5YAT: Wine & Chocolate For Dinner

28 December, 2004 – Sunny –20º 100_2175_dec_27_edited

[This post is part of the 5 Years Ago Today Series]

*bark*Bark*BARK* 0640 *Bark*bark*BARK*

 Ki’Miq is loose and happy to join me in the house for a cuddle and sniff as I figure out what the hell is going on. Who am I? Where am I? Oh ya, and what to do about the big golden dog bounding around the living room.  But that will have to wait until the sun had at least peaked his nose over the horizon.

The snow drifts from yesterday’s blizzard are breast-high in some spots so I feel a bit like an arctic explorer blazing trails, grooming paths and testing ice. Big thanks to mom for my new long undies and socks which are working very well in the –20º weather!

The ice on the glen-side looks like a badly iced cake. Big dried out chunks, yellowed and 8-10” thick lying on brand new ice that is clear, shiny and beautiful. At Ladies Beach it is so thin that you can see the grains of sand through the ice and a gentle tap with the toe shatters it.

The fire is being pernickety perhaps because the stove pipe is down.  But it’s not getting fixed today since the priorities are getting wood in, tending the animals and the fire, and grooming the paths. 

As the day winds down, I realize I’m having a rough day. I’ve been away from my life so very long that I feel like it is vanishing. I have only been home 6.5 months out of the last 15. The litany of things I miss is long, so long — my home, my friends, my office, and my Gerry. What a whiner I am! 

Life is as it is, and it is good. I love being here – I just want everything! How terribly demanding of me! 

How many people in the world get to spend Xmas on a private island that they call home? Undisturbed by annoying neighbours and unwanted guests? Able to celebrate everything exactly the way they want to? Able to eat chocolate and wine for dinner? Able to laze about, go to bed at 8pm and get up at 8am?

ME! That’s how many, just me! So I need to quit being a huge soggy wimp and enjoy the luxury of a warm fire, loving puppies and another big-ass glass of wine and sharp up!

Oh joy. The dogs are bark-bark-barking again! Of course by the time I get bundled up and out to see what is happening they have stopped barking. But Sasparilla wants a cuddle. So I sit down with her and stare at the stars and the shore.  Feeling better now.

Alexa Clark

Alexa is a digital marketer and author with over 20 years in digital & interactive communications in the food and tech industries. Alexa's CheapEats Restaurant Guides, for both Toronto & Ottawa, were Canadian best sellers. She is a recognized authority on social media and has been named one of Canada's 20 Leading Women in Social Media.

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