April: the true Janus Face
So here's the deal. I'm home from vacation in Tucson, which I enjoyed mightily. It was a well-filling experience.
But, as an adult with allegiances in two countries, I allocate the entire month of April to income tax. Actually, I pay someone else to do my Canadian taxes, which helps, but there's still a lot of paperwork to assemble.
Plus, I have this "thing" about paying someone else to help me tell the US IRS that I don't, in fact, owe taxes, because I pay up here and the two countries have signed a treaty. Therefore, I do my own US taxes. Which mostly involves whining, since the paperwork is all assembled for the Canadian accountant. But it's still a project.
All of which is a big over-explanation of why today is another picture day. Two pictures, actually -- taken the "Day of Two Sunrises."
Sunrises actually aren't straight "up" from a spot on the horizon (a factoid I didn't really understand till I lived here). In March, one day the sun rises from behind the far peninsula, where we see it briefly, and then passes behind the island, and then "rises" again from behind the island.
So: two countries, two sets of income tax forms. But to compensate, two sunrises to look at on the calendar. Not a bad trade.
But, as an adult with allegiances in two countries, I allocate the entire month of April to income tax. Actually, I pay someone else to do my Canadian taxes, which helps, but there's still a lot of paperwork to assemble.
Plus, I have this "thing" about paying someone else to help me tell the US IRS that I don't, in fact, owe taxes, because I pay up here and the two countries have signed a treaty. Therefore, I do my own US taxes. Which mostly involves whining, since the paperwork is all assembled for the Canadian accountant. But it's still a project.
All of which is a big over-explanation of why today is another picture day. Two pictures, actually -- taken the "Day of Two Sunrises."
Sunrises actually aren't straight "up" from a spot on the horizon (a factoid I didn't really understand till I lived here). In March, one day the sun rises from behind the far peninsula, where we see it briefly, and then passes behind the island, and then "rises" again from behind the island.
So: two countries, two sets of income tax forms. But to compensate, two sunrises to look at on the calendar. Not a bad trade.