Slowly but surely our "kids" are getting the new bookcase unit filled with books and a few chachis. Now that the bookcase is completed the carpets they were given by a family friend are starting to go down on the floor to meet the "80% carpeted" requirement in their complex. Once they have time to finish filling the bookshelves they will have a ton of space freed up in the home office space and trust me, every shelf will be filled.
There are only a couple of more weeks left in our son's art exhibition and we are hoping for a few more sales for him after his incredible successes in Miami and Vancouver, but he does have another show happening in NYC next January that he was asked to be in after its gallery owner saw this show, so that is a bonus! There is more than one aspect to success in the art world.
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| The artist "in residence" so to speak! |
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| My particular favourite of the bunch. |
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| Another fave. |
Summer, eh? Yeaaaaah, not so much! Not this year!
It is June 28th, later in the evening and my furnace is on!! It came on a few minutes ago and isn't showing signs of shutting itself off again any time soon. Brrrr!!! Haappppy Sssssummmmer!! Shiver shiver chatter chatter.....
Oh well, it was still a good day. I was so excited that we had no plans for today and I would be able to sleep in that of course I woke up at 3:23am and remained awake until after 5:30am, waking up for the day just after 7am. hahaha I assumed I would slog through my pile of ironing today, but my husband picked another plan and while it was only running around the city to various recycling and city disposal sites, it was still a lot of fun. My husband was unavailable for such mindless but productive days for so many decades when I had to run all the errands myself, that we do have a blast rodding about together. So, there the giant pile of ironing still sits, but there is always tomorrow. There is only one brief errand that needs to be run tomorrow and my husband is quite capable of walking the five blocks to the drugstore and back while I man the ironing board and git 'er done at last.
From the hill where the hazardous goods recycling depot is we could look out over the city and see the absolutely black clouds threatening to swirl down out of the sky to form tiny tornadoes, however nothing like that happened in the city. There were some power outages to the south and west of us that carried on for a few hours, but thus far I haven't read any reports of tornadoes of any size touching down. We could also see the bands of rain over various parts of the city. We drove through some driving teeming downpours at various points in our driving around and I wondered if we would get hail, but if there was any it didn't amount to much here. Once we arrived home the rain in our neighbourhood poured and poured for nearly two hours, but our basement still shows little signs of water leaking in, even in the worst offending corner. Oh how grateful we are!!
So tomorrow will be just as fine a day for ironing. We are supposed to be getting some sunshine so I will be able to iron with nice warm bright light making it easy to see the wrinkles in the clothes and press them out of existence. YAY!!!
All you Prayer Warriors For Cee: he has had another rough 8 days in the hospital, slated to return home a couple of times but developing new lung infections and low BP, among other things, both times, so there he still is. Sigh....He will complete his current round of IV antibiotics on July 3 and is SUPPOSED to be released at that time. Oh how I am praying he will be able to come home then and be more comfortable and relaxed, plus it will relieve Nan of the twice daily excursions to the hospital. They are the sweetest pair....she really doesn't need to go to see him twice a day...or even every day...but they want to spend their retirement years together regardless of what is happening to either of them and they are dedicated and committed to that plan. It is lovely to see. They took their wedding vows, "in sickness and in health" completely seriously and what an example of decades long love and committment they are to my husband and I.
My husband and I have decided we have been guilty of not reaching out to friends old and new over the past few months, isolating ourselves amidst the many stresses of life, so last night we arranged to meet with a couple who are newer to our church. We picked them up and drove them out to Fancy Fork for dinner. What fun!!! New people from another province. New stories to enjoy! Learning about their interesting careers and their accomplished families. It was wonderful!! The restaurant was more crowded than I have ever seen it, there was some kind of staffing issue, it took a full hour for our meals to arrive, but we are grateful for that. It gave us a full, uninterrupted hour to get to know this couple better. Despite the obvious issues occurring in the kitchen, our meals were just as tasty as ever and the only two servers did a marvellous job of appeasing the waiting customers. The people we were with are considerably younger than ourselves, so no, they will not be our new best buds, but the level of ease in the conversation was amazing. We ARE still capable of socializing after all.
So, based on the success of last night’s venture, we will try to line up a visit with another couple next week. After the wonderful visit with out of town friends on the weekend we realized how little we have been reaching out to people lately. Time for a change!
“The thing is, even if I could go back, I wouldn’t belong there any more.”
—Author unknown
We have a number of people from various towns and cities we have lived in previously asking us to return to those places as we attempt to move out of our present location, but it is unlikely we ever will. The little saying above truly says it all. Thrice in our 17 moves over the years, we did go back, so we know whereof we speak. “Going back” is a closed door for us.
Oh my goodness it was difficult to pry myself out of bed this morning so I could go to the doctor and get my x-ray referral! I woke up about two minutes before the alarm was set to go off at 7:30am. Nearly 8.5 consecutive hours of sleep? That never happens!!! Anyway, at least I was able to rouse my sleepy self and get to my appointment on time.
The appointment went well. We discussed my ongoing use of a proton pump inhibitor for the GERD condition and when and how to try cutting back in the near future. Some of the long term side effects frighten me, but she was able to talk through them with me. She also gave me a couple of more very helpful tips on meals sizes and foods to avoid that I was unaware of that and that should help me eventually get off the meds, at least as far as taking them daily, so I am very happy I talked to her. She examined my sore hip, gave me the referral and away I went to get an x-ray. It will take at least a week for the results to be sent to the doctor, so as soon as the results appear on my e-health account I will make an appointment for follow up at her request: she is going home to help her family deal with a health crisis and will be gone overseas for a month or more. Conveniently her husband is also a doctor and will see me for results and for my summer injection for my osteoporosis. I am so grateful for his willingness to pick up her patients when she has to be away. So, it was a tiring morning but it was a good morning.
My hip was aching quite badly after the x-ray....my goodness, the contortions I had to go through on that hard metal x-ray table to get just the right angle to see the fracture line. Yikes....the muscles around the Gamma Nail were most unhappy. I was limping quite badly when I got home and using my cane, so my husband and I decided it was a good time to take a short walk and stretch those darned old muscles a bit. I had some letters to mail so we had a nice 8 block or so round trip to the mailbox. I did just fine and hardly had to put any weight on my cane after the first block.
Yesterday was a lot of fun....not one of those Sundays where we get home from church and think..."Well, what next for today? Is that all there is??" Sundays always feel like celebration days to us and yesterday in particular because it began with an ordination service for our youth pastor. He recently passed his ordination examinations with the denominational head honchos, so yesterday was the special service with all the fuss and palavar, the regional minister was there to preach, many of the ordinand's work colleagues were in attendance, all ordained ministers of any denomination were invited to come forward during the prayer time to lay hands on the ordinand and pray for him. My husband was so pleased to be included and had worn his collar just in case he would be asked to join in. I was happy for him.
Early in the afternoon I prepared an appetizer to take to the home of friends out of town, where we had a yummy bbq and visited with an old canoe guiding buddy of my husband's and our host's. The "menfolk" had a wonderful time of reminiscing and we "womenfolk" did our own thing for visiting. It was so much fun. Even looking forward to going was fun because, along with the church service, it gave a nice shape to our weekly day of celebration. A bonus is that the long lost friend is fascinated with Japan and is planning a big trip there soon. With great joy...both on his part and ours....he took away with him a huge box of Japanese books, small building tools and other Japanese items of interest. God bless him!! As he said to me last night: "I took everything your husband brought for me to look at..........you're welcome!" hahaha
Tomorrow will be a day of running around the city accomplishing a few errands. That is something we both enjoy now that my husband is retired and we can do things together all day every day if we so choose. Our evening fellowship group is postponed due to illness on the part of our hosts, so that is disappointing....more friends who are ill...what a crappy start to their summer!!! We are disappointed for them because two more cautious people, as far as their health, you have never met. Get well soon friends, get well soon!! There will be some planning tomorrow with some new friends at the church to get together for dinner later this week, so I am very much looking forward to that. My weekly coffee "date" is all set up, my husband is looking forward to rejoining his weekly mens' groups now that he is back. I think it is going to be a good week. I survived my little walk today very nicely, so hopefully I can soon let my walking partner know I have practised a few times to get ready for our next walk around the lake! Here's hoping.....
Our son sent us the photos today of the completed bookcase units he and his dad worked so hard on for over a week. They are baltic birch finished in a clear varnish. The unit is 16 feet long by 8 feet high, hence the reason it took so long to build and install. My husband is a perfectionist and my son is, as his girlfriend so aptly put it, "Exacting!". For those of you who were asking, here is a photo of the completed unit:
The End Result
Both the guys are quite pleased with the finished project. All this effort was the result of my son's girlfriend mentioning casually some time ago tht one day she would love to have a "wall of books". So, after they moved my son realized it could be in his power to fulfill her hopes for that. YAY! She is coming home tonight after a two weeks out of town, so my son got the construction equipment and mess all cleaned up before she arrives. He is a good man.......
Our son and his girlfriend have been somewhat hamstrung on the possibility of marriage due to the disaster that would create for both of their visas. However, lately they have been talking to their immigration lawyers and have learned that a marriage may be possible after all, pending further investigation, if they can do it prior to his girlfriend receiving her green card in about two years time. With the recent changes to the qualifications required to even apply for a green card now, our son is going to have to reach practically a Nobel Prize status on his current type of visa to even apply, so it is unlikely he will ever be able to. So, he is asking us to pray with him through this process of discovery and subsequent decision making. Hmmmm….you never know what will happen next and, unfortunately, some of these decisions regarding their future are quite dependent on the results of the upcoming presidential election, that could once again bring changes to immigration law. For now, this is something new to think about for the families.
After a good night of sleep last night, my husband went bravely off to his medical appointments this morning. He received very good news that the various lumps and bumps he had tested before he took his trip do not show any evidence of cancer at this time. He also received instruction on how to regularly check them at home and to know what to look for that would mean he should get more tests done immediately.
While it is difficult for him to understand why he has been spared for now when so many other of God's children have not, both of us are beyond grateful, not only for the test results, but for the caring friends and family who have prayed and sent loving, supportive messages during this stressful time. Thank you God and prayer warriors.
We feel like we will be much better equipped now to start dealing with our other life stresses after a couple of days away from them to rest and recover from THIS stress and from the travel stress. There is no such thing as a stress free life, but o my, it is so good to have a couple of them off our plate today. Amen! So very grateful.....
Unfortunately Cee is not having the wonderful sort of day that we are. Overnight his oxygen level dropped again to a very scary number so in the early hours of this morning the ambulance had to be called once again to take him to the ER. Sigh....what has caused this to happen again post pneumonia recovery, no one knows yet. Please pray that the medical staff can get to the root of this issue and find a way to help him so he doesn't have to rushed back to hospital every couple of weeks. It is so stressful for Nan as well as she is preparing their house for the possible move in the near future. Aaaaargh! Thanks again from them both for your many prayers over the past few years.
It has been a very nice day indeed, with my husband's arrival home topping the list of good things that have happened today. He was all smiles as he entered the airport arrivals area and, as I suspected he would be, was too hungry and emotionally geared up to want to go home and have me heat up some plebian chili. As always, post travel, when he got home he immediately wanted to go out for a bacon burger, so off to Bonzzini's we toddled. hahaha He was awake long enough to accept a bbq invitation for Sunday evening that was awaiting us at home online, gave me a few details of his trip and then it was off to sleep. He has been up and about since 3am our time, travelling, hanging around airports, sighing sadly over consuming his one remaining NY bagel when he got to Minneapolis and wishing he could stay longer in the Southland. First call at home was to our son who has turned into quite the "mothering" sort, with a demand that his father call him upon arrival. Our son had just completed fitting out the 5th of the 6 bookcase units and should have the last one done sometime tomorrow. I can't wait to see a picture of the finished product. My husband's mind is at ease about his son living in a giant apartment complex on the top floor now that he has seen the absolutely gorgeous park like setting and conveniences immediately outside the complex doors in lovely Stuy-Town. Two happy campers. Well, 3 if I include myself.
I started my day by making a raspberry almond cake/pudding, much of which my husband managed to cram into his tummy as soon as we got home from Bonzzini's, after complaining that he was so full he'd had to bring half his burger and fries home with him....perhaps it will make up for the too spicy chili I am still doctoring after last night's cooking debacle.
Then I picked up my friend and we went for lunch at Earls. The food was very yummy: a huge cobb salad for my friend and delicious yuzu calamari for moi. The service was atrocious however....for US it was, for the other customers around us with the same server it was attentive and speedy. I don't know if we were being singled out for the Academy Award worthy performance she gave in making it obvious we were being ignored, or if she was just having a terrible day and took it out on us for some reason, but I am going to pray for her and also try to go there again soon and sit in her section to see if things go any better. I just felt badly because going there had been my idea as my friend had not been there for over ten years and was eager to follow my advice. Sigh....it rarely fails that when I take someone out for the first time to a place where I have had consistently good food and service, something inevitably, it seems, goes wrong. Well, I will hope for better the next time it is my turn to choose a restaurant for our every second week luncheons.
I am very excited about the bbq we are going to now on Sunday. It will be at the home of the same friends who gave me the wonderful birthday celebration last week at their daughter's BnB! An old canoeing buddy of the guys' is passing through. They haven't all seen each other in several years, so it will be a grand reunion. ALSO, best of all from MY point of view, the visiting friend is fascinated with all things Japanese and is going to take a large box of our Japanese books and chachis with him....yay, more old "stuff" gone from our suite!!! Bless you sir!
Cee and Nan have an unexpected possibility to sell their house and purchase a far more suitable accommodation for both of them. It is a place they have wanted to be able to buy for the past few years and it became available, they thought, more than a year ago, but then the sellers changed their minds. Now it has come back onto the market and it seems that Cee and Nan have first dibs for purchasing it. Cee is using an electric wheelchair now to get around and this new place has wider doorways and an open concept living space, so it is perfect for him. It is also a place that will be easier for Nan to take care of. So, please pray that their upcoming property appraisal appointment will result in the sure knowledge that they can get enough from that sale to cover the new accommodation and that both sale and purchase will go smoothly from here on in. They could be moved by early autumn. Oh Lord, let it be. Amen. Thanks for praying, faithful folk. Thank you ever so much.
At four seconds past midnight I received notification that the aircraft mechanics rescinded their strike notice for the time being and the haggling will begin again over their wages. Westjet is now scrambling to restore previously cancelled flights. What a nightmare for everyone involved. This may result in substantial flight delays today apparently. However, I would rather my husband arrive home late than be stranded in the States indefinitely due to a strike. What a huge hassle for the airline and passengers. Flying anywhere these days has become a very expensive stress!!
As the severe thunderstorm watch becomes a reality, I am going to try to do another post quickly in case I lose power again, as this area of the city is wont to do under such weather circumstances.
Earlier this morning I realized that it is best to just embrace the chaos when it is happening around here, rather than to try to fight it. Embracing the chaos seems to be a requisite when waiting for answers to prayer about various things; at least it does for us. So....I went grocery shopping instead of medical appointments!
I was so stunned from an early awakening to news I didn't want to hear, that as I was pushing the grocery cart into the store I suddenly realized I left my cane in the vehicle, way down at the end of the parking lot. Since I obviously was not experiencing any pain, why not just use the cart for balance and to lean on a tad if necessary, right? So I left the cane right where it was. I spent a happy hour wandering up and down every aisle in the store, picking up a handful of sale items as well as those on my list. It was wonderful. I waited in line at the cashier for about another fifteen minutes as only one checkout was open at mid morning and we were being "forced" otherwise to use the self-checkout, which I cannot do with a full to overflowing cartload of groceries. I cannot move quickly enough to satisfy the timer on the checkout kiosk with my arthritic hands to get things scanned and bagged, so sometimes it cuts me off and I have to call for assistance. No way....I would prefer to stand in the line up for the lone cashier. It gave my leg a bit of a break from the constant walking. Once I was through the checkout process, I turfed all the items back into the cart and bagged them outside under a big overhanging roof, out of the rainfall. That took another 15 minutes....told you I am slow!! My rebellion against the start of the day that reflected itself in my refusal to return to the car for my cane pre-shopping, actually paid off somewhat. The walking stretched out a few tight thigh muscles and apart from a bit of "hot muscle" feelings, I had no other problems after sitting in the car to drive home. I managed to get the groceries into the house, using my cane, got everything put away, then sat down for an hour to do emails and such. When I stood up again there was very little pain or discomfort. In fact I have had less pain thus far today than I have had each day for the past nearly two weeks. It is mostly the side to side movements that cause gripping pain and even those were less today. I will go easy on my leg of course, but I think it will be okay to start some physio stretching exercises while I await my rescheduled medical appointments. YAY!
My husband texted awhile ago to say that his flight is NOT on the "Cancelled Flights List" for WestJet, so barring some other unforeseen, more usual flight delay, he will be home as planned now tomorrow. I am SO relieved. Thank you God and praying people. He has his boarding pass for the entire trip printed off already, just expects the plane will be jampacked with people from the cancelled flights as WestJet scrambles to deal with their own chaos.
I am going to make bison chili tonight so my husband has a good meal to return home to. Fresh raspberries were available at the grocery store so I picked up a package and will make a Poor Man's Pudding tomorrow morning for him. He will be shocked and likely will wonder why he doesn't get this kind of star treatment every day! hahaha Too bad so sad, right? Sorry buddy.....hahaha.
So, the possible strike action is now slated to begin 12 hours later than the first notification we received. That means barring some other new complication, my husband should still be home on his originally scheduled flights. Prayer answer number one….blessings prayer partners!! Thank you for the caring emails and texts this morning. We are both feeling much better now.
Okay, so I didn’t beat the rain, but finally I am headed to the grocery store! Amen!!
So I just received a phone call from my doctor’s office regarding my appointment an hour from now. It is cancelled. My doctor called in with a family emergency and will not be in today. I am tentatively rebooked for next week….tentatively, because she may have to return to her country of origin to assist her family. I feel badly for my doctor. Family emergencies when you are thousands of miles away have to be horribly stressful.
As disappointing as it is to have to delay my x-rays etc. until next week, perhaps it is better overall to remove that particular stress from my life today. I will go grocery shopping instead as soon as I finish breakfast instead of waiting for this afternoon like I originally planned. The stores will be less crowded and I MAY just beat the rain as well.
Yes! Gotta go!
We just received notification that the WestJet mechanics may be taking strike action starting tomorrow….the day my husband is flying home. Please pray for guidance and help for him to get back. Since SaskTel messed up his request for service for his phone in the US he is dependent on our son’s phone. He may make it as far as Minneapolis before the appointed hour of strike, but will not be able to use his phone once he arrives. He has to keep his doctor’s appointment the next day.
Thank you for your prayers for him. Sigh……if he had just been able to fly home yesterday as originally scheduled….however, let’s trust that the Lord will make a way for him and also pray for the mechanics and the airlines as they make their decisions today.
Thank you so very much.
I enjoyed getting my hair trimmed up this morning. It is such a great feeling to have it styled so much shorter than it used to be...so much easier to care for and style properly myself here at home. Although it was a chilly day, we didn't get any rain! Apparently the rain will return in about 24 hours time, but it is nice for my soggy basement foundation to have a day to dry out a tad before it gets hit with more moisture. This morning I saw the clean up crew heading into our new neighbours' suite, carrying mops and buckets so I know their basement is still flooding...one of the issues that drove the last tenant out of there. (I am so happy that the new tenants are so very quiet and so nice to talk to...what a blessing for us...AGAIN...God has been so merciful to us...AGAIN...)
This afternoon I attended the monthly older persons meeting at my church. Today's guest was the appraiser from the Regina branch of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, aka SaskArts. She gave us a rundown on the history of the Board, told us about some of the artists whose works they have collected, showed us slides of some of the art works in their collection and explained the ways the Board makes those works available to the general public to view. Her explanation of what abstract art is all about was, I think, helpful to some of our seniors who have not had that much interest in non-representational art or in fact in artworks at all. It was such fun to hear their questions. One of our church men was the director of the board for a number of years and some of his own works are part of their collection. I SO enjoyed it....I want to learn more and more about art, art history and the materials used in various paintings and sculptures and ceramic works. For two whole hours I wasn't thinking about family medical issues, tests and results, trying to find a new place to live, or any of the other mundane daily stresses that have been plaguing me a bit lately. It was wonderful! Such a happy day!
And now it is time to put on my heavy sweater and warm socks as the overnight low temperature is supposed to be only +4C. There is a frost warning out for some of the towns near here. I must try to get some sleep so I can stay awake in the waiting room of the x-ray clinic tomorrow morning. Last night I only slept for 4 1/2 hours, so my eyelids are getting rather heavy......
While parts of Eastern Canada are experiencing dangerous heat wave conditions, I can’t say that is happening here in the west. We seem to be on the opposite end of the weather spectrum with fresh snow in some of the mountain ranges, bitter winds and unseasonably cold temperatures on the prairies.
Today I woke up at 5:30am because a strange noise permeated my tired brain. I grogged awake trying to figure out what was making a noise like a fan running in my bedroom. As the fog cleared I realized it actually was a fan…..the furnace fan. What the heck….the furnace started up on the 18th of June???? I grabbed my iPad and took a look at the weather app. The outside temperature was +5C. +5C!!!! In the third week in June!!!!! Unreal. It will apparently be just as cold for the next couple of nights. Brrrrrr….. I have a vague memory of getting up around 1am to don socks and a light cardigan sweater, which I am still wearing now at 6:30am. Even with the added clothing I am still shivering with the cold.
However, I admit I prefer this deep freeze to the intense heat the central provinces of our country are experiencing. The heat will start moving into New York the day my husband flies home, so he is most fortunate. He struggles with summer heat even more than I do.
At least this should be the last rainy day until the weekend, yay!
I am plenty busy during my husband's absence, but still the feeling of loneliness occasionally overtakes me and surprises me. Guess I kinda' miss the old guy.
The last couple of days have been so wonderful though with phone calls and emails coming in from all over the place. I have so enjoyed them because I have time to chat, time to just enjoy hearing about other peoples' lives. There are no other distractions because there are no other people in "my space" right now. Quite a nice break for me...lots of good things.
One phone call tonight was from my guys in the States, updating me on their wonderful weekend upstate. My husband got a tour of the campus where our son completed his MFA programme, got to see part of a rehearsal of the play our son's girlfriend is producing there, got to stay in a marvellous hotel in a nearby town where he had a wonderful sleep and then on Fathers Day the three of them went hiking in the nearby Catskill Mountains. It was the most perfect Fathers Day my husband has ever had. I am delighted for him and for our son and his girlfriend. They got to spend some quality time all together.
Old Men Of The Mountain
Just Chillin'
My husband and son returned home earlier this morning and began the final push to complete the bookcase building project by Wednesday evening.
I so enjoyed my visit this morning with my walking partner, travelling vicariously along with her as she told me about her wonderful time in Victoria recently. As it turned out it was kind of a cold, miserable morning, so we wouldn't have had a very enjoyable walk even if I had been fit to give it a try.
This afternoon I received an unexpected invitation from a friend to come to her house for coffee and a visit....she does make the best coffee so I allow myself a half cup occasionally at her place. Yum! That was a fun time as well. She sent me home with a loaf of her freshly baked seed bread....what a treat!
Another phone call tonight was from an old family friend, my parents' longest time friend from many years before I was born. He is about ten years younger than they were when they passed. I am delighted he has kept in touch with me, my very first babysitter. What a special blessing.
Haircut tomorrow, church event tomorrow where there will be a presentation by two members of the city Arts Council who will talk about the city's art collection and give us some hints on cleaning our artworks...I have a number of oils that I really want cleaning advice for, so am looking forward to that time very much.
My husband decided this morning that he couldn't wait after all to view his test results online. As we were afraid of, the results are somewhat inconclusive so, after a lot of medical jargon we understand not a word of, the bottom line is that although this lump is "likely" a lipoma, if the doctor would like to order more tests that might be wise. So, we are assuming either a needle biopsy because of the location or a removal to be sent for biopsy. We will find out on Friday morning as today I phoned the clinic and set up a results appointment for right after he arrives home. At least we finally "have this show on the road" for getting more information and some help. Hallelujah for that!!
Today was cold and again, raining all afternoon. Like last night it is cold enough in this house that I won't be opening any windows overnight. Brrrrrr! It feels like the end of March, not mid June! I am consoling myself with the knowledge that the land needs this moisture very badly and that it is helping ot keep the northern forest fires under control as this rain (and even snow to the north) has been so consistent almost every day for the past nearly two weeks. The only issue with the weather for me is that the outside spiders are seeking warmer quarters in between my back inside door and the outside door....YIKES! My poor walking partner almost had a huge one on top of her head when she left this morning! I managed to get rid of it, then discovered its "partner" lurking in there less than a half hour later, so I had to turf its butt out as well. Later this evening I noticed a much smaller spider weaving its web in the space between the doors so....again with the spider turfing. There are SO MANY TYPES of spiders around here and they ALL love our back porch and doors. YUKKO!!!!!! Brrrr...
We are supposed to get a bit of a break after yet another day of rain tomorrow, so hopefully the spiders and I can be outside a lot more often!! At least the basement has only minimal water seeping into it so I am very grateful for the Xypex product my husband has labouriously applied to the many cracks in the foundation. Yay Xypex producers!
My husband texted me this morning to say it would be extremely beneficial to our son if he stays down south a couple of extra days to get the massive bookcase project completely finished. The flight change itself is only one hundred dollars, but with the additional taxes and fees the total cost is over three hundred dollars. At first I was a bit surprised and not in a pleasant way, but then I realized that if he was staying for an extra two nights in a hotel and having to purchase his own meals, two extra days there would cost a lot more than a simple change of flight. I also realize that since I don't have to pick him up at the airport on his original day of arrival, I will be free to attend a church event that I was going to be disappointed to miss. So, in the end it is working out well. It gives me the extra time to grocery shop and attend a medical appointment of my own before he arrives. The guys are having a blast and are taking this weekend off to travel upstate for a couple of happy days off in a beautiful forested area.
The wind is absolutely howling in that desolate way that it does on the prairies. My building has been shaking all morning and there are black rainclouds covering the sky after a sunny start to the day. MORE RAIN...yuck! One of these fine days my sodden basement foundation is going to reach its limit of saturation and there will be a lot more water on the floor down there....please Lord, may it not be today?
I was going to stay home this morning and watch church on Zoom, but I think I will suck it up, use my cane and get out of here while I can. If I am going to be home on my own for two more days than expected I need the socialization. Out in the wind and rain once again, but hopefully I will be able to park not too far from the church.
My husband's test results finally arrived on his e-health account apparently, but he has decided there is no point in looking at them while he is away. The clinic will likely call me tomorrow and even if they don't, I will call and make a results follow up appointment for the day after my husband arrives home. If the results are not good, then to us it is even more important that he spend the extra couple of days with his son. So far my nerves about this have been manageable, but it will be more difficult to control them knowing the results are in and with a bit of password sleuthing I could access them myself before he comes home....but, what would be the point? If they are bad it will just upset me, plus I don't feel I have the right to know before he does. Aaaaaah.....what a week this is going to be, eh? hahaha Rarely a dull moment!
Today is Regina’s annual Pride Parade. For the past two years I have had to be driving through the general downtown area for appointments and ended up trapped going in circles, along with many other angry drivers, all of us hemmed in by parade road closures, as well as regularly scheduled downtown summer road construction. It was possible earlier in the morning to access the downtown, but by the time we were ready to leave, our escape routes had been cut off. Last year I had so much trouble getting home from an appointment that I was in tears as I sought a way out of the downtown core.
This year the parade organizers and the city appear to have come up with a much more reasonable route. It has been published in advance so that people can plan ahead. It has reduced the amount of transition and downtown areas affected by closures, and on the three main routes there will be lanes remaining open for traffic. Yes, that will mean delays, but no one will be trapped completely, totally unable to access and return from necessary appointments.
Way to go Regina and Pride Parade organizers. The city residents spoke and were listened to on this issue. My most sincere thanks.
One of the joys of renting month to month is that legally the rents can be raised every six months. As I suspected would happen, yesterday I received the six month notice of another rent hike. As of January first the rent will go up another one hundred dollars a month. The rent went up two hundred dollars a month when our lease ended, so by January we will be paying three hundred dollars more to live in this crumbling, mold infested suite. If I didn’t have as much trust in God as I do to help us eventually locate a new rental I would be absolutely despairing at this point in time. Rents are soaring right now everywhere in our city. Management is of course trying to give us incentive to sign a new lease immediately before the rent hike, but it would destroy our health even further to remain here. Hmmmmm….what is the Lord going to do this time? It is always amazing to see what we come across when we are seeking accommodation, that’s for sure. Sometimes I feel like he is telling us, “Stay tuned guys, just look at what I can do!”
The guys are hard at work building our son's bookcase unit for his new NYC apartment. It is rather a massive project but they are obviously enjoying it very much. I am hoping and praying that this large a project will COMPLETELY satisfy my husband's annual spring urge to do some kind of hands on work, so that he isn't looking for more of them once he arrives home. There is too much else that HAS to be done this summer!
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| The Master Builder! Happy Is He!! |
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| The Apprentice |
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| The Location Of The Cases |
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| Piece By Piece, Steady As She Goes..... |
This morning I had to get real about the pain in my leg and make an appointment to see my doctor for an x-ray. I will be seeing her next Wednesday for the referral form and hopefully have the x-ray the same day with results in her hands by the following day. I drove a friend to a funeral this morning and decided to be a mature adult and use my cane to walk with. No, I didn't leave it in the car when we got to the funeral home, I used it full time and am still using it here at home. Yes, I found it difficult with so many people I know asking me during the reception if I have reinjured myself somehow, but they were asking out of caring concern and that is always quite a lovely thing, isn't it? The friend that I drove there with me is recovering from a broken elbow and still experiencing pain spikes, so we had to seat ourselves at the service in such a way that both of us were not in danger of having our sore limbs bumped by other people sitting beside us. Quite a feat in a crowded space, but it worked out well.
I am going to just cool my jets after all for the rest of the weekend and not attempt to go walking anywhere. I don't need to go to the art gallery event, it was just something fun to do, but I could be tempted there to purchase pretty things that I don't actually need from some of the visiting vendors. Perhaps it is just as well that I don't attend. I will do laundry instead and that will take me ALL day as I maneuver myself and the laundry baskets up and down two flights of steps. With no other committments I can take as long as is needed to complete the task.
Sunday I can attend the church service via Zoom, so I don't have to miss out on that, only on the after church fellowship, which is not a big deal for one Sunday.
My wonderful walking partner has decided she would like to come to visit me on Monday even if we cannot go walking, so that will be a treat to look forward to. My husband returns home the following day, all being well. So, the past week has flown by rather quickly!!!! I cannot believe my husband has been gone for seven days already.
So the time is flying past, I have no more committments outside the house for a couple of days now so I can figure out how best to combine rest and exercise for this crazy leg of mine. Due to the location of the worst of the pain I am wondering if I actually have a macro fracture somewhere around the J-nail in my hip. Hopefully it is " just" arthritis and there will be some physio I can attempt while I spend a couple of years on the wait list for replacement surgery. Another friend of mine is in that position right now and is struggling to do the exercises because they are painful. I have spent so much of the past fifteen years doing painful physio that I think I can handle it for awhile if that is what is necessary. Aaaah, the joys of aging! hahaha
God bless and keep you all precious family and friends. Cee should be going home today, so thanks again for your faithful prayers for him and for Nan.
It is a beautiful day outside today....at long last. It is warmer than it has been, only a slight breeze instead of gale force winds and there is a mix of sun and clouds in the sky with periods of sunny brightness to enjoy. So grateful for this weather!
A couple of posts ago I was feeling sad about the changes in the food at Zam Zam Wraps where I ate lunch last weekend. So, tonight I am going out to dinner with a colleague of my husband's and guess where she has decided we are going to go for our meal: Yup....Zam Zam Wraps....at their other location mind you, so I will see if their food quality is any different there. I know from my last visit there a year ago that they have the same horrible boiled chicken, but I am hoping they have fresher vegetables for the salads so I can have one sans meat. I do like their salads, but will have cheese this time as my protein. It will be fun to see my friend and enjoy a visit together. It has been months since our last get together.
The terrible storms predicted here yesterday amounted to severe winds that broke some tree branches in our area and totally destroyed both of my potted plants on the back porch, but there was no hail here after all and, thankfully, no tornado either. We had a smattering of raindrops for about a minute and a half in the late afternoon and the black clouds stayed overhead all day, but the main body of the storm went east of us and created tornado trials in Manitoba instead. This afternoon we had a torrential downpour for less than an hour and now the sun is peeping through the clouds once again. The sky was still threatening this morning when I picked up a friend to go out for coffee, but only the wind remains a constant annoyance.
I was able to do some away from the house chores this afternoon, have an hilarious conversation on the phone with an out of town friend and relax in front of the tv for awhile. I am grateful that as some of my small handful of network shows are going onto summer hiatus, PBS and some of the specialty channels are ushering in some new seasons of a couple of British crime dramas I enjoy. "Grantchester" returns this weekend so I am interested to see where the story line goes this season, as everything in the main character's life seemed to be tidily wrapped up at the end of the last season. "Sister Bonafice" also makes her return...hardly deep drama, but very cute and enjoyable nonetheless.
I have been able to start getting to know my new neighbour next door a bit. She has been telling me a bit about how she and her son have ended up, unwillingly, in our little complex and I think it will be good to have her to chat with while we are still here. Today she started the process of introducing me to her son's vicious dog and it went well actually. By the end of our first meeting he was able to approach me without his leash on and without freaking out at me. I didn't reach out to try to pat him or make any moves in his direction, just let him approach me and sniff my feet and hands. He seemed content enough to have me in his space, but I will never push my luck with that doggie. Whenever he is outside he is leashed and he is never alone, tied to the deck railing. He is always under the control of one of the two tenants. Whew!!!
The guys are doing well on the bookcase construction project in NYC. They sent photos last night of all the wood pieces after being coated in clear Varathane that brings out the woodgrain in the lumber. Today they will start assembling the massive unit and hopefully they will be all done by tomorrow evening so they can head north on the weekend to do a day or two of short hikes in the mountains, as well as see my son's girlfriend who is up there with her coworkers to perform a few weeks' of a drama production.
I do hope that by the time tomorrow's funeral is over that the weather will be improving for the weekend. I want to get the laundry done tomorrow afternoon so I can head over to the art gallery on the weekend. They are having their annual vendors' event, so artists and crafts people of all kinds can display their wares. I so enjoy seeing the creativity of others, lacking such ability for the most part myself. I plan to walk over there and back, in preparation for a walk around the lake with my walking partner on Monday.
I have been assuming I need to go and start the x-ray process to get a referral back to my orthopedic surgeon, so I can get onto his two year waiting list for a hip replacement and I likely will still do that soon, but I have discovered that tenseness is what seems to be causing the muscle spasms in my upper thigh. If I am either not thinking about whether or not I am going to have pain when I take a step forward, or if I am just crawling out of bed in the morning, I have no pain at all when I walk. Then I remember how painful it has been and suddenly the muscles tense up and I am in pain once again. If I stand up and actually relax my body before stepping forward I have no pain in that thigh at all. I was doing well earlier this morning, but then when I was standing in line at the bank later on I started to get impatient with how long the person at the teller was taking. When my turn finally came I started to race forward and the pain that grabbed my one set of muscles nearly dropped me to the floor. So, I told myself to relax and I had no more problems. Until I can get an x-ray and talk to the doctor, I am going to use as many relaxation techniques as I know to do, so that I can walk normally in the meantime. Duh....stress 'n' me....not a good combination!
I think I am going to spend a little time reading now until it is time to go for dinner. It will be rush hour when I have to leave, so I think I will take a route that has the easiest way of connecting from one street to another between here and the restaurant, avoiding a couple of uncontrolled crossings I would use if it wasn't rush hour.
A very happy day today.....
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I was dawdling along earlier this morning, taking my time with the housework when I was made aware awhile ago that our fair city is under a thunderstorm watch as said storms are currently rolling through the area to the south of us. The official warning is telling us to secure ourselves and our property within the next hour just in case there is hail or a tornado. Sigh…..so now I need to get going and clean like crazy in case the power goes out, leaving me unable to vacuum. Blast! We already had a teeming downpour of rain and a more than two hour power outage at 2:30am. Other than in one corner that is a chronic offender, I have had very little water coming into the basement, but another soil saturating dump of water from the skies could finally create the flooding down there that I have been dreading. I see the thunderheads building as I sit here blogging, so it is time to get back to work!!!
For some reason various friends have taken to sending photos to my mobile phone, after about fifteen years of never sending photos. As it turns out, that fifteen years of picturelessness saved me money!!
When I purchased my current phone plan it never occurred to me to ask specifically about receiving photos. Short version of my phone plan photo receiving dilemma is that they are not included in my plan at all! I have to pay for every photo I receive!! So, I am paying 75cents for pictures of friends’ and relatives’ grandchildren I have never met, other peoples’ leftover lunches, class reunions of their friends I don’t know, dogs eating out of newly purchased doggy dishes with cute sayings obscured by Fido’s wagging tail, new office furniture….you name it and I am paying to see it whether it is actually of interest to me or not. Talk about frustrating! I did not realize that the receiving of photos was something I even needed to think about, let alone ask about, when setting up my plan. I am a mobile phone plan rube!! It seems no matter how thoroughly I question the plan reps there is always some detail I don’t know to ask about and that they fail to mention, likely because they just assume that I would already know the (to them and all young people like themselves) “obvious”.
So, back to the drawing board with SKTel Mobility. However, just you wait and see what happens if I start paying more for a new plan that includes the receiving of photos: no one will ever send me a photo ever again. Just you wait and see!! If I was a betting woman…..
My husband has been away for several days now, so today he texted me and asked me how I was doing here on my own. I couldn't answer his question honestly because I have been so busy here, as well as being away myself for a couple of days that it hasn't yet sunk in that I should even be wondering how I am doing here on my own. The next couple of days should afford me more of a chance to answer that question.
I was busy with friends on Saturday, then on Sunday I was at church for the morning service, followed by a walk over to the Bay to see if they had any clothing items either my husband or I would want, but despite it being nearly a year from now before the store closes permanently, already nearly half of it is empty. There is nothing in the basement. The remains of furniture, towels, bedding etc. have been moved up and spread between the main and top floors. Womens' wear has been grouped all together in the centre of the main floor and against the west wall there are the remaining items of lingerie, pj's and some mens' and kids' sleepwear. Upstairs the mens' wear is kind of decimated already. Unless this store is going to be used as a clearing house for their other stores that have already closed, there won't be enough stock to make it another year. The staff are scurrying about seeking employment elsewhere in some cases, fretting about not yet finding alternate employment in other cases and still others, like the young man I talked to, have decided to just go with the flow and live one day at a time at his current position while waiting to see if something else turns up in time to keep him from becoming unemployed. It was a very, very sad visit to a once beloved old store.
I decided that since I was already downtown I would have my lunch at what used to be my favourite Zam Zam's in Cornwall Centre. Even there things have changed and not for the better it appears. I remembered that the last time I was there, many months ago, they were no longer serving shawarma chicken, having replaced it with tasteless meat that seemed to have been boiled up saltless and herbless, but decided that since I was craving one of their salads so badly I would just accept the tasteless chicken. At least it would be tender and give me protein. Sigh....when I saw the salad in its serving tray I nearly turned and walked away. I suppose should have done that, but I decided to just skip the brown, wilted, soggy stuff and made my salad from tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, pickled turnips and black olives. With the LOAD of boiled chicken the server put on top, along with the very expensive two tiny scoops of feta cheese and drizzle of tzatziki sauce, it was an okay salad, but not worth paying just under twenty dollars for!!!! Oh well, guess I will not be giving it another chance. I miss the food they used to serve, although I MUST say that the lentil soup is as fantastic as ever and I had a large bowl of it. It was a free gift from the proprietor and helped me stop gagging over the price of the salad. With the addition of the "free" bowl of soup, the price became more reasonable. YAY!
It seemed like a long walk home after lunch for some reason, maybe the reason being that my hip and thigh muscles where the J-Nail resides have been bothering me considerably the past few weeks. I am going to have to face reality and get an x-ray to check the progession of the arthritis. I expect and assume I will have to be put on the long waiting list for a hip replacement. My favourite surgeon here is approaching retirement age and with his over two year waiting list at the moment, I am very afraid I will end up with one of the less than spectacular orthopedic surgeons a number of my contemporaries have suffered at the hands of in the OR. Praying AGAIN about my stupid health situation!
My husband contacted me today to let me know that the "American Usage" plan for his mobile phone that he paid for at SKTel a couple of weeks ago,specifically for his current travels, has not been set up. He has messages he has been waiting for that he cannot access and that should not wait to be answered before he gets back. He can text me but he can't phone anyone, so the phone is nearly useless to him. He is frustrated, I am furious, but there is nothing I can to do help solve this situation, so all I can do is blast away here in this post about the inconvenience that SKTel Mobility has once again created for us. When he returns we are going to discuss leaving SKTel Mobility for another company, so there will be lots of research to do and many friends to interview about the companies they use. Sigh....I feel like I am complaining about something all the time the past few months, but I think it is just that there is so much stress over big things that it is spilling over into the little irritations in life that are not all that difficult to deal with and solve. Makes me mad when I allow myself to get so stressed about details. SO, I have vowed not to worry about my husband's phone until he returns as there is nothing I can do about the issue anyway.
On to HAPPIER thoughts and conversation! I left early yesterday morning to go and visit friends out of town. I left earlier than planned because a terrible rainstorm was happening and I needed to get to their place before I ended up hydroplaning down the highway for the entire trip! My goodness, it was a most soggy drive, BUT I arrived safely, if damply, and spent the most wonderful time with my dear buddies. The first thing I did was pick up my friend and drive her, along with both of our suitcases, to her daughter's AirBnB. Oh what a lovely place, looking out over a luscious green, treed river valley. The huge picture windows in the living room and dining room make it possible to view this wonderful sight from every seat in the place. So gorgeous, so restful, so peaceful....the street in front of the house was quiet and peaceful too and I had a wonderful sleep last night even without any white noise like I have to use here at home. We made lunch together and another amazing friend joined us for a nice long chatty visit. What fun!!!! After our other friend had to leave we drove through the misty rain to an art and gift gallery and that was a blast. It didn't take more than a half hour to see everything, and only a few minutes to make a stop at an organic market, so then we used the rest of the afternoon taking a drive through several new subdivisions of the town....lots of unpaved, muddy, soupy roads around the new houses and acreages, but there was also no traffic to speak of so we could slither about looking at the lovely mansions and homesteads. It was fun! After our tour we went back to my friend's house where her husband served bacon wrapped date appetizers, then a dinner of brined chicken, freshly picked peas, a potato yam mash, a green salad, rice stuffing and gravy. It was so marvellous to have a home cooked meal cooked by someone else!!! We lingered over our meal, then ended our time all together with an almond flour carrot cake....oh, SO TASTY!! A couple of glasses of excellent wine washed down our feast. Finally my friend and I left her husband and returned to the bnb, where we spent a couple of hours reading before retreating to our rooms for several hours of good sleep. What a satisfying day away! This morning we lingered over breakfast and had a deep heart to heart conversation before packing up to leave. I dropped my friend back to her house, said goodbye to her and her husband and drove home through marvellous sunshine, on dry roads and with almost no wind at all! It has been quite a different day from yesterday: warm, sunny and just lovely. I arrived home to find only one spot of leakage in my basement after all the rain yesterday, so that was quite a treat....a bonus, icing on the cake of a good time!
This afternoon a long time Alberta friend called and we had a great catch up chat. I unpacked, got cleaned up and then had a short nap! Now it is time to eat dinner....leftovers from last night's mega feast! YAY! As I sit here at my computer I am enjoying listening to some neighbour kids playing outside, enjoying the exuberance of their youth!! The new dog next door is in the process of getting to know the little dog at the other end of the building. Our new neighbours on the other side of the wall are going to be good neighbours I think. They don't let their dog bark inside their suite very often or for very long. They walk the dog and pick up his "leavings" immediately and thoroughly. They do smoke and that may cause some issues for me if it drifts into our place, but hopefully we will find a new place to live within the next couple of months where smoke will not be a problem. Yes, I am still hopeful despite the never ending discouragement happening with this process. The Lord is bigger than this problem, he will help us in his own way and time and we will keep looking until we stumble upon the right answer to our prayers.
Before I sign off, may I request more prayers for Cee and Nan? Cee was slated yesterday to go home today, as his pnemonia was responding so well to the antibiotics and his oxygen level was way up where it should be. However, by mid afternoon he was crashing again with scary low O2 and horrendous nausea. No one knew what was going on. I haven't heard yet today how he is, but it was upsetting news to get last night. I couldn't communicate the request then because there is no WiFi at the bnb, so my iPad was useless to me. Thank you for praying again, still, always, for him and Nan.
I think tonight I am going to curl up in a chair and watch tv. Tomorrow I will have my pick of either cleaning house of doing laundry....hmmmm....a couple of marvellous choices for how to spend a day, right? hahaha
I am grateful today for a two special things: a couple of friends who took me out for a delicious lunch at a little diner I have never been to before and my husband's no hassles flights to our son's place.
My friends were quite delighted with themselves that they were able to take me to a restaurant in this town that I had not already been to....a great little breakfast diner that my husband will enjoy I think when I take him there. At a flower shop here in the city they found a packet of hot chocolate mix from Roger's....flavoured with my favourite flavour, lavender! I will enjoy that for my breakfast tomorrow before church. The mixture has a reasonable carb count and if I use a cup of hot milk it will be just the right number of carbs to ingest before walking to church in the morning. What a wonderful treat!
I tracked all my husband's flights online today and am thrilled and amazed that none of his flights arrived late anywhere....even his flight from Minneapolis that left about 40 minutes late still arrived in NYC 13 minutes earlier than scheduled. That is marvellous. I received a text about a half hour ago that father and son have been happily reunited and were about to share a wonderful fish dinner cooked by our son and his girlfriend. Happy times for us all.
Now that I know my husband's travel worked out so well, the next layer of stress has lifted....I MAY even have a decent sleep tonight!!! Hallelujah!!
The new neighbours have been moving in next door all day. I haven't met them yet, a pair of fellows in their I would guess early 30's. If they are as quiet once they get fully moved in as they have been today during the moving process....I can only hope and pray....it will work well for us to be neighbours. Please Lord? Could the four of us all be good neighbours to each other? Thank you and Amen!
I am experiencing that very feeling today! No surprise really after a hectic week. I haven't had more than 4 hours of sleep per night for the last 3 nights, I turned the shocking age of 70, I wore a new pair of shoes for my shortish walk yesterday so my "bad" leg has painful muscles, the winds this week bothered my ears so they are draining today, plus the amount of stress for my husband over cancer tests and getting every detail ready for his trip away has of course carried over onto myself, naturally. There is also the knowing that as soon as my husband returns we will be finding out the results of his testing and likely have to intensify greatly our search for new accommodation while we downsize much more quickly that we have been. Today I am in BAAAAAAAAD shape! Oh woe is me! hahahaha (At least today is sunnier and less windy!)
Seriously, there is nothing wrong with me that one night of decent sleep will not help considerably. I knew that after I dropped my husband off at the airport this morning I would feel exactly this way. He hasn't planned to be gone for this many consecutive days since a work related trip to Tanzania and England in 2015, so I have been quite spoiled ever since then with having him at home almost all the time, particuarly since he began his retirement process at the end of 2019. I am going to miss him very much. I am grateful for good friends who have been planning some get togethers with me over the coming days. Unrealistically, I actually thought yesterday that I might just get our place cleaned today, but am realizing that is most unlikely to happen. Maybe tomorrow?
While I was sitting at the airport very early this morning, yawn, waiting for a text from my husband to let me know he had been able to get his boarding pass for his USA connector and had cleared local security, I noticed a woman with three kids who were teens and preteens heading for the airline desk to get checked in. It was 5:50am and she was trying to check in for a flight that was leaving at 6am. She couldn't seem to understand why she had missed the flight. Her despair and anger that her only option was to pay a thousand dollars to book onto the only other flight today that is heading to her destination, was hard to see. She obviously couldn't pay it, so after arguing one more time with the ticket agent about why she couldn't catch her 6am flight, she packed up her kids and they walked out of the airport most upset. I do not know this woman or her family and I know zilch about her situation, but I felt so upset for her that she had not understood how early she should have been at the airport. Sometimes a complete stranger will experience an upsetting incident in your presence and you feel so very, very badly for them, even worse that you can't do anything to alleviate the sad circumstances. I don't know why that happens, but it happened to me this morning. I have been praying for the four of them on and off ever since.
Guess I should go and check the Departure page for our local airport to see if my husband's flight has left on time. After that perhaps a hot shower would be somewhat energy restoring. I suspect that if I could just have a wee nap after my shower that my energy would at least partially return. I am determined NOT to spend my time on my own worrying about test results and the frantic accommodation search that will ensue once my husband returns. I want to commit to living one day at a time, the only way life seems to work for me, particularly during stressful times.....Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief!
My poor husband is in quite a tizzy today. He had his ultrasound this morning, he checked into his flight this morning for his trip tomorrow, he took me out for lunch and ate too much iced cream for dessert, he started the online process of getting his passport and ID confirmed for international flights, only to find out he still needs to see a Customs agent at the airport.....all in all the poor man has been in quite a distracted state all day thus far, resulting in a bit of drama a few minutes ago. hahaha
I was on the phone to my former roommate from college aged years when all of a sudden all the smoke detectors in our suite started beeping simultaneously. I assumed my husband would hear them and come racing upstairs to fan them into silence again, but he didn't appear and they kept up the caterwauling to the point where I realized I was going to have to find out what was going on and deal with it. I said goodbye to my dear friend and went running downstairs to the kitchen, calling for my husband and getting no response. Okay....so either he was outside and completely unaware, or else he was in the basement thinking it was the backup on one of our computers making the ruckus. As I got to the bottom of the stairs I saw that the living room was filling with smoke, so I raced into the kitchen and saw the cast iron pan blazing away on the hot stove burner. I screeched down the basement stairs and my husband came racing upstairs, took one look at the flaming frying pan and started berating himself soundly as he grabbed the hot pads and hauled the pan outside to cool down. I opened all the doors and windows and within a few seconds all the smoke cleared due to the brisk wind blowing through the suite and the smoke alarms became quiet once again. Sigh.....my poor husband knows from bitter past experiences, better than to ever put anything onto a hot burner and leave the room, let alone go to the basement where distractions abound. Today he was seasoning our cast iron frying pan. However, in his state of twitterpatedness today, he went downstairs to "just grab something and come back up right away" but got distracted by a chair he has been wanting to fix and just figured out how to do it. BIG SIGH.....he felt terrible that he had "done it again". I am not upset with him. We made our agreement a couple of years ago that he would never leave the kitchen when cooking, and this is the first time he has had what could have been a very serious incident with the stovetop. Whew!! Thank you Lord that I was home when this happened.
The earlier part of the day went very well. He had his medical test and it only took about 40 minutes for the whole event, from the time he entered the building until the time he reappeared at the car where I was reading a book while I waited. Since we were parked in a big lot that services a number of businesses and restaurants, we didn't even have to move the car to have my special day lunch at Earl's. Oh how I love their Santa Fe chicken salad! It is just right for me. My husband thoroughly enjoyed his plate of calamari with a yuzu dipping sauce. However, I think we both felt obligated to order an overpriced dessert just because of it being My Day. Dumb, dumb, dumb....all it did really was put our bill up by twenty-five dollars, and my husband ate my iced cream on top of his own, so that wasn't good for him. The extra carbs for me were bad, bad, bad, but even though our sticky toffee pudding was actually chocolate lava cake with toffee sauce drizzled over it, the dessert still managed to taste good and we will both wear off the extra sugar eventually. Can't say we didn't have a celebration prior to my husband leaving for the south. No sirree....even a home "bonfire" in my honour, hahaha.
I had a nice chat this morning with my son. He has been commissioned by a west coast Canadian city to submit a proposal for a public art sculpture to be displayed in a new subdivision the city is building. Next week he is having a zoom meeting with the city planner and architect to pin down the restrictions on the size, materials used, possible safety issues, ongoing maintenance on the installation etc. He has never done something like this before, is not the only artist of course being asked to submit a proposal, but it will be a great new experience for him, will improve his skills for writing other kinds of proposals as well, plus he gets a whole month's salary just for submitting. Praise the Lord! What a help that will be for him. Yesterday he had the wonderful opportunity to show a group of high school math students his current exhibition and talk to them about the way he used mathematics to create his works. He loves the kids, the way even the most shy person, or most embarrassed to be there person, can start engaging if my son asks just the right questions. He loves teaching and misses doing it as much as he was before he left Vancouver years ago, so it was a good afternoon for him. It was great to hear from him. When my artist brain son remembers to call me on special occasions it is really lovely and I am always grateful.
It is sunny and nicely warm today but the wind is still howling. I think perhaps now that my husband is finished using the stove top, haha, that I will go now, brave the gale, and take a little walk over to the nearest community library box to deliver a few books I have finished reading over the past few weeks.
The gale force winds we have had here for the past couple of days have prevented me from going out walking, my original plans for the past two afternoons. Honestly, it is wicked out there with gusts between 60km and 80km. In the grocery store parking lot this morning the wind snatched the car door out of my hand and I shudder to think what would have happened if it had hit the car parked beside me with full force. As it was I was able to grab it before it had the chance to whack that car and damage it. Whew! I remember many years ago when we were drivng a tiny, elderly Toyota Corolla and the door of a car next to me in a windy parking lot ripped itself out of the driver's hand as he exited his vehicle. It hit my car SO hard that it put a dent the size of a baseball into my passenger door. Thankfully we had just purchased a newer vehicle and this one was on its way to the auto wrecker so we could use it for replacement parts for the newer car. Prairie winds can be most treacherous.
Despite the winds, I was able to drive over to a friend's house for coffee yesterday, complaining all the way about how much better it would have been for my health had it been safe for me to walk in 90km winds, in amongst the trees along the route with their branches and twigs and leaves crashing down onto the pavement below....yikes! The coffee was so delicious and the visit so sweet that I was grateful for the ability to drive over and not miss out completely on what turned into a lovely afternoon with a good friend. In the shelter of her driveway I returned to my car later that afternoon to find only a few small leafy twigs wrapped around my windshield wipers and side mirrors.
Today a friend and I went out for lunch to Le Macaron. It was tasty, but my scrambled egg and spinach crepe was twice the size of my friend's vegetarian crepe, so I think if we go there again I will order the vegetarian. I could only manage to eat half my crepe, but I scraped the yummy filling out of the other half. We wanted to leave room in our stomachs and in my carb count to share a small dessert afterward, since that is what the place is known for. I enjoyed the seasonal tart with its beautiful topping of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, but the four slices of kiwi still had the outside skin on and it had been candied for some unexplainable reason, so it was too tough to remove. Yuck....I like kiwis and was disappointed not to be able to eat these. Oh well, a small wastage and the other fresh fruit was refreshing on top of the light cream filling. Our tea was very tasty....gentle lemon for her and Earl Grey for me. It wasn't overly busy today in there, so the noise level was lower than it sometimes is and we were able to snag a corner table for some privacy. Very nice indeed and I am so grateful to my friend for suggesting we go out for lunch a couple of times a month. I look forward to it. We never run out of things to talk about.
My husband took an old office chair to the welder yesterday in hopes his broken chair would be worth fixing. Apparently it was. He got a call this morning that it was ready, the price was reasonable and we picked it up this afternoon. He is hoping the weld will be strong enough to last for a long enough time that he could take it with us when we move and ditch the super huge, heavy lug of a chair he has been using the past few years. I don't think it ever was that comfortable for him, but he paid quite a bit for it at the time, so he hung onto it, not realizing his older chair could be welded back together. It will certainly be the easiest of the two chairs to move out of here. It was great to find a large welding shop that was able to take on such a small job in the midst of their many large, industrial projects. Hallelujah!!
So my husband is nearly ready to go to New York in a couple of days. I am so proud of him for the way he researched and booked his flights, looked at the floor plans for the two airports he will be travelling through so he could find Customs desks and exits and taxi stands. His paperwork is all together, he is mostly packed already....wow, he is so excited and I think getting away from the downsizing project here for a couple of weeks will refresh him and enable him to put heart and soul back into it when he returns. He will be more ready to help me look for a new home as well and he is looking forward to that project more than he was a couple of months ago. For now we are just assuming he is healthy enough to proceed with our moving and summer vacation plans. His appointment with his doctor was at least somewhat reassuring that he may be okay after all. Tomorrow is the first medical test so....we shall see.
Well, I am tired so I think I will go and have a short nap. I have been averaging 4 hours of sleep every night this week. It has been a LONG time since I have slept that poorly for so many consecutive nights, so I am grateful for the longer sleeps of the past few months.
Oh, before I go, I will just mention that I haven't had any updates yet on Cee, so I am assuming he is holding steady in the hospital. I also meant to mention yesterday that after over a year of disappointments regarding a hopeful move for him and Nan, the condo unit they have been hoping to purchase all that time just MAY be available soon. Another prayer request for them and a very important one. From our mouths to God's ears....
