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Published: February 8th 2009
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So,
I have not written in this blog for eons but I keep getting emails saying it misses me so I guess I better get the old rake back into some action and try and comb over my movements since I went to burning man, this is going to be quite the summary..so how long has it been..5 months.. shiezer.
So ..to cut a long story short. I..went to burning man, came back very dusty and gave away my bike, tent, pillow as soon as I possibly could. Spent a fair bit of time lolling around in San Francisco because I loved the city (North Beach rocks) and I was having some down time to decide if I go north to live in Canada or south to Central and South America. I tossed and turned and drank in beat bars and enjoyed the large array of take away borritos that California has to offer. I also kind of continued an affair with a guy from Burning Man but he didn't shower one day that he came to hang out with me which for some reason annoyed me and I didn't like him after that. Anyway so yes, I hung
around in San Fran and went on another Green Tortoise trip to go see Yosemite National Park, niice place. Met some fun people, not as many as on my other Green Tortoise adventure to Burning Man but I guess it's a very different kind of trip. I REALLY wanted to see the Sea Otters in nearby Monteray but ran out of time because I had to be in Dallas Texas to see my BFF Yvonne The German, sucks for the Otters but not for Yvonne.
I was really quite sad when I left the sustainable paradise of San Fran with 7 types of garbage bin to head to Dallas, where people say 'Yall' like it isn't even white trash and everyone drives a big truck. Yvonne didn't want to be seen walking on a footpath because footpaths and walking are really only pasttimes of the homeless. Dallas is a city of cars and freeways and more freeways that coil around each other into the sky and back down again. There is a lot of bottled water and a lot of plastic surgery, it was an interesting cultural experience. The people were SO lovely as well, they had a lot
of money, but they were so friendly and generous, I will never forget it. I sort of became Yvonnes lil helper/working student for a few weeks and got to ride some lovely dressage horses and be a helper at shows, we even went to Oklahoma which had a lot of wide open space like a levis commercial and hilarious farming family rednecks in the cheese related takeaway food joints.
During my weeks in Texas I was facing another travel/life decision, now that I had decided on Canada I had to decide on a job. My whole plan for Canada was to work a ski season and become a really good skier so I had a new extreme hobby that wasn't riding horses or partying like a mad banshee. However, I had really liked this whole horse business again and really kinda felt like continuing it. Research had revealed that living costs in the ski areas were freaking expensive and knowing me and party towns I would have just partied the whole time which ends in two bad things 1) Spend all money at the bar and 2) Get fat. Working with horses is damned hard yakka and because you
work so hard and have no time there is not much time spent getting up to trouble in bars. So I decided on horse job and that looked like more of a career direction, I guess one should maybe have some kind of specialisation when they are getting long in the tooth like me.
I applied for a myriad of jobs in Canadia and ended up getting my number 1 choice! It was a job that involved riding and it was 5 days a week 8 hours a day (unheard of in most equestrian jobs - it's usually 6 days 12 hours kinda thing) and it was on a semi deserted island which looked nice and remote and somewhere I could be quiet and behave and reflecting while I write my memoirs and save money for my next destinations. So before long I was hugging my bestie friendie Yvonnie goodbye and was off to Canada.
I couldn't help but feel like I had landed in a a John West commercial, the air was damp and the skys a moody grey and seagulls on steroids flew around the red maple leaf of the Canadian flag on the superhuge vessel.
I figured I was around sea faring country now, where salty men in white beards would spend their lives working with water, nets and fishes until their knuckles cracked. After a couple of ferry rides and a bit of road time through the first of those beautiful Canadian maple trees in the fall I arrived at my new island, home to be.
So on my sparsely populated Gulf Island, the horses live outside in the day and stables at night, they all have such wonderful brains they are a pleasure to work with and ride. We have 15 horses and I usually work 1 or 2 horses a day after we do the barns in the morning. We live in a tudor style mansion and have dinner parties quite often, and they end with cognac and cigars, sometimes a debate or a bit of an after party 😉 I became very close to my fellow full time co worker who lived across the hall from me, we had a bit of a love affair and it was fun and I kind of adored him but then he didn't really want to do that anymore so that kinda ended, but
such is life and now he is gone and after his 4 months working here he has gone back to being a student in a school far away. Some days I really miss him. We are still in touch.
I have actually done some skiing, Mount Washington on Vancouver island which was a lovely day. I went on a trip with Xanthe bomb for a week over the New Year (my brothers Canadian girlfriend who lived in Australia for like 3 years) I stayed in Calgary, Banff ,Jasper (skiied here too) and Edmonton which was fabulous, great people and great times. So then in 09 I came back home to my lovely little island and back living and working and behaving and saving money usually. I have enjoyed the time to relax and have gone on a weekend in Victoria which is a really quaint little city and I am here for a while to relax and keep working and exercising and saving money for my next adventure. 😊 I think Alaska in the summer for a couple of weeks sounds good.
All is well,
Luv Kate.
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