getting buff

Yikes! I'm gonna be buff by the time I'm done here! The day began with a 90 min fairly hardcore yoga/ pilates class in the sun and then 8 hours of clearing brush/ growth/ weeds from trails. Am exhausted in a pleasant way! Was chatting permaculture while pulling out weeds with someone else who's also done a course - was good to be able to band around sentences like "unknown good benefit" and have someone who understands the lingo.

Am reading such a cool book "Superbia" - all about how to make the suburbs superb by making them sustainable and community-oriented - in short how to change an anonynous/ isolated/ car-dominated landscape into an eco-village. Am loving this book! As I was saying to my weed-pulling buddy - there are so many amazing tools to make this world a better place - it's just a case of getting out there and spreading them.

Island life is pretty good - went for my first swim in the ocean yesterday after an 8 hour shift in the kitchen. The shifts may be long, but it is only a 4-day week. Have my first day off tomorrow. Am super-excited! Will be kicking off with a pre-breakfast kayak trip at 6.45am (told you this is get-fit boot camp!!). Lie-ins don't seem to happen as I'm either working at 7am or doing yoga .. Was very sleep-deprived my first 5 days here because of a snoring room-mate. We tried multiple brands of earplugs, but to no avail - and have now opted for seperate sleeping spots. I've since had two great nights of sleep in a row and am feeling far more human.

Have I told you that baby deer are all over the place (like chomping the grass outside our house) and the beach is littered with beautiful oyster shells and large pink starfish. The water is totally clear and still and it's easy to see little sand crabs scuttling around on the sandy bottom of the ocean. I enjoy chilling out here on the deck and enjoying the great view of ocean, mountains and fir-tree covered islands. If my eyes stay open, I am going star-spotting on the beach at 10pm (and there may be a meteor shower...)