Counting down...

Just 10 days left to go: I've booked my ticket for August 17th, at 2 pm from Calgary International.

At the moment I'm looking out the window in a friend's in Vancouver, watching sheets of rain pummel the leaves, the roof, the deck; after a long, hot stretch of spectacular summer weather, another good thing has come to a (temporary) end. On the other hand, as over 400 wildfires blaze across the province, rain in itself is a pretty good thing, so it's hard to mourn. Just that I am, as ever, woefully unprepared for anything beyond a light breeze off the ocean. Hence the idea of hiking to the bus this afternoon on transit and en pied is not exactly rousing my motivation to get going.

And get going I must - I still have my life, spread throughout boxes, Rubbermaid totes, and my car, to organize, and a bag to pack. Yes, just one: Air Canada baggage restrictions allow a single piece of checked luggage. Although an extra $50 would get me another piece on the plane, I've decided it's not worth it to continue hauling two large bags around four (or more) different countries throughout the next two years, paying extra at each juncture. I'm taking it as a good life lesson in learning to live more simply, with fewer things, and (hopefully) better organization.

On Thursday or Friday Mom and I will head to Calgary to finish packing up my grandmother's house, where I've been living mostly full-time since the fall of 2008. That's a whole other story in itself (see mom's blog, www.annies.blog.com) for more info; the thought alone of going through more of a 30-year hoarder's supplies of complimentary airline packets (booties, showercaps, razors), Kleenex boxes, empty pill bottles, and dusty knickknacks stresses me out. All good things in their time.

So today will be my last truly restful part of a day for a good long while. I'll have a few long hours to read some books - hopefully finish up Shashi Tharoor's fabulous fictional historic account of the British Raj in India, "The Great Indian Novel", in order to pass it on. Maybe do some writing - I've published a short article on ruins in Peru in a friend's online magazine, www.slackeye.com, and would love to do more. Many, many other things I could do, could "should" myself to do, but for today some R&R is in order. Frankly the thought of doing, or attempting, anything else is exhausting: the last four days, or ten, or four weeks, or more, have been nearly constant whirlwind. Today will be a day, instead, for some mindful quietude before the frenzy.