Feeling At Least A Little Better...Both Of Us

 The weather continues to astound here on the prairies.  We have had very good weather although we are going to need at least a couple of weeks, in the next three months, of temperatures in the -20C to -40C range to discourage all manner of illness creating viruses and bacteria from living long enough to make us all ill.  For now however, I am praying hope against hope that there will be very little snow this winter and that the land can be replenished by some decent spring and summer rains....my selfishness is showing the more I enjoy the warmth and dry ground that are so unusual here at this time of year.   Sigh....I know,  I know...dream on.

My husband and I are both feeling much better medically the past couple of days, despite kind of a miserable morning yesterday for us both. By noon we were feeling much better and managed to accomplish a few things. My husband was well enough to attend a morning prayer group he has not been able to attend regularly for the past few months.  I am happy for him.  As a result of his attendance at Morning Prayer, he was asked to play the part of St. Nicholas at a church family event for St. Nicholas Day.  His crazy beard had a lot to do with the invitation. He has done this before and just loved it, giving presents to all the children there, watching their excitement at getting a gift BEFORE Christmas, hahaha.  I may go along this time and observe all the fun myself.

We met up with a friend last evening and took him out to dinner at the Knotted Thistle.  He loves going there for a particular pasta dish. It is a HUGE portion and he eats the whole thing every time. hahaha  My husband and I ordred the Celtic Plate.  It was rather interesting and tasty, although it looked like a dog's breakfast on the plate when it arrived. hahaha  The base of the dish was creamy mashed potatoes on top of which was piled a very tender brisket, peas, gravy, cabbage and dried onions.  Really weird, but it really worked for flavour.  I went crazy and ate far too much of it...very ashamed of myself as it set off a few GERD symptoms due to the richness of the meal. Well, live and suffer and therefore learn, right?  I will figure this thing out eventually.  What a great time we all had. Even though it was weekly wing night, the big rush was over by the time we arrived and when we left two hours later, we felt satisfied that we'd had a great visit without having to holler at each other to be heard over the noise of other patrons...a lovely experience.

This morning my husband went to his usual Thursday morning men's gathering, stopping on the way home to pick up a few fresh veggies and fresh chicken and beef.  As soon as he got home he began prepping for two stir fry dishes as he wanted to cook for our lunch time company.  I spent the morning tidying up, getting the dining room table set, preparing some simple desserts and enjoying having the time at home alone to dodder along at my own pace.  We had a wonderful meal and visit with our company....my husband can COOK!  

After our company went home we drove out to a public library branch we had never gone to before.  My husband was able to get the next season of videos of his televised science fiction series, along with a couple of seasons of our favourite Grantchester Mysteries that we haven't seen before. Unfortunately they didn't have any of the Vera seasons on video that we haven't already seen, but perhaps the sets from 2020 to 2023 will show up eventually.  Vera was always our favourite of the British crime drama programmes.  We can pick up a couple of back seasons of Annika as well.  So, nice to know there will be some interesting tv shows to watch this winter.

After our trip to the library we realized we didn't want to have stir fry leftovers for dinner, so my husband, who wore himself plum out with the frantic food preparation this morning, drove us to Birminghams for thin crust pizza.  I couldn't eat a lot of it because of carbs for diabetes and now fat that could upset my GERD, but it means we have leftovers that will see us through a couple of more meals....along with the stir fry leftovers I will not have to cook again until Sunday!! Yayayayaya!! hahaha Cooking a proper meal seems to take more creativity than I have any more, but hopefully I will get over that soon and enjoy planning and preparing meals once again.

Tomorrow is a day to get some paperwork together for our the property management team here where we live. They are changing a few rules on how we will all be allowed to pay our rent in the new year, starting a new tracking programme for when tennant insurance is due, etc. etc. etc.  Wish their plans for change could have waited until we move out next year, but there is that selfish laziness on my part rearing its ugly head again. hahaha  Looking forward to a day of deciding moment by moment what I am/we are going to do to enjoy our day.

Wish I Could Be There!

 Our son is heading to Miami next week to participate in the N ew Art Dealers Alliance art fair.  He is looking forward to the trip, even though it will only be for a few days.  He has a few paintings to exhibit. Here are a couple of my favourites:

351/2 x 433/8 inches  90.17 x 110.19 cm

 

193/4 x 193/4 inches  50 x 50 cm

I hope he does well at the art fair and meets some more interesting artists there.  It will be his last international trip for this year and, while it doesn't make up for having to miss out on his hoped for trip to Beijing this autumn, at least it is something different from the day to day.  Next stop Vancouver in the new year!

Go! Go! Go!

 What a great, productive day....the kind of day that sings to my heart and mind, partly because today's errands kept us out of the house for several hours and gave me something different to think about!  YAY!!

My husband had a decent sleep-in and we both had a decent breakfast to start the day, relaxing in front of the tv while we ate: we have a penchant for highway rescue programmes for some wierd reason that escapes us, so we watched one from Norway and one from British Columbia...what is it about watching towing companies stretched to their limit as they haul twisted metal and trailers full of product off scary highways after accidents have occurred? hahaha  Nope, we don't know either.  No one can accuse of being snooty about our tv viewing preferences....wierd and ridiculous, but never snooty!

We finally headed out around 11am to try to knock a few chores off our list that have been pending for some time and we accomplished 7 out of 9 of them before 3pm!  The others can be saved for later this week.  We mailed letters, took in some recycling, stopped at a second hand book store that is rarely open and picked up some books for a reasonable price since they are having a sale right now to reduce their over abundance of stock.  We stopped at my husband's doctor's office to go inside to make an appointment for him since getting through on the phone proved next to impossible and the clinic is close to some other stores we went to today.  I returned to Sleep Country and purchased a new platform for my new mattress as I have decided it is too draughty to leave the mattress on the floor....it has been kind of chilly down there already and it isn't even that cold at night yet.  We ate lunch at the recently opened Leopold's Tavern in Harbour Landing....crowded and busy but a fun place to hang.  The music isn't nearly as loud (yet?) as it is at their other restaurants, so for that we were grateful.  My husband had their roast beast special: a thick burger patty and sliced roast beef stacked HIGH on a bun with sharp cheese and arugula, plus he opted for the pasta soup instead of fries. The soup was more like a bowl of actual pasta entree, rather than soup....no broth, just a rich and creamy tomato sauce.  I opted for the breakfast and it was delicious.  The cubed pan fried potatoes were covered in diced red onion and green peppers, the sausage was a freshly made patty, the Texas toast was dry so I could put on my peanut butter and/or jelly without feeling like I was eating a mouthful of grease as well.  The pan fries were not greasy, the only fat was in the sausage patty, but even that had been drained so there was no fat on my plate.  My husband gave me his generous bowl of gravy to dip my pan fries in and that made it extra special.  It was just the right size of helping.  We brought home the toast, some of the pan fries and half my husband's"beast on a bun".  He will have a nice leftovers dinner tonight....I will probably have toast and tea after that filling lunch.

After lunch we went to Sasktel and purchased me a new cell phone.  I use my phone only rarely and mostly for texts, so I was able to just buy a new, older model phone for a couple of hundred dollars, come in under my husband's existing cell phone plan and am now paying a grand total of fifteen dollars a month for minimal data as I don't connect to the internet with my phone as a rule, 100 Canadian phone minutes....of which I might use 15-20 as I don't use my cell much and don't give the number out to anyone much other than businesses that find it more convenient for themselves than using my land line.  The best part for me is the unlimited texting in Canada and the USA. "Hello son, I have a new number!"  I look forward to getting my new phone all set up later today.  Having a local phone number on it will be a treat as I have been using a number I got three towns ago.  I have been using it since I left that town in 2010!  See how rarely I use my cell?  Mostly I have it for security for when I am driving by myself and may need help, as well as for the aforementioned businesses.  I love living my life NOT tied to a cell phone.  Yes, it is inconvenient for some of my friends....oh well.

We have more things to take to the recycling and thrift stores at some point very soon...either later this week or early next week.  It is such a thrill to see things LEAVING our basement instead of entering it!!  Unless you have been "blessed" with too much useless "stuff" long term in your possession, you may not understand the joy of "FINALLY getting rid of.....".

The sun is shining, it is above 0...subsequently our car needs a good washing off, but that can wait until it is a bit cooler. The streets are sloppy where the latest drifts of snow and icy buildups are melting.  Hate the mess.  Love the warmth.

A good day today! AAAND a good friend is coming from out of town to see me tomorrow.  AAAAND the next day we are having friends in for lunch and my husband is doing the cooking! YIPPEE!

My Husband's Unrelenting Health Stress

My husband has suffered tremendously for the past 40 years with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a chronic condition that was not even widely recognized as an actual physical medical condition for decades. In 2015 the Institute of Medicine released a report that called CFS "a legitimate, serious, and complex systematic disease that frequently and dramatically limits the activities of affected individuals."  The Institute also recommended that CFS be renamed, "Systematic Exertion Intolerance Disease". (sourced from a National Academies Science Engineering Medicine news release published February 10, 2015)

CFS is incredibly, wickedly, difficult to diagnose, as my husband discovered throughout the 13 years he spent going from doctor to doctor, specialist to labratory to health food store.  It is apparently most likely a genetic predisposition activated by various triggers, which differ from person to person.

Short story, the following symptoms occur almost daily for my husband, during his episodes of recurrence and can last up to about six months with little relief:

-debiltating fatigue that leads to serious reductions in ability to properly function on a daily basis

-tiredness that does not completely go away no matter how much sleep he is able to get

-post-exertional malaise: symptoms flare when any kind of physical, emotional or mental stress is more than his body can handle.

-swollen lymph nodes, particularly in the neck and upper body

-waking up tired even after as long as 12 hours in bed, sleeping well....fortunately my husband does not suffer from the insomnia and frequent night time awakenings that some CFS patients have

-sluggish brain...causes a delay sometimes in his being able to process information. While the information is still processed it takes longer than what was usual before my husband became ill. 

-headaches, a daily occurrence during months' long episodes of CFS, making activity daunting, particularly visiting other people, or doing away from home activities

-sore throats that come and go for no reason

-sensitivity to certain foods and drugs and chemicals

(Fortunately my husband does not suffer orthostatic intolerance...a term that refers to CFS's effect on the automatic nervous system that can cause dizziness and light headedness, nor does he experience shortness of breath, although we know patients who do suffer mightily from these and are among the approximately 25% of CFS suffers who end up stuck at home or even bed ridden.)

After 35 years of this he is pretty worn out with the stress of dealing with these symptoms regularly, the never knowing when the next episode may begin after a period of relief,  the constant adjusting of his diet when new food sensitivities arise and others calm down, the frustrating attempts not to over schedule himself while not shutting his life and ministry down completely, the stress of trying to enjoy socializing when he feels like he can hardly push one foot in front of the other or participate in a conversation, the disappointment of having to cancel commitments he was looking forward to. 

CFS is the bane of our lives, but one we have managed by the grace of God (and understanding friends and employers) for all this time.  My son and I have lost out on many of the activities that are supposed to happen in our relationships with a dad and husband, thanks to this miserable disease, and my husband has to deal with constantly giving up (unnecessary) feelings of guilt when we have to cancel our participation in much anticipated events at the last minute.

If you or anyone you know suffers from this debilitating incurable disease, please know you are not alone. Even if you have not received a diagnosis yet, eventually you will find a doctor or other medical person who understands your symptoms are not all in your head, even though your level 1 and 2 laboratory tests say you are perfectly healthy.  Keep trying to get help, don't quit, demand higher levels of laboratory and other tests, don't feel stupid because you have medical distress that you don't understand, don't panic, don't be afraid to admit you suddenly feel too lousy to do something you agreed to do during a time when you felt well in between episodes.  Don't, for any reason, feel any guilt because you feel you are letting your family down when you haven't the energy to play with the kids, or can't help your wife with that project you know she was counting on you for.  CFS can be detrimental to relationships, careers and other long term commitments, BUT keep trying to get help.  Don't be afraid to try experimenting with your diet and exercise to find ways to counteract your symptoms.  Listen to your body and rest when it tells you to, even if you don't feel better afteward. Do GENTLE exercise as wearing yourself out physically never helps the condition.  CFS diagnosis is not a completely hopeless cause. The Center for Disease Control can provide you with lots of helpful information you can discuss with your doctors.  

There is hope on the horizon! 

Whatever you do, DON'T GIVE UP HOPE!!!

Goose Is Gonna Getchya, Goose Is Gonna Getchya', Goose Is Gonna Getcha'......

 Sooooo, I woke up this morning and there was the goose, unbelievably still alive after all, looking horrific with feathers bent at all angles, but alive and managing to limp painfully a few feet away from the patch of lawn where it spent the night.  This action effectively removed it from the CW Health Cooperative file and onto the local wildlife rescue operation.  My husband found their number online and according to their information a volunteer would be available to come get the goose between 9am and 5pm, today.  We are still waiting at just after 2pm.  The goose managed to hobble all the way across the street and back over here a little while ago, but it obviously is injured and cannot fly.  Praying one of the rescue volunteers will actually come and pick it up. SHouldn't be difficult to catch it, that's for sure.  I am glad it is still alive, but I pray it isn't suffering unduly.  At least the snow has stopped coming down, the sun is shining and the wind isn't nearly as cold and strong as it was overnight.  My husband has not received any call back from the rescue operation.  Our past experience with them tells us that once they have made an attempt to capture the bird, successfully or otherwise, they will call back to tell us what happened.  Glad we opted not to stay home from church this morning waiting to hear from either of the organizations we contacted. 

It was very nice to be back at church in person this morning.  Quite a treat after missing 5 weeks in a row!  My husband and I were among an elite group who were wearing masks, perhaps a half dozen of us?  We didn't stay for fellowship time afterward as we had the opportunity to visit most of our friends upstairs in the sanctuary before anyone went downstairs for coffee.  We are not wearing masks particularly for COVID issues, but for the sake of hoping to prevent catching or spreading other cold and influenza viruses that are running rampant around our city these days.

After church we decided my GERD needed a chance to discover if it was going to be set off by mildly spiced Indian food, so off we went to DarBar for lunch.  I finished eating nearly 90 minutes ago and thus far there have been no serious repercussions, whew!  If I have to give up Indian meals I don't know what I will do.  I have managed to live without hot chocolate (totally) and brownies (totally) and pizza (mostly) for the past ten years, but giving up Indian food would make life barely worth living!!! hahahaha  When I meet next with my GP I need to find out what the expectations I should and should not have in regard to what the outcomes of my taking these meds should be.  Since the diagnosis and prescription came from a cardiac specialist in the overly busy Emergency ward, I would like to discuss this situation in a bit more detail with my GP, who moves on the time of her country of origin thus guaranteeing me sufficient time to ask all the rest of my questions. YES!!  

Ya' Got Yer Dead Goose In The Middle Of The Lawn....

 My heart is very sad tonight.  Earlier today I noticed a lone Canada Goose standing on the front lawn near our suite and thought that was kind of unusual, as they rarely fly over here once winter comes, living instead in more sheltered places right in the park areas in the city if they don't migrate back south.  I was carrying groceries in from my car at the time, so didn't think much about it.  I did notice it walking across the street back to the park awhile later.

Just as the sun was setting,  I noticed the cars all stopped in the driving lanes outside our front windows as this apparently same goose walked slowly across the main street back to our front lawn from the park.  That seemed even more unusual because it should have been flying.  Its tailfeathers were drooping but I couldn't tell if they really were or if it was a result of the strong wind.

It eventually sat down on the snowy lawn in front of my living room window and proceeded to nose through the light layer of snow, munching on whatever grass is still viable out there. When I looked out a couple of hours later it hadn't moved but was still munching, so I wasn't overly worried about it.

An hour ago I noticed it had moved over a few feet, but its head was tucked under its wing.  Looking out again a few minutes ago I realized its head has not moved, it doesn't appear to be breathing and its back feathers are being tossed about in the wind.  It has made no effort to find a more covered, safe shelter for the night.  My husband took a look outside as well and it appears the poor dear has died.   Sigh....of course it had to happen right here in front of my place. I am so very sad.  I know these things happen and since this bird had separated itself from the rest of its flock for so many hours I should have realized it was likely dying.

So, time to call the hot line for sick and dead birds and have someone come to pick it up.  Avian flu has been attacking various flocks of birds in our province once again, so don't want it to be there when the little kids come out to play tomorrow.  They could become very ill if they touch it.  

Oh how I hate the reality of dying animals...sometimes it weighs on me because of a couple of horrible past experiences with animals in my life.

For some reason I am not as upset with falling snow on Saturdays as I am the other days of the week.  After a couple or three wonderful weeks with no new snow, decent temperatures and no ice on the sidewalks and roads, I should be very discouraged by the snow that began falling just after lunch today, turning every surface icy and slick, but I'm not. Yay me! hahaha

The forecast this morning was different on every website I looked at: everything from slight snow showers to an all out blizzard between 2pm and 7pm today.  The snow began falling lightly just after lunch, but is coming down faster and thicker mid afternoon.  If the wind gets up we could have a bit of a blizzard by 4pm.  It will be interesting to see which forecasting website will turn out to be the most correct.  

I suppose the reason that Saturday snowfall rarely bothers me is because Saturday is generally a rather blah day.  I am home most every Saturday and so I don't really care.  I was up and out early enough this morning to run a few errands around the neighbourhood and was home by noon hour. That is it until church tomorrow morning....which we can HOPEFULLY attend in person after being absent for 5 Sundays in a row.  Again, so grateful for the live Zoom service.  

I am grateful to be feeling so much better since my trip to Emergency the other day. While I am still conscious of a slight pressure when I breathe deeply, I no longer have jaw and neck pain. Thus far the meds seem to be working well.  The gas in my tummy is not nearly as bad and it is dissipating very easily, avoiding a big build up. Thank the Lord, and dear friends who pray for me.  No side effects just yet with the pills I am taking, so hopefully that will continue.  I am being very careful with what I ingest, taking the information I was given about diet very seriously.  I did try one of my carbonated drinks sweetened with stevia yesterday at noon, drank less than half a can before I realized the top of my tongue was going numb, poured out the rest and am now looking for someone here among my friends who can drink the two unopened cartons of cans I have left.  (Should you happen to be that person, shoot me an email and I will happily deliver these drinks directly to your door!) It is a lovely feeling not  to have to go to bed scared about what could happen after falling asleep.

Our fellowship group is going to be meeting here in a couple of weeks.  They are great coffee drinkers and as usual, I have no coffee or coffee maker or any ideas of what I could tempt everyone with that is NOT coffee or coffee based....sigh....  I decided I am going to just bite the bullet and buy a coffee maker of some kind.  I don't even know what the different kinds are or how to use them or what kind of coffee a person buys for each one.  Guess I am going to have to phone a coffee drinking friend and ask her to come with me to shop for all of the above. I am hoping that once we get moved next year I will feel more like having company in for meals and afternoon visits. Well, I do feel like it already, but our old place is so decrepit and now so freezing cold all the time that I am loathe to start cooking meals for people here.  I WANT OUT OF HERE!!!!! It was God's answer to our prayers when we first moved here and realized the horrible state of rentals in the wee city, but the time has come to move on. I am curious to see if either my husband or myself will have any fewer respiratory and skin issues once we move into a place that is (hopefully, God willing) in better condition than this one is.  It is going to be an interesting new year!  

We are in the same boat now as Cee and Nan: downsizing for a move to we know not where come the new year!  Please pray for them even more than us because their need for a move then is more dire than ours as Cee's strength and mobility continue to be compromised.  Thanks.

Cousins who recently moved out of province and had a horrible time selling their house here sent us their St. Jude medal once their house finally sold. St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless causes and they felt at this point we needed him more than they do! hahahahaha  "Hopeless" is not a new feeling nor concept for my husband and I in our life together over the past nearly 50 years, but neither are God's last minute answers to prayer just as things appear to be so hopeless that no answer could possibly be forthcoming. As perverse as this may sound to some of you, despite the natural stress involved in facing such a presently directionless move, we are actually kind of excited to see what God provides for our accommodation and where we end up next! 

 

 

Wish I Had Been Walking In Central Park On Thanksgiving

Our son's girlfriend sent us a lovely photo of the two of them standing among the falling foliage in Central Park yesterday...their Thanksgiving pre-dinner walk before they became "full of pie."  haha  What a lovely treat for us!

I would LOVE to see Central Park in the autumn! Lucky people!

 

The sun is shining brightly here today. It was -15C overnight here on the prairies, but the temperature is back up around -3C at the moment.  A lovely afternoon for a walk, but I opted to do laundry instead.  With all the trips up and down the stairs, I still got my exercise.  Although we are to get snow showers tomorrow, it is supposed to be +1C by afternoon, so if it isn't too wet and icy I may walk over to the hospital again and do some visiting.

My husband is writing away  like a mad man getting articles ready to be sent to the publisher tomorrow.  He is so much happier now that he is sleeping better on his new mattress.  He is having far fewer headaches in the morning when he wakes up because he has not been awake tossing and turning half the night.  Hallelujah!

A Favourite Japanese Poem

 23 years ago we were visiting a  family in Gunma Prefecture in Japan and they introduced us to the beautiful poetry of Tomihiro Hoshino, born there in 1946, a former gymnastics teacher who became almost totally paralyzed due to an accident. After the accident he learned to write and to paint gorgeous, delicate florals using a paint brush in his mouth. Despite being bedridden by paralysis he apparently remained a deeply grateful, joyful Christian. Our friends took us to a museum dedicated to his life, poetry and painting where we spent a glorious afternoon. 

I recently found this English translation of my favourite poem:

“I do not need a wedding ring, you said,

   When I wash your face in the morning

            it might hurt you

       and I don’t want to hurt you when I lift you up.

          No, you said, I do not need a wedding ring.

                Morning light

       filters through the curtain

                 You are my wife now.

       You scoop up water from the wash bowl.

                   The drops of water

           falling from your ten fingers

                  are more beautiful 

                             than

                       silver or gold.”

Sadly, There Is More Than One Way To Lose A Friend

 I got my medications and new evening eating habits on track last night and woke up this morning with nary a pain nor a pressure anywhere!  Thank you Lord, I am so happy.  My stomach is letting me know the issue still exists, but not through pain. No pain in my neck or jaw after so much of it and I am thrilled.  Yes, there will be many painful episodes in future as I sort this out and as my body continually changes what foods it will and will not accept, when I can best exercise without doing it right after a meal, etc. etc. etc. BUT I am on the road and today I am feeling great! There are a few foods I have been eating too much of that are contributing to the issue, as I understand it now.  It is nice to feel like I can be more proactive once again in taking care of myself properly.  Balancing diabetic dietary and exercise needs with GERD dietary and exercise needs is a challenge I feel I can take on.

Today, although the temperature did not rise above 0,  It was still okay to walk outside with a warm coat and thin gloves and shoes.  I decided to go to visit a friend in hospital I have not visited much in the past few weeks due to my own health condition.  The wind was very cold on my face for the first three blocks, but then I turned a corner out of the wind and into a neighbourhood surrounded by tall trees. Aaaahhh, that was better. I was barely conscious of the wind, conscious only of the freedom to walk outside that I was enjoying. Lovely, lovely, lovely.  The wind was behind me for the last three blocks coming home again and I am so thrilled I felt well enough, at last, to take advantage of one of the warmer November days! 

My time at the hospital, visiting one of several of my friends who have been admitted there in recent weeks, was rather discouraging....sigh.....  When she was admitted several weeks ago, she was so ill I thought she might not last more than a few days, although she is vastly improved, thank the Lord. However, she is not always lucid these days.  I noticed some little changes in her cognitive abilities a few weeks before she went to the hospital, but have been assuming until today that the illness was the culprit.  When I saw her the first time in hospital she was hallucinating and very confused. Reality had left her, but once again I assumed it was because she was so very ill.  Today when the visit began she was back on this planet mentally and I was so very happy.  By the time I left, a half hour later, she had slipped back into her own world and what struck me the hardest was her paranoid state as she slipped away from me.  That paranoid, "others here are out to get me", state of mind reminds me too strongly of other friends and family over the years who have slipped into dementia....I don't know at all if that is what is happening to my friend, but I am so very worried about her.  She has children here who take good care of her.  Her grandchildren are in their late teens and also do their best to help "grammy", so I am grateful she is not alone.  Wow....it is so hard watching my more senior friends battling with their various health issues, particularly those who have lost mobility, lost their positivity, lost their grip on reality.  So, so hard...... A few years from now, when I am the age they are now, will it be my turn to be in such a sad and serious state? 

From Meme World….

 Stop blaming yourself or others.

Learn Feng Shui and blame the furniture!

A Poem For Stressful Times

 The Peace of the Wild Things

By Wendell Barry

When despair for the world grows in me

  and I wake in the night at the least sound

In fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

 rests in his beauty on the water, and the great

 heron feeds.

I come into the place of wild things

 who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still waters

  and I feel around me the day-blind stars

  waiting with their light. For a time 

  I rest in the grace of the world and am free.

More Good News About Family Health!

Our son called just before dinner tonight to tell us the results of his endoscopy and we are all thrilled there is, as the doctor predicted, no cancer anywhere. Praise God and thank you for your prayers for him! 

He does however have the permanent esophageal condition that was also predicted by his doctor. It is different than mine, but no less serious or inconvenient. He will be taking steroids for three months to hopefully settle the inflammation, then he will be rechecked and go off the steroids if the tissue has calmed down. If not, he will undergo an intricate series of allergy tests that may or may not be capable of identifying everything bothering him. If all else fails at that point, the trials and tribulations of an elimination diet will begin. The physician in charge is not a great fan of elimination diets, or even of some of the allergy testing because of inaccuracies and after struggling through three years worth of elimination diets many years ago as part of diagnosing my husband’s CFS, we all understand the reluctance! 

So, while neither our son nor myself received “the best” medical news today, we DID receive the best news out of  all the dire possibilities! Amen!

An Early Morning In Emerg!

 My day began early and in an interesting manner...at least it was interesting to my husband and me! hahaha

I woke up at 3:30am with the worst neck and jaw pain I have had since this whole business started over two weeks ago and I couldn't stand it any more by 4am, so off my husband took me to the hospital Emergency Department.  It was a good experience all around for me.  Since I was presenting with possible heart attack symptoms I was processed immediately and had my first ECG within 15 minutes of arrival. What a blessing!  I was barely done with that before I was given a bed in the Emerg ward and saw a cardiac specialist.  He tested me for more things than I even knew I could be having symptoms for!  I had another ECG, two rounds of complete blood work up several hours apart for comparison, 4 chest x-rays, diabetes tests, a D-Dimler for blood clot possibilities and other tests checking for aneurysms.  Apart from a couple of above high normal results on the blood work due to inflammation, my tests showed me how healthy I actually am!  I had FAR more tests done than I would have had if I was still keeping my annual physical appointment tomorrow!  

So, diagnosis:  severe GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease!  I caught it early. It is very treatable. In fact the meds he gave me worked within less than 3 hours to rid me of all the pain!  My mother had it. My brother in law had it. Both of them had severe cases of it as well.  So, I have a prescription. I have lists of things to do for GERD left over in some paperwork of my mother's. My brother in law had the surgery that sometimes can be recommended to fix the issue and it really did help him.  Until 2 weeks ago I have barely ever had heart burn in my life, so finding out I have GERD was kind of a shock...but I am so relieved my heart is okay for now that I am thrilled to pieces with the diagnosis.  The cardiac specialist told me that sometime in the next year I need to request a referral from my GP for a heart echo test to check that damaged heart valve. Apparently as we age those leaky valves can start to stiffen and create more issues. He suspects that may be a possibility for me, but wants me to get the GERD under control before I request the echo test.

So, I am exhausted and heading to bed, but I am happy.  God has blessed me today beyond measure. Thank you for your care and concern and prayers.  May I never experience that level of on going pain again!

Kind Of A Relief.....

 I had a very good appointment with my doctor early this morning.  Short version:  it appears I am struggling with a combination of a respiratory allergy and a viral infection that is effecting my heart because a) that is what it does and b) my heart murmur has gotten a bit worse again since my last check.  So, I am taking a daily antihistamine for a few weeks, continuing to check the ever changing symptoms from the viral infection as I have been doing since it started, continue checking my resting pulse several times a day and my blood pressure more often than I have been.  Of course now the name of this particular viral infection has left the empty building that is my brain right now, but my symptoms are typical and exacerbating by the heart murmur issues that already exists.  I am also to quit pushing myself to get up and do things when I am tired. Rest, rest, rest!  I am most grateful to my doctor for taking the time with me today.  My annual physical will be delayed now for awhile until I am over the virus and that is a relief to me.  I felt quite a bit better yesterday and am slightly better again this morning as well, so it appears I may finally be winning the battle with this darned infection. YAY!

I arrived home from the pharmacy to a ringing telephone.  It was our son letting us know that a small glitch in our return tickets from vancouver had been straightened out, we have the email confirmation with our proper e-tickets attached and all is as well as it ever seems to be these days with Canadian air travel.  YAY!  Our son and his girlfriend have gone to great lengths to assist us so that they can use up their airline points and they have also paid extra costs relating to the change of plan.  God bless them both.  Talk about being right on top of things.  We love them so much.

It is a glorious day weather-wise today once again.  I quite enjoyed getting up and going outside right at sunrise (about 8:24am), scraping the ice off the car windshield in slightly above 0C weather and then after my appointment standing outside the pharmacy for a few minutes waiting for it to open.  Really, really nice to be out in the early morning sunshine, hardly a breeze to contend with, warm air....what a privilege and blessing on this later November day.  These are the days I will remember as this month wears on with much colder temperatures to come.   I WILL remember, I WILL, I WILL!!!!  (I likely won't, let's be real....sigh.....)

 

Staying Home From Church….Again!

We decided to remain at home this morning, viewing our church service on Zoom once again. We weren’t certain about what to do as my breathing issue is no worse than it has been over the past week, but a few minutes ago we received some congregational prayer requests: two more members have come down with COVID and there are three new cases of a debilitating tummy bug. Since my immune system will have sufficient bombardment of bacteria and viruses while I am sitting in the clinic waiting room tomorrow, I think it is best to remain at home. Blah! Zoom is better than nothing, but we are missing the fellowship with our church buddies.

A Mouldy Oldie Insult! Hahaha!

My husband found a clip on YouTube this evening that had him cackling like an old hen! It was a clip from the old Stampede Wrestling tv show, recorded in Calgary in the early 1980’s. The ring announcer, Ed Whalen, commenting on one of the wrestlers said, “If brains were dynamite, he couldn’t blow his hat off!!” Teehee….such a silly insult, but one I have not heard since well before this television clip was recorded, hahaha! No doubt even such an obviously silly “insult” would offend some woke person in this day and age. In fact, it seems that having a sense of humour of any kind offends many woke “sensibilities”. (no insult intended) Anyway, we had a good chuckle tonight when we heard the comment.

Decision Made....One Less Wait!

After several emails and texts with our son and his girlfriend regarding changing our flights out to Vancouver and back in the new year to accommodate a change of opening night for our son's art exhibition there, we decided not to change our day of departure from here, only the date of return. 

It means we now are going to spend a full two weeks in Vancouver.  The hotel we are staying at was able to keep us booked into our initial room for the one week extention.  It is a really nice hotel....for once!  We decided to just bite the bullet and have a hotel with everything we have ever wanted in our suite, including our own washer and dryer.  So, we can take far fewer clothes and take small duffel bags that will fit under our plane seats. That way we will be able to avoid the overhead storage compartment wars that have broken out in recent months as more passengers take larger carryons and try to cram both their allowed bags into the overhead bins.  We will also avoid being tempted to be persuaded by the airline staff to stow our carry ons under the plane, since we know if we did we would spend most of the two weeks away trying to locate our baggage, since we have a change of plane in Calgary on our way to the coast.  

The change of plans at our hotel netted us a saving of over eight hundred dollars for the two weeks!  We booked our first week through an online booking company and when we went to extend the booking the hotel clerk told us we could either go back to the booking company to do the booking extension, OR we could cancel our initial first week booking with them and book directly through himself and he would give us a better discount than the booking company did. Wow, did he ever!!!  Talk about a serendipitous change of plan for our finances!! Thank you Lord and thank you hotel!  I am sitting here looking at the emailed confirmations of our changes in plan and am very happy!  Our son is absorbing the small charge for changing our return flight as part of our Christmas present, so that is incredibly kind of him.  

So now we are excited....something truly wonderful to look forward to: a week on our own in Vancouver and another 5 of 6 days with our "kids".  Thank you, thank you Lord and thank you to our many friends who have been praying for us about taking this special trip.  Our last vacation of note was in the spring of 2018!!  FIVE and a half YEARS ago, nearly SIX by the time we leave!  Oh how grateful we are and we are going to remain positive that this trip is actually going to happen with none of us having any health issues that will end up cancelling it!!!  This is the first time in months we have been honestly excited about anything.  😁💗☝

Lots of Waiting Around These Days!

 Got a text from my son last night.  He was delighted with the excellent treatment he received during his endoscopy yesterday.  He was in most of the day, biopsies of everything in sight in his esophagus and area have been sent to the lab and now all he can do is wait for the results.  His doctor thinks his swallowing issues are allergy based and with our family history of allergies and food sensitivies on both sides of his family, that is as likely a scenario as any.  Waiting for test results is always difficult, but the Lord is giving us all strength. We all slept well last night.

Since I have my doctor's appointment on Monday I will do another test then to ensure I don't have COVID on top of anything else I have going on. 

Right now I am waiting on my husband as he checks with our hotel in Vancouver that is booked for our trip there in January with our son and his girlfriend.  With the change of date for the opening of the exhibition, we have to change our flight (s?). What we would like to do is still arrive in Vancouver on the originally scheduled date but re book the flight home.  It would give us two full weeks there for a REAL holiday, the first time in several years.  My husband is checking on the availability of suites in our currently booked hotel to see if we can extend. If so, I would be delighted!!!  It is a really nice suite.  Our son is waiting to hear from us so his girlfriend can re book with the airline.  

Waiting on health results, waiting on flights and holiday plans, waiting on so many other things right now....as a child my parents did teach me how to just sit and wait and that is what I am trying to do today....cheerfully....unstressed....almost succeeding too!

Know Thy Combo Plate Dry Spareribs!!!

 I was thinking this morning about the dry spareibs I ate at the restaurant the other night and cringing at the memory.  I don't usually order dry ribs because I don't care for them at the best of times, but they were a small part of my combo plate so....  Honestly, they were horrific!  Apart from one meaty little rib, they consisted of bones covered in deep fried batter that was held to the bones by thin strips of gristle and fat.  Yuck!!!!  Calling those dreadful things meat was a travesty!!  Good reminder as to why I don't order them as a rule!  I know I have eaten better ribs than that here in this city, but of course I have no memory of where that was!  Western style Chinese food is a rarity for our restaurant visits because so many of the dishes are bad for my diabetes with the sauces and so many noodles and so much rice.  I didn't particularly enjoy those meals even before I became diabetic....imagine!  A cuisine I don't like!!! Will wonders ever cease!!???

I was up and going rather early this morning,  as I received a notice yesterday that our bison meat order had arrived in town and needed to be picked up at 8am.  Yawn.....but no worries. The place is easy to get to, the coating of frost on the windshield of my vehicle was getting soft already even though the sun was just coming up and I had about a 1 minute wait for my order to be handed into my car.  Driving downtown in morning rush hour is no thrill in any city, large or small, but this city is particularly easy to get around in even when the traffic is relatively heavy.  My husband planned to come along, but when I saw him get out of bed, obviously long before he was ready to be awake, I sent him back to bed immediately.  The extra 90 minutes of sleep has stood him in good stead and it appears he has the alertness and physical energy to complete some writing projects for the Bishop and a sermon review for a friend today.  Now I have a little freezer compartment filled with ground bison and bison smokies. YUM!  Bison used to be so incredibly expensive compared to other meats that I bought it sparingly. With the ever rising cost of chicken and beef, bison prices aren't very far out of line any more, so we can enjoy more of it.

I received a text from our son this morning that is a bit worrisome, mostly because no matter how old the adult child, moms still worry.  He has had a swallowing issue for some time now, very similar to one that I have struggled with in times past, but his is growing increasingly worse. So this morning he is having an endoscopy to check this problem out more thoroughly.  If he has a similar issue to mine....a lack of saliva production that requires some daily management....he will be fine if he follows the protocols for water drinking in relationship to mealtimes, replacing cold water with room temperature water and hot water, etc.  However, with our growing family history of various cancers in recent years, my mind automatically goes to the worst case scenario.  I have to STOP THAT!!  Well, it is a distraction from my own issues with breathing right now anyway.  If you find this today and wouldn't mind shooting up a quick prayer for Eli that would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Speaking of my health, (and aren't I always),  I received my notice from the provincial health department that it is time for my usual 3 year diagnostic cancer tests.  So, although I have an appointment on Monday for the present issues, I called the clinic and scheduled a second appointment on Wednesday for my annual physical.  This is the time of year for it, but I had planned to move it into March or April of next year as the winter weather makes clinic and lab visits more inconvenient and stressful.  So much for that idea this time around.  It will be good to just get it over with I suspect.  If my blood sugar is up and my weight hasn't come down much, having those facts in hand may just inspire me to be more careful again with my diet and lifestyle. That is a good thing, not a bad one.

Our friends visiting from the far north are suffering a visitation of their own, terrible head colds, so our plans to get together for grey cup had to be cancelled.  It is most disappointing, but my biggest worry about our friends is that they are scheduled to fly home to the north country on MOnday.  Please say a prayer for them that they will be healthy enough by then to travel safely.  Grateful the first part of their visit here was good, but how very upsetting for them to spend their last week here ill.  We have not had the chance to see them in person at all, Grey Cup Sunday was to be the big dinner and visit around the game, so hopefully it won't be too long before they make a return visit.

The sun is shining today and the air temperature is pretty nice with only a light breeze.  My drive this morning to pick up the bison meat was most pleasant.  We have another 4 or 5 days of this before more seasonal cold arrives.  A week from now the daytime highs will be in the low minus C double digits and the overnight lows could be between -15C and -18C.  Brrrrrrrr......  Our tiny skiff of snow that came down around 2am a couple of mornings ago is pretty much melted off the streets now and didn't build up on the back lawn sufficiently to warrant having to shovel a new pathway to the car.  LOVE these days and and am so grateful we are having them in November!!

I am finding that Thursdays are my days for doing social things like my weekly morning coffee with a friend, spontaneous afternoon visits and every second week or so attending a fellowship group with my husband.  Thursdays have become THE day to look forward to for activity that is basically stress free and a good lot of fun, a time to chatter, to drink specialty drinks, to learn from the N.T. Wright series on Salvation our fellowship group is sharing together....yup, a very nice day of the week.  So grateful that none of our upcoming medical appointments had to be scheduled on Thursdays.  Yay Thursdays!! 

And now for my decision as to whether or not I should grocery shop this late on a Friday morning or wait and go early tomorrow morning instead:.....hmmmm....Saturday mornings, early, are often nice days to pick up a small load of groceries...usually  less busy than Friday mornings late. Decision made! There, that was easy......teehee Lazy sot that I am!

Nice To Get Out For A Couple Of Hours Tonight

The  weather  this  week  has  been  quite lovely   during the  daytime  hours  but  we  have   been  stuck  in  the  house  doing  projects  and   resting  up.    however  one  good  thing  about  that   has  been   my  being  able  to  get  the  house  cleaned  properly in  betwee n  rests !  YAY!!  I   finished  up  what  I  started  yesterday  with  my  cleaning  and  that  is  a  good  feeling!

My husband had time and sufficient energy after a long sleep in  this morning (11am....it appears my old mattress is working for him very well) to nearly finish a long, written project he has to prepare for his bishop and send to her prior to the weekend, as well as to get working on an article for the Diocesan newspaper that is due next week.  Dear friends that were supposed to come over for lunch tomorrow had to cancel due to illness in their household, so while we are disappointed, at least it can be rescheduled soon and it has given us extra time to do things around here that desperately need doing.  In the end it is all good.

Tonight we had a lovely meal out and a happy visit with parishioners from my husband's first parish.  What a great time we had over Thai food from Viet Thai, reminiscing a little bit about our time together in that church, but mostly catching up on what is happening now in the parish and in the lives of our friends.  It has been a number of years since our last visit and wow, so much to catch up on.  They have gone from 4 to 8 grandchildren since we saw them, so lots of family news to impart.  We are hoping that if we ever get up that way again in good enough weather to want to go visiting, (the few times we have returned to the area it has been passing through in a rush, trying to avoid horrible snow storms on our way home from Alberta), we will have another chance to see these (and other) dear folk that we so enjoyed when we lived among them.  It was grand to get out of this suite for awhile....finally.  When I have to remain at home for so many days in a row I feel like I am physically strangling.  Yikes!  Tonight I am much happier about life in general.

I decided today to put in a call to the clinic to set up a doctor's appointment.  I can get in on Monday, early in the morning, so better not to wait. I was hoping by today there would be far less tingling from the neck up when I take deep breaths, but there hasn't been, so time for a doctor's opinion.  Now I just pray I will test negative as usual for COVID that morning so I can actually GO to the appointment!!  Even if this problem suddenly disappears over the weekend, I have prescriptions that need to be reissued, so it is time to go to the doctor either way.  Sigh.....I don't enjoy going to that crowded clinic, and to be honest I am not certain of the abilities of my own doctor, BUT at least I HAVE a regular physician and many newcomers to the city do not, nor do they have much of a chance to find one that is taking new patients.  So, gratitude for the small things that now loom large in the present medical crisis going on in Canada.   

Things Tend To Unfold As They Should Around Here.....Mostly....

Despite the disappointment of not being able to see our friends this afternoon, it was a productive day for me.  All of this crazy old dump of a suite is cleaned except for the living room and the bathroom fixtures which I will do tomorrow.  I just finished washing the linoleum floors at 8:30pm so that is enough for today.  My breathing is not bad so that is encouraging.  

My husband had a less than stellar day so perhaps it was just as well that we stayed home this afternoon.  He forgot to turn his phone off at bedtime last evening and someone sent him a text at 8am.  It woke him up a good hour earlier than he was ready to awaken so he has been feeling headachy and miserable and stunned all day long....his typical CFS symptoms.  Finally at 5pm I convinced him to come stand outside on the back porch with me so he could get some fresh air.  I stood out there with him and held his hand and patted his back. Apparently that was helpful and he was much cheerier after that. He then went down to the basement and went through another stack of old family "papers", discovering his maternal grandfather's  birth certificate from Yorkshire and also a photo of his elementary school aged maternal grandmother in the pile. The photo of his very British grandmother was taken in London back in 1897; a class photograph in honour of the 60th annivesary celebration of the reign of Queen Victoria!  What a find!  It is nice that he found them and we had a good look at them, but not sure there is a reason to keep them....we shall see what the maternal family geneologist would like to do with them. Perhaps she would like to add them to HER collection of family memorabilia?  I suspect that at some point in future years I will discover both items still tucked away in my husband's paperwork and that is just fine.

We are looking forward to tomorrow evening's dinner.  Parishioners from my husband's first parish, who we haven't seen in at least four years, are in town and want to take us out for Thai food! They are lovely folk and we are very excited to be able to get together with them again.  YAY!!  I think my husband will be up to it, particularly if he turns off that blasted phone so he can sleep in as long as he needs to tomorrow morning! 

Dear God in heaven, PLEASE don't let our phones ring until after 10am tomorrow, PLEASE!!!!  My husband needs his sleep in and I am talked out after two other very very long phone calls this week already.  Telephones are a blessing and a curse to my husband and I!!

Apparently It's "Just" Asthma

 I have had asthma symptoms for the past while.  Testing for COVID has yielded negative results and did so again at this morning's test, so guess I will continue my usual routine with trying to control asthma symptoms.....it has been quite a few years since asthma has been any sort of problem, so if my usual routine doesn't rid me of symptoms by this coming weekend I will have to make a doctor's appointment to make sure it isn't actually my heart or acid reflux or.....gosh darn it, so many health issues share symptoms that it isn't always easy to tell for certain what is going on without a doctor's intervention.  The main symptom for me is always tingling neck and throat when deeply inhaling.  Other than that there isn't much shortness of breath and I am no more exhausted than I usually am, my sinuses are fine apart from my daily wake up drippy nose from whatever it is that I am having an allergic reaction to overnight. That goes on all winter, every winter anyway.  With the heart murmur the tingling can indicate a  different problem that could be more serious, so am keeping a close watch on myself. I will continue to test for COVID every few days and again the morning of my doctor's appointment if it seems necessary to see her.  For now I am just grateful I am testing negative and glad I have been staying home day after day to be on the safe side. Certainly am getting lots done around here as a result!  

We were supposed to be going to see friends from waaaaaaaay up north this afternoon. They are visiting their daughter here and he has asked my husband for help with a sermon the man has to preach soon after they return home. Today was our day to get together with them for that purpose, but just got an email to let us know the whole family is suffering from sore throats and dry coughs, so our meeting is off for the present.  At least the info my husband wants to share can be discussed over the phone or sent via email.  We will wait to see how their health is before we either commit to or cancel our plans to get together for greycup this coming Sunday.  In the meantime please, if you wouldn't mind, say a prayer for our dear, dear friends that they will heal quickly and well. Thank you!! So now I suddenly have the rest of the day free!  TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE!  What an unexpected opportunity.....just wish it wasn't because our friends are ill!! What a poopy reason!  

Poem For Today

 INVITATION by Mary Oliver

Oh, do you have time 

to linger

for just a little while

out of your busy

 

and very important day

for the goldfinches

that have gathered

in a field of thistles

 

for a musical battle,

to see who can sing

the highest note,

or the lowest,

 

or the most expressive of mirth,

or the most tender?

Their strong, blunt beaks

drink the air

 

as they strive

melodiously

not for your sake

and not for mine

 

and not for the sake of winning

but for sheer delight and gratitude--

believe us, they say,

it is a serious thing

 

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world. 

I beg of you,

 

do not walk by

without pausing

to attend to this

rather ridiculous performance.

 

It could mean something.

It could mean everything.

It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:

You must change your life. 

 

My Li'l Buddy

 My buddy Milo looking pensive: 

How cute is this buddy, right? I am enjoying other peoples' pets these days!

 

Well, the verdict seems to be in on our mattresses:  YES!  POSITIVE!  Great sleep!!  We will test them out for a few more days to be certain, but if last night's good sleep is any indication, all will be well with those mattresses for some time to come!  YAY!

Reusin' and Recyclin'!!

 My husband has slept for the past 8 years on a 4 inch high chunk of green "foamy" that lies flat on the floor.  Lately he has been finding it is not supporting his back properly and he has not been sleeping as well as he usually does.  So, after inspecting my old mattress this afternoon he decided to adopt it and see if it is better for him for sleeping on.  YAY!!  Although it has a few too many hills 'n' dales for my comfort, he finds it has far less of them that his ancient foamy. He already took a nap on it this afternoon and quite liked it. I am so pleased that my mattress can be of use to him and I am hoping he can continue to use it for a few years.  Tonight we will both experience the joys and readjustments that accompany a new mattress.

Luxury!

 Fortunately I woke up at 8am today because the phone rang at 8:11am.  It was the Sleep Country delivery driver to let me know my new mattress would be delivered in about 45 minutes time.  YAY!!!!!  Sure enough, 45 minutes later the truck pulled up in the parking lot and the mattress was delivered to our door.  Wow, I am so excited!!  It is so nice....a proper box spring with a nice quilted top but NO two inch pillow top stuffed with memory foam.  Just sitting on it feels wonderful and it will give my back and my leg hardware some support.  With another mattress for my hardware to adjust to, I am fairly certain I will not sleep well for the next two or three nights because my muscles in that leg do not adapt well to any sort of change in posture, weight, footwear....at least I know that is a good possibility so it won't  throw me for a loop if it happens.  After spending the last year feeling like I was sinking into a pit on the memory foam in my now former mattress, the support is going to be so wonderful. The clerk at Sleep Country (the last woman employed in the local franchises, FYI) really took me through my paces while choosing this mattress.  I tried four different types with different levels of softness and support and she knew just what questions to ask to get me thinking about how each mattress might feel longer term.  She is very good at her job, efficient and friendly, a bit of a character actually, hahaha.  I do have 100 days in which to return it if I have not chosen wisely, so that is a bonus. All I have to do is hang onto the sales receipt and the plastic wrapping the mattress arrived in.  

Well, it is time to set up my Zoom to watch the church service.  We have so many friends with COVID among the congregation that even though the mattress has already arrived, we decided to avoid the in person services for today.  

The weather is quite beautiful today. By mid afteroon the temperature is suppoed to be up to +6C, so perhaps a little walk around the block would be in order for my husband and I.  Enough snow and ice has melted off the sidewalk of our complex for that to be a safe route for us both.

A Different Sort Of Remembrance Day For Us!

 We were unable to attend the Remembrance Day service we usually attend each year and we were feeling badly about missing the opportunity to honour the veterans such as the ones my husband's father served with in Italy in WWll.  However, all was not lost, as it turned out.  At the beginning of the CFL Eastern Division Final game this afternoon, there was a brief time of remembrance prior to the start of the game.  There was a time of silence, the singing of Oh Canada, some remarks by the field announcer and the Trews sang an accoustic version of "Highway of Heroes", a song that always brings  tear to my eye.  There....that felt much better!!

After a lovely sleep in this morning and delicious breakfast, my husband and I both got to work around here.  Our reactions to our 'flu' vaccinations finally retreated today and we had more energy than we have had in days! (I knew I was feeling better by last evening when I found myself cleaning the stove at 9pm, taking all the burner rings apart and doing a great job, washing down the doors of the pantry and other miscellaneous cleaning chores in the kitchen.) I did the laundry  today while my husband cleaned and vaccumed his office and his library.  He put some more books into boxes for getting rid of as well....SO PROUD of his determination not to  hang onto things he doesn't need or use any more.  YAY!!!  So we are all set up now to welcome my new mattress when it is delivered tomorrow morning....sorry church family....I PROMISE (?) we will finally be back in our pew next Sunday!  This past week I know I told you we would be back in the pews THIS Sunday, but I only SAID we would, I didn't PROMISE! teehee

We have decided to try to keep our schedules free of other commitments this coming Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and those same three days the following week as well.  Instead of socializing we want to take those 6 days to make some major progress on our downsizing project.  There are boxes of things in the basement, all packed and ready to go, that are in my husband's way of tackling his next sorting project, so we need the time free to take things to the thrift store and other places, without being encumbered by social invitations, lovely as they are.  Hopefully we can stick to this plan, hopefully none of our friends will develop some sort of emergency that requires our assistance....just for those 6 days it would be so helpful.

So now we are starting to look ahead to next year and our upcoming move.  We have been watching real estate listings for sale houses and rental accommodation and none of it is the least bit encouraging here at the moment.  Yes, it is too soon for us to get serious about nailing down a place to live as we have our lease until next spring, BUT we are happy that a knowledgeable friend has given us the name of his real estate agent that he has worked with for several years, buying and selling several properties with her assistance.  First thing in the new year we will contact her and enlist her help if she is willing to take us on.  Today we looked at the nearly 900 listings here in our fair city and not one of them was of any interest to us, nothing at all captured our imaginations...however, as I said, it is too early to be finding "the place".  Early in the new year will be time enough to start looking for what we need. God may have plans for us that we cannot remotely imagine right now, so when he is ready, he will let us in on them and it may be quite last minute....it usually has been in times past, hahahahaha.  Our God is an awesome god.  As we recover our mental and physical health after all the trauma of loss and illness over the past few years our excitement about life and about the future is slowly returning.  So thankful for that!

I am extremely worried about several friends that have developed wicked cases of COVID over the past week, some of them rather elderly and frail to start with.  One is a friend from out of town, the rest of them attend our church.  Someone with COVID in the congregation has been in contact with all of these people and that person is still awaiting a negative COVID test after being positive, but symptom free for the past week.  Sigh.....this new variant seems very aggressive, easy to catch even with vaccinations if proper protocols are still not kept.....it is a scary one, that is for sure.  Then tonight I received a text that a very elderly parent of a friend is in hospital for his second or third time lately....fluid around the heart making it difficult to breathe....the fellow is in his late 90's so such things are not unexpected, but that doesn't make it any easier on his kids.  Oh, so many ill friends.  On the good side of the medical news:  Cee has finally adjusted to his pain meds for neuropathy and they are working well! Hallelujah!  He will restart his TPE therapy to keep the neuropathy from spreading after a short break to see if it was effective or not....it is effective, so now he will take treatments every two weeks. Please pray for Nan as she drives him around.  She is working on getting their house sold so they can move into a home that is easier for Cee to navigate and that is a time and energy consuming task on top of looking after Cee and doing the weekly chores that everyone needs to do.  Thanks for continuing to pray for them.  Hopefully all these dear people will see progress with their health issues in the coming days!

Veg, Veg, Veg!

I am praying my presently commitment free long weekend will remain free, at least for the first day or two. This morning I pushed myself out the door at 9:30am to run a few errands that needed to be run and it took a couple of hours. When I arrived home I found a message from a friend on Vancouver Island, so I called her back for a nice long visit. Then I started my long weekend Veg Fest! Yay!! We ate simple meals, so dishes to wash were minimal, I watched a couple of favourite veterinarian programmes on tv and accomplished very little. By the time dinner was over I was bored by sitting around idle, so I took the stove top apart for a good cleaning, as well as shining up the outside of the stove. That took care of the evening hours.  Yay! Tomorrow I may do the laundry because I can veg between loads.

Vegging will continue into Sunday. Our plan was attend church in person after a four week absence, but our plans were thwarted by the new mattress I ordered. It was supposed to be delivered next Monday, but the Remembrance Day holiday messed up the delivery schedule, so it will arrive between 9am and noon, on Sunday! I have to be here when it arrives, so……

It is turning happily into an “a little bit of this, a little bit of that” kind of weekend. I like it! I like it a lot! 

All Kinds Of Fun!

 Lots of happy things have been going on this week.  

We had a wonderful conversation with our son about his trip to the Metropolitan Opera last weekend.  While he wasn't that jazzed about the actual music from "The Life and Times of Malcolm X", he really enjoyed the acting, costumes (including the ball gowns and other "costumes" worn by other members of the audience), sets AND particularly sitting in one of the box seat areas with a completely unobstructed view of the stage: one of the perks of being there with his theatre company producer girlfriend whose recent experience presenting an 18 hour reading of a Malcolm X biography with her company netted her one of the special invitations to attend opening night.  She and our son were also invited to the dinner afterward where there were many famous folk in attendance, but being his parents' son he had little interest in who any of them were. (apart from Malcolm X's daughter who he was most impressed by)  It was a lot of fun hearing him describe the evening.  How I wish my father was still alive.  He would have been beside himself asking about the details of the opera, banquet and particularly which famous people his grandson saw. hahahaha  Oh, how my dad loved such occasions.

My husband and I had the most wonderful day yesterday.  We had a nice relaxing morning, then we each had a coffee meeting with a friend in the afternoon.  It is so much fun having a good visit with friends neither of us gets to see a lot.  Soon after those meetings we had to pick up another friend at a car dealership where she had dropped her vehicle off for some work. She needed a ride home and we also picked up her roommate from work. The roommate suggested it might be fun to go out to dinner together, so out to Bonzzini's we went.  Our meal was quite tasty and the laughs flowed freely and with great hilarity.

This morning I had my regular weekly coffee date and then this afternoon we attended our fellowship group where we were treated to pumpkin pie and hot apple cider. Yum, yum!  Saw the third video of an N.T. Wright series on Salvation that was really thought provoking, positive and encouraging.

We arrived home to wonderful news that a legal situation we have been waiting on for several months has now been fully resolved and our own involvement has ended. Praise God!  It has been kind of a long wait, but the outcome has turned out wonderfully well.  So grateful to God and to the prayers of various friends who have been aware of the situation. Bless you guys!!

Looking forward to a quiet weekend at home and hopefully some quiet days to start next week.  I have a bit of banking to do in person tomorrow morning and that is all that we have planned until later next week. It will be a good time to clean house, rest, catch up on some reading and just enjoy being alive.

From Walking To Winter!

 Wow, what a difference a day makes on this crazy prairie land where I live! After our lovely warm day yesterday, with snow free, dry roads and sidewalks, I awoke this morning to the crackling sound of freezing rain slapping into our windows. It sounds like a thousand sewing needles hitting the glass all at once.  

The rain stopped a while ago and now the snow is falling with huge, thick bundles of flakes. We went from a freezing rain warning to a heavy snowfall warning!  At this moment the snowfall is so heavy I can barely see the buildings on the other side of the street! In the past hour we have had nearly 5cm hit and stay on the ground. I so enjoy seeing the brilliant white snow covering everything, but am grateful we don’t have to leave the  house for any commitments until after dinner this evening.  It will take some time to dig our car out of the snow by then, but we still enjoy the adventure. The snow isn’t supposed to stop falling until sometime later tomorrow, so we could have a couple of feet of it by then…..with a solid base of ice underneath. Guess my walks outside are truly over until next April. 

The Joy Is Staying With Me!

It is 10:30pm and I am still feeling delighted that I was able to go for a walk this afternoon…in November…..in Saskatchewan! We have lived in this province for 20 years now and I can only remember two other times that the streets were dry enough for me to walk outside safely after October 31st. Granted, today’s walk was only 18 blocks round trip, but it was a walk! Outside! In November!! Yay! Wow! The walk was made even sweeter knowing that we are to get snowfall for the next two days. Thank you God for the inspiration to pick myself up and go walking on this unusually lovely winter day! 

Dad-Blasted COVID!!

 My husband and I had our super duper party pooper senior citizen strength 'flu' injections in one arm this morning and our Covid boosters in the other arm.  So far for both of us only the 'flu' vaccinated arm is sore, but it isn't horribly so.  a few days with a sore arm is no problem in comparison to the alternative.

The new strain of COVID is everywhere in this city once again.  This afternoon I had the most wonderful walk in the +3C with a light breeze weather, over to the hospital to see one of my dearest friends who was hospitalized a few days ago with a different issue.  When I got to her room she wasn't there!  Nothing was there in that space.  She tested positive for COVID this morning, so although she has no symptoms, the proper protocols were put into place.  I had the option of masking, gowning and gloving and was encouraged that it was "perfectly safe" to go and see her, buuuutttt.......she is hallucinating due to the condition she was originally admitted for and won't know if I was there or not.  I admit I kind of fled the hospital, disposing of my mask in the bin outside the front door and using sanitizer on my hands three times before I left the building.  Paranoid? Meeeee????  My poor dear friend is in a very bad way and I am most concerned. she has been fighting the same problem since this past spring and is on her third hospitalization for it.  If you have a mind to, please send up a prayer for Marta.  Thank you.

I am happy that after our vaccinations we were able to run some errands.  We have a whole bunch more boxes of "stuff" to go to the dump and the thrift store, so since this week is so busy we will line it all up to go next week.  It is very exciting.  Although the trip to the hospital was disappointing, it has still been a happy and productive day.  

The weather is marvellous, there is no snow left on the streets and sidewalks and only a few patches remain on the lawns.  We had pouring rain last night but the overnight temperature only dropped to 0 for a few hours. By the time I woke up at 8am it was +1C outside and no ice anywhere.  

Oh yeah....the most exciting errand for me today was purchasing a brand new bed mattress!!!  I have been tracking my sleepless nights for the past month and it is usually my hip or ankle hardware that is responsible for the discomfort that wakes me up.  Lately my back has also been very sore and the only way I have been able to get a few hours of consecutive sleep is to put my tv pillow behind my back and sleep sitting upright so that my bad leg can stretch out between the dips and bumps.....not all that restful.  My husband took another look this morning at all the dips and hollows in my poor mattress and decided that this purchase cannot wait until we move in the spring. I need help NOW!  So, over to Sleep Country we went.   They had exactly what I was wanting, what I need, for a mattress....NO MEMORY FOAM!!!  NO THICK TUFTED TOP!!!!  YES!!!  The new mattress will be delivered in one week's time!  No more toughing it out and trying to pretend my lumpy mattress is not a problem....one more week and all will be well in my  wonderful world of slumber once again.