Riding into the Sunset

This coming Thursday, it'll be a year since I moved into this house. woohoo! Happy anniversary, me! When I first moved here, I couldn't get any of the renovations started until September, which meant living among boxes until the renovations were complete.

There was no point in unpacking anything until the renovations were done. I hadn't planned on doing the kitchen and bathrooms, as I didn't think I had enough to do that as well as painting, all new floors throughout the house and new baseboards. I was really fortunate to find some guys that did a superb job at a reasonable price. Then, when I asked the kitchen guy that had fixed the botched job of my last kitchen, his price for both bathrooms and kitchen was so good that I decided to just go for it.

Am I ever glad I did! However, in the meantime, I was living among boxes, which I detest, and although I'd ordered all new appliances, they couldn't go in until the floor and kitchen was complete.

This is where I've been super spoiled. For years I've had a fridge that had water and ice on the outside of the door, which I find extremely handy. The fridge that was here not only didn't have water and ice on the outside of the door, it didn't even have an ice maker. Ack! What??

So, in the extreme heat of last summer, I was forced to purchase some ice cube trays and make ice cubes the old-fashioned way. Being that it was so hot, I couldn't keep up with making the darn things. I look back on my first few months here, living in an absolute mess, workmen here all the time, trying to work around them, and the only place I could be out of the way was on the patio. I pretty much lived out there last summer.

Having just poured myself a glass of ice water from the outside door of the fridge, it reminded me of how things were last year, and how fortunate I am to have been able to renovate and purchase almost everything I wanted and to have these luxuries. What an incredible difference a year has made.

I'm so grateful that I found this house, but also, I'm grateful to strata in my last condo who harassed me relentlessly and the nasty kitchen guy who slandered me to them, as I never would have even looked for my dream home had it not been for them. I'm also grateful to Human Rights who pretty much threw the book at them for their harassment. Hopefully they will not do that to another person.

Although I missed the lake I used to bike around before, I'm finding I'm missing it less and less, and am thoroughly enjoying the longer bike rides along the river now. I'm thoroughly enjoying not taking my life in my hands riding my bike in this community either.

Last evening I went out for my bike ride, taking the same route I usually take in the morning. It's amazing how different things can look from the beginning to the end of the day, all because of the light. While riding past one of the irrigation wheels, the position of the sun rays through the spray turned it into a halo of rainbow colours. Cool!

I didn't take many photos the rest of the ride, and headed down the tunnel of foliage through the blackberry vines. Next time I go for an evening ride, I'm going to ride the opposite way around. The setting sun was directly in my eyes and even with very dark sunglasses on, I couldn't see the path without raising my hand to block out the sun. That was a bit disturbing, as I also couldn't see anything else, including any vines that had grown over to grab my shirt.

It made me wonder about all those movies where the cowboy (or whatever) rides off into the sunset. How the heck do they see??? Maybe they don't, and that's why it ends there. Let's face it, if they had to put their hand up to block out the sun, it just wouldn't have the same impact.

I know one thing for sure. Next time I ride at sunset, it's not going to be into it!