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elizabeth  ·  1077 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: April 14, 2021

My boyfriend's birthday weekend was a blast. I had a good time, much needed connection time with friends and kicked out some unwanted guests from our party. It was a tricky situation because the party was on "communal" ukrainan land where my friend has a cabin, so the unwanted guests are technically allowed to be on the territory. And because of Covid, we were not allowed to have this gathering because it's on private land - even if it's outside and the same gathering in a public park is okay.

One fun moment from the birthday weekend was one of my friends doing a little fire toy demo. We had some balloons filled with propane, and a bow with flaming arrows. We were just about to shoot when a confused looking lady walks down the path (because she had to park her car outside the locked gate). I just have to wonder what was going through her head, as she was approaching us pointing flaming arrows in her direction. She asks if John is here, as she has an amazon delivery for him. We know of no John, and she leaves...

We also bought a little camper trailer yesterday! Because of laws in Quebec, it will never be road legal, but my summer project is to convert it to a nice little sleeping spot at my friend's cabin. No more sleeping in the living room for us! And the hope is to get a piece of land in that same spot for ourselves - but it's a bit of a long shot since it's all managed by the Ukrainian church and no one knows how things actually work. My boyfriend's in good standing since he's been the kids summer camp director for a few years, and is actually Ukrainian. But he also never went to church, and decisions are made by some old farts that have historically kept the 3 available lots vacant there for decades. That land is on a loan to the community from the Canadian government - and the loan expires in 30-40 years. Somehow some people have built cabins there back in the day, but it's not allowed anymore. And there is deep history and immigrant squabbles about every little detail. Like the fact that even my friend's cabin is only his de-facto (for that past 15 years). He never paid full price to the priest he bought it from, so he never got any papers for it. And when the priest dies, his kids can come and claim for it back. So he's always hesitant to invest any money in repairs and improvements. The nicer it is - the likelier the kids will want it back!

It's honestly a fun little distraction from the pandemic worries of the city, building our little village in the woods, dealing with drama with neighbours and visitors.