Little House, Big Dreams

Well, I've got news to share! No, I'm not pregnant. Jordie and I, after a lot of humming and hawing, looking at real estate listings, thinking it over, talking to our families, and being subtly pressured into it, finally bought a house here in Kaslo. Yes, Kaslo! The sweet little town most people have never heard of! Not just any house, either. A house with black and white checkered tiles on the kitchen floor. GOD I love that. So here we go, Kaslo-the start of a new chapter. Bring it on, little town. Put up your dukes-I'm ready.

Our little house on Washington Street.

I'd been bird-dogging the local real estate websites like it was going out of style for, oh, three years or so (but really bird-doggin' for the past couple of months). Every time something new was listed, I'd walk by about fifteen times, talk over every detail with an "I just got home from work" Jordie, walk by a few more times, and then decide I wasn't in love with it quite enough. There was always something-too many needed renos (I'm not really a reno person-I'm more of a live-with-a-crooked-mantle-for-ten-years person), the yard's too shady, the yard's too blinding, it's too far from town, too expensive, too void of character. But it was always a thrill to see the new listings-could this be our little house? Vinyl siding? Ne'ermind.

I started to make lists of what my dream house would be like, and I realized pretty quickly that there are a few little details that really speak for the rest. I'm not too choosy about what a house looks like, but I did know how I wanted to feel about it. I wanted to be over the top excited about the house we were buying, and it was so hard to say no to some of the ones that were listed, but we decided if it wasn't a screamin' yes, it had to be a no. I wanted something cozy, something old, something with quirks and character, something with a yard where I can grow us some food. Wood floors would be an obvious bonus, and it would be great to have lots of natural light since our Napier Street apartment in Vancouver sometimes feels like living in the kind of place a hedgehog would live in. But other than that, I just knew I wanted to be in love with the place we were buying.

Jordie and I kept talking about the idea that we (especially me) would be far away from family and friends. For me, the people I love have always been at the very top of my list of what's important. I didn't want to feel like I was going to disappear into the Kootenays. But when we walked into the house at 415 Washington Street (the first house we actually officially viewed, although I'd walked by about 50 times already and looked at the photos online so many times that I eventually just saved them to the desktop of my computer), I knew it right away. I had absolutely NO poker face about it at all. "Let's make an offer tonight, Jordie. This place is going to get snapped up if we don't. This is our house-I can feel it!" Actually...sap story warning...I felt the same way when I met Jordie. I met him on a Monday evening, and I was on the phone with my mom by 7:00 the next morning sing-songing that I'd met someone! Obviously, the little house on Washington Street is no match for Jordie's space in my heart, but it does feel a little bit like falling in love. Clawfoot bathtub...I mean, come on! I also love that the house was built in 1901, because houses that have had a few generations of people living in them seem to just have good vibes. Not the ghosty ones.

Sooo...now I just need a job. Or six small jobs-whatever. I'm thinking of starting a clandestine soup service (a big mason jar of soup on Sundays and a bag of homemade buns for $10). There's probably "regulations" on this, but my gut tells me the Kaslo police aren't going to come knocking on my door to tell me to shut down my secret soup service. Hey, that's a good name for it! OK, now I'm just giving the spies too much information.

Daydreaming about soup.

Thoughts of the week:

1. There was a free book at the free book box called 'Custodians Beyond Abduction,' which really made me wonder...what is this book about?

2. Something that's always bothered me is rainy days that aren't really rainy days. I'm talking about when the weather forecast says it's going to pour, and then you get a light mist for ten minutes before the sun comes out for the rest of the day. If it's going to rain, just RAIN, damnit! Then I can bake my bread in peace, without feeling like I have to go outside.

Couple of gals who love their Kaslo Dance hoodies (and fizzy water).

3. If you think punctuation doesn't make a difference, I'm guessing you've never read a real estate listing where every sentence ends with an exclamation mark. I forget where I saw this listing, but it just made me feel...weird.

4. I usually never fall for those scammy internet tricks. You know the ones. All Levi's jeans now 50 cents! That kind of stuff. But the quarantine must have been really getting to me or something, because I had put 6 pairs of Ray Ban sunglasses in my cart (they were $24 each instead of $250-don't judge me!) before I noticed something fishy was going on. This is what it said at the bottom of the page: "We are a professionally company of glass." Hmm...

And then I had to sheepishly email the 10 people to whom I had excitedly forwarded this screamin' deal just a few minutes before. Jordie was sitting beside me, also participating in the ordering of way too many pairs of sunnies. He didn't notice the scamminess either, which he really should have. I blame him.

I received this unbelievable box of treats in the mail. It was unbelievable.

Books! Chocolates! Other stuff!

5. There was a big bug walking around on the top of the lampshade in the living room the other day. He just kept walking in circles, round and round the top of the lampshade. I eventually turned the lamp off so he wouldn't get scalded. All I could think about was where he came from, and where he was going. What are his hopes and dreams? What does he like to do in his free time? What does he think about Justin Trudeau's kinda gross new moustache? I was just about to ask him some of these pressing questions, but then it started to annoy me that he was just going around and around in circles. PICK A NEW ROUTE!!!

In a way, it's a lot like life, isn't it? Round and round on the edge of the abyss, the scorching hot light threatening to burn you up at any moment. Six legs and a weird snout thing. Ok, ok. It's not really like life at all.

6. I know I've mentioned my love for kids and the amazing THINGS they say many times before in this blog, but nevertheless, here are a few gems from this week:

Me: Hey, Lucia (my niece), what are you and the kids up to in the house?

Lucia: Nothing.

Me: Yeah but what are you doing?

Lucia: Building a nest.

7. I always feel kind of bad when I say "Oh my GOD!" in front of an "Oh my goodness" or "Oh my word" or "Oh my gosh" person, because you never know what might offend someone. I might start saying "Oh, GRITS!" instead, because I don't think anybody would take offense to that. Maybe someone from Louisiana.

8. Sheree had a bale of hay in the trunk of her car the other day, and it made me like her even more than I already do! I think she was using it for the raspberry plants, which makes me realize I have a lot to learn about raspberry plants.

Me and my better half.

9. A couple of friends in town graciously offered us the top suite of their beautiful heritage home for the month of June, and it's ridiculously nice. And there's a dumbwaiter!!! Sometimes historical details in a lovely heritage home are too much to handle-I mean, in a good way-like having a dumbwaiter. It reminds me of the book 'Harriet the Spy.'

If I had a dumbwaiter in my house, I would constantly be looking for ways to work it into my daily life. I'd throw laundry on it and tow it downstairs, hide stuff, hide other stuff. It would be grand.

10. I was reading the paper the other day and saw an ad for a company with the number 226-BEEF. Loved it-kitchy, cute, fun. Although, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if this was a number to call when you want to buy beef, or a number to call when you have a beef with someone. Anyways, when I was a student at UVic, my roommates and I looked at our phone number, trying to think of a word we could make with the last 4 digits. We ended up with 477-MEIN, but the novelty kind of backfired, because you always had to say "My number is 477-MEIN, but 'mein' as in 'chow mein', not 'main' as in 'regular main.'

11. I'm a sucker for a lot of things (lemonade stands, little kids wearing jeans, fish and chips wrapped in newspaper), and one of these things is ordering a burger from a take-out window. Kaslo has two such places-Chez Serge's and Mountain King. I never get enough.

12. I was looking for Kaslo jobs the other day, and one of the 'requirements' posted for a cafe in Nelson was that you can't be a 'downer.' The next job I saw had something to do with boar semen, and I don't really know a lot about that. So yeah, back to the drawing board.

Henry and Leah look into the yard.

This week in wildlife news

Hummingbirds are a beautiful, serene, fleeting little piece of nature. They're quite enchanting, really. Until you move to Kaslo, where they are as numerous as flies, and they come just as close to flying into your head. And they're way, way louder. So loud, in fact, that I actually had to raise my voice the other day to be heard over the sound of the hummingbirds on Jeremy and Sheree's patio.

The coming of spring in Kaslo means snails, and a hell of a lot of them. They mostly hang around at the side of the road. I picked one up the other day to have a closer look at his shell, but he went inside right away. He hated it.

It was extremely thundery a few nights ago, with lightning lighting up the sky every five seconds. Neko, our doggie friend, hated this. He jumped into the back of our car, but he was in the mood for snuggles this time, so I didn't mind. I climbed in with him. Jordie said we should take him for a spin, but I wasn't up for it, because Neko screams when you're driving. It's not whining or crying. He screams.

Snail boy, just moments before he went into hiding.

This looks like a surveillance photo.

Me and Neko taking shelter from the storm.

I can just picture it now-fifteen years from now, I'll be telling my disinterested teenagers that this building is one of the first ones in Kaslo to be built with 'Kaslo brick' from the Millington Brothers Brick and Tile Yard in Upper Kaslo.

Operator? Hey! It works!

Yes, I know you're not supposed to use washers instead of actual coins.

Well, dear readers, I should really get moving. I'm dying for a second cup of coffee (fine, third), and I really want to walk up the hill into Upper Kaslo. I really want to see the 'Sold' sign on the house-I think they just put it up today.

Come stop in at our house, seriously.