Prayer Request

 Hello prayer warriors: I just received an urgent prayer request from my church. One of our assistant pastors, Rick, has been diagnosed with COVID19.  He got what he thought was a cold on the weekend, but last night his breathing deteriorated rapidly and he is in hospital.  We are very worried about him, about his wife and daughters at home and also about the pastoral staff and handful of congregation members who met "in person" at the church for service on Sunday morning.  Yes, the distancing and masking protocols were followed very well, but still there is always a risk just the same with the variant strains.  Thank you to those of you who feel led to pray for Rick, his family and others he may have come into contact with in the past few days.  Sigh.....this stupid virus.....it is attacking people who DO obey the rules now, so what are we supposed to do, right??  Blessings everyone. Stay home and stay safe, especially if you are in a high density variant case community. 

Yaaaaawwwwnnnnnn........

 Although my hopes on Monday for an interesting series of videos detailing the arrival of what was to be a massive spring storm here in Regina did not turn out as hoped, with the failure of the worst of the system to arrive here in the city, it was at least good practise for my husband in using the video feature on his phone and for me to learn how to post them online. hahaha  Not that either process is difficult, it is just that we are old.....sigh....

Today we MAY reach a high of +7C after an overnight low of -17C, but I won't be surprised if we don't quite make it.  It is still bone chillingly cold outside.  We are laughing at the geese, six of which are currently huddled down in single file across the front lawn. They are all tucked down inside the tire tracks from the property maintenance bobcat that came across the lawns this morning and left deep tracks in our inch of snow and last season's four inch long blades of dead grass on the ground. Too cute!

Yesterday I was able, finally, to complete my spring cleaning project.  My husband's guilt about the state of the basement was exacerbated once I finally got moving on my own work, so yesterday afternoon he was busily vacuuming down there like a mad man, tidying his basement desk and putting things away on shelves and in cupboards. hahaha  Today I am too tired to bother getting dressed. My sum total of accomplishments thus far today is setting up the next week's worth of tv shows to automatically record. hahaha  I opened up an email to find a lovely online Easter card and summoned enough energy to reply.  I have two small closets left to clean, but will do them in a month or so when the transition from fall/winter clothes to spring/summer clothes occurs. I feel very happy to have gotten a swack of work accomplished in the past few days and also with the amount of outdoor walking I got done on the few warm days prior to our Monday storm.

My mother had her second COVID19 vaccination yesterday and did well with it.  She got a slightly raspy throat for a few minutes and that was the end of her reaction.  She is so happy to have had both her injections and hopes it will mean she will feel safer to take a taxi to her favourite grocery store next week on a warmer day.  Some of the online shopping has not gone as well lately, with the arrival of expensive products she did not order, nor can she use, and the lack of several items she did actually order.  If she is as determined to get her own groceries as she was about going to the bank the other day, well, she will be just fine doing her own shopping a couple of times a month for as long as her physical energy lasts, at least during the spring and summer months.

Our son had no side effects from his first vaccination on the weekend.  He also had good news from the doctor yesterday that only a month into his new diet, his blood pressure has returned to normal. We suggested to him that could happen and I don't think he believed us, but that was my experience a few years ago and it has been the experience of a number of friends and relatives. So glad it is proving true for our son as well.  One more test result to come in next Monday and then his mother will be able, hopefully, to relax.

Last evening we received a lovely Easter letter from friends in Japan, our interpreters from when we lived in Tokyo. They are doing well despite the pandemic. His import/export business is thriving and she recently had a PET scan that revealed she remains cancer free after a fifteen year battle with stomach cancer. Their children are doing well and the pandemic restrictions on leaving the house have bonded them in new ways as a family.  Their son is receiving international exposure to his musical compositions and that is a real boost for his career.  Their daughter is happily married and running a business of her own.  It is wonderful to have these bits of news that are so encouraging at a time world wide when news constantly tends toward the negative.  

The sun is shining and the sky is a cloudless blue, but I am using the excuse of the chilly temperature, along with my laziness after all the housework, for staying in my pj's all day today!  Aaaaaah....such a nice feeling.  I don't have any chores pressing, my house is filled with groceries, my husband is looking forward to having a difficult meeting over with this evening and is happily working away on a new sermon for Easter Sunday. Presently he is soaking in the tub, reading a theology book of some description and feeling relaxed.

Philosophical religious thought for the Easter season: Where there is no shalom (peace) present among believers in Christ, there is no Kingdom ministry.  One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is peace and so when that fruit is absent, God's will is not being accomplished.  Shalom speaks to the presence of God. 

 

Not Quite the Weather Debacle Here That I Was Hoping For, Sigh...

 In view of the dump of snow , power outages, serious highway accidents and destruction to buildings that other centres on the prairies suffered yesterday and overnight, I realize that wanting a similar degree of bad weather here where I live sounds ridiculous at best and irresponsible at worst.

However, the reason for my apparent madness is knowing that once the final huge dump of snow, gale force winds, frozen sleet and giant snow drifts arrive in the spring, the "big one", the "storm to end all storms" finally occurs...and it still will here in Regina, I am almost certain....the storm that is so huge it seems to have blown the rest of the winter weather far, far away, the huge dump of snow that takes 3 days to melt despite day time temperatures in the high teens celsius, when that is all over and done with, the smell of spring will warm the air, the grass will begin to green up, tiny leaf buds will start forming at the ends of the tree branches and early spring bulbs will begin to pop their little green shoots through the soil.  There seems to have to be one last violent winter weather event to presage the coming of the true spring.  Considering the wind and snow damage in places like west central Saskatchewan, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, this was the one, but the cold front that has accompanied it, the cold front that will not be leaving us for another 24 hours, tells me otherwise.  A true final winter/early spring storm is generally followed immediately afterward by the first warm air of the spring. That certainly is not the case this time.  It will be -6C today tops and tonight the temperature will dip to about -14C, warming tomorrow to only about +7.  After a couple of warmer days there is more rain/snow mix in the forecast, along with some very rainy days.  Well, we shall see what happens next.

The biggest snow drift around here is the two centimter high drift  outside my back door and a similar one across my front walk.  The freezing drizzle from last evening that coated the main sidewalks and my porches is completely gone.  The wind continues to howl, but it isn't nearly as loud or speedy as it was last night.  Here in Regina the storm has nearly blown itself out, but wow, it is leaving extremely cold temperatures in its wake.  

Sorry people, no true spring weather coming just yet.  Rats!!!

That Crazy Bank Finally Came Through

 I am so happy to report that the bank I spent so many hours dealing with at the end of last week, finally got its act together today and did "my bidding".  Everything finally went through this afternoon.  I COULD just forgive everyone for all their incompetence in communication and confusion as to who is allowed to do what couldn't I?  Yeah....I guess that is what I had better do!

I just heard from Kat: her newly repaired canoe just blew off its moorings in her back yard and is laying under the snow.  The wind must have gotten up inside it from underneath and toppled it to the ground.  I hope and pray it has not sustained any damage after the marathon repair job Kat did on it this past summer. 

My husband has his Maundy Thursday service all set up and has completed most of his Easter Sunday service, so he won't be under too much work pressure this week, apart from an extra meeting with one of his churches midweek that could be rather stressful. Hopefully it won't be.

Mom is absolutely ticked off that her body has forced her to rest so much over the past 2 days after 4 days in a row last week of racing around doing banking and other errands, extra laundry, etc. etc. etc.  "I FELL ASLEEP again after breakfast this morning! I NEVER nap in the mornings...I NEVER nap in the afternoons. I NEVER nap, period!!!"  Oh, she wasn't happy at all. hahahahahahaha  However I think I may have helped her understand that her age, coupled with congestive heart failure and a failing kidney are going to combine to exhaust her sometimes when she overdoes things.  hahaha I say "I think I may..." because in my heart of hearts I suspect she didn't buy it! hahaha

I am hoping the wind won't keep me awake tonight as the building is creaking and the siding is popping with the sudden drop in temperature.  

Wow, it has been another productive day for both of us here.  I am so happy to finally be feeling well again.  Reports from ChrissyMac about her osteo surgery and recovery have been encouraging my heart, seeing my sister in law last night online was a real boost, my walking partner has recovered so incredibly well from her surgery a couple of weeks ago....how could I not be feeling great as positive reports from friends continue to roll in. They give me strength to keep praying with hope for other friends not doing quite so well yet. Speaking of which, could you prayer warriors put Cee and Nan into the forefront of your prayers once again for awhile? Thank you so much. Cee is having debilitating neuropathy pain and some of the episodes last for several hours. It is awful.  He is soon starting a treatment that hopefully will stop any more progression of the numbness and, we pray, may also restore some feeling to his feet and hands.  Lord, hear our prayer.

 

I am rebelling today against adding labels to my posts!

 

 

A Storm in Stages Today!

 It took the spring storm a long time to arrive in Regina, but it is here now!  Right now at 7:30pm the sun has nearly set and there is a complete white out going on outside with blowing snow obscuring the buildings across the street in the eerie light of the street lamps.

The highways are closed across over half the province of Saskatchewan tonight, from Lloydminster along the Yellowhead Highway on down east of Saskatoon, all through the Battlefords and our former residence of Kindersley, in fact just south east of there in Eston, the roads are not only closed, but the wind has blown part of the roof off the local Coop grocery and competely destroyed the overhead structure of the gasoline pumping station.  The highway map is a sea of red, thus marking closed roads south of Lloyd and the Battlefords, all the way to the US border and straight east as far as Regina as the storm heads toward Manitoba. 

My husband shot a few short videos as the storm began. It took its sweet time getting started, but we are in the thick of it now!

 

It began in mid afternoon with some strong winds and a bit of rain:

 

 

Then the snow slowly appeared:

 

The winds increased:

 

  And the winds blew the snow all around!

 

My friend's wee doggie is not impressed with this weather:

 

Moving Slowly But Relentlessly!

 Today’s forecast storm has yet to arrive in Regina as of 1:30pm, but the blackening skies and an increase in wind speed are signalling its arrival. The main body of the storm is just beginning to approach Moose Jaw, about 80 km west of here. West of Moose Jaw the main highway and all secondary highways as far north as North Battleford have been closed all the way west to the Alberta border due to ice, heavy snowfall and blowing snow that has reduced visibility to under 800 metres. I will be interested to see just how much of this storm we will receive as it appears to be coming at us from both the north and the west. So far we have not had any rain, so if we could skip that step of the process I would be most grateful!  Here’s hoping!

I spent my morning productively once again on my spring cleaning project. Since I woke up early I was able to complete the living room, dining room, stairwell and the front entry/closet just in time for lunch. Yippee!!! Now I am wondering if I have the energy to do another room upstairs or if I should just relax and sit at the window watching the storm blowing in. If this storm has hit Calgary I will be most grateful that my mother had no need to go to any appointments today! I hope my husband’s family in Edmonton have sustained no damage to their home since this storm system hit them with a windy vengeance last evening!

Aaaah, spring on the prairies....always fascinatingly unpredictable! 

The Icing On The Cake!

 THE CAKE: my wonderfully productive Sunday!

I managed to have a very good day today despite my less than stellar sleep last night.  I finished my breakfast and was all ready to log into the adult Sunday School class at my church.  It was one of the best classes for content that we have had in the past few weeks, fewer people sharing their opinions and more actual teaching. YAY!

As soon as the class was over, my husband and I took advantage of the lovely spring-like weather and took a walk to the post office to mail some letters that needed to be sent prior to the storm that is coming tomorrow.  The mail service will be slowed down no doubt if we get even some of the weather woes we are expecting.  Aaaaah, perfect timing as we arrived home to log back into Zoom church just as my minister was starting his sermon in the morning service!

After lunch I realized I couldn't take another minute of the filth in this suite and that my motivation to get working around here had returned after too long an absence.  I spent the afternoon tearing the kitchen and bathroom apart for proper spring cleaning.  It took several hours and before I knew it, it was time for dinner!  The floors are also washed, so all I have to do tomorrow and Tuesday is the vacuuming and dusting.  It will definitely take me the full 2 days because once again I am moving all the furniture and taking all the ornaments and pictures down to clean properly in honour of the coming spring weather....it WILL come, it WILL, IT WILL!!!! (won't it?)

I was tired after my long afternoon of cleaning, so I was very grateful for the fridge full of containers containing my husband's marvellous chili that he made yesterday.  There isn't room in the freezer to put even one carton at the moment, so we are just going to have to eat it until it is gone....how positively dreadful....NOT!!! hahaha  It is fabulous chili!

After dinner I had a positive conversation with Mom and that always cheers my heart.  I also got a text message from my son on his way to the train station to go home after receiving his first COVID19 vaccination!  YAY!!  

Then I got myself logged back into Zoom to enjoy the annual Easter Alleluia concert my church choir director puts on. This is the second year he has had to rely mostly on previous recordings of choir music and instrumental numbers because of the pandemic restrictions on live concerts, but he really did a fantastic job of it.  It was a wonderful concert of music and the spoken word.  While I was doing that my husband was in the next room leading his own congregation in their Palm Sunday Zoom service.

 And this is where we come to.................

 

THE ICING:

My concert was just coming to a close when my husband burst through the door of my office and asked me to please come with him to see someone wonderful who had turned up unexpectedly at his Palm Sunday service and then stayed on to visit after it ended.  I followed him into his office, looked at his computer screen and there smiling at me was his sister!!!  She and her husband Zoomed in from Alberta for the service and a visit afterward.  For someone who has just had two brain tumours removed she looked amazing, wonderful, healthy, a bit tired, but it was incredible to see her for ourselves for the first time since the proton treatments.  She and her husband had a very nice visit with us for about twenty minutes before she became too tired to continue. We were pretty jazzed to see and talk to her.  

So, it was a nearly perfect day for me.  There were many positive, happy events and bits of good family news here and there, thrown in for good measure. I am beyond grateful for such a day as this.  

And tomorrow comes the storm apparently!  The winds in my husband's sister's city were already approaching the 100km speed and the ham radio tower on the side of her house was starting to rock back and forth in its cement cube base, buried three feet in the ground.  Hopefully the tower will withstand the strong winds. 

Our own weather warning predicts rain overnight that is going to flash freeze at some point, followed by 15cm of snow blown about by the same 100km winds that are presently creating havoc in the part of Alberta where my husband's family lives.

 I LOVE watching winter storms blow in, but I do hope and pray there isn't too much damage from the wind. I hope and pray no one gets caught out walking when the coming rain flash freezes. The hospitals are already full to over capacity without having to try to take on a influx of patients with broken bones sustained from falling on the ice.  

The RCMP have pretty much closed the roads into and out of Regina. They are not permitting anyone to enter or leave the city without a darned good reason in an attempt to slow down the spread of covid variants.  Scary stuff.....

Thank you God for this wonderfully productive day.  Oooo, I needed that!! 

On The Fly!

 (opening PS: 1240 known cases of Covid variants in Saskatchewan reported today; 1041 are in Regina)

After two nights of disrupted sleep, it was a marvel that I slept for ten hours straight through Friday evening into Saturday morning! What a rare and appreciated treat! So yesterday I felt wonderful all day and I wish I could feel that well every day!! I woke up today at 5am, so I will have to hang on to yesterday’s sleep in as a treasured memory. Yesterday I didn’t wake up until 9:30am! Wow!!

I awakened to the news that our city will be hit by a fairly intense spring storm Monday through Tuesday. It would appear that all three prairie provinces are in for two days of weather hell of the sort that is common to them in the early spring. The old adage for March, “In like a lamb, out like a lion” certainly holds true this year. 

So I decided to do my Monday out of the house chores on Saturday morning: banking, topping up on fresh produce and filling the car with gasoline. It felt good to feel so good as I ran around the neighbourhood getting these things accomplished. At the bank I discovered that the wire transfer I fought over all day on Friday WAS processed after all and will be sent on Monday so that was a relief. It would have been nice if the promise to call me on Friday to let me know had been fulfilled, but at least now I know the wire will be sent. I was able to get in and out of the grocery store before the Saturday crowds arrived. Yay! 

My husband agreed that with the storm pending we should pull our vehicle off the side street and find a way to wedge it into our approximate parking space on the remaining pavement between the two giant holes in the ground from the water main breaks. We don’t want to have to worry about it being towed away from the side street.  After a huge snowfall the ploughs will likely need to clear that particular side street and since the car is out of our range of vision over there, we would not see the signs to remove it for street cleaning. Hopefully the piece of pavement the car is currently sitting on is stable enough to hold the weight of our car for a couple of days! Tuesday’s high temperature will only be -6C, but by Thursday we should be up to +17C, so the snow won’t last very long on the ground.

This morning is church, then I will walk to the post office with a couple of letters to mail. Tonight my husband will lead his Zoom Palm Sunday service while I “attend” the First Baptist Easter Alleluia concert.   I am looking forward especially to the live handbell choir and the folk trio.

My Amazing Mom

 A couple of days ago Mom and I were talking on the phone about the possibility of another big lockdown in her city due to the alarming rise of the COVID19 variants. The provincial health officer there has been slipping little hints into recent speeches that it may be a possibility. Mom mentioned that she had a couple of fair sized cheques needing to be deposited in person at the bank and after I hung up the phone I began to worry that I had inadvertently pressured her to get to the bank as soon as possible in case her branch was to temporarily close again. I have to be so careful not to cause more stress in her life, but occasionally I blow it accidentally with an offhand remark. I realized I had likely upset her and that with next week’s weather forecast being more like a winter forecast than a spring forecast, she could be sitting at home fretting about getting those cheques deposited for at least a couple of weeks while waiting for the weather to become warm enough for her to go out.

I decided to apologize yesterday during our nightly call, but I didn’t get the chance! We had barely exchanged hellos when she proudly announced she had been to the bank that very morning! Wha???? 

“But Mom, you had Home Care there this morning to give you a shower and wash your hair. The lab tech was coming for your weekly blood work. Usually that is enough for one day and you are tired afterward.” (I was feeling like the worst daughter in the world at this point.) 

My mother responded, “I KNOW! But it was a lovely, sunny morning and I just got the urge to get out there and do it!” She was obviously tickled pink to have done something so time and energy consuming with so little forethought and so few days spent panicking in advance about the trip in the taxi. “I just up and went! The taxi came right away. When I got to the bank I had to deposit a cheque into your dad’s estate account, but the bank already closed it, so I had a copy of his will and death certificate to prove I am the sole beneficiary and I knew what to write on the back of the cheque, so I had no problem depositing it! Oh, and while I was there I took out cash for several months worth of taxis and treats and I got a printout of my last two months of bank transactions because I couldn’t get my transaction book to balance and now it does to the penny and I asked for a new transaction book and the teller gave me four of them and then I called a taxi to come home and it came right away and you know what else? When I left for the bank the staff at the front desk at home didn’t even try to stop me this time with warnings about it being too dangerous to go out because of the virus!!! So the banking is done! AND I remembered to take my nitro spray and pills with me in case my heart acted up! Not bad for a 93 year old, eh???”

All this in a torrent of joyful words! THIS is my REAL mom, the one who just goes and does what she needs to do, who delights in her own ability to make a decision and act on it instead of freaking out because of her own procrastination. She was so proud of herself that I laughed out loud, feeling joyful myself. Will she pay a price for her busy day? Yes she likely will be exhausted for the entire weekend, but that feeling of having lifted a burden off her own shoulders by dealing immediately with a perceived stressful situation will stay with her for some time. She said she felt like a dark cloud had lifted just by knowing she had dealt with all her banking issues at once and all by herself.

I am so proud of her. She sounded so very happy and for once her conversation was not filled with doom and gloom as the inevitability of life. I pray she will not have any heart issues after her unexpected foray, but I am glad she had the mental and emotional strength to run her errands and see how not procrastinating over stressful chores can bring such quick relief. Thank you God for my amazing mom and I pray the physical consequences of her spontaneous journey will not be too severe! Amen.

The Usual Crappy Anniversary Day! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

So today is our anniversary. The well wishes of various friends and family definitely carried us through this frustrating, tears springing to my eyes, day!  Thank the dear Lord for loving friends and family.

Each year it seems there is something to ruin our personal anniversary celebration, even in non-Covid years.  The day falls very close to Easter sometimes, so often we cannot go out for dinner or to a movie or concert because my husband has to lead a church service that night, or else he is out of town on the annual clergy retreat, or one of us is ill, or there is an horrendous spring storm that traps us on some highway or other, or, or, or.....the list goes on and on.  Our anniversary celebration disasters are the butt of many a family joke!

When we woke up this morning we thought we were finally going to get our chance to enjoy a personal celebration....like just how stupid are we, right???  A late arriving e-transfer at one of my banks set us on a collision course with any possibility of having fun today.  Its late arrival snowballed into an entire day spent on the phone with a different bank whose commuications set up between branch staff and the offices of those now performing transactions over the phone or online with the customers is SO faulty that I literaly spent between 4-5 hours fielding phone calls and ending my day with my business still not completed.  It is all going to spill into Monday now. By the time this very small and not very difficult transaction is completed I will have spent two entire days trying to get it done. I am so angry, SO VERY ANGRY!  I am trying to convince my husband to pull our business from this particular bank, as this is not the first time I have had a run around like this with these people.  I never wanted to open the account there in the first place and in the past six years have been given no reason to change my mind!  Since it is ME doing literally ALL of the financial business I feel my husband should agree to my demand for change!! Right? Of course right!!  Yep!

By 5pm we were both so exhausted from the rigors of the day that we gave up on the idea of having any sort of take out dinner to celebrate our anniversary today.  This weekend will be totally crazy with the restaurants anyway as customers cram in tonight and tomorrow before all dine-in is canceled until further government notice and the restaurants have to re-amp for curb -side pick up and delivery.  Since we will be busy with Palm Sunday "stuff" and on Monday most of our favourite restaurants are closed, we will make another attempt at an anniversary dinner next Tuesday.  Our son sent us a very large amount of money to go celebrating with, so perhaps that will end up being BOTH of us driving to the restaurant on Tuesday evening for curb-side food pick up!

 Since we found ourselves unexpectedly at home this evening,eating pita pizzas and drinking water, my husband decided we might as well record the Palm Sunday service tonight. I am glad we did because the link is ready to be sent out to the parishioners first thing tomorrow and my husband can spend the day working on his Easter Sunday message for next week.  He pretty much has Maundy Thursday ready to record.

 We decided to blame the frozen rain that spent all day covering our wooden decks and stairs with its overly slippery coating  for keeping us inside all day, but it was the constant and useless phone conversations with the bank that destroyed our mutual enery and motivation to leave the house.

 

So, here's to getting our home and other church chores completed this weekend and then here's to tackling that darned bank transaction on Monday. By Monday evening we will be raring to go and start preparing our Tuesday evening anniversary celebration dinner. 

Yawn..........

 It has been a long day!  I am praising God that the phone did not ring this morning after I prayed and asked God to please not let that happen.  My husband woke up in the late morning and no kidding, less than 30 seconds later the phone finally rang. Wow....I am some impressed.

The phone call was from a dear friend who has been very ill for the past week, with  symptoms that have been experienced by COVID19 sufferers, but she received word this morning that her test is negative for Coronavirus. YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!  Her place of work experienced an outbreak of a particularly virulent variation over the weekend and there were many others in her work place less fortunate with their test results than she was.

After we both had a bit more sleep late this morning, we headed out to get the palm branches. For whatever reason, there were far fewer in the bundle than we were expecting, so our basement is not completely overrun with the things. YAY!

My husband, after much thought and indecision, decided that pizza would be in better shape after curbside pickup than fish and chips that would need to be recrisped in the oven...always the second best way to eat fish and chips....so pizza it was.  We ordered from T.J.'s because it is not too far from home. My husband ordered a ham and pineapple pizza....ick, ick, ick but not because of the pineapple, it is the horrible gummy, salty ham that destroys those pizzas for me. He also ordered a ground beef and minced onion pizza with fresh tomato that was quite delicious.  He ordered the smaller pizzas, only 8 inches, so I was able to have 3 slices for my lunch as well.  They are so tiny and I really enjoyed the beef and onion.  The sauce wasn't sweetened the way some of the restaurants here sweeten the tomato sauce. Some of the sauces are like eating tomato candy, absolutely dreadful and disgusting and VERY bad for my health.  My husband was happy with his cholesterol cheat birthday meal as he ate pizza for lunch and dinner.  My dinner consisted of a plain ground turkey patty with pepper and mustard, 5 small chunks of hot and spicy Indian style potato and a half cup of corn niblets.  After all the restaurant food I have had in the past 2 days it was time to be sensible once again.  

After lunch my walking partner and her awesome son brought us a lovely bottle of wine and some of their homemade baking as a birthday/anniversary treat.  The baking is fantastic and the short distanced visit on our back deck was fantastic.  Seeing that bottle of wine and the cinnamon rollups made us feel very festive!

We both rested some more this afternoon.  I am glad we had that opportunity because we both felt really good by the time our son phoned this evening to wish his dad a happy birthday.  He is doing very well with his new diet, not missing the fats and alcohol at all and not resenting cutting down substantially on his sodium intake.  He has a re-test on Monday for a very worrying possible problem, but we are praying every day and hoping for better news than is currently expected.  He has also decided it is time to have his eyes tested for the first time in about 30 years and knows getting glasses IS going to happen, but he is excited to see what kind of  "cool artist frames" he may be able to get. hahahahaha  We are steering him in the direction of "industrial" frames as they are about a third of the price of the designer frames and much sturdier.  They don't look very industrial in style now, not the way they did years ago.  We are so relieved that he is finally taking care of himself. Yes, he is being forced into it, but at least he is listening to his body now and taking all these medical test results seriously.  He has an appointment for his first Coronavirus vaccination this coming weekend. YAY!

 

Two of our local buddies called us tonight, we all got on speaker phone and had an uproarious conversation.  We all got the giggles something fierce for some reason. I have not seen my husband laugh that much or for that long in many a year. What a refreshing conversation, rarely a serious word or thought was shared.  YAY!!! It surely was just what we needed tonight.

Well, it is after 10pm.  I feel like I am going to fall asleep sitting here at the keyboard, so will stop blathering.  Despite the lack of sleep last evening it has been a wonderful day.

Praying the Phone Doesn’t Ring This Morning.

 For reasons unknown my husband and I both woke up around 2:30am. Sigh.....  Why......

We were awake for hours, hours my husband used to work on an upcoming PowerPoint presentation. He finally went back to bed at 7:30am, so I am praying the stupid phone doesn’t ring for the rest of the morning! Lord have mercy! Nothing wakes either of us up more quickly, or leaves up feeling more jittery afterward than a ringing phone. With the number of family experiencing medical crises right now I don’t dare turn the phones off.....ever! I learned, after losing out on my birthday last year the opportunity to have what would have been the last phone conversation with my dad because I wasn’t able to hear the phone ringing, that I will never again be without a phone with a loud ring! 

I was fortunate to fall asleep for an hour between 6:30-7:30 am, then got up to eat my breakfast and leave my husband to his peaceful, I hope, morning slumber. 

No idea why we were both awake most of the night. We were VERY awake! Neither of us had any sense of impending doom, no one came to mind for special prayers, although we did pray for everyone we could think of, neither of us felt ill. Just one of those rare, odd nights I guess. The phone beside my bed rang at 5am and so we assumed, as I made a wild grab for it, that it would be about a family health disaster, but it only rang once before the caller hung up. The number didn’t have time to register on call display. 

So, I am sitting here in a bit of a stupor, but will try to keep moving for the rest of the day. Dear friends are coming by this afternoon to drop off a baked treat for my husband. I am hoping to order fish and chips from the Lancaster Taphouse for his dinner tonight. I suspect he had trouble going back to sleep earlier this morning because he was trying to figure out if he would prefer fish and chips or a pizza for his cholesterol birthday cheat meal! hahaha

Have a great day everyone. We will hang around waiting for the forecast rain showers. The weather appears to be staying chilly and wet for most of the next week.

One But Not Done

 Yippee, I was able to book my first vaccine injection for two weeks from now. Happiness! 

Completed the last of our necessary chores this morning and will take a walk this afternoon, then hunker down full time tomorrow after picking up the palm branches my husband’s church ordered when he thought it would be possible to at least leave town to drive them to the homes of his rural parishioners and drop the palms off for each household. What on earth are we going to do with all the palm branches????? hahahahaha The pandemic got us again! hahaha

My husband’s birthday is tomorrow and our 44th anniversary is the following day, so he got us takeout falafel, pitas and chicken salad for lunch today before we headed home after errands. What a fabulous treat! Yum yum from Zam Zam’s!

Da Big Edict Hath Come Down From Above!

 After what has seemed like far too long a wait, the government of SK FINALLY issued new restrictions and closures that will be in effect for at least the next 3 weeks.  No more household bubbles. Indoor visits are now restricted again to only those folk who actually live in the same house or apt. together.  Church and other religious gatherings are restricted to 30 people following strict government hygiene protocols.  All public venues such as museums, lounges, arenas, galleries etc., are closed until further notice. Restaurants have until this coming Sunday to prepare themselves to return to pickup and delivery options and close their dining rooms, etc. etc. etc.  Since these restrictions apply only to Regina, that tells you how bad the pandemic situation has become here.  We have a travel restriction that is not only to prevent us from travelling to other provinces, but even to other places outside the limits of our city.  Thankfully  the wardens for my husband's churches in other towns had already decided to keep the church buildings closed for the Easter week services as they watched the COVID19 variant cases growing in number here so rapidly.  In fact, one of the parishioners underwent a COVID19 test today when what may be coronavirus symptoms began attacking her in recent days.  Sigh....it really is everywhere, isn't it? Meanwhile I sit here day after day checking the provincial government website to see if my age group of people is able to book a first vaccination appointment.

On a happier note, despite neither of us sleeping very well last night, we both had a productive day today.  My husband got his online Maundy Thursday service PowerPoint finished and I got all my ironing done. Tomorrow we have a couple of very necessary errands to run that will take all of half an hour in total to complete and then it is home to stay for most of the next 3 weeks.  I got lots of exercise done here at home this afternoon and right after dinner, so that always makes me feel wonderful.

 For you prayer warriors, ChrissyMac is home from hospital, handling her new ostomy situation incredibly well.  Her potassium and sodium levels have come up on their own, sans supplements, since the surgery and althrough she is naturally exhausted from a difficult surgery followed by a week of morphine, she is feeling bright and sassy as always.  Her husband went to the store while she was gone and bought a bunch of new kitchen accoutrements that are dishwasher safe so that she won't have to stand at the sink to wash dishes when he is not around to help her.  FANTASTIC! Good thinking on his part.  ChrissyMac walked from her friend's car into the pharmacy on her way home to deliver a prescription to the pharmacist herself instead of just sending her friend in to do it for her. The woman is made of tough stuff and she is going to do very well as her recovery continues. She is grateful for the prayers and sends her thanks.

Mom is having the time of her life going to the dining room several times this week for special lunches. It is like being on holidays....no decisions to make about what to slap together for her lunch and different people to visit with at her dining table. I am so happy for her. Tomorrow her favourite, a rare treat there, is going to be served: a beef hot dog on a bun with her equally favourite RELISH to put on the bun. hahahaha  Strawberry sundae for dessert....she is delighted. Today was chicken macaroni with a butter tart dessert. She also had carrot ginger soup, another favourite.  I am so happy that she truly is enjoying herself this week with special meals. 

We had a bit of snow this morning, just a few flurries really, but it was quite cold outside. Oh how quickly we adjusted to those double digit PLUS temperatures we had last week. Today we barely achieved a high temperature of -1C. Fortunately we only have chilly temps this week. By next week we will be approaching more spring like days. 

 

Well, These Pretty Much Say It All

 

If you  have ever had the "joy" of being the new priest in town you will understand.....sigh.........

  70's music could negate so many of the issues associated with the meme at the top of the post!!

                      Yes, it could!!  Yup!  Uh huh!!  Absolutement!!!

A Good Day, But Still.....It IS Monday.......

 

Yeah....pretty much....although I DID get all the laundry done and meals made today AND took a walk with my husband AFTER I got the 7am shopping extravaganza completed!  Not a bad Monday after all....not really.....

Back To Normal....The New Normal That Is!

 After kind of a slouchy, miserably lacking in energy week last week, I woke up this morning with high energy and no brain fog!  YES!  So, I headed off at 6:45am to the east side SuperStore and my local grocery to pick up the rest of what we will need to eat here at home for the next 3 weeks.  An unbelievable amount of items I needed to purchase are on sale today! I am thrilled to save as much money as I did because the price of groceries in general has been skyrocketing over the past few weeks.  I was home again just after 8am, got my groceries unloaded, washed down and put away by 9am after sandwiching my breakfast in after unloading.  Since I am parking on the side street until the parking lot gets repaved and it is a long walk to my door from there, I have to pull up into the bus zone in front of my place, haul all the bags inside the house and get my car out of the bus lane before it next arrives. hahaha Today was a bit of a tight squeeze for time, but I pulled out and drove away just as the  bus was coming up behind me from about a block away.  A little adrenalin rush there, hahahahaha.  

This afternoon I am hoping my husband can help me carry the large tomato growing pot out to the car and return it to our friend who starts the Sun Gold tomato plants for us each spring.  She said they are sprouting nicely in their little starter pots.  We are getting all new soil in the big pot this year so I will have to check the expiry date on my box of plant food to make sure I can give the new plants some sustenance when they are ready to come home with us.  We are REALLY looking forward to the tomato "crop" this year.  It is such fun to have something to share with our neighbours as well as having so many tiny tomatoes for ourselves. Sun Gold have the most wonderful flavour!

After my sad attempt, or lack thereof, to get any serious housework done last week, I am feeling geared up to finally tear the place apart for a decent early spring cleaning. Today I will do the laundry and then launch into the serious room by room tear down and cleaning project tomorrow morning.  I have no social committments this week that I know of since we are all staying home during this outbreak of variants, so that will give me lots of stress free time to clean.  What a joy to have energy once again.

It's Not Getting Any LESS Scary Around Here!

 Apparently the ICU departments at both our local hospitals are now closed due to overcrowding with COVID19 patients.  New people coming in needing ICU treatment will now be stabilized in the ER and then transported by air or ground ambulance to either Moose Jaw or Saskatoon hospitals.  Considering the source of the report, I fully believe it.  Wow!  If the discussed total three week lockdown of Regina doesn't happen in the next few days I will be shocked!  I saw the number of new cases and presumptive cases for our city earlier this weekend and nearly had apoplexy! What the heck is going on around here????

In anticipation of such an event I am planning to haul my sorry self out of bed tomorrow morning for the 7am Seniors Shopping Hour after being able to avoid those early morning affairs for most of the last month.  I will get three weeks worth of food and supplies and then stay out of all the stores for at least that long.  If that means eventually running out of fresh produce, well, so be it. There is nothing wrong with frozen veggies, and salads I feel kind of "meh" about at the best of times anyway.

My church held their AGM after the service this morning and I was so happy it was well broadcast on Zoom, so that very few participants actually had to be in the church building. The meeting went well and all the reports from clergy and the various committee chairpersons were focused as much as possible on the positive things that have happened over the past pandemic year.

After lunch I had a glorious time outside in the windy, but very bright and sunny weather.  There are a couple of small mounds of muddy dirt on the back lawn that fell off the big cat when it filled the giant hole dug for the water main repair. I scooped most of the muck up with a long handled spade and deposited it along the side of our building where the dry soil has pulled away from the foundation, leaving a wide, gaping strip for spring rain to infiltrate our basement walls and cause more leakage at some point.  It was so nice to have a bit of clay mixture to put in there instead of using straight top soil like I usually have to do when the piles of it are delivered to the maintenance area near our car parking space in the spring.  If I am going to be living here for two more spring seasons, I want to keep whatever belongings we are still storing down in that basement dry and safe.

 My husband is racing to complete an article for the parish newsletter that is coming out in a few days.  Just what he needed, something more to do with a deadline attached, but he is managing it and is nearly done writing.

The day is tearing past so quickly!  I have only had time to watch my own church service and there are a couple of others I like to watch on Sunday afternoons. Maybe I can go and do that right now. Oh, the joy of YouTube!  YES!!

Sabbath Saturdays

 Saturday, of late, has slowly evolved into my personal Sabbath.  It has become my do NOTHING at all day each week.  A little extra time spent in prayer and bible reading to start the day, followed by watching a few tv shows about veterinarians or zoos or animal rescues, followed by sketching and colouring inane drawings that go immediately into the place they are best suited for, (the garbage), a little tinkling of the ivories, at least as much as my arthritic fingers still allow, some easy peasy meal preparation and then the day is over.  Sunday is my day for church services, morning, afternoon and evening as I Zoom or YouTube my way across western Canada taking in services of present and former congregations of mine.  By Monday morning I am feeling particularly refreshed and ready to begin another week of activities of one kind or another.

Today was a good day foodwise for me and for my mom.  I put a pot of beef stew into the oven at 9am and my husband and I had a most wonderful dinner.  There is plenty left over to enjoy for the next couple of days.  Mom also had a happy day of eating!  Last night she told me she was planning to attend the special monthly brunch at her facility and wondered if it would be omelets like last month, or an assortment of breads, muffins and jams, or a selection of soups. I asked her what she would have if she could order anything in the world from the kitchen for brunch. She replied that she would like her brunch to consist of pancakes, eggs, bacon and hashbrowns, items that have not been served for several months.  Tonight when I called her and asked about this morning's brunch menu, she told me with great delight that she had been served pancakes, eggs, bacon and hashbrowns, AND for dinner this evening she was served prime rib of beef!!  It was a day of glorious mealtime delights for my mother and she was incredibly cheery and grateful for so many treats. She was also able to sit down at a brunch table with 3 other women she knows a little bit, all with very loud voices. For once Mom could hear every word that was spoken over the meal, so was able to participate in the conversation for a change!  YAY!  A great day indeed. Thank you Lord.  We all enjoyed our bountiful meals today.

As my husband's meeting this morning dragged on and on I realized we were going to have to cancel our planned walk with friends.  As it turned out, although it was disappointing to miss the time with them, other unexpected ministry related events continued to crop up all day once the morning meeting finally came to an end.  It was just as well my husband was home all day.  

 

The weather was not quite as lovely today as it has been. The temperature barely crested at +11C and there was a very cool breeze blowing all day.  Our friends are going to phone us next week to reschedule the walk.  At the rate the number of local COVID19 cases have been diagnosed over the past 24 hours we are starting to rethink the walking with friends possibility.  

I am expecting that our city may be put into a 3 week total lockdown at some point this coming week. Just in case that does happen I am going to force myself to go once again to the 7am Seniors shopping on Monday and purchase at least 3 weeks' worth of food and household products. If the lockdown is not announced, no harm done.

Thank Goodness Lent Is Nearly Over!!!

 

Sound Familiar?

 

Where Did Today Disappear To??

 Today passed by in  a whirlwind of activity.  It was GREAT!!!!  It began with a sleep in and then I went for a very nice walk with my new friend.  We shared so many topics of conversation that before I knew it I was back at my own home and it seemed like I only left a few minutes previously instead of over an hour before.  

The weather was stellar today once the morning chilly wind stopped blowing.  We hit about +17C and even the afternoon breeze was warmer than usual, although the air doesn't yet smell like spring.  More snow is likely on the way in the next few weeks. I can still smell it hiding behind the cool morning winds.

I accidentally ate my lunch a whole hour too early today. hahahaha  I have not eaten my lunch too early even once before since my diabetes diagnosis, but today I was distracted and misread the time on the clock.  hahaha  By 4:30pm I was nearly passing out from low blood sugar and by 5pm I had finished eating dinner!  hahaha  I hope I don't do that again anytime soon.

The earlier part of the afternoon was most pleasant and fun as I sat out on the back deck for a distancing visit with a very good friend.  She make me howl with laughter every time we get together.  hahaha  It was wonderful to be sitting out there in lighter jackets and shoes instead of wool blankets and insulated socks in heavy winter boots.  One of the neighbours hollered over at us asking where out blankets were, before dissolving into gales of laughter. hahaha

Mom had another positive day today and that encourages me as well.  On her way back from her morning walk to the front desk for the daily muffin run, a group of ladies she knows asked her to join their visiting time in the common room. Mom actually DID join them and although she couldn't hear a lot of what was said, she "laughed at the same time the others laughed so I still had fun even though I didn't know what was going on."  Instead of being discouraged by her deafness today, she found it all to be a great joke.  She has begun reaching out more to the other people in the facility for the first time since Dad died.  She is excited about the special brunch in the dining room tomorrow and not only because of the new and different foods available. She is equally excited about the idea of being able to sit with people in the dining room that she has not been able to meet before.  If it is a nice day she is also planning another jaunt to the patio outside to take some fresh air under the trees.  Bless you Mom!

My husband had a good trip out of town to the funeral today.  Talk about TIMING!  He wasn't home even one hour afterward before an edict arrived from the Bishop forbidding all the priests in Regina from attending or leading any out of town services so that they are not responsible for the spread of any COVID19 variant strains.  WOW!  He finished the funeral just in time!!  

Tomorrow afternoon we are both invited to go on another walk with a couple from my church.  Hopefully the weather will hold so we can go. My husband finished his sermon this evening and is all prepped to be the tech support for a diocesan meeting in the morning.  A bit of a walk with friends after that will be just the break he needs before recording and posting his sermon online.  YAY!  With the news of a very possible 3 week lockdown here in Regina starting sometime next week, people are scrambling to see as many "Covid safe" friends and family as possible before we are once again forbidden to do so.  Our city is in sad trouble with variant cases, so a full lockdown would be understandable.

So, we are looking at a very busy and happy weekend.  My husband is relieved that he won't have to risk compromising his own or anyone else's health now that he won't be allowed to open his churches for Palm and Easter Sunday services. 

I Whistle A Happy Tune

 Today was a good day, composed of many small joys.  My husband conquored his tummy episode quite well today and battled through to complete his income tax.  I mailed our tax forms away to the CRA this afternoon....DONE and done for another year!!

The sun was so bright today.  Although there was a cold breeze blowing for most of the day, it was still a wonderful morning to get into the car and go fill the gasoline tank and get some groceries while my husband enjoyed an online Zoom meeting with colleagues.  I planned to just be in the store long enoug to pick up 2 desperately needed items and complete the "big shop" on Monday at my usual 7am shopping time. As I roamed the aisles in my neighbourhood grocery store I found every item but one that was on my Monday grocery shopping list, so I just picked everything up and now I won't have to go on Monday at all.  Yes, it cost a couple of dollars more to pick it up at the smaller neighbourhood store, but it doesn't matter.  It was worth it to avoid another 7am grocery run.

An artist friend and her husband stopped by for a couple of minutes to bring me some art cards she painted recently.  I have been out of note cards for weeks and haven't been able to find many blank greeting cards in the stores lately.  So, these lovely hand painted cards will fill the bill nicely for awhile.  It was amazing to see this couple in person as we have not seen them anywhere but at Zoom church for the past year!  We felt quite giddy after our short visit together. hahaha

We had enough leftovers in the refrigerator today that I didn't have to cook any meals!  My husband took care of his own meals today to protect his tender tummy and only ate when he absolutely had to. Tonight he is feeling so much better and tomorrow is a new day, so....here's hoping he can stop worrying about all the illness our family and friends are experiencing and just relax.  He has to participate in a funeral in the parish tomorrow afternoon. Fortunately it is taking place out of doors at his church that only has meetings in the summer months. 

My husband's age group was chosen today to be the next one able to book appointments for their first of two COVID19 vaccinations, so he is booked in for Easter Monday. My age group is supposed to start booking next week. What a relief to know it is finally happening.  Hopefully sufficient shipments of the vaccine will arrive on time here so he and others don't have to be rebooked, but at least the first injection is in process.  

 My mom was feeling great tonight when we had our nightly phone chat. She was cracking jokes all over the place....not the norm unless she is feeling really well.  She has had a couple of opportunities to sit outside and have a distanced visit with a friend. Today she went to the second session of the  St. Patrick's Day singing and highland dancing in the dining room at her facility. She had a marvellous time!  Thank you Lord that there haven't been any lockdowns recently and the weather was warm enough for her to get out of her bachelor suite for awhile each day this week.

I decided my one carb unit snack for the evening was going to be something completely different than my same old same old of one slice of bread with low fat cheese and a couple of small prunes.  Time for a break for one evening. I weighed out one carb unit of unsalted corn chips, sprinkled on 2/3 of an ounce of low fat grated mozzarella and two tablespoons of salsa, tossed the whole works into the microwave for 35 seconds and joyfully chowed down!  It will be awhile before I do that again so close to bedtime, but it surely was wonderful fun for a change.

So, lots of little joys today.  Now, if we can get my husband back on track and eliminate the tummy pains life will be completely wonderful once again.

Taxing Times!

Today was income tax day for both of us.  The first few hours went incredibly well. My husband discovered the joy of having a whole year of pretty much static monthly income and for the first time in several years had no "fancy dancing" to do to find non-refundable tax credits pulled from various and sundry sources in order to get a rebate, or at least severely reduce the amount owing.  Things were perking along very well and the end was in sight, but in the late afternoon things went a bit crazy around here with the phone and emails. Aiiii yiiiii.....

First up was a phone call from a long time friend and colleague who is in quite a mess in his job right now and was in desperate need of pastoral and personal counselling.  My husband was talking to him on his cell when he received a call waiting message from a local colleague and found out a relative of one of his parishioners just lost a grandson in a serious car accident.  He hung up on Colleague Number 1 in order to attend to the pastoral emergency, so Colleague Number 1 called our house phone to talk to me for the more personal side of the counselling.  I wasn't quite done talking to him when I got a call waiting buzz from my husband's sister.  I had to let that go momentarily because I could hear my husband still talking to Colleague Number 2.  We hung up our phones at about the same time, just as I received a series of emails from a hospitalized friend that needed to be answered right away. I attended to those while my husband contacted the bereaved family to offer pastoral care and start on the funeral arrangements.  Then we both returned the call to his sister to get her latest medical update.  It was a very frantic hour and by the time we were done, my husband couldn't concentrate any more on finishing his taxes, so we ate an  early dinner instead.  Joyfully, he was able to return to the taxes after dinner and finished them completely!!!!  This is the first time in a very long time it has not taken at least three days of intense effort to complete his tax forms.  Mine are very simple and are usually completed in about ten minutes, but he has always had a lot of details to look at and research....NOT THIS YEAR!  YAY!!  So, after his morning meeting tomorrow we will write up our good copies and get them mailed!  This is one of the few times in our lives that we have not been racing to the post office just before midnight of April 30th so that we are not late filing them.  Aiii yiiii....it's a miracle!!!  

So, today was a grand day, lots was accomplished and our various friends have sent us much positive news about their surgical recoveries.  My husband's sister's medical team completed the proton blast removal of both her brain tumours today and she is feeling well, apart from having the expected extreme exhaustion.  Hopefully not too many healthy brain cells have been effected by the treatment, but time will tell over the next few days. At the end of the month she will see the oncologist to address possible treatment options for the lung tumours.  Your prayers for her and our friends have been so welcomed.

The sun shone all day. Despite there still being a wintery coolness to the air, we did reach a lovely +8C this afternoon.  My husband and I managed to take a few minutes at lunch and dinner times to stand out on the back deck for a breath of that wonderful fresh air.  My  mom experienced lovely weather today in her city and she took her walker and went outside to the new and expansive patio area of her facility to sit in the sun and relax.  If she stays on the property she can go outside whenever she wants to and is allowed to have a friend or two there with her. She had a couple spend a few minutes with her yesterday out of doors and it was so healing and happy for her.  I pray there will soon be others who are capable of getting over to her facility for a "good old chinwag" as she calls it.

Last evening I finally got over my phone phobia long enough to make a couple of calls to friends and family I rarely get a chance to talk to.  I had the best laughs with my one cousin.  She lost her grandson a few months ago and we were able to talk about that a bit and share some good memories of him.  She is one of the people I am most excited about going to see once this stupid pandemic is under control to the point where it is safe to travel out of province again.  

Our city is discussing the possibility of enforcing a 3 week complete lockdown very soon.  Right now our city has 90% of the active coronavirus variants in the province and we have more than twice the total cases of anywhere in the province, including the larger Saskatoon. That is incredibly frightening.  I can only hope if the lockdown is going to happen it will happen in the next few days so that it will be lifted in time for us to get to Alberta to see our struggling family members.

Well, I want to go and write a couple of more emails to struggling friends before I go to bed.  I hope you all had a wonderful day today and that your weather was as fabulous as ours was.

Quick Medical Prayer Request Update

 Just got an email from ChrissyMac.  Her surgery yesterday went well.  As a result, her potassium and sodium levels have come up into low normal range for the first time in months without massive supplements....no supplements at all for the past 36 hours.  Incredible!  She may be able to go home by the end of the week.  Thank you prayer warriors for adding my friends to your prayers. 

I For One Don’t Gotta Wonder Where The Birdies Is!

 Remember that old rhyme we said as kids?  Well, some of us did.  It went like this:

 

Spring is sprung.

The grass is riz.

I wonder where the birdies is!

I don't have to wonder at all where the darned birds are this year. They are all over the front and back lawn today, crazy geese.  Abraham and Sarah lead the pack as usual this year, arriving the last week of February, but unfortunately Uncle Harry has not returned with them.  That is so sad.  Poor Uncle Harry. We will and will not miss his constant honking and racing about each time he loses sight of Abraham and Sarah. The poor bird must have lost his mate a number of years ago and I suspect the poor thing gradually lost his mind.  I am hoping today's influx of geese means they are heading en masse to the northern sanctuaries. That is generally the case when thousands arrive before all the snow is gone and the lake is not completely thawed. They will be gone in a day or two.  (BTW, anthropomorphizing the birds by giving them names has certainly assisted us in coping with the mess they make here every year.)

I received a call last night from Brownie's husband.  He picked her up and brought her home not long after her surgery.  She is recovering at home and I pray she can make it through the first three or four days when the pain and general misery will be the worst.  Her house is filled with flowers from her family and extended family so at least her surroundings will be cheery and beautiful.  No word yet regarding ChrisMac.  

 We are trying, TRYING, to work on income tax this morning.  My husband is in the middle of yet another phone call in regard to an "interesting" and frustrating parish situation while trying to calculate how much we are going to end up paying the CRA this year due to MY mix up over RSP contributions that should have been made but weren't. Sigh.....  This has not been the best 12 months as far as my brain's ability to think clearly, that is for sure.  Good grief, I have done some dumb things, particularly since I became ill after my dad died last June.  My head has only unfogged itself quite recently and I am looking in horror at a trail of mistakes I have made with finances and other business in the past few months.  Oh well, these things too will be sorted out in a few days.

The sun is shining, it is above zero and wind is only a slight breeze. I have a date with a friend for a long walk on Friday afternoon, Lord willing and the weather occurs as forecast.  Our mayor and the provincial premier are considering putting our city under a total lockdown for a couple of weeks due to the rising case load of coronavirus variants here in the city. Yesterday we accounted for 68% of the entire province's new caseload.  TERRIFYING!!!  My husband and I are praying that if a lockdown is coming it will come sooner rather than later so that we are able to see the numbers coming down and hie away to Alberta to distance visit with my husband's sister and my mom before their health conditions deteriorate any more than they have to date.  This limbo land is incredibly difficult to deal with, so please people, make the decision, puleeeease!

So........

 ....after a full week of procrastinating over household chores of various kinds I DID do the laundry and ironing today, and I went for a walk to the post office and grocery store.  FINALLY!  After some other projects took up my time this evening, I washed all the dinner dishes at 11:30pm.

Today (now yesterday as the clock just turned up 12:13am) it was like all the energy that has been studiously avoiding me decided to return in all its fullness.  WONDERFUL!  What a relief. I was starting to worry about myself.

My husband is exhausted, but managed to accomplish quite a lot on preparing his curriculum for his course on the theology of God. He only has a month to complete it before he presents it to the diocesan theology school.  He is going to have to face income tax preparation as well in the next couple of days. Tomorrow he has his usual weekly meeting with his liturgical scriptures group and that always edifies him for the rest of the week. He should also be in the age category tomorrow that qualifies him to book his first COVID19 vaccination.  I can only pray it won't be booked for Easter Sunday....not the time for a minister to have to miss his church service!

I made the decision after my Sunday morning class that I am not going to attend the rest of the series that I have been attending since the new year.  I have been uncomfortable in the class since the start and haven't been completely sure why until this week.  One reason I stopped attending most of my previous Bible studies is that there was so little time spent on content and far too much time (for me anyway) in opening up discussion for one and all to express their own opinions as to what a particular passage or chapter of scripture means.  I think it has been very helpful discussion for those participating who have very little opportunity to share their thoughts with others and hear other peoples' opinions, but it is too easy to share opinions that are not based on much theological knowledge/training/study.  While there is a place for this kind of bible "study", it isn't where I fit.  I am looking for a more academic teaching approach and this class isn't it. I feel much more peaceful having made the decision.

I am finding all meetings on Zoom to be the worst kind of tantalizing reminder of what I am missing out on socially....there are the faces of my various family and friends but we can't visit properly, we can't get together in person to have real bonding times. Right now I am finding Zoom to be more of a reminder of what cannot be than very helpful in maintaining the bonds of friendship. 

Today's walk out of doors was wonderful. The wind was chilly and the sun wasn't shining, BUT joy of joys, the snow and ice that have graced the sidewalks for the past few months have completely melted off and I was able to wear my SHOES instead of winter boots!  What freedom!!  I still had to wear gloves and my usual winter coat because of the wind, but it is nice to know the coat free days are also on the way.  No doubt we will have a few spring snowstorms between now and the middle of April, but that is okay.  The general trend is toward warmer spring weather....even though tomorrow we are only expecting a high temperature of 0C (!!)  before another warming trend begins.

I have two friends experiencing surgery today.  I am praying for healing and successful operations for ChrissyMac having an ostomy procedure and Brownie having painful gall stones removed.  Penelope is recovering well from a second joint replacement surgery and my husband's sister had a successful second treatment for her cancer today.  My son is taking solid steps to bring his cholesterol and blood pressure down to normal, taking his doctor's advice very seriously. Mom is hanging in admirably and is busy with various daily tasks that she can still accomplish on her own. My husband hasn't had a tummy episode for 48 hours and so I am hopeful he is on the mend once again.  I feel great, apart from the incredible laziness I caved into for the past week.

Hope all is well with you and yours today.

Favourites Of The Week!