The summer of Craig

Call it a break, or a sabbatical, I've had the privilege of doing mostly whatever I wanted to for the last several weeks. Professionally, I had been running non-stop for many years, with no time off between jobs. After a very busy winter and spring at work, I couldn't resist the pull of spending an extended time away from my keyboard and Zoom. Carpe yolo etc.

You might imagine some relaxation factoring into my plans and there was some, but it turns out what I mostly wanted to do was work 50 hours a week on series of home improvement projects.

Over the course of the summer I refinished the exteriors of our family cottage and our house, I built a new laundry room, I redid two bathrooms and took on a bunch of smaller projects.

I had pre-existing DIY skills but it wasn't like I was an expert in any of these undertakings. So I found the work pretty engaging – for each project I had a lot to figure out; thinking things through was fun. I enjoyed the physicality of the work. I'm prone to feeling pride of accomplishment as I gaze upon my creations.

There was time for some of my usual summer pastimes: I did some backcountry camping, cottaging and visiting with friends. I got a chance to paddle the Barron River Canyon in Algonquin Park, something that had been on my list for awhile.

It's been a warm autumn so far but I suppose summer has officially come to an end. I'm starting to think about what I want to do next professionally.

But before I get into that I wanted to celebrate a pretty great summer. I'm thankful to my wonderful partner who has supported the endeavour. And to my teenagers, who these days are content with me parenting more sporadically. How fortunate I am, what a luxury, to spend a period of time just as you like.