No More UPS Or Canada Post Ground Service Either....Yay Tariffs!! Gleep!!!

 My husband is disassembling the  box of goodies he planned to sent to our son south of the border.  After finding out that FedEx was no longer an option for us, our son suggested we try using UPS as he has had to send many paintings to Canada for art exhibitions in the past year.  Weeeelllll....that is no longer an option for sending personal items south.  We rolled up to their office this afternoon and my husband carried his box of stuff inside.  Less than one minute later he emerged, still carrying the box after being told that UPS no longer sends packages via ground transport to the USA.  Too much hassle with paperwork, brokers etc.  He told us to try Canada Post, so although we had little hope of getting the parcel sent that way we took the time to go to an outlet and ask.  Weeeelllll, we COULD use Canada Post....IF we create an online account and then send them the info as to what is in the box, then they will assess what tariffs and other customs costs we will owe and whether or not they will allow us to send it at all, then we pay any costs with our credit card and they email us a special certificate of sending that we print off (thankfully we do have a printer), and take to the post office here to prove that we have permission to send the parcel across the border.  How long this process takes we have no idea and having our credit card on yet another website is not appealing so we will likely never have to find out. Hence, our son will just have to do without the items we wanted to send. One of them should fit nicely into my husband's luggage for our summer trip....a used item that our son once had a great deal of fun with and would enjoy having back again.  

How can you tell we haven't mailed anything stateside since last August when all these new rules and regulations came into effect? hahaha We knew and assumed and are not surprised things have changed drastically, but gosh darn it, what a hassle to send a small box to our own son.  Well, guess he will only be getting new items that we can send through American Amazon from now on. For now at least......

AND gosh darn it all over again....if it isn't going to rain could the steel grey clouds and chilly wind gusts of the past three days just go away so we can enjoy some sunshine???   

My husband went to the doctor this afternoon to hear the test results from his annual physical examination.  Everything is A-OK other than, as usual, his iffy cholesterol count.  The doctor wants him to try one more experiment with his present statin  and then if the new experiment also fails like the last two did and the debilitating headaches return, all he has to do is call and leave a message for the doctor and a new med will be prescribed.  He will run the experiment next week when he returns from his upcoming camping trip. The doctor pronounced him, apart from the cholesterol, "healthy as a horse"!!  So happy for him. It is great news; even greater news at his age!

As is usual for me when he is at the doctor's office, I go along for the ride and shop at the store next to the clinic.  Today I found not one, but two replacement summer dresses for one I had to get rid of. They will be perfect for bopping around in NYC in the heat in August. So inexpensive....so happy....so easy to pack them in my carry on bag....so relieved!! A good day. 

For Our Farming Relatives

 Hello farming family: I am disappointed to report that other than a very brief shower of raindrops around midnight the other night, no true rainfall materialized all weekend. Sigh….it is already scarily dry here. While it is helping local farmers catch up on their late snowfall induced seeding season, the seed isn’t going to germinate properly now if we don’t get some serious rain soon. Over the weekend we were forecast to have anywhere from 30% to 60% chance of rainfall three days in a row but what we received was a big fat nada! Happily no thunderstorms or hail, but….

Sorry about the group post but it saves sending the same report to all of you individually. Happy farming season you guys!

Late Night Kid Noise But No Early Morning Goose Wars! Yay!

 After a long and busy day that included a cup of deliciously strong tea which kept me awake late into the evening, I was very pleased that the Goosey Turf Wars from that morning seem to have ended….for now. The weekend event in the park where most of those geese normally reside, that drove them over here for the weekend, ended sometime close to dinnertime last evening so by bedtime all the geese had returned home. This morning we have only our usual five regulars who do very little squawking. Whew!

Our little troupe of middle eastern kids who play outside often even on school nights until midnight or later was at it again last night after a blessed two night reprieve. Last night I didn’t care at all because the tea had ME bouncing off the walls until nearly 1 am….the same time the kids finally went silent….a nice dovetailing that gave me a good start on staying asleep for the night. 

I am grateful! I feel almost awake this morning! Yay!

Goose Wars At 5am….Sigh…..

It was a short night around here sleep-wise. At 5am the latest territorial goose wars erupted on the front lawn immediately below my bedroom window.  An hour and 45 minutes later the war rages on. Apparently across the entire two block long unbroken expanse of fresh green grass at our complex nowhere is as green and fresh and desirable as the patch right here, ten feet below my sleeping quarters. Aaaaargh! Oh the incessant honking, the screeching, the beating wings, the chasing, the nipping….one couple is not even physically involved in the war between the two couples vying for the below my window greenery. They are standing on the sidewalk across the street, four lanes of traffic away, hooting and hollering like banshees while the four combatants under my window chase each other around on the lawn. Big sigh….. My husband is sound asleep in his cool basement hideaway where the goose war cacophony does not penetrate the thick concrete walls. Lucky guy….. I am not sure how well I am going to stay awake to fully enjoy our day out of the city after only five hours of sleep. The motorcycle racers and muffler deficient stunt drivers that enjoy utilizing the wide streets around us didn’t quiet down until around midnight. 

My alarm is set for 40 minutes from now. The geese have finally ceased their squawking. I am sleepy. If I fall asleep for such a short time how groggy and miserable am I going to feel when I wake up? Hahaha…what a crazy start to the day….AND what is this I hear? Apparently the time out is over for the geese. Here they go again….aiiii yiiiiii……at least that answers my question about going back to sleep. 

A Happy If Brief Reconnection!

This morning online I stumbled across a woman and her husband who we went to Bible School with back in 1976! After the school term ended we went our separate ways, but occasionally reconnected. The last time we saw the husband was in our home in Alberta several years before we moved to Tokyo, so it has been about thirty years since our last contact. So today I decided to take a chance and send her an email to say hello and I received a lovely response so we have been sending emails back and forth all day today. Geographically we are rather far removed from each other and likely won’t be in touch again, but it was so great to get caught up with each other. Both husbands are church ministers who are now “retreading” rather than retiring. It was a cool and unexpected way to enjoy my day! 

We Are Going To Miss Being Able To Use FedEx!

We only occasionally send items to our kids in the States and we have always used FedEx for those "couple of times a year" mailings.  So when we headed over there the other day to send the first such parcel in many a month we got a nasty surprise!  We found out that in order to use their ground services delivery we now have to get ourselves a customs broker!  In order to do that we have to sign all manner of paperwork and also provide said broker with a Power of Attorney that allows that person to act on our behalf.....uhhhhhh....nope, not gonna do and pay for all that.  Not worth it to send two or three hundred dollars worth of gifts each year.  We could still use their air transportation services with the base price being two hundred and fifty dollars!  Nope, not going to do that either. The cost associated with air transportation would be more than the cost of the gifts! 

So our son is going to contact us today and explain to us what better ways are available to us for less hassle and cost. He ships things all the time between countries both for his work and for personal items, so he is up to date on all these things.  There are other ways of course than using FedEx, but they have been so delightful to work with, every package arrived on time, it was easy to track each one's whereabouts and the staff at the desk here have always been so efficient and so great at explaining things to us....as they were the other day when they were explaining the customs broker requirement.  If we were sending things regularly for business reasons it would be worth it to have a broker....or at least MORE worth it.  

The times they are a'changing...(thank you Mr. Dylan for those song lyrics and you are so right about that!)   

Looking Forward To Tomorrow's Adventures!

 Although we may be sodden with rain by day's end tomorrow, I am really looking forward to a day out of town!  My husband is taking the service at one of our former parish homes, so we will be surrounded by old friends, he is having a meeting with some soon to be ordained younger folk, while I enjoy a fabulous Japanese lunch with a friend. Then we are going to spend the rest of the afternoon with yet more friends.  I think a whole day away from here, rain or no rain but with lower temperatures at last, will be very refreshing for us both.  I can tell my husband is excited too. He already has his sermon completed and ready to print.  Since he has been able to take on so few commitments as he heals from this latest round of CFS etc., he had lots of time to start writing it earlier on, finish it with lots of time to spare and have time this afternoon to start preparing good sized plant pots for transplanting the newly purchased herbs from their teensy hot house pots.  I believe he doesn't have another commitment after tomorrow's until August 2nd.  YAY!

We have been so housebound for so long. What a treat it will be to see somewhere else, somewhere familiar but definitely "other".  So grateful for this opportunity! 

What New Drama Is Taking Place In Our Housing Courtyard???

 Every evening since the last snow melted a couple of weeks ago the back lawns have been filled with children every day after school and into the evenings, whole gangs of them playing and arguing, laughing and fighting and generally just being kids as they navigate each other's cultural norms and language barriers. It is quite a fascinating thing to watch.  Last night however something must have happened that I have no clue about.  I noticed the kids coming home from the school buses in the late afternoon, straggling along as usual after a week of classes.  All of them apparently went home and have still not re-emerged.  Last evening there wasn't even one child playing outside of the approximately 30 regulars, no "strangers" to our back lawn, no newcomers, nada, nil, no one, nobody at all. I know all the families were at home because all their vehicles were in their assigned parking spots and as the sun went down lights came on in all of their suites, but there was no sign of a child, only the occasional adult crossing the parking lot or lawns...it was downright eerie!  To cool off as the sun was sinking I sat out on our back porch for about an hour, which is why I was so aware of the absence of the kids and it was intensely weird to be surrounded by so much silence from the human beings. I could actually hear the few birds in the place chirping and the siding on the buildings cracking and banging as it cooled down toward the end of the daylight hours.  This morning it is the same thing outside. It is on the way to 11am and nary a child has emerged from their abodes to play in the cooler, less breezy air than we had the past 2 days.  The scheduled thunderstorms have not yet arrived, the ground is dry, the conditions for playing outside are perfect and yet....again no children are outside.  Wow....what do they know that I don't??? Should I be nervous about what is going on around here????    hahaha

Yup, I Overdid the Housework Just A Tad This Week, I Admit It.....

 

 

PS friends and family: 

 

 

HOT HOT HOT!!!!

This  font is named "Lobster" and it is appropriate for today.  It is +36C this afternoon and my sweaty face is as red as a lobster from just the "exertion" of going up and down the stairs at home a couple of times this afternoon.  With no AC it gets pretty warm in this place at this temperature.  Our area is under an Orange Level heat warning  for the next two days, indicating that the overnight temperature will not get any chillier than about +20C before heading back up to at least +35C again tomorrow.  I do hope the forecast for the weekend is correct: highs of (only)  +27C with overnight rain.  We really need that rain....although this afternoon I watched a Nova tv programme talking about rain bombs, something I had never heard of before and something I hope we never get here!!!  Having to park our vehicle outside leaves me in a state of constant concern when hail could be on the horizon. ("Rain Bombs": look-them-up-on-Mother-Google!)

I am grateful that I purchased a very soft, baggy, light cotton knit summer dress a few weeks ago that was also inexpensive and perfect for hot days like this.  It is definitely going to be crammed into my little packing case to go to NYC in August.  It can be worn for a few days and easily washed out by hand. LOVE IT!!   I don't think I have ever been so comfortably dressed for this kind of heat wave.  I have three or four very light dresses for hot weather that will easily roll into that packing case for the trip.  

Even though my daughter in law is still in Montreal we have already made a tentative plan to take the 90 minute train ride out of NYC to see the artworks at the Dea Beacon during our visit. They currently have an Agnes Martin exhibition on until 2028 and, as she is an iconic Saskatchewan artist whose paintings we all love, it will be a wonderful opportunity to see more of her work.  How exciting!!!  My daughter in law is a planner.....it is what she does much of the time in her position with the theatre as a producer, so we are enjoying her excitement at showing us some more sights in NY.  Our son as yet has no idea we are starting to make all these plans, but I think he will be very happy with our choices, hahahahaha.  

My coffee buddy was here this morning.  We had such a good visit.  With both of us moving here "from away" we have many mutual newcomer experiences to share.  I have been here about 8 years longer than she has, but her experiences mirror my own from my arrival here.  It is so interesting how each place I have lived has its own social customs and cultural expectations...from town to town, from province to province. Fascinating stuff. 

I have to go and make dinner now....blecch!  I barely have the energy to eat dinner let alone have to make it first, hahaha.  However, I better get to it before dinner time creeps up on me and my blood sugar drops low enough to make me as crabby as a bear in autumn!! (And spring....and summer.....ooh I am TERRIFIED of bears all year round!!) 

 

Big Drama In Our Small Court Tonight!

 It finally happened.  This evening Moh, our court's biggest trouble maker, pushed the envelope too far and beat up a smaller boy rather badly after stealing his toy right out of the poor kid's hand.  My husband heard sobbing outside, a rarely heard sound in all the years we have lived here, so he went out on the deck and saw a very small boy who he didn't recognize being helped to his feet by one of the older girls in the court.  My husband came back inside and we assumed things would get sorted out.  Well, there was certainly an attempt: the small boy's dad and Moh's dad met together right outside our back deck and a very loud argument ensued.  Our next door neighvour, who speaks the same language as both the other dads came out of his suite and tried to make peace, but to no avail. About fifteen minutes later the police arrived, and there was a meeting of those 3 men, Moh and I don't know who all else because we closed our doors and blinds at that point because from there it was none of our business.  It was nearly an hour before the police left and the three men involved in the initial set to continued to meet together for some time after that before we heard our neighbour return home.  Our hope and prayer is that peace between the dads was reached and that peace will prevail in our court, that Moh got the hint that he can't keep beating up other kids for no reason, but I admit I have little trust in that actually happening.  I can only join my husband in the prayers that Moh will get whatever help he is going to need to stop being an aggressive and violent bully.  As summer holidays come on and there are even more hours spent at home here by the younger kids with little else to do and parents who don't seem to be able to find things for them to do other than hang out as a big, bored gang on the back lawn with few amusements.  At this point all the African kids' bikes have been stolen by other kids who live around our court, never to be seen again I am guessing.  The poor parents have their own issues to deal with and all are struggling immigrants, here against their own wills but forced to leave their home countries due to war.  There is little I can do for Moh and his family BUT I can pray and wait on the Lord and hope that Moh can experience some kind of transformation before he gets any older and the violence escalates into something even more serious.  He is a brilliant, brilliant 8 year old and could have an amazing future if he can be redirected soon into a more positive direction in life.

Apart from that occurrence this evening, it has been a good day.  Despite the heat I was able to knuckle down and continue on with my deep cleaning of this suite.  Now I only have the bathroom fixtures to wash down again tomorrow afternoon and then once my husband is able to move the giant tomato plant pots out of the dining room and outside onto the deck....far too windy today....I will vacuum that small room and be done for a week!  YAY!!

We were supposed to go to a club this evening to hear a friend's band playing and we had every intention but by late afternoon we were so tired, we just wanted peace and serenity. So my husband decided to reward me for all my work around here this week and took me out to a very quiet restaurant....even the dark blue painted walls are serene in there....and we ate so early there were few others in the place.  We had a quiet conversation and then came home to relax and read books and visit some more.

 Tomorrow and the next day are to be unbearably hot so we have an extra curtain rod up bearing blankets to cover the curtains on the east facing windows to keep the hot sun out in the early morning, and have implemented our annual system of blind and curtain closing at various times of the night and day so we can survive in here.  It is all good and if we can survive about five more days of heat, next week will bring us much more reasonable weather apparently. Yay! 

Me Do It Myself!!

Do you remember saying that as a kid when your mom went to zip up your winter parka or tie your shoes and you wanted to do it on your own at last?  Or maybe you went through this scenario with your own toddlers as they were growing up.  

Well, this morning after my husband left for a day of meetings I got online and went back to attempting to solve our banking and credit card issues from yesterday. After a lot of frustration and fiddling about I FINALLY figured out what to do to solve the problem!!  I can now access my card information and my balances, payments and statements just like everyone else who does such things online!!  There were no interruptions of the kind that happen when my husband and I try to figure out website access protocols together. We continually interrupt each other with not helpful questions and distract each other constantly. So this morning I decided to get some self-confidence going for the first time in a few years and solve the issues if I could.  Thanking God that I actually did!  He may just be restoring me to a higher level of confidence that has been missing for a long time.

Over the past couple of decades I have lost so much confidence in my own abilities that I am afraid to even try to solve anything like computer access issues on my own.  I have become so terrified of making a mistake that I don't even try to do things like that by myself any more. Ridiculous? Yes!  Has my husband been the one to make me feel the overwhelming lack of confidence?  Not remotely. He has done nothing but encourage me to figure things out on my own, to have some faith that my brain hasn't completely atrophied at this point, to try to get back to who I "used to be" twenty years or more ago when I was living on my own and raising a child on my own so much of the time because my husband was working out of town or even out of the country.  A few things happened in the meantime to strip me of my confidence, but I am finding lately that there is a need for me to try to restore it.  I need to stop being afraid of making a mistake, particularly with the computer, and get moving forward. 

I have learned much about the necessity of being more confident in my own ability to figure things out from my friend Nan. Since her husband Cee passed away on the way to two years ago she has been forced to figure out all manner of things on her own that she never thought possible she could do without help. She has had to solve one frustrating and/or frightening issue after another in recent months and she is developing problem solving skills, finding solutions to issues like she never thought would be possible by herself.  Nan has become my "heroine" of problem solving for the sometimes seemingly hopeless issues that have come along in her life.   So, I would like to thank Nan for all she has been teaching me, without even knowing she has, about relying less on my husband for problem solving and getting off my duff to figure out a few things on my own.  It feels good!

AND after a few more house chores before lunch I am going over to see a good friend for the afternoon...coffee and visiting....in an air conditioned house on this VERY HOT day.  YAY! 

More Bank Issues, Ha Ha Ha, 'Cause Ya' Gotta Laugh, Right????

 Today we received our first bill for our new American credit card.  It contained the information for how to set up our online account to check balances, payments etc.  According to the bill, the company had not received the payment of the card fee that we arranged for our bank gal to pay when we were there in person last week activating the cards.  When we went online after receiving the bill, to set up our online account with the company, the process was extremely easy, as our gal at the bank told us it would be....except....it wouldn't accept the answers to the questions it asked us in the process of creating our online presence.  Aiii yiiiii....we checked and double checked the information they asked for and there were no discrepancies. So....  Then I noticed that the account number on our bill does not match the account number into which our bank gal had supposedly paid our annual fee at our appointment the other day.WTHeck?  Sooooo, off went an email to the bank and hopefully we will receive a response tomorrow so we can straighten this mess out once and for all.  We have already decided that if our trip to NYC even happens now, as soon as we return we will cancel the card and shut down the American checking account. Then if we go to NYC again sometime we will start the process all over at some other banking institution.  So, we are indeed laughing all the way to the bank but not for the usual reasons, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.........

 

Pleasant Family News!

My husband had a nice long phone chat with our son today. He has many happy bits of news to report that encouraged all of us.  I spent nearly an hour in the prayer room at church praying for him this morning over some concerns he is facing right now, so it was nice to get some good news about his life.

Last week a gallery where he had a show last fall sold two more of those paintings and to a huge international financial investment house to add to their art collection.  So happy for him.  He also got a surprise raise in pay at his job, so that was a wonderful surprise.  He had some medical tests that came back with better than expected results so we are all rejoicing in those.  He and his wife have some very belated honeymoon plans they are putting together for after our visit there.  The play his wife produced opened last week and a critic from the New York Times who both she and my son greatly respect was in attendance. Whether or not it gets a printed review, unlikely as it is a new play by a lesser known playwright, at least a major critic came to see it; good advertising in itself as word gets out.  

My husband spent a long time researching "alternative to flying from here to NYC" travel possibilities for our upcoming trip just in case the Strait of Hormuz remains closed indefinitely and more international flights end up being cancelled at the last minute.  They now include us getting a ride to Saskatoon and taking the train across Canada to Toronto and then transferring to the Amtrak for the rest of the trip across the border, driving to Minot to catch a flight the rest of the way across the States, driving the entire way and back, (the least possible option due to our concern that we don't have the oomph to do that even one way, let alone two), taking a few extra days at the beginning to fly to Vancouver for those days and then taking the five hour overnight red eye flight from there to NYC....oh there are many alternates, we just need to settle soon on one of them and start making those arrangements.  Who knows how all this will work out...but we are having fun dreaming and planning in the meantime.  Actually my husband is doing all the research and making the suggestions as planning trips is right down there near the bottom of my list of fun things to do, along with slapping myself across the face with a board!! Thank goodness for my husband or we would never go anywhere at all!!!

The thunderstorm warning for overnight has been replaced with a 60% chance of showers, so that is a good thing, although we do desperately need those showers here in the city.  While I spend the upcoming hot days giving this suite a good cleaning, my husband will be getting the trellis and heavy plastic wrapping ready for the two tomato plants to go outside at last, as well as getting the rest of his herbs purchased and planted out on the deck.  Ruddy plants...l love the produce they give us, but oh my it has been so nice not having spiders and wasps all over the deck and back door area yet this year.  I have seen exactly one spider outside spinning webs anywhere near the deck so far and that has been a huge treat. Oh well....

We are realizing how noisy it is going to be this summer, right into the wee hours of the morning, once the kids in our court get out of school.  Most of the new immigrant kids come from hot, hot countries where daytime is for sleep and nighttime is for coming outside where the kids can play and the adults can sit and visit on back decks and stairs.  My husband and I are not going to play "noise police" this summer. The rest of the complex has been defaulting to us and letting us be the only ones, as of the end of last summer at least, who come outside at 2am to ask the neighbours' kids to please go inside and stop hollering and kicking soccer balls against the side of the building so everyone else can get some sleep.  Nope, this year we will put the white noise in our room at a higher level and be prepared to wear our earplugs all summer. It is someone else's turn to explain to the new families about the local noise bylaws and being considerate of the other tenants.  The kids are always so very good and respond well to getting direction. We don't have to be angry, mean or rude to them and since none of their parents speak English at this point it is the kids with their own versions of newly learned English that we have to chat with about noise. There are times when we so wish we could speak Arabic and Swahili so we could communicate with the new people here more effectively.  If the other adults in here continue to complain about kid noise in the wee hours of the morning they can be the ones that figure out a way to deal with it.  Overnight noise control used to be a group effort taken on by most all of the other long term tenants in our court until last summer when we suddenly became the only ones who wanted to help the kids understand the rules here.  The sense of community really began falling apart last summer and that is kind of a shame.

Here's to a week of extreme warmth and if we are tempted to complain even a teensy bit about the heat, we will remember the snow that continued from the end of last October until the middle of May!!! That should shut us up! 

 

 

Good Reminder To Us All!

 

Sufficiently Suffonsified!!!

 We went out for lunch at DarBar after church today....somehow lunch out with friends, laughing and visiting and enjoying some sustenance together seemed a particularly fitting way to celebrate Pentecost Sunday!  The restaurant was packed out and as the only Caucasians among the the patrons we got the hint that their Indian food is indeed as delicious as we always have thought it to be. What a great time we had.

The church was all decorated this morning with red banners depicting the flaming tongues that came upon the disciples on the very first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was released to dwell in God's followers, the sermon was about how miracles like of speaking in tongues, healings etc., all depend on being properly utilized in a spirit of love toward others, that heaven and earth are likely not so separated as we have sometimes been led to believe and that apparently inexplicable miracles are actually just "WOW" moments when the veil of heaven is pulled back temporarily for us to see what God is capable of...or words to that effect.  It was a very good, encouraging sermon. All the teaching today has give me hope for the presently upsetting circumstances our son finds himself in over his immigration status in the country where he lives....prayer request, should you be so inclined. (I don't want to go into details here or have any political discussions in the Comments, but you are welcome to contact me directly, friends and family, for more details if you want them.  Thanks.)  We are also rejoicing today in the news that one of our former churches of attendance while my husband was doing his Anglican postulancy has, after about a 2 year wait, hired a new priest....presently in the USA, but apparently happy to return with his young family to Canada. Congratulations to that parish!!

My husband is presently down in the cool of the basement chatting on the phone with our son.  We are just under +30C at the moment, after having a skiff of snow on the ground only a week ago, so I expect we may have some significant thunder storm activity either tonight or later in this week of predicted highs between +31C and +34C.  Yup....just checked the local weather report and we are under a thunderstorm watch...so far only at the initial Yellow Level, meaning likely only minimal damage if the storm develops at all and hopefully we will not progress for the next few hours from yellow level to orange level, (storm more likely and with minor damage possible), to the more frightening red level with almost a surety that there will be a storm and a very real possibility of significant damage with hail and high winds.  Red level we prefer to avoid!!

It was lovely to get out today for fellowship, friends, fun and food.  The hot air as we exited the restaurant after our meal was kind of shocking to experience after such a long, cold start to spring. Here it is nearly the first of June, technically summer, and our spring is finally arriving.  If next week's temperatures are anything to go by, it is possible we pretty much will bypass the spring altogether and head immediately into summer as of today. Such an interesting climate around here!

Yup, Somebody Gets It, Yup, Yup, Yup!!

 

 Somebody out there with OCD understands how I feel! hahaha

A Beeeeaaaaauuuuuutiful Day!!!!

The sun is shining, there are a few puffy white clouds in the sky, there is barely a breeze and although that breeze is a bit chilly still, the temperature is heading toward +20C and there is true warmth in the sun's rays.  Just walking back to my car after the ladies' breakfast this morning I had to take my sweater off so I could enjoy the warmth on my bare arms and through the open neck of my blouse.  Oh how long we have waited for days like this one to arrive.

The breakfast was so much fun.  There were seventeen of us visiting together and munching on two varieties of home made mini quiches, hot cross buns, sausage rounds, cheeses, several varieties of fresh fruit and yoghurts, dessert loaves....oh it was quite a spectacular feast.  Carol, our guest of honour, was completely exhausted by the time it was over, but she had a wonderful time, visited with everyone, we took group photos, we shared scriptures that are meaningful to us, we prayed together....it was really a lovely time.  I am so grateful I could be a part of it today.  

Now I am home enjoying the silence as my husband is mentoring the newly ordained priests in our diocese.  His part of the mentoring programme today is talking about how to try to avoid burnout in ministry, signs to look for that it may be immanent, how to deal with it when it happens, etc. Since he suffered severe burnout on two different occasions in the course of his ministry he has learned many valuable lessons to share in hopes they will help some of our newbies not to fall into the same traps that he did. I am grateful he gets to share his experiences and how he had to learn it all the hardest way.  He still suffers from the consequences of that last major burnout back in 2009.  So, he knows whereof he speaks when he tries to impress upon them the dangers of ignoring the first signs and thinking those signs will go away if "I just work a little harder."  Nope..... 

I now have about 5 hours to fill happily on my own.  I am not certain how best to spend them. There is so much housework I am behind on that needs doing, but it seems like too nice of a day to spend picking up dust and washing floors. Besides I have those chores all planned out for next week. I think I will just enjoy the rest of my day reading, playing silly computer games, preparing a decent lunch for myself, perhaps a walk and dinner for the two of us when my husband gets home later on. Being at home alone is kind of a luxury these days and with my husband being well enough again now to fulfill his duties and go out for the day without worry that I will have to suddenly drive out to pick him up early because he is ill, I think I have "earned"  the right to putz around here as I please today. hahaha  

Life Is Finally Getting Back To Normal Again!! YAY!!

It has been a busy and productive couple of days around here.  My husband is nearly back to fully functional, no more issues with his tummy and even the CFS exhaustion seems to be dissipating rapidly.  He hasn't had to nap in either morning or afternoon for most of this week and this morning he was able to go to the lab for some fasting blood work after not eating for over twelve hours, with just a few sips of water to keep his tummy feeling full.  I am so grateful to God for helping him get back on his feet again.  He is teaching tomorrow for the Anglicans and has no stress at all about it, is looking forward to it and did not crash and burn today as he was completing some notes for his talk.  Thank you Lord and prayer warriors!!  What a blessing.

Enjoyed my weekly visit with my coffee buddy yesterday as planned and we had a very nice time this week at Creme drinking London Fogs.  In the afternoon we attended a Bible study that was so good. It has taken us since last September to get about half way through the Sermon On The Mount and will continue on this coming September after the summer break. 

Today was very positive. My husband picked up a camping refrigerator at Princess Auto that he ordered about a week ago.  After it sits for the required number of hours he will test it out both here in the house and, when the rain finally stops tonight and the parking lot is dry tomorrow, using the plug in attachment in the rear compartment of our car.  He splurged big time to ensure he could get a unit with a super duper cold compartment with sufficient voltage to keep things cold for over 24 hours.  When he goes camping next month he and his friend will be able to get pretty much anything needing to be refrigerated into this unit.  It is really easy to move. Not only does it have handles on the sides for picking it up, it also has a retractable handle and is on wheels for rolling along.  I don't know how much use he will actually get out of it over the next couple of years, but I am happy he felt free to buy something expensive for himself for a change!!!  YAY HUSBAND! You too deserve a real treat occasionally!! 

We spent the afternoon at the bank where the mess up happened in regard to the monthly credit limit for our American credit card.  We got some other things straightened out and taken care of for our upcoming vacation AND the woman we deal with there told us that just  yesterday she finally got a response to the email she sent nearly three weeks ago now when we first applied for the card and everything went south.  Apparently there is still a CHANCE that sometime in the next two to three weeks we will get the final answer on our request to have the credit limit changed to what was automatically approved in the first place before the screw up.  So, there is hope.  In the meantime we have come up with another plan that will help us pay for the larger expenses down south that will work if absolutely necessary but does require a lot of fiddling about with finances in the meantime. For now we are content to wait to see what happens.  Either way I think we will be covered now. Hallelujah!

Did a bit of grocery shopping after the bank appointment at SaveOn and discovered some 0 sugar snacks for me to try that aren't so high in fat as some of the other snacks I have seen.  We'll see if the flavour is worth the price. 

After a nice morning the rain appeared once again in the late afternoon and only about 35 minutes from here a tornado touched down in a farmer's field.  Still waiting to find out if it did any damage but looking at the photo the farmer took of it from a couple of fields away it had a substantially sized funnel. Hopefully it disappeared soon after it touched down before it could damage any of his newly planted crop or outbuildings.  This tornado season we may actually have some real tornadoes in the area.  Since our temperature highs next week are going to climb suddenly from the plus mid teens Centigrade to the mid plus 30's in less than 48 hours, I expect we are in for some good storms as a result.  Hopefully no one will be hurt or have any damage from strong winds next week. And please Lord, let there be no hail...please, please, please.....

Tomorrow morning there is a special church ladies' breakfast at the home of Carol!!  We are going to share that time and a meal together in her building's party room.  I am taking a selection of cheeses.  It will be a large group who gathers to celebrate her miraculous recovery.  She is still weak and outside the home uses a walker to support herself, but around home she walks very well on her own.  She has been at the church service for the past three Sundays looking, apart from the walker, as if nothing ever happened to her. Amazing...how grateful to God we all are.

We are praying for Bret again as he is falling into deep depression once again after seeing a lot of improvement for a couple of months.  Please, should the Lord so remind you, pray that he will stop resisting the offered supports and medical help. He is paranoid about going for treatment after a not great experience YEARS ago, but without that medical intervention he isn't likely to improve much.  Praying very much for him and for his worried extended family.  So far he has not been talking about suicide again, but you never know what a person is really thinking when so distressed and afraid.  

Looking forward to church on Sunday. Our pastor and another fellow are going to be talking about heaven and hell over the next two weeks. Looking forward to it. Since I will be out of town for the second talk I am grateful for ZOOM recordings so I can watch and hear the class when I get home.

I have discovered that when I carry a heavy bag of groceries in the hand that is on the same side as my operated hip, I barely limp at all. Why the heck is that???  No bag, super limp; bag, hardly any limp.  I have to figure out why that is and try to adjust my foot and leg placement once again so I can do as well without the bag as with. Always learning new things this old woman....now if I could just learn as many new things about technology I would be SO MUCH better off!! hahahaha  BUT, I have no real interest in putting my entire life on my mobile phone....just can't quite get into it, even though I do envy people who pay for their groceries by holding their phones up to the debit machines.  Maybe one day......sigh......

More Dribs And Drabs Of Good News!

We finally received confirmation of our NYC accommodation for our upcoming vacation this summer. All is well. 

A play our daughter in law is producing for a playwright friend of hers opens this week and that will be a big stress relief for her. We are praying it has a successful run. 

Our complex is now able to take all recyclable materials accepted by the city, not just paper and cardboard, so we are about to start hauling everything recyclable out to the bin in our parking lot that we have been storing in our basement. This is going to save us a tremendous amount of driving around the city today. We will only need to make one other trip out with our bottles and cans and milk jugs to get our recycling fees back on those items. One trip to our nearest SARCAN outlet will take care of that. My husband even feels well enough to help me with these recycling tasks this very day! Yay! 

Good news today from my financial advisor, so that is always encouraging after some of the runarounds we have had with banking institutions of late. 

The sun is shining, the breeze is just that: a breeze, not a howling gale and the temperature is above zero.  

My husband today is feeling the best he has felt in several months.

Time to report and meditate on the good things, however small they be after such a depressing winter and start to spring! Mentally and emotionally we both feel like we are finally emerging from a dark cave.

Nice To Receive My Little Part Of The Settlement!

 I have received my second settlement from the recent Canadian Packaged Bread Settlement: a whopping $49.11! 

No, I am not disparaging the amount. I am grateful that price gouging for packaged breads by some of our grocery chains was discovered years ago and the lawsuit launched. A number of years ago I received $25 as the first part of the settlement, but that was not the end of the Canada wide suit. 

Unfortunately price gouging for grocery items continues to be “a thing” despite the example of this lawsuit over packaged bread prices that has dragged on for years, but at least some recompense has been made to those of us who participated in this process. 

I am grateful that at least some degree of ownership for price gouging on one product was taken by the offending grocers. It is a start anyway…..

Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine!!!!

Oh how grand to see the sun coming out and shining brilliantly after another damp and dreary start to the day.  A family of geese came over to our complex this morning....FIFTEEN goslings, still in the "cute" stage, partook of the water in the parking lot puddles and and the new green shoots of grass in the front yard.  Thus far we have barely any piles of poop between our back deck and the car, but I suppose that will soon change.  By late afternoon our gaggle of three to four regulars had grown to about a dozen lollygagging about in the puddles and on the grass behind our place.  Now that the wee ones have been born, the childless couples have been driven out of their usual feeding areas at the park and our complex is the next closest thing to park like with plenty of grass and deep puddles every time it rains.  Well, any reduction at all from the vast numbers we had here over the past two summers is much appreciated.

My husband had a good appointment with his GP this afternoon. The fellow actually listened to him and has proposed a series of tests to check if one of his medications is causing his daily headaches of the past year and if these tests show that a new recommended protocol with this med is also not going to keep the headaches at bay, the doctor has another series of meds lined up to try instead. I am so grateful.  The headaches were becoming debilitating until my husband's nurse friend suggested he try not taking the meds for at least 10 days to see what would happen. By day 3 the headaches had stopped completely. When he went back on them the headaches returned on the second and third days of ingestion, so he stopped them again and made his doctor's appointment.  On day 3 after quitting again the headaches stopped again. Thanking God this doctor has a listening ear and an understanding mind. He rarely if ever makes assumptions and that is very much appreciated. 

Today after the appointment we ran a bunch of errands, stopping for an early dinner at a place that is new to us: The Paddy Wagon. It began a number of years ago as a food truck and now has a couple of brick and mortar locations in the city.  Usually at meal times it is packed out and we haven't felt like bucking the crowds just to get a burger. Today though we were early enough to miss the dinner crowd and had the place almost to ourselves.  Our smash burgers were delicious, hamburgers that actually tasted like real beef, excellent veggies and sauces on the burgers, reasonably sized locally made buns that have a lower carb count than most of the burger buns/breads at other restaurants here, so I was able to eat the bun. The fries were to salty for my husband's tastes but we can ask for no extra salt next time. My husband enjoyed his Greek burger that had a ton of feta cheese and lettuce and tomato slices on it. I particularly enjoyed the crunchy onions on mine...and there was no problem at all requesting that none of the bbq style sauces be added to my burger.  It isn't particularly inexpensive, but it is still less money than the burgers at most other restaurants here, so we were very happy with what we got for our money.  We found out when their slowest times usually are in the course of a week and next time we have the chance to go there we will bear those times in mind.  From what I can figure out, the meal cost us about ten dollars more than combos from, say, A&W and the quality of meat and what is put on the burgers is higher.  That is our opinion anyway. The only "almost a complaint" is that the metal chairs are not comfortable and if your behind size is larger than a woman's size 10-12 or a mans' Medium there could be trouble fitting into them at all.  Takeout may be preferable in that case.  It was fun to try somewhere different.  We almost always go out for a meal after my husband's medical appointments, usually rejoicing in him receiving fairly good news.  As he gets over the other physical issues associated with this latest round of CFS, the mental stresses also are decreasing, fortunately.  

And now, it is time to watch the last couple of days of the present Sumo Tournament!!  It has been quite a tournament for injuries, with all but two of the top tier fighters out of the tournament...the number of injury withdrawals has been terrifying.  Both Yokozuna are out and there is only one Ozeki left, along with two Sekiwake, one of which is hoping for a promotion back to Ozeki at the end of this tournament.  It will be really something if a rank and filer Maegashira fighter takes the Emperor's cup this time, although I suspect the Sekiwake bucking for promotion who won the last cup will likely take it again for back to back wins.  Fun to see what happens.

Hope your day has been happy too. 

 

C'est Pour Ma Famille: Final Weather Report!

This morning we woke up to a skiff of icy snow on the lawn and just a bit more of a buildup on car hoods and windshields.  By 8am it was +1C and the frozen slush was pretty much melted on the streets and our back deck and steps.  Whew!  The highways here are reported to be either bare and wet or bare and dry.  Thankfully we got very little moisture much worse than heavy rain.  Tonight we drop back to -2C overnight, but then tomorrow begins a lovely warming trend for the most part with highs in the low to mid +20'sC.  Yippee!!!  Thus endeth the weather reporting of our miserable pseudo spring. Thank you family and out of province/country friends who are as fascinated by weather as I am.  For the rest of you, yes, barring some unexpected weather disaster, I am done with the daily and twice daily weather reports. (Heave sigh of relief here.)

The plan for this morning, while my husband was attending his weekly Zoom theology meeting, was to clean the kitchen thoroughly. It is in dire need of doing.  However, I slept very poorly last night because I couldn't shut my mind off. I gave up trying to sleep after an hour of tossing and turning, started reading and fell asleep about an hour later, but I only regained the two hours I lost, nothing more.  I feel like a punctured balloon again today, so it will be this afternoon before I get started on any sort of proper cleaning binge.  Yawn.....  With everywhere I need to call for information and appointment making being closed today for the holiday, I will have to roll that into tomorrow morning so we can get to medical appointments in the afternoon.  SO....more cleaning the day after that?  All these little details of varying importance are tiring me out after a run of poor sleeps over the past week or so.  I suspect part of the exhaustion is releasing the underlying stress over my husband's latest CFS issues now that he is improving so well and so quickly.  I am grateful for his return to health.

Maybe I will just go and have a little nap before lunch...... 

Hey Family: It Actually IS Snowing As Predicted….

Yup, we went from rain this morning to sleet later this afternoon to bona fide snowflakes this evening. There is a centimetre of slush covering the back deck and steps that is beginning to ice up, so I am most grateful we don’t have to go out anywhere tomorrow morning. So, there you have it. I will let you all know tomorrow how much snow came down and how long it lasted. At the moment we have ten geese wandering about on the front lawn, their heads and backs adorned with snowflakes, and they look very confused. 🤔 Hahaha….ye’r not the only confused souls right now my feathered frenemies! 

Determining To Be Happy Despite The Weather! Amen!!

 So brr, double and triple brr!!!!  It rained throughout the night and it was only about +2C when I got up at 8am.  When I left for church an hour later the rain was teeming and the puddle in our parking lot around the drainage area was becoming very deep.  So happy I decided not to let the weather stop me from going out to church because after a couple of days with only one or two small errands to run out of the house, I was in desperate need of seeing people and doing some singing and learning.  It was still raining when I left church for home, but the wind was less ferocious and the amount of rain coming down lessened a bit.

I picked up my husband after the service...his CFS kept him at home this morning....and we went to Bonzzini's for lunch.  What a great time we had there. Thanks to a combination of long weekend travelling and the miserable weather the place was nearly deserted with only three other tables filled and two take out customers picking up orders.  We were able to sit in our favourite, dark little corner, away from the music speakers so the level of music noise was greatly reduced and we had a wonderful visit over our meal.  Off next to the closest library branch to return a book, then to the downtown branch where we were able to take out a book we just returned to them last week after using up our final renewal ability.  As we suspected no one had taken this particular book out in the past week, so we have it for another two weeks.  We will be more diligent about reading a bit each day so we don't have to enter another cycle of renewal for what is actually "just" an interesting biography rather than a difficult "textbook" on philosophy or theology or science.

The rain has let up considerably mid afternoon, but the dark clouds give credence to the possibility of having the forecast come true for snow flurries between midnight tonight and noon tomorrow.  The temperature has already dropped from its high today of +5C to +3C and although the overnight temperature is to be +1C, there is still a big risk of frost.  Brrrrrrrrr......spring, where the heck are ya'??

Thank you family members for letting me know you want to read my weather reports from here on the prairies.  For the rest of you it isn't the most interesting reading I know, but my boring life is still interesting to my family so.......

My husband and I are very happy that tomorrow being a long weekend holiday we will not have to tackle another phase of frustrating banking and other business/travel related problems until Tuesday.  YAY!!

All The Broken Bicycle Repairs, Breaking Up Kid Fights, Frustration and General Noise Both Inside And Outside Of Our Building Is Worth It.....

 ....when we go out grocery shopping and our newly adopted "grandkids" are standing at the other end of the court waving wildly and shouting "Hi Grandpa and Grandma!!" as we walk to our car, their little olive and black faces grinning happily at us.  Our hearts are so touched...bless the little blighters!  They are incredible little souls with all their foibles and immigrant based confusion regarding life in Canada.  Love 'em to pieces!!

Well….At Least The Overnight Snow Melted By 8:30am. Yay!

We woke up at 7am to nearly 3mm of snow covering the lawn, sidewalks and car windshields. Blecch! No wonder the furnace came on several times during the night.  Thankfully it didn’t last long, but brrrrrr, it was so cold all morning. This afternoon the sun is shining and it is nearly +12C, but the breeze is still wintery. No wonder….late tonight the heavy rain is forecast to move into our area with possibly up to 50mm by tomorrow evening, but hopefully we won’t get quite that much all at once. A friend from Calgary texted us just after 9am to let us know the snow was tumbling down there as well.

We shivered our way over to a couple of grocery stores then on to our tomato growing friend’s house to pick up our plant. Not only was their small greenhouse locked up tight against the snowy cold but they had also wrapped the whole place in heavy blankets overnight to protect the plants. As a result of this lousy weather I now have a large plant pot wedged into my teeny tiny dining room! hahaha cleaning in there next week will be a whole new experience of trying to get myself twisted up enough to get the dust cloth onto the china cabinets and the vacuum hose and attachments crammed around the base of the pot. Aiiii yiiiii….

We picked up an extra, smaller tomato plant for our next door neighbour. We noticed they eat a lot of tomatoes, so if they would like to grow their own, we will give it to them once it is large enough to go out on the deck in better weather. 

So it has been a relatively productive day….plants collected, groceries purchased and at least shopping provided me with a bit of a walk. Sadly I will have to forego my walk to church in the morning if our rainy forecast is at all accurate. However, this poor excuse for spring will have to change for the better eventually…won’t it?????

You Know Spring Is REALLY Late Arriving When.....

 ......the furnace comes on several times on MAY FIFTEENTH!!!  Yup, May 15 and our furnace has been running for most of the past 24 hours.  Wow, what a miserable spring!  The worst part is that when the heat finally comes it will probably zoom up to nearly unbearable highs, BUT that still be better than this chilly, grey, drizzly time of year.  Fortunately the rain is badly needed so although the cold temperature puts seeding behind for the farmers here, at least the moisture will help a bit once the crop is finally in the ground.  I am very glad we were not living in the small town of Radville SK on Thursday when the wind storm hit: sustained winds of 115km!!  Not good at all. Friends of ours lived there for many years and I bet they are happy right now that they moved away.

I just received word that yesterday's Ascension Day on the church calendar was particularly special for some young friends of ours who had a safe and happy home birth of their new daughter that evening.  Both of their children have been born in their bathtub, delivered by their ever calm and well instructed daddy and loved fiercely and immediately by their mommy.  Even big brother is pretty stoked about the new addition to the family and the grandparents are, of course, over the moon. What a joyous event to lighten the hearts of us all during this bad weather spring.  The wee girl was born right on her due date too!

Tomorrow for entertainment we will begin downloading the spring Sumo Tournament that began a week ago.  We almost forgot about it as we had so many other things on our minds.  Tomorrow we will watch several days worth of highlights and immerse ourselves in another culture's central professional sport....always fun for us. 

Miserable Weather For The Long Weekend Here!

Wow, it is very cold and windy outside still today and now we are forecast to have possibly up to 2cm of snow.  For my husband and I it doesn't matter because we are not going away this Victoria Day weekend, but for friends and neighbours who planned camping and "first weekend of the season at the lake" trips it sounds like they won't have as great a time as hoped for.  That is really too bad.  This year the holiday is incredibly early. Even if it could have happened next weekend there likely would have been better weather for our outdoors loving friends.  I feel badly for all of them.  My husband was able to get over to Kat's in the wind and rain showers this afternoon to pick up some of our herb growing pots we left in her yard last autumn and she kindly gave him a bag of potting soil. Bless her.  Tomorrow morning we have to go over to the house of friends who have once again started our tomato plant for us.  The plant has to be picked up right away from their greenhouse despite the ongoing cold weather because said friends are on their way out of town on a holiday in a couple of days.  Unfortunately we are going to have to put the plant inside at our place and hope there aren't too many spiders and other insects crawling around among its leaves....yukko!!!!  It is way too cold yet to put it outside, even in its plastic wrapping cone.  Now I just need to find somewhere to put it where it will get as much sunlight and warmth as possible until at least next weekend when it will hopefully be warm enough to put it out on the deck even if the wrapping has to remain in place for another week after that.  The weather is so weird and wild and woolly this "spring??"!  

Personally I had a very good day today!  I never did get dressed after I cleaned up for the day because I had nary a commitment away from home for a change, not so much as a trek over to the grocery store was needed.  I felt kind of like a happily punctured balloon all day.  The walking outdoors I have been doing is restoring my overall strength and that is wonderful.  Today I looked at the stack of ironing from Tuesday's laundry and after counting the number of items I realized it was a project that would have to be done over two days as I haven't been able to stand long enough since my surgery to do that many items in one go.  Nope....I did the whole stack and my leg and hip were not the least bit tired. Overall my body wasn't tired. My mind wasn't tired.  FINALLY life is starting a return to my new, limping but still active, normal!  What a relief....and it has only taken ELEVEN months to get to this point, hahahaha.  I am very grateful that my overall strength is indeed being restored.  

Looks like it will be too cold and likely rainy to be walking to church on Sunday, but I will get some walking in at the grocery stores tomorrow and by Monday it should be warm enough to walk longer distances outside again. YAY!  I am adopting a slightly more European concept of grocery shopping, purchasing much smaller loads that I can carry home on foot, therefore walking to the store more often each week.  

My next door neighbour got her weekly ride to the food bank today with her sponsor. Shortly after she arrived home she knocked on my door and handed me a loaf of white bread because there had been extra bread in her box that she doesn't want, a bag of shredded mixed cabbage salad with an enclosed carton of soy sauce dressing, another huge handful of cilantro and a pack of celery which they cannot tolerate eating.  She has to take what she is given of course at the food bank, but neither of her other friends like the flavour of the items she brought to me.  As she handed me each of the items a look of horror crossed her face at the idea that we actually enjoy those things. hahaha  My husband looked at the pack of celery and knew instantly how he would be able to use up the now FOUR bundle of cilantro we have received from her: cream of celery soup!  A goodly sized handful of chopped cilantro on a bowl of that soup is fabulously delicious! God bless my neighbour for her generosity.  At least the food so lovingly donated to the food bank will not go to waste.  Once the soup is made we have a couple of people in need that will enjoy receiving it, along with half a loaf each of that bread, so we will not be the only unexpected recipients of the food items.  Tomorrow when I go to the grocery store I am going to pick up a couple of packages of halal chicken to give to our neighbour.  They get very little meat to eat and I know they like chicken, so I would enjoy getting them a treat.  She gives me food several times a month now, either in grocery form or plates of her marvellous cooking. It is really fun slowly getting to know this woman and her children. If my husband can ever lure her husband out of their place to offer him some simple English language help, we will get to know the whole family better.  Praying for all the right things to happen with our dear neighbours.

 

A Night's Grace And Then Our Part Of the Widespread Storm Arrived!

 Although yesterday involved a fair amount of windy gusts blowing us about, no rain arrived and we slept all night with the windows open, barely a breeze happening.  My walking partner and I had a a lovely short walk in the morning and then I walked sans cane over to the hairdresser's and back after lunch with only a stiff breeze to contend with.  Around 7am today the real winds began, but still they were manageable.  No rain until mid afternoon. For the past two hours the house has been shaking, we have been forced to shut the windows to keep the rain out and the storm is definitely "ON", but we are no longer scheduled for that 20-40mm of rain, only about 10-15mm.  I continue to pray that the wind will continue to blow in directions NOT directing the rain into the weakest points in the foundation of our suite, but the mop and bucket, along with plenty of towels are all adorning our basement at the moment, just in case.  My husband is doing some work down there on purpose so he can keep an eye out for any water breaching the filler in the walls. I brought my husband's new lawn chair inside to keep it from blowing away in the present gales.  

SO thankful that the worst of the wind had not started by 8:30am because my coffee buddy decided the weather was good enough for her to keep our weekly visit after all.  At that point the sun was shining. She had a good drive over and we had such a wonderful visit.  By the time she left the sky was turning grey but the winds weren't much stronger than they were when she arrived so I know she got home safely.  

All the walking yesterday made me rather tired today, but I got through my first set of chores okay and was sitting about after lunch wondering if I hadn't better get going on the ironing from Tuesday's laundry when the phone rang.  It was a dear, dear friend I rarely see any more, so 90 minutes later when we hung up it was getting too late to start a major task. Since the power has been blinking a bit and threatening to go off, I decided ironing was a silly job to start.  Of course it could go off and scrap this post as well, but this risk is more FUN to take than ironing. haha

Last evening was quite a surprise and quite fascinating:  my neighbour's 12 year old daughter came to the back door around 7pm and motioned for me to come to her place.  Out on her back deck, sitting on carpets and cushions, were her mom, Mohammad's mom and another, slightly older woman also from Syria.  The three women met when they were all out walking separately through the complex and just ran into each other, got to sharing in their Arabic language and discovered all three are refugees from the same city in Syria.  So now my neighbour has two good friends here.  The reason I "had" to come over was to meet these women and after an hour together of sipping tea and trying to communicate together......them on the deck flooring and me balancing precariously on an overturned plastic pail with a pillow on top since there is no way I can get down on the ground at this point, they dropped the hint that perhaps I could start teaching them all some English. Mohammad's mom is the most skilled in English speaking and comprehension but the older woman is the most skilled in understandable gestures and she has an hilarious sense of humour.  Oh how much I wish she was already an English speaker so we could share some laughs of understanding together.  Compared to Arabic, English has facets that are much easier to say and to remember. ("In Canada, one man, one woman, two men, two women and a big crowd are all "YOU!"  In Arabic they are all different words....said with just a touch of pride, teehee.)    So now I am praying about whether or not I should offer them a class once a week or so.  One issue will be that their husbands want the families to speak Arabic at home....a decision that helps no one in the family adjust to living in Canada, even though their reasons are understandable. Such fear of losing their culture and language, but it is hindering their kids in school.  If the women I am teaching are not allowed to practise it at home in conversation then my efforts will be wasted and their frustration will continue to grow. With the cuts in ESL and other such courses in our dear province of late.....over 170 staff in those programmes have recently been cut and there are more layoffs pending.  There is literally no in person programme available for my ladies to attend here.  They have all tried online courses but were completely lost, thus gave that up. Sigh....  SO government folk: let's just continue opening the floodgates to let refugee families into our province and then not allow them to learn the language we speak here. Yup, makes a ton of sense, doesn't it?  Sigh....  The women were trying to teach me some Arabic words but the only one I can remember is the word for house because it sounds like a French word I know. hahaha  I am far more hopeless about learning Arabic than any of them will ever be about learning English.  At least as they continue to live here and keep trying to understand and speak a few words, they have hope of one day becoming sufficiently fluent. Ancient I however.....haha....hopeless!

So there is my conundrum and prayer request. Do I volunteer some time to attempt to help them with their English or do I just step away and let them figure it out on their own? I am under no obligation of course to take them on, but what would God like me most to do?  It would be conversational English only as I no longer have my materials from teaching adults in Japan and I am not prepared to make this a "final phase of life" calling. We shall see how things go next week and in the meantime I am praying hard for direction.  

I have one plan in place already for when my husband is away hiking next month: I am going out of town to church on the Sunday and going for lunch afterwards with a friend.  Really happy I will for sure, Lord and weather willing though of course, have a little time away myself! 

Well Yes, We Have Been Praying For Rain So….

 ….we are grateful so much rain is forecast starting tonight, just not sure 20-40mm in such a short time span will not create a whole new set of problems. Saturday looks rain free at the moment, but then more rain may arrive. Apart from turning us into Mosquito Central due to the likelihood of large puddles of standing water, the moisture will be a good thing.  

It has been such a pleasant week thus far. Last evening outside with the kids was warm, barely a breeze, sun until well after 8pm, that magic if brief time between winter snow and the onset of mosquitoes and spiders. 

Now, if I could just stop waking up at 🕓 4am. I am stuck temporarily in this sleep cycle of falling asleep for four or five hours, then being awake for about two hours, followed by a couple of hours or more of “dead to the world” sleep. After a few days of this I will probably hit the second part of the cycle: asleep between 11pm and midnight, sleeping for 6-8 hours without stirring. I LIKE that part of my sleep cycle! 

This morning I have been praying to get my act together in advance of my husband’s upcoming trip and get some plans of my own made instead of molding along until the man is already out the door with no plans for myself. It would be so easy to sit around inside getting bored, not wanting to intrude into the busy lives of the people I know here. Trying, trying to think ahead this time!

Doing Thursday’s And Friday’s Chores Tomorrow…Bad Storm Forecast….

 Looks like my morning coffee time on Thursday with my friend is going to end up being cancelled again if the weather forecast tonight holds true. Good grief....we both just laughed and laughed when we read tonight's weather warning.  The fact that it was issued more than 24 hours in advance of this particular storm system coming in from the west tells me there is a very good chance the storm is actually going to happen and is, as reported, going to be a pretty bad one with gale force winds starting tomorrow evening at about 50km to 70km and cresting throughout Thursday with gusty periods of 110km.  Along with wind serious enough that we have been warned it could cause everything from prolonged power outages to roof, tree and vehicle damage, (so high sided vehicles like semis and RV/trailer units are already being warned to consider staying off the highways all together for a couple of days),  we may receive between  20mm and 40mm of rain in a less than 24 hour period.  Sigh....well, climate change or whatever is fuelling these unusual weather patterns in North America, is showing itself finally in our own area of the world this spring and summer.  Tonight my husband went outside after dinner and shovelled a fair amount of black dirt from the pile in the parking lot. He filled in the space all along one side of our suite where the dry soil has pulled away from the building as there tends to be leaks there when the wind tosses large amounts of rain in that crack.  He also checked to make sure the two huge slabs of lumber we have in our basement are still there so that we can pull them over the deep window wells on the other side of the building.  If they begin to fill with water, that water finds all manner of little cracks in the foundation to flood our basement with.  I am glad I thought to purchase a new mop for our kitchen floor when we were at Princess Auto yesterday, so the old one could go to the basement, along with the old pail, in case we have to do some serious mopping up in the next few days.  Although my husband has done a masterful job sealing the foundation cracks, when driving rain in vast amounts hits us, there are always undiscovered cracks just waiting to welcome the excess water pouring down the sides of the building and through the small gaps in the basement window sills.  Oh Lord, deliver us all from damage. Thank you, bless you Father and Amen.

I was able to do six loads of laundry today while my husband spent his afternoon with his hiking buddy planning their trip to the mountains of Alberta in June. They got their routes planned, but will have to check for bear incident related closures right before they leave as there have been so many closures after multiple bear attacks already this spring.  They have their food and accommodation and equipment needs looked after, so it is an exciting time for them. Unfortunately his friend's wife who had planned to spend time with me has been called out of town to work during that exact time, so I will have to be certain I actually make plans for myself, to see some friends, or it will be a very long and boring time for me. Thanking God I have our vehicle to use while he is gone. 

 My husband had some inside work he wanted to do in our basement this evening, after shovelling dirt and, with the help of another new neighbour fellow, sweeping up the mess in the parking lot some of the kids made tossing dirt and gravel around from the piles sitting out there,  but when the African children from the next building, whose bicycles he repaired last summer, realized he was out there they descended on him en masse!  He had three of them out there explaining this year's issues with their poor old bicycles.  Fortunately the new parts we put on them last year held up, but padlocks were lost on some of the bikes, the combination lock combinations to open those types of locks long forgotten over the winter.  So, he spent the evening pumping up tires, sawing old combination locks off and then locating the brand new locking system he bought for himself some years ago and never used.  It is the kind they can wrap around all of the bikes at once and then secure them to their back deck.  He put the key on a long red ribbon that the oldest girl put around her neck, showed her how to make it all work and she thanked him profusely. It is the most lovely thing to be told, "God bless you." by a 13 year old immigrant girl who has never had the material items we are so used to. Her gratitude is deeply felt and very sincere.    

After the initial repairs, when my husband went back inside to locate the new locking system, dear little bully Mohammad decided to attack one of the smaller African boys, not realizing I was standing right there watching.  I used my best school teacher voice to tell him to cut it out, which shocked him into at least temporary submission. hahaha  Then the oldest boy from next door to us decided he was going to ride one of the African kid's bikes and snatched it away from her. She said that no, he wasn't allowed to ride it any more because he and his  younger brother have been stealing the African kids' bikes right off their deck and their mom has already had to go and speak to the other mom to get the bikes back.  Apparently no consequences of any consideration were handed out by the little thieves' mom. Our neighbour boy grabbed it back from her and said he was going to ride it and as far as he was concerned it was his bike now. So, the old school teacher said she thought not, actually.  Apparently my stern tone got through so he released the bike.  I helped the kids get their bikes back to their place just as my husband reappeared with the wonderful locking system.   Hopefully the drama will end soon or it is going to be a loud, brutal, thieving, bloody nosed summer around here for the first time since we moved in over 11 years ago.  The kids causing the problems are all from the same country, have all fled to and from refugee camps at about the same time, have all experienced horrors beyond my imagination and have had to fight with other refugee kids over every possible little broken toy or rusty bike that made its way into their camp.  It is going to take some time for them to settle down, if they ever do.  I feel for them.  They have had rotten lives already and they are already only aged 8-13.  All of their dads suffer from varying degrees of PTSD and other mental health issues. The African kids haven't seen their dad in 3 years.  A problem in his family caused him to return to Africa to help solve the issue and when he tried to return he had visa issues, so he is still trying to return to Canada.  His daughter is afraid he will have forgotten all of his English and she has not spoken Swahili much since she started school here three years ago, so that is a stress for her.  Oh these kids...what they have been through in their short lives. My husband and I have decided that our "ministry" to these kids, if we want to call it that, is to simply be a presence this summer. My husband purchased a nice lawn chair so he can sit out on the back deck and read late in the afternoon when the kids get home from school and will really enjoy spending some mornings out there in the summer before it gets too hot.  The kids seem to love it when we are out there talking to them and praising their soccer and bike riding prowess, at least temporarily submitting to our admonishments to treat each other more kindly....there are some talented little fellows in this complex when it comes to playing soccer, bully Mohammad being the star. Wow, that kid is talented...so smart and articulate too. I really hope he can eventually get a handle on his behaviour.

Haircut tomorrow!  I can hardly wait!  Then a run to the water refill store to get all our water jugs refilled instead of waiting until Friday....not certain where I am going to put the last gallon's worth as I don't have quite enough containers free to take it, but I will work something out.  We have a library book due on Friday and have renewed it twice already so it has to go back even though we aren't quite finished reading it, but it is an older book that doesn't have a waiting list, so likely we can take it out again next week.  Not waiting until Friday, just in case the storm actually arrives.  

It has been lovely sitting here beside the wide open windows while the suite cools down for the night. It is nearly 11pm and I haven't had to close them yet.  I spent the day doing laundry so the heat built up a bit upstairs.  It has been so many months since we could open the windows that I am unwilling to shut them so I can go to bed and sleep.  Guess it is that time though. Sleep well tonight all.   

 

 

Maintenance Physio Only

 I have decided it is time to drop my daily physio exercising and begin twice a week maintenance physio. There has been zero improvement in two of the range of motion exercises in over a month now, so I have accepted that the tendon is too damaged to fully heal and get on with living my life. In the past three days I have walked longer distances without my cane and am seeing improvement with my walking gait, so I am replacing the constant physiotherapy exercises with paying closer attention to foot placement and stance. This change of routine is giving me great peace and a bonus is that the soreness from the three previously ruptured tendons is abating due to not being exacerbated by the constant exercise. So, after nearly 11 months of workouts, what will be will be. Life is good.

My first board meeting for the non-profit went well last night: good, caring, intelligent, informed people. It was a positive experience. 

We received some much needed rain last evening and there are more showers forecast in the coming days. What a relief, but we need SO much moisture to start edging away from drought conditions. 

We ran a bunch of errands yesterday morning and found ourselves near a favourite pub at lunchtime, a pub that has coupons in our recently purchased coupon book from Mohammad as part of his school’s fundraiser. The saving from that coupon alone was half the cost of the coupon book. Another meal there on a second coupon and we will have been repaid full cost, yay! 

We are still sorting out details for the New York trip later this summer. Still waiting to hear from the bank employee who messed up our American credit card purchase limit. If we don’t hear anything today we will have to contact her tomorrow I suppose. No expectations of any resolve in our favour. Sigh. 

As my husband’s health continues to improve once again, the sense of dread I have been nursing in my subconscious is beginning to lift. This afternoon he and his buddy will be discussing the details of their mountain hiking trip in June. Now that he feels almost himself again he is becoming more excited about the trip. Looks as if it is actually going to happen now. Yay! He has booked the use of our former Honda CRV for the trip so I will have our car while he is away. So grateful as that has rarely been the case while he has been enjoying hiking and canoeing over the past few years. 

I am looking forward to achieving a few household chores this morning, depending on interruptions. Last week was ludicrous: I had a tight schedule created for myself to get these chores underway and hopefully completed in two days. So, guess which two days I was inundated with unexpected calls from friends needing a shoulder, prayers, advice, comfort? You guessed it…hahaha…figures. So often that is the pattern around here. It is hilarious how many times it happens. I am though, so very grateful to be retired and therefore more often than not available to talk and pray with dear friends. It is a privilege. The work will always be there waiting to be done and for me life is about people. Most of these same people have been there for me as well when I have needed a shoulder, prayers, advice and comfort. 

I think I will get up and eat breakfast this morning a little earlier than usual. I really do have to get this work done around here.