A cool and wet June in Garden Bay is coming to an end. This is the disappointing June weather that I remember from when I first moved to BC. The garden is growing well with all the water but it saddens my heart to see all those beautiful flowers hanging on the ground.

We have been healthy and feel lucky to be living where the COVID-19 pandemic has been relatively contained. In early June we went to Powell River, ate in restaurants, and spent the night. In mid-June we travelled to Vancouver for the day to get haircuts and shop at Home Depot. This week we resumed playing soccer in Gibsons. Slowly but surely life is returning to normal.

After finishing the plumbing project I installed recessed lighting in the living room. The result is excellent and satisfying, but the job was messy (cutting holes in the ceiling) and uncomfortable (working in the cramped attic).

Next I repainted the guest bedroom. That involved moving all the furniture out, protecting the floor with plastic, repairing all the flaws in the walls and ceiling, masking, painting, clean-up, and finally moving back the furniture. Good work for rainy days.

It hasn’t rained every day of course, and rarely it rains all day. We’ve been to the cabin three times so far this year with the focus on completing the roof over the back deck. It’s almost done and there’s no hurry. We are also going to construct a new outside shower stall and I have been staging the materials at home where it is easier to work.

I have been spending much of my time in the garden, which is the whole yard. Much of it is cultivated and the rest is rather wild as I have a laissez faire policy outside of the cultivated areas. This year the wildness got away from me and I have been working to get it back under control. I’m almost there! The weed policy has been updated to eliminate certain plants that are not charming enough the tolerate. I really enjoy being “in the weeds” because it gives me time to evaluate the garden and ideate improvements.