Gosh, yesterday and today have been so fabulous! I am newly inspired to continue for the rest of our time in isolation and getting adjusted to some changes in how we live and do business that may remain with us long after the corona virus pandemic comes to an end.
Yesterday morning my husband completed his income tax forms!! Yippee!! PARTAAAAYY!! He knocked himself out this year figuring out new, age related changes, restoring some deductions he lost when he stopped being an employed minister, etc. etc. etc. I am so proud of him. He didn't stop until he knew he had done everything he possibly could to understand and complete all the forms to the best of his ability. He detests tax time like nothing else he does all year, so that is why I am doubly thrilled with all the work he put into it.
In the afternoon we had the most wonderful time: we drove to Moose Jaw to have our summer tires put on and a vehicle inspection as well. While the car was in the shop we wandered over to Crescent Park where we spent a happy hour and a half sitting on a comfy bench in the lovely sunshine. There was barely a breeze stirring the air, there were lots of walkers on the paths for us to enjoy people watching, it was the first time in a couple of months that my husband could just SIT, guilt free, no computers, no phone ministry calls, no YouTube recordings for sermons or prayer services, no Zoom meetings or SKYPE'ing. He completely relaxed for the first time in weeks. We chatted, he dozed, I smiled contentedly....it was absolutely glorious! It was almost a disappointment when it came time to pick up our vehicle and head for home. Other than some minor servicing that should be done before we next head off to Calgary or Edmonton...and who knows when a trip like that will be possible again....the car is in good shape and the mileage on the way home definitely improved! Those big winter tires certainly did not improve gas mileage!!
We hated to return home to the same old same old, so we decided along the way to make our first ever online Indian food order from Darbar. We have not had the chance to enjoy their food since our last meal there the first week of March! The idea of ordering in food from a restaurant during a pandemic simply has not appealed to us in any way and we have enjoyed our own cooking, BUT yesterday we felt like celebrating. An anniversary gift we received last month has been burning a hole in our bank account all this time, so we decided to spend it on a feast just for us! So, we went a little crazy! It was so easy to order online and the food was ready for us as soon as we returned to the city, so we were able to swing by and pick it up on the way home.
Oh my...what a lot of food! We ate our fill last evening, and again today at lunch time and there is enough left over for a third meal for each of us!! COOL!!! DarBar's prices are so good that even our gigantic feast cost substantially less than the anniversary gift we were given. WOW! We can save the rest of it for the day when restaurants are able to reopen and spend it on a DarBar luncheon set meal platter. Please God let them weather this pandemic and still be open when the bans are lifted!!
We ordered an appetizer of 6 veggie pakora, long grain white rice, naan bread, kheer, and three entrees: coconut pepper chicken, lamb roganjosh and Khashmiri Navratan Korma (every veggie you could ever think of is in this dish). With tax it came to just over sixty-five dollars. For that price we have three meals each! Amazing!! My husband was beaming with joy as he exited the restaurant bearing this culinary treasure!
After dinner we watched an episode of the Vera police mystery series, patting our full tummies and congratulating ourselves on finally celebrating our anniversary properly...and only a month late! hahaha
This morning my husband had a clericus Zoom meeting, so I took a nice walk up to the post office to send away our tax forms. Although it was overcast and had rained earlier on, by the time I left everything outside was drying up and the temperature was lovely and warm, again barely a breeze. It was fantastic to be out walking in it.
After our second Indian meal at lunchtime, my husband decided that I should have an additional treat! I have been enjoying all the veterinarian programmes on National Geographic and National Geographic Wild during their two months of free previews, but they will be removed from our programming after midnight tonight. My husband made a call to SaskTel and ordered them for me. They will be part of our channel line up again!! I AM SO EXCITED!!! I am also extremely grateful because these shows have been keeping me somewhat sane during all the social isolation. HAPPY CAMPER!!! When he tried to order them for me last night, apparently he couldn't get through because the tv ordering system was down for maintenance, which translated means that all the channel packages were being changed and the prices per package being raised. The package I wanted and that my husband ordered today was only available to us because we ordered it before the changes come into effect at 12:01am tomorrow! Whew!! Had we waited until tomorrow morning, we couldn't have ordered this particular package nor get these channels for the "old" cost. Thank you Lord!!! All the channels in the package we were still allowed to order today will be split up tomorrow and each of them will be added into different all ready existing packages instead of being lumped together the way we wanted them to be. YIPPEE! Talk about timing....
Thank you Lord for my husband's consideration and care of me during this stressful time. Now...if I can just think of something equally nice to do for him....something to think and pray about as I bask here beneath my office window in the warm sun. It is +27C outside at this very moment and I am loving it!
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Please Pray For My Friend’s Mom!
My friend Mary-Jean’s mom lives in a long term care facility in Alberta and received a positive diagnosis for COVID19 yesterday. My friend lives on the other side of the country and of course cannot fly to Alberta to comfort her mom. Thank you for praying. I am so saddened by this.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
A Soggy Grey Beautiful Day!
It is another truly beautiful day here in our city, despite the rain and grey skies. The moisture is gladly welcomed as our land is in such need of it here on the Saskatchewan prairies. Hopefully the few showers we are getting today will not be the end of the lovely moisture, plus it will be a good test as to how well the basement wall sealing project is going for my husband.
I had my short morning walk completed by 8:20am! I realized yesterday my cell phone minutes were due to expire today if I didn't get another card, so I was the second customer in the neighbourhood grocery store this morning to purchase another one.
The skies were spitting intermittently as I walked to the store, but the wind was minimal, so it was quite enjoyable. On the way home there was much more rain falling, but again, no wind. I truly enjoyed my little walk in the water!
This afternoon will finally be the time to complete our income tax. My husband is currently online in a meeting that will take up most of the morning, but he has the tax forms, corrections from the CRA, pencils, pens and calculators spead all over the dining room table, so today he is good to go!!
I cannot believe how much better I am feeling now, since my little dip into depression the other afternoon. I am very thankful it was a temporary condition this time around.
I had my short morning walk completed by 8:20am! I realized yesterday my cell phone minutes were due to expire today if I didn't get another card, so I was the second customer in the neighbourhood grocery store this morning to purchase another one.
The skies were spitting intermittently as I walked to the store, but the wind was minimal, so it was quite enjoyable. On the way home there was much more rain falling, but again, no wind. I truly enjoyed my little walk in the water!
This afternoon will finally be the time to complete our income tax. My husband is currently online in a meeting that will take up most of the morning, but he has the tax forms, corrections from the CRA, pencils, pens and calculators spead all over the dining room table, so today he is good to go!!
I cannot believe how much better I am feeling now, since my little dip into depression the other afternoon. I am very thankful it was a temporary condition this time around.
Monday, April 27, 2020
An Active Day Scares Those Blues Away!!
Today's activities were just right to get the depression I was fighting with yesterday on its way out the door!! YAY and AMEN!
My first bit of news today was that my husband decided to wait to do the taxes tomorrow because today he is very tired after his busy ministry weekend. I certainly understood that but my heart fell into my stomach because I wondered what on earth I was going to do today that any real purpose to it. So, I prayed and asked God to prepare something for me to do.
Short version, at 10am I found myself on the phone with my son. He decided to move a bit of Canadian money from his Canadian bank account as the exchange rate is more likely to go down some more rather than bounce back up in the near future. Since his bank here still refuses to allow him to take out his own money in the form of a wire transfer to his American account without him being present in person, I once again had the fun of doing a wire transfer from my own account that my son is now sending me a reimbursement cheque for. What a lot of folderol just to move a small amount of money from one bank to another. Just crazy.
Once my son and I settled out how much money I had to wire to him, I called my bank. Of course my branch is still closed, but I was able to set up an appointment to do the wire transfer at a different branch. YES!!! I called the bank main line at about 10:30am and discovered there was an appointment open at 11:45am this very day. So, at 11am I started off on my nearly 45 minute walk in the beautiful warm weather to get to the bank.
It was marvellous. While there were more pedestrians on the sidewalks than I have seen in over a month, everyone I passed was great about keeping social distancing protocols. I waved, smiled and verbally greeted all kinds of people and they did the same to me. It was lovely. There certainly was a recognition of shared interest in following the rules the province has laid down for people to follow during this pandemic.
The bank procedure went very smoothly indeed! (for once, haha) There was a huge sign at the main door of the bank instructing people with appointments to go around to one of the side doors. I was met there by a masked and gloved man toting a clip board with the list of clients with appointments, who would be the only folk allowed into the building, along with their skeleton staff. I admit I held my breath until he located my name and appointment time on his list. After he confirmed I was expected, a lady came and opened the inside door of the bank and in I went, following the painted squares on the floor that had the appropriate distance between them and waited on the last one for a teller to call me forward. Everyone there seemed grateful that I was wearing a mask and gloves and that all my deposits were encased in a plastic ziplock bag. Deposit taken care of, I was next ushered into the office of a financial advisor who would do the wire transfer. She turned out to be a most delightful woman who immigrated here from Russia in 2008. She is a staunch advocate of our country and is thrilled to be living here, loves her job and cannot believe her good fortune in being able to remain employed at this time when so many of her friends are not able to be employed due to the virus that is holding all of us hostage. She dispatched the wire transfer with competence and it didn't take her long. I came away from the bank feeling very good and confident that the people there are trying their hardest to keep not only their customers but their employees as happy and well looked after as possible during this rather rough time.
A few blocks before the end of my 45 minute walk home I came across our neighbourhood Subway shop. The door announcement said they were open for take out only, so into the shop I bravely went. The hygienic safety procedures and protocols in there were excellent, so I decided it was safe to take the risk of having one small lunch we didn't have to make ourselves. It has been 7 weeks since we last ate in a restaurant. Yesterday we were both talking about how lunches have been quite a pain to put together for the last couple of weeks. Our cuisine creativity is starting to lag. I bought us each a veggie sub and proudly brought my purchase home. Although neither of us are fans of Subway and other take out sandwich style chains, these were the most delicious sandwiches either of us remembers ever having. hahahahahaha Talk about restaurant deprived! hahahaha It was really fun to bring home a surprise treat to my husband.
My mental motivation and physical energy came way up after my wonderful walk this morning, so this afternoon I got a few things done around this suite that I have been ignoring, putting off, pretending didn't really need doing. hahaha My husband and I played a board game for an hour as well. It is now time for dinner preparations and the day has flown past very happily. My son is happy, my husband is happy and I am happy too.
Tomorrow will now be tax day and I have to go early in the morning to the neighbourhood grocery store long enough to pick up a new phone card, so tomorrow is well looked after. Another walk will be in order to get the tax forms into the mail.
Later this week we have an appointment out of town to have our summer tires put onto our vehicle. YES! Perhaps we can make the drive without suffering from any motion sickness this time out! Aiiii yiiiii....we are both still embarrassed about the last fiasco on the highway after being indoors for only 5 weeks. Yikes! The tire store there has done all our tire and mechanical work for the past many years, so since we continue to support them, they are preparing the currently closed waiting room and public washroom for our use tomorrow should we need to use them while the tires are being changed. They have arranged for us to drive in, get the tires changed immediately so we are not waiting more than a half hour and then we will be ready to return home. We feel special every time we go to this place and that is certainly one of the marks of a good business....along with the reasonably priced, excellent work they do.
Predicted rain a couple of afternoons this week will effectively scotch our hoped for distancing patio party with our friends, but hopefully next week will work out for that.
I received a weekly post-weekend update from my father's long term care facility today. No one among the staff or residents has tested positive for Corona Virus for some time! It has been 3 weeks since the one very ill resident died from COVID-19, a very sad thing for all involved, but no one else has gotten it thanks to the rapid action of the staff and administration. Hallelujah and long may it last!! I pray so often for all the care homes that are badly effected by this horrible pestilence!
Now it is time to make some dinner...I think after our big lunch of sub sandwiches it is time for something light, maybe a tuna salad or an egg salad.
Thank you Lord for giving me this glorious day: warmth, no wind, lots of activity. Amen.
My first bit of news today was that my husband decided to wait to do the taxes tomorrow because today he is very tired after his busy ministry weekend. I certainly understood that but my heart fell into my stomach because I wondered what on earth I was going to do today that any real purpose to it. So, I prayed and asked God to prepare something for me to do.
Short version, at 10am I found myself on the phone with my son. He decided to move a bit of Canadian money from his Canadian bank account as the exchange rate is more likely to go down some more rather than bounce back up in the near future. Since his bank here still refuses to allow him to take out his own money in the form of a wire transfer to his American account without him being present in person, I once again had the fun of doing a wire transfer from my own account that my son is now sending me a reimbursement cheque for. What a lot of folderol just to move a small amount of money from one bank to another. Just crazy.
Once my son and I settled out how much money I had to wire to him, I called my bank. Of course my branch is still closed, but I was able to set up an appointment to do the wire transfer at a different branch. YES!!! I called the bank main line at about 10:30am and discovered there was an appointment open at 11:45am this very day. So, at 11am I started off on my nearly 45 minute walk in the beautiful warm weather to get to the bank.
It was marvellous. While there were more pedestrians on the sidewalks than I have seen in over a month, everyone I passed was great about keeping social distancing protocols. I waved, smiled and verbally greeted all kinds of people and they did the same to me. It was lovely. There certainly was a recognition of shared interest in following the rules the province has laid down for people to follow during this pandemic.
The bank procedure went very smoothly indeed! (for once, haha) There was a huge sign at the main door of the bank instructing people with appointments to go around to one of the side doors. I was met there by a masked and gloved man toting a clip board with the list of clients with appointments, who would be the only folk allowed into the building, along with their skeleton staff. I admit I held my breath until he located my name and appointment time on his list. After he confirmed I was expected, a lady came and opened the inside door of the bank and in I went, following the painted squares on the floor that had the appropriate distance between them and waited on the last one for a teller to call me forward. Everyone there seemed grateful that I was wearing a mask and gloves and that all my deposits were encased in a plastic ziplock bag. Deposit taken care of, I was next ushered into the office of a financial advisor who would do the wire transfer. She turned out to be a most delightful woman who immigrated here from Russia in 2008. She is a staunch advocate of our country and is thrilled to be living here, loves her job and cannot believe her good fortune in being able to remain employed at this time when so many of her friends are not able to be employed due to the virus that is holding all of us hostage. She dispatched the wire transfer with competence and it didn't take her long. I came away from the bank feeling very good and confident that the people there are trying their hardest to keep not only their customers but their employees as happy and well looked after as possible during this rather rough time.
A few blocks before the end of my 45 minute walk home I came across our neighbourhood Subway shop. The door announcement said they were open for take out only, so into the shop I bravely went. The hygienic safety procedures and protocols in there were excellent, so I decided it was safe to take the risk of having one small lunch we didn't have to make ourselves. It has been 7 weeks since we last ate in a restaurant. Yesterday we were both talking about how lunches have been quite a pain to put together for the last couple of weeks. Our cuisine creativity is starting to lag. I bought us each a veggie sub and proudly brought my purchase home. Although neither of us are fans of Subway and other take out sandwich style chains, these were the most delicious sandwiches either of us remembers ever having. hahahahahaha Talk about restaurant deprived! hahahaha It was really fun to bring home a surprise treat to my husband.
My mental motivation and physical energy came way up after my wonderful walk this morning, so this afternoon I got a few things done around this suite that I have been ignoring, putting off, pretending didn't really need doing. hahaha My husband and I played a board game for an hour as well. It is now time for dinner preparations and the day has flown past very happily. My son is happy, my husband is happy and I am happy too.
Tomorrow will now be tax day and I have to go early in the morning to the neighbourhood grocery store long enough to pick up a new phone card, so tomorrow is well looked after. Another walk will be in order to get the tax forms into the mail.
Later this week we have an appointment out of town to have our summer tires put onto our vehicle. YES! Perhaps we can make the drive without suffering from any motion sickness this time out! Aiiii yiiiii....we are both still embarrassed about the last fiasco on the highway after being indoors for only 5 weeks. Yikes! The tire store there has done all our tire and mechanical work for the past many years, so since we continue to support them, they are preparing the currently closed waiting room and public washroom for our use tomorrow should we need to use them while the tires are being changed. They have arranged for us to drive in, get the tires changed immediately so we are not waiting more than a half hour and then we will be ready to return home. We feel special every time we go to this place and that is certainly one of the marks of a good business....along with the reasonably priced, excellent work they do.
Predicted rain a couple of afternoons this week will effectively scotch our hoped for distancing patio party with our friends, but hopefully next week will work out for that.
I received a weekly post-weekend update from my father's long term care facility today. No one among the staff or residents has tested positive for Corona Virus for some time! It has been 3 weeks since the one very ill resident died from COVID-19, a very sad thing for all involved, but no one else has gotten it thanks to the rapid action of the staff and administration. Hallelujah and long may it last!! I pray so often for all the care homes that are badly effected by this horrible pestilence!
Now it is time to make some dinner...I think after our big lunch of sub sandwiches it is time for something light, maybe a tuna salad or an egg salad.
Thank you Lord for giving me this glorious day: warmth, no wind, lots of activity. Amen.
Another Week Starts...What’s New....Yawn....
This morning I am wondering why I need to bother getting up and getting dressed. Yawn.... As the isolation brought about by the pandemic continues for another week, I admit the situation started irritating me yesterday.
I had terrible nightmares all through Saturday night and into Sunday morning. I can’t remember the last time I had a nightmare, let alone a series all in one night. I finally pushed through and had a peaceful sleep between 7:30am and 9:30am, thereby missing out on the adult Sunday School class broadcast from my church, but I did get into the excellent Zoom morning worship service. The breakout chat room I was put into for after service visiting was a lot of fun! Instead of finding myself in an otherwise empty room this week, I was in a lively group of about a dozen other congregants. For at least a half hour we had some lively discussion.
It was a super morning once I woke up and got going, but after the post church discussion group ended I was hit with a wave of loneliness and depression. I spent the first part of the afternoon staring mindlessly at the tv, then my mom called with a litany of problems she is facing that contained too many things I am unable to help her with, things she has to do herself. That was very depressing and made me feel useless and helpless. The next few hours I spent in a sort of narcoleptic state lying on the sofa and staring at the ceiling until it was time to make dinner. During more conscious moments I felt angry that my husband has been so busy and absorbed by all his extra work that we have accomplished zero percent of the home projects we agreed to do together when we first realized we were going to be confined to home for an extended period of time. The anger at least pulled me out of the lethargy. To be clear, I am not angry with my husband, only with the circumstances that have interfered with our plans and that leave me completely alone for the majority of every day. I am finding myself jealous of other couples our age who are raving about the vast amount of quality time they are able to spend together in isolation and how much fun they are having doing home projects together. It is the word “together” that has been upsetting me the last couple of days.
Then after dinner a friend from church called and we spent almost an hour chatting and laughing our heads off. What an answer to my whining and fussing prayers from earlier in the day! What a blessing! I was and am so grateful.
Today my husband and I will complete our income tax “together”, haha and maybe even walk “together” to the post box to send the forms in! Yippee! Perhaps we can play another board game or do some creative cooking.... “together”. We need to make arrangements for our car tires to be changed. I need to make an appointment to get into my presently closed bank branch to make deposits later this week. We need to formulate a plan to get some more cleanup done of all the stuff still stored in our basement that needs sorting into KEEP and TURF piles. I have to find more effective ways to lure my husband away from his never ending writing and video projects so he can accomplish more around here or he too will be very depressed about all the things he needs to catch up on.
Plenty of reasons to get up and “at ‘em” today! Yay! A purpose for the week is forming. Yay!
I had terrible nightmares all through Saturday night and into Sunday morning. I can’t remember the last time I had a nightmare, let alone a series all in one night. I finally pushed through and had a peaceful sleep between 7:30am and 9:30am, thereby missing out on the adult Sunday School class broadcast from my church, but I did get into the excellent Zoom morning worship service. The breakout chat room I was put into for after service visiting was a lot of fun! Instead of finding myself in an otherwise empty room this week, I was in a lively group of about a dozen other congregants. For at least a half hour we had some lively discussion.
It was a super morning once I woke up and got going, but after the post church discussion group ended I was hit with a wave of loneliness and depression. I spent the first part of the afternoon staring mindlessly at the tv, then my mom called with a litany of problems she is facing that contained too many things I am unable to help her with, things she has to do herself. That was very depressing and made me feel useless and helpless. The next few hours I spent in a sort of narcoleptic state lying on the sofa and staring at the ceiling until it was time to make dinner. During more conscious moments I felt angry that my husband has been so busy and absorbed by all his extra work that we have accomplished zero percent of the home projects we agreed to do together when we first realized we were going to be confined to home for an extended period of time. The anger at least pulled me out of the lethargy. To be clear, I am not angry with my husband, only with the circumstances that have interfered with our plans and that leave me completely alone for the majority of every day. I am finding myself jealous of other couples our age who are raving about the vast amount of quality time they are able to spend together in isolation and how much fun they are having doing home projects together. It is the word “together” that has been upsetting me the last couple of days.
Then after dinner a friend from church called and we spent almost an hour chatting and laughing our heads off. What an answer to my whining and fussing prayers from earlier in the day! What a blessing! I was and am so grateful.
Today my husband and I will complete our income tax “together”, haha and maybe even walk “together” to the post box to send the forms in! Yippee! Perhaps we can play another board game or do some creative cooking.... “together”. We need to make arrangements for our car tires to be changed. I need to make an appointment to get into my presently closed bank branch to make deposits later this week. We need to formulate a plan to get some more cleanup done of all the stuff still stored in our basement that needs sorting into KEEP and TURF piles. I have to find more effective ways to lure my husband away from his never ending writing and video projects so he can accomplish more around here or he too will be very depressed about all the things he needs to catch up on.
Plenty of reasons to get up and “at ‘em” today! Yay! A purpose for the week is forming. Yay!
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Social Isolation Day 32.....
Kid: “Mom, am I adopted?”
Mom: “No, not yet. I just put the ad out yesterday.”
Uh huh.........
Mom: “No, not yet. I just put the ad out yesterday.”
Uh huh.........
We All Need Such A Yard Assistant This Spring!
A friend sent me a photo of a helper who joined her when she was doing yard work yesterday. I think I will hire this one myself...no doubt the G.O.A.T. cleaner upper of various tree droppings around the yard, right? Acorns anyone?? hahaha
Saturday, April 25, 2020
So Now That It Is Too Dad Gummed Late......
I have decided what I want to do "when I grow up"!! hahaha The saying that "It is never too late!" does not apply in this case.
Veterinary dentistry is something I could have gone for in a big way if I had not had my stupid animal allergies. The field absolutely fascinates me. Mind you, in those days there were likely not many, if any, vets specializing in animal dentistry, but wow, it would have been an amazing field of endeavor!
I have also fallen in love with Sloth Bears! They are native to the Indian subcontinent and a smaller breed is found in Indonesia. I love the larger Indian bears. They are so feisty and full of life despite their name. Such personalities!!! They are incredibly dangerous to humans, as all bears are, but there seems to be a degree of energy and playfulness that is all their very own. I have been watching documentaries on these bears, reading about the sanctuary areas being set aside for them to discourage poaching and help them with their loss of natural habitat and generally becoming very impressed with them. They are such interesting and beautiful animals. I am sure Wickipedia has some information you can look up of you are at all interested in them.
Veterinary dentistry is something I could have gone for in a big way if I had not had my stupid animal allergies. The field absolutely fascinates me. Mind you, in those days there were likely not many, if any, vets specializing in animal dentistry, but wow, it would have been an amazing field of endeavor!
I have also fallen in love with Sloth Bears! They are native to the Indian subcontinent and a smaller breed is found in Indonesia. I love the larger Indian bears. They are so feisty and full of life despite their name. Such personalities!!! They are incredibly dangerous to humans, as all bears are, but there seems to be a degree of energy and playfulness that is all their very own. I have been watching documentaries on these bears, reading about the sanctuary areas being set aside for them to discourage poaching and help them with their loss of natural habitat and generally becoming very impressed with them. They are such interesting and beautiful animals. I am sure Wickipedia has some information you can look up of you are at all interested in them.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Thought For the Day
“Don’t let them discourage you. Just fluff out your tutu and dance away!”
—anonymous
—anonymous
Lotsa Good Stuff
It has been a busy couple of days. I like to be busy! Many good things were accomplished!
It only took me four sessions of ironing, spread over two days, to get all my spring and summer clothes ready to hang on my clothes rack.
In the process of freshening up the spring and summer clothes I discovered I can get into both pair of pants I could not fit into last year at this time....AND zip up the zippers! They still look a bit too tight around the tummy, but I am hoping to be able to lose enough more weight to wear them by mid summer.
Last night I had a long chat with friends from BC and we shared memories of various trips we have taken to Japan....great times!
Phone calls with Mom and Dad and Son were all very positive this week. Everyone is still coping okay with the loneliness and boredom of enforced isolation.
My husband and I have not been at all bored during enforced isolation.
Yesterday afternoon we were able to participate in a drive by/walk by 85th birthday for a former parishioner. As he stood with his wife on their apartment balcony, he was treated to the sight of his family and parish friends driving slowly past with brightly coloured birthday signs on the side of their cars, as well as a goodly number of us standing on the lawn and sidewalk applauding him and calling out greetings as we carefully measured and maintained our distance from him and from each other. Neighbours in his building were coming out onto their own balconies to take photos and phone videos of the event. Complete strangers walking past on the other side of the street stopped to take pictures. It was a lot of fun, although my paranoid husband dragged me out of there long before I had a chance to talk to very many of the people I wanted to talk to. Hahahahaha!
Apart from some chilly rain tonight the weather has been spectacular and has allowed us some decent walks outside.
A friend and her husband are setting up their back deck so that we can go over for a distancing visit next week. The four of us are terribly lonely and conscious of getting older by the minute, so it is worth the risk. We all have masks and their roomy deck will allow for lots of distance between us.
I had a good chat this afternoon with one of the noisy next door neighbours and a couple of her friends. Not sure it will protect us from an apparent party that is forming tonight, but perhaps our white noise loops will protect our sleep.
I have been able to watch and then clear off several hours of recorded veterinary tv shows this week while doing the ironing.
My husband has set aside a whole day early next week to complete our taxes. We will still get them mailed away before the end of April.
I enjoyed a big day of making stew that is incredibly delicious.
Nothing spectacular is happening of course, but there have been many small joys this week.
It only took me four sessions of ironing, spread over two days, to get all my spring and summer clothes ready to hang on my clothes rack.
In the process of freshening up the spring and summer clothes I discovered I can get into both pair of pants I could not fit into last year at this time....AND zip up the zippers! They still look a bit too tight around the tummy, but I am hoping to be able to lose enough more weight to wear them by mid summer.
Last night I had a long chat with friends from BC and we shared memories of various trips we have taken to Japan....great times!
Phone calls with Mom and Dad and Son were all very positive this week. Everyone is still coping okay with the loneliness and boredom of enforced isolation.
My husband and I have not been at all bored during enforced isolation.
Yesterday afternoon we were able to participate in a drive by/walk by 85th birthday for a former parishioner. As he stood with his wife on their apartment balcony, he was treated to the sight of his family and parish friends driving slowly past with brightly coloured birthday signs on the side of their cars, as well as a goodly number of us standing on the lawn and sidewalk applauding him and calling out greetings as we carefully measured and maintained our distance from him and from each other. Neighbours in his building were coming out onto their own balconies to take photos and phone videos of the event. Complete strangers walking past on the other side of the street stopped to take pictures. It was a lot of fun, although my paranoid husband dragged me out of there long before I had a chance to talk to very many of the people I wanted to talk to. Hahahahaha!
Apart from some chilly rain tonight the weather has been spectacular and has allowed us some decent walks outside.
A friend and her husband are setting up their back deck so that we can go over for a distancing visit next week. The four of us are terribly lonely and conscious of getting older by the minute, so it is worth the risk. We all have masks and their roomy deck will allow for lots of distance between us.
I had a good chat this afternoon with one of the noisy next door neighbours and a couple of her friends. Not sure it will protect us from an apparent party that is forming tonight, but perhaps our white noise loops will protect our sleep.
I have been able to watch and then clear off several hours of recorded veterinary tv shows this week while doing the ironing.
My husband has set aside a whole day early next week to complete our taxes. We will still get them mailed away before the end of April.
I enjoyed a big day of making stew that is incredibly delicious.
Nothing spectacular is happening of course, but there have been many small joys this week.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Happiness is Keeping Busy!!
I certainly have enjoyed the past couple of days! Yesterday morning I was up at 6am for my shopping trip and had a lot of success in finding what I was looking for. Every need was met in a very short period of time. Washing down everything when I arrived home, from hands to individual grocery items to bags to credit card to car keys to purse straps and wallet to door handles and steering wheel and and and and....took a tremendous amount of time, but it certainly made the day fly past.
Today I woke up feeling rather out of sorts and wondering what I was going to do all day. Now it is after 10:30pm and I hardly sat down until after dinner this evening. I got a bunch of residual mess cleaned up from a cooking project I took on yesterday afternoon...lots of turkey spaghetti sauce and beef stew...., then did 6 loads of laundry which are all finished, the clothes folded and put away, then I got the bright idea to bring up the tubs of spring/summer clothes. The tubs are now back in the basement filled with my fall/winter clothes and all I have left to do is about 6 hours worth of ironing, which I will start on tomorrow! It is so difficult not having sufficient closet space to keep all my clothes on hangers year round, but ironing is time consuming and what else to I have to do, right?
Tonight was an excellent book club meeting on Zoom! For once the topic elicited some expressions of strong differences of opinion, so it was a lot more interesting than our book club discussions usually are. No offense to my wonderful book club ladies. Just sayin.....
After book club I went outside in short sleeves and stood on the back porch for awhile, enjoying the darkness and the warm air. Yesterday the high temperature was +24C and today it reached +19C. I have my summer nightgowns all freshened up and ready to wear after sweltering overnight the past couple of nights in the heavy winter ones. What a glorious change in the weather!
We finally received the confirmation of a correction we have been waiting for from our 2018 taxes, so over the next couple of days we will be able to complete the 2019 taxes and get them sent away! YAY! My husband is doing his own grocery shopping tomorrow morning, then has a long online meeting, then after lunch we are invited to a "distancing" 85th birthday greeting time outside the apartment of the birthday boy. Should be fun! The taxes are going to have to wait until these other important social occasions are over for the day!
Time to get my prop plane engine white noise sound loop going and get some sleep. Tomorrow morning is my husband's turn to get up at 6am to get to his store of choice by 7am for seniors' shopping!
Today I woke up feeling rather out of sorts and wondering what I was going to do all day. Now it is after 10:30pm and I hardly sat down until after dinner this evening. I got a bunch of residual mess cleaned up from a cooking project I took on yesterday afternoon...lots of turkey spaghetti sauce and beef stew...., then did 6 loads of laundry which are all finished, the clothes folded and put away, then I got the bright idea to bring up the tubs of spring/summer clothes. The tubs are now back in the basement filled with my fall/winter clothes and all I have left to do is about 6 hours worth of ironing, which I will start on tomorrow! It is so difficult not having sufficient closet space to keep all my clothes on hangers year round, but ironing is time consuming and what else to I have to do, right?
Tonight was an excellent book club meeting on Zoom! For once the topic elicited some expressions of strong differences of opinion, so it was a lot more interesting than our book club discussions usually are. No offense to my wonderful book club ladies. Just sayin.....
After book club I went outside in short sleeves and stood on the back porch for awhile, enjoying the darkness and the warm air. Yesterday the high temperature was +24C and today it reached +19C. I have my summer nightgowns all freshened up and ready to wear after sweltering overnight the past couple of nights in the heavy winter ones. What a glorious change in the weather!
We finally received the confirmation of a correction we have been waiting for from our 2018 taxes, so over the next couple of days we will be able to complete the 2019 taxes and get them sent away! YAY! My husband is doing his own grocery shopping tomorrow morning, then has a long online meeting, then after lunch we are invited to a "distancing" 85th birthday greeting time outside the apartment of the birthday boy. Should be fun! The taxes are going to have to wait until these other important social occasions are over for the day!
Time to get my prop plane engine white noise sound loop going and get some sleep. Tomorrow morning is my husband's turn to get up at 6am to get to his store of choice by 7am for seniors' shopping!
Monday, April 20, 2020
Corona Virus Related Memes I Enjoyed Today!
When the world is in such a mess due to a pandemic, you have to find humour where you can, right? Here is some humour I appreciate:
Yeaaaaahhh, Baby!
Yesterday as I was looking in the vegetable crisper in my refrigerator, I realized I was nearly out of fresh veggies. I also realized that I could feed a couple baby bunnies from the vegetable detritus sitting in the bottom! Blecch!!!! There were teeny lettuce tips, avocado stems, some carrot top ferns, a vine ripened tomato vine, some celery leaves....bits of this and that everywhere, but hidden from sight until I finally used up everything I had stored in there. Good grief!!!! How embarassing to find such a mess.
So this morning I emptied the entire refrigerator, freezer and all and began cleaning every space, shelf, and door in the thing. The freezer wasn't too bad. There were a few bread crumbs on the bottom, but the rest of the freezer was clean, other than a bit of green on one of the shelves in the door that looked suspiciously liked a mushy pea. Ick!! Blecch!! The only disaster was when I managed to drop the ice cube tray and send it flying across the kitchen and into the dining room, spewing ice cubes in all directions. Man o man, those slippery little suckers are impossible to pick up on the first try.
Then I hauled out everything in the main body of the refrigerator, took out all the shelves, the crisper top and crisper and began washing everything with soap and very hot water, followed by a mild rub with an SOS pad just to be certain everything was as clean as possible. After wiping the now crisp, clean, newly restored to white interior, I got the rest of the food put back in and felt pretty good about a job well done. Then I scrubbed the outside of the refrigerator as well and vacuumed underneath as far as the narrow extention tool on the hose would reach, since the refrigerator is far too heavy for me to move. At least the bottom grill under the door comes off so it is possible to reach back underneath quite a way.
I felt very good about getting that done. It seems a lot of "stuff" happened in the four months since its last big cleaning. I did it just before our son came to visit for Christmas.
My husband made baking powder biscuits for lunch. YUMMY!!!! His are the very best in the whole wide world!! I had one with some melted cheese on top and a second, smaller one, with a teaspoon of orange marmalade on it. How absolutely, delightfully, deliciously unhealthy for a diabetic!!! I loved every forbidden mouthful. My husband adds eggs and yogurt to his recipe so they taste really great.
Knowing I had blown my diet in a big way, I decided that being on my feet as long as possible would be a great idea once I finished eating. So, I walked to a mail box in the neighbourhood to send a letter, then did a reconnissance trip past the nearest grocery mart. It looked nearly deserted, so I whipped my handy dandy mask and gloves out of my coat pocket and went on inside. There I found a number of items that were on my list for my shopping trip tomorrow morning, so I picked them up and lugged them home. I figured since my 14 day self-isolation period ends at 11pm tonight, this was close enough since I have not exhibited any symptoms thus far of any sort of illness since the last shopping trip. It felt good to be out and about. I didn't even mind carrying home four heavy bags of groceries, although I did have to set them down on the sidewalk part way home and readust the load. I may no longer be able to pick up and carry a sheet of plywood, but those days have stood me in good stead as far as juggling heavy bags of groceries! YAY!
Although the wind was howling for my entire walk and that wind was not spring time warm, the sun was shining so brilliantly and the air temperature was so nice and warm, it was a great mental boost to be able to be outside walking under the neighbourhood trees and accomplishing more than simply mailing a letter. It was WONDERFUL to spend my afternoon outside. I doddled all the way there and then, although I had to pick up the pace coming back with such heavy bags, I still wasn't racing too quickly to enjoy the out of doors.
Tonight some of my favourite veterinary show reruns are on...that is the joy of not having had Nature Channel for the past few years. Reruns from 2011 and 2012 are all new to me and so I have lots of catching up to do during this enforced time at home. Cool!
So this morning I emptied the entire refrigerator, freezer and all and began cleaning every space, shelf, and door in the thing. The freezer wasn't too bad. There were a few bread crumbs on the bottom, but the rest of the freezer was clean, other than a bit of green on one of the shelves in the door that looked suspiciously liked a mushy pea. Ick!! Blecch!! The only disaster was when I managed to drop the ice cube tray and send it flying across the kitchen and into the dining room, spewing ice cubes in all directions. Man o man, those slippery little suckers are impossible to pick up on the first try.
Then I hauled out everything in the main body of the refrigerator, took out all the shelves, the crisper top and crisper and began washing everything with soap and very hot water, followed by a mild rub with an SOS pad just to be certain everything was as clean as possible. After wiping the now crisp, clean, newly restored to white interior, I got the rest of the food put back in and felt pretty good about a job well done. Then I scrubbed the outside of the refrigerator as well and vacuumed underneath as far as the narrow extention tool on the hose would reach, since the refrigerator is far too heavy for me to move. At least the bottom grill under the door comes off so it is possible to reach back underneath quite a way.
I felt very good about getting that done. It seems a lot of "stuff" happened in the four months since its last big cleaning. I did it just before our son came to visit for Christmas.
My husband made baking powder biscuits for lunch. YUMMY!!!! His are the very best in the whole wide world!! I had one with some melted cheese on top and a second, smaller one, with a teaspoon of orange marmalade on it. How absolutely, delightfully, deliciously unhealthy for a diabetic!!! I loved every forbidden mouthful. My husband adds eggs and yogurt to his recipe so they taste really great.
Knowing I had blown my diet in a big way, I decided that being on my feet as long as possible would be a great idea once I finished eating. So, I walked to a mail box in the neighbourhood to send a letter, then did a reconnissance trip past the nearest grocery mart. It looked nearly deserted, so I whipped my handy dandy mask and gloves out of my coat pocket and went on inside. There I found a number of items that were on my list for my shopping trip tomorrow morning, so I picked them up and lugged them home. I figured since my 14 day self-isolation period ends at 11pm tonight, this was close enough since I have not exhibited any symptoms thus far of any sort of illness since the last shopping trip. It felt good to be out and about. I didn't even mind carrying home four heavy bags of groceries, although I did have to set them down on the sidewalk part way home and readust the load. I may no longer be able to pick up and carry a sheet of plywood, but those days have stood me in good stead as far as juggling heavy bags of groceries! YAY!
Although the wind was howling for my entire walk and that wind was not spring time warm, the sun was shining so brilliantly and the air temperature was so nice and warm, it was a great mental boost to be able to be outside walking under the neighbourhood trees and accomplishing more than simply mailing a letter. It was WONDERFUL to spend my afternoon outside. I doddled all the way there and then, although I had to pick up the pace coming back with such heavy bags, I still wasn't racing too quickly to enjoy the out of doors.
Tonight some of my favourite veterinary show reruns are on...that is the joy of not having had Nature Channel for the past few years. Reruns from 2011 and 2012 are all new to me and so I have lots of catching up to do during this enforced time at home. Cool!
Someone Sent Me This the Other Day, But Ya' Gotta Be Old To Appreciate It!!
Hilarious Things My Mother Taught Me...
1.
My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE: "If you're going to
kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me RELIGION: "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL: "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
4. My mother taught me LOGIC: "Because I said so, that's why."
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC: "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT: "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
7. My mother taught me IRONY: "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS: "Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM: "Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA: "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
Sunday, April 19, 2020
My Favourite C.S. Lewis Doodle Illustrated Lecture
If you haven't seen any of the C.S. Lewis Doodle illustrated lectures, you are in for a treat. Here is one of my favourites, "Men Without Chests".
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Our Great Escape!
Today we drove 40 km out of the city to my husband's parish church. We went so that he could make his video to send to his parishioners for Sunday's service.
It has been about six weeks since my husband drove out of town anywhere. I have not been out of the city since the second week of January! In other words, we have not driven our car anywhere apart from local errands about once every two weeks in all this time.
SO, guess what happened as we cruised along the smooth ribbon of highway: we both became "car sick"! Can you believe that??? We are so embarrassed!! We weren't violently ill. We were just both a tad woozy and it cleared up within minutes at both ends of our journey, but how wild is that? Are we getting so old and decrepit that even driving a short distance at highway speed is getting to be too much for us???? UNBELIEVABLE!!! Blush.....
It was quite eerie being out on the highway in the midst of the pandemic. Yes, there was some traffic, although less than we have ever seen on a spring Saturday, but we still felt mentally and emotionally rather confused...like what are we doing out here? Aren't we supposed to be at home with the doors and windows shut against coronavirus contamination????
It was even more strange stepping into the church building. There it was, still all sparkly inside from the day of the hygiene treatment my husband and the wardens gave it 6 weeks ago when they still thought they were going to be hosting an ecumenical Lenten study there the following evening.
My husband put on the lights and set up the computer to record his prayers and sermon for tomorrow morning's service which each parish family will look at on their own, followed by a Zoom evening prayer service together in the evening.
To add to the surreal feeling, one of the couples from the congregation joined us in time for the actual recording. We distanced ourselves on the pews on one side of the church so my husband would have an audience to focus on in order to make the recording more realistic. It also helped him to be more enthusiastic and spontanous in his presentation. I think next weekend he and I will return to the church and do that again. With each attempt his recordings are slowly getting better.
After he was finished the 4 of us remained in the church and visited for about a half hour. Apart from my friend who stops by for a minute or two several times a week on her walks around the city, this couple is the first face to face NON-Zoom contact we have had in weeks! It was eerie in a way, but also wonderful!
I had a serendipitous provision today. While my husband was getting set up for his video, I wandered over to the small local grocery market to pick up some milk so we wouldn't have to go into the overcrowded stores in the city on the way home. After I picked up the carton of milk, I looked down the aisle and spotted a full meat counter!! Beef and decent cuts of chicken are getting more difficult to find now that most of the meat cutting and processing plants here in the west have been shut down due to the pandemic attacking so many of the employees. The price for what is available has skyrocketed as a result. The prices on the lean hamburger and extra lean stew meat in this little market had not risen that much, so I picked up a large package of each. I can get at least 12 burgers out of the one package and 3 large batches of stew from the other. Combined with the basa fish filets, 2 packs of ground turkey and a few chicken breasts I have left over from my last major shopping trip, we don't need to buy meat for another month! That is most exciting! The lentils we have been eating to cut down on our meat consumption are tasty and contain at least some protein value. My husband makes the best lentil soups I have ever eaten.
Even though our tummies were churning during the drive, the sun was shining brightly and that was cheery enough to take our minds off the nausea. Chilly day? Yes. Show flurries? Yes, twice during the day for less than 10 minutes each time! Sunshine? In spades!
Today was a good, good day! Fresh air, friends, ministry, sunshine, meat....aaaaah, it doesn't get much better, right? hahahaha
It has been about six weeks since my husband drove out of town anywhere. I have not been out of the city since the second week of January! In other words, we have not driven our car anywhere apart from local errands about once every two weeks in all this time.
SO, guess what happened as we cruised along the smooth ribbon of highway: we both became "car sick"! Can you believe that??? We are so embarrassed!! We weren't violently ill. We were just both a tad woozy and it cleared up within minutes at both ends of our journey, but how wild is that? Are we getting so old and decrepit that even driving a short distance at highway speed is getting to be too much for us???? UNBELIEVABLE!!! Blush.....
It was quite eerie being out on the highway in the midst of the pandemic. Yes, there was some traffic, although less than we have ever seen on a spring Saturday, but we still felt mentally and emotionally rather confused...like what are we doing out here? Aren't we supposed to be at home with the doors and windows shut against coronavirus contamination????
It was even more strange stepping into the church building. There it was, still all sparkly inside from the day of the hygiene treatment my husband and the wardens gave it 6 weeks ago when they still thought they were going to be hosting an ecumenical Lenten study there the following evening.
My husband put on the lights and set up the computer to record his prayers and sermon for tomorrow morning's service which each parish family will look at on their own, followed by a Zoom evening prayer service together in the evening.
To add to the surreal feeling, one of the couples from the congregation joined us in time for the actual recording. We distanced ourselves on the pews on one side of the church so my husband would have an audience to focus on in order to make the recording more realistic. It also helped him to be more enthusiastic and spontanous in his presentation. I think next weekend he and I will return to the church and do that again. With each attempt his recordings are slowly getting better.
After he was finished the 4 of us remained in the church and visited for about a half hour. Apart from my friend who stops by for a minute or two several times a week on her walks around the city, this couple is the first face to face NON-Zoom contact we have had in weeks! It was eerie in a way, but also wonderful!
I had a serendipitous provision today. While my husband was getting set up for his video, I wandered over to the small local grocery market to pick up some milk so we wouldn't have to go into the overcrowded stores in the city on the way home. After I picked up the carton of milk, I looked down the aisle and spotted a full meat counter!! Beef and decent cuts of chicken are getting more difficult to find now that most of the meat cutting and processing plants here in the west have been shut down due to the pandemic attacking so many of the employees. The price for what is available has skyrocketed as a result. The prices on the lean hamburger and extra lean stew meat in this little market had not risen that much, so I picked up a large package of each. I can get at least 12 burgers out of the one package and 3 large batches of stew from the other. Combined with the basa fish filets, 2 packs of ground turkey and a few chicken breasts I have left over from my last major shopping trip, we don't need to buy meat for another month! That is most exciting! The lentils we have been eating to cut down on our meat consumption are tasty and contain at least some protein value. My husband makes the best lentil soups I have ever eaten.
Even though our tummies were churning during the drive, the sun was shining brightly and that was cheery enough to take our minds off the nausea. Chilly day? Yes. Show flurries? Yes, twice during the day for less than 10 minutes each time! Sunshine? In spades!
Today was a good, good day! Fresh air, friends, ministry, sunshine, meat....aaaaah, it doesn't get much better, right? hahahaha
So Not Cool!!
A contemporary of our son's just sent us the photo below to remind us of....hmmm...of....not sure what exactly. Sigh..... I don't know what we were doing in this photo from the early 1980's, but it couldn't have been good....double sigh.....HAHAHAHAHA! Aiiii yiiiii.....
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| Are You Smokin' What I'm Smokin'? |
The Last Day Of Winter???
The forecast high temperature for today is +4C. Starting tomorrow all the forecast highs are in the plus double digits! The overnight lows will be 0 and above! This is good news. We will find a way next week to get the summer tires on the car and then pray we don’t have to make any emergency trips anywhere on the day we get our annual violent spring snow storm in May....or June....or......
It WILL happen.
It WILL happen.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Going Back
During the past week or so there have been some changes in life for a number of people, including ourselves, some of which include a return to life long before the isolation tactics to stay the pandemic.
For example, Kat is going back to work now after many months of illness and treatment and recovery. Fortunately she can return part time and work her way back to full time employment and, also fortunately, she is able to work from home. Val has also been able to go back to working more hours because she too can work from home. They are so grateful for all the prayers that have helped them to cope with the past year or more of pain and suffering and are so happy to be returning to their fields of endeavor. For me, their going back is leaving a gap. They are not as available for social media and phone call exchanges. So, I am going back as well to the times before all hell broke loose for both of them and they had more need of me. I am delighted for both of them, but admit to feeling a tad bereft. The emails and phone calls are shorter and far less frequent. HOWEVER, I am DELIGHTED to see them getting their lives back to such a great degree after all they have suffered! Please continue in your prayers for Val because her joint replacement surgery should have finally been scheduled for sometime this spring, but The Virus That Shall Not Be Named has caused cancellation of her types of surgeries until who knows when....sigh....
I have noticed many friends returning to their old patterns of socializing, partly due to the effort it takes now to keep in touch via all the internet possibilities such as SKYPE and Zoom. So, I am also going back to having far less contact with "new" friends as most of them are spending their time contacting their families and their friends they have known for the past 20 or more years. No one has unlimited time and energy to be spending keeping contact with everyone they know. This trend toward going back is leaving me feeling a tad insecure, HOWEVER, I too am equally guilty. It is so much easier to spend Zoom, phone and email time with people I am the closest to and the most intimately aquainted with, such as family! Since I and many of the friends and aquaintances in my peer group are not that comfortable with computer technology interactions, it often seems just as easy to wait in hopes that we will be able to get together in person again in a few weeks or months than to go through all the hassle required to have a satisfactory social time over the internet. The poor video and sound quality that occurs too often in our inept use of Zoom and SKYPE makes the experience too unsatisfactory for most of us in the "oldies" age category.
What is this "going back" to older habits and keeping in touch mostly with family and longer term friends going to translate into once we are able to return to larger social gatherings? Are we all going to notice a marked difference in how we relate to each other? Are friendships going to be gained, lost, or remain mostly unchanged?
Even using Zoom for Sunday morning church services is such a nuisance that it doesn't inspire me to try to connect that way with individuals at other times of the week. For my church, part of the point of using Zoom is so that we can see each other every Sunday, but as the weeks have passed the majority of our congregation has begun turning off their video feed, so all any of the rest of us can see of them is their name on a dark square. We know they are there listening, or even contributing to the service, but we cannot see them, so sometimes I feel like I am putting up with inadequte video and scratchy sound qualities for very little reason other than doing my duty to "be there" and support the ministers and tech people who have put a great deal of work into the service every week.
I am concerned because I fear new friendships are starting to erode. At this point I don't feel particularly lonely because there is a lot to do each day and there are a few contacts one way or another most every day, but I am aware I am not doing enough to keep the friendships flowing comfortably and neither are some of the other people for one reason and another.
So, that is just a bit of what I am musing about this morning. I don't have any big issues, no one has disappeared from my life in any big way, I am just conscious of the fact that things have changed all ready in only a few weeks of social isolation and I am wondering if relationships that dwindle due to our present enforced lifestyle are going to wither away and die all together. I do hope not and I hope I can get my own time and energy together better so that I am not guilty of causing any loss of relationships.
For example, Kat is going back to work now after many months of illness and treatment and recovery. Fortunately she can return part time and work her way back to full time employment and, also fortunately, she is able to work from home. Val has also been able to go back to working more hours because she too can work from home. They are so grateful for all the prayers that have helped them to cope with the past year or more of pain and suffering and are so happy to be returning to their fields of endeavor. For me, their going back is leaving a gap. They are not as available for social media and phone call exchanges. So, I am going back as well to the times before all hell broke loose for both of them and they had more need of me. I am delighted for both of them, but admit to feeling a tad bereft. The emails and phone calls are shorter and far less frequent. HOWEVER, I am DELIGHTED to see them getting their lives back to such a great degree after all they have suffered! Please continue in your prayers for Val because her joint replacement surgery should have finally been scheduled for sometime this spring, but The Virus That Shall Not Be Named has caused cancellation of her types of surgeries until who knows when....sigh....
I have noticed many friends returning to their old patterns of socializing, partly due to the effort it takes now to keep in touch via all the internet possibilities such as SKYPE and Zoom. So, I am also going back to having far less contact with "new" friends as most of them are spending their time contacting their families and their friends they have known for the past 20 or more years. No one has unlimited time and energy to be spending keeping contact with everyone they know. This trend toward going back is leaving me feeling a tad insecure, HOWEVER, I too am equally guilty. It is so much easier to spend Zoom, phone and email time with people I am the closest to and the most intimately aquainted with, such as family! Since I and many of the friends and aquaintances in my peer group are not that comfortable with computer technology interactions, it often seems just as easy to wait in hopes that we will be able to get together in person again in a few weeks or months than to go through all the hassle required to have a satisfactory social time over the internet. The poor video and sound quality that occurs too often in our inept use of Zoom and SKYPE makes the experience too unsatisfactory for most of us in the "oldies" age category.
What is this "going back" to older habits and keeping in touch mostly with family and longer term friends going to translate into once we are able to return to larger social gatherings? Are we all going to notice a marked difference in how we relate to each other? Are friendships going to be gained, lost, or remain mostly unchanged?
Even using Zoom for Sunday morning church services is such a nuisance that it doesn't inspire me to try to connect that way with individuals at other times of the week. For my church, part of the point of using Zoom is so that we can see each other every Sunday, but as the weeks have passed the majority of our congregation has begun turning off their video feed, so all any of the rest of us can see of them is their name on a dark square. We know they are there listening, or even contributing to the service, but we cannot see them, so sometimes I feel like I am putting up with inadequte video and scratchy sound qualities for very little reason other than doing my duty to "be there" and support the ministers and tech people who have put a great deal of work into the service every week.
I am concerned because I fear new friendships are starting to erode. At this point I don't feel particularly lonely because there is a lot to do each day and there are a few contacts one way or another most every day, but I am aware I am not doing enough to keep the friendships flowing comfortably and neither are some of the other people for one reason and another.
So, that is just a bit of what I am musing about this morning. I don't have any big issues, no one has disappeared from my life in any big way, I am just conscious of the fact that things have changed all ready in only a few weeks of social isolation and I am wondering if relationships that dwindle due to our present enforced lifestyle are going to wither away and die all together. I do hope not and I hope I can get my own time and energy together better so that I am not guilty of causing any loss of relationships.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Our Family Is Looking a Tad Different During the Pandemic!
It is a good thing we all know each other well enough to recognize each other with the bottom half of our faces missing!!! hahahahaha
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| Hello From Regina |
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| Hi From Brooklyn |
Taking Time To Enjoy....
....the crows collecting twigs and dry old grass for nesting purposes. I am laughing at one crow in particular out on the front lawn, filling its beak so full of nest building materials it is starting to gag on them. Every so often it flies off and deposits those materials on top of a light standard near my window. In between trips little gusts of wind are huffing and puffing bits of dry grass back down onto the lawn. The light standard has nary a tree anywhere near it. There are no branches to protect the cache of nest building materials from the wind. That poor crow is on a bit of a fool’s errand trying to use such an open loft as storage for grass and twigs....unless it plans to actually built its nest there. Stranger places than that have had nests built atop them.
.....the geese (yes, I enjoyed the GEESE this morning) as they made their morning rounds across the front lawn. This morning when I stepped out on my porch to check the mailbox “Jacob” and “Leah” came racing toward me full speed ahead, looking for a hand out of food, no doubt. Although the lawns have been mostly free of snow for the past three weeks and the top soil has thawed, there is not so much as a suggestion yet of teensy green new grass shoots. These two, plus “Uncle Harry” have been here for a full month now and have had nothing decent to eat. These three have, for the past five years, refused to eat the unhealthy handouts of bread or even the lettuce some of the other tenants have been conned into giving the rest of the geese. Every year these three return at the same time as the huge early flocks of geese who are carrying on from our nearby, still partially frozen lake, after a few days of rest, to the large bird sanctuaries farther north of us, but the three of them make the lawns in our complex their spring and summer home. Their banding colours and refusal of handouts has helped up to identify the trio each spring. I was so shocked by their approach of me this morning that I had to stay still enough to let them get close enough to see the leg bands in order to be certain it really was them. Uncle Harry joined them after a few seconds, hooting and honking nonstop as always, so then there was no doubt.
.... how quickly the time is passing. It seems like only yesterday that I was only one or two days into my latest period of self-isolation and now it has been ten! Next Tuesday morning I will be able to go out for groceries again. Wow!
....playing the crazy trivia game my husband came across in a box of assorted “stuff” he has been dragging around with us for years, not remembering what was inside it. We are both learning new bits of information about a large variety of subjects. Maybe most of that info is not important, but learning new things is always fun.
....the opportunity to sit still long enough to start re-evaluating my spiritual life and church affiliation. While we are likely going to sign a lease at the end of May for one more year in this townhouse, barring yet another remarkable move of God, I suspect there may be more changes coming than a simple change of address. We will see what the future holds. My husband appears to have made the surprising decision that we will not be hosting a Zoom home group for my church after all, for a variety of reasons that have cropped up in the last 48 hours, so that is going to change our status within the congregation, certainly with the rest of my leadership. Possibly this signals other impending changes. Time will tell.....
.....the geese (yes, I enjoyed the GEESE this morning) as they made their morning rounds across the front lawn. This morning when I stepped out on my porch to check the mailbox “Jacob” and “Leah” came racing toward me full speed ahead, looking for a hand out of food, no doubt. Although the lawns have been mostly free of snow for the past three weeks and the top soil has thawed, there is not so much as a suggestion yet of teensy green new grass shoots. These two, plus “Uncle Harry” have been here for a full month now and have had nothing decent to eat. These three have, for the past five years, refused to eat the unhealthy handouts of bread or even the lettuce some of the other tenants have been conned into giving the rest of the geese. Every year these three return at the same time as the huge early flocks of geese who are carrying on from our nearby, still partially frozen lake, after a few days of rest, to the large bird sanctuaries farther north of us, but the three of them make the lawns in our complex their spring and summer home. Their banding colours and refusal of handouts has helped up to identify the trio each spring. I was so shocked by their approach of me this morning that I had to stay still enough to let them get close enough to see the leg bands in order to be certain it really was them. Uncle Harry joined them after a few seconds, hooting and honking nonstop as always, so then there was no doubt.
.... how quickly the time is passing. It seems like only yesterday that I was only one or two days into my latest period of self-isolation and now it has been ten! Next Tuesday morning I will be able to go out for groceries again. Wow!
....playing the crazy trivia game my husband came across in a box of assorted “stuff” he has been dragging around with us for years, not remembering what was inside it. We are both learning new bits of information about a large variety of subjects. Maybe most of that info is not important, but learning new things is always fun.
....the opportunity to sit still long enough to start re-evaluating my spiritual life and church affiliation. While we are likely going to sign a lease at the end of May for one more year in this townhouse, barring yet another remarkable move of God, I suspect there may be more changes coming than a simple change of address. We will see what the future holds. My husband appears to have made the surprising decision that we will not be hosting a Zoom home group for my church after all, for a variety of reasons that have cropped up in the last 48 hours, so that is going to change our status within the congregation, certainly with the rest of my leadership. Possibly this signals other impending changes. Time will tell.....
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Another Beauty Day Today!
The sun is shining and there are strips of blue sky peeping out from behind the clouds today. There is still a nasty wind, not a forceful wind, but a cold one.
After lunch today we decided to take advantage of the slightly above zero temperature outside and take a short walk. We only walked for about 40 minutes because the wind started to pick up speed, but wow, it was wonderful to be out there again. YIPPEE!
An amazing friend who has spoiled us rotten since this whole pandemic, self-isolation began, dropped off home made peanut butter cookies and bran muffins on our porch this morning! WHAT A TREAT!!!! We also had a nice visit with her across the lawn. We counted out each of the items, divided them into two piles, one for each of us, and enjoyed having some of our treats for lunch! Oooh la la! DELICIOUS! AND not made by either of us for a change. Our friend is known far and wide for her amazing peanut butter cookies so we feel most blessed to be the recipients of her largesse!!
My husband is so exhausted today he could hardly push one foot in front of the other on our walk, but he survived and is now dozing on the couch with the tv blaring. hahaha I know from past experience that I can turn down the volume without waking him up so.....ta ta for now!
After lunch today we decided to take advantage of the slightly above zero temperature outside and take a short walk. We only walked for about 40 minutes because the wind started to pick up speed, but wow, it was wonderful to be out there again. YIPPEE!
An amazing friend who has spoiled us rotten since this whole pandemic, self-isolation began, dropped off home made peanut butter cookies and bran muffins on our porch this morning! WHAT A TREAT!!!! We also had a nice visit with her across the lawn. We counted out each of the items, divided them into two piles, one for each of us, and enjoyed having some of our treats for lunch! Oooh la la! DELICIOUS! AND not made by either of us for a change. Our friend is known far and wide for her amazing peanut butter cookies so we feel most blessed to be the recipients of her largesse!!
My husband is so exhausted today he could hardly push one foot in front of the other on our walk, but he survived and is now dozing on the couch with the tv blaring. hahaha I know from past experience that I can turn down the volume without waking him up so.....ta ta for now!
Couples Self-Isolating Together....Sigh....
I think this video may just be telling the truth for a few couples, hahaha!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Two Days of Heaven(ly Food)!
My husband took a full day off yesterday...no online videos, no sermons sent out, no emails, just a wonderful day of restoration for mind and body. In the middle of the afternoon he was browsing through one of his rarely used Indian cookbooks titled, "50 great curries of india", recipes complied by Camellia Panjabi.
He rarely uses the recipes in his Indian cookbooks because either the ingredients are too difficult to find here, or else he has no earthly idea how to use some of them. hahaha However, yesterday he found a Bengali recipe for chicken and onions in a savory tomato and chicken broth: chicken dopiaza (chicken with double onions). He actually had all the ingredients for it, so he had a marvellous time in the kitchen for nearly 2 hours preparing the most delicious meal either of us have ever made in our lives!! (We have a concern that our favourite Indian restaurant may not survive the prolonged closure due to the coronavirus, so my husband has decided it is time to hone his own skills!) Ooooh, it was fabulous!! Although it has potatoes in it, he also made a pot of saffron rice so that I wouldn't have to eat them...all the more for himself I suspect, haha, but I appreciated the rice very much. There are many large, floppy pieces of onion in the dish, not usually my favourite thing, but in this dish the onion was tender and delicious. Joyfully, we had leftovers for tonight's dinner!
My husband also made some carrot/celery soup that made for a scrumptious lunch today and there is enough left for tomorrow as well.
NOW: what on earth am I going to be able to prepare that can come anywhere close to the delicious meal my husband made for us??? I have a teeny tiny pork loin I will cook tomorrow, so am going to find a good recipe for that. It won't be any competition for my husband's cooking, but I would like to at least attempt to lift my efforts somewhat higher than the same old same old!
He rarely uses the recipes in his Indian cookbooks because either the ingredients are too difficult to find here, or else he has no earthly idea how to use some of them. hahaha However, yesterday he found a Bengali recipe for chicken and onions in a savory tomato and chicken broth: chicken dopiaza (chicken with double onions). He actually had all the ingredients for it, so he had a marvellous time in the kitchen for nearly 2 hours preparing the most delicious meal either of us have ever made in our lives!! (We have a concern that our favourite Indian restaurant may not survive the prolonged closure due to the coronavirus, so my husband has decided it is time to hone his own skills!) Ooooh, it was fabulous!! Although it has potatoes in it, he also made a pot of saffron rice so that I wouldn't have to eat them...all the more for himself I suspect, haha, but I appreciated the rice very much. There are many large, floppy pieces of onion in the dish, not usually my favourite thing, but in this dish the onion was tender and delicious. Joyfully, we had leftovers for tonight's dinner!
My husband also made some carrot/celery soup that made for a scrumptious lunch today and there is enough left for tomorrow as well.
NOW: what on earth am I going to be able to prepare that can come anywhere close to the delicious meal my husband made for us??? I have a teeny tiny pork loin I will cook tomorrow, so am going to find a good recipe for that. It won't be any competition for my husband's cooking, but I would like to at least attempt to lift my efforts somewhat higher than the same old same old!
Sunday, April 12, 2020
I Prefer A Tad Less Polish To Be Quite Honest
I so enjoyed my church service this morning. There were a number of hilarious sound and video glitches that added some unexpected giggles throughout the service of rejoicing...if ever there was an appropriate time for funny online glitches, today was the day. hahaha
I was wondering for awhile afterward what it was that made the glitches more enjoyable than annoying for me.
The reason, I think, is that I have been watching so many videos created by other churches and individuals that are SO smoothly done. There is wonderful ambient lighting, the voices of the presenters and preachers are very calm and well modulated, there are no mistakes made by the readers, there are camera operators making the videos rather than having the presenters rely on the cameras embedded into their computers...it is all so very perfect.
So, I am discovering that "perfect" is kind of boring because it makes all the videos more or less the same to watch....low lights inside beautifully decorated/bare to avoid distractions church interiors, painfully sincere pastors, using their deep and melifluous Sunday afternoon tv sermon voices always gazing into the exactly right spot in the facing camera lens....after a few days of such perfection it all begins to blend together for me. I can't remember which speaker said what at this point.
Then there are my husband's fledgling attempts to put himself onto YouTube so that he can record his sermons for his parish members. hahaha This morning's was better than last week's first attempt, but still there is a bit of movement coming from my husband as he occasionally tilts the screen for better lighting and position for his lap top camera, the occasional rolling of his eyes up to the ceiling to see if the lighting system he set up is holding together, the occasional stumble on a word he doesn't have to say very often, some sheepish grins as he realizes he is actually filming himself. Maybe it is just because I love my husband, but I so preferred his video to most of the others I saw in the past week. His video and the glitchy service my own church put on this morning held my attention and gave me some chuckles. I am in need of chuckles these days, as I think most of us are under the present circumstances.
Had a great phone visit with my mom today and will call dad later on this afternoon.
Well, it is time to go and watch the latest episode of Vera and then my husband and I are going to play another round of our trivia game for something different to think about.
I was wondering for awhile afterward what it was that made the glitches more enjoyable than annoying for me.
The reason, I think, is that I have been watching so many videos created by other churches and individuals that are SO smoothly done. There is wonderful ambient lighting, the voices of the presenters and preachers are very calm and well modulated, there are no mistakes made by the readers, there are camera operators making the videos rather than having the presenters rely on the cameras embedded into their computers...it is all so very perfect.
So, I am discovering that "perfect" is kind of boring because it makes all the videos more or less the same to watch....low lights inside beautifully decorated/bare to avoid distractions church interiors, painfully sincere pastors, using their deep and melifluous Sunday afternoon tv sermon voices always gazing into the exactly right spot in the facing camera lens....after a few days of such perfection it all begins to blend together for me. I can't remember which speaker said what at this point.
Then there are my husband's fledgling attempts to put himself onto YouTube so that he can record his sermons for his parish members. hahaha This morning's was better than last week's first attempt, but still there is a bit of movement coming from my husband as he occasionally tilts the screen for better lighting and position for his lap top camera, the occasional rolling of his eyes up to the ceiling to see if the lighting system he set up is holding together, the occasional stumble on a word he doesn't have to say very often, some sheepish grins as he realizes he is actually filming himself. Maybe it is just because I love my husband, but I so preferred his video to most of the others I saw in the past week. His video and the glitchy service my own church put on this morning held my attention and gave me some chuckles. I am in need of chuckles these days, as I think most of us are under the present circumstances.
Had a great phone visit with my mom today and will call dad later on this afternoon.
Well, it is time to go and watch the latest episode of Vera and then my husband and I are going to play another round of our trivia game for something different to think about.
He Has Risen, The Flurries Have Fallen
It is all our fault that a skiff of wet snow came down early this morning.
Why would that be you ask?
It would be because we washed our car yesterday; the car that is now covered in a thin layer of muck because of the flurries mixing with the dust covering that blew in first overnight.
Yup....blame us. It is okay. We understand.....
Why would that be you ask?
It would be because we washed our car yesterday; the car that is now covered in a thin layer of muck because of the flurries mixing with the dust covering that blew in first overnight.
Yup....blame us. It is okay. We understand.....
Saturday, April 11, 2020
So Much For a Stress Free Easter Sunday Service, hahaha!
We have both been looking forward to the Easter Sunday morning service from my now online church. It was going to be our first Sunday in three or four weeks with no committments to contribute anything. hahahaha Yeah, right....hahaha. We just received a request to be participants in the short prayers of gratitude during the main prayer time. Of course we agreed to help, hahaha. Duh....we can't seem to say no when it comes to church involvements. Sigh.....I guess if we were that disturbed about doing it we WOULD say "No!!!" But we said "Yes." hahaha Figures, eh? hahaha
Today has been a good day thus far: a very good sleep once again last night. This makes about 5 or 6 in a row thanks to the white noise we listen to all night. The visiting kids next door were in bed just after 9pm and so it was very quiet all night anyway.
We contacted our water supplier this morning and arranged to pick up an extra refill bottle of reverse osmosis water for our tea and cooking needs. Now we have 4 of them, so it will be at least a couple of weeks before we need more. Only one customer is allowed in the store at a time and masks and gloves must be worn. No cash is accepted, only tap credit cards and bank cards. It worked well for us and no one else was waiting to get in there, so we were free and clear to transact our business.
As we were on our way home we drove past a spray car wash that was empty, so in we went. Since we had our gloves with us we were safe to use the hoses. Our car is finally free of its thick mud coating and fortunately no paint came off with that horrible dried mud! It is gleaming out in the parking lot. Of course tonight the wind will blow a coating of dust all over it, but at least the mud clumps are all gone.
The other thing we noticed on our drive this morning was that one of the neighbourhood library boxes along the route was completely empty. So, after lunch I disinfected some books I have finished reading and took a long walk in the cold wind to deposit them in the box. Hopefully someone will enjoy reading them during this rather lonely time of isolation.
The next really warm day is forecast for next Friday. I was wishing it would be warmer before then so we could go for a sunny day drive. We have almost a full tank of gasoline so it would be nice to be able to drive out of town for an hour or two, use it up and take advantage of the present gasoline prices here of 71 cents per litre! Soon the countries of North America will likely slap a trade embargo on foreign oil to protect our own oil and gas industry and the prices will go up again.
Well, it is nearly time to start making plans for dinner preparation. (stir fried beef and veggies and rice) Where has the day disappeared to????? Crazy! I feel very sorry for people who are used to having big family dinners on Easter weekend and are stuck home alone. We rarely have Easter dinner with anybody, so won't miss it, but we know so many families who are truly grieving this loss. Praying they will all find some special way to enjoy the day somehow.
Today has been a good day thus far: a very good sleep once again last night. This makes about 5 or 6 in a row thanks to the white noise we listen to all night. The visiting kids next door were in bed just after 9pm and so it was very quiet all night anyway.
We contacted our water supplier this morning and arranged to pick up an extra refill bottle of reverse osmosis water for our tea and cooking needs. Now we have 4 of them, so it will be at least a couple of weeks before we need more. Only one customer is allowed in the store at a time and masks and gloves must be worn. No cash is accepted, only tap credit cards and bank cards. It worked well for us and no one else was waiting to get in there, so we were free and clear to transact our business.
As we were on our way home we drove past a spray car wash that was empty, so in we went. Since we had our gloves with us we were safe to use the hoses. Our car is finally free of its thick mud coating and fortunately no paint came off with that horrible dried mud! It is gleaming out in the parking lot. Of course tonight the wind will blow a coating of dust all over it, but at least the mud clumps are all gone.
The other thing we noticed on our drive this morning was that one of the neighbourhood library boxes along the route was completely empty. So, after lunch I disinfected some books I have finished reading and took a long walk in the cold wind to deposit them in the box. Hopefully someone will enjoy reading them during this rather lonely time of isolation.
The next really warm day is forecast for next Friday. I was wishing it would be warmer before then so we could go for a sunny day drive. We have almost a full tank of gasoline so it would be nice to be able to drive out of town for an hour or two, use it up and take advantage of the present gasoline prices here of 71 cents per litre! Soon the countries of North America will likely slap a trade embargo on foreign oil to protect our own oil and gas industry and the prices will go up again.
Well, it is nearly time to start making plans for dinner preparation. (stir fried beef and veggies and rice) Where has the day disappeared to????? Crazy! I feel very sorry for people who are used to having big family dinners on Easter weekend and are stuck home alone. We rarely have Easter dinner with anybody, so won't miss it, but we know so many families who are truly grieving this loss. Praying they will all find some special way to enjoy the day somehow.
Friday, April 10, 2020
No Mittens, No Boots, No Problem!
At the moment the temperature outside is +11C! Although the sky is full of grey clouds with only the occasional glimpse of the sun peeping through, my husband and I went for a walk this afternoon around our neighbourhood. It was lovely to get out! We were able to wear lighter coats, spring hats, keep our hands free of gloves and wear shoes on our feet instead of heavy winter boots. Ooooh, it was lovely! Since we were walking in an area where there are public paths on one side of the road and they were somewhat crowded with pedestrians and cyclists, we went across to the other side of the road and walked on the grass for a few blocks until we came to a cross through path that led into a section of paved alleyway and back to a residential street on our way home. Aaaaaah....fresh air!! (Of course now that we are back inside the sun has begun breaking through the clouds and is currently shining brilliantly! haha O well....)
We stopped at the nearest neighbourhood library box once again, to discover all the books but one that I left there two weeks ago were gone and many new ones in their place. I put on my gloves (so glad I carry a pair in my coat pockets every time I leave the house) and carried home 6 books, 5 for me and one for my husband. NOW I have lots of books to read over the next couple of months before starting on the Harry Potter series once again. To me that series is more for summer reading...no, no reason, it just "feels" that way to me. Perhaps it is because when the story becomes dark I can walk outside into the sun and shake off the gloom.
This morning I watched last evening's Maundy Thursday service online from St. Aidan Anglican church in Moose Jaw. They have an excellent camera man among their congregants and he has shot some decent YouTube videos for them. The solemn stripping of the altar is always my favourite part of that service each year. The bleakness and sense of impending doom, the lack of immediate hope for the people of the time for the future of Christ are portrayed well as the altar elements are removed, curtains and crosses taken away and the altar washed down, leaving everything barren in the church. At the last the lights go out and the priest and altar servers walk out of the building in the dark. The stage is set for the lamentation of the death of Jesus upon the cross and the upcoming service of joy as we celebrate once again his resurrection on Sunday morning.
I tried after that to watch the Good Friday combined service my own church was participating in, but I only lasted about fifteen minutes. It began with a 7 minute talk about the pandemic and obeying the rules for not gathering together in groups. Finally there was an introductory scripture reading, then a responsive reading I didn't really understand the point of, then there was a pre-recorded choir singing, with the lyrics on the screen. Although the song itself was appropriate for the crucifixion scene, I guess, I am still Anglican enough that the idea of singing at a Good Friday service still jars me to my core. There wasn't enough lament going on to show the contrast between Good Friday despair and Resurrection Sunday joy for me. I will go back online tonight to see if the service has been saved because I would like to hear the sermon one of my ministers preached. I just couldn't listen to all that joyful expression on Good Friday. Not that there is something wrong or bad or irreligious about it, it just isn't for me personally.
Instead, my husband and I read through the Good Friday service in the Anglican Book of Alternative Services. Oh my it was lovely. The solemn sensibility I was looking for is there in the words and prayers of the liturgy. Thank you Lord that today there was a service for everyone, in every imaginable style, available somewhere online or in prayer books or on tv. I will spend some time in meditation tomorrow about what Jesus went through on behalf of the salvation of the world and prepare my heart and mind for a joyous celebration at a couple of Sunday church services. I will be more prepared to participate in my own church's service again at that point. If I am awake I will Zoom into the early morning sunrise service as well as the main celebration later in the morning.
Yesterday I enjoyed my Dr.Pol marathon on tv. It certainly gave me the energy to get my ironing done and to plan my housework chores for next week. Keeping up with the usual every day tasks, getting dressed every day, preparing decent meals; these things are all keeping me from feeling like the world is coming to an end.
We received another encouraging email from our son this morning. After getting some mistakes from his taxes several years ago all fixed up, he is getting a huge rebate he wasn't expecting. Despite the terrible exchange rate right now, this will still be a huge help to him next month. We are so grateful to God for the timing of all this tax confusion as the positive outcome is happening at the time he most needs the help. He is still feeling well, no signs at this point of The Virus That Shall Not Be Named. His housemates, his girlfriend, all have remained healthy thus far and we are grateful for that mercy.
A good friend decided to throw a sidewalk party for her son's 28th birthday yesterday. She and the rest of the family went to his house and decorated the outside of it with streamers and balloons and banners. Then they phoned him and told him to come outside. When he appeared they starting singing Happy Birthday to him in several part harmony, put a beautifully decorated cake and wrapped gift on his porch and shouted their greetings from a safe distance. He was obviously surprised and blown away that the family had remembered him in such a fun way. His gift was a bubble blower! It is the type that blows GIANT bubbles! What fun and how crazy. I would LOVE to have one of those myself to get rid of some of the boredom. On our big lawns here at the complex I could "play" outside for hours with that thing. hahaha I am thrilled that my friend decided to show me the photos and short videos she took of the sidewalk party. These are the kinds of cheery, exciting events that bring joy to the stressful situation we are all living in these days.
We stopped at the nearest neighbourhood library box once again, to discover all the books but one that I left there two weeks ago were gone and many new ones in their place. I put on my gloves (so glad I carry a pair in my coat pockets every time I leave the house) and carried home 6 books, 5 for me and one for my husband. NOW I have lots of books to read over the next couple of months before starting on the Harry Potter series once again. To me that series is more for summer reading...no, no reason, it just "feels" that way to me. Perhaps it is because when the story becomes dark I can walk outside into the sun and shake off the gloom.
This morning I watched last evening's Maundy Thursday service online from St. Aidan Anglican church in Moose Jaw. They have an excellent camera man among their congregants and he has shot some decent YouTube videos for them. The solemn stripping of the altar is always my favourite part of that service each year. The bleakness and sense of impending doom, the lack of immediate hope for the people of the time for the future of Christ are portrayed well as the altar elements are removed, curtains and crosses taken away and the altar washed down, leaving everything barren in the church. At the last the lights go out and the priest and altar servers walk out of the building in the dark. The stage is set for the lamentation of the death of Jesus upon the cross and the upcoming service of joy as we celebrate once again his resurrection on Sunday morning.
I tried after that to watch the Good Friday combined service my own church was participating in, but I only lasted about fifteen minutes. It began with a 7 minute talk about the pandemic and obeying the rules for not gathering together in groups. Finally there was an introductory scripture reading, then a responsive reading I didn't really understand the point of, then there was a pre-recorded choir singing, with the lyrics on the screen. Although the song itself was appropriate for the crucifixion scene, I guess, I am still Anglican enough that the idea of singing at a Good Friday service still jars me to my core. There wasn't enough lament going on to show the contrast between Good Friday despair and Resurrection Sunday joy for me. I will go back online tonight to see if the service has been saved because I would like to hear the sermon one of my ministers preached. I just couldn't listen to all that joyful expression on Good Friday. Not that there is something wrong or bad or irreligious about it, it just isn't for me personally.
Instead, my husband and I read through the Good Friday service in the Anglican Book of Alternative Services. Oh my it was lovely. The solemn sensibility I was looking for is there in the words and prayers of the liturgy. Thank you Lord that today there was a service for everyone, in every imaginable style, available somewhere online or in prayer books or on tv. I will spend some time in meditation tomorrow about what Jesus went through on behalf of the salvation of the world and prepare my heart and mind for a joyous celebration at a couple of Sunday church services. I will be more prepared to participate in my own church's service again at that point. If I am awake I will Zoom into the early morning sunrise service as well as the main celebration later in the morning.
Yesterday I enjoyed my Dr.Pol marathon on tv. It certainly gave me the energy to get my ironing done and to plan my housework chores for next week. Keeping up with the usual every day tasks, getting dressed every day, preparing decent meals; these things are all keeping me from feeling like the world is coming to an end.
We received another encouraging email from our son this morning. After getting some mistakes from his taxes several years ago all fixed up, he is getting a huge rebate he wasn't expecting. Despite the terrible exchange rate right now, this will still be a huge help to him next month. We are so grateful to God for the timing of all this tax confusion as the positive outcome is happening at the time he most needs the help. He is still feeling well, no signs at this point of The Virus That Shall Not Be Named. His housemates, his girlfriend, all have remained healthy thus far and we are grateful for that mercy.
A good friend decided to throw a sidewalk party for her son's 28th birthday yesterday. She and the rest of the family went to his house and decorated the outside of it with streamers and balloons and banners. Then they phoned him and told him to come outside. When he appeared they starting singing Happy Birthday to him in several part harmony, put a beautifully decorated cake and wrapped gift on his porch and shouted their greetings from a safe distance. He was obviously surprised and blown away that the family had remembered him in such a fun way. His gift was a bubble blower! It is the type that blows GIANT bubbles! What fun and how crazy. I would LOVE to have one of those myself to get rid of some of the boredom. On our big lawns here at the complex I could "play" outside for hours with that thing. hahaha I am thrilled that my friend decided to show me the photos and short videos she took of the sidewalk party. These are the kinds of cheery, exciting events that bring joy to the stressful situation we are all living in these days.
I Support Alberta Doctors
Not that my personal support does them any good. I don’t even live in Alberta any more...sigh...
However, I am happy to read that Alberta doctors are suing the Alberta Provincial government for 255 million dollars after the government tore up their contract with no consultation, effectively violating the Charter designed to protect the rights of its citizens, including doctors.
Alberta health care suffered badly under former Premier Klein, something I experienced first hand, so I am appalled that the province’s doctors are under siege once again.
All the best to Alberta doctors!
(Please DM me if you disagree. I don’t want to carry on an argument in the comments section)
However, I am happy to read that Alberta doctors are suing the Alberta Provincial government for 255 million dollars after the government tore up their contract with no consultation, effectively violating the Charter designed to protect the rights of its citizens, including doctors.
Alberta health care suffered badly under former Premier Klein, something I experienced first hand, so I am appalled that the province’s doctors are under siege once again.
All the best to Alberta doctors!
(Please DM me if you disagree. I don’t want to carry on an argument in the comments section)
Thursday, April 9, 2020
An Odd Sort of Contentment
Ever since I completed my grocery shopping trip a few days ago I have been feeling a stronger sense of contentment in regard to having to isolate myself for the next couple of weeks. Knowing there is a lot of food in the house, that our needs should be few during this next isolation period, has taken away some of the stress of being housebound. I think possibly some of my underlying panic about having enough food still stems back to the years of our son's early childhood when were were so desperately poor and never knew from one day to the next sometimes if there would be enough to eat that day....(there always was in spite of everything that was wrong at that time).
There have been so few pedestrians and cyclists going past our windows this week that I haven't had the sense of missing out on anything by having to stay indoors. Even on shopping day there was a severely reduced number of customers when I was in the stores, so it didn't feel odd not to be running into friends for socializing in the aisles. I think I am starting to enjoy having the opportunity to be my introverted self, a rare opportunity and one I am coming to value more than I ever have before. I don't have to force myself to chatter or think of interesting things to say in conversation. I don't have to talk at all....for hours at a time on the days when my husband is up to his neck in online meetings. I can still stand outside on the back deck if I need fresh air. That is what I did tonight, just as the sun was starting to sink lower in the sky. There was no one else out there. It was quite lovely actually.
My mom finally got her test results from her doctor today. Apart from a bit of sludge in her gall bladder that indicates she has to stay away from fatty foods as much as possible, all her symptoms are the result of acid reflux complications and ongoing stress. There are no blockages, no tumors, nothing at all apart from the gall bladder sludge. We are all relieved to have this information. Mom was able to get out yesterday for her eye injection, a bit late due to a taxi problem, but she got it done! YAY!! The staff at her facility are taking everyone's temperatures twice a day now, so that is one more safety feature there that makes all of us more relaxed that if a problem with The Virus crops up it will be found right away. A friend of Mom's dropped off a box of books this afternoon for her to read. She is thrilled as there are enough books to keep her busy for several weeks. I am thrilled because it means I can avoid having to order anything from Amazon, at least for awhile. hahaha She phoned our son on his birthday yesterday and had a grand talk with him.
My dad is thrilled as well because our son called him yesterday, since he knew his grandfather is unable to make calls on his own now. They had a great chat apparently. Our son has been keeping in touch with all of us over the past year more than he ever has in his life and it is intensely appreciated by everyone. He is very much like his dad....NOT so great at casual communication, even with family. hahaha What a pair.
My husband got his first video posted to YouTube tonight, just in time for his congregation to see it for Maundy Thursday. It is about whether or not it is appropriate for Christians to celebrate Passover. There are many teachings about that out there in the wide world of communications, but I enjoyed seeing and hearing him add his voice to the mix. He has certainly been earning his salary over the past few weeks and there is no let up in sight, although he will have a few less clergy meetings next week once Easter Sunday is over!
He and I are going to wedge in our own personal Anglican Good Friday service tomorrow between the three other services we have to "attend" via Zoom. When is there going to be time to properly lament with a schedule like that???? Online communications have gone into overdrive and we are ready for a break!
The Tumble Bugs are visiting next door again. The banging about in the stairwell during the day is somewhat less than last time because both kids have been able to play outside a bit more. Yesterday in the extreme wind they were out flying kites on the front lawn. It was such fun watching them through the window and vicariously experiencing that pure joy that children project when they are having fun. The great thing about the Tumble Bug visits is that they go to bed around 9pm and things next door stay pretty quiet during the night....usually. haha
I am going to spend some time newsfeed grazing now before I go to sleep for the rest of the night.
There have been so few pedestrians and cyclists going past our windows this week that I haven't had the sense of missing out on anything by having to stay indoors. Even on shopping day there was a severely reduced number of customers when I was in the stores, so it didn't feel odd not to be running into friends for socializing in the aisles. I think I am starting to enjoy having the opportunity to be my introverted self, a rare opportunity and one I am coming to value more than I ever have before. I don't have to force myself to chatter or think of interesting things to say in conversation. I don't have to talk at all....for hours at a time on the days when my husband is up to his neck in online meetings. I can still stand outside on the back deck if I need fresh air. That is what I did tonight, just as the sun was starting to sink lower in the sky. There was no one else out there. It was quite lovely actually.
My mom finally got her test results from her doctor today. Apart from a bit of sludge in her gall bladder that indicates she has to stay away from fatty foods as much as possible, all her symptoms are the result of acid reflux complications and ongoing stress. There are no blockages, no tumors, nothing at all apart from the gall bladder sludge. We are all relieved to have this information. Mom was able to get out yesterday for her eye injection, a bit late due to a taxi problem, but she got it done! YAY!! The staff at her facility are taking everyone's temperatures twice a day now, so that is one more safety feature there that makes all of us more relaxed that if a problem with The Virus crops up it will be found right away. A friend of Mom's dropped off a box of books this afternoon for her to read. She is thrilled as there are enough books to keep her busy for several weeks. I am thrilled because it means I can avoid having to order anything from Amazon, at least for awhile. hahaha She phoned our son on his birthday yesterday and had a grand talk with him.
My dad is thrilled as well because our son called him yesterday, since he knew his grandfather is unable to make calls on his own now. They had a great chat apparently. Our son has been keeping in touch with all of us over the past year more than he ever has in his life and it is intensely appreciated by everyone. He is very much like his dad....NOT so great at casual communication, even with family. hahaha What a pair.
My husband got his first video posted to YouTube tonight, just in time for his congregation to see it for Maundy Thursday. It is about whether or not it is appropriate for Christians to celebrate Passover. There are many teachings about that out there in the wide world of communications, but I enjoyed seeing and hearing him add his voice to the mix. He has certainly been earning his salary over the past few weeks and there is no let up in sight, although he will have a few less clergy meetings next week once Easter Sunday is over!
He and I are going to wedge in our own personal Anglican Good Friday service tomorrow between the three other services we have to "attend" via Zoom. When is there going to be time to properly lament with a schedule like that???? Online communications have gone into overdrive and we are ready for a break!
The Tumble Bugs are visiting next door again. The banging about in the stairwell during the day is somewhat less than last time because both kids have been able to play outside a bit more. Yesterday in the extreme wind they were out flying kites on the front lawn. It was such fun watching them through the window and vicariously experiencing that pure joy that children project when they are having fun. The great thing about the Tumble Bug visits is that they go to bed around 9pm and things next door stay pretty quiet during the night....usually. haha
I am going to spend some time newsfeed grazing now before I go to sleep for the rest of the night.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Happy 40th Son!
We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to have a Zoom conversation with our son today in honour of his birthday. He is looking well, getting his life together for its New Normal and coping with the isolation by taking 2 hour bike rides a couple of times a week into the deserted areas of NYC; places like Times Square, the huge neon signs still flashing from the businesses and theatres, attracting the attention now of the only beings left on the streets: police and pigeons. Our son is loving these rides on such deserted streets and pathways. He is seeing parts of NYC downtown and entertainment areas he has barely seen in the past 4 years of his residence there. Now that they are deserted they are more to his liking! The vast crowds that are usually present in happier times are gone, leaving him free to enjoy every sight in those parts of the city. The rides have been extremely good for his mental health as well as his physical health.
None of his housemates have left the boarding house in the past couple of weeks or more, so last evening they threw our son a surprise Birthday BBQ out on the porch and little side yard where an ancient, but still useable grill resides. He was thrilled!! Their attention to his special day made up for a lot of other birthday disappointments. We are so happy that he was able to do something unexpected and special.
He hasn't shaved in a few weeks...interesting to see him with that much growth on his face!! He decided this morning he can't stand it much longer and ordered some shaving cream from Amazon. hahaha He said it is too much of a health risk to try to go into one of the crowded stores near his place just for shaving cream. As much as I don't like using Amazon ordering, I am glad he had this opportunity to make good, practical use of it.
So, our hearts are at peace about his situation...for the rest of today at least.
My husband is trying to sleep this afternoon. He is absolutely worn out from all the Zoom meetings he has had in the past couple of weeks. They seem to go on and on ad infinitum. He and I are both wondering if church leaders wouldn't be better off doing a few fewer meetings online, worrying a bit less about the possible loneliness of their congregants and instead promoting the idea of everyone spending a few days off line for meditation and prayers. If people get too lonely there are still emails and telephones to contact friends and family and clergy. My husband has been barraged with "spiritual assistance" for the past month in one form or another with videos, articles, essays etc. etc. etc.. It is getting to be too much. I have not joined into any of the Holy Week services my church is Zooming this week. Perhaps tonight I will take a YouTube look at the online Tenebrae a former congregation is attempting and tomorrow I will check out my own church's Maundy Thursday service while my husband is busy Zooming a similar service to his own congregation. I confess that I am not "feelin' it" for Holy Week this year.
I am really wanting to pay more attention to Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God.", with special emphasis on the "Be still..." part!
The weather is insane today. The winds began howling early this morning and now, late in the afternoon, they are rattling windows and lifting a few shingles on the townhouse across the parking lot from us. There have been intermittent blizzard conditions (although there is no snow on the ground) and alternating periods of sunshine. Little funnels of dead leaves left over from last autumn have been lifting off the damp yellow grass and spinning past our windows all day! Crazy!
None of his housemates have left the boarding house in the past couple of weeks or more, so last evening they threw our son a surprise Birthday BBQ out on the porch and little side yard where an ancient, but still useable grill resides. He was thrilled!! Their attention to his special day made up for a lot of other birthday disappointments. We are so happy that he was able to do something unexpected and special.
He hasn't shaved in a few weeks...interesting to see him with that much growth on his face!! He decided this morning he can't stand it much longer and ordered some shaving cream from Amazon. hahaha He said it is too much of a health risk to try to go into one of the crowded stores near his place just for shaving cream. As much as I don't like using Amazon ordering, I am glad he had this opportunity to make good, practical use of it.
So, our hearts are at peace about his situation...for the rest of today at least.
My husband is trying to sleep this afternoon. He is absolutely worn out from all the Zoom meetings he has had in the past couple of weeks. They seem to go on and on ad infinitum. He and I are both wondering if church leaders wouldn't be better off doing a few fewer meetings online, worrying a bit less about the possible loneliness of their congregants and instead promoting the idea of everyone spending a few days off line for meditation and prayers. If people get too lonely there are still emails and telephones to contact friends and family and clergy. My husband has been barraged with "spiritual assistance" for the past month in one form or another with videos, articles, essays etc. etc. etc.. It is getting to be too much. I have not joined into any of the Holy Week services my church is Zooming this week. Perhaps tonight I will take a YouTube look at the online Tenebrae a former congregation is attempting and tomorrow I will check out my own church's Maundy Thursday service while my husband is busy Zooming a similar service to his own congregation. I confess that I am not "feelin' it" for Holy Week this year.
I am really wanting to pay more attention to Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God.", with special emphasis on the "Be still..." part!
The weather is insane today. The winds began howling early this morning and now, late in the afternoon, they are rattling windows and lifting a few shingles on the townhouse across the parking lot from us. There have been intermittent blizzard conditions (although there is no snow on the ground) and alternating periods of sunshine. Little funnels of dead leaves left over from last autumn have been lifting off the damp yellow grass and spinning past our windows all day! Crazy!
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