I am so busy. There is so much worth doing. So many jobs to have, people to see, trips to take, books to read. Although those books have taken back seat these days.

It's so cool having to have a summer at home. So much at home. To know those I haven't known for too long. Work in orchards, which I haven't for too long. Ride my bike, which I haven't for too long.
I do love the mountains. I tell everyone I actually came back for the lake. And I suppose that's partially true. I want my seasonal work. But it's the people that are keeping me here, and that will be hard to leave.
How come I know so many awesome people? I don't take the time to invest in my friendships and relationships anymore. I don't know if I know how, really. Especially with the childhood friends I don't really talk to anymore. It's effort, time, and a certain amount of skill.
I remember thinking that as I traveled the world. You meet people everywhere. Awesome people you want to know well enough to stay up late and talk to. I guess maybe it's an optimism you don't see in me very often... But I think that for this planet to run as well as it does, the majority of people have to be pretty decent. And a large percentage of those are really worth knowing. It's almost mind blowing to think of all the people I would get along with. All the stories I'll never know. The amount there is to learn from others.
However, I guess it's worth remembering that there's plenty of people worth knowing in my own little hometown. Plenty of conversations worth having. Maybe if I put the work into it... And we were all just a little less busy.

You know what I like to do? I like to go sit on you tube and play home karaoke. I run around the board from phantom of the opera, to Christina aguliera. Evanesence, Leona Lewis, and anything else that sounds like fun.
I guess I like challenges.

Last pick today. We hope. 260 pounds of saskatoons sitting in the cooler, ready for market. A few totes of cherries tonight, and we'll be ready to go.
My fingers are stained blue.
This has been my first stint being on the manager end of farming. It's been on the low risk end of things. A few hours and zip-lock bags. What would it be like if I'd invested my year, and hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Reason #1 I would find farming-for-real hard. The gamble. I just can't do it.
Reason #2. The commitment. Period.
Reason #3. I'm a hard worker. But I like my paycheck. And I like being able to camp in season.
I love farmers. They're great. And they keep hiring me. It would just be hard to do that every year for the rest of my life. To stress about harvest. To pour on the hours in hopes of a high pay-off.
Although, everyone says if you say that you end up married to one.... So maybe I take it back.

This is all crazy. Sometimes I think about the fact that there are nine people officially living here. And others that come and go. Was there really one year that I lived in my own house with just myself?
Ever since Katimavik I have no desire to go back to living on my own. Hostel dorms never bother me. I had four girls in my two bedroom house at one time, and now it's back to my families, plus. It's somehow right. I think we're supposed to live as with others.
My parents always talked about community. I don't think this is what they had in mind. I think they imagined a functioning little neighborhood where everyone shared the work of running the self-sustainable lifestyle.
Still. This is it right here. A group of people. Working together. Playing together. Fighting together. Living together.
Community. No?

So. Barefoot in summer. What a sweet time of year to come back. I think back to the years when barefoot in summer meant running through the backyard, driving a civic with my shoes off, stalking the aisles and feeling the cool tiles beneath my toes.
Then there was the year it meant kicking my sandals off on the way to my job at the hospital. Walking a small town path to a pretty big lake. Climbing onto the top of my metal bunk and praying for the girls beneath me.
Last year it was peeling my efficient runners off after a shift at the cafe. Volleyball sand between my toes. Running outside to drench myself under my hose.
This year I've gone in reverse. There's not even a little hatchback. No shopping for my own groceries. I'm climbing around in orchards hoping to make minimum, and coming home to my Mom's cooking. It's joking with my brothers, and giggling with my cousins. Nights climbing through the back door of our bus, and listening to Taylor Swift as I fall asleep.
It's my summer to be home. Oh, and to catch rides or my bike to the lake, river, and volleyball courts.

Over a year.
Well over a year.
After trying quite possibly 72 different combinations, and accidentally setting up a new account, I have remembered how to sign into my once beloved blog.
Twitter set me off. Reading old posts made me want to write new ones. It's unfortunate, really, that I gave it up for so long.
I know nobody reads it anymore. I know I don't have the time to dedicate that I did when I was seventeen. I know facebook likes to dominate my online time. But I'll see what I can do.