A Bearable +32C Today!

 We were dreading having yet another +32C day this late into the first month of Autumn, but it turned out to be quite bearable.   Earlier this evening we were able to open all the windows to cool the suite substantially for overnight. By the end of the week the daytime temperatures will have dropped consistently to just over half of today's heat extravaganza.  

After my husband's morning meeting, we spent a good deal of time running errands, so we know the heat was bearable because we were out in it most of the afternoon.  One of the errands was going to a specialty shoe store to fit my husband for his first pair of medical grade compression stockings.  The most recent of his  annoying health issues is  the leaking of the capillaries in his lower legs.   I doubt he has yet felt like an old man the way he did today when those stockings went on.  Poor guy....BUT he is very aware now that his condition is actually as serious as his doctor told him it is, so he is even more motivated to ride his bicycle and take longer walks   several times a week.  Moving around helps to pump the blood into the legs more efficiently. When I think of all the other conditions he has suffered with  in his adult life and some of the huge issues his parents also faced medically when they were this age, I am grateful to God beyond measure that thus far the worst treatments he  is facing are statins and compression stockings!!   Hallelujah!

 After several weeks of miscommunications, we finally connected with our lawyer today and have everything set up for new wills, now that our son is married.  What a happy reason to change our wills: the inclusion of a beautiful new family member.   Not that there is going to be much to be inherited, sadly, but at least she knows we care about her very much.   

This is a happy week of seeing friends and church family.  I love such weeks where each day there is something just a bit special going on and some of those events even give me a chance to get out of the house!  Tomorrow is a grocery shopping day....loving purchasing smaller loads several times a week instead of massive loads once or twice a month.  It seems a far less daunting task, and I find we are coming across unadvertised sale items more frequently by simply being in the stores more often.   In Tokyo we shopped almost every day for our lunch and dinner meals and it was such a habit that when we returned to Canada it seemed most odd not to be able to do that in the area we lived next back in  our home country.   In the evening hopefully I will be able to go to the Taize healing and prayer service. Then Thursday it is a Double Joy Day....my weekly coffee buddy visit in the morning and a   group gathering in the afternoon.   Next week is also filling up nicely with  meetings we have been waiting to have scheduled for some time, so it will be great to get them done and over with.  

It seems my brain is becoming less foggy with every passing day.  Is it just the time it takes to be rid of all the anaesthetic that made me so miserable post-surgery, or is it that coupled with depression that once again I am struggling to regain my fully mobility after yet another surgery on the same leg, or just frustration and  denial that I am  in "here we go again with the long recovery" mode?  I don't know, but whatever it is I am royally glad to be getting over it!!!  Yippee!!!!

Now that I am on a different schedule for physio exercises, (three days on, one day off, one day on, one to two days off depending on how much walking outside the house I can do over that two days),  I feel freer to just let the healing happen since I don't have to report in to the PT every two to four weeks.  Unless the surgeon has other ideas when I see him next week, I will just carry on as usual.  I have added in two other, more difficult, exercises from previous surgeries that should prove helpful over the next four to six weeks.  It feels wonderful to be able to start doing them  again  even though it will take time to perfect them.  I am praying hard for the unhappy tendon, that it won't take quite as long as predicted for it to heal sufficiently to fully weight bear.

Life is improving and I am going to enjoy every moment out of doors and racing about the town until the ice and snow of winter shut me down once again.  YAY!   Soon, I should be permitted to drive once again.

A Small Exhibition At Home

Our son had an at home preview of some of his new works that will soon be on their way to a Canadian gallery for an exhibition coming up soon. The at home show was well attended and ended up stretching from two days into four.  Here are three photos for our interested family and friends:

 

Whatta Great Sunday!

 It is amazing how life seems so much happier now that I am free of the constant check ins with the physiotherapy department and can plan my own exercise times and strategies.  It is like a heavy cloud has lifted and I am more accepting of how things are in life once again.  Cool!

The weather today was perfect for our drive out of town.  There was sunshine, some wind, and plenty of warmth.  The church service was wonderful and my husband did a very relatable sermon about kindness being one of the outstanding attributes of the Kingdom of God, (So why aren't we who call ourselves God's children being kinder to others in the here and now, right??), and how hope in the midst of hopeless situations is a result of our trust in our heavenly father, as illustrated by the prophet Jeremiah when he purchased a plot of land for future use, despite knowing the Babylonians were going to invade and take over the land of the Israelites for some time to come.  Talk about hope for the future in the midst of impending disaster!  I was encouraged by the sermon.  The Psalm reading was Psalm 91, the same psalm about not allowing fear to paralyze us that we read at the evening prayer and healing service I attended the other night.  Okay, okay God, I GET IT.  I WILL stop worrying about the seemingly hopeless situation of the world in general right now. You are still trustworthy.  I WILL continue to hope for good change in the future....with Your help!

After service we enjoyed the coffee hour where we were both able to visit old friends from the church, as well as meet several of the many newcomers there.  It was fun.

Then a dear, dear friend took us to the local Japanese restaurant that serves delicious meals, as authentically Japanese as it is possible to get this far from the ocean.  It is certainly better than any of the Japanese restaurants we have tried here in our own city.  The prices are reasonable too, certainly in line with all the other restaurants despite being a "specialty cuisine" of the type that is rare around here.  Great food, great visit, before another beautiful drive home.  It has been a perfect autumn day and now we have a couple of days of quite hot weather on the horizon:  +32C mid week....however +29C the other day was no big deal so I don't think +32C will be all that terrible and it is only for a day or two.  All this unseasonably warm weather now, coupled with the present long term forecasts about our upcoming slow start to winter, is likely going to mean a lot of freezing rain to begin the season, guaranteeing a thick base of ice all over the roads and sidewalks for months on end. Sigh.....SO, I will have HOPE that I will not fall down and break any more bones this winter.  I WILL I WILL!!

A Big Dose Of Healthy Fresh Air!

What a glorious afternoon!  After lunch we did go for a lovely walk.  After delivering our compost pail "tailings", (while the term 
"tailings" usually refers to the removal of minerals from ore, "slimes" is also used to describe that process and that word definitely applies to this particular batch of our compost, so......), to the complex collection bin a block away, we came back home, took off our way too warm for the weather jackets, then headed a few blocks away to Wascana Centre so I could take my first gander in many months at the man made lake next to the Parliament buildings.  The warmth and sunshine made up for the algae green lake yukkies and we enjoyed watching black capped chickadees and one lone duck enjoying the scenery along with us. There were several paddle boarders out on the lake and I couldn't help praying they wouldn't lose their balance and fall into the dirty green water.  Goose Poo Central is a more common name for this lake.

On the way back home we spotted a sign for an art show that was being held in the Centre. In we went and met a couple of local artists who told us about their works and about their guild.  As with all the local guilds....and there are happily many such local artistic endeavours in our city.....the talent ranged from beginner to quite well done fine arts. We spent a long time in there looking at all the paintings.  It was such fun. The only downer was that just as I was picking out some greeting cards with beautifully painted Saskatchewan birds on them, I remembered neither of us had brought any money with us, nary a bank card, nor credit card. Sadly I returned the cards to the artist.  Perhaps we will get home from out of town tomorrow in time for us to drop by before the show is over and I can pick up those cards....although why I want them when Canada Post is once again on one of their indefinitely ongoing strikes is anyone's guess, haha.

After being on my feet for over an hour, over half of that time actually walking, I came home, had an email conversation with my friend who is making our lunch reservations for after church tomorrow, put on the tv and promptly fell fast asleep for a half hour.  All that fresh air and exercise....and old age....and surgical recovery....does it to me every time....snore...... 

Can't Believe It Is Nearly October "Already"!!!

 I suppose my summer seemed to pass so quickly because it was a blur of surgical recovery, we went nowhere out of town this summer for any sort of holiday as a result, my husband also had a medical issue that took some time to get into the specialist for a diagnosis....it seems this was definitely the Summer Of the Recognition of Encroaching Old Age in terms of our health.  Sigh....oh well....

The past couple of days have been gloriously sunny and warm.  With the sun lower in the sky now and shorter daylight periods, even the high +20C temps don't have the sweltering impact that they do in the summer.  This is one of the most pleasant autumns thus far we have experienced in quite some years.  We are so enjoying it!  Looks like we will have a few more days of this loveliness before some forecast rain the middle to end of next week.  I am going to enjoy every moment.  I wish we had the time and resources to drive into Alberta in the couple of weeks between my next appointment with the surgeon and our trip to the west coast, but it would be a pretty stressful "crammed in" sort of journey. Guess Alberta will once again have to wait until next year.  I hope our friends and family there don't give up on us before we do get out that way.  It is on the way to two years now since our last trip there!

Today is a day of rest from the physiotherapy and I feel just a bit lost as to how I want to spend the afternoon and evening. Not that there aren't all manner of house chores to be done, but.....do I want to do them?? hahaha  Nope....(if I am being totally honest)!  Maybe after lunch I can rouse myself to do something constructive, but in the meantime, playing online mahjong style games and reading a tacky novel hold the most interest. Aaaaah, the joy of retirement....I can do whatever I want during my free time....of which there is A LOT!!!  I do think I had better go for a walk if nothing else.  I want to be sure to do that on at least one of my two days off exercising on the weekends.

My husband is tweaking his sermon for tomorrow's out of town service.  I am really excited for the short road trip and seeing friends there, going out for lunch with a dear friend after church and generally just getting the heck out of here for the better part of a day.  More good weather is forecast, so it will be a wonderful treat of a day. Amen! 

Well, Everything About My Recovery Finally Makes Sense!! YAY!

I am breathing a sigh of relief at last over the length of time this recovery is taking.  Today's session with my physiotherapist was most encouraging and informative AND I even scored an apology from her for that first frustrating session where she misread my surgeon's report and didn't get the idea cemented in her mind that my surgery really was brutal to my  muscles, bones and tendons.  After her initial excitement that this past month of exercising actually has brought at least a bit of a noticeable improvement to my operated leg, she sat down with me and re-read the surgeon's post surgical report.  She read parts of it to me that for some reason had not gelled with her the first time we read it together back in early July.  The extent of the damage, the reasons for that damage....she was shaking her head and apologizing to me for not understanding fully what my body went through during that June surgery.

I told her that I had gone into the surgery assuming the recovery period would be about 3 months, but it was becoming obvious to me that I was going to need at least 6 months.  She looked at me and said, "No, actually a standard hip replacement surgery takes from 3 to 6 months to recover from, which you should have been told at the hospital when you began your PT exercises there the day after surgery.  In your case, I realize now that you are looking at 6  months to a year."  I kind of gawped at her from shock....not because the idea of a year was dismaying, but because she was actually telling me what I have been thinking for the past few weeks and wondering if my idea that it could take a year to fully recover was completely insane; if I was just fooling myself that I could ever really heal completely.  Was I deluded that the types of small progress I have been experiencing in the last 10 days are actually indications I could at some point in the future look forward to being all better?  No, apparently not, hallelujah!!

We had a much deeper discussion finally then about what the surgery actually entailed unexpectedly, how much work I still have to do in the coming months and whether I had the mental and emotional stamina to continue to do PT 4 days a week while continuing to live my normal life.   

Finally, proof that there IS still hope, that I just have to be consistently working on my recovery for however many months this is going to take.  I am so excited.  I am determined as always to keep going with the physio until I am as well as it is going to be possible to be.  The physiotherapist agreed with my own assessments on where and how much progress has been made and she is very happy to see the things I can do fairly well now that were impossible for me the last time we had a session.  Thank you God and praying friends.  I can stop worrying now about how long this is taking.  I AM walking better with less listing than the last time she saw me. I AM balancing better on one foot with minimal support. I AM going to continue to overcome!!  

I came home and gorged on the Bengan Barta (mashed eggplant/peas) and coconut pepper chicken leftovers I brought home from DarBar last night....AND I still have enough leftovers for dinner tonight. PARTY TIME!!!  Oh how grateful I am to finally have a realistic end goal in mind for recovery, so I can stop being frantic about how long it is taking. I so appreciate the PT actually admitting she had made a mistake, owning up to it, apologizing and then giving me a better time line to aim for. God bless her.

Thank you praying family and friends.  The encouragement you have given to  me has kept me from giving in to the Thin Wedge Of Discouragement, as one of my Bible School profs used to say.  Amen! 

Here We Go Again With The Postal Service!

Yesterday the news reported that Canada Post has been given permission by the federal government to phase out home mail delivery over the next five to nine years and convert to community mail boxes, plus close up to approximately four thousand small rural post offices. Since Canada Post is about five billion dollars in debt and negotiations between it and the workers’ union have been starting and stopping and restarting and stalling over the past year, it seems it was time to take more drastic action. The response by the postal workers and their union was for all workers to walk off the job immediately and begin another Canada-wide strike. 

I have my own opinions about the situation that I don’t need to share here, but today the people I feel the most sorry for and empathy with are my fellow Canadians who, through no fault of their own, are now experiencing the stress of knowing their recently mailed payments, legal documents, gifts etc., are stuck in postal transit and will be delivered weeks or even months too late, if at all. I THINK the last thing I mailed out, an important document related to my car insurance, likely arrived at its destination a few days ago, but I can only hope at this point. 

Having lived in several small towns in three different provinces over the past few decades I have been used to community mail boxes in the slightly larger towns, as well as having to walk or drive to the post office daily to collect my mail in the smaller towns. To me, having home delivery for the past ten years has been a real treat that I am going to miss when it is gone, particularly in the winter months, but losing it is not the end of the world. IF this change does come about and IF it does save the postal system the estimated four million dollars a year with the result being to save and restore Canada Post, well, so be it. I am not getting my hopes up that any of this will turn out well, but drastic measures are apparently needed. My prayers are for people negatively impacted by the immediacy of the strike and for the postal workers who will lose their jobs if the community mail boxes system moves forward. 

Feeling Human Once Again!

 It is wonderful what a good walk outdoor on a lovely autumn day, broken up by getting a haircut in the middle of the trek, can do to boost a person's spirits!

I am really happy that my hairdresser is right next to the nearest grocery store.  I was able to cover the same territory as my walk a few days ago and noticed a definite improvement in my  mobility and speed of ground coverage, so that is most encouraging.

Tomorrow I go to the physiotherapist once again.  Hopefully she will not have to suggest I go for some kind of scan to check out the possible larger issues for the still not sufficiently responsive tendon running down my operated leg. I am a tad stressed about it, not because I think there actually is anything desperately wrong, but because reporting to another person, someone with the authority to create more medical things for me to deal with, always stresses me out.  I truly do believe the issue is simply one of "time healeth all wounds", because there has been SOME progress in the past month.  Going to the PT for me is like going to the principal when I was in school.  As soon as that appointment is coming up the dread sets in....why, at my age, do I continue to struggle with this authority issue?  Dumb, huh?  Well, hopefully by this time tomorrow when the PT appointment is over, I will be able to relax about it once again. That last week before a PT appointment is very stressful....has been every single time I have had a surgery on this leg. I am more stressed about this short appointment than I am about the possibility of an eviction notice coming????? Duh.....What am I?  FIVE????? Good grief!!!

Is There An Eviction Notice Coming?

 About a year ago we had some plumbing repairs done here in our suite and the plumber accidentally let it slip that the owners of our real estate here where we live had been talking some months before about tearing these places down and replacing them with apartment buildings in order to garner more revenue for their investors.  Since this city has removed many of its restrictions in regard to how many parking spots must be available for rental units, plus where our building sits is on prime city real estate, the plumber was quite surprised nothing had happened.

Well folks, it may be happening after all.  A couple of times over this past summer a couple of men and a member of the regional team of employees for this complex have been spotted touring about the whole of the complex.  Today they were back and wandering about again.

Since they parked their vehicle close to our common area garbage collection bin, I "suddenly realized" that our garbage needed to be emptied, so I collected it all and headed out to the bin to dispose of it.  Oh how grateful I am that I decided to be snoopy and see what I could overhear.  What I heard was the detailing of some architectural plans that "will take me about 2 weeks to draw up."   Adding up the plumber's remarks, the fact that we should have received a notice of a rent hike for the end of the year and now these characters showing up again and discussing the drawing up of plans, I am guessing that sometime this winter we are all going to receive notices of eviction so that demolition can begin first thing in the spring. 

Of course I could be completely wrong, but sometimes a person just knows what they know and I certainly "sense" that I am interpreting these "signs" correctly.  My husband commented that, "Well, that will make our decision to leave for us, won't it?"   True enough dear husband, but we have been searching and seeking and pleading for direction on a new accommodation we can afford and have gotten nowhere over the past year.  So, yes, I agree God will provide when it is time but that isn't permission to stop seeking and praying.

I thought I would be more upset about this possibility than I am.  Thank the Lord.  Actually I am catching a bit of my husband's excitement that perhaps an eviction would precipitate the knowledge of where we are to go, with more surety because, if nothing else, we will have little to no choice in the matter. hahaha

 Aaah, life is rarely boring over all is it?  The next few months may be more interesting than we were counting on!! hahahaha  Yup, prayers from our prayer warriors out there would be appreciated once again. Thanks everyone. 

Now, I must run. Company is on their way over to tell us about their recent amazing trip to Newfoundland and Labrador.  My husband has been there a few times but not since we were married so he is keen to see pictures and hear how life is changing there since his last venture out that way a few decades ago. 

A Million Dollar Smile For Only Forty Dollars!!

A six year old Rwandan boy who lives a few doors down from us has been asking my husband for the past ten days if he would try to fix his bicycle.  He and his siblings live with their mom here in our complex, Dad is elsewhere for whatever reason and mom is struggling to make ends meet.  There is no money for bike repairs, that's for sure.  My husband promised the young man he would look at his bike after the camping trip, so today that is what he did.  The tire needed more than a pump up with air.  The little guy had been riding it with a flat tire trying to keep up with the other kids on their far superior bikes so he wouldn't get left out of the fun, so the tire and inner tube were completely thrashed.  My husband brought the bike to our back lawn and took it apart, then we went and bought a new tire and inner tube, along with some patching material for his eleven year old sister's tire that has a small slit in it and only holds air for a day or so before going flat again.  The young man, two of his siblings and a five year old we have never seen before and who doesn't live in our complex at all, came along to watch my husband make the repairs....nearly driving him crazy picking up the tools and trying to play with the remaining tire on the upside down bicycle, but they were fascinated and thrilled to have the attention, so who can blame them, right? hahahaha  Every time my husband had to come into the house to get something for the job, I had to go out and guard all the materials so the little fellows wouldn't run off with them. hahaha  It was quite hilarious to watch the interactions. Eventually, just as the sun was setting, the new tire was all set in place and ready to roll.

Little guy had come home from school when we were away picking up parts and apparently when he saw his bike all taken apart at our place with a tire missing, he bawled his eyes out thinking his beloved cycle was not fixable.  He was nearly ill with excitement when we got home and he found out not only was it fixable, but he was going to have a new tire so he could keep up with the other kids.  My husband didn't have time to fix his hand break or reinstall the kick stand because he was running out of daylight,  but he promised he will do it tomorrow morning while wee man is in school and also blow up and patch his sister's bike tire.  As our little friend sat on his bike and began riding away he turned back and flashed the biggest, sweetest smile of joy we have ever seen before riding off, literally into the sunset, with the rest of his teeny buddies.  And THAT is all the payment my husband needed.  

We don't know mama at all.  We do know from a couple of brief previous interactions that her English is nearly non-existent and we suspect she too has no idea we spent money from our own pockets to fix her son's bicycle.  She has so many needs and is trying to raise six children between the ages of 1 and 15 years on her own in a new country.  A charitable food delivery service brings a lot of their food to the family, as well as other Rwandans bringing clothes and used toys to the children.  Whatever their circumstances, they are here without dad and husband, facing whatever tough circumstances they are facing that we likely will never fully be able to comprehend.  An inexpensive fix for a couple of her kids' bicycles seems the least we can do for them.

I am proud of my husband for wanting to help the kids.  He loves them so much and seeing him interacting and learning about the kids, it seems that perhaps there IS a reason we are still living in this tenement. Maybe God has a bit of work yet here for us to do? We can only hope that is the case. 

The Happy Campers Are Safely Home!

My husband and his friend arrived back at our place just before 7pm yesterday after unloading the canoe back at its storage facility. They were tanned, looking fit and grinning like Cheshire cats over the amazing time they had canoeing and camping in the bush at Porcupine Hills Provincial Park. God truly blessed them. The weather was perfect with sunshiny days, cool nights, calm waters, no other campers on site, the mosquitoes were non-existent, and they remained safe from the active bears in the immediate area. The mother of the tiny bear who greeted them as they arrived at their campsite never did visibly appear, although her otherwise apparent presence kept my husband from exploring the enticing trail through the forest near the tent site. The only animal that disturbed their sleep was a moose snuffling around their tent the first night out, but the air horns and bear spray were well in hand just in case they were mistaken about the owner of the chuffing noise! In the morning the discovery of fresh moose prints near the tent confirmed their suspicion that their noisy overnight visitor was indeed a moose. Whew! 😥 (the presence of bears is what sometimes keeps me awake at night praying for their safety on these camping trips) One highlight of the trip was canoeing close to a beaver dam and spotting two of the little guys sitting on top of it. The fishing proved to be a disappointing venture, but my husband did manage to catch a small one….so small he released it again….and his friend caught one just big enough for them to share for dinner that night.

The guys unloaded my husband’s gear here at home, then I joined them for an hour’s trip out of town to deliver our friend back to his house. Going home afterward gave my husband a chance to download all of their adventures so he was able to stay awake long enough to drive. I enjoyed our short evening outing. 

Although I had complete peace that all would be well during their trip, it was still a relief when his smiling self walked through the door upon his return. The camp was well out of mobile phone range and so we weren’t able to communicate. I had no idea if they had even arrived at the camp safely, so I am grateful for the peace I had in my heart that they were ok. Thank you God for this opportunity for my husband to finally get out into the healing wilderness where he finds healing and peace for his soul.

A Successful "Maiden Voyage"!!

This font is "Shadows Into Light" and that is how I feel right now: as if I have indeed come out of the shadows of immobility and into the light of independence!!

If you have ever been temporarily stuck with an immobility issue of any kind you will understand how amazing and exhilarating it is to start breaking through to the other side and regain some mobility and independence through busing and walking.

I succeeded in my goal to walk to the grocery store and back....a little over 8 blocks in total, but still, that is more ground covered than I have been aware of covering in some months now.  A good friend who knows me well advised me to take a break after picking up my grocery items and have a quick sit down lunch at the restaurant next door before walking home, so I did that.  I was in and out of there in 30 minutes and with that bit of a break I had no trouble at all getting home while carrying a somewhat heavy bag of grocery items....why can I NEVER stick to just getting the couple of things I specifically go to buy?  Why? Why? Why?  Nope, I have no idea either. 

It is particularly windy and overcast today and there was a trace of forest fire smoke odour as I walked along, but since my hair is short in order to accommodate the prairie winds and keep it from blowing in my face and obscuring my vision, and since the bit of smoke wasn't bothering me, I quite enjoyed my foray out of doors.

I am inspired by my success today.  My hip is no more sore right now than it usually is at this time of day after physio and toddling about indoors doing a few chores.  The consistent walking motion is one of the best healers for this hip anyway.  Physio is more like icing on the cake as it targets specific muscle groups one at a time, but walking puts them all in motion and I always feel so much better post surgery when I can start walking slightly longer distances without too much muscle discomfort. It is too easy for my husband to insist on coming with me and worrying himself nearly sick that I am overdoing it, so maybe that is far enough and we should return home a couple of blocks into the walk.  How do I train him not to worry about me so much? (By taking advantage of his every absence to work myself into the next stage of mobility recovery, that's how!  Such a sweet man but it is too easy for me to cave in to his stresses.)

Speaking of that sweet man, I have not yet heard if he and his friend have left the campground to head for home. They have been out of cell phone range for the past four days, so hopefully all is well.  I can only trust they managed okay and are healthy enough to return, that the car has not cratered somewhere along the way and that they didn't get lost in the bush somewhere this weekend.  Hopefully either myself or his friend's wife will hear something soon. The only time I get nervous is on homecoming day as I wait to hear a time frame for return.  

Thus far it has been a good day. I completed my physiotherapy before 9am and had a couple of hours to do other things while I waited for the right time to take my little walk.  Now I am going to have a rest for an hour or two before I get moving on another set of house chores.   

To life, l'chaim....AND a blessed L'Shanah Toveh U'metukah to all of you who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah today! Happy New Year!!! 

Sure wish we were with the rest of the family and friends in NYC today so we could celebrate together as we did last year....oh well..... 

I Made It To Church And Back This Morning….AND……

 …..I didn’t lose my balance on the bus this time! Yay me! Hahaha! 

It was good to see people, enjoy the service and a few short visits and then be able to catch the bus home right outside the church building. 

The rest of today I have been doing laundry. There won’t be many items to iron tomorrow because most of the shirts, pants and dresses are specific to the summer season. They will be packed away as soon as they are dry, to be ironed and hung up again next spring. Glad there were only three loads to be done. I am hoping once I am finished with this chore this evening my hip will have been sufficiently exercised to handle the short walk to the grocery store tomorrow. 

Back to physio exercises in the morning….getting tiresome being on this constant treadmill, but it helps to remind myself of the 17 months of physio I had to do after I shattered my ankle in 2011. In that context the four months of physio thus far this time is no big deal.

A Bad Case Or The "Sleepinesses"!

It has been so long since I had a few days to myself I forgot that, after the running around getting supplies and the other stresses involved getting my husband ready for an outdoor adventure, helping him get packed up and then having to create things to do and times with friends for myself to enjoy while he is gone, I tend to collapse like a punctured balloon for a day or two!  It actually hit me last evening after my friend went home, but I chalked it up to the excitement of the day of visiting.  I dozed out right before and right after dinner for a few minutes and as previously posted, went to bed early.

 

Today after the women's meeting I came home and dozed out again, then again before dinner tonight. Presently at this still early in the evening time, I am feeling like a limp dishrag.  All the general daily stresses of having another person in the house, HIS stress getting ready for outdoor trips and coordinating all the details with the other people going along, plus his concern for me and all the help I have needed since my surgery, have plum worn ME out as well!  

So, since I have already been awake for nearly 15 hours, minus two short naps during the day, and am feeling exhausted again, I suspect I will be heading off to bed uber early once again this evening.  Oh dear....I hope this doesn't happen again tomorrow. I need to get some house chores done after I get home from church, not lie around dozing in my comfy recliner chair!!!  It is the same kind of weariness that hit me for ten straight days after delivering my son to college and realizing his "creative ways" were no longer my problem.  Ten days and nights of sleeping before I snapped out of it...I thought I was dying or something, but it was just a reaction to the lifting of stress. Good grief..... 

Life Is Getting Back To Normal.....Slowly, But Surely!

I feel as if I am attempting, with at least some success, to emerge from a cocoon.  As my walking is improving and my brain is starting to fire on a few more post-op cylinders,  I am returning to a bit more independence and it feels GOOD!!  This morning I took the bus for the first time in months....a year??  I bused up to the church for a women's meeting and had a lovely time listening to one of our members who has been doing genealogy for the past 60 years. She shared multiple places where people can find, email, call, visit to locate information about their ancestors and her own stories about her family history were fascinating.  Each of us nearly twenty women had an opportunity to tell an interesting story about our own family history and they were fascinating to hear.  I had no problem riding the bus, although I did lose my balance a bit on the way home when I forgot about my little disability and stood up before the bus came to a complete stop, haha.  Fortunately I was able to grab the back of the seat from which I just stood up and right myself in time to get off the bus without stumbling or further delaying the already behind schedule bus driver.  It was a good experience that has left me wanting, FINALLY, to get out more on my own if possible.  Once I get driving again in a few weeks' time it won't be easy to keep me at home! 

It was a good week.  We spent Wednesday running a lot of errands for my husband's weekend of camping and canoeing.  He finally spent a few dollars on some improved equipment options and I think this current outing and subsequent trips will make him very glad he did!  As it was, one of the systems he purchased for tying the canoe more firmly to the top of our car made loading it so much easier for us both the night before he left.  Of course I and my cane were hugely helpful to that process, teehee, but I managed not to squash him under the canoe when I misunderstood where I was to hold the thing up when he was shifting it onto his shoulders....bonus, right?

I don't know what exactly it is that makes the Wednesday evening prayer and healing service at my friend's church so special, other than that I get to attend with my friend, but it seems each week I am getting more into the depth of the prayers, getting more out of the homily, enjoying the meditative Taize songs, (WHAT?  ME ENJOYING MEDITATIVE SERVICES?????  SURELY I JEST!!, but no, I AM enjoying them!), becoming eager to go forward for the time of anointing and personal prayer from the priest.  That service has become the spiritual highlight of my week. 

Thursday was also a good day.  My weekly coffee buddy appeared as usual.   My husband had some medical tests done and while the results were not what either of us had hoped for, there is help available and he will be accessing that next week.  He is catching the condition on the cusp of it becoming worse, so he will be doing all he can to prevent it from getting to be a bigger problem than it already is.  Years of sitting in classrooms and at the computer are taking their toll on his circulation unfortunately, but exercise is one of the helps and he is being faithful since the possible diagnosis was originally presented.  This weekend of canoeing will be a good thing and he gets to enjoy the outdoors in good weather with his very good friend.

The night before he left for the camp out, my husband took me out for dinner and we had a really nice visit with good food despite eating at a chain restaurant.  Our local Original Joe's does serve a nice meal and the music isn't usually loud enough to be a nuisance.  It was a surprise for me and I so enjoyed it. Our son and his wife called us that same night and we had such a great chat. They are helping to prepare the family Rosh Hashanah feast for Monday evening.  Her aunt is going to send me photos this evening of the food prep procedure. As she said, it isn't quite the same as us being able to be there again as we were last year, but it is better than nothing. Hopefully our son will also take photos at the actual feast so we can see everyone that we met last year and see how the new babies have grown since then.  It is surprisingly difficult for us to have to miss the gathering this year.  We hadn't realized it would hit us so hard.

Yesterday a friend from out of town spent most of the day with me. She arrived just before 10am and we visited, shared a lunch of chicken salad and fresh veggies and herbs from both our gardens, spent a long and glorious afternoon at the Regina Floral Conservatory, (tiny space, wonderfully set up to sit amongst the plants for a quietly serene visit under the huge fig trees, then visited the Hiya East African Convenience Store because my friend grew up in Ethiopia before it became Eritrea and I knew she would enjoy finding the bags of hot ground peppers for her own Ethiopian cooking. She hit it off instantly with the proprietor who grew up in a couple of the same cities she had lived in as a child.  They had lots to talk about so I had a lesson in Ethiopian/Eritrean history.  It was fascinating.  We ended our day at Five Star Italian Deli where I picked up a few treats for my husband and salivated over the many bakery items my diabetes does not allow me to eat! hahaha  

After she left I had my dinner and realized I was completely exhausted!  I dozed in front of the television a bit, then did my physio exercises and went to bed early.  Very unusual for me AND of course I have now been awake since shortly after 4:30am, having had my usual six hours of sleep by then. Sigh....Oh well, it didn't stop me from going to the meeting this morning.

I will take the bus to church in the morning now that I have conquered the procedure and learned to stay in the seat until the bus comes to a complete stop.  Honestly, trust the old woman here to make a complete fool of herself on public transportation.  Oh well, no one on that bus will remember but myself!  When I remember it again at 2am I will remind myself of that. Good old OCD night time brain. 

The upcoming week is going to be very busy and I am glad of that.  I am not as "scared" now to go to my physio appointment at the end of the week because I am actually gaining a bit better ability to fully weight bear on my operated leg.  It still needs a bit of support from the other leg, BUT I couldn't balance on it at all for more than two seconds under any conditions only a few days ago.  Another slight bit of progress, but slight is still better than none!  On Monday I am going to venture out to the nearest grocery store about 5 blocks away, on foot, cane in hand and since there is a restaurant beside it I will time my walk to be able to sit down and have lunch if I need a break before I begin the walk home again.  I MUST be walking farther before we head to the west coast, I MUST or the trip will be a disaster.

The rest of the week is filled in on the calendar: accompanying my husband to another medical appointment where I can shop while he sees his doctor, friends coming over for afternoon tea, the prayer and healing service, a hair cut, my regular weekly coffee buddy visit, a physiotherapy appointment....and those are just the events I already know about.  Each week of late there have also been a number of last minute events popping up that have been a great mental and emotional boost to us both.

Assuming all goes well with my husband's camping and canoeing adventure life coming up is looking fairly decent once again.  The resurgence of more summer temperatures with nicely cooled off overnight hours is making life sweet as well. 

Brilliantly Toothy Grins!

 My husband and I had our teeth cleaned today so we look rather shiny again when we smile! 😃 hahaha 

It takes very little to make us elderly folk happy, so seven hours later we are both still basking in the compliments from each of our dentists 🦷 that we could be poster children for old fogey tooth hygiene! 

Of course we ruined all the gleaming whiteness by going out for a late breakfast shortly after the cleanings, but….what the hay, right? 

Came home long enough to change our clothes and head over to the church for the monthly seniors group. Today there was no guest speaker, the pastor had us share our stories about our baptisms. It was wonderful! There were only sixteen of us there today so we all had a chance to share. It is the strongest feeling of community we have personally ever experienced in the group. When the meeting was over people were loathe to leave and only the looming expiry of our parking meters got people on their feet and out the door. What a lovely afternoon! There are not a lot of designated occasions in our church to gather for the specific reason of telling each other how God has worked in our lives. It was most encouraging!

Perfect outdoor weather has been the icing on the cake of a very good day!

Thrilled With My New Steam Iron!

 I've just spent an hour ironing clothes with my new CHI 1700 Watt steam iron and it works like a charm!!  It is heavy and uses a lot of water, much more than my last iron and why?  It is because this one works properly and I get actual steam. Not having to go over most of the clothing items twice is a long awaited experience for me.  I can use the appropriate heat setting now for the various fabrics. The last iron had to be on the hottest setting to get enough heat out of it to get anything wrinkle free and for fabric that had to have a cooler setting to keep it from sticking to the iron it was an exercise in frustration, having to go over each item at least twice to get the wrinkles out.  For those of you who do not iron or could otherwise care less about this subject, please indulge me for this one post okay?  

I don't know what I am most thrilled about: the fact that my new iron works properly or that I can now stand up for an hour to use it with very little muscle discomfort afterward.  hahaha  A good day today, yup, yup, yup...... 

Today I realized one of my physiotherapy issues is that I am not mentally targeting the immovable tendon and muscles along the incision scar. So, although it took ages longer to complete the reps, I deliberately tightened up those muscles and glutes too and instead of caving to the inside of my inner thigh when trying to fully weight bear, I was able to convince myself to put more weight on the outside of that foot and tighten the tendon and outer thigh muscles. As a result I was able to add a full 3 seconds more to my time of full weight bearing on some of the exercises....progress? Yes. Seemingly minuscule progress?  Yes. But progress of some kind is better than none at all. For those of you who have told me you are continuing to pray for my full recovery, don't despair. Bless you!!

Our Neighbours: Immigrants Encouraged To Come To Our Country, But Finding Few Supports

I feel that our country's immigration policies perhaps reflect a certain amount of naivety on the part of the government officials enacting them.  "Come to Canada", many immigrant families are told.  "We welcome you with open arms so that you can start a new life."  While there are certainly those who succeed when they arrive here, there are others who struggle mightily due to the cost of housing, the dearth of jobs in many quarters and the lack of affordable support services like daycare for their children that are out of comfortable reach even when both parents manage to find work here.

We are losing our next door neighbours due to this discrepancy between welcome and support services.  While both of them found jobs, their positions are far below their educational achievements and the pay is rather poor. So, they are stuck living in the same tenement we find ourselves in to keep a roof over their heads.  The biggest problem though is the cost of day care for their child.  They do receive some assistance from the government "Ten Dollar A Day" programme and its monthly cap on costs, but that still means nearly three hundred dollars a month for child care on top of an overpriced tenement rent and two minimum wage jobs.  The mom can only work part time now in order to be available to deliver and pick up the child during the hours of the available child care home.  They are originally from the middle east and were forced to flee some years ago. They ended up in Sweden for several years, but were very excited to come to Canada with their big dreams based quite a bit on how the immigration programme here was presented to them. I can't judge that because I don't know for certain what the presentation was, but I feel sorry for them that they are in a bind now that they are here.  Six months into their life here, the mom and child are financially forced to return to Sweden.  There are waiting lists galore here for parents needing day care, waiting lists to get into kindergarten classrooms, waiting lists for better accommodation that is still affordable and what have you.  The situation has become more than they can handle, so while the husband will remain here for a few months longer, working to save some money, while the mom and child get a home re-established in Sweden for the family, we are going to lose all of them by the new year.  I feel so sad for them. They are most disappointed that the supports they thought would be in place are nearly non-existent.  Sweden's high income taxes pay for wonderful public services like day care.  Our neighbour said that it is easier in the long run to have the higher taxes taken off the pay cheque each month than to be constantly on edge wondering if there will be an available day care and when the monthly cost of same is going to unexpectedly go up.  The financial and mental stress in Canada has done them in.  They are only one of the families we know that came over here ready to work hard and carve out a new life, only to discover there are so few jobs available that cover rent and other monthly expenses for a family.  We have two sets of African neighbours in a similar situation, but in their case it is impossible to return to their home countries due to civil war and they have no contacts anywhere else in the world, so they feel stuck and are quite frightened.  I am glad that my country so happily welcomes so many immigrants, so many of them refugees in desperate need, but we need to have better supports in place for them and less complicated ways for them to access what is available.  I wish I had all the answers, that's for sure.  I am grateful that Canada is trying to help people from other countries, but if part of the reason the number of foreign students allowed to enroll in our universities has been slashed due to a recognition of the lack of support services and affordable housing, why aren't other immigrants also being told how difficult life here may be?  I am trying to understand it, but sometimes it is difficult to get all the information.  I only know what I see and hear and am not certain if I am interpreting the situation correctly. I just know I feel terrible for our neighbours and other friends who are struggling to relocate to Canada only to discover it is much harder than they were led to believe.

Cheeful Sunshiny Day Once Again!

Late last evening the rain finally stopped teeming down.  A few brief showers occurred overnight but today the clouds have been higher in the sky and glorious sunshine is currently bringing joy in the late afternoon.  The humidity of the past few days has been unbelievable.  It is incredible to have this much humidity in southern SK.  If it was southern Ontario it would be expected, but wow, it seems so strange to experience this level of humidity on the prairies.  Our basement only leaked a little bit, in both the places where my husband has put plastic tubing into the wall to drain the water into deep pans which, when full enough, drain that water through another set of narrow plastic tubes into the washing machine drain in the floor.  When I think of how much water used to flood our basement before he discovered the wonderful concrete sealant Xypex, the depth of the water, the many places it was pouring in, the number of times we had to use mop and bucket to soak up the worst of it and then cover the floor with old towels to soak up as much water as possible that was still dripping inside....several miserable years, but the Xypex has sealed up all but these two places completely.  The reason it hasn't been 100% successful in those two places is because there are old underground communication systems' lines coming through the wall from outside that can't be completely sealed off.  The Xypex has made our lives here livable for the past 6 out of 10 years.  We love Xypex!! 

The humidity has stalled the drying process of the cold water wash clothes I hung up to dry.  Usually those clothes are dry in a matter of 3 to 8 hours, depending on the thickness of waistbands and doubled over hems, but at the moment several pair of slacks I hung up at about 4pm yesterday are still not dry enough to fold...over 24 hours later.  Good grief!  It will be tomorrow now before I can put them away. 

It was nice to be at our own church this morning after going visiting last Sunday.  The other church, despite meeting several members of their very good pastoral team, wasn't a great fit for us, but we certainly enjoyed seeing something else.  My husband will miss church next Sunday and then the following Sunday we will both be absent as he is preaching out of town.   

After church we stayed for the Kick Off Sunday lunch...tasty pulled pork on fluffy buns with a tasty coleslaw.  We were among the first in line so we didn't get a lot of food as there were so many people to feed. Tasty as it was, it really didn't fill us up and then we left immediately after eating to make room for the many more people lined up for their meal.  

Off we went from there to find me a new iron. After some wild goose chases to stores whose websites claimed to have steam irons in stock, but in reality are only ordering them in to be picked up upon delivery, we ended up at WalMart, of all places to buy appliances, and I purchased a nice heavy CHI model.  It is about the same heaviness and style as my former brand of iron and about the same price, plus I was able to take it out of the box and inspect it before purchasing it.  Online ordering is the most irritating thing since my childhood catalogue shopping at the Sears Order Offices.  We shall see how the new iron stands the test of time.  

My husband was quite ravenous by the time we finally purchased the steam iron, so we went to the nearest restaurant, East Side Mario's, (a family chain restaurant similar to Olive Garden for quality of food), before he could pass out from hunger pangs.  He is slightly hypoglycemic so when he needs to eat he needs to eat NOW. He enjoyed his roasted garlic tomato soup and a small "pizza", (difficult to describe and tasty enough, but a true pizza....hmmmm...not so sure), while I ate a small Caesar salad and also had the soup with lots of grated Parmesan cheese. No "second breakfast" for us; "second lunch", it is!!  hahaha

Home to do some chores and watch another episode of Season 7 of New Tricks detective show on Kanopy.  We were disappointed at first that next 5 of the 12 seasons are not available on Kanopy, but we stopped fretting when we discovered that the four main characters that MADE the series for us started leaving the show in Season 8 and by the last two or three seasons had all been replaced by other actors.  So, we are grateful for what we have been able to get.   It has been a fun time watching this series. The British programme producers certainly do know how to make wonderful detective series.  One day we hope to stumble across the last 3 or 4 seasons of Vera. That is another series, much more serious than New Tricks, that we absolutely love.  If BritBox didn't cost so much for us to bring into our place we would likely subscribe to it. The other issue about having that station is how difficult it would be to pry ourselves away from the television!!

In a couple of days it will be time for our dental cleanings.  I don't mind that procedure so much, but my husband struggles with it. Fortunately he was able to explain to the hygienist that he becomes extremely dizzy and nauseous from the top half of the dental chair being cranked so low that he feels like he is standing on his head. Not only has she been able to lower his head far less, she has also found a wonderful neck pillow for him to use while she works on his teeth. He can leave the dental office now afterward without looking so green and pasty in the face.  Poor guy.   

My hip has thoroughly enjoyed its two days off from physiotherapy.  Tomorrow it will be time to hit those exercises once again.  Knowing I get weekends off seems to help me relax more and take my time from Monday to Friday, so my muscles aren't so tense when doing the exercises.  

Here's to a happy upcoming week! 

Is It Our Turn For A Bit Of Flooding??

 Yesterday Steinbach Manitoba  flooded badly.  over 135mm of rain fell on that fair city in a very short period of time, leaving people with floating cars, flooded basements and all manner of flora damage on their properties.  The rain headed westward after it was done drowning Steinbach and today it is our turn to experience heavy rainfall.  I don't know that we are anywhere near reaching the extreme rainfall that Steinbach experienced yesterday, but after rain most of yesterday, then again overnight and all day today, sometimes teeming rain, I am wondering if some of the downtown underpasses will be flooded and traffic rerouted....maybe by later this afternoon or this evening?  As much as rain has been needed and generally speaking it is refreshing, enough is enough already at this point.  Where was this rain in the spring and over the summer when we needed it?  Well, thus far our basement is dry, no leaking yet....which mostly only proves that the ground here is terribly dry and still soaking up the moisture. Hopefully by the time it is completely saturated and the water is looking for somewhere else to go, it won't pick our basement as its final destination!

I am enjoying my physio-free Saturday. I stayed in bed late this morning, luxuriating in the stress free awakening, reading the news, thinking "deep" thoughts, praying and totally enjoying the lack of oomph I always feel after 5 consecutive days of intense physiotherapy that thus far has not yielded the usual results.  Tomorrow I am also going to enjoy the therapy-free day before amping up again on Monday.  Today is laundry day, so I will get lots of exercise going up and down stairs. That will be helpful overall to the healing process.

My husband took advantage of the wet, cool day yesterday to make cream of celery soup with garden fresh produce some friends gave to us. It is SO YUMMY!!  He also made some beef and tomato sauce to encourage us both to eat the last batch of pasta that has been in our freezer for several weeks.  The weather has been too hot until the past few days to want to eat something as heavy as pasta and sauce con carne.  We are looking forward to consuming the leftover pasta for lunch and gorging on the celery soup for dinner.  He made enough soup for me to give a carton away and to freeze one carton for later.  This morning when I finally got out of bed to start my day the smell of baking powder biscuits baking in the oven made me very hungry indeed and I enjoyed having the three teeniest ones he made just for moi.  I cracked open a jar of Smucker's no sugar added apricot jam and indulged myself happily with this Saturday Spectacular for breakfast.  God bless my wonderful cook husband!!!  

As much fun as it was visiting a different church last Sunday, I think we will go to our own church this week.  It is "Kick Off Sunday", the first day of the week that the autumn programmes get started and we eat lunch together in the hall after the service.  Usually the lunch consists of soups and breads my husband and I cannot eat, so we hang around for awhile then take ourselves home for a quick lunch....this week it will be leftover cream of celery soup I am guessing!  So happy that the after service fellowship time has moved back indoors after having lemonade and iced tea outside on the street for the summer. The wasps will miss us but we will not miss them!!!

Time for pasta lunch and then the laundry chores will begin! 

A Pain In The Lungs!!

 Neighbours a few doors down have been outside on their back deck smoking "something" the past couple of nights.  It isn't straight out pot, it is something much stronger and much more odiferous!!  To me it smells like stale hashish, but that is an old drug from my college aged years and I don't even know if anyone smokes that stuff any more. Whatever it is, I have to close all my windows as soon as the first whiff enters our place or else I get horrible chest pains from it.  Tonight I didn't get to the windows in time as I was distracted by other things until it was too late. Ooowww, owie.....My husband raced around and closed all the windows but the odor of this stuff is SO STRONG it has taken nearly an hour for the smell to go out of our suite.  If this is what is going to be happening every remaining warm night of the autumn season, I think winter will be much easier for me to contemplate, when it will be too cold for anyone to smoke 'n' toke out of doors.  Just when I thought there was nothing left to cause irritations for me around here.  My stupid allergies have been the bane of my life!!

After our lovely dinner with friends a few nights ago I came home and proceeded to sneeze my sinuses out due to their adorable and extremely amusing cat.  Other friends have to lock their dogs in the basement when we visit them, which seems grossly unfair to the dogs because it is their house and I am only the visitor, but I am grateful for friends who are willing to do that.  Unfortunately on the night of "the cat", I didn't realize I had no Claritin in the house until it was too late to take it ahead of time anyway.  It is on my pharmacy shopping list now so that I don't have to go through that kind of wheezy, eye watering, sinus closing congestion again in the near future.  Stupid allergies....

We had dinner out the following evening as well. Friends who live outside the city invited us to join them and another fellow. The three guys had a planning meeting together after dinner as they are going on a trip in a few weeks that they are very excited about.  One fellow's wife will bring her husband and the third fellow to our place the morning they are leaving and then she is going to spend the day with me. I am very excited about that.  HOWEVER, I NEED to get off my duff pretty soon and start making some plans to keep myself busy for the several days my husband will be away.   I will not have a vehicle, which will make it difficult to go and visit friends who also have mobility issues, just like me, that preclude walking over to our place.  I could take the bus to a couple of church events happening at that time, but it is a fairly long walk to the church and back to the stop where I would be dropped off.  Over the summer that street was closed for repairs and the bus stops were moved over right beside my church. Dang it....I admit I was hoping that with the great weather the road construction project would keep going for another few weeks, leaving those bus stops right by the church, but unfortunately the project is shut down until next spring.  From the bus, now that it has returned to its regular route, I would have to walk through a dangerously populated downtown park and with my cane it draws attention to my age and vulnerability.  It simply isn't safe on an early weekend morning, when all the downtown businesses are still closed, to go walking there.  If I don't decide soon how to fill my time so I am not alone for all that time it will be a miserable few days, so I have to kick start my brain and get planning and making contact with friends.  Here's hoping......

I am so pleased that our place is now wonderfully dusted and cleaned and hopefully it will be a couple of more days before the dust in here becomes visible on the furniture again.  My husband helped me move living room furniture and turn the area rug end for end to remove the bumps that form in the carpet due to the nap in the old wall to wall carpet underneath it.

Today we took advantage of the lovely warm and sunny day to run some errands and have a nice lunch out at Famoso's.  I opted for the plant based Indian spice burger and caesar salad with proscuitto chips.  Usually I have the tomato bisque, but today I wanted to try something different. It was delicious,  with so much lettuce and tomato, plus thick cucumber slices on the burger.  It was very filling and I enjoyed it muchly!!

I am seeing more progress on my physio again today, so that is encouraging. "Keep slogging sister"....that is my motto. 

I was on my feet a lot today as we went to a very large grocery store and spent a lot of time walking around in there even though we didn't buy that much.  The lack of pressure I had to exert on my cane was most encouraging and my stride is starting to lengthen.  I am not tilting to the side very much at all now once I get a pace established.  

The heat was nice today. At this time of year +29C doesn't pack quite the same punch as it does in the middle of the summer. Not sure I understand why, but all I know is that it wasn't unbearable today.  The forecast rain did not appear, of course, but maybe tomorrow....or the next day?  Hopefully if and when it does come it doesn't put the harvest any further behind than it already is, but we surely do need the moisture.

This week the leaves on the trees have started to turn yellow....as lovely a sight as it is, I don't like that fact that it portends the arrival of winter.  It is too soon for the trees to be turning like this....isn't it??  My friend on Vancouver Island was sharing with me today the signs in her area that indicate a possible early arrival of winter weather. Ugh!

This week has flown past because we have been so happily busy. My husband completed his repair project on our friend's canoe, he got a good start on a sermon he has to give in a couple of weeks at an out of town church, he had very productive meetings with his two men's groups,  he has worked on some basement clearing projects and tidied up the tools he hasn't taken to his borrowed woodworking shop.  I have just been happy to plod along with housework between social engagements. I really enjoyed the weekly evening prayer and healing service I attend with my friend.  Yes, it has been a good week.  Now if I could only convince our beloved dope smoking neighbours to do their thing inside their place...the stench could choke a goat as the old saying goes.  It is certainly choking me....the Old Goat!! hahaha

Tomorrow it is time to make celery soup with fresh stalks of celery our friends gave to us.  We are working our way through a large bag of fresh yellow beans they gave us as well, plus delicious tomatoes and carrots. Wow....their generosity is amazing and WE are really enjoying the fruits of THEIR labours!!

My Ancestors Are Irish, My Husband's Are German....Hence:

We know from experience that the video below is hilariously accurate. Enjoy, hahahaha!!

  

 https://youtube.com/shorts/AsQ0KORStFA?si=60N9kNzD0Q618foz

 

Guess If You Are Not An Immediate Emergency Cardiac Patient You Get The Same Crappy Treatment in Hospital As The Rest Of Us!

 Our cardiac patient friend who was flown back to the hospital that did his original heart surgery a few weeks ago, then developed troubling symptoms back at home, was supposed to be medi-vac'd back to the big city hospital a few days ago.  That order from the doctor was disobeyed by the medical higher ups so he and his wife ended up on a commercial flight! Thankfully he didn't have a medical emergency in flight en route! At the city hospital very little was done, the bare minimum it sounds like, and while the immediate symptoms of the issue were taken care of and he was told what other kinds of help with this issue he does and doesn't qualify for, he is being discharged today with little significant treatment and no ongoing care plan moving forward. Sigh.... Quite different treatment than he received as an emergency cardiac....I do get it, I do because I understand the under staffing and other problems currently plaguing the Canadian health care system, but wow, it seems like a bucket of cold water was thrown over him this time around.  Thankfully he and his wife have a relative to stay with in the city for a few days until they are as certain as they can be that the issue will not reassert itself before they fly back home.  One particular specialist that they just saw in the city is going to be visiting their town in a couple of weeks, so our friend has another appointment with that specialist while he is doing his rounds there.  It is such a strange case of two steps forward but then one step back.  I am asking God if perhaps the rest of his recovery could perhaps go more smoothly?  My own father went through all kinds of set backs after each of his 4 heart attacks, but it is really hard on the spouse and family in these cases.  Lord, our friend needs some special mercy from you in the coming weeks. Thank you and amen! Oh how I empathize with what they are going through.

I was able to spend my full hour doing physiotherapy this morning. I did some digging and discovered one exercise I can be doing to strengthen the struggling tendon and since I did it post surgery the last time I had issues with this hip, I have added it into my regime.  It is very easy to do and really stretches out that tendon.  Here's hoping it will help big time.  As of today, while I cannot lift my leg any higher when doing the lying side abductions, I can now hold it in place for the full 5 seconds for about 15 reps before it collapses and falls back onto the mat.  When I do my side step ups onto the bottom stair with the operated leg I can now hold the position with full weight bearing for nearly 5 seconds, using the side of my other foot to rest lightly against the step for balance. I am not actually putting any weight on that non-operated foot. YAY!!  Small progress, but significant.  Today's positive response to the physio gave me the oomph mentally to get the place dusted. Tomorrow I will vacuum and this place will start becoming fit for human habitation once again!!

Dry Air

Usually around the middle of November, as winter takes hold, the air becomes so dry that I have to keep a bottle of water beside my bed to guzzle in the middle of the night to prevent my sinuses from drying out so I can breathe properly. The Battle To Breathe began already last week, the first week of September! Unbelievable! I have been awake this morning since about 3:30am in great discomfort, sneaking downstairs as quietly as possible to get my water bottle. Now I am breathing more easily, but the slight dehydration headache is still keeping me awake. Although there is no snow or freezing rain forecast during this week of high daytime temperatures, it seems my own personal winter season may have already started. Dang it! Fortunately it does appear that we will have some rain later this week, so that should help. Assuming we make it to the coast next month I can look forward to being able to breathe properly for a full ten days. At that time of year it will probably be raining every day so the humidity will be very high. I am SO looking forward to that added travel bonus!

Grateful Tears!!

 We are booked into our favourite hotel, in our second favourite suite and our flights are now booked for the October holiday on the west coast.  My husband couldn't find any rooms at all like we were hoping for on the hotel website so he phoned the hotel instead of booking online.  Well, guess what?  We have the same layout of suite that we had nearly two years ago when we were there, just in a different part of the hotel.  YAY!!!!  It didn't show up online, so I am delighted my husband had the presence of mind to call directly.  Flights are now also booked and so we are already praying there will be no significant delays, no cancellations....we trust in your mercy O Lord to work things out as they should be and to give us peace if things don't go as smoothly has they have in the past.  In all the flights we have taken in North America and overseas, we have only once had serious delay and cancellation issues.  We have been incredibly blessed. As this may be our last trip to the west coast in the near future, or maybe at all, I am hoping things will go well once again. The whole plan came together in about a half hour! WOW!  Now that the trip is confirmed and booked, I feel free to become REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!!   

Confirmed!!

We just received confirmation from our son regarding his exhibition opening in October.  So now, the race to find suitable accommodation and flights is about to begin.  God bless my husband for taking this challenge on.  I get too flustered and make mistakes with bookings, which I discovered can be a huge problem these days when it comes to dealing with the airlines!  Just praying this all works out okay. Thanks caring friends and family for the encouragement and prayers you have already said for us.

People Watching!

People are so interesting to watch!  I am an inveterate "people watcher", have been all my life.  Since I wasn't allowed to talk much when my parents took me out with them to visit friends and other family members, I learned well how to sit quietly, sometimes for hours at a time and just observe the folk around me.

The past few restaurant visits have yielded some interesting people.  One table of men were dressed in black tuxes with dark green shirts and boutenniers  and wow, by the time they paid their bar tab and headed out for the ceremony, as elegant as they looked, a couple of them were so tipsy they could hardly walk.  I couldn't help wondering how their condition effected the wedding ceremony....poor bride and groom...although perhaps they themselves were in no better condition heading into the wedding.  

One restaurant we went to featured a replay of a recent football game on the wall televisions.  The patrons at one of the tables were mentally and physically challenged, but they were certainly aware of what their favourite team was doing out on the playing field. As their team wracked up points there was a lot of cheering and yelling, haha, to the point where the manager had to tell them to quiet down.  When there were 3 minutes left on the clock and their team was just barely leading and on their last play of the game, these dear souls started not only cheering "Go team go!!" again but also pounding on the table and the bench seating.  I was grateful the manager who told them previously to be quiet had stepped out and wasn't aware of all the ruckus they were causing.  My husband and I so enjoyed their enthusiasm leading into the final plays and the over exuberant responses when their team won the game. hahaha  They were so excited, no filters, no social intelligence....it was fantastic to see and hear. hahaha

One thing we have noticed is that in recent restaurant visits, most of the elderly, long married couples sitting together over their meals have actually been engaged in conversation with each other.  So often as oldies we sit in comfortable silence, chowing down while each of us is consumed with our own thoughts.  My husband and I decided many years ago we would try not to fall into that habit, as going out for us is a great way to get away from the phone and the computers filling up with messages that need answering in order to satisfy other people's needs and so reconnect with our own relationship. 

If you are not in the habit of covertly watching other people in public spaces, while appearing outwardly to be completely disinterested, give it a whirl.  It is amazing what can be discovered about the way people relate to each other and to their surroundings.  I have certainly learned many things that I should and should not do personally!!  

All That And A Bag O' Chips!!

What a nice Saturday this is turning out to be for me.  The only improvement would be if I had any chance of going out for the latter part of the day, but that is unlikely so I will choose to enjoy the day for what it is!

My husband has been away all day teaching; he is one of the mentors for the candidates for deacons and priests currently taking their pre-ordination training and those newly minted deacons and priests experiencing their first parish positions. He so enjoys it and it has been beneficial to him as well: many reminders of why he felt called to Anglican ordination in the first place and how he can continue to minister effectively even though he is retired from full time parish ministry.

With him being away most of the day I have taken full advantage of my time alone to do very little!  Today is a day off from physio...although my mind is tempted to remain focused on the question as to why my muscles and tendons are taking SO LONG to heal despite my hour per day workouts five days a week.  The low level OCD is bothering me, so I am praying many times a day to be relieved of the mental burden. Thankfully God is really helping me. When I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it, I can now turn the worries over to the Lord the way I should and get back to sleep in a couple of minutes. I am so grateful.  Dealing with Mom's and Dad's deaths and legal estate complications a few years ago pushed me over the edge and I have struggled more than usual ever since. Fortunately, with the Lord's help, I am making progress in getting that stress back under control.  

So, with relaxation in mind, I had breakfast at a decent hour, spent a couple of hours watching some home renovation programmes on tv, did dishes, ate Indian leftovers for lunch, then ironed the rest of the fall and winter clothes in the bin my husband brought up from the basement the other day. The bin is nearly filled with the summer clothes I know I won't wear again until next year.  

I am waiting for my husband to return before I shower and wash my hair...feeling a bit shaky physically today and safety is a big priority right now.  Falling/slipping in the shower is not an option I care to contemplate, so I am still lounging about in my nightgown and housecoat.  Aaaaah....it is quite lovely to have no pressure of any kind today; no physio, no time committments.  I have spent a fair amount of time in prayer today as well for various friends and family, as well as friends and family of friends who are struggling with health issues and some horrendous life circumstances.  As I remember what they are suffering, I am newly inspired to quit whingeing about my operated leg and its struggle to regain strength. Perspective matters!

Church tomorrow: the jury that is composed of myself and my husband is still out on that decision.  Hopefully my husband won't be so tired after today's committment that he will just want to remain at home to Zoom our usual service.  NO!!!  Here's hoping we can get in person fellowship at some church or other.  I am kind of in visiting mode these days.  SO many churches in this city that we have never once darkened the door of.  Our own church will not be having its fall "start up" Sunday until next week since so many congregants will be in the same situation as ourselves: unable to access the church parking due to the Queen City Marathon street closures. For the younger people in good health who can park blocks away and walk go the church, that is not an issue but for those of us with mobility and other age and health related issues, it does prevent us from attending.  It was most thoughtful of the pastoral staff to schedule their Start  Up Sunday extravaganza a week late. Bless their hearts! 

I have some ground turkey thawing so I think, since my husband will be eating his Indian food leftovers for dinner tonight, I will have turkey nachos tonight.  My husband cannot eat nachos as they have corn flour in them, so since his dinner is already looked after I will indulge my "Nacho Craving"!! 

Blasted Cardiac Issues!!

 I am not impressed that our cardiac patient friend is in the process of being medivac'd out to the hospital on the west coast after all.  The issue he was hospitalized for at his local hospital a few weeks ago and that seemed to have been dealt with has reappeared.  Fortunately the local doctors are taking no chances, so he and his wife are on his way west as I write this. It is along journey, so praying he will arrive safely and that this time he will be able to be relieved of this problem completely. There is a possible treatment that could fix it, but it just wasn't available quickly enough in his home town.  Thanks once again for praying for him and for his family. The support is very much appreciated by all of them! I'll keep you prayer warriors posted.

I have been ironing all afternoon.  There were a half dozen or so things needing pressing after this week's laundry, but it is also time to pull the most summery of my wardrobe items and start packing them up for storage over the winter.  So, in order to make room in one of the bins, I removed the winter sweaters and pants that were in it and have ironed most of them as well. I will finish that bin of  winter wear tomorrow.  I am trying to remember the last time I had to start packing up my "summeriest" clothes already on September 1st, and I can't think of when that might have been. Wow...autumn arrived so quickly this year. Even though there are some warm days forecast over the next week, the air quality and smell has changed from summer to fall.  It was so cold in our suite this morning I actually had to put socks on my feet and wear a sweater until mid afternoon!!!!  This is crazy!!!  The entire prairies seem to be cooling off and preparing for an early autumn!  The one positive thing I can think of in the midst of this surprise weather change is that perhaps it will bring the autumn rains in time to put out some of the forest fires raging between the prairies and the west coast.

Feeling Celebratory!

 Every Thursday morning after the previous evening's Anglican prayer and healing service, I wake up feeling like life is worth living and then some.  I feel encouraged by my physiotherapy even when I don't see much progress in the weight bearing and abductions.  I felt so cheery when my Thursday morning coffee buddy showed up for our weekly visit today. I usually do, but this past few Thursdays I felt even cheerier than usual.  I spent the afternoon with a good friend with mobility issues who is on her own for a couple of days and that was also a fantastic time.  Like most of my closest friends, we never run out of conversational topics.  My husband also had a fabulous day working on the final finishing projects for a friend's canoe repair. I think another morning or two will finish that up. Although it was super windy all day, he enjoyed working in the sheltered spot where her canoe is set up in her treed yard.  

We ran a couple of errands just before dinner and decided it would be fun to enjoy a meal from the evening menu at DarBar. Usually we go at lunch time for the special combo plates, but tonight we threw caution to the wind and brought home enough leftovers for two more meals each. Bengan Barta, Aloo Gobi, Coconut Pepper Chicken, Mango Chicken, Zeera Rice, Naan.....yum, yum. yum! YAY!!  We talked about why we have gone out to eat so often this spring and summer and realized it is because once the snow flies and the ice settles in for five straight months, making outside mobility a true safety issue for me, we will tend to go nowhere. Eating out will be axed to a couple of times a month at most and we will be housebound an awful lot.  That time is coming sooner than we want to realize!  Food IS our entertainment, so since we are not vacationing now until October, we will enjoy ourselves at restaurants while we can. 

Some chilly rain appeared a couple of times today, but didn't last long.  At least the moisture is sorely needed for the dry soil, but hopefully it didn't slow down anyone's harvest today more than the chilly wind and cool temperatures already had.

Tomorrow I will be ironing while my husband will, weather permitting, return to our friends' house for another few hours of canoe repair.  He is upholstering the seats at the moment...a lovely blue naugahyde.  Our industrial stapler is elderly, but working well on the upholstery and wooden seats.  

It was a very good day and was topped off with a great update from the family of our cardiac patient friend.  The nose bleed issue seems to have stopped finally, so he is back at home from hospital, he is scheduled for all manner of follow up tests with the doctors and visiting specialists between now and the end of this month....right in his home town, so he won't have to be transported back to the surgical hospital on the west coast. Whew!!  The timing of the arrival of these visiting specialists is near miracle for him. Thanks SO MUCH those of you who are praying for him.  Yippee....my friend sent us a photo of him and he is looking amazingly well after the ordeal he has been experiencing post surgery.  WOW! 

I am going to TRY to get to bed and be asleep before midnight tonight.  It isn't even 9:30pm, my husband is already in bed reading and I do NEED to try to get more sleep tonight than I have been getting over the past 3 nights.  No reason for either of us to set our alarm clock tonight, so that should assist with being relaxed enough to sleep soundly. 

Have a happy weekend everyone.