Desperation Pandemic Fun!

 The short clip below shows you how desperate we are for entertainment around here during the pandemic, as it drags on and on.....hahahaha.  My friend Kat gets the biggest bang out of me "talking" to one of the geese that consistently freaks out when I do that.  He is hilarious. I gurgle at him and he lifts his head and waggles his neck.  This little clip will give you the idea.  The rest of the geese ignore my foolishness, but this one fellow gets himself rather worked up! hahaha
 

 https://youtu.be/zwS5r1FzzUg

Busy At Not Much!

 It has been a busy couple of days, for which I am most grateful!  Yesterday we enjoyed church online very much.  My husband was off work yesterday so didn't have to do a service in the evening, so he spent the afternoon updating the PowerPoint presentation for the class he is teaching tonight on The Theology of God Part 2:  if there is a God why does he allow suffering?  What or who is the devil and does he actually exist?  Is there a hell and if there is why would a loving God send people there?  

You know, the easy stuff! LOL!

Yesterday afternoon we walked downtown to pick up some books my husband had on reserve at the library.  They have a slick curbside pickup arrangement, all very hygienic and efficient.  It was a beautiful day for a walk and the bonus for my husband was the discovery of an ice cream vendor on the way home: the Chuckwagon on Hamilton.  Of course he had to stop long enough to enjoy indulging in a mile high maple walnut iced cream cone! hahaha  He was SO delighted to discover the place.  The old house it is in was a Japanese restaurant years ago when we first started driving into Regina, over 4 hours away  from our first parish, for various Diocesan meetings over ten years ago.  The old place has undergone a number of transformations as it moved from business to business....at one time I think it was a massage parlor!!  haha  My husband figures it has found its niche in the community now!  It is closer to home than the Milky Way and Dessarts. hahaha  It will now be HIS iced cream parlor of favour!

This morning I was really busy!  I had to drive to a bank to deposit a cheque and then it was off to go into MANY, MANY womens' clothing stores looking for the kind of polyester summer blouses and pants my mother wears....aiiiii yiiiii...what an education!  I knew that the Alia/Tanjay/Nygard stores had closed, but what I hadn't thought about, stupidly, is WHY they had closed.  They closed because the entire business, factories and all, were sold off and those products are no longer being manufactured!  No more wrinkle-free polyester, collared, button front pastel blouses or wrinkle-free elastic waist polyester pants for my mom!!  Disaster!!!!!  My mom can't take care of cotton and linen clothing any more.  What on earth am I going to find for her to wear????  I am most upset. I spent over two hours this afternoon researching possibilities and coming up empty-handed.  Apparently Penmans makes her elastic waist pants still, but I could only find them at WalMart online and they were sold out. Then I discovered they don't carry her teeny tiny size anyway. Sigh.... 

My mother had the weekend from hell when she had a bad allergic reaction to a new medication and then had to spend today juggling sorting that out with her doctor over the phone, ordering a taxi at the last minute and racing to her eye injection appointment. Thank the Lord the doctor called before she had to cancel the eye injection. She spent the afternoon with a patch over her eye, lying on the bed waiting to go to the dining room for dinner, our nightly chat and an early bedtime to keep her sore eye happy. Tomorrow it will be fine again, but tonight she can't read or watch tv or use her eyes at all.  Fortunately this only happens once a month, each eye is injected on alternate months.  At age 93 she handled all the calls to the pharmacist on the weekend, juggled doctors and taxis this morning and has some telephone banking she has to accomplish tomorrow morning.  She is very stressed by all these "must do's", but she is doing them and doing them well.  Amazing!  On the one hand it is so hard not being with her to help her, on the other hand it is my privilege to see her still able to care for herself so much of the time at her age!  She is incredible!

Tomorrow afternoon and the following morning I will make my last ditch efforts to track down the kind of clothes she wants and needs before I give up in disgust. There are still a few places I can go to in my search here in the city.

 

I am grateful I was able to go for the walk with  my husband to the library yesterday.  Tomorrow morning I have an early morning walk around the lake with a friend and the route we are taking first, just to meet up with each other, adds a lot of extra "mileage" to my journey.  I am not in good shape yet for long walks and my leg hardware is complaining bitterly about new shoes and longer distances than my hour of figure eights around the living room after dinner every evening.  

Tomorrow morning will be the perfect time for a walk.  By afternoon the temperatures will be heating up for the rest of the week; in fact we are scheduled to be at +35 on Thursday. Yikes!  

Hours of Painting!

 I am looking forward to getting photos from the actual art show in a couple of weeks, but am glad our son sent us some photos.  There is so much math involved in his work.  They are meditation pieces that take some time to absorb all the patterns and shapes and colours, which I particularly enjoy.  Often people ask me if he was not my son, would I be as jazzed about his work and the answer is a resounding yes.  This is the sort of art I have always enjoyed: paintings that have to be looked at for a long time to grasp all I can of them.

Eli Bornowsky 2021

Eli Bornowsky 2021

Eli Bornowsky 2021

Eli Bornowsky 2021

Eli Bornowsky 2021

Eli Bornowsky 2021

He is enjoying his art even more now that he is using egg tempura paint that he makes and colours himself. It is very time consuming but definitely worth it.  He learned a lot more about the process when he took the icon painting class a couple of years ago.  I couldn't be an artist. I have not the patience for it!  Congrats to him on his dedication to the process as well as to the creative outcome.

...With Slithers of Gold Or Glory in Grey....

 Yesterday was Trinity Sunday and although we didn't sing my favourite Anglican Trinity Sunday morning song, I did think of it with fondness.

Here are the lyrics to the first verse:

Today I awake and God is before me.

At night, as I dreamt, he summoned the day;

For God never sleeps, but patterns the morning

with slithers of gold or glory in grey.

I really like this song, but that expression "slithers of gold or glory in grey" really kind of annoyed me because I was stumped to imagine what slithers of gold or glory in grey would actually look like. What the heck is a "slither" anyway???  My friend Nan told me years ago that when she sings that line she gets goosebumps, it is so meaningful to her and I admit that I have been somewhat jealous of that.  Then, yesterday morning our son sent us a photo of one of the paintings going into his art show in June...and there were my slithers of gold AND some in grey!! Now I get it!!

Painting and photo by Eli Bornowsky 2021

 

If you are interested in hearing the whole song, here is a video for your enjoyment. It is a very nice song!

Sung by Heather Jordan at St. George's-in-the-Pines Anglican Church, Banff Alberta.  Just lovely....thank you Ms. Jordan.
 

For All of You Younger Friends Going Through "The Change"........

 ....this one's for ya'll!

Another Day and a Half Would Have Been Nice......

 My husband texted me last evening to say he will be home this afternoon.  Sigh......to be totally honest I could have used the rest of today and all day tomorrow on my own.  The relaxation didn't hit me until yesterday, when it hit me like a ton of bricks, leaving me exhausted, but not in a bad way.  Today I am just as tired and wishing I could just put my jams back on and curl up under a blanket until later this afternoon.  However, that is how it goes.  I am still completely grateful to have had even this short time alone to deal with my own thoughts and let the other stresses go.  Thank you Lord.  I needed this.  Plus, my husband's texts, brief as they always are, let me know he is having a wonderful time with his buddies out in the country.  YAY!

Despite being so tired yesterday I enjoyed the somewhat chilly and windy walk over to a friend's house for a long visit. We sat and watched the yellow finches at her birdfeeder and it was like a miracle for me to finally see a bird that is NOT a sparrow or a raven or a goose!  Even the sparrows are rare at our property and the robins have been non-existent thus far over here.  Along the route I saw many robins and sparrows, a few starlings, the geese everywhere of course and then the exquisite wee finches.  O my it was a lovely afternoon.   

It was a bit warmer on the way home, but the wind had completely destroyed my carefully coiffed hairdo by then. Will I never learn not to bother with styling my hair when I know I am going to be going for a walk? Duh.....

Last night Kat came to visit and was brimming with good news.  She received a wonderful phone call from a boss that encouraged her so much about her work ethic but, even more exciting, her constant joy was duly noted and very much appreciated.  Kat shines with the joy of the Lord ALL the time!  It has never stopped amazing me as I have watched her battle through her health and other issues for the past few years. What an amazing friend to have.  The joy never stops even in the worst of times and I always come away from our visits smiling.  Her trust in the Lord is steadfast and unwavering. I have been so bolstered in my own faith because of her influence.  Each friend I have brings a particular element to my life that I seem to need to have and in that I am blessed beyond measure.  I feel unworthy of every one of them, but am so grateful they are willing to be friends with me.

This morning I was able to eat breakfast at a decently early time to get dressed and over to my local grocery store just after it opened.  I took a cloth bag and packed it with the few things I needed to buy to be ready for my husband when he gets home.  I left him the last cup of saffron rice, dal fry and the curry sauces from my 3 days of Indian food feasting. He loves straight rice with a few veggies and left over curry sauces from the meat dishes!  hahaha  My goodness this order was easily stretched over the three days of his absence.  The nice thing about diabetes for me is that I can eat small amounts of very tasty foods and stay pretty close to my carb limit each day, feel satisfied because the food is so good I don't need huge plates full of it so it helps to make take out Indian food last a LONG time!  

I got a wonderful break this morning from what I thought would be my late morning task of scooping up the last day's worth of goose poo from the back lawn so that my husband can unload his camp gear when he gets back.  The yard maintenance crew showed up with a bobcat to move the pile of excess sand around the hole in the lawn left from the water main break in the winter and to tamp down the pile of dirt and gravel and sand that are filling the hole. In the process the bobcat bucket scooped up most of the poop and some of it drove away stuck on the bobcat tires. hahahaha  WOW, that is BOTH poop scoop chores done FOR me this week. God is good! hahahahaha

My friend gave me a brand new pair of house pajamas yesterday. She had purchased them for herself and when she got them home from the store she realized they did not fit her.  Lucky me, they fit me perfectly.  Tomorrow I plan to put them on for the entire day and relax indoors!  What a nice surprise!

Yesterday I phoned my husband's sister to see how she is doing.  She is a bit wobbly from the meds, but we had a good conversation and she gave me some interesting news from her oncologist.  She was to have started chemo treatment last week, but her seizure and subsequent hospitalization bumped it forward.  She had another lung scan the other day and the oncologist phoned to tell her some amazing news: the lung tumours, despite not having had any treatment, have actually shrunk!!  The oncologist has no idea why or what it means, but one thing it does mean is that the chemo can wait a bit longer!  It was rather shocking news for everyone, including the oncologist.  So, I am even more encouraged to pray and to ask God to do something wonderful for my husband's sister and her husband, to build their faith even more and to protect them from any more new disasters for awhile. Thank you Lord for this most interesting news and I ask that it bodes well for her future.

Well, I am even more tired after my early morning walk so I am going to have a nap!  My sleep times at night have been good the past two nights, but not long enough and I can't seem to get back to sleep after 6am no matter what time I went to bed the night before.  Aaaaaah.....a nap on my last half day alone....yes!! 

Full Rebellion Mode! Tee Hee

 I had to go to the bank the other day and while I was there I took out a bit of cash. Yes, you read that correctly.  Cash.  CASH!!!!  You remember cash?  The paper currency we were still able to use prior to the outbreak of the current pandemic, the currency that now most store clerks are either too afraid to touch or are forbidden by their managers to touch, resulting in all our transactions during the past more than a year to be by credit card and bank card?  Remember good old cash??

Well, I was feeling at the peak of my pandemic rebellion this week and so I tucked my credit and ATM cards into the back of my wallet and have used cash for every transaction I have had all week!!  I have to admit that while it felt rather strange not to have to rush home with a wallet full of credit card and ATM receipts to either pay online and/or file away until month's end, it was also an unexpected feeling of freedom!  Strange but true! Not having to record receipts in my files, nor go online to make a payment, nor update my bank records....just pay in cash, walk home and never think about the purchase or price again....incredibly freeing!  

Once the restrictions are fully lifted and we can go about transacting our business exchanges and purchases any way we want to again, I think I will be making more use of this cash business.  One stop, one payment and the transaction is over and done with. Yeah....I remember now that it used to be like this a lot for me since I usually preferred using cash in times past.  Wow, I may actually be able to return to cash transactions more often in the coming months.

Of such small joys is my life made up these days.  Another joy today was receiving our SGI one time rebate cheque in the mail today....twice as much as I was expecting, so BONUS!!!  I am saving money like crazy to help us get to Alberta as soon as it is safe so we can check on all the relatives there. Maybe, just maybe, by then there will sufficient lifting of the provincial COVID19 restrictions in both provinces that we can even have a couple of short visits with friends?  Something to look forward to anyway. YAY! 

All Snugged Up!

 I am embarrassed to admit that last night I slept very little because I was so stoked about how I wanted to spend my two and a half days on my own that I couldn't shut my mind off long enough to relax and doze out for more than an hour at a time here and there throughout the night. hahahahaha  As if there are any choices at present with the pandemic still raging away here and my not having our vehicle to go anywhere interesting anyway.  Aiiii yiiiii...how crazy am I, right? hahaha

I was very excited this morning when a text message arrived from my husband.  He had managed to maneuver his phone into a location where it could pick up intermittent signals, but his message was to me a typical "Husband On Retreat Message":  "I am fine. Hope you are okay too. 'Bye." hahahaha  

Guess I will have to wait until he returns home to find out how well he managed sleeping overnight in below zero weather in his tent.  He certainly took enough gear to be warm in likely -40C actually.  The storage space in our vehicle was so crammed with his extra sleeping gear and camping equipment, extra food and water for his special diet etc., that I have no idea how he managed to cram in all the gear from THREE other fellows!!  They had to take their own drinking water, so part of the packing involved wedging in an 18 litre water jug. I am imagining that the two fellows in the back seat had some sleeping bags and totes jammed in between them.  Fortunately it is quite a short drive to the cabin.  

Mom is presently at a diagnostic clinic to have tests on one of her feet that suddenly became swollen over the weekend.  Her doctor is very worried that it may be blood clots, so she was taken on an emergency basis.  Imagine the worry and guilt I feel for not being there to take her to the clinic yesterday afternoon when her doctor wanted her to go for tests. Sigh.....there was no way she could get a taxi ordered and get there before the clinic would be closed and since both of her formerly dependable drivers have now developed severe health issues of their own and are not driving at all, she is completely dependent on taxis for transportation to medical appointments.  My mom is half way to being 94 years old and I am not anywhere near her to help her with what will likely be a growing list of medical appointments as her medical issues continue to grow in number and severity.  I truly despise this situation.  I want so badly to help her as an only daughter should.  Between the geographical distance and the pandemic restrictions I have not been able to see her in over seven months and that upset me, but there is no point in being upset because right now it is out of my hands....so I don't need any lectures on how I should not feel guilty, because I already know that.  Thanks everyone! 😁

Anyway, on a happier and less frustrating note, although it is chilly outside today, the sun is finally shining and there are only a few clouds in the sky after several days of teeming rains and below zero overnight temperatures.  I went for a short walk this morning to mail a letter and it was marvellous to be outside.  Next week I am going for a decent walk, hopefully, with a friend from church.  We are planning our route in advance with some options to break away in other directions, should our intial route be too crowded with people.  

I am very proud of a young friend today: he is 18  years old and has the same phobia about getting injections that I do, but today he is proudly and determinedly receiving his first COVID19 vaccination!  He wants to do the right thing for the safety of himself, his family and friends and he has quite a procedure in place to calm his nerves and protect his arm from pain, but he is doing it!  He has to drive an hour out of town to receive it as quickly as possible.   Wow, he is awesome.  Congrats my friend!!

 My son is at his studio today stewing about what sorts of frames to choose/create for his new paintings for his June 11 show.  He will make good choices I am sure.  The postponement by a week for the opening has taken all the pressure off about being ready in time.   Excited for him.

This afternoon I am going to settle down and do some housechores...ironing to be exact.  I have very few pieces of my own from the last laundry I did, but yesterday morning my husband finally located his bin of summer teeshirts and wow, they do need some Extreme Pressing before they are hung in the closet for the season.  That will get me on my feet for a good long time after lunch.

 Speaking of lunch, I have some Indian food to enjoy of course. In fact, in honour of my time alone to do whatever I want, I had a small plate of Indian food for breakfast! hahahaha  I am sure all the salt is not doing my kidneys any favours, but I am drinking lots of water during and after my meals, so hopefully I can get away with it for a couple of days. I am so very careful the rest of the time.  It is DELISH!!

Today our property management yard crew are mowing the lawn around my building. YAY!  It means one less day of having to goose-poop scoop my way out to the parking lot since the mowing machines will pick up most of it. YAY!!  Now I will be able to wait to scoop again until late Friday morning just before my husband arrives home and has to unload all of the aforementioned camping gear! YAY!

 

 

 

Looking Toward the Future!

 My husband is in his regular weekly Zoom meeting at the moment, but we were both awake quite early today so had a chance for a good chat before he had to put the computer on.

Yup, the move out of here is definitely coming next spring!  We are only now signing the lease for our final year in this housing complex, but already we have begun the discussions like the one we had this morning: where are we to go?  What are we to do?  What items in our household do we strive to keep and what items can we be fairly certain it is safe to get rid of?  Is it time to get rid of all the mountain climbing equipment now?  What about all the family heirlooms that never see the outside of the large steamer trunks they are stored in and that have been sitting untouched in our basement for the past few years?  What about boxes and bags and albums of family and other photos that we will not have time to scan and file before the next move?  Are they relevant to our lives now or can we just get rid of them because at our age they no longer matter (we have already given copies to our son in case the family history ever matters to him later in life)?  What about all my wonderful pottery dishes that even post-pandemic I will rarely use for the few people we will be having in for meals?  What about the hundreds, approaching thousands, of books?  How many do we keep and how many of them are available online or in the reference sections of larger libraries?  Do we stay in this city or do we leave for an even less expensive area of the country?  If we leave here will we be able to set up again all the medical doctors and specialists I need in a new place?  Is there anywhere we have lived in the past that we would like to return to? (A resounding NO is our response to that one!) In the next year my mother may well have departed this earth and if that is the case it leaves every door open for us in terms of where we could live if we leave this fair city.  As we suspected over a year ago when we made the decision at that point to remain here, our much older friends are falling by the wayside now due to health issues and the social and church groups we were involved with prior to the pandemic are starting to crumble for a variety of reasons.  Huge changes have happened in our social and church circumstances that are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic normal and those things will effect our decisions as well.

I am always so grateful that the Lord gets my husband and I thinking and planning so far in advance of every move we have made in our lives. He knows we need that much preparation time, bless him.  While on one hand the idea of having to finally go through every scrap we own and make major decisions about what to do with each one is daunting, there is also the seed of adventure beginning to germinate in our hearts and minds. 

What next indeed? 

Hmmmmm.....there are still interesting possibilities even at our age it seems.......

"Feminine Wiles"

 Yup, there's a phrase from a few decades ago that would be considered sexist in our day and age and would raise the hackles of many a modern woman! hahaha

However, I was able to use a few of those aforementioned politically incorrect wiles this very day! teehee

My husband is leaving soon for 3 days of respectfully distanced retreat with three other colleagues at a somewhat remote cabin.  He desperately needs this chance for some more or less face to face fellowship, of which he has had absolutely none since before Christmas last year. I am the one who has had the outdoor visits over the past five months, not him.  The past week we have both been submerged in a morass of swirling blackness as our family members have become more ill, more of them have become ill and hope for some of them as far as long term recovery is rather scant these days.  This is my husband's chance to get away, to pray, meditate, converse, laugh, enjoy the outdoors and be with REAL LIVE PEOPLE!

I know he has been feeling guilty about having this chance to get away when I am not getting the same opportunity, so today I came up with something I can do to make him feel less guilty.  I smiled at him sweetly this evening,  batted my nearly non-existent eyelashes in his direction, (youthful experiments with cigarette lighters and eyelashes do not bode well for the eyelashes...sigh), and told him I would be SO much  happier if I too could have a treat.....and that I knew just the very one I wanted!  INDIAN FOOD!!!  Not having to cook while he is away would be a marvellous treat for me....almost as good as going away and being waited on hand and foot by a hotel restaurant staff!

So, tomorrow at 11:30am he is going to order my special treat for me from my favourite Indian restaurant and we will share one meal of it together before he leaves. Then I will have two more glorious days of non-cooking to enjoy before he returns home. YES!!!!  I always feel more inspired to cook interesting meals here at home after gorging on excellent Indian food, so he may be in for some culinary treats when he gets back.  

I have arranged a visit with a friend for one of the afternoons he is away, so that is something nice to look forward to.  It isn't supposed to be raining that day.  On the rainier days I will be quite content to stay home and do some housework, laze around afterward watching tv and reading books.  Aaaah, I am going to be getting a break of my own, just in a different way.

The desperately needed rain has been teeming down for the past couple of days and once it is over toward the end of this week it looks as if the temperatures will begin to rise to more normal levels for this time of year. That will be so good for the farmers if they can get warm sunshine on the newly seeded and watered crops.  Here's hoping for them.......

Day By Day.....

 That is how we have to live my husband’s sister’s life with her these days. This afternoon her husband was able to help her call us on her cell phone. Most of her speech abilities have returned and she only struggled twice to find the right words. She sounded tired of course, but her voice was strong and when I nervously made a small joke she laughed with me instead of being unsure of how to react. My husband has seen an increase in his flagging energy since she phoned. Thank you Lord! 

Medical Update

 Just got a mid afternoon call from my husband's brother in law.  My husband's sister has been diagnosed as having had a seizure, so she is on anti-seizure meds and will be having more scans early next week.  These hospital trips seem to happen on the Friday of a long weekend more often than not and that is pretty confusing as the regular doctors and nursing staff seem to be off sometimes on these sorts of weekends, replaced by interns and nursing students etc.  This weekend though, there is an older, experienced doctor in charge of her case and he was very helpful.  Her husband ended up going to see her in the hospital at 3am today and got home 11 hours later.  He is having a sleep now.

Sadly, my husband's sister has lost a lot of ground with her cognition once again.  They will know by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week how much of her abilities she will recover. Although she is a tiny bit better today than when she was admitted yesterday, she may or may not regain her ability to recall the correct words when speaking, the ability to do at least some reading, to use her phone etc.  Today she is struggling to feed herself, although her appetite is healthy.  There may be many decisions that have to be made about her care at some point next week.  The doctor is talking about releasing her next week sometime if she is sufficiently capable of leaving the hospital, but will she be able to go home?  Sigh.....praying so hard for her husband as he has so many decisions he will have to make if her recovery isn't approaching remarkable.   Aaaaah, this is a horrible time for him, for her and for the rest of us looking on from a distance.  Prayer, prayer, prayer......

We Are Family

 It is another cold and rainy day today.  The moisture is very welcome and I am most grateful that our part of the city did not receive the intense ice storm yesterday that the eastern side of the province suffered, but o wow, the constant wintery grey sky is quite uninspiring!  We were supposed to attend an online gathering this morning that we both completely missed out on because we were distracted by other things and weren't keeping track of the time.  What is most maddening is that we didn't forget about the meeting, we missed it by not being focused!  Duh!!

Anyway, my husband has sorted and foldered all manner of old family photos and I am getting quite a few laughs looking at them.  Here are a couple I particularly like:

My father and his parents, my grandparents in about 1931.

And this is me with those same grandparents in 1955.

My same most beloved grandpa a couple of years before he passed away in the 1970's.

My mom and two of her five sisters on the farm in SK in 1929.

My mom as a young woman.

Me and Mom with her parents in 1968.

Riding the sand dunes in Oregon in 1992 on a trip with my parents.

My son and husband with my parents at their 50th wedding anniversary.

My husband in 1972, the year we met.

Aaand that's all folks! hahaha  Lots of memories for me here.

Is It Wrong To Ask God to Step In And Relieve People Of Their Suffering?

 That is a rhetorical question, so no need to offer theological opinions in the comments section. Thanks.

Tonight we got a call from my husband's brother in law.  His sister was once again rushed to hospital late this afternoon with more symptoms of brain swelling, very similar to what she experienced when she was first diagnosed with brain cancer.  She was weaned very slowly off the steroids that control swelling, after her proton radiation treatment killed off both the tumours temporarily, but this afternoon she woke up from a nap not knowing where she was, who she was, who her husband was.....so the ambulance and fire truck were once again dispatched to calm her down and take her to the hospital.  She tried to fight them off as she was determined she was not going back there.

Sigh....

So, is it the lack of steroids again?  Have the tumours regrown this quickly?  Her initial bloodwork shows signs of another infection of some kind....sigh....

Her husband is beside himself. He is worn out from caring for her at home.  We finally got the story of their lives tonight from his point of view.  He is watching his wife suffering all the time and he has been caregiving full time for the past four months as her various conditions continue to worsen.  Fortunately his son is going to go over to sit with his dad tonight.

Tomorrow we hope he will have some news for us about what is going on this time.  It is emotionally so difficult for us knowing what both of them are going through every day and now there is even more heartache for them to face.

We are all very grateful that  I felt led to text my husband's sister yesterday. She has not been capable of writing and reading emails, but I wanted to send some love via a two sentence text.  She phoned that afternoon and sounded so very well, she had a wonderful conversation with us and told us that the text had convinced her to get off her butt and start contacting the family and friends who love her after she had been sitting around depressed for a couple of weeks. Thank the Lord my husband had the lovely chat with her before this latest debacle occurred.

Thank you for your prayers for these dear relatives and for my husband as he tries to cope with the idea of losing his only sibling.  Bless you.

The Week Is Flying By!

 Where has the time gone this week?  It isn't like I have done much of interest, but nevertheless it is Friday afternoon once again....wow!  

Wednesday is a complete blank at the moment....I cannot remember one single thing about the day, so guess nothing of interest happened. hahaha  Not that much of interest happens at all on any day, but why the heck am I so vacant headed about Wednesday.  Oh, wait.......I do remember getting a phone call from a friend from out of town that was interesting. That was nice.  

Yesterday morning my husband and I had a few errands to run in the morning.  We got a late start and as a result completely missed the online senior's luncheon for my church, but we did get a lot of "necessary" completed and that is always a good thing.  In the afternoon I had a visit with a good friend from church. Although she is MUCH older than I am, like 15 years, she doesn't consider herself to be at a point in life where she has to attend senior's luncheons. hahahaha  We had many laughs together and I really enjoyed that. In between giggles we had some wonderful heart to heart sharing about God's involvement in our lives past and present that certainly was encouraging.

Last night we couldn't seem to get ourselves to fall asleep, so the lights went out for the night just after 1am.  My husband spent the afternoon and evening getting thousands of our family photos organized and into computer files.  What a task!  However, he just completed the project a few minutes ago after another half day of work on it and now I can start going through what is there and deleting a few things we don't need to keep, duplicates that the duplicate remover didn't remove for a variety of reasons, etc.  That will be my home project either this weekend or next week while my husband is away for a few days.  Should be a lot of fun.

Today we are both just zonked from lack of sleep, so we have been staggering around the suite like a couple of hungover sots. hahaha  I have done the laundry now and everything is folded and put away. The few cold water wash clothing items that are hanging on the bathroom shower curtain rod to dry will be ready for ironing tomorrow and then I think I am going to get a jump start on the vacuuming and dusting again.  We had the windows open a lot at the start of the week so there is more dust built up sooner than normal.

Aaaaah, yes, the start of the week....when we had a few days of +32C to enjoy and could open and close the windows in sequence to keep the suite relatively cool.  Aaaah yes, the carrot of spring warmth before our noses right before the +10C daytime highs and the -2C nighttime lows sent us scampering for plastic sheets and towels with which to cover the tomato and herb plants before we went to bed at night!  Two more nights of that before it is safe to leave the plants uncovered overnight again. There will be more rain next week, but at least the temperatures will be a few degrees higher by then.

Sad news for Cee: (like does he need any more of that???)  His mother passed away early this morning from COVID19.  She went into the hospital a couple of days ago but his own health is so compromised that he was not able to go to visit her there.  Fortunately another family member was able to spend time at her bedside, but it isn't a great situation not to be able to see parents before they pass.  I remember with my dad.....  So, Cee is grieving and of course there is always much to do when a parent dies, all manner of legalities that are not able to be left for after the grieving process is complete.  Sigh.....

All other news is good from family and friends...at least for the most part.  Mom is hanging in and will make an appointment next week with the audiologist who came to her building last week on an annual hearing aid check up visit for the residents.  I have no earthly idea if she is able to get any better help with her hearing aids or not, but she has to at least try as she has had her current aids for too many years and they aren't working much at all any more.  I don't care what she has to pay for new aids if there is even a small chance they will improve her hearing. Not being able to hear doctors and bankers and pharmacists on the phone is starting to create problems for her as she often cannot hear all the instructions they give to her.

Our son is delighted that his art show has been postponed for a week, opening now on June 11th.  The new gallery he is showing in will be completely renovated by then, all the finishing touches completed, so such a thing is worth waiting an extra week for!

So a weekend of ironing and more online church services....oh how I am living for the day of our second vaccinations when we can feel at least a little bit freer to go about our lives.

An All Over The Place Kind of Morning!

 Lots of little things happening this morning:  My husband slept in until 10:30am, so obviously he needed a decent catch up from his 5am awakening yesterday.  I filled the time having my breakfast and preparing a birthday gift for the neighbour girl's birthday party this weekend.  

After my husband ate his very late breakfast we drove across the city to our friend's house to pick up the tomato plant she starts for us each spring. It is looking healthy and happy, blossoming already.  We will have to keep it in its big plastic sleeve and put a blanket over it on Thursday night as the temperature is to drop to -2C with freezing rain overnight.  So grateful for the old blankets we have to drop over that plant and the three pots of herbs that wintered over surprisingly well in our basement.

The lawn maintenance crew was here this morning putting fertilizer and weed killer on the lawns and they will do Part Two of the project tomorrow, so we can't walk on the grass for a couple of days.  At least with our car parked on the street instead of in the parking lot, we can follow the sidewalk to access the vehicle instead of having to cross the grass to our usual parking space.

Speaking of the parking lot, the fellows are a bunch of busy bees out there today:

 

Throughout the morning we have been texting with a former parishioner.  How can you tell we used to minister in a rural parish?  You can tell when a former parishioner texts to ask for your prayer requests so she can pray for them while she is sitting in the tractor completing the seeding of her crop! COOL!

I put on my favourite "for the worst heat of the summer only" sun dress today.  With the temperature well on the way to +32C and the bit of heat stroke I experienced yesterday from being over dressed for the temperature in this suite, I decided today was the best day to break this pretty litte tent dress out of its closet and wear it with joy.

 

In between texting and driving around and working with the plant pots on the deck, it was fun watching the geese racing along behind our building, trying to get away from the scary, loud machines in the parking lot where they normally enjoy having a sit down and a rest! hahaha

 

 

Well goosies, despite the inconvenience and noise in the lot today, you have to admit things are still better for you than they were when you showed up in early April before the snow was melted, right??

So now it is time for lunch and perhaps I will have a lunch that is as much of a dog's breakfast as my morning has been...perhaps nachos??

Gittin' 'Er Done!

 Behind our place tonight there is a 50 foot square of parking lot cordoned off so that no one drives or falls into that part of it.  Today the paving crew pulled off the old pavement and dug up all the sand the water main repair crew was forced to pack around the new pipes back in March, as the settling sand is what has caused the sinkholes out there.  however, the repair crew had no choice. They were trying to replace the water pipes in -35C weather and due to the brittle pipes that could crack from the pressure and/or the sharp edges of the rocks in that kind of cold, packing gravel around them was not an option.  What a huge job this has all turned into.  There were 8 workers onsite today driving trucks and machinery, wielding shovels and setting up the blockads around the site.  It will be wonderful to have proper pavement out there once again in a couple of da ys.

It reached 31C this afternoon and wow, it was far too hot in our suite because we were unable to open the windows on the cooler side of the building due to the dust from the parking lot project.  One more day like this and then it is to start cooling down, as I posted previously today.

Poor Mom is sweltering in her little suite. She has 3 amazing windows all facing west, so by late afternoon she is far too warm, even with the fans running.  she doesn't care open the windows until tonight after the sun sets and the temperature cools down. That is one huge bonus of living so close to the mountains.  Most every night of the spring and summer the air temperature definitely cools considerably once the sun is down.  We don't always have that guarantee here in Regina.

My husband is napping even though it is nearly 7pm. He didn't get a nap today after his unexpected 5am wake up. There was too much noise in the parking lot and of course the presence of all those people and equipment upset the geese, who have been wandering around all day in confusion, honking like crazy. hahahaha  Poor things.....

We spent some time sprawled on the sofa this afternoon watching some of the may sumo tournament, but we were so warm that we only watched a couple of days, and then only the highlights. Two of my favourites that were demoted earlier this year back to Jurio division, were brought up on day six (as far as we have watched of the 15 day bout) to wrestle with the higher rank and filers, so I really enjoyed that rare chance to see them again. Yay Endo and Tokoshoryu!!!  Endo won his bout and Tokoshoryu lost his, but he has a record of 4 and 2 now, so he is already doing better than he was last basho. YIPPEE!!!

 

some fantastic news from my husband's sister and her husband:  he got the results of his recent lung scan and the tumours have barely grown at all.  In fact two of them are actually smaller!  So, no need for chemo at this point in time. thank you Lord and thank you prayer warriors.  These two need some kind of good news for a change! So grateful they got it.  My husband's sister is supposed to start her own chemo later this week so we pray it will be a better experience for her than the last time!  She was so very ill and we pray she will not have to go through that again~from my mouth to god's ears!

 

Well, I should wander downstairs and stand by the now open kitchen window while I do some dishes. the crew has finally packed up and gone home for the evening, so we get a rest from the blowing dirt and the incredible noise!

tomorrow we are picking up our tomato plants from the wonderful woman who starts them for us each year.

Hope you all have an excellent week this week!

Re-Doing!

 Today is a day for "re-doing"!

1. I am planning on re-doing my hair.  A friend has a flat iron she is no longer using so she is bringing it to me this week so that I can occasionally straighten my hair just for a change of pace.  What a lovely treat!

2. The machinery is here to start tamping the fill into the holes in the parking lot....wow, that water main break had the contractor digging so many feet down into the parking area and now the fill has settled to the point that there have been some surprise sinkholes open up and swallow a couple of visiting vehicles lately. Yikes.  We will all be so thankful to have the holes completely filled and the lot repaved!

3.  I am re-doing the way I keep my bank account taken care of.  I have been freaking out about some of my balancing problems and finally figured out how to go about solving the problem without any more upsets.  My friend assisted me with that and now everything has worked out. YAY!

4. I am re-doing my house chores schedule so that I don't feel stressed each time I miss making a "deadline".  Who needs deadlines when we are stuck at home so much of the time due to COVID and can't have any company in.  I have started to "free style" my housework and it feels just great!  Whatever needs doing most on any given day, that is what will get done....and only if I feel like it or the need to do it has become dire.

5. I am re-doing my pottery and dishes and arts works/hanging photo inventory.  There are actually more things I am willing to let go of than I have been thinking there are.  I am looking at some dishware and realizing that even when we are allowed to have company in for meals again the chances of me actually using these things again are slim to none.  My husband has been setting a good example lately of getting rid of things that have been near and dear to him, so I am more than willing to follow his lead. It will make next year's move so much easier.  I have negatives for some of the hanging photos and so if I REALLY cannot live without those particular ones presently on my living room walls, I can always get new copies and change up the frames.  We understand that we are going to have to severely downsize in order to move into the sort of tiny place we will be able to afford once my husband fully retires next year.

Had a lovely outdoor visit on Saturday night with Kat.  We sat and laughed and talked for two hours on the pack porch.  The weather was so warm, there was barely a breeze and we were riotously entertained by the geese, bunnies and ducks that wandered over to check us out every so often. hahaha  They are all just so gosh darned cute!  One of our regular goose visitors has a leg that has either fractured or come out of joint and although she can walk in an awkward, leg waving, foot turned in sort of way, I am concerned about how she will manage once she moults and cannot fly for a couple of months later on in the summer.  Why do all the injured geese show up at our place?  It hurts my heart deeply to see them like that knowing there is nothing I can do about it as I don't have the veterinary skills.

Instead of going to church yesterday morning, we finally took the winter tires out of our car, put them out on the back porch and gave the rims their first coat of new paint.  Grinding off the rust was a pain, and we couldn't find our small paint rollers, so my husband sat out there on a tiny stool for hours, alternately grinding off rust and painting with a brush!  We are not able to complete the project with a second coat just yet.  With all the dirt blowing around for the next 3 days from the paving project, followed by several days of rain showers, we decided to return the tires to the basement for now. I have marked our calendar at the end of August to remind us to bring them back upstairs for a second coat of paint before the winter comes and they have to go back on the car.

I watched my church service in the afternoon on YouTube, my husband's sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter on YouTube and then participated in his congregation's Evening Prayer service last night.  It was a very full day.

 Late last evening I received a phone call from a friend I haven't talked to in months.  It was so encouraging to discover we are both struggling with the same issues these days.  I think we were able to encourage each other quite a bit.  I found out she and her husband have been watching my husband' sermons every week!  The other night she couldn't sleep and so she went online and listened to an African choir he had posted singing "There Is Power In The Blood" and she said it was so happy and bouncy and encouraging she relaxed and found some joy.  Back to sleep she went.  We had the most wonderful conversation.

I also had an email from a friend who was sharing what a joyful day she'd had. She has some ambulatory issues and rarely goes out for social visits any more, but yesterday she was able to make it to a porch visit with an old friend of hers. They shared conversation and a glass of wine and my friend was bubbling over with happiness.

This morning I was at the grocery store at 7am for a huge load of "stuff".  I spent a long time in line for the one cashier station that was open.  Several times I was asked if I would please move my cart over to the self-serve checkout and each time I refused.  The employee asking me that finally asked me why I wouldn't do it, so I told her that the 6 self-serve checkout stations open likely represented about 4 cashiers who were not employed because they were no longer needed.  Next thing I knew, she had opened up a second cashier's station and invited me to come to it. She rang my groceries through, then told me she was glad I stood my ground and she hoped more people would do that.  According to her, when the store is really busy, the self-serve lines don't move any more quickly than the in person cashier stations do anyway and sometimes are held up for a long time when an error happens at the self-serve machines that require waiting for an employee to come and fix the problem.  She made me feel good about my choice.  

So, time for a shower and a thorough washing of my hair!   The temperature is supposed to reach +31C today and +32C tomorrow, possibly with scattered thundershowers later in the day.  Moisture? Actual rain at last? I think I will believe it when I see it.  On Friday the temperature is supposed to dip to a high of +6C and there is to be a mix of rain and SNOW!  Hmmmm....perhaps that is true.  The air still does not have its hoped for spring aroma.  Still waiting.....God, I think it is time for You to re-do the weather now!! hahaha

 

The SK Prairies: A Hotbed of Protests!

 It has been an interesting few months around our city.  This past summer we had a young indigenous fellow set up a tepee on the government of SK lawns where he camped and fasted to bring attention to the high number of indigenous suicides and the lack of preventive programmes in place.   Over the past several weekends downtown there have been groups of various sizes and led by several different leaders in protest of mask wearing, distancing, business pandemic restrictions and COVID19 vaccinations.  Often we see small groups of various ethnic and cultural minorities waving placards and marching around city hall. we have had a few people protesting the presence of a statue of John A. MacDonald in a local park. Today, along with booming drum beat accompaniment, a large cavalcade of vehicles wound their way through the streets in our neighbourhood, all bearing signs that read, "Free Palestine". It is good to see the local people getting cranked up about a few things and most of the protesters, at least the local protesters, have been fairly serene, not a lot of threats of violence.  While there has been a certain amount of verbal rudeness and some very inappropriate action that could cause harm to others, so far nothing terrible has happened. May that continue to be the case.

 

We are a sleepy rural retirement community no longer!

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Hmmmm...Time To Re-Pot Perhaps????

 Our wonderful friend who starts the Golden Sun tomato plants for us each year has just contacted me to say that she will take our plants outside the shed this weekend to harden them off and then we will be able to pick them up next week.

This year it was time for new soil, so she sent me a photo of what she found when she turned the pot over to dump out the old soil:

Look at all those roots!!  Definitely time for a change of soil, hahaha.  This image looks like a little alien sitting there on the ground. hahahaha

Getting Ready For Our WEEKEND...As If We Are Actually Going To Have One...hahahaha!

 It has been a very good day today and it is only mid afternoon, so maybe there is more goodness to come? Who knows, but at least the day thus far has been one of accomplishment!  I don't know if it is the weather or what, but I have been motivated lately to DO things around here!  YAY!

A friend and I were chuckling this morning over the fact that we both email each other about our housework, but you know, for two people who have particular health issues that so often interfere with our ability to accomplish such chores, it makes sense that we would talk to each other about that topic.

I am rejoicing for her because she was able to get her potatoes seeded yesterday after a couple of other days of grueling outdoor work and she is rejoicing for me because I finally have the physical energy and mental motivation to clean inside my suite.  When it comes to fighting through aches and pains to accomplish even the simplest of tasks around the house, we are as they say, "Two folks".  

My place is now clean, clean, clean and should remain that way for a couple of days. Monday the paving crew will be in the parking lot kicking up dust that will filter into this suite, but at least things will be clean and tidy for "THE WEEKEND!"!!

Not that ministers and their spouses have weekends in the way that was usual prior to ordination!  Weekends for ministers are the busiest workdays of the entire week and sychronizing visits with family and friends who mostly do have their weekends free for such events is often quite a trial.  We can occasionally go to peoples' homes for dinners, but can't stay for the visiting afterward.  We can take a few minutes on a saturday for a quick coffee visit occasionally, IF  the Sunday sermon is all ready for presentation and IF  nothing unexpected shows up from the congregation or other church leadership.  It hasn't been a big issue for us, but WOW I find it so difficult, impossible even, to swing my way of looking at life away from the old habit of "Monday to Friday work, weekends off"! Funny how some things get ingrained when we are kids and young adults and they don't seem to leave us no matter how hard we try to change them.

I hadn't planned to complete the housework today.  Today was to be cleaning the upstairs and tomorrow the main floor, but I got a real spurt of energy and clear thinking early this morning and away I went. I am thankful for that. Maybe tomorrow something interesting and unexpected will happen after all as the weekend begins.  if nothing else, I have the rest of the videos from the May basho in Tokyo to watch on tv...yay SUMO Wrestling!!