"I want to take a little time/just to fall in love again..."
-- "Take Your Time," Al Green
I wanted to take a little time. Actually, I needed to take some time. A week, specifically. I needed to get away, I needed to make a little dreaming come true.
To celebrate the end of my first full-time summer job in, well, years, and to rest and recharge before my next job starts, and to take time to fall in love again with myself, with my own ideas and loves and my own spirit, I did the work necessary to eke out a week. Feeling guilty, but trying not to show it, I asked to put off the new job's start date by one week. They agreed.
Then, I booked the cabin and the rental car. I had already done the research so it was just like flicking over dominoes. Flick, flick. A place to stay and a way to get there. Done!
Before I know it four days have passed. But they have been well-spent. Like money that was hard-earned, I've been aware of every dollar and cent - every hour and minute - as they've passed from me. Or, as I've passed through them?
Heaven is a little rented cabin with chintzy furniture from the seventies. Heaven is looking out over the ocean and the shifting shades of grey and blue. Heaven is taking a long walk in cold wind, then taking a long bath in a hot and steamy bathroom. (We don't have a bathtub at home, just a shower stall, and so I realized it had been two full years since I had had a bath.)
Also heavenly: welcoming friends that I haven't seen in a year or so, and going out to eat at what must be the perfect pub and restaurant, the Red Shoe. Fish and chips, local ale, and caramel apple galette for dessert. An impromptu celtic music session starting up with the buzz of the bagpipes.
What else? Well, there has been a tour of a local Whiskey distillery, the Glenora Inn and Distillery. (See photo above - the tour guide is getting the complimentary whiskey tasters ready.) There has been a trip to the Dancing Goat, a cafe that has the biggest sandwiches in the world - they really are barely eatable, because of their sheer size. (Their deliciousness is what helps you to overcome the size.) This photo below is of a half sandwich (Black Forest Ham with mango chutney) and a bowl of soup, Mushroom Vegetable.
And there has been lots of driving around, which I actually love. At least, I love it when the destination is entirely up to me, as well as the soundtrack, and when I have all day to get wherever it is I'm going, to take side roads, to stop and take pictures.I have three more days of this. I'm going to go enjoy it. I hope you are all well - and if you'd like to leave a comment, tell me - have you ever been to Cape Breton's west coast? If you were, what was your favorite place there? And for all of you reading, when was the last time you took yourself on a vacation? That can mean an hour out of your regular routine, or it can mean longer, a day or a week or a month. I'd love to hear about it.
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