i live by this. i post it in case you haven’t seen this one before.

this is a view from our deck.

this is first day I actually feel normal again. more like myself. the new world around me does not seem so foreign and strange. i see glimpses of what it might be like to actually settle in. it was very challenging to plan for such a huge change for so long only to arrive and feel like someone hit you over the head with a truck. I searched in vain for deep breaths, my center was nowhere to be seen.

I have found them again. in little bits and pieces scattered here and there.

I think a list is in order.

things that are great about the west coast, noticed by me in the first week here:

1. the ocean air. I have had several very deep sleeps (the first I have had since I gave birth to my son over two years ago.) vivid dreams too.
2. my skin! it feels so incredible, not dry like usual. soft and moist.
3. the produce. I had an apricot that was to die for yesterday. great corn for dinner tonight.
4. everyone is so fit here, it seeps into your consciousness and makes you want to get out and move your body.
5. the flowers. my god the gardens bring tears to your eyes! I have stopped to smell so many flowers it’s amazing really.
6. the naam. my new favorite restaurant.
7. the totems. spent a morning at the museum of anthropology. highlights were the totems, the drums, and watching my son listen to headphones.
8. seeing the ocean every day.
9. foraging in the tide pools.
10. being invited to a party on our street with several other two year olds in attendance!

we have landed in the land of incredible views and good food, though not without a few bumps. a mere 48 hours after our arrival my husband and I contracted some terrible food poisoning or viral thing which caused us to be very sick for a good 24 hours. It’s amazing how intimate you can become with a new apartment when you lie on the floor in the bathroom for a whole day. Unfortunately we became dehydrated which caused us to lose consciousness frequently and sent my husband to the emergency room as he was just slightly worse off than I and I had to make sure my son was okay. Jeff was tested for various things but there still has been no official diagnosis. It must of been quite bad as his blood pressure was so low they were concerned about heart failure. We are both doing fine now.

Trust me when I say it was horrible but we are thanking the gods (and still praying every hour to be honest) that Tilden is healthy and did not get it (we will feel better the more time passes). Thank the gods for my sister, who nursed us through the whole ordeal (and then came down with it herself the next day). She is doing fine now, we are still not sure if it was due to a shared meal or if it was contagious. And we are also thanking the gods for our new landlord who happily drove Jeff to the hospital late a night without batting an eye. What would we do without people to help us in this life?

Needless to say, we have not been exploring as much as we had hoped upon our arrival. Deep Cove is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. It is quite shocking to walk outdoors and see the water and the mountains right there. There is a woods right across the street and I have been in a few times. I can already see Emily Carr’s painting come to life. It is so different for me to be under such tall trees, the canopy so high above my head. The movement of sound is also so very different, much more reverberation, it is harder to pinpoint the direction of the sounds. And the shapes of the trees, so gnarled and parasitic. Jeff described it well when he said the west coast woods are much more Jurrassic. You can almost picture baby dinosaurs crawling out from the roots of the trees.

The whole experience caused me to be hyper paranoid about food preparation and eating anything, (we had to throw everything out, $200 worth.) It was really hard to not know what caused it. I had to scour the kitchen in case it was bacterial, and we must wash our hands constantly in case it is viral.

We are hoping that tomorrow we will be able to take our first real adventure as a family. We really need it. I need to do something light and normal feeling.

I am channeling the spirit of Emily Carr tonight so that her energy can heal my tired soul. The ocean air and the trees are helping immensely.

(this post was partially excerpted from an email sent to friends. I realized I didn’t have the energy write another account of the ordeal. so there it is. will post some photos soon. you must see what a beautiful place I am living in.)