A Happy Answer To Our Prayers!

Brownie’s laser treatment on her retinal tear appears to have been successful! She got answers to her questions today and is set up for excellent after care. Such wonderful news!! Thank you for praying!

I am so relieved and grateful to have completed a decent cleaning of our residence today! Despite the hot temperatures outside all day, requiring me to keep all the windows closed and covered, the energy was with me and all the work got done. Hallelujah! It wasn’t a deep cleaning, but it was a decent cleaning.

We are forecast for daytime high temperatures of over +31C most every day for the next week. I am grateful for having both a morning and afternoon bank appointment scheduled for tomorrow as it guarantees several hours in air conditioned spaces! The high temperature tomorrow is to be about +35C....too hot for me.

My husband took me out for dinner at Birmingham’s tonight. How kind. I have eaten too many salads in the past couple of weeks so my digestive system is not happy, dratted food sensitivities to lettuce and spinach. What a pain. I love salad. This evening I went all out and ordered chicken tenders with fries and gravy!! Vegetables be darned!! hahaha  No, I didn’t eat all the fries or gravy, or even all the batter on the tenders, so all you diabetes police out there can relax. haha AND I resisted well the temptation to order dessert!  Yay!!!

So, must go get the paperwork ready for tomorrow’s and the following day’s bank appointments. I am so grateful that the worst of the grief from the banks over Mom’s probate is over. We have our legal ducks in a row should there be any battles awaiting us this week, but  I have more peace going into these appointments than I had previously. Thank you Lord!

Calling All You Prayer Warriors!

I have just received a request from Louise, a wonderful church friend who was taken to the ER last evening with severe cardiac distress. She needs a decent cardiologist and she needs long term good care for this condition. She is supposed to be taking an interim music director position at church starting very soon and we have all been looking forward very much to having her. Oh my, another friend in dire need of better health. Unreal. Thank you so much for praying for her.

Also, Brownie my walking partner who is significantly younger than myself, is dealing with a retinal tear. She has had laser surgery on it but will find out today if the procedure was successful. She is too young for this!!! Please pray the laser has repaired the problem. Thankfully she got into the hospital eye clinic and is getting good care, just like I did when I had a PVD a few years ago.

Thanks everyone for being so faithful in prayer for so many people you don’t even know. It is so appreciated.

I am zooming around today getting a cleaning done on this suite in case the wedding this weekend brings family members into our home. I am tired, but getting lots done this morning. Only two bedrooms, a hallway and bathroom left and it isn’t even 11am yet. Praise the Lord! 

Canoeing On The (Ubiquitous) Saskatchewan Lake!

 My husband had a blast on the weekend finally getting his canoe out in the water after leaving it sitting in a friend's back yard after all his work repairing it two years ago.  He ended up falling over a piece of barbed wire on the beach, cutting his leg and ruining his pantleg as well as damaging his nose from the subsequent face plant onto the beach. He forgot to take his seat cushions and knee pads to use when padding in the canoe.  He battled the spiders and small "bugs" all weekend, coming to the conclusion that purchasing our friends' cabin along that same beach is not for us.  He forgot to take his carbonated water for his tummy issues.  To me it sounded like a nightmare experience, but his assessment of the trip was: "It was the best time I've had in the canoe in years!!!!"  hahahaha My man doth love the outdoor sports!!

Here he is in all his joyous glory: (and the canoe looks pretty good as well)

Iced Cream too...how much better does life get??

 

I Call Her Zelda But Don't Tell My Husband!

BBQing on the beach...his friend can bbq anywhere and do it well!

The Perfect Day For A Case Of Sunstroke!!

We Gotta Get Outa This Place! (More Often.....)

 Last night we joined some friends at a local jazz club for dinner and some live music.  We haven't done anything like that for several years now, pre-Covid at some point was the last time, and it was FANTASTIC to get out of this suite and DO something...something fun.....for a change!!

The band was a group of 9 men, old, young and in between.  If it wasn't the greatest band in the world, (the trumpeter was 20 minutes late arriving, haha), the musicians displayed a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for the craft of jazz fusion from the 1970's and 1980's.  We had a blast listening to jazz arrangements of The Doors "Riders On The Storm", Lee Morgan's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and Edwin Hawkins' "O Happy Day".  Watching our older friends beating time to the music with heads and hands and fingers was such fun. It is a side of them we have never before been privileged to see.  We had a nice conversation over dinner, lots of laughing and were so happy when our friends wanted to stay for both sets of the band tunes.

Musical memories seem to be the order of the week for us!  On Sunday at church our guest pianist lit up the keyboard on the baby grand with 1970's Dino arrangments of the tunes of the times and the postlude was a rousing rendition of Andre Crouch's "To God Be The Glory".  I haven't heard any of these pieces in several decades, with their repeated bass octaves and rolling chords, so church was also a blast from the past. hahaha

Wonder what else is going to happen this week to transport us back to the days of our youth???  We have made it thus far into today without any such event, so perhaps we can spend the rest of the week catching up on the here and now musically.

The hot weather is making a comeback for a couple of days this week.  I washed and ironed all our clothes from our recent trip(s) away, so we have lots of cool clothes to wear until the temperatures settle back down again.  With the September long weekend looming we are hoping the temperatures will drop to the mid to high +20's for awhile and that the +30's and up will be over until next summer.  Now that the hours of sunshine per day are waning in number the leaves on some of the trees are already turning yellow and preparing to fall to the ground in the next couple of weeks.  Sigh....we wait and wait every year for summer to arrive and once it does it seems to stay with us for far too short a time before the autumn arrives to let us know winter is on the way.

We are so happy to be keeping up with our plan to take small but regular trips to recycling and to the thrift stores, getting rid of all our excess slowly, but consistently.  It feels so good.  I hauled all my winter clothes bins out of the basement on the weekend and filled three large bags with thrift store items.  I know that once I put the summer clothes away....at least the ones I kept out of the thrift store bags....I will likely go through the winter clothes one more time and give away even more items.  How many clothes does one old woman need anyway??  Right??

Last night it hit us that my husband's cousin's wedding is THIS COMING SATURDAY and beside having duties during the actual ceremony, we are also quite heavily committed to helping at the family bbq the next day, so we need to get our act together.  I HAVE to clean house all day tomorrow for family dropping in and my husband MUST remember and find the passage of Scripture he is supposed to be reading at the ceremony, so he can copy it off in larger print.  We have been so focused on getting  out on our short holiday time, adjusting to deaths of and other bad news from friends, as well as the upcoming Probate appointments the two days before the wedding, that it didn't sink in to either of our brains that this wedding we have been involved in for the past six months is actually happening NOW!! Aiii yiiiii......talk about an extended Senior's Moment.  We haven't had room in our heads to think about the wedding for the past month!  How embarrassing.....

My husband is puttering in the basement today, preparing another load for the thrift store and recycling.  I am SO PROUD of him. He is truly committed to at least attempting a serious downsizing of all his excess "stuff". God bless him!!

Give And It Shall Be Given To You! I Did And It was! Again!!!

A week before we left for our week in Alberta I went through all my jewellery and took 3/4 of it to the thrift store. Most of the pieces were originally purchased to go with specific outfits I no longer have, but some of them are just costume jewellery and some pieces were such junk they went into the garbage. I felt great about clearing so much out and also passed on two of three jewellery trees. 

However, I realized I had hardly any jewellery left. “So be it.”, is what I thought. However when we were in Lethbridge a friend was doing the same task and she wanted to give me a few of her pieces. How lovely! AND I came home with enough truly good quality pieces to justify keeping the remaining tree. 

I “cleaned out the storehouse” (thank you Malachi) and was ready to receive the alternative blessing. Nice!! Thank you Lord, amen!

And So It Continues!

There is more violence occurring near our  neighbourhood tonight. About ten minutes ago I heard two gun shots being fired in rapid succession only a few blocks away from us. Half a minute later there was a third echoing report and five minutes afterward the police sirens indicated that the law have arrived on scene. I am sitting here in the dark so that if the shooter(s) try to flee through the park between our place and the scene of the crime, there will be nothing in particular to cause them to look our way! Hohoho!! Violent crime is oozing out of the downtown area and seeping into ours. The past few days criminal activity here, and those events being only the ones of which I am aware, is creating a certain degree of unease in my heart and mind....yet another reason to be moving if possible to a safer part of town next spring! It has been quite some time, decades in fact, since my area of residence was in a high crime area. I had forgotten how nerve wracking it is to hear gunshots so close to home. Blecch Pooey!!!

Land That He Loves!

 My husband enjoyed his camp out last weekend because he was back to enjoying the terrain that is nearest and dearest to his heart: this time at Abraham Lake and area in west central Alberta.

Mr. Contentment by the babbling brook!

One hundred feet down from the lookout into the gorge!

Preacher's Point!

Beautiful waterfall!

Spectacular view from the top of the hill down into the lake!

And all the while he was away enjoying the great outdoors, I was away enjoying the great indoors of womens' retail clothing stores....a mutual time of happy adventure! Happy Holidays To Us!!

Welcome To The Neighbourhood....Yikes!!!

 We have been blessed ever since we moved into this area of the city, in that we have seen little evidence of the growing influx of criminal behaviour in our particular neighbourhood, despite it being close to downtown.  However, today we had a couple of sobering reminders.

This morning we went grocery shopping mid morning at our neighbourhood grocery store.  As we were pushing our cart filled with our purchases away from the cashier and moving toward the exit door, we became aware of raised voices in the area beside us.  Apparently a woman had been observed by a staff member stealing meat and hiding the cartons in her back pack.  As we approached, the store manager and a cashier were confronting her, another staff was on the phone to the police and the hired security guard that stands by the exit doors appeared to be doing nothing at all to assist. Suddenly we heard the staffer on the phone shouting, "SHE HAS A WEAPON!"  Said weapon was a long, dirty looking syringe and the woman waved it threateningly at all the staff surrounding her.  We headed for the exit, but she was right behind us.  In an attempt to put us between herself and the pursuing staff, as we exited through the door, she pushed her way ahead of us, brandishing the syringe at us as if daring us to try to stop her. Fortunately we were able to push ourselves sideways just past the door so the store manager and other staff involved in the confrontation could follow her out.  They chased her across the parking lot, across the street on the other side of the lot and then became lost to view, the staffer on the phone shouting locations to the police.  We loaded our groceries into the car and then sat in the lot for awhile waiting to see if the staff returned unharmed, but after a few minutes it became apparent no one's return was imminent and we drove home.  It seemed somewhat bizarre to us that the manager and assistant manager of the store, as well as a cashier were chasing this woman down while the police were apparently unavailable quickly enough to help right away and that the hired security guard, ambling along behind the fleeing woman and her store staff pursuers, was so seemingly useless right from the start.  I realized I had every opportunity to stick my foot out to trip the woman at the exit turnstyle as she was making her eye contact warning with me on her way past, but just as I was about to do that my husband stepped forward just far enough that I lost my chance.  Sigh.... (I did that once in a department store years ago when a shop lifter fellow, running full speed ahead carrying stolen items and being pursued by one of the store staff, came right at me and tried to swerve around me, then fell over my extended foot and fell so hard he couldn't get up in time to avoid being tackled and subdued by the man chasing him...too bad I was unable to employ the same method today.)  I hope the woman was caught. She was a nasty piece of work.

Later this afternoon I walked a half hour to my ladies' group and a a half hour home again afterward.  Both times I noticed a distinct lack of both pedestrians and cyclists along my usually busy route.  After I arrived home one of my neighbours mentioned to me that some other crazed criminal was (still is???) on the loose in the neighbourhood and most people were avoiding the very area walking paths I had been tympsing along on so happily.  Aiii yiii....

Welcome to the neighbourhood!  Tonight I will likely be awake and jumping up every few minutes all night, checking on our canoe which is presently strapped onto the top of our vehicle for my husband's weekend canoeing adventure.  I am trying to just relax, trust God and not worry about anyone stealing it overnight.  Jeepers!!!  Yup, time to move.....fortunately the onset of winter will clamp down on the neighbourhood criminal activity and our lease runs out next spring, so.....

Speaking of moving, the Lord is once again DOING HIS THING to give us peace that he is in charge, in control and has plans for us so that we aren't concerned about what is going to happen when our lease expires.  hahaha  He is so amazing. This sort of thing happens every single time and begins months in advance of a move to give us assurance that he is participating in the plans.

At the moment we have friends in Alberta offering to buy us a condo in their town so we would be tempted to move there and tonight another friend closer to home sent us the specs for his winterized cabin a couple of hours from here along the shore of the very lake my husband will be canoeing in this weekend.  It is lovely and has a bunk house, a storage shed and a garage large enough to also house a workshop.  If it wasn't so far from civilization I think it would be a done deal for us.  

So, as usual, the Lord is showing us that there ARE options, possibilities, choices, some of the kind that only God could think of sending our way.  We had quite a chuckle when offer number two arrived this evening.  We feel honoured that he spends so much time in calming our fears and getting us excited to see what actually happens next year.

I am most blue over the condition of Cee and Nan right now. So many of you who are praying for them have been asking if there are any updates and I do have one that arrived a couple of days ago. I had to digest it myself first before passing on the information to the rest of you.  The neuropathic pain that has been spreading and causing such agonizing pain and upset to Cee is not  improving, nor is it likely to according to the two doctors he saw last week.  Even though his bloodwork shows otherwise, the neuropathy is related to his blood cancer and there is nothing more that can be done to heal it or even slow it down apparently.  The cancer is under control, but this is a side effect of the disease.  It is crushing news for both Cee and Nan. Please pray they can be at peace and that somehow there will be better treatment found to help Cee when he sometimes experiences hours and hours of neuropathic pain.  It is effecting not only his arms and legs, but his lips and other parts of his body. It is causing physical weakness and mobility issues, as well as ushering in undertandable depression, fear and sometime hopelessness.  Although both Cee and Nan are troopers and are coping as well as can be expected with this news, they require a lot of prayer support to strengthen them and bring them peace that God does still love them...yes they do know that, but it isn't always easy to keep that in the forefront of a person's mind immediately after news like they received, is it?  Thank you from me and from them for your caring concern and your prayers.

I have been reminded this week of the importance of family and resolving family issues before they get completely out of hand and cause estrangement and pain to family members.  A friend of mine died recently.  Two of three adult children, who are both approaching middle age now, have been estranged from him and from their mother for the past approximately 30 years.  For 30 years other family and friends have been praying for them to be reconciled and healed, restored to relationship, but it wasn't to be.  I assumed that since he was the perceived "bad guy" by the two estranged offspring, that they would rally around their mother after his death, but no, even in death they have disassociated (even dissociated) themselves from their mom.  They were not mentioned in the obituary either.....understandable, but oh, so very sad!!!!  Those of us who were present when all the trouble erupted, but were unable to help at the time, were not told about the funeral as there was still some hope on the part of the mother and third child that perhaps the two estranged ones would show up at the funeral after all, but if those of us from the "old days" were present there was fear there would be more drama.  I found the funeral announcement on line "accidentally", (thank you Lord for leading me to it in my search for something else completely unrelated...incredible!), so I was able to be in prayer for while the service was happening.  The family has been like a soap opera all these years....the fallout of intergenerational hatred in the extended family that began over sixty years ago.  Dear Lord, please in your mercy preserve our family from ever experiencing such complete dysfunction.  Thank you Lord, Amen! There are too many families experiencing similar issues it seems. As bizarre as the circumstances of this family seem to me, they are not much different from other families I have met over the years....so very sad.

After a second round of meds, my eye condition is much improved. Thank you so much for praying for me too.

While my husband is canoeing, I will catch up on the laundry from our AB trip and relax watching the MANY MANY animal programmes I recorded on tv while we were away.  MANY MANY animal programmes....eek......

Kat's experiences in life never cease to amaze me!  Recently she had an appointment with her new doctor and as he entered the exam room he was singing an excerpt from Handels's Messiah under his breath. She heard him, knows the Messiah as well and began singing along with him.  What a riot...singing the Messiah with the doctor at her medical exam. hahaha Only Kat.....

 The weather has continued to be as spectacular here as it was on our trip.  Although the guys will  likely be loading up their canoe gear in the rain tomorrow, they should be driving into good weather by the time they get to the lake and the following two days are supposed to give us more wonderful warm temperatures! 

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!! 

Glad To Be Home!!

We arrived home at 7pm yesterday after a relaxed breakfast visit with friends in Lethbridge. We had a leisurely drive there from Olds the day before, stopping in Calgary to visit my husband’s long time friend and former climbing partner who is still recovering from a fall on a ski hill at the end of February. His brain bleed could have killed him, but he has now survived the required three months after stopping the anti-seizure meds, passed the required testing with flying colours and so will be allowed to drive again in a couple of weeks. We are so happy for him. We lunched in Calgary at the former Karuso’s Pizza, now named 4th Spot, but still using the original pizza recipes we ate there in the 1970’s. YUM!! 

The weather was fantastic the whole time, with only a few showers and thundery rumblings over night a couple of times that nicely cooled things off. 

Yesterday we pushed it through to Swift Current for a very late lunch. There were SO MANY wasps outside, it was unreal. Going into the restaurant I managed to trap one just inside the armhole of my blouse and received my first ever wasp sting. YEEEOOOWWWW!!! I had no idea they hurt that badly. Sheesh!!! With my severe anaphylactic allergy reactions I was tempted to panic and forego raising my blood sugar back up to normal by eating in order to be rushed to hospital. BUT, all that happened beside the pain of the sting was a fairly large welt that is nearly gone today! I will buy some Benadryl now to carry with me in case I get stung again and have a far worse reaction requiring a rush trip to Emergency for an adrenaline shot. I am grateful to God that it wasn’t necessary this time,

My husband is heading out on Friday afternoon with a friend so they can test out the canoe my husband repaired two summers ago. My husband has not had the energy to go out on the water since, but his spirits are buoyed by the success of the hiking trip last week. The trip in the canoe is only an overnight session, but it will be therapeutic for both of them to get out on the water for a day. 

Back to ladies’ group for me tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. While my husband is canoeing I will catch up on laundry from our trip. 

Life is good.....for us at least. After seeing the poor health too many of our friends are suffering we will never complain again about our own current health conditions!!!!

Off to do lots of nothing for the rest of the day. Yay!!

My Husband Made It Back Unscathed!

 O happy evening! My husband and his friends had a marvellous time hiking in the mountains this weekend and arrived back here just before 8pm. A happy ending to a happy day for me....but more about that later when I either get home or to a hotel with a better WiFi connection! More surprise encounters with friends from long ago made for a great day! On the road south tomorrow. Better sign off before the connection here does it for me! 

Area-l View!

What a lovely day! Instead of the temperature being through the roof, instead of the predicted afternoon thunderstorms, it has been an overcast day with occasional sunny breakthroughs and reasonable temperatures. My friend and I drove on some backroads to Didsbury, in time to do some clothes shopping and catch a couple of pipe bands parading down the Main Street before enjoying lunch at the 1906 Bistro. We loved the ginger and carrot soup topped with chopped mint and a phylo pastry covered in black sesame seeds, a mixed green salad with green goddess dressing and a small toasted wrap filled with cubes of curried pork, feta cheese, red onions and cucumber. Yum!!!! Off to the Cowboy Trail Market which was a lot of fun despite many of the vendors pulling out of this second last Saturday of the season. I picked up a couple of jars of preserves. We drove back to Olds on some pretty back roads I haven’t been on in decades. Gorgeous views of rolling hills and clumps of green trees made me long for such scenery closer to home. 

Now it is late afternoon. I ate a very early dinner due to eating an earlier than usual lunch and will take a walk over to WalMart now to find some milk for my husband to drink when he returns from the mountains tomorrow. He always wants a drink of milk after a weekend of camp food. The sun is shining brightly and it will be a pleasant walk. I am looking forward to a relaxing evening reading.

A Bit Of A Shock!!

I got a call a couple of hours ago from the daughter of the friends I dropped in on yesterday....the ones I had not heard from in nearly three years. Shocking news: about two hours after I left their house the husband’s heart stopped and he died instantly. I just came back from visiting his wife and daughter and offering condolences. They are strong people. They will be ok after a bit. Thankfully the wife has a vibrant church community who are already stepping in to help her. I can hardly believe it and I am ever so grateful to God for giving me the nudge to drop in on them yesterday. I was going to wait and perhaps try to find them at their church on Sunday. So very thankful I didn’t wait after all. Wow....

Correction To Last Post!

 This iPad is interesting to say the least. It needs a time out for bad behaviour! 

The last paragraph of the previous post was supposed to be about meeting up with an Olds friend tomorrow for a Didsbury lunch at the Bistro there, after seeing the Royal Purple Parade, and before heading west to Cowboy Trail Market at Harmattan, but after the word “Tomorrow” at the beginning of the sentence, it proceeded to erase the rest of that paragraph and fill it with the paragraph that followed about Sunday church attendance!! I didn’t see that before I published the post, hahaha, so I guess I need a time out too!! 

While I am back, I will just say the weather has been FABULOUS!! It has been sunny and warm, but only up to +30C, so that is most tolerable and even enjoyable. There is always the slightest bit of breeze from the mountains, so I am loving it all. Maybe rain tomorrow afternoon and the following day, which is newly forecast. Hopefully it will not interfere with tomorrow’s plans! 

Revelations Galore!

 We are having a lovely vacation, filled with surprises! Some good.....

We had successful dental appointments before we left. Our teeth are all sparkly again. I am good to go after my annual checkup and my husband is returning next month to have a small cavity filled; only the fourth one in his life!! He has done well. Revelation: he can go to the dentist and not die from being in the chair for 90 minutes. He was dizzy from being almost upside down for the cleaning, but he survived. The filling will be a breeze in comparison! 

It was nice to get a couple of hours of driving done before stopping for a quick burger and biffy. Then onward another couple of hours to our hotel in Kindersley. We stayed in our usual discount hotel, but the rooms have all been redone and the breakfast has certainly been upgraded!! As soon as we checked in we contacted the pianist who used to play for our church services there. It was wonderful to see her and to have a relaxing visit. She is in her 80’s now, has a few health issues, but is still able to play for dances and services at the various seniors homes etc., around the area. Revelation: you CAN be older, start losing mobility and still be cheerful and talkative and interested in life and the world around you! She is  amazing!!

On to Olds the following day. We enjoyed the drive despite spending four hours or more on a two lane highway. There are additional passing lanes now since we last drove that route and the scenery is more lush than along our usual route to Alberta on Highway 1 from Regina. Revelation: even in August a two lane  highway drive can be tolerable and even enjoyable! There was little slow moving traffic the entire way, which was nothing short of miraculous for mid August!! I think we pulled out to pass three vehicles along the entire route. We lunched at a nice pub in Three Hills (The 701?) The food was very good. 

We arrived in Olds and checked into our hotel at 3pm. After a rest we contacted the Thai restaurant, Viyasit, in  Didsbury, the next town south. After picking up a large order of food there we took the meal out to friends who farm east of the town. It was a great meal and an even greater visit! Revelation: we DO like Thai food...it just has to be properly prepared! Who knew?? We never liked it before, but this was yummy! 

The next morning I delivered my husband and all his camp gear to his friend’s house. They headed out to the mountains while I went to meet a friend for lunch and a wonderful visit. We share worries about certain aspects of each of our husbands’ health issues, so we had a good heart to heart sharing time. Then we drove to Olds College to wander around a small wetlands area the College created a few years ago. Small but beautiful, it is a great addition to the town. Revelation: many things in Olds have changed for the better over the 22 years since we left there.

I took a long walk in the later afternoon that day, all around the retail area by my hotel. Ended up doing some winter clothes shopping!! What fun!! I was able to take my time, try on dozens of items and make my selections quite happily. Revelation: I CAN take my time and actually enjoy shopping for clothes!!

I dropped in on some old friends I have not been in contact with for the past three years. As I pulled up to their house to park I saw a huge SOLD sign on the front lawn. WTH?? Fortunately they are still living there but are in the midst of packing. Over the last two years their health has cratered and they are soon moving into Seniors Housing. I was shocked by their issues and their outward appearance, but they too are still cheerful and welcoming. I now understand why they have not been in touch for so long: picking up the phone to make calls is nearly beyond both of them. Revelation: I am more easily shocked than I thought I was, AND my husband and I are both in better health, despite our considerable problems, than many of our peers in this part of the country!! 

I have been dining in my hotel room in the evenings and for breakfasts. The Sobey’s here has a good selection of foods I can prepare in my hotel room, foodss that don’t require more than a warmup in the microwave and simple foods I don’t need to even heat, just eat as they are. 

Back to Didsbury for lunch today with more friends. Delicious all meatt quiche at Vintage Cafe! 

Tomorrow ftriends are taking me to their Pentecostal church where I will be the only masked person in a congregation of staunch anti vaxxers! Should make for some lively coffee hour conversation after the service, teehee! Hohoho!! On to Lethbridge the following day. I am looking forward to my husband’s tales of mountains and hikes and campfires. He texted me today...having the time of his life! Yay!

The Usual Didos, Hahaha!!

 Having the entire morning to finish packing up today has still not been enough time to get everything done...so what's new, right? HOHOho!  

We lallygagged around last evening because we were tired and we assumed having until after lunch today to complete our preparations would be more than enough time...silly us!

This morning we had to also straighten out an issue with billing for my husband's phone, straighten out a bank issue that arose without warning, pay utility bills because apparently we have a new billing date, sort out a hotel reservation gone awry, add a new reservation, contact some friends we are seeing along the way with a change of plan.....aaaaaah, 'twas ever thus! hahahaha  Now it is time to locate something left in this house to eat for lunch and take care of any other perishables we don't finish, then off to the dentist, then maybe, just maybe, get on the road???? 

Signs Of Summer's End

Every year at about this time I become aware that the summer season is not going to last forever.  It is a temptingly depressing thought to be honest.

Last evening I noticed how early the sun is going down.  It is nearly dark now by 9pm.  This morning I noticed the sun seemed to be much later arising than usual.  As I drove over to the church this morning I saw the beginning of some yellow leaves on a few trees....not from lack of water as we have had plenty of rain, but from the change of season that apparently is already underway.  When we drove out to Vibank the other night I saw how much lighter in colour the grasses along the roadside are compared to the deep green most roadside grasses around here have been since the middle of the spring season.  Some varieties have already turned brown. The whole aura of the atmosphere outside is kind of a light "ochre" in tone as I look around....do you notice that as well, that at the air "colour" seems to change with the advancement of each season?  I am sure it has to do with the position of the sun in the sky.  I am hoping that the rather hot weather we will be experiencing on our little trip coming up will restore my summer joy!!  

Plans for me for the time away are coming together nicely now.  I will see a few friends this time and then more friends when we return to Alberta in a few weeks' time.  This trip will be more for my husband's camping with his outdoor activity buddies than for him to be visiting with other friends, so he wants to go back and see the rest of the crew after his last course session ends the first week of September.  The weather should be good for travelling until the first of October, hopefully.

I am thinking about my committment at the church as a counter for the offerings.  Since we are not sure where we are moving to next spring,  I think I will not sign up again for next year.  It is a one year committment and I know how difficult it is to replace volunteers part way through a term.  Getting volunteers in the first place can be difficult enough, but it isn't fair to start off and then announce less than half way into the term that I will be gone and unable to complete the agreed upon committment.  It has been a good job to do for the church...very little fuss, a chance to get to know a few more folks in the congregation that I work with, the kind of behind the scenes type of little job I prefer.  

We are very encouraged by the finding of a new place to live by friends in Kamloops.  They found out their current rental accommodation was recently sold and they didn't have a lot of notice to find a new place.  Rental costs are as beastly high there as everywhere else, but they found a really good place they can afford without a lot of time spent in frantic searching.   Their experience of trusting God to help them find such a place is boosting our faith as well when it is our turn to move.  The physical act of preparing to move is not as easy as it was when we came here 8 years ago, that is for sure. We are very aware of how we have aged since sprinting into this place with all our worldly goods in mid February, during a -45C cold snap.  I know for a fact I cannot be so cavaliere this time around about packing and actually lifting and carrying boxes and furniture. My husband feels the same way.  

We are also considering purchasing a new vehicle this fall or early next winter, depending on our findings and how long it will take for a new order to arrive.  First of all my husband is going to have our present vehicle professionally inspected and find out if it is worth spending any real money on preserving it.  We are looking at a possible purchase as the last vehicle we will ever own, as it won't be that many more years before one or both of us will be giving up on driving.  What changes happen as one ages: collecting "stuff" changes to maintaining the "stuff" status quo changes to getting rid of said "stuff" in order to downsize as a person realizes they can no longer do many of their old activities, hobbies, crafts, outdoor sports, etc.  It is difficult in some ways to accept where we are currently on the sliding scale of "stuff", but accept it we must. 

We are going to Kat's tonight. She will care for our outdoor tomatoes and herbs and check our mail while we are away.  It will be so nice to have  a visit with her and with Val on their large front veranda.  Tomorrow morning we will pack up, then after our afternoon dental cleanings we will be on the road for a few days.  Getting away will be good for us both....away for something that is NOT a funeral or medical mercy visit!!  The freedom we have to do what we want to do on this trip and the next is nearly overwhelming!

There's A Hot Time In THIS Old Town Tonight!

 Yup, it's hot alright! After a day time high of about +31C, it is now, at 10pm still +24C outside and it feels like +34C in this townhouse!!  

The music of the evening booming in from Shake the Lake is also hot: right now I am listening to Starship bumping and grinding out Nothin's Gonna Stop Us Now....wish someone actually WOULD, but not likely to happen, hohoho!  The predicted thunder storm for the evening will not not be arriving until after the end of the concert, so I still have The Tubes and Doug and the Slugs to get through before I will be able to sleep.  No worries.  By the sound of the audience response after each song, it seems Shake the Lake is a highly successful event after its two year break and that is a good thing for the venue and the performing artists.  Sleep is something I can always catch up on later anyway.

My husband and I enjoyed a wonderful hot meal tonight for dinner as well: we drove with friends to The Grotto out in Vibank and had a delicious bbq meal.  Sitting in what used to be the chapel of the old Ursuline Convent we enjoyed the stained glass windows, close contact with our fellow diners in the long, narrow chapel aisle, wonderful service and cooking and a TON of food! We began with a blended corn and green bean slightly spicy soup, then our shared platter arrived: Greek salad, sliced fingers of carrot and celery with dip, sliced duck gracing a creamy pasta dish,tender pieces of chicken, slices of brisket, baby back ribs, tortilla chips with black bean dip, potato salad, corn bread, creamy South Caroline dip, peach salsa dip, dill dip, mushroom caps in cider vinegar and a sliced half pineapple.  For dessert there were whipped cream capped slices of cake: dulce du leche.....so light and fluffy to end our heavy meal with.  I had a glass of Cab Sav that was kind of gruesome for quality, but fortunately did its job for my blood sugar because yes, I am certain I ate a few too many carbs along the way; my husband enjoyed a Mexican beer.  There were, on the menu, other wine, beer and cocktail options, Italian sodas, all manner of teas and coffees....if I was still able to enjoy sugary cocktails I would have definintely ordered one of the huge drinks served in either a half pineapple or in a scooped out round watermelon!!! hahaha  Great friends, great drive out in the country there and back in our friends' brand new 2023 Kia Sportage that has every option under the sun...what a driver's dream!! Riding in that vehicle was half the fun.  We also enjoyed a short walk after our meal but before driving home; the town of Vibank is very cute and is pretty well manicured. There are many lovely old homes, some very tiny, many resided, remodeled, renovated....it is a very nice old town with wide, wide streets...mostly not paved, but it was dry and still sunny this evening, so we could walk down the middle of the streets with dry feet.

The smell of rain has been in the air since we came out of the restaurant, but the thunderheads we saw building on our way to Vibank have gone north of Regina.  Now it could be midnight before we receive any moisture or thunderstorm activity.  Tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot as, or hotter than, today so even if we do have rain, apparently it is not going to cool things off.

We originally planned to be at church in person tomorrow morning, but when we talked about it tonight, we decided we have been exposed to too many people pre-holiday already.  Who knows if we have been exposed to COVID again or not?  I think for our own protection we will just watch the church service on Zoom in the morning.  We feel a strong need for next week's holiday and don't want to jeopardize the trip by exposing ourselves unnecessarily to COVID.

I received an upsetting email from one of my cousins that I just spent time with at Auntie's funeral.  He has been diagnosed with cancer.  He has more exploratory tests coming up to try to determine what stage this cancer is at and if it has spread into any of the surrounding tissue.  He has amazing peace at the moment, but if the cancer is more than about a stage 2, it could be a devastating situation for him.  Please pray for cousin Scott, thank you.  Two of my other cousins who were at the funeral are mid way through cancer treatments as well and have suffered a good deal in recent months.  So grateful they were able to travel to attend the funeral.  So grateful that the pandemic situation did not, in their particular cases, interfere with their ability to receive their chemo treatments.  Thank you Lord!

It is time to put the nighttime fans on and attempt to cool this suite off a bit so that we can get to sleep tonight after the concert down the street.  It has been a good day even though I had even more  heat building in here today because I did the laundry for our trip.  Tomorrow I will have the iron turned onto the hottest setting and press our trip clothes!

It's Not Just The Lake Wot's Shakin'!!

 At the moment the walls of our townhouse are shimmying as well! After a blessed 2 year hiatus, due to the pandemic enforced cancellation of all public events, Regina's "Shake the Lake" music fest is back this weekend.  Sigh.....

The performances are on some kind of outdoor stage at the Conexus Centre, not far from where we and many other presently musically tortured souls reside.  The noise drift of the musical attempts is either not too loud to bear, or akin to being at the concerts live and in person ourselves, depending on the direction and strength of the wind.  

Today the opening musical acts began at 3pm, but we were blessed with very little wind and we didn't become aware of the incessant drumbeating until around 7pm.  What a mercy for us!  I would never complain about the miserable noise anywhere but here because I don't want to put a damper on other peoples' fun, but I will be very glad when the event is over tomorrow night.  

I suppose there must be a huge number of folk in my approximate age group keeping "Shake the Lake" profitable this year, as I cannot imagine anyone younger than about 55 years of age deliberately purchasing tickets to hear aging rockers from the 1970's still trying to croak out the old tunes that gave them a certain amount of fame in our country all those years ago. This year the main event performers are April Wine, Trouper, Doug and the Slugs and Starship.  Oh my.....talk about moldie Oldies....their songs at least....and perhaps the performers??? I don't mean that in a derogatory way, just being silly, but I do wonder why elderly rockers feel the need to continue touring into their 70's and 80's.  Did they spend their "fame days" money that quickly and totally?  What a horrible lifestyle for people my age and older.  Hopefully all of them truly love the continuing touring, but I'm sorry guys, I personally don't love hearing most of you trying to sing...not any more.  It is kind of sad to me to see the elderly trying to recapture the former glory days.   It would be like my husband trying to lead a church youth group because he doesn't realize he cannot keep up any more with the change in culture and natural difference in energy level between himself and his young charges.

I wish all these aging rock'n'rollers and their fans the very best, I truly do, but I will be very happy when they finally shut it down later tonight and I can finally get to sleep....in preparation for the same noisy debacle tomorrow evening.  Yup TWO days of this booming, wall shaking "fun". Whoopee!!  hahaha

Some Days I Feel Just Like This!

 "I have selective hearing.  I am sorry you have not been selected."

--Mary-Ellen Fairbairn

A Most Beautiful Summer Day Here On The Prairies!

 Stupidly I allowed myself to drink a cup of coffee at Ladies' Meeting yesterday afternoon, so I was awake until well after midnight again last night, BUT once I got to sleep I slept my full six hours without waking up even once. So I feel wonderful today.

It is a warm day, filled with sunshine and blue skies, just the hint of a breeze and not too hot to be able to get out and run errands....just feelin' the summer today!  Niiiiiiiiiiice!!!  

My husband woke up this morning feeling better than he has in a long while.  Having Vitamin B shots twice a month since June instead of only once a month has been helping him to recover his energy and wakefulness over the past few days.  He is getting excited about his upcoming camping trip and it is so nice to see him so happy. He tends to be rather morose since he retired....well, that is hardly unexpected. He is still reeling from the unexpected loss of his sister last year and the loss of my parents and our favourite auntie in less than two years, plus the worry about his brother in law's medical condition, our son's health and on and on and on it goes. The phone continues to ring almost daily for him with requests to preach, lead seminars, write diocesan newspaper articles and lead pre-ordination retreats for ordinands coming along through their process.  He has wisely said "no" to most of the requests and let people know they can check back with him in mid-September after he has taught his last class in the Bible Survey series.  I am grateful we will be gone for awhile so that he isn't innundated with any more requests and begins to feel guilty about being too tired to agree to help out.  I suspect he has about another six months of needed resting and relaxing before he will be in good enough shape to take on any more ministry committments.  

For once he is ahead of the game in preparing to go camping.  Although he is not leaving until the middle of next week, he already has his camping gear out of storage and is checking out the condition of his tent and other equipment. This morning we made a little jaunt to a few grocery stores to find the groceries he will need for the two meals he is responsible to provide for the other guys.  We found a low price on gasoline in the process....as it has now jumped up 16 cents a litre since yesterday morning, we are grateful.....then he decided that since we were so close to Birmingham's Vodka and Ale House we should stop and have  lunch there.  hahaha BIG SURPRSE!  NOT!!!!!!  He loves their fish and chips and since I like their taco salad so much I wasn't going to give him any grief by denying his request. hahahaha  I think he is somewhat tired of all the DarBar leftovers I have been hauling out of the freezer of late.  hahaha  My own brain is finally clear enough that I am looking forward to cooking a proper meal for dinner this evening and have the meat thawed and the fresh veggies chopped and ready to cook.  The herbs growing on our back porch have made all our home cooked meals extra tasty this summer.

Tomorrow is the trip to Vibank with our friends to enjoy an awesome specialty restaurant's  bbq menu.  The food has been pre-ordered and paid for and we will receive samples of everything on the bbq menu. They also feature a Mexican menu, so perhaps another trip out that way some day will be in the offing!!  We have heard so much about this small restaurant out in the boonies and the niche market it serves.  We are learning more about how many small gourmet restaurants there are tucked away in small towns in this province and how so many people from AB and Manitoba make special trips to SK to enjoy these special meals, making it next to impossible to make a reservation less than months in advance in many cases. This is our first time at one of these places and we are really looking forward to it.  The reservation was made weeks ago and we were lucky to get one before sometime in September by the sound of it. God bless our friends who thought of this idea and made the reservations, chose the food and are generously driving us out there.  We are very excited!!

Sunday morning we will attend church in person once again.  There is a special meeting afterward to discuss the hire of a new Children and Families pastor and the person we are approving is known and loved by one and all. She is more than qualified and feels a strong call to this ministry.  We still don't have much in the way of applications for a full time music minister, but some of us feel that God wants us to forge a different path musically going into the future, so we shall see what happens next.  We thought we had a music minister several months ago, but it fell through, likely for the best I am guessing.  Our lead pastor will be back from sabbatical in September, so we are excited to hear how he and his family enjoyed their time overseas for three months.  I wonder how much longer he will stay with us after seeing what kind of opportunities he may be able to find elsewhere.  He and his wife are young enough to make another major change in ministry venue and direction, so I am thinking it may be time for him.....no one will be very happy IF he leaves, but after all the moving around we have done as my husband has changed from one ministry opportunity to another, we will certainly understand if he wants a change. He has led us well through the pandemic, but maybe he will find other opportunities now.  Our congregation will be devastated if he leaves, but I hope he feels free to follow God to either go or stay.  We would love it if he stayed.

I think I will go and start marinating the beef for our dinner tonight.  We had a late, large lunch, so we will have a late dinner for a change.  My husband is watching football (aaaahhh....I still can't get over that) so now is the perfect time to be able to do some food preparation without his "assistance". teehee

Coming Out Of The Fog At Last!!

Ever since Mom died I have experienced a constant almost trance like state of mind. Grief complicated by executor stress, our son’s serious health scare and ongoing health issues, more deaths and dire diagnoses and prognoses in our extended family, nursing my husband through some serious chronic fatigue shorter term episodes.....my mind has been burnt right out since shortly after Dad died in 2020 and the realization of what taking care of Mom by long distance was going to mean. 

In the past couple of days the cobwebs in my brain have finally begun to clear, the fog is lifting at last!  Hallelujah!! 

I poured myself into some heavy duty housecleaning chores this week, forced myself to get outside and go for a few walks, had a great visit this morning with my walking partner even though our plans to walk were rained out and felt completely present for the entire conversation, got back to my weekly women’s group meeting this afternoon, exchanged a few emails related to the estate and maintained my focus in expressing myself....I feel like throwing up my arms, waving “jazz hands” and doing a little jig while announcing that “I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!”

This evening I finally felt like starting to prepare for our upcoming trip home to AB!! It isn’t much of a trip for me in some ways. I get to amuse myself for a few days in a hotel alone while my husband goes camping with his buddies, but I have been setting up visits with friends there and am so looking forward to seeing them. We will race back here after camping so my husband can get ready for a canoe trip with another set of buddies, but I will have our car this time when he is away so I can boogey around and see friends and shop and go to the art galleries that do not interest him. The two of us are going to sneak off sometime in September for a few days on our own as well. I am looking forward to my husband’s outdoor adventures because his health always improves after such trips. He needs the powerful healing powers of God’s creation! 

Tomorrow we will go shopping for some of the camp food he is responsible to bring, but we don’t have to get up early. My husband has been up early the last three mornings in a row so he could attend three men's groups, so needs a morning to sleep in!! 

It is nice to feel like I am emerging from the protective cocoon of mental and emotional shut down.

Last One & Done: Fa La La La La Et-cet-er-aaaaaa!

 I could not fall asleep last night.  All started out well.  I was in bed and asleep by 10:15pm....and then I woke up just before 12:30am and was awake until after 3:40am!  Aaaargh!  Not sure what happened, but some nights are like that I guess.  My husband apparently also had a bad night, waking up 90 minutes ahead of the alarm he set in order to get to his first in person Tuesday men's group meeting in well over two years.  They are meeting in a park out of doors and wondering if they will recognize each other at this point!

I didn't toss and turn for too long before I turned on the light and picked up my iPad.  I spent quite a while digging around on the internet until I located a rather obsure site for the one bank I have not been able to get a call back from for an appointment.  There I found a phone number for the Estates Department I had never seen before.  Decided it was worth a try and called it at 7am.  Yee Haw and Yippee Ai Oh Kayaiiii!!!  Since I had nothing else to do at that time of the morning, I patiently (YES REALLY!) sat on hold for about 45 minutes, then had a successful conversation with a head office person who is in Toronto.  It took awhile to set up, but we have our appointment now the day after the other two appointments in early September.  For now at least it appears we will be able to go on our short vacation later this month and not have any estate worries to ruin things.  From my mouth to God's ear!!  hahaha  "Seek and ye shall find" has taken on a whole new meaning and context since becoming an estate executor!!  Thanks all for your prayers, not only for getting the appointments set up, but for my being able to remain far more calm than I was during the first weeks of probate application.  It is a near miracle.

I am "happy tired" today.  After doing very little in the way of physical work such as major housecleaning for the past couple of weeks, I went at it yesterday and cleaned the upper floor of this suite.  With all the windows being open during the summer nighttime breezes, there was SO MUCH dust all over everything....however, not nearly as much as there was prior to having the carpets professionally cleaned a few weeks ago.  I went at things a little bit too elatedly and wore myself out in the heat.  Either today or tomorrow I will clean the downstairs, but with the lack of sleep overnight I am not going to push myself today.  I have a kazillion animal programmes recorded from last week that I must get cleared off our PVR.  My husband has dutifully watched all three football games he recorded while we were gone last week and erased them, so it is my turn.

This week I am in serious prayer for Cee and Nan.  Cee has not improved much in his health issues, but today they are travelling to meet their family at a beautiful lake for a few days of rest and change of scene and pace.  Nan has to do all the driving now and she is like me: NOT used to driving long distances on her own, so I am praying it is a positive experience for her.  Please, if you have been praying for them, let's join together in prayer that Cee will not have any medical issues that will mean having a miserable time or having to leave early to get medical assistance.  Thank you.  Cee has been struggling with these only partially diagnosed issues for about the past four years or so.  Nan has a lot of stress each day taking over the various house and garden duties Cee loved to do himself.  If you have ever lived with a chronically ill person, you know that even when things are going well there is always a niggling in the back of your mind that something COULD go wrong at any time.  If you live with a chronically ill person you are never fully at ease.

Tomorrow I hope to watch the funeral online of a dear church friend who passed away unexpectedly and very quickly a few days ago.  My husband will be leading his Wednesday morning men's group while the regular leader is on vacation.  The following day, while my husband is meeting with his political discussion group, I am going to enjoy some time with my walking partner and then spend the weekend figuring out what we need to pack up for our upcoming week of holiday. My husband will be in a campground with friends most of that time so our vehicle will be full of gear and camp food until we get to his destination.  After his few days in the mountains the race will be on to get him home in time to prepare for a canoe trip!  I am delighted he has this chance to connect with his friends after two years of pandemic quashed their annual summer adventures.  We are both determined not to waste too much time stressing over the dental work we are both having done before we go away.

I think I will go and watch one of those wonderful animal shows I mentioned and then have a shower and maybe even get dressed!  The idea of doing any more cleaning today is fast evaporating.......although since today's forecast high temperature is about ten degrees lower than yesterday's, perhaps I will just have to force myself to get some more work done....perhaps.....perhaps......perhaps.....  

Three Out Of Four.....

 .....only one more....hallelujah!

2 Down, 2 Underway, Yay!!

 Getting up so early to make phone calls for the bank appointments certainly paid off!  I needed to call three banks.  For the first two banks I was talking to a live agent in less than two minutes and have both those appointments set up.  Since their employees are also on holidays, I was able to wait and make those appointments for a couple of days after we return from our own holidays. YAY!  So, I am only having to wait for one call back from the third bank.  If it doesn't come by tomorrow afternoon my husband and I will be in the car and on our way to that branch first thing the following morning to find out how in the heck we are supposed to book appointments with their financial advisors when no one returns our calls after their recordings make promises that someone will.  I was able to reach the Estate department for that third bank, but they are now asking for a special access code that no one has given to me so wasn't able to connect with the head legal honchos.  Perhaps, if nothing else, if we are there in person someone in the branch will know how to get  us that "top secret" code so I can call the Ontario head office and get an appointment made.  I have a good online relationship with Mom's advisor for the fourth banking institution so have sent my usual email to him.  I should hear back from him by tomorrow.  I may be able to meet him in Calgary on a day when we are there during our vacation to sign some sensitive legal papers that neither of us are comfortable trusting in the various delivery agencies to take back and forth between our two cities.

So, I feel good about the progess made thus far.  Two and a half out of four in a matter of one early morning hour is much better progress than when I was trying to contact these institutions to get the application for probate underway. That took over six weeks to accomplish! Thank you Lord....and praying friends and family.  I may be deluded about how these appointments are going to work out, but my husband and I are both prepared to do battle if necessary to get these banks to obey the probate laws as they should.  So grateful that I am not nearly the basket case I was during the application appointments!!  Once we get this part of the process taken care of, then we just have to start collecting everything the tax accountant needs. Legally he has to file by the first of next April to complete the estate, so I may have to chase down some of the paperwork prior to that date, but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My advice, should anyone in your family ask you to be the executor for their estate, find out if they can get someone else first.  If someone outside the family asks you to be the executor for their estate, just say "NO!!" and flee!

Round 2? 3? 11? 17? 23?

It’s 5:45am. In fifteen minutes I will start calling the Ontario head offices for the Estate departments at Mom’s banks. The closer I can call to their actual morning opening times the better chance I have of speaking to a live person with a minimal wait time....at least that is what happened when I made my first calls to them to report Mom’s death back in the winter. We shall see how it goes this time. I will be so glad when the misery of being the executor is finally over. Will it ever be over?? Blah!!!! Oh Lord give me strength and tenacity and, if possible, an easier experience this time around. Thank you. Amen.

I woke up with what appears may be round two of my eye issue. At least I have the necessary meds and some daily protocols to follow now. If this routine does not help substantially in another few weeks I will return to the eye specialist for more assistance. 

Our holiday plans began coming together yesterday. That is a relief. Our week away has been quite a jumbled mess of ideas and a partial itinerary, but nothing began to “gel” until yesterday afternoon. It is all very last minute, but at least we are getting hotels booked and plans with friends set up slowly but surely. Perhaps we will actually get away for a few days. Most of my husband’s plans involve camping and canoeing with his buddies, so once a couple of dates are finalized for him, I will know when I can make plans to see my own friends and enjoy activities with them. 

Well, it is time to pick up the phone and start dialing up the banks! Here goes.....

Happily Home Again...For A Few Days Anyway.....

 It has been a fulfilling week for us!

The trip to my auntie's funeral was worth every moment of the trip.  We drove there in good weather, enjoyed our hotel stay once the reservation glitch was sorted out, ate some restaurant meals that were better than we have had in that particular city in times past (fish curry at The Three Trees....delish!!), got in on a short term price drop in gasoline there and best of all had some wonderful visits with cousins I have not seen in at least a decade (or two in some cases).  

The day of the funeral we picked up one of my cousins and her daughter in law and drove them the nearly hour's trip to the cemetery where the rest of my deceased  family members are buried.  I was so happy to see the graveyard and the memorial stones being so well looked after.  Grannie and Grandpa and various cousins and auties and uncles are all buried there, so I was happy to be able to make a visit and spend some time remembering them.  Now the last of my mom's sisters will join them there.  Warm hugs from two of my "old farmer" cousins were so welcome, especially as they were so unexpected.  How marvellous.  I reconnected with several cousins and had some good conversations before we drove back to town for lunch and the funeral service.

The service packed quite a bit of music and scripture and tributes into an hour's service.  Things went along quickly and well.  The minister who spoke from Psalm 23 knew how much time is appropriate for giving a message at a funeral, so I remember what he said....it was concise and clear, bless that man.  One of the cousins put together a slide presentation of Auntie's life on the mission field in Nigeria with SIM...nearly 40 years of ministry overseas.  The presentation also included several photos of the six sisters over the years and that was very special.  At  the luncheon afterward there was more visiting and we especially enjoyed visiting with a cousin from Ontario we have not seen in a very long time.  She was my mom's maid of honour at Mom's and Dad's wedding and she was only 16 years old at the time....a beautiful girl.  Mom had been living with her eldest sister and her family and was a roommate with this cousin....Mom always thought of her as a little sister and was so happy that they remained in touch all the rest of her life. We were a bit envious that this particular cousin was heading next to our favourite city of Vancouver to visit her son and his family there...happy for her of course, but wishing we had a reason to return there for a visit.  It just wouldn't be the same since our son is no longer there, but still.....maybe next year?

The following morning we left for Edmonton to see Ray.  He is looking quite well and has learned how to pace himself to conserve his energy.   His medical news is fairly good right now:  the immunotherapy has greatly reduced the size of the tumours in his lungs and on his pelvic bone.  Unfortunately it has not yet reduced the size of the large kidney tumour, BUT for the first time in nearly two years, the amount of growth of that tumour is minimal. So, there is at least some hope that the immunotherapy will start to reverse the growth of that kidney tumour, but it is the most advanced of all the tumours, so the immunotherapy may not be effective in shrinking it.  The brain tumour has never returned and there is no evidence at all of any new tumours arising.  So, mostly good news.  We took him out for lunch and then back to the house to view his backyard plants and look at some sketching he has begun to do after a hiatus of about thirty years!!  He is very artistic and does excellent faces.  He asked us if we could spend the night, but he was obviously exhausted. Since we were too, and knew that staying would mean a 9 hour drive home today, we took our leave mid afternoon and received no argument from him.  We are glad we took the extra time and effort to see him.  He is hanging in fairly well and preparing his RV for a drive out to the Shuswap to see his brothers.  The fact that he is prepared to do that tells us he is managing his therapies and his energy well.  Thrilled for him to be able to see his family and the dearly loved area of BC that his family enjoys so much.

After a miserably rainy drive to Edmonton yesterday, followed by a sunny drive back to Lloydminster and an extra night in the same hotel room we checked out of that same morning, we headed home today.  The temperature was perfect for driving at about +21C and it isn't going to be hot here again for another couple of days.  Even then, we have only one day this coming week at +33C and the rest of the days are  just under +30C, so it should be a good week.

I am unpacked, sad to get news of the death of a church friend, getting ready to settle into some tv watching....probably will watch the finale of ALONE as soon as my husband finishes watching one of the three football games he recorded while we were away.  Tomorrow if we are too tired we will attend church on Zoom and then I have to organize all the paperwork for making calls on Monday to the Estate phone lines for the banks who need the Grant of Probate to give me control of managing the estate.  More appointments to set up, more unnecessary battles possibly to come for no reason other than so few of the so called "Estate Finacial Advisors" are properly trained in their jobs any more.  I am SO THANKFUL that Mom made my husband a co-executor as he is very good at stepping in as the "heavy" when necessary.  

I am grateful to God for the chance to go to Auntie's funeral and see so many cousins, for a bit of a road trip that wasn't too long or strenuous, for a break out of this townhouse and for the chance to get going on the estate again before our next round of holidays. God is good.

Not QUITE As Relaxed As Our Son Is This Weekend!

While we have been driving all over the province the past few days visiting family here and there and attending my auntie's funeral, Ebot has been at the summer house in Long Island, enjoying the heat wave and relaxing in the best possible way:

Aaaaah, another relaxing weekend in the pool!

The Usual Travel Glitches....

Here we are in our hotel after a looooooonger drive than expected time-wise. SO MUCH ROAD CONSTRUCTION!!!!! Our five hours of actual driving time turned into nearly six and a half hours. Hahaha....that is what we get for not considering that we are in the midst of summer:  prime road repair, cable laying, road resurfacing, median building, line repainting, bridge erecting, overpass restructuring  time! Wow!!! In total we travelled about 65km in reduced speed zones of 40-60km! 

We pre-picked a Saskatoon restaurant for lunch today because it is right along the route through the city and back out to the connecting highway we needed, but had not realized every street leading to the restaurant along our route was blocked off and torn up for water main replacement. We drove blocks and blocks out of our way to circle back to our restaurant of choice, being equally unable to access any of the other restaurants along the route. The delicious food made the extra drive worthwhile and the young staff  members treated us like beloved grandparents. Adorable!! Thank you Birmingham’s Saskatoon! 

We FINALLY arrived at our hotel only to discover that despite our having received several emails from their establishment, all bearing the same confirmation number, there was no record of our reservation on file. Ooopsie!! Long story short, we were given a lovely room with an additional discount. Yay!! Had it been a Friday or Saturday night it is likely we would not have been able to get a decent room anywhere in town due to it being prime summer wedding season. Whew!! Thank you Lord! We were very tired by the time we got checked in, so opted to eat dinner at a small lounge in the hotel. What a tiny menu and what delicious food!! My burger came on a very small bun, just right for my carb count and the giant sirloin burger was slathered in avocado/garlic aioli! The Caesar side salad was large and had a lovely dressing. My husband had a bbq chicken pizza and enjoyed it, but brought home three slices...BREAKFAST! (or at least it will be an alternative if the free hotel breakfast turns out to be a dud, haha.)

As we sat eating our dinner tonight I noticed a couple of familiar looking fellows about my son’s age sitting at the bar and realized as their conversation grew louder with every pint of beer that they are two of my second cousins. I haven’t seen either of them since they were young teenagers. No, I didn’t go over and introduce myself. I am so far out of the family loop I am certain neither of them has any memory of my existence. I felt like a spy overhearing their family oriented conversation, but when people talk so loudly in public spaces they are going to be overheard. It was kind of an odd experience.

It is currently 7:20pm. My husband is already in bed, pj’s on, reading over his notes for presentation at the funeral tomorrow. I expect he will be asleep by 8pm. Since we have to get up early, this is a good thing.

Greatly Relieved!!

 I am so grateful that my legal papers arrived today! I can attend Auntie’s funeral without the stress of wondering whether or not they are hanging out of my mailbox until I get back. Thank you Lord and prayer partners. Whew! Now I have this short time away to gear up for the final round of bank fights next week. I just sent the lawyer the payment for his surprisingly reasonable fees and court costs. Whew again! The work and stress are winding down, so I am looking forward to soon only having to deal with the tax department and having our excellent tax accountant file the final estate tax forms. A friend of mine recently described being an estate executor as “soul sucking”. She is right on!! Now I am going to get ready for our trip to the funeral!!

Old Fuzzy Brain Here Solved The Cabinet Issue!

We have asked numerous people if they would like to have the previously mentioned dining room cabinet we brought back here after Mom died. Lots of interest, but no one really needed it. Yesterday I was walking past the tv on its little old stand that we bought at IKEA nearly 20 years ago and the lights finally cane on in my brain! Why not switch it out for the much nicer, taller cabinet?? Duh!!!! Of course, how obvious, but it didn’t occur to me until yesterday. So, that is what we did! I am loving having the tv two feet higher, with easier access to the PVR box for cleaning, plus the addition of the enclosed shelving has allowed me to bring my piano music from a cabinet upstairs and store it right beside the piano where it belongs! Yippee!! I need to pray for the ability to think more clearly and quickly!!! 

A Little Too Much Excitement To End The Day!!

After a serene day of ironing, making meals, a lovely evening with friends and a nice telephone chat with a cousin, I felt quite content as I prepared for bed. I was just about to turn out the light and hope for a good sleep when I heard a terribly loud explosion out in the parking lot. I knew it wasn’t a gun, so I jumped out of bed to look out of the window just as a second, smaller explosion occurred and I watched a two storey funnel of flames streak from the parking lot dumpster up into the sky. Aerosol cans!! I grabbed the phone and called 911. Fortunately the firemen and the water truck were here in less than four minutes. Several more aerosol cans blew up before they arrived, fuelling the growing fire that was melting the metal sides of the huge bin. A breeze began wafting the flames and showers of sparks directly toward our building and I was preparing to awaken my husband in case we had to run for our lives, but just then a final explosion sent the flames bending and weaving in the opposite direction. Whew!! The bin was full of old furniture left behind by a former tenant and wow, those old vinyl couch cushions can hold the heat. It took the fire fighters more than ten minutes to put the fire completely out. Then they had to search the remaining contents of the bin in case one of our area street people, possibly sniffing aerosols, had been inside when the fire began. Fortunately that was not the case! If anyone was in the bin when the first explosion happened, that person escaped. Either that or something similar was the scenario, or we have an arsonist on the loose once again deliberately setting fire to the disposal bins. Oh dear Lord please let the whole thing have been an accident, a spontaneous combustion of that first exploding can. Thank you Lord for keeping all the residents safe tonight.

Raising Butterflies? At Home?

The lady who preached at church yesterday brought an amazing object lesson with her: a clear, soft plastic zip up case, about two feet tall, a foot wide and a foot deep, lined with netting. On the bottom of the case were some milk thistle leaves upon which a tiny caterpillar was feeding. Hanging from the top of the case were nine tiny chrysalis’. The case was resting on a table at the front of the church so we were able to have a good look at its contents before the service began. The caterpillars inside those chrysalis’ are transforming into monarch butterflies!! Wow!!! I had no idea lay people, (as in non-biologists, non-zoologists), could raise these precious creatures right in their own homes. Obviously my ignorance runs deep. She has been raising them for several years now, so she was able to describe the process very well. Although facts about raising monarch butterflies was not the point of her sermon, we still learned a lot about them and it was fascinating. It is great to learn about God of course, but it is equally fascinating to learn more about his creation.