starts up again. They can’t figure out why but they decide to go with it. We cast off and Bob is soon yelling that he doesn't have any steering. We bump hard into the dock on the stern. Jake is yelling from back there that we are hard on the dock and Bob yells back that there isn't any steering. He turns off the engine and goes back to see what is up. Jake is yelling something about fluid leaking all over the place from the genny or somewhere. They seem to get that taken care of in about ten minutes and then Bob starts up the engine and tries again. He still doesn’t seem to have steering and Jake is yelling that we are about to hit something. And we do, hard. Bob tells Jake to take the wheel and he goes outside. It isn’t long before he yells, “JAKE!! HELP. QUICK!!!!” He sounds terrified. Jake doesn’t move. “JAKE!! QUICK, GET OUT HERE.” “WHERE ARE YOU?” Jake asks. “PORT SIDE FRONT. HURRY!” Jake doesn’t move. I yell, “HE NEEDS YOUR HELP JAKE, HE'S FRONT PORT SIDE.” I cannot believe that he still isn't moving so I run out onto the front deck. Bob is hanging onto the side of the boat with his fingernails and toenails. The fly screen is zipped up all around and he can’t get in and he is about to fall off. “HURRY!” he screams. I can’t find the zipper head. I reach down but can't feel it and then up but it isn’t there and then down again and find it way at the bottom tight to the hull. I force my hand in and rip the zipper open, flinging the netting out of the way. “GRAB ME!” he yells. I grab his arm thinking that there is no way I can keep this big guy from falling off and I can't see how he is going to be able to step over the railing from where he is without losing his grip. I suddenly see that there is a gate right in front of me in the railing and I yank up the catch and kick it open with my foot. I am still hanging onto Bob for dear life with my right hand. Jake now decides to come out and says “Just step in Bob, for f***s sake.” I pull hard on Bob’s arm and he makes a giant step sideways and falls onto the deck. Meanwhile, the houseboat is drifting and Bob yells “We are about to hit that wall!” and we do with a loud crack and a shudder. Jake runs to the back to push off and I lead Bob inside and he collapses on the couch. He is shaking like a leaf, sweating, and his face is beet red. All that coupled with his laboured breathing has me worried he might be having a heart attack. "Are you ok?" I ask. "No." he says. Ok so now I am really worried. "Are you having chest pain?" I ask. “I’ve hurt my back.” he says. I ask if he wants something for it but he doesn’t. “This is a disaster.” I say.

After a minute or two of rest, he gets up and takes the wheel again. Apparently it was just a spasm and he is fine now. Jake yells from the back that we are about to bottom out. We have drifted into the shallows. Bob is pulling forward and Jake yells that the props are hitting the bottom. Bob yells back that they aren’t, it’s just really shallow and it’s kicking up silt from the bottom. Jake comes in and says, “Then why did I hear thumping?” Bob hands the wheel over to Jake and tells him to guide the boat out to sea by keeping the sticks on the port-side and the boeys on starboard to stay in the channel. “STICKS ON THE LEFT, JAKE!” he yells. “I AM TRYING” Jake yells back, “I HAVE IT HARD OVER TO THE LEFT.” I guess boating terminology goes out of the window at a time like this. “YOU NEED TO BE HARD TO THE RIGHT JAKE, YOU WANT TO GO BETWEEN THE STICKS AND THE BOEYS.” I can't bring myself to look out of the window. I just don't want to know. Jake finally turns the wheel. I am wondering why Bob doesn’t just do it himself. He is a captain, after all.

By some miracle, we make it out of there without totally wrecking the dock, running aground, or otherwise hurting ourselves or the boat. But I am seriously wishing I had taken up Nancy’s tongue-in-cheek offer to spend the day at the Pet Resort with her. She wants so bad to be here for this but at the moment I think she is having the better day. I am just praying we get there alright. I am having serious doubts.

Once we are clear of the shallows and out where there is no danger of hitting anything other than a turtle or another speed boat, I take my water bottle and sit in a chair I have moved from the roof onto the bow deck. I am watching the water and I can see all the way to the bottom. I can’t see any fish down there, we are going too fast for that although we can’t be going more than 5 knots. Along the way I see a small fish skip along the top of the water like a rock. I ask Bob what that could have been and he tells me it was probably a needle fish. That’s what it looked like to me, I recognized it from seeing one when I went snorkeling, but I didn't know they could do that. He tells me it is how they escape their predators. Every now and then I see a big splash ahead but I never manage to see what made it. At one point it feels like we're veering back and forth and I look back at the wake; sure enough. We aren't 10 minutes underway and Jake's already having trouble keeping the boat on a straight course. I can't imagine what it'll be like when he's had half a dozen or more beers.
A bit later I come inside and see that Bob has blood all down the sleeve of his left arm. "What happened to you?" I ask. "Oh nothing much. I was down in the engine compartment fixing a leaky hose and rubbed up against the fan-belt. It's nothing." I am thinking how I boated for 6 years or more and not once ever did anyone go into the engine compartment while it was running and fix something. I can't believe that it's a very safe practice or a good idea.
This is going to be a long trip, apparently it took 9 hours to get the boat to the boatyard. Bob doesn't think it will take that long to go back, "At least I am hoping not." he says. They both crack open their second beers and then I am hoping it doesn't take that long either. If both of them are going to drink the entire trip, they won't be in any shape to tie it up to the mooring balls and dock when we get there. And I know I won't be able to do it. I am more than a bit worried about the drinking on this trip. I am a firm believer in not drinking while underway on a boat. It just isn't safe. And considering the trouble we have just had while they were both sober, it just doesn't bode well. I decide I better be keeping a sharp eye out for the rest of the trip.

We motor past Ocean Reef, the exclusive community on Key Largo where we went snorkeling from a few days ago. Bob points out a HUGE house and tells me it belongs to the family that owns Chiquita Banana. He says that they bought the property with a big house on it for 7 million and then bulldozed that house and built this one for 20 million. Oh to be wealthy. What must that be like?

The weather is changing and over to the left just past Ocean Reef there is a bank of dark clouds and forked lightening. We never sail into it but the sky does cloud over and it cools off considerably. Earlier in the trip I tried sitting on a deck chair up top but I came down after 20 minutes, it was just way too hot, and sat back down on the fore deck. As we get closer to the canal that goes through the mangroves I spot a dolphin in the water ahead. I jump up for a better look and it swims right towards the front of the boat. I am worried that we will run over it and it appears that we have. I lean over the bow to see if it's OK and there it is, swimming in our bow wake. I yell to the guys that there’s a dolphin. Bob comes out to look. I just took my camera inside. I run in to get it and by the time I get back he is gone. DANG! Up ahead I see two more dolphins breaching and I snap a picture but it’s just as they go under. They swim right towards the boat again and I am hoping they will swim in the bow wake when a wave runner races up and scares them away. That’s disappointing. Bob tells me that he is out on the water almost every day and has been for the past 25 years and has only seen that happen one other time. "It's a rare treat," he says. "I am thrilled to have seen it and even more so that you got to." he tells me. What a sweet thing for him to say.

It's been about 5 or 6 hours since we banged our way out of the dock of the boatyard. We have just passed under the bridge that links Key Largo to the mainland and are making our way to the property where I can see Nancy is waiting in her truck. We slowly troll up to the first mooring ball and Jake hooks it with the boat hook on the first try and then gets me to take over and lift it out of the water so he can clip the line onto it. That goes off without a hitch, thankfully. Now, in theory, the current will swing our back end around towards the cement dock tied to the permanent dock. It doesn’t happen and what ensues is a back and forth, pulling lines, yelling at Nancy to grab the stern with the boat hook she is holding (yeah right), bottoming out with the props, and so on. After about an hour of this we are finally lined up. Jake has to get off the houseboat and onto the pontoon boat and bring it around for the second line, which is then tied to the second ball. At one point Jake is on the pontoon boat just off our starboard bow and he tells Bob that he can tie the line onto the cleat right at my feet. I look down and there is a cleat there all right, but it isn’t screwed down to the boat, it looks like a spare or something. “Down there, right at your feet!” he yells impatiently. So I bend over and pick it up and hold it out. “This cleat?” I ask. Bob cracks up and so does Jake. He doubles over and doesn’t straighten up for a full 30 seconds or more. Turns out there is another cleat that is screwed down about two feet behind me. Not exactly in my line of vision, nor 'right at my feet'.

Now if we can just get the water hooked up and heated so I can take a shower and use the head. I have been dying to go all day.

Our Voyage Marked in Red

A NEW FRIEND

At the Holiday Inn pool, a place I am spending a lot of my time, I meet a woman. She is ordering lunch while I am at the Tiki bar ordering an iced tea. She comments on how hot it is and I agree. We get to talking and end up spending the afternoon together. She lives in Key Largo with her boyfriend who works for Ocean Divers as an instructor and she is a teacher in Miami. She commutes there every day to teach her class of fifth graders. She is originally from New York and she has that great accent. I finally ask her what her name is and it’s Carolyn. We get along great and at the end of the day we decide to spend more time together. She has just started her holidays from work and looking for stuff to do. She mentions that she is leaving for Key West, once her boyfriend is off work, to go see a friend and will be back tomorrow night. I mention that I had wanted to see Key West but don’t think I will make it down there. She offers to go with me one day before I leave. That would be fun and I tell her I would love it if she really wants to. She says she does.

Later in the afternoon we meet a guy at the pool named Peter. I have seen him there before. He is late 50’s and super tanned. We get to talking and it turns out he has been in Key Largo for two months. He travels around the states working at various nuclear power plants. He spends a lot of his time pool hopping around the islands down here and tells us that the Hilton has a great pool and a really nice beach with decent snorkeling. He invites us to join him there on Thursday so we agree to go.

Wednesday I am back at the Holiday Inn pool and meet a couple that I have seen there on several Saturday afternoons, a time that a lot of local people make use of the pool, it seems. Actually, the husband and I talked for a bit last Saturday. I found out that he and his wife live aboard a 45’ trawler. We talked a lot about retired life in the Keys and the sort of people that live here. Today I meet his wife and we have a long talk about the Keys and then my line of work. They are a very friendly couple and I really enjoy my afternoon.

I am starting to dislike the evenings.

Getting picked up at the pool and going back to the houseboat, I am so reminded of my childhood where I would be filled with dread walking home from school every day wondering what sort of mood my mother would be in when I walked through the door. The odd night, Jake will be in a bit of a better state of mind and that translates into him telling me more stories or at least quietly watching his sports and news instead of mouthing off at Nancy. But most nights he is in a foul mood and ranting at the smallest provocation. At one point tonight he tells Nancy “You amaze me. You’d be dangerous if you actually had a brain.” It is so hard to keep my mouth shut. He is in an especially foul mood these days as the situation with the houseboat sitting at the boatyard instead of back at the property, where it should have been by now, is causing a lot of tension. He feels like he is being held hostage by the owner of this place, and rightly so. It’s ridiculous that he won’t give Jake a price as to how much this is adding up. But to take it out on Nancy is mean. She is having just as hard a time with this situation as he is.

It’s Thursday and by the time I am up Nancy has left for the day. Jake drove her there in the truck and has brought it back. He needs it to do some work at the property today. He is still around though, watching the telly. I make something to eat and then go out back to read for a bit. After an hour or so it's just too hot outside so I go back inside to read in my room. After about an hour, Jake walks by my room, goes outside and gets in the truck and leaves. Doesn't say a word to me. Turns out he is gone all day and I am now stuck at the houseboat. His car is there and the keys are in it, as usual, but there is no way I am assuming that it is alright for me to just take it and go to the pool. I spend most of the day inside, where there is air conditioning, reading or watching the Hallmark channel. They keep showing a commercial for a movie that I did a couple of days calls on. It's working title was 'The Wedding Dance' and it's now called 'Come Dance at My Wedding'. I'd like to be able to catch that, if I can. It's on tomorrow night at 9.

It's Friday and on Wednesday I arranged to meet with Carolyn at the Tom Thumb gas station across the road. She said to call her in the morning. When she said that, I sort of hesitated as I don’t want to use my phone to make calls down here; it is far too expensive. But that would mean me having to ask Jake to use his phone and I am not crazy about the thought of it. I brush off the feeling thinking it’s stupid; he surely won’t mind me using his phone for a local call. By the time I am done cleaning up from breakfast it’s 9:30 and I am pretty much ready to go. I ask him if he would mind if I used his phone to make a local call. He just looks at me. So I say, “The woman I am spending the day with asked me to call her this morning, just to make sure.” “Didn’t you tell her you don’t have a phone?” he barks at me. I want to say 'No because I didn’t think it would be an issue to use yours for a two-minute local call'. But I don’t say that, saying instead “Never mind, I’ll just use my phone.” “Well, what did she say when you told her that?” he asks. “I didn’t. Don’t worry about it, I will use my phone.” I go get my phone and come back in the kitchen for my phone book and he holds out his phone. I thank him, take it and call her but get her voice mail so say that I am heading to the gas station and will see her there at 10 as we arranged.

I head over to meet her and after going inside to buy a bottle of water and use their bathroom, I wait on the side of the building that has some shade. Fortunately that is the side she will be driving in on. Ten o’ clock comes and goes and at ten-fifteen I pull out my phone. Looks like I am going to have to use it after all. She answers and says that she called the number I used earlier and left a voice mail saying that she got up late but she will be here in ten minutes. She pulls up before too long and when I get in she says she isn’t comfortable going to the Hilton, she wants to go to a place called The Islander instead. I say that I don’t mind going wherever she wants to go but we can’t just leave Peter waiting for us and then not show up. She shrugs like she doesn’t care. I insist that we go by and at least let him know that we are going to a different beach for the day so she heads over to the Hilton.

When we get there I walk down to the beach while she waits in the car. Once I walk through a breezeway to the back of the hotel, there’s a bark-mulch pathway running along the waterfront through palm trees and sea grape and there are hammocks strung up here and there. It’s gorgeous. The water is a lovely shade of blue-green and the sand of the man-made beach is white. There is rustling in the underbrush as I walk along and I see lizards and geckos as they scramble to hide. Up in the trees there are some very big spider webs and I hope that I don’t see any of the occupants. It’s a long way to the big open beach that Peter told me he would meet us at but I finally get there and spy him out in the water. He waves at me and I wave him in. When he walks out of the water and up to me he asks where Carolyn is and I tell him that she isn’t comfortable spending the day at this beach as she doesn’t think locals are welcome and she doesn’t want the embarrassment of being kicked out. He assures me that he comes there a lot and it isn’t ever a problem. I am not going to sit here and mediate so I tell him that, if he wants to, he can come back to the car with me and talk to Carolyn himself. So he does and she decides to try it out. We walk back to the beach together and get settled in some lounge chairs. We aren’t there 20 minutes and I can tell she is not enjoying it. Since we arrived it has really filled up and now it’s a very crowded beach and there are a lot of small children. She insists that The Islander is a much better place so we let Peter know that we are leaving and he has decided that he is leaving as well. He wants to go to a place called Holiday Isle which Carolyn says is a dive so we stick with our plan.



We drive the 30 minutes down to Islamorada, the next island in the chain, where The Islander is located. When we get there, I love the sign for the place, it looks like something right out of the 60’s. We pull off the highway and drive down the winding drive to a large dirt parking lot. We get out and the air outside of the car is hot, hot, HOT as we gather up our stuff from the back seat. We walk a few hundred yards past one-storey buildings of hotel rooms, to the large pool area. It’s gorgeous. The pool is large and meandering. There is a second, smaller pool up a few steps next to a Caribbean style bar and restaurant. The beach, man made again, is HUGE. It’s the typical hard-packed white sand but it has palm trees dotted all over it. There are wooden steps down to the ocean and the rocks have been cleared out of the water to create a large swimming area. Lounge chairs are scattered all over the beach as well as surrounding the pool. The place has the look of an all-inclusive resort and I love it and it is much nicer than the Hilton.

We pass a lovely, relaxing day there. We go up to the bar and split a huge Asian chicken salad for lunch. I haven’t had much salad since I left home and it tastes wonderful. It is far too hot to spend much time out of the water so we enjoy first the beach and the ocean and then move to the pool. At some point I ask Carolyn about what day she wants to go down to Key West. She doesn’t answer the question but makes a lot of comments about how it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and that I might be disappointed and more along those lines. I sense immediately that I am not going to be going with her, she has had a change of heart and doesn’t want to go. I am bummed but don’t say so.

There is a woman at the pool who looks so familiar and I realize that she is the image of Claire Foriani the actress from Meet Joe Black. She is gorgeous and there is something about her and the way she carries herself that makes me wonder if she might be an actress herself. She is with a few teen girls and a young boy who turns out to be her son. I can hardly take my eyes off of her, she is so beautiful.

Four o’clock rolls around far too fast and we gather up our things and head back to the car. Carolyn is as red as a lobster and I am so tanned it’s ridiculous. On the way back the bridge is open between the islands and we have to wait in a line of cars for about 15 minutes before it closes up and we can proceed across it. When we get to the boat yard Carolyn asks me if I want to join her and her boyfriend Alberto for drinks and dinner tonight. They are going to a place called The Pilot House. I say I would love to and so she says she will pick me up at 7. It will be nice to spend an evening somewhere new and I am looking forward to it.

When I get to the boat, the guys have painted the swim ladder up the back that we use to get on the boat with the same thick black paint that they have painted the bottom with. Fortunately they haven’t left yet and tell me that I will need to use the stepladder to get up on deck. I hate stepladders. They stand there waiting, it seems they want to see if I can climb up it and make it aboard ok. I am not about to climb up with them all watching me so I just stand there and they seem to get the hint and leave. The ladder is just leaning up against the boat so I jostle it a bit to make sure it isn’t going to topple when I get up on it. It seems solid so I climb up and gingerly step onto the boat. It wasn’t too hard to get up but I am not looking forward to having to go down it later.

After a refreshing shower and clean clothes and some makeup, Jake and Nancy come home and I tell them my plans. Nancy thinks that it’s great that I have made a friend and am going out for the evening. Jake tells me to get the gate card key out of the truck so that I can get back in later (the yard has a security fence and is gated once the staff leave for the day). I carefully climb onto the step ladder and get down to the ground without falling off. I really don’t like the ladder leaning up against the boat this way so I open it up and stand it on all four legs properly and then put the side of it up against the boat. That will be a lot easier to climb up when I get home later, in the dark. Carolyn picks me up at Tom Thumb’s again and we drive over to Ocean Divers, which is in the same building as Sharkey’s, to pick up Alberto. I met him the other day at the Holiday Inn when he came over to check up on her. I gather he is the jealous type because he had called her while we were sitting at the pool together and she mentioned to him that she had made a new friend, meaning me. He must have asked her if it was a guy because I heard her say, “No. It’s a lady. She is from Vancouver, Canada.” Not an hour later he just ‘happened’ to be in the area going for lunch and thought he would stop by to see her. She called him out on it, saying he came to check up on who she was with and he didn’t deny it. He is a big Italian guy and he too has the New York accent. He’d be perfect for a role on The Sopranos.

When we get to The Pilot House, I notice that the floor under the stools at the bar is plexi-glass so that you can see down into the water. There are lights under the water and it is very green and murky and I can’t see a single fish. There is live entertainment and it’s awful. Two guys, two guitars and amps, and not a shred of vocal talent between them. Ahh well, the view is gorgeous; right over the water, and the company is great. He orders fajitas, she orders nachos, and she invites me to pick at them with her as I have declared that I am not very hungry and so will just have something to drink. The heat is oppressive and I don’t have much appetite as a result. I ask him a lot of questions about his job as a diving instructor and he asks me a lot of questions about life in Canada, particularly about our health care. Universal health care is a political hot topic down here at the moment and he wants to know what I think of how it operates at home.

Throughout the evening a lot of people who know Carolyn and Alberto drop by the table for a chat. It seems everyone knows everyone down here. It’s the same when I go to The Big Chill with Jake and Nancy. At one point a guy that I met just the other day at the pool comes by. His name is Robbie and he has a deep southern accent that makes it really hard for me to understand him. He has just quit smoking and is encouraging Carolyn to quit as well. Alberto has gone to the restroom and he returns while the two of them are talking. Eventually Robbie takes his leave. Alberto turns to me and says, “Now that really bothers me. Did you see that?” I have no idea what he is talking about. “That guy that was just here. Now why did he wait until I left to go to the restroom before he comes over here to talk to Carolyn?” I hadn’t made that connection, I barely remember Alberto leaving. “That’s just not okay in my books. If you want to come over here and talk to my girl then have the decency to do it when I am here, you know?” So my hunch was right. Jealous type. Yikes. Other than that he’s a really nice guy and I enjoy my evening with them.

They drop me off at the boatyard gate and Carolyn tells me that she will see me at the Holiday Inn Pool tomorrow. As I walk through the yard to the houseboat I savour the warm night air. It reminds me of summer in the Okanagan and I love the memory. I had a voice mail message from Club Penguin, or Disney Online Studios - as they answer the phone, on my phone this morning and they want me to come in for an interview Tuesday the 23rd and I am excited about it. I wouldn’t mind living in Kelowna again, especially in the summertime. The idea of giving up the film industry is not an easy one, I love it so much. But if I have to then I can’t think of anywhere else I would rather work than Club Penguin (other than the bar on Anegada, that is). And summers in the Okanagan? Well, it's not the BVI but I wouldn't mind it.