An Unexpectedly Marvellous Day!

 I use the word "unexpected" because when we first woke up this morning the day seemed destined to be less than satisfactory for both of us.  The sky was losing an overnight fog, the clouds were grey, it was cold and my husband admitted to me that he simply wasn't up to walking to church and back in a chilly wind because he had not slept well during the night.  He had a foot cramp that wouldn't go away, he ran out of water from his bottle beside the bed, he had dreams that kept waking him....it as quite a tale of woe and I felt badly for him as I have been the victim of many a sleepless night, but it is rare for him.  He was as "white as a sheet", but insisted on going to the adult Sunday school class as it was going to be the introduction to a series of which he has a class to teach in a couple of weeks.  He felt so lousy he couldn't even eat breakfast so barely managed to force down a very small banana and half cup of tea to prevent him from passing out.  

As I suspected and hoped would happen, the class material and the socialization restored his good humour and he decided that we could stay for church after all.  I am glad we did because we were warmly welcomed back by quite a number of people who hadn't known we were on holidays, but wondered why we weren't there. That was a nice surprise.  

I assumed that as soon as the service ended we would be on our way home to get my husband some lunch, but shucky darn if he wasn't feeling extremely hungry and preferred lunch out at Fancy Fork instead, despite it being a longer wait for the meal to arrive in front of him.  He even looked about the congregation for someone to issue a spontaneous invitation to join us, although that didn't pan out this time.  Our meal was delicious and not expensive.  My husband had the 3 paper thin crepes stuffed with chicken and mushrooms and sliced onions, covered in a yummy pesto sauce and the plate had a large number of hash browns as well. He was delighted.  I ordered the Greek Bowl: a base of hash browns with fresh spinach leaves, sliced chicken, cubes of feta cheese and blackened red and green peppers and tomato slices.  It included a side dish of a delicious take on Hollandaise sauce. on  My meal was equally yummy.  We took our time, relaxed, chatted. For the first hour we were the only customers in the place and usually it is teeming with people. Don't know if a special event in the city took the customers away, but we certainly got specialized service as a result.  The server even managed to change the music line up on their Spotify system at our hopeful request. hahaha  We were able to change the twang, twang a deedilang country music to some more classical pieces.  Cool!!

We arrived home early in the afternoon, my husband was feeling much better but had a short nap while downloading Day 6 of the current Sumo Basho from NHK Broadcasting Network.  After we watched that I headed upstairs to start part 2 of my huge pile of ironing.  Half way through my husband called to me that company had arrived.

It was our former next door neighbour who had come to pick up her post-move mail...my beloved Afaf!!!  She and her family are very, very happy to be living in their new digs...twice the size of the place they were crammed into next door to us and they are saving nine hundred dollars a month in rent. The federal portion of their refugee status has now ended and they are living on provincial social services until Salim is able to find work. The kids love their new school and the two youngest are able to walk as the school is so close to their residence.  The oldest boy entered high school this year and is getting at least 3 hours a day of English instruction, as are his two younger siblings.  Afaf's English classes are paying off.  She has improved leaps and bounds since the spring. The great news is that after searching for months for a decent car, a friend from Edmonton found them exactly what they are looking for and delivered it to them a few days ago. Salim passed his driver's test and once the car is insured on Monday afternoon he will bring it by to show us.  Getting the license and now the car has kick started Salim mentally after a wretched year of fighting with the emotional trauma of having to flee for their lives a year ago from Lebanon.  He not only passed his driver's test, he is now signed up for English lessons starting in one week's time at the same school his wife has been attending.  We are thrilled for them and thrilled that they want to keep in touch at least somewhat.  

While we were visiting with Afaf, there was another knock at the door. It was the mother of "our little trouble maker", come to tell us that they too are moving out today....the last of our Syrian connections here in the complex.  After eleven years in Canada spent scrimping and saving, they have been able to purchase their first Canadian home in another part of the city, a brand new house in a brand new housing development.  How happy we are for them, but we are going to miss their boys and their constant invitations to play football and soccer. hahaha  (You haven't lived until you have seen moi attempting to keep up with those kids and their sports! hahaha BUT they continue to ask both of us to play with them, so what the heck, right? If nothing else I am able to give all of them a good case of the giggles with my fumbling attempts!)

I also finished my ironing after the break for visiting.

So, it has been a wonderful day after all.  Good things.

I also heard from our daughter in law as she was on her way to the Kol Nidrei service at Synagogue for Yom Kippur.  That was a special treat. We had an email from her aunt today as well and an email from our son to let us know he has an interview about his next set of green card requirements in a few weeks' time, so we are surely praying hard about that.  He is enjoying his new painting studio and is keeping busy at work as well.

What a marvellous day it has been after a rocky start.  

Tomorrow morning my walking partner and I are going to actually go for a real walk, for the first time in about a year and a half or so and I am so looking forward to that.  Rain, rain, stay away!!! Come again another day.  For today the weather has warmed up nicely and the threat of possible rain has ended.  We DID get a bit of a walk in as we walked a few blocks to the restaurant and back....a total of 10 blocks without my cane!  YAY!!! A new first....thank you NYC for all the enforced walking.

Good thing tomorrow is going to be great as well because the next morning is our next dental cleaning and annual check up. Blecch!!  However, I have a haircut that afternoon to look forward to.  I have to somehow work a thorough housecleaning into our schedule because we are having another couple over for dinner the following evening...and then it will be time to see my coffee buddy again. This week is going to fly by, all going to plan. Here's hoping!

Knocking Off The Details One By One!

 It feels great to be checking off so many things on my pre-travel To Do list, but wow, there are still so many things to do in the next four days.  As far as actual travel preparations there are only a handful of last minute tasks. The rest of the commitments are friends wanting to see us before we go and various board and diocesan meetings that cannot be missed. Thankfully those are able to happen this week to accommodate us.

Our son has been contacting us to ask if there is anything he needs to purchase for us that we may not have room to carry in our luggage, giving us good information regarding the grocery stores and pharmacies in the area near our long term stay accommodation and offering us financial assistance if we run out of cash and credit toward the end of our stay.  That last offer is most unlikely to be needed, but for our artist son to finally be at a point where he can genuinely offer to assist us if necessary signals a huge change in his circumstances.  Thank you God that he has sold paintings so far this year and is also gainfully employed at an excellent part time job.  Our daughter in law is also being extremely helpful and we really appreciate that.  It is great to see our kids being successful and willing to offer help if needed to these old codgers.  As each little detail falls into place we are looking forward more and more to this longer term get away.

It is chilly and overcast today. There was a bit of rain early this morning and I know that because I was rudely awakened by an incoming text message at 6:35am.  I forgot to turn off my mobile last night when I went to bed so it is my own stupid fault.  It was from my early rising Thursday morning coffee buddy who had likely been up for at least an hour and a half before sending the text as she was on her way to her morning gym workout.  She is older than I am, but physically getting into better and better shape. Her husband's doctor ordered him to go to the gym each week and so she is going and benefiting as well. Awesome!!  And here I am just glad I can limp along for a few blocks without a cane. hahahaha  

Last night we went to India House and had the buffet.  It was much better than I remember it being when they first opened a few years ago. Buffet cooking quality, at least at some of the local Indian restaurants, is different than menu offerings, but this was most tasty.  There were many options.  I was surprised to find that my favourite vegetable dish came from the salad bar: a mung bean and sprout salad with bits of chopped tomato and not much added for herbs or spices.  I loved it so much I had seconds.  Yum!!  I treated myself to TWO piping hot gulab jamin balls because they were teensy weensy, so I could get away with it.  I drained off as much of the sweet sauce they were floating in as I could, so that helped cut the sugar ingestion too.  We went with good friends from the church, younger...natch...SHE is the same age as our son....just a lovely couple. He is Irish and full of good humour and she loves books: Sci-Fi and religion and philosophy just like my husband loves, so they had a great time talking about books they have both read while her husband and I enjoyed chatting about the board meeting we are both going to tomorrow evening.  I don't know when we had time to talk while we were all so busy stuffing our faces with yumminess, but the restaurant wasn't that busy so we were able to sit around for over an hour after dinner without being in the way.  The staff couldn't have been kinder about our prolonged visit after the bill had already been paid.  Bless them.

Now it is time for me to get some details lined up for tomorrow's duties: ordering prescriptions, getting my hair cut, the board meeting. My husband has almost completed his own chores related to the trip other than making last minute decisions about what clothes to take for sure.  Yesterday we went on the hunt for a windbreaker shell for me...just the shell, no lining...as my current waterproof windbreaker is very hot and isn't light enough to fold into a size that will reasonably fit in either my carry on or handbag.  After a long search we finally found a "shell only" windbreaker with a hood that is at least sprayed with a water resistant product so after I finished gasping at the price of the thing, I bought it and it is now folded neatly into my travel handbag. I am delighted.  Looking at the forecast temperatures for our destination, I do not regret buying that lighter, unlined shell. The one I already had would suffocate me. It is great for fall, winter and spring in Vancouver, but way too hot for summer on the east coast of the USA.  After I bought it I started realizing how many times in the past couple of  years I could have used it right here at home, but kept making due with unsatisfactory substitutes.  This little windbreaker shell is going to get a ton of use on both sides of the border.

Off again to set up for more chores.  Today I want to deliver a bag of unused medications to a pharmacy that has advertised themselves as taking them after discovering yesterday that not every pharmacy here takes such things for disposal.  That will get us out of here for a half hour and perhaps we will think of other away from home chores that don't need to wait any longer to accomplish. 

Thus far the glitches this week have not been insurmountable and soon we will be winging our way south. 

Waiting For Over Four Months For That Healing "CLICK"!

 I am most grateful that, after four months of constant pain and discomfort with the reawakening of an old knee injury several months ago, this morning at around 3am I rolled over in bed and heard the satisfying "CLICK" sound as my knee cap went back into place.  Oh dear Lord Jesus, long may it last this time!  If it stays in place it will make all the walking I have to do during our upcoming trip so much easier and less painful on a daily basis.  Oh, so happy for this little medical encouragement. Today I was pain free at last...ALL DAY LONG!!

Tonight I found out that an elderly friend of ours fell victim to a scammer that was on "ITS" way, (sorry but to me such scammers are some kind of sub-human creature), to her bank this afternoon to pick up three hundred and fifty thousand dollars from her account.  Thanking God her Financial Advisor was on top of things, realized what was going on and refused to release the money.  Please please pray for all the seniors you know who so easily could fall victim to such a scam as this.  They know how to get at the emotions and fears and inability for fast thinking of the elderly in particular. Our friend is not an unusual case unfortunately. 

We are so enjoying the cooler temperatures this week.  It is possible to go outside in the sunshine and not worry about fainting from over heating and dehydration!  What a treat!

Tonight we went over to a friend's house where our canoe is stored.  We took over four pots of mint that we have harvested sufficiently for our own needs over this coming winter and planted the mint around the the sides of the canoe storage for ground cover.  That mint is extremely hardy and will likely survive the winter just fine in the protected area where we planted it. If not, no big loss, but we have had good success in the past wintering over mint plants so here's hoping.  It makes the storage area look so much nicer.  It was fun wheeling the barrow about to haul fertilized black soil, plant pots and long handled spades.  My feet were filthy with black dirt when we got home, as were my hands and now I am all washed up and clean and that feels wonderful.  I did okay hobbling around with the wheelbarrow, so that was encouraging; still awkward with my gait, but still improving too. YAY!!

Tomorrow is the last call for doing the laundering of items specifically for our trip.  Once those things are worn they have to be set aside on the clothes racks for packing up.  I have so many other things to do next week now that are not trip related that my planned time for preparation then is being eaten up by other unexpected but necessary tasks. Never fails... 

Another Loss For Our Family

We arrived home after church this morning to the sad news that my husband's last remaining aunt passed away this morning. She was the youngest in my father in law's family of 11 siblings and is the last to pass on to better things.  She and her husband had incredible ministry and social outreach for several decades in Africa. We always called her a force to be reckoned with, which she was, but it was a force for good everywhere she went.  She was organized, forward thinking and very, very kind.  Uncle passed away a very few years ago and now we have lost our last Auntie as well.  We are very sad to lose her but happy to know she is no longer suffering the physical pains and mental indignities of old age in the midst of her 90's. My husband is very sad to lose her.  She and Uncle hired him several times when he was still in construction to build various projects at their home in the Okanagan.  During their last trip to Africa a few years ago they offered us the job of house sitting for them as we were "between residences" at the time and we were touched and delighted.  It was a mutually beneficial arrangement for our last summer before my husband went to seminary.  The house was filled with beautiful African artifacts and their wooden floors were inlaid with gorgeous patterns made of African wood that they brought back with them after one of their many sojourns there.  It was like living in a foreign palace.  It was a house of healing for us after a very rough time in our lives.

Dear dear Auntie...may she rest in peace and rise in glory! 

Church went well this morning. My husband's sermon based on the parable of the manager who hired workers one day at various times of the day, but paid them all the same exact wage, certainly had us thinking about "fairness" vs "justice" and why we have that built in mechanism that makes us quick to address things we see as being unfair in this world....how it is a good mechanism that is based on our creation in the image of a just God, but often poorly utilized due to our issues with greed and envy. He was delighted that one of his non-believing friends came to hear him preach and stayed to have a visit over an outdoor lemonade in front of the church when the service ended. Afterwards we went to the Fancy Fork and enjoyed our lunches: 4 item customer's choice egg plate breakfast for him, (he chose 2 scrambled eggs, asparagus, three strips of bacon and hash browns, plus he was given a hefty slice of watermelon as a bonus), and a very filling beef dip with a side of ginger carrot soup pour moi.  My husband ate most of my Italian bun so I could keep my carbs down and I pulled the beef slices and onions and Swiss cheese out of the bun and onto my plate where I could pour the delicious pan drippings au jus over it.  It was delicious!!  The prices were very good as well.  Our food and drinks came to just over forty dollars!  What I like about their breakfast and lunch menus is that there is such a broad range of prices.  

Now my husband is napping and I am going to try to complete a silly computer game I have been working on in my spare time over the past few weeks...another of my mouldy oldies from way in the past that today's game players would find incredibly boring, but is perfect for this old gal. 

The weather is delightful today now that most of the smoke has blown away.  While the temperature is still a bit high, there is a stiff breeze blowing so even this early in the afternoon we can have all the windows open on both sides of the house to stay cool. Wonderful!! 

Maman Is One Tough Cookie!

 Today, 93 year old Maman is going home! She will be able to have the valve replacement in a few months, so that is great news. Maman is a journalist and along with being able to walk and eat properly again, she has also begun writing up the details of her brush with death.  My friend is amazed by how well she is doing and is grateful for such positively answered prayers.  I am very happy for all of them. ⛪️

We had our first lower atmosphere forest fire smoke overnight, so this morning my eyelids are swollen and my lungs feel irritated. What a blessing that we made it through June and July with only a few overnight hours of higher altitude smoke that didn’t even rate a Smoke Warning from the weather forecasters. The sun this morning is a giant, flaming orange red ball, similar to the sunrise suns we used to see in Tokyo on a typical smoggy morning. I was so exhausted overnight that only once was I vaguely aware of smelling smoke and I was so groggy I couldn’t wake up sufficiently to get up and close the windows. What a trade off: breathing in poisonous particulate matter with the windows open or sweltering, sweating, headaching heat. Happy summer night to you too! 😉

I haven’t been able to force myself to get up and check the leaking spot in the kitchen ceiling. My husband is preaching at our own church this morning so he hasn’t the luxury to staying home to babysit that dripping crack and I have no intention of missing his sermon, so hopefully the large catch basin we have on top of the cupboards will hold however many more drips drip! 💧 

Maman's Continuing Health Journey Update

 I have another update in regard to Maman's recovery.  She is still in hospital after all because it has been discovered that she requires a new aortic valve.  While there is no huge rush for the surgery itself, she will need to have an angiogram to ensure the valve will be able to be installed through a vein in the groin.  If the angiogram shows otherwise she could be in need of open heart surgery.  Her angiogram should happen next Tuesday.  Hopefully it will be possible to insert the new valve using the usual method and once that is established she will likely be sent home to await the surgery.  So, more to pray about, but overall things are so much more positive than they appeared they would be, particularly after her actually dying for a bit before the temporary pace maker was put in. Whew....Thanks for praying for her and for her family.  It is very much appreciated.

It is another very warm day here, the forecast is for +32C; not the hottest we have had, but today there isn't a hint of a breeze anywhere near our area of the city, so even though it is currently only +25C it feels too hot to be comfortable outside.  I had to drive to the nearest grocery store instead of taking my intended walk due to a late start to my now overly warm day. I DID manage to fall asleep again after the 5:30am "Fight Club" on the front lawn and I slept for over 90 minutes.  It was worth getting a late start on the day just to feel better for the rest of the day.

My husband is meeting a friend for coffee this afternoon so I think I will tackle the needed executor's package updates.  I never want to go away without all that information being immediately available to one of our executors.  I learned from my parents' well organized banking and other financial records how important it is to have all the required information ready for the executor, as well as a list of where to start and in what order to do things like getting death certificates, adding up the monies in accounts and investments to take to the lawyer for access to the wills and to find out if probate will be necessary.  There are so many steps and each time something is attempted out of order it slows everything else down sometimes by several weeks.  Mom and Dad made things very smooth going for me in terms of available information that I needed. The financial institutions were the main hold up as probation was completed sooner than expected and caught them unawares.  I learned so much so we want to make everything as easy as possible for any executors when it is our turn to go. 

Red Welts, Itching And Over Heating BUT Still A Productive And Happy Day!!

Today turned out a bit differently than expected, but happily so!!  My husband woke up early enough to get over to our friend's place to work on part one of his outdoor carpentry project for over two hours before the temperature became too hot for him to work, so less than two more hours of work some morning between now and Monday will complete the project. He is delighted to find himself still able to repair fences and dig and spread quantities of dirt about to prepare a flat surface for the rest of the project he is building.  Kudos to him for continuing to enjoy doing woodworking and other projects to keep himself from spending every day in his own head pondering various philosophical and theological issues!  

We chatted briefly about the trip to the telephone company he originally planned for immediately upon his arrival home from the outdoor building project and decided that late in the morning, closer to noon, is the worst time to go and stand in line waiting to see an agent, particularly after my husband spent the earlier morning outside in the growing heat.  So, we waited until after lunch instead and drove to our travel insurance agent's office instead and purchased our travel/health insurance for our trip.  She had time to see us immediately, got the plan put together, I paid for it....about eight hundred dollars less than I was expecting, YES, and the entire process took less than a half hour.  Depending on what time my husband wakes up in the morning, we will likely do the telephone plan then or wait until immediately after his early morning doctor's appointment on Monday morning.  

The joy for me this morning is that as my husband calculated how long he was going to need to complete the first part of his carpentry project, he realized that since we weren't going to have to rush off immediately afterwards to get in line for a telephone agent, I should call my coffee buddy and see if there was any chance if she could use her and her husband's car to come to our place so we could have our usual weekly chit chat.  SHE COULD, so SHE DID and it was a lovely surprise for us both to still be able to get together.  I am so grateful that my husband thought it through and presented the possibility to me and I am grateful to my buddy's husband that he was willing to give up whatever plans he had made for himself this morning that required his own use of the car so that his wife could visit with me.  

Just before we left for the trek to the travel insurance agent another friend called and asked if I could come to visit with her after our appointment.  YES, I COULD and I DID!  It was another excellent heart to heart visit that lasted well over two hours.  It was worth driving back home after that in rush hour traffic!  Still got some home chores done as soon as I arrived home.

Last night at about 3am the box fan, that  I use for white noise so that I can sleep through the traffic and other noises here during the night, gave up. Bearings whining and screeching were likely loud enough to wake the neighbours on the other side of the wall as well....wow....it was so terribly loud and horrific to listen to that I expected to see smoke and/or flames coming out of the fan.  No such distress, BUT I had to shut it off and unplug it and prepare it to go into the garbage today.  While I was out at my friend's this afternoon my husband got online and researched where in this town we could find an identical replacement, so as soon as I arrived home we headed out to Home Building Supplies and came home with exactly what I wanted: a clone of Fan Number One.  Plus it was on sale, so that was a bonus.  It is now hooked up, checked thoroughly to ensure it is working properly and I look forward to a stress free sleep tonight with it whirring efficiently in the background.

I seem to be getting more acclimated to the heat as this week rolls along.  The big blankets my husband has on rollers are up in the east facing windows so that the radiant heat from the morning sun doesn't cause the entire suite to overheat by 9am!  Tonight all the windows on both floors are wide open and although it will be a fairly warm night, there is just a slight bit of cooler breeze coming through. If the forest fire smoke is as high in the atmosphere as it has been the past two nights I won't have to close the windows before the usual closing time of 9am to keep the suite bearable for temperature as the day progresses.

My walking partner just returned from a life long dream trip to the UK and I can't wait to hear about her adventures there. She said she took thousands of photos and I hope she realizes I am going to want to arm chair travel and see every single one of them, hahahaha.  I believe her ancestors came from somewhere in the UK, as some of mine did, so I am really stoked to learn what she discovered about her ancestral roots.  It was most considerate of her to take part of the trip my husband and I were planning to take before our son decided we should come to NYC instead, hahaha.  She has covered that ground for us....God bless her!!

It will be another couple of degrees warmer tomorrow as we head for the weekly highest daytime temperature of +36C on Saturday....no change in forecast in sight as the low to mid range +30C temperatures are to extend well into next week.  Our idea this spring and summer of going out for walks at least 3 times a week got lost somewhere between the 3 weeks of extreme daily rainfall and the ensuing heat wave, so all I can do is refuse to use my cane every time we go anywhere and try to do as much necessary shopping as I can in large grocery stores and shopping malls.  My operated hip and the surrounding muscles are slowly strengthening despite the aborted longer walks outside attempts, so that is most encouraging.  However I am taking my cane on our trip next month "just in case". With the other hip starting to disintegrate now I am not sure how the trip will go if I don't have support available for the massive amount of walking we will be doing. 

Heat And Mosquitoes...Welcome To Prairie Summer!

My arms and legs are covered in small red welts aka mosquito bites after spending last evening out on my neighbour's back deck gorging on fresh fruit and visiting together while my husband drove her husband across the city to look at a vehicle he was thinking of purchasing.  I went out there prior to 8pm and by 9:15pm I had to call it a night and retreat back to the inside of my own home.  There is something positive to be said for the long gown and hijab my neighbour wears....she was barely bothered by the little blood suckers while I, with my bare arms and shins and ankles am suffering the itchy effects of all those bites!!  Owie, owie, OUCH!!! Itch, itch, itch, scratch, scratch, scratch......yikes!!! The local mosquitoes seem to be uneffected by Deep Woods Off, unlike the mosquitoes at the badlands the other day, who respected the bug repellent and minded their own business!!!  From an entire day there I came home with one bite...ONE bite!!! 

Today was a good day despite the temperature getting into the +30C's once again.  I was able to get out and purchase a couple of bags of groceries and tackle the ironing from Monday's laundry day.  I was able to get all but four items ironed and I will complete the other four after dinner tonight.  It was just too hot to continue the project until it was finished.  I actually remembered to thaw meat out for dinner tonight so I just have to think of something creative to use it for.   

My husband has finally tracked down the offending food that has had his tummy on the verge of another "episode" for the past three days: potatoes we were given a week ago, but which became very mushy when we cooked them and then the leftover cooked potatoes became downright slimy when refrigerated overnight.  No potato is supposed to retain that much moisture.  I didn't like the taste of them the first night we cooked them so didn't eat any more, but my dear husband who would rather risk making himself ill than wasting any food, tried frying up the leftovers for lunch yesterday despite already having an iffy tummy. Oh he really paid for that second helping.  He was kind of a mess for the rest of the day yesterday and still not completely back to health today.  This afternoon he is finally feeling that he is better again, just about twenty four hours after ingesting those potato leftovers that were so slimy he actually washed them off before he fried them.  He HAS to learn that if there is any doubt whatsoever about the condition of any food it is wiser to toss it out than end up making himself ill.  It is a hangover from growing up in abject poverty, but one I wish I had a "hair of the dog" to give him so he could get over this habit!  

I had to cancel my weekly coffee time with my friend tomorrow.  My husband needs the car earlier in the morning for a short carpentry project he has been putting off  and then we have to go to the phone company, so that is disappointing, but there is always next week.  At least we will accomplish a few more things tomorrow that have been outstanding for some time. 

Feeling More Motivated And Productive As The Weather Cools A Bit!

 Yesterday was a better day than usual.  As soon as I woke up, after a fairly decent sleep, I forced myself to get out of bed, get fed and cleaned up and out to the store to find the last of the clothing items I need for our trip.  

Finally I had better success at locating an appropriate wedding reception outfit: black wider legged pants with a transparent black panel around the outside of each leg that is open along the inseam, so the pants seem to flow as I walk.  I will pair them with either an emerald green top I found that has short sleeves and a bit of a collar, or, more likely with a beige cowl necked sleeveless top because I have good jewellery pieces to pull the top and pants together and give me the appearance of colour in my pale face.   I am finally satisfied.  Out of my next three stores of interest only one of them was a waste of time and I quickly located my other needs in the last two stores. YES! 

Shopping completed for vacation trip: check!!✔

It was great fun getting out of doors once again, mosquitoes and all. (Apparently our fair city has one of the largest populations of mosquitoes in the province right now and I can attest to that!!)  So I was very happy to be able to go back out after lunch for a hair cut and a couple of bags of groceries.  My husband and I were hoping to run a few errands today as well, after rain showers overnight cooled things down just enough to be comfortable outside, but he is feeling kind of dizzy and out of sorts, so I guess we will have to remain at home.  I suspect he wore the wrong glasses this morning to clean our old box fan that started rattling and gasping when I put it on last night for white noise at bedtime.  Hopefully a big glass of water and a lie down for an hour sans glasses will help him to feel better.  I am hoping our trip out of town tomorrow will not give him heat stroke and I am hoping that the evening tour of the badlands south of here will not result in us both being eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I found a bottle of mosquito repellent in the basement this morning I didn't know we had and it appears to be full enough to do us well on tomorrow's foray out of town.

So....since we are likely not going out today after all, how shall I productively fill my time?  So many little indoor projects to tackle, so it is just a matter of choice.  I am enjoying the overcast skies as it keeps the heat down, but I know the UV index is still quite high so maybe being inside today is the wisest thing after all. Summer is half over and we have done very little away from home due to the heat....if we didn't have this trip upcoming next month I would be terribly discouraged.  However....we DO have the trip coming up and that will suffice as my own personal summer season.

A More Reasonable Day!

Today is a far more reasonable day for temperature.  We are about to achieve the daytime forecast high of +28C  This we can live with, especially after our better than expected sleep last night.  We were both asleep by 1am and not awake until nearly 8am, so that is incredible....what a blessing for us both.I suspect we slept well because we were so exhausted from three days of intense heat.  We were properly hydrated at bedtime as well after keeping up the water intake all day long.

By 1pm today the insulation blankets had already been taken out of the east windows and those windows were able to be opened as a slight breeze arrived.  How lovely.  The overnight temperatures will still be high, but with highs of average +28C all week, it will be fine.

Tomorrow morning I plan, hope, want to get out shopping for a couple of clothing items I need for our trip and then I have a haircut appointment to enjoy after that.  After being rather home bound for much of the weekend, I am geared up now to get out and boogying again!!  Here's to tomorrow!! 

Sweltering Our Way Through Church and Lunch!

 It is early in the afternoon and we have so far reached a breezeless, (and seemingly airless), +33C on our way to +37C.  Outside it is like a sauna and inside it is like.............. a sauna!  hahaha  

Going to an air conditioned church service this morning was quite a treat. Even if the service had been less than enjoyable I would have remained in my seat quite happily being blessed by the Air Conditioning...yes, living in a place with out any A/C means that the words Air Conditioning deserve to be written starting with capital letters!!  That is how much respect I have for Air Conditioning!!  AIR CON-DIT-ION-ING!!!!!!

The service was good, if not our style of worship and it was a treat to hear my newly found cousin preaching the sermon and comparing it to the sermon on the same parable that we heard at our own church last Sunday.  So many good encouragements from one short Scripture passage. She seemed pleased that we came to support her, so we felt good about attending.  Unfortunately her final stress on the sermon's main points, right at the end of the sermon, was kind of lost as various musicians started wandering about on the platform around and behind her and getting their instruments ready to play right at that time. They started to play the intro to the final song while she was still speaking.  How very distracting for the congregation and how very rude and disrespectful to the poor preacher.  Yes, it is a common style now to have more of a concert venue style of building and worship, but I don't like not being able to hear the rest of the congregation singing over top of the drums and electric guitars.  I am afraid that if either my husband or I had been a guest preacher this morning we would have asked the musicians to go back to their seats until the sermon was completely over.  What church leadership decides on for worship style for their own churches is not my business, but I have to say this modern style of sanctuary space and worship style just isn't my own favourite.  It does give me more appreciation for my church's methods and treatment of congregational worship space.  HOWEVER, that being said we both enjoyed visiting the church and being able to support my cousin. She did well.

Since we were in an area of the city we rarely visit, we looked around for a restaurant that was new to us for our lunch.  It is a newly developing part of the city, but already every possible fast food outlet has set up shop.  It look us a while to find an actual sit down restaurant that didn't specialize in Indian food....we LOVE Indian food, but today was too warm and muggy for us to find hot spicing appealing.  We eventually stumbled on another chain restaurant, Brown's Craft House, (another outlet of Brown's Restaurant Group along with Brown's Social House and Scotty Brown's in the USA), but at least we could sit inside (or outside with other souls more heat brave than ourselves) in comfy booths with padded seating and order off a proper kitchen menu.  We generally enjoyed it, our burgers and fish and chips were yummy and the salads were....well...interesting in concept. The dressing on my Caesar salad seemed to be comprised almost exclusively of lemon juice and the addition of some chopped parsley made it very bitter indeed, BUT the bacon was actually fried and chopped bacon slices and the lettuce was green and fresh. My husband's cole slaw had, for some mysterious reason, the addition of unsalted sunflower seeds...interesting but not a fan.  The in house batter had baking soda in it, so the batter was certainly crisp, also fine and crumbly. It was like the batter had been velveted, similar to the treatment of beef and chicken in some oriental food dishes.  I think I will try that if we go there again.  My crunchy chicken burger was very crunchy and delicious with a hot mayo and such a pile of shredded lettuce on top of the cheese and pickles and tomato, it was like being back at Freshness Burger in Tokyo....just exchange the nearly 5 cm high stack of lettuce for shredded cabbage and I would have thought I was back in our old neighbourhood there. YUM!

So now we are home again. It is currently +18C in the basement where my husband is trying to cool off, but I have him beaten upstairs where the thermometer is showing a balmy +27C and climbing.  Wow, it is HOT IN HERE, hahaha.  Mind you it could be, and before I discovered my routine for opening and closing windows and blinds and curtains it often was, much much hotter and more unbearable in here.  I am grateful that we have a place to live and lots and lots and lots of cold water to drink. Speaking of which, it is time for another drink.  

Our son is at a beach on Long Island today with his former boss and family, so he is taking the heat there in stride.  I am very pleased for him!!  Our daughter in law is away again for a couple of weeks of writers' retreats so she is happily busy.  We are all doing well this weekend. 

Celebrating A Small Milestone!

 For a day that had no plans set up apart from my doctor's appointment and my husband's phone chat with our kids, it has turned into a busy, happy day for us both.

We relaxed this morning eating breakfast while we watched last night's Stampede chuckwagon races on tv.  At noon our quiet day at home changed.  About the time our son and his wife called to chat with my husband to firm up their wedding reception programme plans, our panicked next door neighbour discovered he had no ride to his drivers' license examination and pulllleeeease could my husband take him.  My husband quickly arranged a new call time with the kids and got himself ready to go with our neighbour.  In the process he had no time to eat his lunch, so downed a glass of milk and tucked a nut bar into his shirt pocket to eat while our neighbour was having his test in our car, which he had never driven before.  NO problem with figuring out all the quirks of our vehicle and the examiner said he had great control of the vehicle and good knowledge of MOST of the road rules.  Unfortunately as he was following another car at a stop sign, he forgot that even if the road past the stop sign is completely clear you still have to come to a complete stop before proceeding and not just brake slightly and roll on through behind the first car. The other issue is that one of our homeless people was struggling to cross the street sans crosswalk and light controls.  Our neighbour handily avoided him, thinking that he was giving the fellow lots of leeway should he start staggering toward the car, but the instructor disagreed and hollered "STOP!" at our neighbour.  Fortunately my husband was able to explain to him after the test why he had failed this time around, (my husband is getting better using the interpreter app our neighbour's phone), and that he had to improve his abilities at the stop signs and always to come to a complete stop when a pedestrian is staggering around in the middle of the street.  Hopefully that second incident will not repeat itself in two weeks when the next test is scheduled.  When I arrived home from my medical appointment I found my husband and our neighbour and his wife enjoying a round of tea and almonds around our little plastic deck table that was set up on the back lawn, so I got to enjoy their company too for awhile.  (Speaking of the wife....she informed me that she has just discovered she is pregnant! It is quite a surprise because her youngest child is already 8 years old, but she is only 33 so is carrying well....unfortunately for us it does mean an even greater likelihood of them moving next month into larger government subsidized housing which will be much less expensive for them as well.  I do wish them all the best as they prepare to welcome this surprise child.)

SOOOOO....the milestone event:  I decided since my husband and neighbour had our car I was going to try walking the six blocks to the doctor's office and back sans cane....the first time I have deliberately gone walking outside without it. While I have quit dragging it along with me now for some months to run errands, it is the first "prolonged" walk I have taken with just me and my wonky wobbly limp for more than a block or so.  Also, I was alone with no one to assist me if those hip muscles or my non-operated hip were to give out on me.  Weeeelllll....it all went okay! I was limping a bit more as I approached the office because it was +32C outside and I wasn't exactly taking my time and I wanted to get out of the heat, BUT coming home I slowed down and took the shadier side of the street under the branches of the tall trees in a park and I walked a bit more normally.  Until I either improve my gait some more or the rest of my body adjusts to a new limping normal, even walking that 12 block round trip with a half hour break in the middle with the doctor, was absolutely exhausting!  BUT I am rejoicing. I did it! I did it! I did it!!!  

There was no time to rest when I arrived home because of the neighbours visiting, but I thought if I could  just have a short rest...it was about 3:30pm when they went home....then I would gather my flagging energy and make dinner.  However, about this time my husband realized he still had only eaten that nut bar and a handful of almonds since his 8am breakfast and the thought of having to wait for me to prepare a good meal was more than he could bear thinking about or that his very empty tummy could handle. "We are going to celebrate your successful walk and go to London Belle for your very early dinner and my lupper!", he informed me, so in less than a minute my sandals were back on my feet and we were on our way.

It was a lot of fun getting to the restaurant at 3:45pm for a meal.  There was one fellow in there at a table, we got to sit at our favourite spot and by the time we left an hour later there were two other old geezer couples like ourselves, but we beat the Friday Night After Work pub crowd and thoroughly enjoyed our meal from the Happy Hour Menu. My burger was only $10 and my soda only $3, but because I skipped the fries I was able to do a bit of a cheat and get away with ordering a sticky toffee pudding. teehee...well, my husband was away on my birthday last month and I never did have my special sugary birthday treat so....is it the best sticky toffee pudding ever?  Nope, not at all, but I did enjoy it anyway and my husband was delighted to eat the accompanying scoop of iced cream.  He had eaten a huge off the menu burger and an equally huge salad, so the iced cream was a light dessert treat.  It was a nice date together.  

As the sun goes down the breeze is almost non-existent and the temperature tonight is unlikely to drop below +16C, so that is a great set up for our next hot day tomorrow....+35C, followed by Sunday's +37C. The humidex is going to be around 45 for the entire weekend. I think we have decided we will not attend our own church on Sunday as it has no air conditioning and my husband will end up ill, but I have located a church that has AC so it won't hurt us to visit a different congregation this Sunday and see what they are up to.  I have met the person who is preaching there once before so it might be kind of fun to hear her take on the same Scripture parable our own minister preached on last Sunday, hahaha.  Tomorrow, I suspect we will just remain at home in our cotton summer jammies and wallow in our suffering in the heat, interspersed by a couple of showers throughout the day.   By Monday the temperatures should be slowly starting back down to the mid to high +20C's. I hope so because we are supposed to be going with friends later next week on a day long adventure out in the country.

 

Out And About At Last!!!

We decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day today and go for a decent walk.  My husband had a letter he had to take to the Synod office so we took the longest way over there, had a great chat with the office administrator and then took a different route home.  It took half the distance for my operated hip muscles to stop aching, so I HAVE to take advantage now of every day without rain and get a move on.  It has been so wet and windy outside during the rainfall that being outside walking for any kind of non-emergency reason has been beyond me, but now I need to get moving!!!  Wow, it felt SO good to be outside...no wind and just enough heat to let me know there will likely be another thunderstorm possibility later in the day.  Yup, I am looking outside my window right now watching the thunderhead clouds forming up there in the sky.  Rats....BUT I surely did enjoy walking without my hair blowing up over my head and blocking my vision.  It really was a nice walk together.  We both need exercise so we are grateful for today.  

Gimme That Bumpy Thumpy Music!! Happy Canada Day!!

The rain has let up sufficiently over the past two or thee hours to allow the Canada Day bands to play their sets in the park near us.  Even though when the direction of the breeze sends the bass vibrations coursing through our apartment to drive me kinda nuts for about 12 consecutive hours, I don't begrudge the participants in the park events their once a year fun celebration of all that remains right in our country.  We went out for a very late lunch to get a break from the bass line and then drove through part of the park on our way home. From what we could see many of event participants are immigrants from other countries and it always makes me happy to see them celebrating their new country despite all the upsets and fears and stresses of coming to a place so different from many of their homelands.  God bless them all!!

We received hot, nutritious, home made meals from both our Syrian neighbours next door and the Nigerians across the parking lot in honour of the day, so it was fun for us to be able to reciprocate with some Canadian food.  I haven't yet had a Middle Eastern or Nigerian meal I have not enjoyed fully. Yum, yum, yum!!!  We will have a grand feast for dinner this evening.  As delicious as our meal was at the restaurant to which we made a spontaneous lunch visit, it cannot compare to the ethnic foods currently sitting in our refrigerator.  

The sun is VERY close to breaking through the clouds late this afternoon, but more rain and possible thunderstorms are in the forecast for this evening, so I suspect our beloved and long awaited firework display isn't going to happen. Oh well, there is always next Canada Day....or perhaps they will take place on the August Family Day long weekend instead?  Since the little island in the lake from which they are fired into the air is presently booked by our church for their annual summer picnic that same day, it is looking doubtful. Oh well....I just miss very much the fireworks we used to see fairly often in larger cities where we have lived in times past.

Anyway, I hope you are having a very good day today, wherever you may be and for those of you in Canada we hope you are rejoicing in what we have here still for freedoms; that those of you who are so inclined are praying for God in his mercy to help us preserve those freedoms and to protect us all going into the future.  May we as a nation be worthy of his divine help. 

Nice To Have My Husband At Home Again!

 As expected, my husband was bubbling over with joy when he arrived home last night...and it increased when he discovered I had a decent dinner prepared for him to eat right away, haha.

We had so much fun rehearsing his trip while we ate dinner and he was happy to hear I am feeling better and had many good times with friends in his absence.  

He spent the entire trip headache free after going off his statins again before he left, in the final experiment his doctor asked him to do before he will have his meds changed.  I remember him coming home from a couple of short canoeing expeditions last summer and being just wiped out for days afterward, miserable. headachy, exhausted....not so this time.  Apart from a short nap this afternoon after an early rising this morning, he has had energy to spare all day long...this is the most like my "real" husband he has been in many months. How grateful am I??? SO grateful!

This afternoon we unpacked his gear from the Honda.  I got all the camp dishes and containers washed right away, then cleaned out the cooler while he trekked the rest of the items down to the basement and got them sorted out and put away.  Then he vacuumed the inside of the Honda, took it to the car wash and filled the gas tank with fuel before returning it to our friends...one of which had a MOST exciting day being a birthing coach for her daughter in law's delivery of grandchild number two!! New life...always wonderful to behold.

My husband has begun his guilt induced make up dinners out since he was away for my birthday once again, teehee....I wonder if I can arrange for him to be away again next year for that date? hahaha  We had pub grub tonight but it turned out to be pretty tasty pub grub and we had lots of laughs about everything and nothing while we ate our meal.  There was a bit more rain tonight, but nothing substantial.  In the past couple of days a few downspout tornadoes have landed in smaller centres around our city, but we have only had a few short lived blasts of wind accompanying some of the rainfall.  I am grateful to be missed by tornadoes and grateful that the places where they did land weren't badly damaged by them.  Looks like our tornado season is starting up with a vengeance in comparison to years past and I do hope and pray there won't be any huge damage causing disasters.

Out for lunch tomorrow with my Thursday morning coffee buddy since my ear infection caused me to cancel last Thursday.  We are going to a fairly nice place that has delicious lunch specials, so I am really looking forward to the food and the good chat we always have together.  

Hopefully my ear infection is gone. I took the last meds this evening, so......  I forgot that when I was walking home from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon the wind was howling before I got home so I am a bit concerned that my uncovered ear is going to be prone to another flair up. Hopefully not.  Why I didn't take a head covering with me I have no clue...duh!!! 

Muggy Day But Not THAT Warm!

 It is only +20C and the winds are gusting slightly at 42km, but wow, it is SO HUMID. The humidex is at 22 and it feels like a bit of a sauna in our suite.  Thankfully we are REALLY enjoying the arrival of more spring and summer like conditions after a long, miserably icy winter.

My husband had breakfast with a couple of buddies this morning.  The change in his activity level and demeanor since he got over the tummy disaster and the CFS exhaustion that accompanied it never ceases to amaze me.  He is like 2 different people...the during the episodes husband and the after the episodes husband.  He is happy, sleeping well, at peace, motivated....so GRATEFUL TO GOD that once again he has come through to the other side of one of these events.  Hallelujah!!  He admits it has taken him the past day and a half to recover his serenity since he took the church service on Sunday, but at least he recognizes that he can't really take anything else on until his next sermon here in town on August 2nd.  

I am up to my ears in laundry today and will start ironing my husband's newly cleaned clothes in a few minutes.  He needs some clothing items to pack up for his upcoming camping trip, so my own ironing can wait until tomorrow afternoon. 

Tomorrow morning we are running final pre-camping errands, and then having a rendezvous with the owners of our Honda CRV to pick it up so my husband can get it packed up tomorrow evening in readiness for the trip.  He also has to finish planting the herbs and getting our tomato plants out on the back porch before he goes so I can look after them properly.  Oh joy....looking after outdoor plants....I detest having to grow plants, particularly outdoors where they attract not only more spiders than we are already contending with, but the wretched wasps that just adore the tomato plants in particular.  Ick!!  Guess I had better check the date on the Epi-pen I have been carting around with me the past 2 summers and see if it is still effective. Wasps...the one downside of summer....well, maybe mosquitoes too....mice....geese..screaming kids at midnight.....better stop this list before I freak myself right out.  hahaha

Time to go and change over the last loads in the washer and dryer and get with the ironing.

Hope you are having a really good day!! 

 

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. 

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!!) 

 

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  

Happy Mother's Day To Moi!

 It has been a happy Sunday here with lovely warm temperatures, sunshine and only a very mild breeze.  My husband is still extremely tired, but decided that my idea of walking to church was a good idea for us both.  So, I took my cane along, used it only slightly for the last kilometre of the just under 3km distance and didn't suffer much in the way of muscle discomfort.  YAY! Coming home it was my long ago operated on ankle that bothered me for the last 8 blocks or so....the pin through the "balance bone" is starting to slowly work its way out, 15 years post surgery, and the rounded end is pushing hard on the skin covering that bone.  Now I have to adjust my gait AGAIN to keep from irritating it further when I walk.  (I have decided that when and if it reaches the point of needing to be removed I will ask for a referral to the surgeon in Saskatoon who was the originating surgeon.  He was fantastic, still has a fantastic reputation and told me that if I needed it removed in twenty years I should ask to return to him so he can view how his handiwork with that pin, and the two plates he put my ankle back together with, is holding up long term.  Yup, I just may take him up on that at some point.

We had such good teaching today in our adult class by one of our parishioners about "Covenant" and how the Hebrew and Greek words used to describe covenant are so rich in various meanings.  It was a good learning experience.  My husband was of course already familiar with the material, but he and I haven't discussed it much, so I really enjoyed learning more about it all.

In church we welcomed back one of our university students who spent his first year at McGill in Montreal studying mathematics and is now doing a summer internship at the church.  He is a fine, compassionate and intelligent young fellow who grew up in that congregation and is very well liked.  It will be a pleasure to have him on staff over the holiday months.  

 We decided to walk home a different route after church and we were hungry, but where to go on a busy Mother's Day for lunch that would not be an overcrowded, noisy buffet...reservations only please....  We settled on a little Trifon's Pizza restaurant along our route, with low expectations of the fare, but we were pleasantly surprised.  Simple food yes, but much more delicious than we were expecting.  There were only a few folk dining there as it is off the main path of Sunday downtown traffic, our server was very friendly and helpful, so we had a great time having a Mother's Day date!!

Walking home we were rather slower paced as we had very full tummies!!!  I had to stop and rest my ankle a couple of times...hmmmm....hoping that doesn't become the norm. The hip revision arthroscopy has thrown my entire body into a flap after having two years now of not walking in my normal fashion, both before and after surgery.  This too shall pass as I get readjusted to the new normal I am sure.  

One thing I appreciate about our church is that no mention is made of Mothers' and Fathers' Days or any other "greeting card" observances.  However, I was aware that there would be at least a few women asking me if I was going to hear from our son today....how on earth would I know, right??? hahaha  Well, as it turned out I did wake up at 8am to an email from him...the message had zero to do with Mothers' Day as he had other things on his mind and obviously had no idea it even is Mothers' Day, BUT when there ladies started twittering on about their contact with their kids upcoming this afternoon and evening and of course couldn't refrain from asking me about my son, I was able to tell them that I personally had ALREADY heard from him. hahaha Oh, they were so impressed, hahahaha. Bless their hearts. They are in my age group and older, so these sorts of remembrances are still very important to them. I am grateful that many of the younger generations are not so tied to celebrating such silly greeting card days.  When I got home from church I had another email from my son waiting. He confessed he had forgotten it is Mothers' Day and if he had time would it be okay to call me tonight.  hahaha I emailed him back and said if he didn't get around to it, that was no problem, not worth taking stress over. Today he is installing his latest works for the Esther lll  art fair, so has rather a lot else on his mind.  

Soon my husband will be going over to the home of friends to help them design some kind of wood working project they want to do in their home and while he is away I will copy off the by-laws and familiarize myself better with the financial statements for the board meeting I am attending tomorrow evening.

It has been a very happy Mothers' Day thus far and I am grateful.