May 2020 be a year to see God’s mercy through joyful community, healing of families, restored health, material provision, spiritual growth, personal fulfillment and much joy.
Thank you for reading my blog, for praying for our family and friends and for sharing your own stories and prayer requests with me.
Hugs! 😌
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Monday, December 30, 2019
Yada Yada Yada.....
We seem to have packed a lot into one day today! I was up and dressed and at the grocery store ridiculously early, but because of that everything I needed to purchase for our trip was there on the shelves. Going into the new year, there has all ready been a serious price jump on some of the items I purchase most often, so I think some revamping of our grocery items is going to have to happen, as a protest if for no other reason.
After shopping, my husband and I tore around the basement collecting the bags and boxes of recycling cans, bottles, paper, cardboard and electronics. We decided we might as well get that done today to get our basement free of the mess and to give us some spending money on the trip. When we arrived at the recycling depot there was a big sign on the door that they are closed until January 2nd. hahaha The joke was on us! I don't know why I didn't check their holiday hours before we went to all that work and drove our junk all over the city. hahaha Why I assumed they would be open I have no idea, but at least it gave my husband some fresh air and exercise in the midst of his sedentary photo scanning project he wants to complete before we see his sister next week.
We drove home again, hauled all the bags and boxes back downstairs and had a laugh about our minor misfortune. Along the way we did pass a paper and cardboard recycling bin that was not all ready overflowing, so our big box of old sermons and over used old moving boxes were disposed of. Guess the trip wasn't a complete washout. hahaha
Then it was time for laundry! In between loads of washing and changing photos on the scanner, we enjoyed the better part of a full day of a "Highway Thru Hell" marathon on tv. It was nice to have some relaxation as we jumped up and down from the sofa to change over loads of clothes and put fresh batches of old photos on the scanner.
Tomorrow morning it will be time to iron today's laundry items. Then I get to go to ladies' prayer meeting. We weren't supposed to start up again until after the holidays, but our hostess is lonely and misses all of us. I am lonely too and very excited about the fellowship and prayer time we will have together. My husband has some library books he needs to return and will go to a stationery store to purchase some small specialty stickers for our son to use when making notes in various philosophy books he is reading. He hasn't found the kind he likes in his own neighbourhood stationery store. I think a bag of ketchup chips and a bag of Cheezies would also be in order for a treat to give him when we pick him up in Calgary. He can't get either of those in the USA. They were the first items he purchased when he arrived here two weeks ago. I don't think he actually likes either of them that much, it is just the frustration of not being able to get them Stateside that makes them attractive to him. hahahaha
My husband gave me a huge treat yesterday: he discovered, among a collection of books recently given to him by a retiring priest friend, a compilation of the works of St. John of the Cross. I am so excited to be able to read more of his writings. He understands suffering and lament so very well. I have just completed reading his biography at the beginning of the book and some of the details about the two Carmelite fellows who did the translation into English. This fat book includes some of his poetry too. I suspect it is going to take me a VERY long time to wade through the nearly 1000 pages of text, but I am looking forward to getting started.
I didn't sleep well last night. Hopefully I will do better tonight! While our son was here I was able to keep my mind off things that are so stressful in our families, but after he left I wasn't able to stay quite as emotionally removed. Today I did talk to both my parents and they are doing not too badly despite the huge adjustments in their living situations. Unfortunately, Dad's old problems with vertigo have returned after many years of not having it. The doctor is coming to see him tomorrow and try to find some help for him. I am praying he can get over it quickly this time around. Mom has been busy getting caught up on many home chores she couldn't get enough consecutive hours free to do when Dad was still at home. She has been to two holiday parties in her building and is going to the New Years Eve celebration tomorrow evening. Slowly she is getting her bearings again now that she is living alone. It was somewhat encouraging this time to talk to them. Dad is maintaining a good attitude most of the time and is being pleasant to the staff, so that is helping him get little perks with his care. Bless them both Lord.
Our wonderful, QUIET, next door neighbours moved out over the weekend. Today the cleaning and repair crews were there, so I am suspicious the suite has all ready been rented for January. We may not find out who our new neighbours are until after we return from our trip. Oh please dear Lord, let them not be smokers or partiers or loud music players...a lot to ask for, but I can't handle any of those things, particularly the smoking. These buildings are not sealed properly, so if I have to smell tobacco or cannabis every day I will be extremely ill in short order. Lord, in your mercy....hear my prayer. More stress....aaaaaargh!!!!! Will it ever end????
After shopping, my husband and I tore around the basement collecting the bags and boxes of recycling cans, bottles, paper, cardboard and electronics. We decided we might as well get that done today to get our basement free of the mess and to give us some spending money on the trip. When we arrived at the recycling depot there was a big sign on the door that they are closed until January 2nd. hahaha The joke was on us! I don't know why I didn't check their holiday hours before we went to all that work and drove our junk all over the city. hahaha Why I assumed they would be open I have no idea, but at least it gave my husband some fresh air and exercise in the midst of his sedentary photo scanning project he wants to complete before we see his sister next week.
We drove home again, hauled all the bags and boxes back downstairs and had a laugh about our minor misfortune. Along the way we did pass a paper and cardboard recycling bin that was not all ready overflowing, so our big box of old sermons and over used old moving boxes were disposed of. Guess the trip wasn't a complete washout. hahaha
Then it was time for laundry! In between loads of washing and changing photos on the scanner, we enjoyed the better part of a full day of a "Highway Thru Hell" marathon on tv. It was nice to have some relaxation as we jumped up and down from the sofa to change over loads of clothes and put fresh batches of old photos on the scanner.
Tomorrow morning it will be time to iron today's laundry items. Then I get to go to ladies' prayer meeting. We weren't supposed to start up again until after the holidays, but our hostess is lonely and misses all of us. I am lonely too and very excited about the fellowship and prayer time we will have together. My husband has some library books he needs to return and will go to a stationery store to purchase some small specialty stickers for our son to use when making notes in various philosophy books he is reading. He hasn't found the kind he likes in his own neighbourhood stationery store. I think a bag of ketchup chips and a bag of Cheezies would also be in order for a treat to give him when we pick him up in Calgary. He can't get either of those in the USA. They were the first items he purchased when he arrived here two weeks ago. I don't think he actually likes either of them that much, it is just the frustration of not being able to get them Stateside that makes them attractive to him. hahahaha
My husband gave me a huge treat yesterday: he discovered, among a collection of books recently given to him by a retiring priest friend, a compilation of the works of St. John of the Cross. I am so excited to be able to read more of his writings. He understands suffering and lament so very well. I have just completed reading his biography at the beginning of the book and some of the details about the two Carmelite fellows who did the translation into English. This fat book includes some of his poetry too. I suspect it is going to take me a VERY long time to wade through the nearly 1000 pages of text, but I am looking forward to getting started.
I didn't sleep well last night. Hopefully I will do better tonight! While our son was here I was able to keep my mind off things that are so stressful in our families, but after he left I wasn't able to stay quite as emotionally removed. Today I did talk to both my parents and they are doing not too badly despite the huge adjustments in their living situations. Unfortunately, Dad's old problems with vertigo have returned after many years of not having it. The doctor is coming to see him tomorrow and try to find some help for him. I am praying he can get over it quickly this time around. Mom has been busy getting caught up on many home chores she couldn't get enough consecutive hours free to do when Dad was still at home. She has been to two holiday parties in her building and is going to the New Years Eve celebration tomorrow evening. Slowly she is getting her bearings again now that she is living alone. It was somewhat encouraging this time to talk to them. Dad is maintaining a good attitude most of the time and is being pleasant to the staff, so that is helping him get little perks with his care. Bless them both Lord.
Our wonderful, QUIET, next door neighbours moved out over the weekend. Today the cleaning and repair crews were there, so I am suspicious the suite has all ready been rented for January. We may not find out who our new neighbours are until after we return from our trip. Oh please dear Lord, let them not be smokers or partiers or loud music players...a lot to ask for, but I can't handle any of those things, particularly the smoking. These buildings are not sealed properly, so if I have to smell tobacco or cannabis every day I will be extremely ill in short order. Lord, in your mercy....hear my prayer. More stress....aaaaaargh!!!!! Will it ever end????
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Counting Down......
I'm surely wondering how this trip to Alberta is going to go.
Our families are in difficult situations and we are not certain how much help we are going to be to them, but we will try.
Not sure how we are going to get all the art supplies and paintings our son needs us to bring out with us, plus a big blowup mattress and bedding for the two guys, plus our extra food to accommodate my diet for breakfasts, plus our usual suitcases, PLUS get all this "stuff" AND possibly a table from my husband's sister into the car on our way back from Edmonton, but before we drop our son and all HIS "stuff" off at the Calgary airport to go to his art show and scheduled artist's talk in Vancouver after the family visits are over. So very grateful my husband is a master of packing a lot of "stuff" into small spaces!! Even at that.....
We are apparently driving the entire 8 hours to Alberta in snow "showers" which can mean anything from freezing rain to sleet to a full scale blizzard. By the time we come home the usual January deep freeze will be underway with night time lows near -25C and daytime highs of -18C. I am all ready praying for deliverance from vehicle break downs and icy highways, Lord willing.
It was lovely having my husband with me at church this morning. He enjoyed the service, as he always does, particularly the fact that he is there as part of the congregation and is not in charge of anything. It is a good refreshment for him one or two Sundays each month and he feels like he is not writing sermons and creating programmes for his own parish out of a vaccum. He is enjoying being spiritually nourished by others and not dependent only on his own saying of the Daily Office each morning.
There was no coffee hour today, but we have noticed the lack of coffee hour doesn't slow down the post service visiting among the congregation members. Many of us stood around for an hour inside the sanctuary, visiting as if we were downstairs chatting over coffee and cookies. The lack of refreshments made no difference to the happy chit chat.
We came home and attacked the Indian food leftovers and the hamburger meal leftovers, so we had quite a feast! Then we watched the season finale episodes of The Black List we have been saving for the past couple of weeks. Suddenly it was time for dinner and then we watched a couple of shows on the Love Nature channel, which is giving us a free preview until the end of this month. I think if we ever wanted to pay for one more tv channel it would be this one. We particularly enjoy "Crikey! It's the Irwins" and "Orangutan Jungle School". The amount of animal rehabilitation and conservation going on in other nations is amazing and encouraging to us both. We are considering finding out in January if it would be possible to lose a couple of our other relatively unwatched channels and replace them with Love Nature. Hopefully that will work, so we aren't paying a lot of extra dollars. We have an excess of channels we rarely watch these days, so it is time to revamp our subscription.
A friend from Kamloops called this evening. We had such great chat. It has been quite awhile since we have had the opportunity to communicate by telephone. After she talked to me, she got busy dealing with their Christmas dinner leftovers: chicken pot pies, chicken vegetable soup, ham spiked split pea soup.....aaaaargh! Why am I so lazy with leftovers??? Why don't I think of making such things when I have leftovers staring me in the face? Why do I find thinking at all creatively about cooking to be such a chore that nets me very few results in my freezer?? What is wrong with me?? Her quick action to fill her freezer with quick to eat prepared foods has been a wake up call to me to get my head off the stresses of life and get busy making tastier, healthier, more creative frozen meals! My friend emailed me only about two hours after we chatted to say that all the above dishes she was making were finished and ready for the freezer. HOW DO PEOPLE DO THAT SO QUICKLY??? Ooh, I am so chastised about my own lack of cooking skills. It isn't that I can't do those things, to be honest, it is that I don't think of them. Why don't I think of them? What is so difficult about looking at leftovers and instantly thinking of what I can do with them, then getting on it and doing it???? Yikes! Gotta make that my New Years Resolution for 2020!
Tomorrow will be busy, but not particularly exciting. Grocery shopping and laundry await. The next day will be ironing the laundry in preparation for packing suitcases to go away again. That drive to Alberta is getting longer and more boring every trip we take there. I am praying we don't have to go again any time soon. The cost is beyond us and the time spent either driving so many hours on icy, snowy highways, or at least worrying the entire time that we will be driving on icy, snowy highways, takes a bad toll on both of us. We know we will have to find a way to return again fairly soon as Mom is on top of the waiting list for the next available bachelor suite in her building and will need assistance moving. Dad may not live all that long, so there may be a funeral this winter. He is SO unhappy and SO ready and willing to go and feels like he can't handle any more of the struggle to stay alive for no apparent reason. What a horrible stage to be at. I feel terrible for him. He is excited though about the visit with his grandson, so we are glad he has that to look forward to.
Nearly 11pm. If I am going to get to the grocery store as early as I want to, I had better get to sleep. O my...I just remembered I need to get up early the next morning too so I can get all the cans and bottles to the recycling! There are so many that the return on this will finance the first day's gasoline and meals on our trip. Yup, gotta remember to get that done!
Nighty night all.
Our families are in difficult situations and we are not certain how much help we are going to be to them, but we will try.
Not sure how we are going to get all the art supplies and paintings our son needs us to bring out with us, plus a big blowup mattress and bedding for the two guys, plus our extra food to accommodate my diet for breakfasts, plus our usual suitcases, PLUS get all this "stuff" AND possibly a table from my husband's sister into the car on our way back from Edmonton, but before we drop our son and all HIS "stuff" off at the Calgary airport to go to his art show and scheduled artist's talk in Vancouver after the family visits are over. So very grateful my husband is a master of packing a lot of "stuff" into small spaces!! Even at that.....
We are apparently driving the entire 8 hours to Alberta in snow "showers" which can mean anything from freezing rain to sleet to a full scale blizzard. By the time we come home the usual January deep freeze will be underway with night time lows near -25C and daytime highs of -18C. I am all ready praying for deliverance from vehicle break downs and icy highways, Lord willing.
It was lovely having my husband with me at church this morning. He enjoyed the service, as he always does, particularly the fact that he is there as part of the congregation and is not in charge of anything. It is a good refreshment for him one or two Sundays each month and he feels like he is not writing sermons and creating programmes for his own parish out of a vaccum. He is enjoying being spiritually nourished by others and not dependent only on his own saying of the Daily Office each morning.
There was no coffee hour today, but we have noticed the lack of coffee hour doesn't slow down the post service visiting among the congregation members. Many of us stood around for an hour inside the sanctuary, visiting as if we were downstairs chatting over coffee and cookies. The lack of refreshments made no difference to the happy chit chat.
We came home and attacked the Indian food leftovers and the hamburger meal leftovers, so we had quite a feast! Then we watched the season finale episodes of The Black List we have been saving for the past couple of weeks. Suddenly it was time for dinner and then we watched a couple of shows on the Love Nature channel, which is giving us a free preview until the end of this month. I think if we ever wanted to pay for one more tv channel it would be this one. We particularly enjoy "Crikey! It's the Irwins" and "Orangutan Jungle School". The amount of animal rehabilitation and conservation going on in other nations is amazing and encouraging to us both. We are considering finding out in January if it would be possible to lose a couple of our other relatively unwatched channels and replace them with Love Nature. Hopefully that will work, so we aren't paying a lot of extra dollars. We have an excess of channels we rarely watch these days, so it is time to revamp our subscription.
A friend from Kamloops called this evening. We had such great chat. It has been quite awhile since we have had the opportunity to communicate by telephone. After she talked to me, she got busy dealing with their Christmas dinner leftovers: chicken pot pies, chicken vegetable soup, ham spiked split pea soup.....aaaaargh! Why am I so lazy with leftovers??? Why don't I think of making such things when I have leftovers staring me in the face? Why do I find thinking at all creatively about cooking to be such a chore that nets me very few results in my freezer?? What is wrong with me?? Her quick action to fill her freezer with quick to eat prepared foods has been a wake up call to me to get my head off the stresses of life and get busy making tastier, healthier, more creative frozen meals! My friend emailed me only about two hours after we chatted to say that all the above dishes she was making were finished and ready for the freezer. HOW DO PEOPLE DO THAT SO QUICKLY??? Ooh, I am so chastised about my own lack of cooking skills. It isn't that I can't do those things, to be honest, it is that I don't think of them. Why don't I think of them? What is so difficult about looking at leftovers and instantly thinking of what I can do with them, then getting on it and doing it???? Yikes! Gotta make that my New Years Resolution for 2020!
Tomorrow will be busy, but not particularly exciting. Grocery shopping and laundry await. The next day will be ironing the laundry in preparation for packing suitcases to go away again. That drive to Alberta is getting longer and more boring every trip we take there. I am praying we don't have to go again any time soon. The cost is beyond us and the time spent either driving so many hours on icy, snowy highways, or at least worrying the entire time that we will be driving on icy, snowy highways, takes a bad toll on both of us. We know we will have to find a way to return again fairly soon as Mom is on top of the waiting list for the next available bachelor suite in her building and will need assistance moving. Dad may not live all that long, so there may be a funeral this winter. He is SO unhappy and SO ready and willing to go and feels like he can't handle any more of the struggle to stay alive for no apparent reason. What a horrible stage to be at. I feel terrible for him. He is excited though about the visit with his grandson, so we are glad he has that to look forward to.
Nearly 11pm. If I am going to get to the grocery store as early as I want to, I had better get to sleep. O my...I just remembered I need to get up early the next morning too so I can get all the cans and bottles to the recycling! There are so many that the return on this will finance the first day's gasoline and meals on our trip. Yup, gotta remember to get that done!
Nighty night all.
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Gone.....
The son is at the airport awaiting his flight east.
My heart hurts.
A good day of packing up, farewell lunch at DarBar, (for any of you who seem to feel it is your obligation to point out to me that we seem to eat out a lot and with just the slightest hint of judgement in your voice, we have eaten out 7 times in 15 days...deal with it...how we could afford it is no one’s business), home made burgers for dinner and an easy time for our son at airport security...yup, a great last day.
For a happy, peaceful two weeks together as a family we are thankful.
For the knowledge that we will meet up again in Alberta soon, we are thankful!
But saying goodbye is still difficult and my heart still hurts.
I’ll get over it.
My heart hurts.
A good day of packing up, farewell lunch at DarBar, (for any of you who seem to feel it is your obligation to point out to me that we seem to eat out a lot and with just the slightest hint of judgement in your voice, we have eaten out 7 times in 15 days...deal with it...how we could afford it is no one’s business), home made burgers for dinner and an easy time for our son at airport security...yup, a great last day.
For a happy, peaceful two weeks together as a family we are thankful.
For the knowledge that we will meet up again in Alberta soon, we are thankful!
But saying goodbye is still difficult and my heart still hurts.
I’ll get over it.
Friday, December 27, 2019
Going....Going......
The time is going far too quickly on this visit with our son. Sigh..... Glad we will see him again soon in Alberta, but it will not be the same laid back time we have enjoyed here at home. As he was telling me yesterday, he has very few friends who could stand to spend two consecutive weeks with their parents at this point in their lives. We are honoured that he enjoys being with us here so much. Our good relationship is a testament to the power of transformation in us all over the past twenty years.
Last night was a lot of fun for me. My husband was still recovering his energy after the traumatic tummy attack on Christmas Day, so since my son was eager for a change of scene, he and I went to have dinner at Lancaster Tap House. The food was very good, as it always is, (bless you Small Plate items), but the conversation was the sweetest. The two of us talked for a long time about our relationship as mother and son, the times it floundered in his younger days, the stresses we had to cope with in the many absences of husband/father when he was doing carpentry projects here and there and everywhere, the CFS issues, the poverty, the healing process that took place in all our lives through prayer and counselling and discovering the ability to forgive each other at a deep level. What a great conversation!
This morning my husband was feeling great once again, so, since we were all up extremely early this morning for some unknown reason, he was desperate to take us up the street to Trifon's for their daily $5.99 breakfast. hahaha He and our son DO love their diner breakfasts. Breakfast for 3 for under twenty dollars...unbelievable! AND the food, other than the pork items, was not at all greasy! YAY! The waitress and my husband had a good conversation after our meal: he was in there with a bunch of Anglican priests a couple of weeks ago and promised to pray for her elderly, dying dog who was about to be put down. The poor doggy is no more and she is very sad of course. She was pleased he remembered and that he actually had remembered to pray on the very day the veterinarian had to put the dog to rest.
After we dropped our son off back home so he could prepare our living/dining room areas for a studio visit he set up with the head curator from our local provincial art gallery, my husband and I took the car in for a badly needed oil change and fluids top up. Another slap in the wallet this month, but wow, it was in desperate need of the oil change! Fortunately the mechanics saw no evidence of any leaking or seeping or other problems underneath the chassis, so we came away feeling fortunate. They also had the very windshield wiper replacement blade we needed!
Our son was too nervous to eat lunch, with the pending studio visit; my husband was still too full from breakfast, so I suspect they will eat an early dinner tonight.
What does a person call a late lunch/early dinner combo meal? "Linner"? "Dunch"? "Dinch"? "Luner"? "Dunner"? "Duncher"? "Linncher"?
We will have our last meal out together tomorrow at noon. We will go to the Afghan buffet on Albert Street. The food is good for my husband, healthy and non-threatening as far as content and spicing. Our son really enjoys the difference between the Afghani spicing and Indian spicing, as well as the use of the most delicious eggplants. Yum!! I have to put a list of groceries together for our trip to AB, as there is a kitchenette at our accommodation in Calgary. We will be able to stock up the day before we leave.
The visiting curator is downstairs with my son as I am writing this post. I wish they would speak up so I could eavesdrop on their conversation and find out if this visit is going to amount to anything in the future in regard to my son's career. My son knows it is unlikely. He knows it is always a long shot that studio visits will result in any sales, or offers of shows etc. He is filled with reality while I am filled with motherly hopes and dreams. Mine are based on the possibility that his US visa will, ultimately, be denied and he will be desperate to find work and art sales in Canada once again. His more realistic viewpoint is based on years of artist life experience and thus he knows that studio visits are a necessary, but not always lucrative part of being an artist. My husband is ignoring the whole event and is writing a theological paper. hahaha How I admire his ability to mind his own business.....
Last night was a lot of fun for me. My husband was still recovering his energy after the traumatic tummy attack on Christmas Day, so since my son was eager for a change of scene, he and I went to have dinner at Lancaster Tap House. The food was very good, as it always is, (bless you Small Plate items), but the conversation was the sweetest. The two of us talked for a long time about our relationship as mother and son, the times it floundered in his younger days, the stresses we had to cope with in the many absences of husband/father when he was doing carpentry projects here and there and everywhere, the CFS issues, the poverty, the healing process that took place in all our lives through prayer and counselling and discovering the ability to forgive each other at a deep level. What a great conversation!
This morning my husband was feeling great once again, so, since we were all up extremely early this morning for some unknown reason, he was desperate to take us up the street to Trifon's for their daily $5.99 breakfast. hahaha He and our son DO love their diner breakfasts. Breakfast for 3 for under twenty dollars...unbelievable! AND the food, other than the pork items, was not at all greasy! YAY! The waitress and my husband had a good conversation after our meal: he was in there with a bunch of Anglican priests a couple of weeks ago and promised to pray for her elderly, dying dog who was about to be put down. The poor doggy is no more and she is very sad of course. She was pleased he remembered and that he actually had remembered to pray on the very day the veterinarian had to put the dog to rest.
After we dropped our son off back home so he could prepare our living/dining room areas for a studio visit he set up with the head curator from our local provincial art gallery, my husband and I took the car in for a badly needed oil change and fluids top up. Another slap in the wallet this month, but wow, it was in desperate need of the oil change! Fortunately the mechanics saw no evidence of any leaking or seeping or other problems underneath the chassis, so we came away feeling fortunate. They also had the very windshield wiper replacement blade we needed!
Our son was too nervous to eat lunch, with the pending studio visit; my husband was still too full from breakfast, so I suspect they will eat an early dinner tonight.
What does a person call a late lunch/early dinner combo meal? "Linner"? "Dunch"? "Dinch"? "Luner"? "Dunner"? "Duncher"? "Linncher"?
We will have our last meal out together tomorrow at noon. We will go to the Afghan buffet on Albert Street. The food is good for my husband, healthy and non-threatening as far as content and spicing. Our son really enjoys the difference between the Afghani spicing and Indian spicing, as well as the use of the most delicious eggplants. Yum!! I have to put a list of groceries together for our trip to AB, as there is a kitchenette at our accommodation in Calgary. We will be able to stock up the day before we leave.
The visiting curator is downstairs with my son as I am writing this post. I wish they would speak up so I could eavesdrop on their conversation and find out if this visit is going to amount to anything in the future in regard to my son's career. My son knows it is unlikely. He knows it is always a long shot that studio visits will result in any sales, or offers of shows etc. He is filled with reality while I am filled with motherly hopes and dreams. Mine are based on the possibility that his US visa will, ultimately, be denied and he will be desperate to find work and art sales in Canada once again. His more realistic viewpoint is based on years of artist life experience and thus he knows that studio visits are a necessary, but not always lucrative part of being an artist. My husband is ignoring the whole event and is writing a theological paper. hahaha How I admire his ability to mind his own business.....
Thursday, December 26, 2019
New Website For the Artist Son
For those of you who have been asking, our son has begun designing a new website. There isn’t much there right now and won’t be until he finds out what country he will be living in, but he has a few of his most recent works on there. The site addie is: http://elibornowsky.com
He has a show opening on January 11 in Vancouver at the Canton-Sardine Gallery (268 Keefer Street), that will be curated by Lam Wong (canton-sardine.com)
His next show will be in New York City in the spring, details to follow in the new year.
He is grateful for the interest expressed by so many of you!
His next show will be in New York City in the spring, details to follow in the new year.
He is grateful for the interest expressed by so many of you!
It’s All Done!
The ironing is finished. One hour and fifteen minutes is all the time it took! Now I am famished. Time for a late lunch, then a quick trip out for some mineral supplements. The sun is shining! Yes! My husband is feeling perfectly well today. Yes! My son is well on the way to completing the third painting he brought with him. Yes!
Thank you Lord for a good day once again.
Thank you Lord for a good day once again.
Shoot...Not Again....Sigh....
My husband’s health has been so good the past couple of months, apart from the cold he had last week. Last night spoiled his good record. Poor guy.....
We were enjoying a wonderful Chinese meal, nearly done in fact, when my husband suddenly clutched my arm, looked at me with panic in his eyes and announced he was starting to have “an episode” and needed to get to the car to lie down. Usually, if he gets out into the cold air right away he can gain control of the tummy pain, but last night was not usual. As our son and I hurried to finish our meal my husband came scurrying back in to tell us he needed to go home NOW! Thankful for the speed of the worried waitress to prepare our bill, as I assured her the problem was not bad food, we hustled my husband back to the car and I drove home as quickly as I dared. Fortunately I got parked at home and my husband managed to get out of the vehicle before becoming violently ill. He lay in the snow beside the car for a couple of minutes before staggering into the house and limped up the stairs to be ill one more time. Fortunately the whole episode was then over and he slept for an hour. He woke up feeling hungry, so he had two slices of toast and peanut butter, which settled very well in his tummy. We all watched the Queen’s Christmas speech and an undercard boxing match before getting him back to bed.
Last night’s incident seems to have been the result of two weeks of cheating on his diet and not eating any lunch yesterday before filling his stomach with the hot pepper flakes in his meal at dinner. Once he rid his system of the spicy dinner he was fine, not suffering the lingering effects of previous episodes. As soon as the medical offices open again next week, I will contact his doctor and find out the name of the gastroenterologist my husband has been referred to. I need to call that office and find out where on the waiting list my husband is currently sitting and how long it is going to be before he can have his appointment set up. It is time to start making some noise!
My concern is that now my husband will be completely freaked out about our trip to Alberta and thus his worrying about maybe having another series of episodes there will keep his stomach jumping to the point where he actually has them. It is not as if the trip will be stress free! We will be helping my parents with some paperwork stresses and then seeing another relative who is recovering from serious cancer surgery....good to do? Yes! Relaxing? No! There are many worries associated with this trip and I wonder how my husband will handle them. We will be ending that trip by watching our son fly off to his art show in Vancouver, none of us knowing where he will be going from there until he hears about his visa.
So, the situation has been mulled over by both of us and it is time for sone serious prayers about how best to deal with the travel plans. Staying home is not an option at the moment, so strict dietary rules for my husband will have to be adhered to, along with lots of rest in between visits. Live and learn. My husband cannot ignore the stress he is experiencing about our son leaving on his next set of travels across Canada and the lack of news regarding his visa status. He admitted to the stress and a few hours later he had the upset after dinner. He needs to regain peace of mind. Hopefully he and God can thrash this out between them and my husband can relax again.
Aaaah, life is never boring! However, there are zero plans made to go out anywhere for the next couple of days. My son can paint, my husband can rest and I may finally do the ironing!!!!! (insert hysterical maniacal laughter here)
We were enjoying a wonderful Chinese meal, nearly done in fact, when my husband suddenly clutched my arm, looked at me with panic in his eyes and announced he was starting to have “an episode” and needed to get to the car to lie down. Usually, if he gets out into the cold air right away he can gain control of the tummy pain, but last night was not usual. As our son and I hurried to finish our meal my husband came scurrying back in to tell us he needed to go home NOW! Thankful for the speed of the worried waitress to prepare our bill, as I assured her the problem was not bad food, we hustled my husband back to the car and I drove home as quickly as I dared. Fortunately I got parked at home and my husband managed to get out of the vehicle before becoming violently ill. He lay in the snow beside the car for a couple of minutes before staggering into the house and limped up the stairs to be ill one more time. Fortunately the whole episode was then over and he slept for an hour. He woke up feeling hungry, so he had two slices of toast and peanut butter, which settled very well in his tummy. We all watched the Queen’s Christmas speech and an undercard boxing match before getting him back to bed.
Last night’s incident seems to have been the result of two weeks of cheating on his diet and not eating any lunch yesterday before filling his stomach with the hot pepper flakes in his meal at dinner. Once he rid his system of the spicy dinner he was fine, not suffering the lingering effects of previous episodes. As soon as the medical offices open again next week, I will contact his doctor and find out the name of the gastroenterologist my husband has been referred to. I need to call that office and find out where on the waiting list my husband is currently sitting and how long it is going to be before he can have his appointment set up. It is time to start making some noise!
My concern is that now my husband will be completely freaked out about our trip to Alberta and thus his worrying about maybe having another series of episodes there will keep his stomach jumping to the point where he actually has them. It is not as if the trip will be stress free! We will be helping my parents with some paperwork stresses and then seeing another relative who is recovering from serious cancer surgery....good to do? Yes! Relaxing? No! There are many worries associated with this trip and I wonder how my husband will handle them. We will be ending that trip by watching our son fly off to his art show in Vancouver, none of us knowing where he will be going from there until he hears about his visa.
So, the situation has been mulled over by both of us and it is time for sone serious prayers about how best to deal with the travel plans. Staying home is not an option at the moment, so strict dietary rules for my husband will have to be adhered to, along with lots of rest in between visits. Live and learn. My husband cannot ignore the stress he is experiencing about our son leaving on his next set of travels across Canada and the lack of news regarding his visa status. He admitted to the stress and a few hours later he had the upset after dinner. He needs to regain peace of mind. Hopefully he and God can thrash this out between them and my husband can relax again.
Aaaah, life is never boring! However, there are zero plans made to go out anywhere for the next couple of days. My son can paint, my husband can rest and I may finally do the ironing!!!!! (insert hysterical maniacal laughter here)
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
When My Husband Woke Up This Morning, He Had NO Idea......
....he was going to spend Christmas Day repairing all three of our vaccum cleaners! haha What a day he has had!
Early this morning he wanted to get working some more on a photo scanning project he has been working on for months, but he realized there could be some dust filtering onto the scanner plate from the dusty books on the shelf above it. So, he got out the upstairs vaccum and started cleaning. There seemed to be something wrong with the suction, so he opened the case and discovered that somehow the opening hole of the collection bag had pulled slightly away from the opening hole of the suction hose, so the dust was going up the hose and into the main body of the vaccum. He pulled it all apart to correct the location of the collection bag, then realized he had sucked enough dust into the filter and motor area that it needed to be vaccumed out as well. He took the machine downstairs and took the downstairs vaccum out of the hall closet. As he tried to suction the dust out of the upstairs vacuum he realized the strength of the suction from the downstairs vaccum was greatly reduced, so he pulled the filter mechanism apart on it and lo and behold, discovered it was clogged with parking lot sand that comes onto the kitchen carpet from the bottom of our boots every time we come inside. I vaccum it up every night before I go to bed and sometimes in mid day if we have been outside tramping about in the sandy snow of the lot. He spent quite a long time cleaning out the filter with a wiry construction brush, but the filter still needed a vaccuming out and a washing in the sink. Down to the basement he went to get the basement vaccum (When my parents moved from their condo to the retirement facility 4 years ago we inherited a LOT of vaccums!!) and used it on the downstairs vaccum filter. He decided to do some maintenance on the basement vaccum as well. He spent nearly three hours fixing and maintaining the vaccums! Hohoho! Meeeeerry Christmas, honey!
Eventually he got all three vaccums put back together and in better running condition than they had been previously, so he was able to return at last to his scanning project! What a busy day he has had.
Our son has been in the basement the entire day, working on his paintings. Neither of the guys has had any lunch, but in a half hour we will be leaving for China Doll to have dinner. I made a reservation, just in case half the city is as tired today as we are and many other people are also not in a turkey basting mood! I am looking forward to chicken and mixed vegetables. The men will likely order Thai or Vietnamese food.
We called Dad this morning to wish him a merry Christmas. He was delighted to hear from us and to be able to tell us he was offered a second bowl of his favourite oatmeal this morning at breakfast, AND that he had a marvellously warm shower last evening, got his hair washed and came out of the shower feeling refreshed and happy. He sounds quite frail, but he is so happy we will soon be there to visit him once again.
Mom sounded very good today when we talked to her...her voice was strong and confident. She had lots of good news: the prime rib dinner last night was amazing and since she was sitting alone in the absence of her usual tablemates, she had been invited to join the ladies at another table. She will be with them again tonight for the turkey dinner. A friend was taking her to see Dad this afternoon, so they could at least spend part of Christmas Day together. She also received her full access Calgary Transit pass without having to go for the usually required personal interview. Her doctor saw to that! BLESS THAT MAN!! She has her telephone banking arrangement set up in her own name now, so yet more stressors dealt with. Only Dad's ID to deal with and we can help her with that when we are visiting in a few days.
I managed to get myself dressed a few minutes ago. It has been awhile since I waited until 4:30pm to get dressed and if we weren't going out for dinner I wouldn't have bothered. No, the ironing is still not done...not even started! There is always manana! Tomorrow there are NO plans to go anywhere and we are staying home for meals, so I will have all day to iron....like I thought I had today. hohoho By the time we made the phone calls to my parents and other elderly friends out of town, got the power to the tv and the wireless machines restored after my poor husband blew one of the electrical fuses while cleaning the vaccums, made plans for our trip to AB, etc., etc., I discovered that my favourite musicale of all times was on tv: Lionel Bart's "Oliver!". No way was I going to miss that! Fortunately it ended in time for me to get dressed and now I am waiting to leave for the Chinese restaurant.
What a great Christmas we have had this year. I am so grateful for how laid back everything has been. We still have three more days with our son, so even though he will spend two of those days painting and the third one getting packed to leave again, at least he will be "around". He has accomplished a great deal of work during his stay here. We are so happy he will have a few days of pure fun in Toronto with his girlfriend for a few days before he flies into Calgary to meet up with us and have the rest of the family visit. It has been a wonderful Christmas!
Early this morning he wanted to get working some more on a photo scanning project he has been working on for months, but he realized there could be some dust filtering onto the scanner plate from the dusty books on the shelf above it. So, he got out the upstairs vaccum and started cleaning. There seemed to be something wrong with the suction, so he opened the case and discovered that somehow the opening hole of the collection bag had pulled slightly away from the opening hole of the suction hose, so the dust was going up the hose and into the main body of the vaccum. He pulled it all apart to correct the location of the collection bag, then realized he had sucked enough dust into the filter and motor area that it needed to be vaccumed out as well. He took the machine downstairs and took the downstairs vaccum out of the hall closet. As he tried to suction the dust out of the upstairs vacuum he realized the strength of the suction from the downstairs vaccum was greatly reduced, so he pulled the filter mechanism apart on it and lo and behold, discovered it was clogged with parking lot sand that comes onto the kitchen carpet from the bottom of our boots every time we come inside. I vaccum it up every night before I go to bed and sometimes in mid day if we have been outside tramping about in the sandy snow of the lot. He spent quite a long time cleaning out the filter with a wiry construction brush, but the filter still needed a vaccuming out and a washing in the sink. Down to the basement he went to get the basement vaccum (When my parents moved from their condo to the retirement facility 4 years ago we inherited a LOT of vaccums!!) and used it on the downstairs vaccum filter. He decided to do some maintenance on the basement vaccum as well. He spent nearly three hours fixing and maintaining the vaccums! Hohoho! Meeeeerry Christmas, honey!
Eventually he got all three vaccums put back together and in better running condition than they had been previously, so he was able to return at last to his scanning project! What a busy day he has had.
Our son has been in the basement the entire day, working on his paintings. Neither of the guys has had any lunch, but in a half hour we will be leaving for China Doll to have dinner. I made a reservation, just in case half the city is as tired today as we are and many other people are also not in a turkey basting mood! I am looking forward to chicken and mixed vegetables. The men will likely order Thai or Vietnamese food.
We called Dad this morning to wish him a merry Christmas. He was delighted to hear from us and to be able to tell us he was offered a second bowl of his favourite oatmeal this morning at breakfast, AND that he had a marvellously warm shower last evening, got his hair washed and came out of the shower feeling refreshed and happy. He sounds quite frail, but he is so happy we will soon be there to visit him once again.
Mom sounded very good today when we talked to her...her voice was strong and confident. She had lots of good news: the prime rib dinner last night was amazing and since she was sitting alone in the absence of her usual tablemates, she had been invited to join the ladies at another table. She will be with them again tonight for the turkey dinner. A friend was taking her to see Dad this afternoon, so they could at least spend part of Christmas Day together. She also received her full access Calgary Transit pass without having to go for the usually required personal interview. Her doctor saw to that! BLESS THAT MAN!! She has her telephone banking arrangement set up in her own name now, so yet more stressors dealt with. Only Dad's ID to deal with and we can help her with that when we are visiting in a few days.
I managed to get myself dressed a few minutes ago. It has been awhile since I waited until 4:30pm to get dressed and if we weren't going out for dinner I wouldn't have bothered. No, the ironing is still not done...not even started! There is always manana! Tomorrow there are NO plans to go anywhere and we are staying home for meals, so I will have all day to iron....like I thought I had today. hohoho By the time we made the phone calls to my parents and other elderly friends out of town, got the power to the tv and the wireless machines restored after my poor husband blew one of the electrical fuses while cleaning the vaccums, made plans for our trip to AB, etc., etc., I discovered that my favourite musicale of all times was on tv: Lionel Bart's "Oliver!". No way was I going to miss that! Fortunately it ended in time for me to get dressed and now I am waiting to leave for the Chinese restaurant.
What a great Christmas we have had this year. I am so grateful for how laid back everything has been. We still have three more days with our son, so even though he will spend two of those days painting and the third one getting packed to leave again, at least he will be "around". He has accomplished a great deal of work during his stay here. We are so happy he will have a few days of pure fun in Toronto with his girlfriend for a few days before he flies into Calgary to meet up with us and have the rest of the family visit. It has been a wonderful Christmas!
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Wee Gifties
Christmas gift giving isn't much of an event at our house now that we are all grown up. However, tonight was a bit different. Usually we pay for our son's flight home for Christmas and he gives us the gift of a week or two of cooking dinner every night.
This year it turned out we all had gifts for each other. So, tonight we opened them. Our son purchased an annual membership for both his father and myself to the MacKenzie Art Gallery! They are charging admission now and I was thinking we would have to stop going over there so often. I suppose I must have mentioned it to our son and he was horrified to think that the local art scene was going to become unavailable to us. He borrowed his dad's bicycle the other day to go for a ride around the lake and while he was gone, he stopped in at the art gallery and bought the memberships. How kind is that??? We are very excited as there are some excellent exhibitions slated for 2020! He has also ordered me a couple of new books of tessellation patterns! I so enjoy them, so it is a real treat. He purchased a bottle of his father's favourite whiskey, a real treat that will last until next Christmas at the rate my husband drinks it. My husband enjoys savouring tasty treats for as long as he can get them to last. hahaha The man can make a box of his favourite chocolates last for a couple of months after he opens them. Wow! The discipline......
I doctored some chili we made a few weeks ago and froze. It made a delicious dinner. I thought I had thawed two cartons of chili, but it turned out one of the cartons was my vegetarian spaghetti sauce, so I just mixed them together and added sauteed onions and red peppers and some ground beef. Tossed in a LOT of extra chili powder and it all turned out very well, surprisingly enough! hahaha Dinner the easy peasy way! With the potato bread my husband brought home yesterday, it was a filling meal.
Tomorrow we will finish up the lentil soup my husband made on the weekend and likely go for Chinese food for an early dinner. Surely there will be a Chinese restaurant open again this year on Christmas Day.
The giant pile of ironing that has been sitting in the laundry room since last Sunday morning is still sitting there. Maybe I will get to it tomorrow? I don't mind doing it on Christmas Day since we will be staying home and relaxing while our son works on his paintings.
This is turning out to be a truly fantastic, restful, family Christmas!
This year it turned out we all had gifts for each other. So, tonight we opened them. Our son purchased an annual membership for both his father and myself to the MacKenzie Art Gallery! They are charging admission now and I was thinking we would have to stop going over there so often. I suppose I must have mentioned it to our son and he was horrified to think that the local art scene was going to become unavailable to us. He borrowed his dad's bicycle the other day to go for a ride around the lake and while he was gone, he stopped in at the art gallery and bought the memberships. How kind is that??? We are very excited as there are some excellent exhibitions slated for 2020! He has also ordered me a couple of new books of tessellation patterns! I so enjoy them, so it is a real treat. He purchased a bottle of his father's favourite whiskey, a real treat that will last until next Christmas at the rate my husband drinks it. My husband enjoys savouring tasty treats for as long as he can get them to last. hahaha The man can make a box of his favourite chocolates last for a couple of months after he opens them. Wow! The discipline......
I doctored some chili we made a few weeks ago and froze. It made a delicious dinner. I thought I had thawed two cartons of chili, but it turned out one of the cartons was my vegetarian spaghetti sauce, so I just mixed them together and added sauteed onions and red peppers and some ground beef. Tossed in a LOT of extra chili powder and it all turned out very well, surprisingly enough! hahaha Dinner the easy peasy way! With the potato bread my husband brought home yesterday, it was a filling meal.
Tomorrow we will finish up the lentil soup my husband made on the weekend and likely go for Chinese food for an early dinner. Surely there will be a Chinese restaurant open again this year on Christmas Day.
The giant pile of ironing that has been sitting in the laundry room since last Sunday morning is still sitting there. Maybe I will get to it tomorrow? I don't mind doing it on Christmas Day since we will be staying home and relaxing while our son works on his paintings.
This is turning out to be a truly fantastic, restful, family Christmas!
Christmas Eve Afternoon
I can tell just by looking out my front room window onto the main street that runs past our place, right now at what is usually the height of rush hour, that it is Christmas Eve here in our city. I can tell because the street is nearly deserted of vehicles. The transit buses going past are nearly empty of passengers. It is 4pm on Christmas Eve afternoon and all ready, any streets that are far from the last minute shopping venues are as empty as if a silent alien ship arrived and beamed all signs of earthly life upward and out of the city. The other businesses have closed early for the holidays. I find Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on the prairies to be absolutely eerie and rather terrifying with so many business closures, lack of traffic and pedestrians, plus the steel grey sky, ugly brown and grey landscape with only a smattering of pure white snow this holiday season that all combine to make it seem as if I have been transported to a hostile planet with all manner of frights awaiting me! Christmas Eve Day...blaaaaah!! I will be glad when all this holiday business is over and life can return to its normal ebb and flow of activity. At least this year we finally wised up and made certain there will be not so much as a carton of milk that will be needed before the brief reprieve of re-opened businesses and banks and restaurants after Boxing Day once again slides into the second round of eerie aloneness that accompanies New Years Eve and New Years Day. O Lord, let this next week of holiday closures go past fairly quickly! Amen!!
This morning my friend came over for a good long visit. O my, it was refreshing to talk to her. We could, I am certain, continue visiting for 8-10 hours non-stop, but we decided to wrap it up today in time for me to eat lunch with the guys. hahaha She has a busy evening of Christmas Eve church duties and a big dinner with friends first, plus lots of preparation for her family Christmas tomorrow. I enjoy her friendship very much.
My husband just came bouncing into the room to announce that he is serving "fours's" if I care to join him and our son for a drink and wee snack. He has obviously completely forgotten that he agreed to come with me to the 6pm Christmas Eve service at my church, as we would have to be getting ready to go in less than an hour and he hasn't mentioned the service to me so much as once today. hahaha I think we are not going after all. You know, that should upset me or bother me or tick me off or something, but it doesn't at all. I have been bothered badly with a sinus allergy today and any kind of sinus problem exhausts me. Thanking God for my allergy meds as they have kept things under control all day, but the meds too make me drowsy. I am not certain I am up for having to arrive at the church 40 minutes prior to the service to ensure we have a parking spot outside the church and a decent view from our pew inside the church.
I know our son is ambivalent about going. It is a very family friendly service with lots of little folk crying, and screeching and racing about, many many visitors who have no other contact with church, so my husband and I usually want to go and welcome them in and explain what First Baptist is all about and what Jesus really has to do with all this celebration. Tonight, I am gazing at my husband's tired face, my son's concentration as he races to complete a final canvas or two before he leaves us again in a few day's time, realizing how pooped I am and thinking....hmmmm....maybe next year's Christmas Eve service will find me feeling healthier and more in the mood. The guys can always go to midnight mass instead. They enjoy that a lot, but it is too late for me.
For now, I am going to go and put on my Mark's Comfy Robe, fry up some hamburger and onions and add them to some frozen chili I decided to doctor up for our dinner later this evening. I purchased some salad fixings to have with it. My husband brought home a loaf of fresh potato bread yesterday with the chili in mind. I am going to relax and enjoy the rest of this Christmas Day evening with great gratitude for the opportunity to have a home to relax in! We have decided not to make a fuss over Christmas Day dinner tomorrow and go out for Chinese food instead. The turkey in our freezer will wait for a more opportune time. Our son needs to spend every waking moment painting and preparing to leave once again this weekend, rather than cooking and eating heavy meals.
I am enjoying the prospect of not having to go anywhere else today. It feels just right to me! YAY! Happy Christmas Eve to ME! (and to you too!)
This morning my friend came over for a good long visit. O my, it was refreshing to talk to her. We could, I am certain, continue visiting for 8-10 hours non-stop, but we decided to wrap it up today in time for me to eat lunch with the guys. hahaha She has a busy evening of Christmas Eve church duties and a big dinner with friends first, plus lots of preparation for her family Christmas tomorrow. I enjoy her friendship very much.
My husband just came bouncing into the room to announce that he is serving "fours's" if I care to join him and our son for a drink and wee snack. He has obviously completely forgotten that he agreed to come with me to the 6pm Christmas Eve service at my church, as we would have to be getting ready to go in less than an hour and he hasn't mentioned the service to me so much as once today. hahaha I think we are not going after all. You know, that should upset me or bother me or tick me off or something, but it doesn't at all. I have been bothered badly with a sinus allergy today and any kind of sinus problem exhausts me. Thanking God for my allergy meds as they have kept things under control all day, but the meds too make me drowsy. I am not certain I am up for having to arrive at the church 40 minutes prior to the service to ensure we have a parking spot outside the church and a decent view from our pew inside the church.
I know our son is ambivalent about going. It is a very family friendly service with lots of little folk crying, and screeching and racing about, many many visitors who have no other contact with church, so my husband and I usually want to go and welcome them in and explain what First Baptist is all about and what Jesus really has to do with all this celebration. Tonight, I am gazing at my husband's tired face, my son's concentration as he races to complete a final canvas or two before he leaves us again in a few day's time, realizing how pooped I am and thinking....hmmmm....maybe next year's Christmas Eve service will find me feeling healthier and more in the mood. The guys can always go to midnight mass instead. They enjoy that a lot, but it is too late for me.
For now, I am going to go and put on my Mark's Comfy Robe, fry up some hamburger and onions and add them to some frozen chili I decided to doctor up for our dinner later this evening. I purchased some salad fixings to have with it. My husband brought home a loaf of fresh potato bread yesterday with the chili in mind. I am going to relax and enjoy the rest of this Christmas Day evening with great gratitude for the opportunity to have a home to relax in! We have decided not to make a fuss over Christmas Day dinner tomorrow and go out for Chinese food instead. The turkey in our freezer will wait for a more opportune time. Our son needs to spend every waking moment painting and preparing to leave once again this weekend, rather than cooking and eating heavy meals.
I am enjoying the prospect of not having to go anywhere else today. It feels just right to me! YAY! Happy Christmas Eve to ME! (and to you too!)
Monday, December 23, 2019
“A Christmas Story” is.....
....the heartwarming tale of how rich people must be supernaturally terrorized into sharing.
(taken from Red Durkin, on Twitter)
————————————————————————————————————————
Ooooh, my aching bathroom scale! Today we finished up the leftovers from the past week’s culinary delights via our son’s cooking skills. Urp! I feel like I have gained ten pounds in eight days! Fortunately it is only a feeling rather than reality, but wow....I have not skimped at mealtimes! Now it is back to grilled cheese sandwiches and less exotic salads, chili and the like so that our son can spend his last five days here completing his final two art projects....and save our waistlines!
Dear friends from Japan sent us a huge box of Japanese candies and teas that arrived today. Wow! Just what we need....more candies! Not! They are delicious and barely sweet. The dried candied yam sticks are quite good and my husband is looking forward to preparing the gourmet noodles. What a lot of things. So, in the spirit of Japanese obligatory gift giving, I have prepared a rather smaller box of items to ship back to Tokyo. Our friends are a spry pair of 90 year olds. He is still doing carpentry for their church and she is on the church board and leading a women’s group!
This afternoon I braved the pre-Christmas traffic and ran some errands. Good grief! I was gone nearly two hours to accomplish three simple chores. The traffic on the main streets and in parking lots was backed up, slow moving, with antsy drivers taking huge risks to try to cover their routes in shorter time periods and squeeze their vehicles into itty bitty “not really for parking” spaces! I don’t think their frantic stunts got them any further ahead. It was crazy! I was so glad to get home!
Probably I should go to the post office right after lunch tomorrow to mail my parcel to Japan, but it can wait until after Christmas. I have a stack of ironing piled up that has been awaiting my attention for several days. After a visit with a friend in the morning I would love to be able to spend the afternoon at home working on that instead of spending another afternoon battling for driving and parking room with crazed last minute Christmas shoppers!
(taken from Red Durkin, on Twitter)
————————————————————————————————————————
Ooooh, my aching bathroom scale! Today we finished up the leftovers from the past week’s culinary delights via our son’s cooking skills. Urp! I feel like I have gained ten pounds in eight days! Fortunately it is only a feeling rather than reality, but wow....I have not skimped at mealtimes! Now it is back to grilled cheese sandwiches and less exotic salads, chili and the like so that our son can spend his last five days here completing his final two art projects....and save our waistlines!
Dear friends from Japan sent us a huge box of Japanese candies and teas that arrived today. Wow! Just what we need....more candies! Not! They are delicious and barely sweet. The dried candied yam sticks are quite good and my husband is looking forward to preparing the gourmet noodles. What a lot of things. So, in the spirit of Japanese obligatory gift giving, I have prepared a rather smaller box of items to ship back to Tokyo. Our friends are a spry pair of 90 year olds. He is still doing carpentry for their church and she is on the church board and leading a women’s group!
This afternoon I braved the pre-Christmas traffic and ran some errands. Good grief! I was gone nearly two hours to accomplish three simple chores. The traffic on the main streets and in parking lots was backed up, slow moving, with antsy drivers taking huge risks to try to cover their routes in shorter time periods and squeeze their vehicles into itty bitty “not really for parking” spaces! I don’t think their frantic stunts got them any further ahead. It was crazy! I was so glad to get home!
Probably I should go to the post office right after lunch tomorrow to mail my parcel to Japan, but it can wait until after Christmas. I have a stack of ironing piled up that has been awaiting my attention for several days. After a visit with a friend in the morning I would love to be able to spend the afternoon at home working on that instead of spending another afternoon battling for driving and parking room with crazed last minute Christmas shoppers!
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Walking In a Muddy Winter Wonderland
I am staying out of the kitchen for the next couple of hours while our son prepares a fabulous meal for some guests coming from out of town tonight. My goodness, SPOILED is how I feel lately. I am on a wonderful holiday that requires no cooking on my part. YIPPEE!!! God is good!
The guys dropped me off at my church this morning on their way to do the Advent study at my husband's parish. It was really nice not to have to take the bus today. Church was all kinds of good fun and fellowship as always. After the service I felt very much directed to go outside to see my favourite pan handler. This time, beside dropping my small weekly "offering" into his hat, I knew I was supposed to pray for him, so pray I did. I don't know what he thought really, but he gave me a more enthusiastic response than usual, so at least he didn't run off screaming in the other direction. I can only pray for a miracle for him to be able to be transformed and healed....a seemingly impossible task apart from God's direct intervention. So, I am praying consistently now for Craig.
After church coffee hour was over I realized I had just missed catching my bus that runs only hourly on Sundays. However, the temperature has been hovering during the past few days at just around 0 to +1C. Thus the sidewalks that had been shovelled previously, apart from a bit of melting pavement frost, were clear and passable quite easily on foot. I took the longer route home that kept me on the better shovelled main streets and had a delightful walk all the way home. Oh, it was glorious. December 22 and I could walk home from church!! I rejoiced the entire time. What a treat to be out and about and not having too much worry about slipping and falling and breaking more bones. Such a blessing!
I spent the afternoon doing some tidying up and a bit of cleaning for our guests, the guys each had a bit of a nap, then my husband and I prepared the appetizer plates. Our son is cooking up a storm at this very moment and soon our friends will be here. Being wine importers, they are bringing several bottles of various types of wine for "research purposes", so apparently they are testing a few wines to see if they are interested in representing those particular wineries. LOVE it that they are choosing to test them right here in our home! They will also bring the correct style of wine glasses for each type, so we get the whole testing experience. It has been a few years since we have had the privilege of participating in these sorts of tests and it will be a lot of fun to hear the descriptions of the various wines, give our opinions about the flavours and bouquets and generally watch our friends in action at this part of their business. They and our son adore each other, so this will be quite a gala occasion all the way around. Last Christmas he cooked them an amazing steak dinner, this year chicken....and the best part is that I don't have to cook ANYTHING!!!! Again with the aforementioned YIPPEE!!!
Tomorrow we are hosting their daughter and her husband for lunch. I am hoping there will be lots of leftovers from our meal this evening. The aromas emanating from our kitchen at this moment are causing me to salivate...I KNOW we are going to want a repeat of this meal tomorrow at lunch time!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those of you praying for Kat and Val, o please don't stop now. Val's bones are deteriorating so quickly that she is losing ground at a rapid pace. Between the never ending pain and the morphine addiction caused by having to wait so long for the surgery, she is in a very bad way...the worst we have ever seen her. There are other very serious health issues happening now in the extended family and I see Kat starting to crumble. She cannot be strong for everyone else when she herself is having horrendous post chemo side effects like ever growing neuropathy in her hands and arms. O please pray for a miracle for this household. We may ask one of these days soon if we could go through their whole house and do a house blessing for them, in hopes that the Lord would help to clear their house of stressful issues and grant them renewed hope for the future. Please pray for emotional and spiritual and physical strength for these two sisters in the Lord. They are in great need once again.
Today I also received word that another new friend from church has just been given only 3-4 months to live...pancreatic cancer in the final stages. I am heartsick. If the Lord so leads, please remember William. Thank you.
I always pray for miracles of healing. It doesn't matter if the Lord grants the miracle, it does matter than I am not afraid to ask for the whole enchilada!! We are encouraged to take our troubles to him for help and we are encouraged to bring our spiritual brothers and sisters before him when they are troubled because we love them and want to see God working in their lives. So, I am praying for miracles for Kat, Val and their family and for William.
Don't stop praying for Cee either. The doctors are trying to get to the bottom of his growing neuropathy in his limbs and face. They have abandoned the idea that it is chemotherapy related as far as I know.
I have chatted quite a bit on the phone with both Mom and Dad over the past couple of days. I am so proud of Dad for his daily attitude adjustments that he needs in order to live in a nursing home. It is very hard on him. Mom is hopefully less stressed about the new "paperwork" issues that have arisen in regard to Dad's situation since we told her we are prepared to stay with her an extra couple of days when we go to see her in the new year and get these things taken care of once and for all. She sounded much cheerier on the phone once we told her we were all hers for an extra few days.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ooh, I can't stand it any more....the smells wafting in from the kitchen bear some checking out!! Ta ta for now!!
The guys dropped me off at my church this morning on their way to do the Advent study at my husband's parish. It was really nice not to have to take the bus today. Church was all kinds of good fun and fellowship as always. After the service I felt very much directed to go outside to see my favourite pan handler. This time, beside dropping my small weekly "offering" into his hat, I knew I was supposed to pray for him, so pray I did. I don't know what he thought really, but he gave me a more enthusiastic response than usual, so at least he didn't run off screaming in the other direction. I can only pray for a miracle for him to be able to be transformed and healed....a seemingly impossible task apart from God's direct intervention. So, I am praying consistently now for Craig.
After church coffee hour was over I realized I had just missed catching my bus that runs only hourly on Sundays. However, the temperature has been hovering during the past few days at just around 0 to +1C. Thus the sidewalks that had been shovelled previously, apart from a bit of melting pavement frost, were clear and passable quite easily on foot. I took the longer route home that kept me on the better shovelled main streets and had a delightful walk all the way home. Oh, it was glorious. December 22 and I could walk home from church!! I rejoiced the entire time. What a treat to be out and about and not having too much worry about slipping and falling and breaking more bones. Such a blessing!
I spent the afternoon doing some tidying up and a bit of cleaning for our guests, the guys each had a bit of a nap, then my husband and I prepared the appetizer plates. Our son is cooking up a storm at this very moment and soon our friends will be here. Being wine importers, they are bringing several bottles of various types of wine for "research purposes", so apparently they are testing a few wines to see if they are interested in representing those particular wineries. LOVE it that they are choosing to test them right here in our home! They will also bring the correct style of wine glasses for each type, so we get the whole testing experience. It has been a few years since we have had the privilege of participating in these sorts of tests and it will be a lot of fun to hear the descriptions of the various wines, give our opinions about the flavours and bouquets and generally watch our friends in action at this part of their business. They and our son adore each other, so this will be quite a gala occasion all the way around. Last Christmas he cooked them an amazing steak dinner, this year chicken....and the best part is that I don't have to cook ANYTHING!!!! Again with the aforementioned YIPPEE!!!
Tomorrow we are hosting their daughter and her husband for lunch. I am hoping there will be lots of leftovers from our meal this evening. The aromas emanating from our kitchen at this moment are causing me to salivate...I KNOW we are going to want a repeat of this meal tomorrow at lunch time!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those of you praying for Kat and Val, o please don't stop now. Val's bones are deteriorating so quickly that she is losing ground at a rapid pace. Between the never ending pain and the morphine addiction caused by having to wait so long for the surgery, she is in a very bad way...the worst we have ever seen her. There are other very serious health issues happening now in the extended family and I see Kat starting to crumble. She cannot be strong for everyone else when she herself is having horrendous post chemo side effects like ever growing neuropathy in her hands and arms. O please pray for a miracle for this household. We may ask one of these days soon if we could go through their whole house and do a house blessing for them, in hopes that the Lord would help to clear their house of stressful issues and grant them renewed hope for the future. Please pray for emotional and spiritual and physical strength for these two sisters in the Lord. They are in great need once again.
Today I also received word that another new friend from church has just been given only 3-4 months to live...pancreatic cancer in the final stages. I am heartsick. If the Lord so leads, please remember William. Thank you.
I always pray for miracles of healing. It doesn't matter if the Lord grants the miracle, it does matter than I am not afraid to ask for the whole enchilada!! We are encouraged to take our troubles to him for help and we are encouraged to bring our spiritual brothers and sisters before him when they are troubled because we love them and want to see God working in their lives. So, I am praying for miracles for Kat, Val and their family and for William.
Don't stop praying for Cee either. The doctors are trying to get to the bottom of his growing neuropathy in his limbs and face. They have abandoned the idea that it is chemotherapy related as far as I know.
I have chatted quite a bit on the phone with both Mom and Dad over the past couple of days. I am so proud of Dad for his daily attitude adjustments that he needs in order to live in a nursing home. It is very hard on him. Mom is hopefully less stressed about the new "paperwork" issues that have arisen in regard to Dad's situation since we told her we are prepared to stay with her an extra couple of days when we go to see her in the new year and get these things taken care of once and for all. She sounded much cheerier on the phone once we told her we were all hers for an extra few days.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ooh, I can't stand it any more....the smells wafting in from the kitchen bear some checking out!! Ta ta for now!!
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Of Cabbages and Kings....OR Lentil Cream Ale and Sons!
My son decided he and I should go out to a pub for dinner tonight. After all the gourmet cooking he has done for us since he arrived I wasn't about to deny him an evening off from kitchen duties! My husband wanted to stay home and complete his final Advent Bible study for his parishioners tomorrow morning, so my son and I went out on the town. Well, we got as far as the Knotted Thistle, a few blocks away and stopped to eat.
Wow, what a great evening to go there! Apparently the weekend before Christmas is a dead time there and this weekend was no exception. Yippee!! There was myself and my son and another table of two until ten minutes before we left after our two hour visit there. It was quiet and conducive to a good chat. We talked about politics and religion and social issues and social media and art, of course art. It was such a fun time.
The food was so good too. We both opted out of eating French Fries and ordered salads with our meals instead. Good choice! My son had a packed full chicken cheeseburger and I had the steak sandwich. My steak was a particularly nice cut. I rarely order steak sandwiches because the cuts are so gristly too much of the time. Tonight there was so much meat I couldn't eat it all and gave some to my son. The caramelized onions on the garlic toast base were a delicious addition to the huge slab of meat.
My son and I went grocery shopping this morning to spend the gift certificate we got the other day from a dear friend. We loaded up on the ingredients for tomorrow evening's dinner as well as our Christmas dinner coming up next week. We picked the Sobey's on Albert Street as it would take our coupon and the parking lot didn't look nearly as crowded as the Gordon Street Safeway. Excellent choice as it turned out. There were very few folk in the Sobey's at 10am today. We had lots of leeway to maneuver our large cart and time to stand in the narrow aisles reading ingredient lists without being in anyone's way.
Our son has been working on some new paintings since he arrived, but is getting behind due to all the shopping and cooking he has been doing as part of his Christmas gift to us. So, this coming week my husband and I will take over more of the cooking and our son can go into overdrive on his work. The space heater we purchased for the basement is working incredibly well for such an inexpensive little unit and he is enjoying having sufficient space to work in. His curator friend from the gallery here in town will stop by at the end of next week to look at his works, so that will be fun for them both. They have so many interesting philosophical discussions. His friend just returned from Austria where he presented a paper on an obscure European philosopher, so that is just my son's idea of discussion fun. So glad he has made a good friend here.
Well, off to bed early. The guys will be leaving in the morning, not long after awakening, to get out to my husband's parish. Although his cold is seriously on the mend, we are all happy my husband doesn't have to preach and preside tomorrow. He can sit with our son in the pews and relax, just enjoy the service for a change and then have lots of good fellowship with those who stay for his Bible study and luncheon afterward.
I will trundle off to my own church in the morning. One of the associate ministers is preaching and I quite like the fellow. His style is very different from our lead pastor and I like the variety. I am meeting with a friend afterward for a short visit before I head for the bus for home. I will do a bit of vaccuming and dusting in preparation for our guests.
Today after our scrambled eggs, avocado and pico de gallo brunch...thank you son...I wandered into the kitchen to survey the "damage". It appeared that a food bomb had detonated in there. My son is a former restaurant cook and still uses the approach that speed and efficiency are paramount, while keeping the food detritus under control during execution is of little importance. In his former life his restaurant kitchen was cleaned every night within an inch of its life before he went home, but during the cooking process there was no time to worry about where peelings and bits of food landed that were not part of the presented plating.
I laughed and laughed when I saw the kitchen. I will NEVER complain ever again about the smaller messes my husband makes when he cooks. hahahaha Aiiii yiiiii.... Our son was rather appalled as well, so he cheerfully helped with the clean up this time and I didn't say he couldn't. hahahaha There were green onion skins, tomato seeds, bits of chopped parsley and cilantro, avocado bits, toasted pita crumbs, lime juice puddles and hot sauce droplets EVERYWHERE!!! hahahaha I have never actually seen anything like it in my own kitchen before. hahaha I don't even want to think about what it is going to look like after he completes his special meal for our company tomorrow evening. Hohoho!!!
Bedtime.....yawn......zzzzzzzzzz.......
Wow, what a great evening to go there! Apparently the weekend before Christmas is a dead time there and this weekend was no exception. Yippee!! There was myself and my son and another table of two until ten minutes before we left after our two hour visit there. It was quiet and conducive to a good chat. We talked about politics and religion and social issues and social media and art, of course art. It was such a fun time.
The food was so good too. We both opted out of eating French Fries and ordered salads with our meals instead. Good choice! My son had a packed full chicken cheeseburger and I had the steak sandwich. My steak was a particularly nice cut. I rarely order steak sandwiches because the cuts are so gristly too much of the time. Tonight there was so much meat I couldn't eat it all and gave some to my son. The caramelized onions on the garlic toast base were a delicious addition to the huge slab of meat.
My son and I went grocery shopping this morning to spend the gift certificate we got the other day from a dear friend. We loaded up on the ingredients for tomorrow evening's dinner as well as our Christmas dinner coming up next week. We picked the Sobey's on Albert Street as it would take our coupon and the parking lot didn't look nearly as crowded as the Gordon Street Safeway. Excellent choice as it turned out. There were very few folk in the Sobey's at 10am today. We had lots of leeway to maneuver our large cart and time to stand in the narrow aisles reading ingredient lists without being in anyone's way.
Our son has been working on some new paintings since he arrived, but is getting behind due to all the shopping and cooking he has been doing as part of his Christmas gift to us. So, this coming week my husband and I will take over more of the cooking and our son can go into overdrive on his work. The space heater we purchased for the basement is working incredibly well for such an inexpensive little unit and he is enjoying having sufficient space to work in. His curator friend from the gallery here in town will stop by at the end of next week to look at his works, so that will be fun for them both. They have so many interesting philosophical discussions. His friend just returned from Austria where he presented a paper on an obscure European philosopher, so that is just my son's idea of discussion fun. So glad he has made a good friend here.
Well, off to bed early. The guys will be leaving in the morning, not long after awakening, to get out to my husband's parish. Although his cold is seriously on the mend, we are all happy my husband doesn't have to preach and preside tomorrow. He can sit with our son in the pews and relax, just enjoy the service for a change and then have lots of good fellowship with those who stay for his Bible study and luncheon afterward.
I will trundle off to my own church in the morning. One of the associate ministers is preaching and I quite like the fellow. His style is very different from our lead pastor and I like the variety. I am meeting with a friend afterward for a short visit before I head for the bus for home. I will do a bit of vaccuming and dusting in preparation for our guests.
Today after our scrambled eggs, avocado and pico de gallo brunch...thank you son...I wandered into the kitchen to survey the "damage". It appeared that a food bomb had detonated in there. My son is a former restaurant cook and still uses the approach that speed and efficiency are paramount, while keeping the food detritus under control during execution is of little importance. In his former life his restaurant kitchen was cleaned every night within an inch of its life before he went home, but during the cooking process there was no time to worry about where peelings and bits of food landed that were not part of the presented plating.
I laughed and laughed when I saw the kitchen. I will NEVER complain ever again about the smaller messes my husband makes when he cooks. hahahaha Aiiii yiiiii.... Our son was rather appalled as well, so he cheerfully helped with the clean up this time and I didn't say he couldn't. hahahaha There were green onion skins, tomato seeds, bits of chopped parsley and cilantro, avocado bits, toasted pita crumbs, lime juice puddles and hot sauce droplets EVERYWHERE!!! hahahaha I have never actually seen anything like it in my own kitchen before. hahaha I don't even want to think about what it is going to look like after he completes his special meal for our company tomorrow evening. Hohoho!!!
Bedtime.....yawn......zzzzzzzzzz.......
My Favourite "Jesus Meme"!
For those of you with an evangelistic bent, sharing the meme below could certainly help get the conversation started! hahaha Shocking and true all at the same time!
It’s Going To Be a Long January
Over this past week all three sources of our regular monthly income paid us out all ready for December. All three of them. Every penny we would normally receive at the end of this month for us to live on in January has been sitting in our account since December 17! I discovered this yesterday. To ensure that money remains to use for January’s budget, since we have to pay for this next trip to Alberta so soon, I will have to transfer it all to our other bank, then transfer it back again sometime in January when we get back. How very frustrating.
I do not like these early December payouts. If a person is not careful she could become confused and accidentally spend some of next month’s wages before this month is over. (And how do I know this? I think you can guess.....sigh....)
There is also the psychological stress of knowing we will have seven weeks until our next pay day! It is all the same amount of money and I am moving January’s income out of our working account, but I don’t like the “feeling” that comes with knowing there is that seven week gap!
Hahaha...it is funny what sorts of things bother me. I think I resent having to make the extra trips to the banks. I feel put upon; as if a twenty minute drive is really going to put me out, is really going to be a big problem, as if I am being asked to do something laborious and difficult. Good grief!
Maybe I can get away with blaming my feelings on the OCD. Yeah, that’s what it is! Fer shur! It’s the OCD. A regular occurrence took place at a different time than is usual and threw me right off. Yup, that’s what it is: OCD.
Ooooh, how wonderful to have a specific condition upon which to lay the blame for my unreasonable feelings of resentment. (Hohoho!)
I do not like these early December payouts. If a person is not careful she could become confused and accidentally spend some of next month’s wages before this month is over. (And how do I know this? I think you can guess.....sigh....)
There is also the psychological stress of knowing we will have seven weeks until our next pay day! It is all the same amount of money and I am moving January’s income out of our working account, but I don’t like the “feeling” that comes with knowing there is that seven week gap!
Hahaha...it is funny what sorts of things bother me. I think I resent having to make the extra trips to the banks. I feel put upon; as if a twenty minute drive is really going to put me out, is really going to be a big problem, as if I am being asked to do something laborious and difficult. Good grief!
Maybe I can get away with blaming my feelings on the OCD. Yeah, that’s what it is! Fer shur! It’s the OCD. A regular occurrence took place at a different time than is usual and threw me right off. Yup, that’s what it is: OCD.
Ooooh, how wonderful to have a specific condition upon which to lay the blame for my unreasonable feelings of resentment. (Hohoho!)
One Week Done, One To Go
Our son arrived here 7 days ago to the minute. At this same time one week ago, we watched his plane land on the tarmac at our local airport. For us the time has flown by. Only another week until he will be on his way to Toronto to see his girlfriend for a few days. I finally met her tonight via SKYPE. She is extremely likeable. I hope she is around for awhile but my son is unpredictable so......
This morning we left our son working on a painting while we went out to run errands. It was chilly, overcast and dreary outside, matching my mood perfectly. Blaaaah! By noon the sun was shining and subsequently I felt so much healthier and happier for the rest of the day.
I spent the afternoon trying to avoid looking at the giant stack of ironing I need to tackle.....maybe tomorrow.....
Our son had a chance this afternoon to spend a couple of hours with his only friend here. So glad he could see someone in his own age and artistic peer group!
Just before dinner our next door neighbours stopped in to let us know they have found a house to buy and are moving next weekend. I cannot help but be happy for them as they have had a long wait to purchase a home of their own. Now my prayers are directed toward the hope we will have people just as quiet on the other side of the wall once the suite is rented out in the new year. And please Lord, in your mercy, non-smokers for the sake of my asthma. Thank you Lord, amen. Getting new neighbours right beside us in this place is always a traumatic prospect. Well, I just have to trust for a good situation.
The neighbours brought over an enormous gift basket and card with a beautiful message thanking us for being good neighbours ourselves. I admit I cried when I read it. It was lovely. Incredible! O Lord, we are so undeserving. In the basket were all manner of candies in brightly coloured Christmas tins, two packs of my husband’s favourite seasonal teas and two giant tea mugs wrapped in woolly mug warmers with a snowflake pattern. So lovely. The mugs will get a lot of use. What a beautiful and unexpected blessing.
Our Christmas dinner grocery shopping will happen tomorrow morning. I WILL do the ironing in the afternoon! I WILL! I WILL! (I hope....)
Our son will go to his dad’s parish on Sunday morning, I will bus to and from my church, then give the suite a very quick once over lightly cleaning for our evening dinner guests. Our son will cook. He is very close to these friends. Actually it is a mutual admiration society! hahahahaha We will eat good food, drink good wine and visit, visit, visit!
The weekend is shaping up to be great fun.
This morning we left our son working on a painting while we went out to run errands. It was chilly, overcast and dreary outside, matching my mood perfectly. Blaaaah! By noon the sun was shining and subsequently I felt so much healthier and happier for the rest of the day.
I spent the afternoon trying to avoid looking at the giant stack of ironing I need to tackle.....maybe tomorrow.....
Our son had a chance this afternoon to spend a couple of hours with his only friend here. So glad he could see someone in his own age and artistic peer group!
Just before dinner our next door neighbours stopped in to let us know they have found a house to buy and are moving next weekend. I cannot help but be happy for them as they have had a long wait to purchase a home of their own. Now my prayers are directed toward the hope we will have people just as quiet on the other side of the wall once the suite is rented out in the new year. And please Lord, in your mercy, non-smokers for the sake of my asthma. Thank you Lord, amen. Getting new neighbours right beside us in this place is always a traumatic prospect. Well, I just have to trust for a good situation.
The neighbours brought over an enormous gift basket and card with a beautiful message thanking us for being good neighbours ourselves. I admit I cried when I read it. It was lovely. Incredible! O Lord, we are so undeserving. In the basket were all manner of candies in brightly coloured Christmas tins, two packs of my husband’s favourite seasonal teas and two giant tea mugs wrapped in woolly mug warmers with a snowflake pattern. So lovely. The mugs will get a lot of use. What a beautiful and unexpected blessing.
Our Christmas dinner grocery shopping will happen tomorrow morning. I WILL do the ironing in the afternoon! I WILL! I WILL! (I hope....)
Our son will go to his dad’s parish on Sunday morning, I will bus to and from my church, then give the suite a very quick once over lightly cleaning for our evening dinner guests. Our son will cook. He is very close to these friends. Actually it is a mutual admiration society! hahahahaha We will eat good food, drink good wine and visit, visit, visit!
The weekend is shaping up to be great fun.
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Well, We WERE Asleep....
We all went to bed rather late, knowing we can sleep in tomorrow. Unfortunately after an hour of sleep all hell broke loose in the parking lot. One of our neighbours, too intoxicated or high to be sure of his own residence, was dropped off by taxi and proceeded on a screaming, foul mouthed rant, pounding on all the doors in the building across from us. It went on and on. Finally we called the police. They arrived shortly after he was allowed into his suite by his partner, so they also went to the door. A few minutes later he was taken into custody and, still hurling obscenities, the police drove him away.
We then spent some time praying for him and for the whole situation, whatever it is, in that home. Since we moved in here, nearly five years ago, this is only the second time anything like this has occurred in our court. The weirdest thing is that although he was pounding on so many doors and obviously had awakened many of our other neighbours, according to the dispatcher we are the only ones who called the police. I don’t understand that. He could have injured the woman he lives with. He could have destroyed property. He could have hurt an innocent, uninvolved neighbour. Are we actually the only people in here to call for assistance? I admit, I don’t understand.
Well, I pray for peace to come to that household. I pray we can all get back to sleep. Calling the police on a neighbour is an upsetting experience. It is going to take awhile to calm down.
We then spent some time praying for him and for the whole situation, whatever it is, in that home. Since we moved in here, nearly five years ago, this is only the second time anything like this has occurred in our court. The weirdest thing is that although he was pounding on so many doors and obviously had awakened many of our other neighbours, according to the dispatcher we are the only ones who called the police. I don’t understand that. He could have injured the woman he lives with. He could have destroyed property. He could have hurt an innocent, uninvolved neighbour. Are we actually the only people in here to call for assistance? I admit, I don’t understand.
Well, I pray for peace to come to that household. I pray we can all get back to sleep. Calling the police on a neighbour is an upsetting experience. It is going to take awhile to calm down.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
A Day Of Blessings...and Hopefully No Spelling Errors in This Post!
It was an early morning around our house today. My son's skin condition from allergies and now exacerbated by the dry winter air here, has been getting progressively worse since he arrived from the east coast, so we got ourselves over to the nearest walk-in clinic today. We wanted to be among the first in line and fortunately we were that!
Since my son has come from the USA, we had to pay for his appointment. It cost CAD60, a mere fraction of the USD150 it costs him to go to a walk-in clinic in NYC. He was feeling badly that I paid for his appointment, but knowing he has at least 6 consecutive weeks of unemployment while his visa is being straightened out and he is stuck in Canada, I felt it was the least I could do. His skin treatment meds were extremely inexpensive and I pray they will be effective for him. All morning, as we trudged through the pharmacy and to a thrift store for some art "thingies" he was looking for, the fact that I had paid for his doctor's visit niggled at him. The last errand was to go to the bank to pay this month's utility bills. There in our account, was a small transfer payment from the company that pays my husband's retirement pension. It was a Christmas bonus we hadn't known was coming. Three guesses the amount of the bonus: of course it was CAD60! hahaha My son was thrilled and he joined me in thanking God for the gift. Afterward he admitted he could never imagine ever feeling the gratitude in receiving skin treatment cream as a Christmas gift the way he felt gratitude for it today! hahaha I had the life squeezed out of me in a BIG hug! hahaha
During an email exchange I found out one of my dearest friends here will have time for a short get together next week! She is a very busy woman, but has some time off work just before Christmas. I have a little something to give her to thank her for the loan of her blow up mattress the men will use when we are all in Calgary the first week of January. Bless her generous heart! It is going to make staying in my mom's facility guest suite MUCH easier and more comfortable that it was the last time we all three were there.
I have a friend on Vancouver Island who is a very early riser these days. When I woke up rather early myself today, there was an encouraging email message from her! It gave my tired out self a great boost to get the day started.
After lunch a friend from church showed up for a cup of tea and she was bearing a fabulous fresh turkey and a gift certificate for one of our favourite grocery stores, so that we can have a complete turkey dinner next week. Another huge blessing! How kind is that???? It was most unexpected and we are so grateful for her care of us.
Right now our son is in the kitchen creating some new and wonderful dish for us to feast on for the next couple of days. It is his own version of a bolognese sauce and it is rich and veggie filled....our favourite made even better by his additions to increase the healthy items in it. I have cooked zero dinners since he arrived and the three of us eat "catch as catch can" for our other daily meals since we all eat breakfast and lunch at different times of the day. Dinner is later into the evening and I have to admit I truly enjoy saving dinner until after 7pm. It seems to taste better at that time of evening and feels more filling so I don't need to have a snack before bedtime in order to sleep without waking up hungry at 4am.
I THINK I can stay home all day tomorrow and take care of the veritable mountain of laundry heaped in my basket. I have not done laundry now in over 2 weeks! YIKES!
It has been an excellent day thus far today. We have been surrounded by love and care and prayers and practical helps. Now it is our turn to reach out and meet the needs of a couple of people we know to be in dire straits this Christmas. FUN!!
The weather is fabulous this week and looks as if this warmer pattern will continue well into next week as well. I am glad for all the people travelling to see family and friends out of town for Christmas week. I am curious to see how the weather will be when we drive to Calgary and Edmonton in January....it really will be a near miracle if we get good weather, but I am praying for just that!
Since my son has come from the USA, we had to pay for his appointment. It cost CAD60, a mere fraction of the USD150 it costs him to go to a walk-in clinic in NYC. He was feeling badly that I paid for his appointment, but knowing he has at least 6 consecutive weeks of unemployment while his visa is being straightened out and he is stuck in Canada, I felt it was the least I could do. His skin treatment meds were extremely inexpensive and I pray they will be effective for him. All morning, as we trudged through the pharmacy and to a thrift store for some art "thingies" he was looking for, the fact that I had paid for his doctor's visit niggled at him. The last errand was to go to the bank to pay this month's utility bills. There in our account, was a small transfer payment from the company that pays my husband's retirement pension. It was a Christmas bonus we hadn't known was coming. Three guesses the amount of the bonus: of course it was CAD60! hahaha My son was thrilled and he joined me in thanking God for the gift. Afterward he admitted he could never imagine ever feeling the gratitude in receiving skin treatment cream as a Christmas gift the way he felt gratitude for it today! hahaha I had the life squeezed out of me in a BIG hug! hahaha
During an email exchange I found out one of my dearest friends here will have time for a short get together next week! She is a very busy woman, but has some time off work just before Christmas. I have a little something to give her to thank her for the loan of her blow up mattress the men will use when we are all in Calgary the first week of January. Bless her generous heart! It is going to make staying in my mom's facility guest suite MUCH easier and more comfortable that it was the last time we all three were there.
I have a friend on Vancouver Island who is a very early riser these days. When I woke up rather early myself today, there was an encouraging email message from her! It gave my tired out self a great boost to get the day started.
After lunch a friend from church showed up for a cup of tea and she was bearing a fabulous fresh turkey and a gift certificate for one of our favourite grocery stores, so that we can have a complete turkey dinner next week. Another huge blessing! How kind is that???? It was most unexpected and we are so grateful for her care of us.
Right now our son is in the kitchen creating some new and wonderful dish for us to feast on for the next couple of days. It is his own version of a bolognese sauce and it is rich and veggie filled....our favourite made even better by his additions to increase the healthy items in it. I have cooked zero dinners since he arrived and the three of us eat "catch as catch can" for our other daily meals since we all eat breakfast and lunch at different times of the day. Dinner is later into the evening and I have to admit I truly enjoy saving dinner until after 7pm. It seems to taste better at that time of evening and feels more filling so I don't need to have a snack before bedtime in order to sleep without waking up hungry at 4am.
I THINK I can stay home all day tomorrow and take care of the veritable mountain of laundry heaped in my basket. I have not done laundry now in over 2 weeks! YIKES!
It has been an excellent day thus far today. We have been surrounded by love and care and prayers and practical helps. Now it is our turn to reach out and meet the needs of a couple of people we know to be in dire straits this Christmas. FUN!!
The weather is fabulous this week and looks as if this warmer pattern will continue well into next week as well. I am glad for all the people travelling to see family and friends out of town for Christmas week. I am curious to see how the weather will be when we drive to Calgary and Edmonton in January....it really will be a near miracle if we get good weather, but I am praying for just that!
The Conult????
That would be the consult! Oh my, what crazy errors I posted last evening. hahaha Would you believe I DID proof the post before publishing it and still I found three errors. hahahahaha
Now I am awake far too early, but I need to take my son to the walk-in clinic. Nothing serious, just his usual skin reaction to the cold, dry prairie winter air. No, he cannot drive himself. Due to a glitch in communication with the B.C. government last time he was in Vancouver, they refused to renew his drivers license....another hassle he has to straighten out when he is there in January. He has maintained his Vancouver residence so they have no right to withhold his license because he still uses it more than once a year. More paperwork for him to chase down and complete. Since his health care number is on the license that was taken from him and all attempts to get the number from the B.C. health services have failed, he is going to have to pay the clinic a sixty dollar fee. In NYC he would have to pay US$150 for the same appointment so he is not complaining.
Aaaah bureaucracy! Such joy!
Now I am awake far too early, but I need to take my son to the walk-in clinic. Nothing serious, just his usual skin reaction to the cold, dry prairie winter air. No, he cannot drive himself. Due to a glitch in communication with the B.C. government last time he was in Vancouver, they refused to renew his drivers license....another hassle he has to straighten out when he is there in January. He has maintained his Vancouver residence so they have no right to withhold his license because he still uses it more than once a year. More paperwork for him to chase down and complete. Since his health care number is on the license that was taken from him and all attempts to get the number from the B.C. health services have failed, he is going to have to pay the clinic a sixty dollar fee. In NYC he would have to pay US$150 for the same appointment so he is not complaining.
Aaaah bureaucracy! Such joy!
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Biopsy Step One: The Conult
Hello friends and family. Thank you for remembering me today!
After
a nearly 2 hour wait for my appointment, due to two emergencies that
had to be dealt with immediately after a work related accident somewhere
in the city, I finally got to see the surgeon just prior to 6pm!
He
gave everything in my mouth a good going over and decided to do a 360
degree x-ray (thank you God for dental insurance!) to confirm that I had
no other blockages or growths in my mouth. The xray confirmed the only
issue is the lump I went in about today. He has decided that he is
going to need more than a few minutes to remove it due to the location
and size, BUT he is quite certain it will be benign. It will require
several stitches and he wants me to have it in the early morning so that
I have all day to recover and call him if I have any side effects
afterward. The surgery will take place on January 28th. He will still
send the lump away for biopsy just to be sure. In the meantime it
appears the blockage has been there long enough that the salivary glands
on that side are shutting down completely. He was able to
cause very little saliva to flow at all on that side. So, once the blockage is
cleared things should start working again just fine. Even his assessment that the lump is benign turns out to be incorrect, I have 6 more weeks to not have to think about it.
Thank
you for praying. I think I will have a good sleep tonight despite the
disappointment that the lump is still in my mouth for another 6 weeks,
BUT I no longer have to wonder if this dental issue will interfere with
our next trip to Calgary and Edmonton the first week of January. Hallelujah for that mercy!
Monday, December 16, 2019
Satiated!
Weeeeelllll....we are all three completely full of food this evening! Our son has decided he wants to cook most of the dinners while we are here so he can practise his love of the culinary arts....we suspect it is so he can dazzle his girlfriend back in New York if he is allowed to return on a new visa, haha...and tonight we enjoyed VERY much his fledgling attempt to cook using our old electric stove!
This afternoon his father took him grocery shopping for items that would go well with some salmon filets I thawed. They came back with bags full of groceries, mostly fresh herbs and veggies. So, this evening we had baked salmon, oven roasted baby potatoes, sauteed baby asparagus and an arugula salad with thinly sliced radishes. He made an oil and maple syrup dressing for the salad and a cilantro and garlic and leek marinade for the salmon. Aiiiii yiiiiii....he has definitely inherited his father's love of cooking as well as his aunt's ability to cook in a more gourmet style. Dinner was fantastic! When he leaves again I am going to have to hire a chef! I simply do not have the patience nor the skill to cook meals like what we had this evening. Wow! There was food all over the kitchen, but I was thrilled to be able to get the exercise required to clean it up after all that food!! My husband made a fruit salad for dessert that looked wonderful and the guys said it tasted just as wonderful. I can't eat any fruit after lunch time as it boosts my blood sugar, but it was fun watching them stuffing an entire bowl of mixed fruit down on top of their huge dinner entree and salad. hahahaha They ate a combination of fresh raspberries, pineapple, banana and apple with some flax seeds and slivered, toasted almonds on top.
My husband and I are both going to weigh a ton by the time our son leaves again!!! My refrigerator is full of fresh beef and other ingredients for a special dish he wants to make either tomorrow or the next day. On the weekend we will do another grocery run to feed friends from out of town that are coming for dinner on Sunday evening....chicken bouillabaisse, in the absence of decently fresh seafood here in the middle of the prairies. It sounds delightful and paired with the wines and salad our friends are bringing, I think we will have a wonderful time of food and fun.
Tonight the son is busy working on yet another series of signed letters required as of today by US Immigration to be submitted by month's end. So, now it will be the middle of January before he gets any sort of answer about renewal. As far as his lawyer can tell, this is the last set of information they have the right to ask for, but my poor son is so frustrated and so anxious after spending so many thousands of dollars on this process that could be money spent for nothing. Sigh...prayers and more prayers. It is the only way any of us can keep our sanity these days.
My biopsy consult is tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the surgeon will remove this lump then and not simply examine it, then schedule yet another appointment to remove it. The Lord has been a great help in keeping my stress level to a minimum for the past seven out of nine weeks since I got the call to come into the office, but it will be most frustrating if I have to work in the removal around our upcoming trip at the new year. We have to return to Calgary and Edmonton as both sets of our family members are counting on us to be helpful to them for a few days. We are still planning on going, Lord willing.
I am intensely grateful that our last ladies' prayer meeting before Christmas is tomorrow afternoon prior to my biopsy consult. Having that to be involved in will keep me from brooding before my appointment. They are such a cheery bunch, very supportive, encouraging, but also realistic and ready to step in and help each other when required. There will be no blithering and ranting before the Lord about him healing me, as if we have to beg and plead and assume that if we pray long enough prayers with enough Scripture quotations and reminders to God of what we THINK he is promising his followers, he is bound and obligated to do our bidding. I love this group of women because they do not act as if God is our valet, nor do they act as if I need them to remind me through long, involved, emotional prayers of what God is capable of if I will but believe it! At the same time they will not be praying the mealy mouthed, faith lacking, "Whatever your will Lord.....". They will ask for what they want, speak calmly and practically, knowing that God can answer in whatever way he chooses and no one will get emotional about too much of anything. I come away each week from the meeting feeling serenity and peace after praying with them. I am blessed to be included in this group of prayer warriors.
There are so many friends I should be inviting over for a visit while our son is here, but I can't seem to think much past tomorrow afternoon, nor can I seem to look any farther forward than Sunday evening's company. I hate being in limbo and once this stupid lump is removed from my tongue there will be more limbo while I await results of the biopsy. While there is more peace in my heart and mind than there was when the need for a biopsy was first mentioned, there is still some anxiety due to the long wait.
May the Lord give us all grace to cope with what each of us must cope with each day and may we find joy in the midst!
This afternoon his father took him grocery shopping for items that would go well with some salmon filets I thawed. They came back with bags full of groceries, mostly fresh herbs and veggies. So, this evening we had baked salmon, oven roasted baby potatoes, sauteed baby asparagus and an arugula salad with thinly sliced radishes. He made an oil and maple syrup dressing for the salad and a cilantro and garlic and leek marinade for the salmon. Aiiiii yiiiiii....he has definitely inherited his father's love of cooking as well as his aunt's ability to cook in a more gourmet style. Dinner was fantastic! When he leaves again I am going to have to hire a chef! I simply do not have the patience nor the skill to cook meals like what we had this evening. Wow! There was food all over the kitchen, but I was thrilled to be able to get the exercise required to clean it up after all that food!! My husband made a fruit salad for dessert that looked wonderful and the guys said it tasted just as wonderful. I can't eat any fruit after lunch time as it boosts my blood sugar, but it was fun watching them stuffing an entire bowl of mixed fruit down on top of their huge dinner entree and salad. hahahaha They ate a combination of fresh raspberries, pineapple, banana and apple with some flax seeds and slivered, toasted almonds on top.
My husband and I are both going to weigh a ton by the time our son leaves again!!! My refrigerator is full of fresh beef and other ingredients for a special dish he wants to make either tomorrow or the next day. On the weekend we will do another grocery run to feed friends from out of town that are coming for dinner on Sunday evening....chicken bouillabaisse, in the absence of decently fresh seafood here in the middle of the prairies. It sounds delightful and paired with the wines and salad our friends are bringing, I think we will have a wonderful time of food and fun.
Tonight the son is busy working on yet another series of signed letters required as of today by US Immigration to be submitted by month's end. So, now it will be the middle of January before he gets any sort of answer about renewal. As far as his lawyer can tell, this is the last set of information they have the right to ask for, but my poor son is so frustrated and so anxious after spending so many thousands of dollars on this process that could be money spent for nothing. Sigh...prayers and more prayers. It is the only way any of us can keep our sanity these days.
My biopsy consult is tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the surgeon will remove this lump then and not simply examine it, then schedule yet another appointment to remove it. The Lord has been a great help in keeping my stress level to a minimum for the past seven out of nine weeks since I got the call to come into the office, but it will be most frustrating if I have to work in the removal around our upcoming trip at the new year. We have to return to Calgary and Edmonton as both sets of our family members are counting on us to be helpful to them for a few days. We are still planning on going, Lord willing.
I am intensely grateful that our last ladies' prayer meeting before Christmas is tomorrow afternoon prior to my biopsy consult. Having that to be involved in will keep me from brooding before my appointment. They are such a cheery bunch, very supportive, encouraging, but also realistic and ready to step in and help each other when required. There will be no blithering and ranting before the Lord about him healing me, as if we have to beg and plead and assume that if we pray long enough prayers with enough Scripture quotations and reminders to God of what we THINK he is promising his followers, he is bound and obligated to do our bidding. I love this group of women because they do not act as if God is our valet, nor do they act as if I need them to remind me through long, involved, emotional prayers of what God is capable of if I will but believe it! At the same time they will not be praying the mealy mouthed, faith lacking, "Whatever your will Lord.....". They will ask for what they want, speak calmly and practically, knowing that God can answer in whatever way he chooses and no one will get emotional about too much of anything. I come away each week from the meeting feeling serenity and peace after praying with them. I am blessed to be included in this group of prayer warriors.
There are so many friends I should be inviting over for a visit while our son is here, but I can't seem to think much past tomorrow afternoon, nor can I seem to look any farther forward than Sunday evening's company. I hate being in limbo and once this stupid lump is removed from my tongue there will be more limbo while I await results of the biopsy. While there is more peace in my heart and mind than there was when the need for a biopsy was first mentioned, there is still some anxiety due to the long wait.
May the Lord give us all grace to cope with what each of us must cope with each day and may we find joy in the midst!
Happiness Is Having the Family Together
Sometimes life is especially good. The past couple of days certainly have been. The three of us have been talking and talking and talking some more. Seeing our son only once a year means there are many life details to get caught up on!
We got the chance to sleep in a bit after he arrived the other night.....after two hours of snacking and talking once we got home from the airport. All day the next day we chatted, watched some tv, discussed his notes from the icon workshop he attended this fall, did laundry and relaxed. Of course we had our late brunch at DarBar! hahaha
Yesterday was lovely for me. My son accompanied me to the bus stop and off we went through the snow and cold to my church. (Next week he will go with my husband to his parish.) The service was jam packed with an interesting combination of liturgical Advent tradition and evangelical pre Christmas cis boom bah. Although it was a bit of a dog’s breakfast for style, it was a lot of fun. The son seemed to particularly enjoy the sermon about honouring Mary’s participation in the birth of Jesus. He was swarmed at coffee hour by people wanting to meet him. When he was younger he found that sort of thing daunting, but these days he enjoys it no end. haha He is meeting one of the fellows for coffee later this week! Yay!
After church we walked downtown to Famoso’s where he downed a 12 inch pizza! Yes, it was thin crust, but wow! I felt rather dainty with my bowl of tomato bisque and a salad! hahahahaha Then we went shopping at the Bay for socks. He is very particular about his socks and only the Bay carries his favourite brand and style. There is one of life’s little ironies: my son lives in New York City but has to shop for socks in Regina! hahahaha
By then the wind had arisen, so it was too cold to enjoy a walk home. We hopped on the bus and arrived home just ahead of my husband, who brought us a home made Saskatoon Pie from the Lumsden community bake sale. Of course we had to try some, then some more. We left a tiny sliver for the men to fight over at breakfast today. Sigh....pie that good is so difficult to find here.
Unbelievably, by 7pm we were ready for dinner! Nothing in our cupboards appealed to us and my husband felt ripped off that he had missed out on our lunch out, so he decided to take us across the city to The Tap for dinner. We drove all that distance to discover it was closed for a private event. Sigh.... We ended up a couple of blocks away at Browns Social House and had a very nice meal and a lot of laughs. My son called his girlfriend when we got home and then we watched some boxing on tv.
Today we meet with the lawyer, then it will be time to grocery shop. Our son has decided what he wants to cook for the rest of this week. The groceries are our Christmas gift to him and the meals he makes will be his Christmas gift to us. Yippee!
Day three all ready with our son. The time is flying by. I wish we could slow things down....
We got the chance to sleep in a bit after he arrived the other night.....after two hours of snacking and talking once we got home from the airport. All day the next day we chatted, watched some tv, discussed his notes from the icon workshop he attended this fall, did laundry and relaxed. Of course we had our late brunch at DarBar! hahaha
Yesterday was lovely for me. My son accompanied me to the bus stop and off we went through the snow and cold to my church. (Next week he will go with my husband to his parish.) The service was jam packed with an interesting combination of liturgical Advent tradition and evangelical pre Christmas cis boom bah. Although it was a bit of a dog’s breakfast for style, it was a lot of fun. The son seemed to particularly enjoy the sermon about honouring Mary’s participation in the birth of Jesus. He was swarmed at coffee hour by people wanting to meet him. When he was younger he found that sort of thing daunting, but these days he enjoys it no end. haha He is meeting one of the fellows for coffee later this week! Yay!
After church we walked downtown to Famoso’s where he downed a 12 inch pizza! Yes, it was thin crust, but wow! I felt rather dainty with my bowl of tomato bisque and a salad! hahahahaha Then we went shopping at the Bay for socks. He is very particular about his socks and only the Bay carries his favourite brand and style. There is one of life’s little ironies: my son lives in New York City but has to shop for socks in Regina! hahahaha
By then the wind had arisen, so it was too cold to enjoy a walk home. We hopped on the bus and arrived home just ahead of my husband, who brought us a home made Saskatoon Pie from the Lumsden community bake sale. Of course we had to try some, then some more. We left a tiny sliver for the men to fight over at breakfast today. Sigh....pie that good is so difficult to find here.
Unbelievably, by 7pm we were ready for dinner! Nothing in our cupboards appealed to us and my husband felt ripped off that he had missed out on our lunch out, so he decided to take us across the city to The Tap for dinner. We drove all that distance to discover it was closed for a private event. Sigh.... We ended up a couple of blocks away at Browns Social House and had a very nice meal and a lot of laughs. My son called his girlfriend when we got home and then we watched some boxing on tv.
Today we meet with the lawyer, then it will be time to grocery shop. Our son has decided what he wants to cook for the rest of this week. The groceries are our Christmas gift to him and the meals he makes will be his Christmas gift to us. Yippee!
Day three all ready with our son. The time is flying by. I wish we could slow things down....
Saturday, December 14, 2019
He’s Here At Last
It fascinates me how, every time our son comes to stay with us, my husband and I both relax so totally. It seems like all is right with the world once again.
Despite his age, our son still deals with his often hilarity causing Artist Brain, so we laugh a lot over his misadventures. The evening prior to his flight his girlfriend decided to take him to a neighbourhood restaurant they have been eyeing for awhile. He told her he had all ready been there and that the food was fantastic. So, off they went. As they walked down the street to the location of the restaurant, his girlfriend stopped and said, “Here it is.”, and began pulling open the door. Our son looked at her oddly and told her quite assuredly that she had the wrong restaurant. The one they were heading to was the next one, a bit farther down the street. His girlfriend looked back him just as quizzically, stepped back and pointed to the signage over the door. Sure enough, she had the correct restaurant. My son was quite startled and wondered where it was he had actually eaten previously. He walked a few paces farther on to what he originally thought was their restaurant of choice and discovered he had eaten at a completely different establishment....one he had loudly and sarcastically pronounced on more than one occasion to be too “bougie” to ever be seen at! He was so embarrassed and his girlfriend was beside herself with laughter. She decided she absolutely must try this former “bougie” establishment turned all time favourite of our son’s, so she dragged him inside to eat his dinner, bright red embarrassed face glowing like a candle. Yup, our son.....,hahahahaha!
It is going to be an interesting time around here! We began our visit with lentil soup and cheese toast and many giggles at 1am. Thanking God for times like these in the midst of so much stress.
Despite his age, our son still deals with his often hilarity causing Artist Brain, so we laugh a lot over his misadventures. The evening prior to his flight his girlfriend decided to take him to a neighbourhood restaurant they have been eyeing for awhile. He told her he had all ready been there and that the food was fantastic. So, off they went. As they walked down the street to the location of the restaurant, his girlfriend stopped and said, “Here it is.”, and began pulling open the door. Our son looked at her oddly and told her quite assuredly that she had the wrong restaurant. The one they were heading to was the next one, a bit farther down the street. His girlfriend looked back him just as quizzically, stepped back and pointed to the signage over the door. Sure enough, she had the correct restaurant. My son was quite startled and wondered where it was he had actually eaten previously. He walked a few paces farther on to what he originally thought was their restaurant of choice and discovered he had eaten at a completely different establishment....one he had loudly and sarcastically pronounced on more than one occasion to be too “bougie” to ever be seen at! He was so embarrassed and his girlfriend was beside herself with laughter. She decided she absolutely must try this former “bougie” establishment turned all time favourite of our son’s, so she dragged him inside to eat his dinner, bright red embarrassed face glowing like a candle. Yup, our son.....,hahahahaha!
It is going to be an interesting time around here! We began our visit with lentil soup and cheese toast and many giggles at 1am. Thanking God for times like these in the midst of so much stress.
Friday, December 13, 2019
Two and a Half More Hours to Wait.....
....until our son arrives! Unbelievably, his flight from Toronto is not only on time, it is scheduled to arrive ten minutes early! Bless you Air Canada for your adherence to schedule this evening, as this time of night on time flights so rarely happen. Apparently any other passengers transferring from other airlines all made it to Toronto on time and the plane was free to leave when it was supposed to. Hallelujah! I suspect that plane got off the ground on time through the sheer force of prayer power! hahaha Unfortunately he is going to arrive on one of the coldest nights we have had thus far this winter, but hopefully he was able to wear his heavy Helly Hanson parka he bought a couple of winters ago in Calgary.
It has been a crazy couple of days since we arrived home from Calgary. My sleep deprived husband had to attend two meetings the next day, plus he got some more cleaning up done in the basement and he made a huge pot of the most delicious lentil soup ever! I did some house cleaning.
Today, he had one of his CFS exhaustion days, complete with all day headache, but that is not unexpected after so little sleep, so much activity and so much subconsious stress about getting Dad moved and my mom settled into her new plans. Tonight my husband is feeling much better after an afternoon nap and a LOT more basement tidying. I did some house cleaning.
So, we are as ready as we are ever going to be for our son's arrival. Why does it all ready feel like his two weeks with us is going to go past far too quickly?
My husband's brother in law is home tonight from the hospital post surgery. The man had a mass the size of a football removed during his surgery. No wonder he has had excruciating back pain all these months. It was robotic surgery that removed the kidney, tumor, fatty layer and supportive tissue. There were no accidents, no problems, just a nice clean removal. So thrilled about that! Hopefully he and my husband's sister will both sleep well tonight.
Mom called tonight. She had a chance to see Dad today. The roommate has the tv blaring all day again and Dad is so upset. That is understandable. I don't understand why that is allowed, but I am not in charge. I am hoping Dad can be moved to a different room that is quieter, but when one will open up is the question. It could be a long time. Dad has gone downhill completely in terms of wanting to help himself do anything at all. Mentally he is ready to depart this earth, but his body continues to hang onto life, despite the MANY health problems he has. The doctor has asked Mom to come to a meeting with him and Dad on January 15 at 9am. No one knows what this is about, but I have my suspicions. I don't think Dad is in the condition that the home care supervisor thought he is in and I truly believe he should have been moved into long term palliative care instead of long term care. I am sincerely hoping that is what the doctor wants to talk to them about. He seems to be the only person in his area of the facility who is not at least able to wheel himself about. It isn't just that he can't see well enough to try it, but he also has no interest. January is going to be an interesting month. We will be in Calgary again the week prior to the meeting with the doctor and I do hope we are not going to have to turn around and go back again a week after returning home. There are limits, no doubt, on how much patience my husband's parish will have with his disappearances to assist my parents and our finances are sadly limited. Poor Dad and Mom...oh how I am praying for relief for them both from the stresses.
I am praying our stupid phone doesn't ring early tomorrow morning, so we can sleep in. We have received calls between 7am and 8am the past couple of mornings from telemarketers overseas and I am ready to scream with frustration. With Mom and Dad in the condition they are both in right now I don't want to shut the ringer off or unplug the phones. I completely lost it with both telemarketers, so I doubt those particular companies will call us again anytime soon. It isn't easy to get telemarketers to hang up on you, but I am getting darned good at accomplishing it. Sigh....sorry Lord, but being awakened out of a sound sleep doesn't bring out the best of my character I'm afraid.
I think I will suggest a late brunch/lunch at DarBar tomorrow if our son is up to having Indian food to start his day. We have the rest of the lentil soup, cheesy bread, Mennonite sausage, a variety of cheeses, lots of good "first day of visiting and we are all too tired to cook much" kinds of foods and ideas. This is going to be fun.
Only 2 hours now to wait....yay!!
It has been a crazy couple of days since we arrived home from Calgary. My sleep deprived husband had to attend two meetings the next day, plus he got some more cleaning up done in the basement and he made a huge pot of the most delicious lentil soup ever! I did some house cleaning.
Today, he had one of his CFS exhaustion days, complete with all day headache, but that is not unexpected after so little sleep, so much activity and so much subconsious stress about getting Dad moved and my mom settled into her new plans. Tonight my husband is feeling much better after an afternoon nap and a LOT more basement tidying. I did some house cleaning.
So, we are as ready as we are ever going to be for our son's arrival. Why does it all ready feel like his two weeks with us is going to go past far too quickly?
My husband's brother in law is home tonight from the hospital post surgery. The man had a mass the size of a football removed during his surgery. No wonder he has had excruciating back pain all these months. It was robotic surgery that removed the kidney, tumor, fatty layer and supportive tissue. There were no accidents, no problems, just a nice clean removal. So thrilled about that! Hopefully he and my husband's sister will both sleep well tonight.
Mom called tonight. She had a chance to see Dad today. The roommate has the tv blaring all day again and Dad is so upset. That is understandable. I don't understand why that is allowed, but I am not in charge. I am hoping Dad can be moved to a different room that is quieter, but when one will open up is the question. It could be a long time. Dad has gone downhill completely in terms of wanting to help himself do anything at all. Mentally he is ready to depart this earth, but his body continues to hang onto life, despite the MANY health problems he has. The doctor has asked Mom to come to a meeting with him and Dad on January 15 at 9am. No one knows what this is about, but I have my suspicions. I don't think Dad is in the condition that the home care supervisor thought he is in and I truly believe he should have been moved into long term palliative care instead of long term care. I am sincerely hoping that is what the doctor wants to talk to them about. He seems to be the only person in his area of the facility who is not at least able to wheel himself about. It isn't just that he can't see well enough to try it, but he also has no interest. January is going to be an interesting month. We will be in Calgary again the week prior to the meeting with the doctor and I do hope we are not going to have to turn around and go back again a week after returning home. There are limits, no doubt, on how much patience my husband's parish will have with his disappearances to assist my parents and our finances are sadly limited. Poor Dad and Mom...oh how I am praying for relief for them both from the stresses.
I am praying our stupid phone doesn't ring early tomorrow morning, so we can sleep in. We have received calls between 7am and 8am the past couple of mornings from telemarketers overseas and I am ready to scream with frustration. With Mom and Dad in the condition they are both in right now I don't want to shut the ringer off or unplug the phones. I completely lost it with both telemarketers, so I doubt those particular companies will call us again anytime soon. It isn't easy to get telemarketers to hang up on you, but I am getting darned good at accomplishing it. Sigh....sorry Lord, but being awakened out of a sound sleep doesn't bring out the best of my character I'm afraid.
I think I will suggest a late brunch/lunch at DarBar tomorrow if our son is up to having Indian food to start his day. We have the rest of the lentil soup, cheesy bread, Mennonite sausage, a variety of cheeses, lots of good "first day of visiting and we are all too tired to cook much" kinds of foods and ideas. This is going to be fun.
Only 2 hours now to wait....yay!!
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Home With Peace In My Heart
We arrived home safely from Calgary today just before 2pm. It took us 9 hours, 90 minutes longer than usual, but we got here and wow, it is so GOOD to be home. It is the first time in the past couple of years that I have left my parents to come home and had such peace in my heart. Usually I am pretty agitated and miserable, knowing they cannot manage well on their own any more, but this time there was such peace because of Dad's excellent caregivers in his new facility and Mom's determination to do her best to live alone for the first time since she was 15 years old and living in a boarding house, doing her first full time job away from her home on the family farm. And now she is 92 years old! Dad is reveling in the attention at long term care, that he is free to just relax now that he has been graded as "non-mobile: wheelchair" and will never have to get out of bed by himself or try to find his way around the facility in his blindness. The only time he is alone is when he is tucked into bed and even then he has hand railings to grab so he doesn't fall out. He also has constant visitiations from nurses and the doctor, the physiotherapist, the dietician and the ward director. To be able to come home today knowing my parents are both in the best situations they can hope for right now gave me more peace of mind about them than I have had in a long time.
Our original plan was to sleep as long as we could last night, then get up and finish packing and return home as quickly as possible as there were "snow showers" forecast for a large portion of the route. In this province it seems that "snow showers" is a nicely dishonest way of saying there is a possibility of a major blizzard!!! We have all ready experienced those kinds of conditions all over the prairies in winter and didn't want to hang around in Calgary too long in case we ended up driving into the worst of it. We were assuming we would like be awake by about 4-5am and leave an hour later. It didn't work out quite that way, hahahaha.....I forgot to turn the ringer off my cell phone last night when I went to bed. At 2:45am it started playing its little "incoming text message" tune. I was so startled I actually jumped up and nearly fell on the floor! The text was from Kat, who was having one of her increasingly rare severe pain attacks and hadn't been asleep at all. She of course had no idea she was waking me up. My husband woke up as well, so he shared a chuckle with me about our middle of the night electronic communication and we both went back to bed...but not to sleep. At 3am my husband asked me if I was as wide awake as he was and I surely was!! We decided perhaps Kat's text message being received at that time of the morning was simply God's direction to us to get up and get going due to possible inclement weather. We drove away from Mom's at exactly 4am. I am used to only having 4 hours of sleep per night for several days running on occasion, but I was shocked at my husband's energy and alertness after such a short time of shut-eye!
Once we got out of the city it did take us awhile to really get going. hahaha We stopped at the south end of Stoney Trail to wash the slop from a passing semi off our windshield. We stopped at the west end of Gleichen to re-clean the headlights. We stopped at the north end of Gleichen at the convenience store for a bottle of cold tea for my husband's parched throat. We stopped at the highway convenience store in Bassano to purchase a carton of milk to calm my husband's stomach after he drank the overly strong tea too quickly on a nearly empty stomach. We changed drivers as well and I drove us at only 80 km per hour past the town of Brooks due to a thin sheet of ice buildup on the highway. We stopped to change drivers and have breakfast in Medicine Hat. We stopped to change drivers again just east of Maple Creek and I drove us at a top speed of 90 km per hour through the beginning of the unforecast but totally expected blizzard conditions between Tompkins and Ernfold. We stopped for gasoline at Morse and changed drivers again. We stopped at the Esso truck stop along the highway east of Moose Jaw for lunch. I drove us the rest of the way home, this time on a snow-free, dry, highway under somewhat sunny skies and at full speed for a change. By the time we actually arrived home we were completely exhausted, but so glad we hadn't left at our originally scheduled time. Had we left even one hour later than we did from Calgary, we would have been fighting terrible highway conditions in the area hardest hit by the blizzard. Whew! Bless you Kat for utilizing your sleepless night to unwittingly get us up and moving while it was still relatively safe to be out driving!
We forced ourselves to unpack and put everything away as soon as we arrived home and only then did we allow ourselves to veg out in front of the tv for a few hours. Mindless programmes DO serve a good purpose! You can sit on the sofa in a complete stupor and not miss anything important on the "big screen" while deluding yourself into thinking you are actually doing something interesting.
We received some relatively good news about the brother in law this evening. His laproscopic kidney removal surgery went very well today, the tumor apparently was removed in tact despite its size and the best news of all is that it is quite probable that one of the new oral medication therapies will be able to be used, rather than the traditional chemotherapy treatments. There is at least some rejoicing at the moment. The pain control for him has been fantastic since the surgery and for that we are very relieved. So, we continue to pray for the best possible outcome for our beloved family member!! We hope and pray that my husband's sister will be able to start soon coming out from under the dark clouds of fear that alway accompany such diseases and surgeries.
The next two days are going to be crazy busy! My husband has a meeting in the morning and another one in the afternoon. He needs the car for both, so I have a 90 minute window in between to grab the car for some banking and a quick grocery shop. On either side of his meetings and all day the next day I will be cleaning house like a woman possessed, trying to get as much done as I can before our son arrives on the weekend. Aaaaaargh! We received a frantic text from him tonight that he had some unexpected work this week, hallelujah, but is now rushing around equally frantically in his attempt to get art supplies bundled to send here so he can do some work during his visit. The whole family is living in Crazy Town this week.
Thank you again praying friends for your concern and prayers for our family members who are suffering all manner of trials at the moment. There are answers happening and more answers to come, I am certain.
I have now been awake for 20 consecutive hours. Time to get to sleep...hopefully!
Our original plan was to sleep as long as we could last night, then get up and finish packing and return home as quickly as possible as there were "snow showers" forecast for a large portion of the route. In this province it seems that "snow showers" is a nicely dishonest way of saying there is a possibility of a major blizzard!!! We have all ready experienced those kinds of conditions all over the prairies in winter and didn't want to hang around in Calgary too long in case we ended up driving into the worst of it. We were assuming we would like be awake by about 4-5am and leave an hour later. It didn't work out quite that way, hahahaha.....I forgot to turn the ringer off my cell phone last night when I went to bed. At 2:45am it started playing its little "incoming text message" tune. I was so startled I actually jumped up and nearly fell on the floor! The text was from Kat, who was having one of her increasingly rare severe pain attacks and hadn't been asleep at all. She of course had no idea she was waking me up. My husband woke up as well, so he shared a chuckle with me about our middle of the night electronic communication and we both went back to bed...but not to sleep. At 3am my husband asked me if I was as wide awake as he was and I surely was!! We decided perhaps Kat's text message being received at that time of the morning was simply God's direction to us to get up and get going due to possible inclement weather. We drove away from Mom's at exactly 4am. I am used to only having 4 hours of sleep per night for several days running on occasion, but I was shocked at my husband's energy and alertness after such a short time of shut-eye!
Once we got out of the city it did take us awhile to really get going. hahaha We stopped at the south end of Stoney Trail to wash the slop from a passing semi off our windshield. We stopped at the west end of Gleichen to re-clean the headlights. We stopped at the north end of Gleichen at the convenience store for a bottle of cold tea for my husband's parched throat. We stopped at the highway convenience store in Bassano to purchase a carton of milk to calm my husband's stomach after he drank the overly strong tea too quickly on a nearly empty stomach. We changed drivers as well and I drove us at only 80 km per hour past the town of Brooks due to a thin sheet of ice buildup on the highway. We stopped to change drivers and have breakfast in Medicine Hat. We stopped to change drivers again just east of Maple Creek and I drove us at a top speed of 90 km per hour through the beginning of the unforecast but totally expected blizzard conditions between Tompkins and Ernfold. We stopped for gasoline at Morse and changed drivers again. We stopped at the Esso truck stop along the highway east of Moose Jaw for lunch. I drove us the rest of the way home, this time on a snow-free, dry, highway under somewhat sunny skies and at full speed for a change. By the time we actually arrived home we were completely exhausted, but so glad we hadn't left at our originally scheduled time. Had we left even one hour later than we did from Calgary, we would have been fighting terrible highway conditions in the area hardest hit by the blizzard. Whew! Bless you Kat for utilizing your sleepless night to unwittingly get us up and moving while it was still relatively safe to be out driving!
We forced ourselves to unpack and put everything away as soon as we arrived home and only then did we allow ourselves to veg out in front of the tv for a few hours. Mindless programmes DO serve a good purpose! You can sit on the sofa in a complete stupor and not miss anything important on the "big screen" while deluding yourself into thinking you are actually doing something interesting.
We received some relatively good news about the brother in law this evening. His laproscopic kidney removal surgery went very well today, the tumor apparently was removed in tact despite its size and the best news of all is that it is quite probable that one of the new oral medication therapies will be able to be used, rather than the traditional chemotherapy treatments. There is at least some rejoicing at the moment. The pain control for him has been fantastic since the surgery and for that we are very relieved. So, we continue to pray for the best possible outcome for our beloved family member!! We hope and pray that my husband's sister will be able to start soon coming out from under the dark clouds of fear that alway accompany such diseases and surgeries.
The next two days are going to be crazy busy! My husband has a meeting in the morning and another one in the afternoon. He needs the car for both, so I have a 90 minute window in between to grab the car for some banking and a quick grocery shop. On either side of his meetings and all day the next day I will be cleaning house like a woman possessed, trying to get as much done as I can before our son arrives on the weekend. Aaaaaargh! We received a frantic text from him tonight that he had some unexpected work this week, hallelujah, but is now rushing around equally frantically in his attempt to get art supplies bundled to send here so he can do some work during his visit. The whole family is living in Crazy Town this week.
Thank you again praying friends for your concern and prayers for our family members who are suffering all manner of trials at the moment. There are answers happening and more answers to come, I am certain.
I have now been awake for 20 consecutive hours. Time to get to sleep...hopefully!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)