Right now I'm in a period where I can do most of my work on the island, which means steadying the never ending writing assignments with some ritual break in the day. Either this takes the form of the Globe and Mail cryptic, playing some flute tunes, or, more frequently, wandering down to the Cove for the midafternoon siesta.



There is a period in the middle of the day where almost nothing happens in the Cove. The ferry takes a 2.5 hour break at lunch and so there is hardly any car traffic down there. That's when I love to go to The Snug and douse myself in a latte and maybe their soup of the day. And it is always interesting in there. Today, just as I was about to leave in walked my friend Bob Doucet and we chin wagged for a while about working from home and so on. Then Andy Hilhouse joined us, stopping in for a somoza on his way home to North Van after his weekly teaching stint at Island Pacific School. Running into friends in the coffee shop is just about the finest way I can think to pass the afternoon by.



The other reason I love walking lately is that I get to watch winter creep down the mountains. There is fresh snow on the North Shore mountains almost everyday now and it is getting lower and lower. The air is growing crisper and the light is starting to get that wintry lemony tint about it. It's just spectacular in the still afternoon air to watch this season descend from the alpine down to us. Our first snow fall cannot be far off. We're within about 3000 feet now.