Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Sunday, 22 August 2010
After the Hiatus
I have been busy teaching, entertaining and visiting ... and now I am home. Before I start preparations for next week's lessons, I will fill in some of the blanks.
My friend Erma is just back from a visit to Kenya so we had a great gossipy visit last weekend. Layla, who sent money off with Erma on this trip, joined us for dinner on Saturday. Layla is 20 and has been raising money for disadvantaged kids to help them get an education since she was a young teenager. I met her when she was fifteen. She has helped to build kitchens and dormitories at the Daisy Centre for kids with disabilities, sent a crippled girl off to have a necessary operation so that she could attend high school as a CHES scholarship girl, and used her funds for a myriad of other small projects. Erma taught in Western Kenya from 2001 - 2003. She made it her business to discover where help was needed, and has been raising money and awareness in her Canadian church and high school ever since her return. She has been back three or four times, each time discovering more projects to help, and so her Kenyan work continues to grow.
Dan, Sarah, Lucas and Remi spent a few days here while I visited Techwood and Scootz. We all enjoyed shaking up our lives a little, and I came home to a clean house, fewer weeds and a mowed lawn, to a stream free of a tree that threatened to block it, and to a clothesline that works like a charm again..
While they worked and played here at the lake, I went off on missions in the Lanark area, and managed to fill my three days in interesting ways.
I walked every day a few times with Kenya and old Charlie and discovered just how friendly Lanark is ... and how beautiful the gardens and river are. Charlie loved his walks and hip-hopped along beside Kenya despite his arthritis.
At the annual Balderson sale I picked up bathing suits that will last me for another few years. In Perth I found a wine cup that smooths out rough wine, and a bar of natural soap that smells good enough to eat. I also attended a great outdoor concert in the rain with a new friend.
Before I left, the boys and I went off to McDonald's Corners where I discovered the nicest Saturday Market I've ever been to. Listening to conversations around me while I drank fair trade coffee, I was reminded of a recent trip to London when I marched against the Iraq War with hordes of little old grey haired ladies and men ... all from the peace protest era. I bought quiches and fudge from little girls raising money for autism, and, when I asked why they were so interested, was told by the younger one that her older sister looked after a little girl who was on the spectrum. I don't think I have ever met nicer kids, and when I told their camera-toting grandfather, he said that it had to be his wife's influence because he was a bad actor. Then I wandered over to talk to a goat lady ... and was reminded of my own experiences with goats ... another tale from the depths of memory.
After eating our way around the market, we drove to the dump where I found books and blouses at the recycling centre, and then visited the woman who bought Techwood's old place. I like her ... and her dogs. She too has a Charlie with the oddest colouring imaginable. He looks ferocious but hides behind her skirts as soon as you speak to him. It took Scootz a few minutes of gentle stroking to convince him to come out from under the desk once we were inside. A friend of his owner described him as a cut and paste dog because his cross breeding has not created a harmonious blend at all. Rather he has a shepherd size and shape, a pit bullish head, some dalmation freckles, a spectacular grey diamond on a white forehead, and his front half is white, the back half dark.
I was glad to get home, but I am very glad I spent a few days with my boys. And it was nice to meet a new friend with whom I have so much in common. Maybe next time I visit he will give me a ride on his Harley.
Last night I made the mistake of retreating from the steady rain into a movie. Have you seen "The Weatherman"? I found it terribly depressing ... good ... but hard to watch the protagonist's repeated failures and unremitting sadness ...
And now I must start work on my lessons for next week. I am teaching Monday, Thursday and Friday this week. Roger, the young Swiss carpenter, will be joined by a handicraft teacher in her early fifties and another younger Swiss woman. I want to work with their common interests and the things they can teach one another. I picked up some second hand books on handicrafts in Lanark ... so I think I will start there.
Have a great week ... and I will try to make more regular appearances than I have lately.
My friend Erma is just back from a visit to Kenya so we had a great gossipy visit last weekend. Layla, who sent money off with Erma on this trip, joined us for dinner on Saturday. Layla is 20 and has been raising money for disadvantaged kids to help them get an education since she was a young teenager. I met her when she was fifteen. She has helped to build kitchens and dormitories at the Daisy Centre for kids with disabilities, sent a crippled girl off to have a necessary operation so that she could attend high school as a CHES scholarship girl, and used her funds for a myriad of other small projects. Erma taught in Western Kenya from 2001 - 2003. She made it her business to discover where help was needed, and has been raising money and awareness in her Canadian church and high school ever since her return. She has been back three or four times, each time discovering more projects to help, and so her Kenyan work continues to grow.
Dan, Sarah, Lucas and Remi spent a few days here while I visited Techwood and Scootz. We all enjoyed shaking up our lives a little, and I came home to a clean house, fewer weeds and a mowed lawn, to a stream free of a tree that threatened to block it, and to a clothesline that works like a charm again..
While they worked and played here at the lake, I went off on missions in the Lanark area, and managed to fill my three days in interesting ways.
I walked every day a few times with Kenya and old Charlie and discovered just how friendly Lanark is ... and how beautiful the gardens and river are. Charlie loved his walks and hip-hopped along beside Kenya despite his arthritis.
At the annual Balderson sale I picked up bathing suits that will last me for another few years. In Perth I found a wine cup that smooths out rough wine, and a bar of natural soap that smells good enough to eat. I also attended a great outdoor concert in the rain with a new friend.
Before I left, the boys and I went off to McDonald's Corners where I discovered the nicest Saturday Market I've ever been to. Listening to conversations around me while I drank fair trade coffee, I was reminded of a recent trip to London when I marched against the Iraq War with hordes of little old grey haired ladies and men ... all from the peace protest era. I bought quiches and fudge from little girls raising money for autism, and, when I asked why they were so interested, was told by the younger one that her older sister looked after a little girl who was on the spectrum. I don't think I have ever met nicer kids, and when I told their camera-toting grandfather, he said that it had to be his wife's influence because he was a bad actor. Then I wandered over to talk to a goat lady ... and was reminded of my own experiences with goats ... another tale from the depths of memory.
After eating our way around the market, we drove to the dump where I found books and blouses at the recycling centre, and then visited the woman who bought Techwood's old place. I like her ... and her dogs. She too has a Charlie with the oddest colouring imaginable. He looks ferocious but hides behind her skirts as soon as you speak to him. It took Scootz a few minutes of gentle stroking to convince him to come out from under the desk once we were inside. A friend of his owner described him as a cut and paste dog because his cross breeding has not created a harmonious blend at all. Rather he has a shepherd size and shape, a pit bullish head, some dalmation freckles, a spectacular grey diamond on a white forehead, and his front half is white, the back half dark.
I was glad to get home, but I am very glad I spent a few days with my boys. And it was nice to meet a new friend with whom I have so much in common. Maybe next time I visit he will give me a ride on his Harley.
Last night I made the mistake of retreating from the steady rain into a movie. Have you seen "The Weatherman"? I found it terribly depressing ... good ... but hard to watch the protagonist's repeated failures and unremitting sadness ...
And now I must start work on my lessons for next week. I am teaching Monday, Thursday and Friday this week. Roger, the young Swiss carpenter, will be joined by a handicraft teacher in her early fifties and another younger Swiss woman. I want to work with their common interests and the things they can teach one another. I picked up some second hand books on handicrafts in Lanark ... so I think I will start there.
Have a great week ... and I will try to make more regular appearances than I have lately.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
The week that was ...
I enjoyed our last (at least I hope last for a while) days of our heat wave.
A few days with friends who live near Montreal and have a backyard pool and air conditioning ... Kenya and I both enjoyed our visit with them. Then back home with company over the weekend ... canine and human.
I hear that Russia's fish stocks have been hard hit by their heat wave ... and I suspect that our lake's fish have probably gone much deeper than usual to escape the bath tub temperatures of the water. But those same tepid temperatures provided us with great swimming last night. Rob and I worked on getting Charlie (the 9 year old black lab who was afraid of the water) to swim. By the end of the play time he was having fun and swimming well. Rob and I ended up covered in long scratch marks. Rob's are all over his legs, chest and arms. I have four bruises and a deep surface scratch mark from Charlie's fearful first attempts.
Even Carlos went in last night ... and he has a Mediterranean horror of swimming in water that is less than body temperature.
Shea gave Tammy and me rides and Kenya swam with all of us.
I never stay up past 10 p.m. but it was after 1 when I headed up last night. Good food, flowing wine, and great company.
This afternoon I heard two explosions and thought that our local yahoos were making good their threat to kill all the mergansers on the lake. The meeting did not go well ... and I do not enjoy being outvoted by people who are wrong ... they grudging agreed to allow us to try alternative ways of getting rid of the Canada Goose menace next spring ... but clearly intended to shoot to kill if it didn't work ... and then they brought up the merganser menace as well ... blaming the absence of large minnows on the ducks. In view of what is happening in Russia and also taking into account the blasting that has shattered the peace of the lake, I would be more likely to blame things on disruption of habitat.
Today when I heard the explosions, I phoned my buddies who also feel that wild life have a right to co-exist with us ... and then heard from one of them that he had been setting off fire crackers to scare away some Canada Geese. His method worked ... let's hope it keeps on working.
Rob, Scott and I played tourists in the village yesterday ... while the train was in. Whew! Not my favourite place to be on a sweltering afternoon, but interesting for a change.
Tomorrow I start a week of accompanying Yoshiko, the 84 year old Japanese student who is back again this year. We are starting out here at the lake tomorrow and deciding what we want to do with our time together.
It will be fun, I expect.
I hope you enjoy our break from sweltering temperatures and some cooler nights.
A few days with friends who live near Montreal and have a backyard pool and air conditioning ... Kenya and I both enjoyed our visit with them. Then back home with company over the weekend ... canine and human.
I hear that Russia's fish stocks have been hard hit by their heat wave ... and I suspect that our lake's fish have probably gone much deeper than usual to escape the bath tub temperatures of the water. But those same tepid temperatures provided us with great swimming last night. Rob and I worked on getting Charlie (the 9 year old black lab who was afraid of the water) to swim. By the end of the play time he was having fun and swimming well. Rob and I ended up covered in long scratch marks. Rob's are all over his legs, chest and arms. I have four bruises and a deep surface scratch mark from Charlie's fearful first attempts.
Even Carlos went in last night ... and he has a Mediterranean horror of swimming in water that is less than body temperature.
Shea gave Tammy and me rides and Kenya swam with all of us.
I never stay up past 10 p.m. but it was after 1 when I headed up last night. Good food, flowing wine, and great company.
This afternoon I heard two explosions and thought that our local yahoos were making good their threat to kill all the mergansers on the lake. The meeting did not go well ... and I do not enjoy being outvoted by people who are wrong ... they grudging agreed to allow us to try alternative ways of getting rid of the Canada Goose menace next spring ... but clearly intended to shoot to kill if it didn't work ... and then they brought up the merganser menace as well ... blaming the absence of large minnows on the ducks. In view of what is happening in Russia and also taking into account the blasting that has shattered the peace of the lake, I would be more likely to blame things on disruption of habitat.
Today when I heard the explosions, I phoned my buddies who also feel that wild life have a right to co-exist with us ... and then heard from one of them that he had been setting off fire crackers to scare away some Canada Geese. His method worked ... let's hope it keeps on working.
Rob, Scott and I played tourists in the village yesterday ... while the train was in. Whew! Not my favourite place to be on a sweltering afternoon, but interesting for a change.
Tomorrow I start a week of accompanying Yoshiko, the 84 year old Japanese student who is back again this year. We are starting out here at the lake tomorrow and deciding what we want to do with our time together.
It will be fun, I expect.
I hope you enjoy our break from sweltering temperatures and some cooler nights.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Too Too Busy ... but Wired
Two days ago the straw that breaks backs fluttered into view and settled on our lake. Rowboat Flo's daughter's Honda CRV with a For Sale sign on it is parked at Flo's cottage. I need a 4WD vehicle. The make of choice is the Honda CRV. She is asking a reasonable price for a vehicle in very good shape. I liked test driving it, even though I had to dust off my hot rodding standard shift skills as I took it over rough roads with steep hills and sharp corners. Unfortunately my old Toyota is still running fine. It is now ugly and dusty and filled with dog hair and sand, and it has a few bumps and bruises caused by my ineptitude when I park, one skid on ice, and the suicidal tendencies of a local doe, but generally speaking it works well. However; my road demands far more of a vehicle in the bad seasons than this low slung Toyota sedan can muster. I still have not decided.
On Wednesday evening the language school called ... I have some teaching gigs ... the first happened yesterday. My task was to entertain Yoshika, an 84 year old Japanese woman who puts most of us to shame physically (she still skiis, hikes, and dives ... and is a tireless traveler). She proved to be a really interesting companion. She is an artist and calligrapher whose work hangs in Japan's national galleries as well as in European museums and galleries. We visited artists and potters and then settled in at Le Hibou for coffee where we enjoyed wonderful service, food and ambiance. Our coffee table which was an old door painted with flowers on the panels sat between two comfortable old couches. We hope to see one another once more this weekend when I bring her up to the lake for tea.
While we were gadding about in the rain we went to Art de la Paix where Kelly informed me that she has been asked to donate something for a silent auction in Chelsea. She wants to donate one of my chairs, but she wants to keep a constant supply in the shop. I promised to paint a little faster ... stupid promise, I know.
I am feeling overwhelmed by the car decisions, by Kelly's insistence on MORE and still MORE, by the money-gobbling habits of this house and the ever-presence of Peter (can't even use my upstairs bathroom while he is around because the scaffolding climbs the front wall of the house), by the new demands of River Echo (isn't that a lovely name?), and by my reckless decision to accept the Nanowrimo challenge of producing a 50,000 word first draft of a novel in the month of November ... the same month I begin my sketchbooking course. I awaken from nightmares about having accidents with cars I am test driving to musings about chair designs. Last night I was up at 2 drinking cocoa with French stick pieces dunked in it in the vain hope that I would be able to return to bed to sleep till morning.
Kenya accompanied me downstairs, accepted a bit of turkey as a middle-of-the-night snack, and then sleepily followed me back upstairs. She was sound asleep while I pecked away here at the keyboard, absolutely wired.
On Wednesday evening the language school called ... I have some teaching gigs ... the first happened yesterday. My task was to entertain Yoshika, an 84 year old Japanese woman who puts most of us to shame physically (she still skiis, hikes, and dives ... and is a tireless traveler). She proved to be a really interesting companion. She is an artist and calligrapher whose work hangs in Japan's national galleries as well as in European museums and galleries. We visited artists and potters and then settled in at Le Hibou for coffee where we enjoyed wonderful service, food and ambiance. Our coffee table which was an old door painted with flowers on the panels sat between two comfortable old couches. We hope to see one another once more this weekend when I bring her up to the lake for tea.
While we were gadding about in the rain we went to Art de la Paix where Kelly informed me that she has been asked to donate something for a silent auction in Chelsea. She wants to donate one of my chairs, but she wants to keep a constant supply in the shop. I promised to paint a little faster ... stupid promise, I know.
I am feeling overwhelmed by the car decisions, by Kelly's insistence on MORE and still MORE, by the money-gobbling habits of this house and the ever-presence of Peter (can't even use my upstairs bathroom while he is around because the scaffolding climbs the front wall of the house), by the new demands of River Echo (isn't that a lovely name?), and by my reckless decision to accept the Nanowrimo challenge of producing a 50,000 word first draft of a novel in the month of November ... the same month I begin my sketchbooking course. I awaken from nightmares about having accidents with cars I am test driving to musings about chair designs. Last night I was up at 2 drinking cocoa with French stick pieces dunked in it in the vain hope that I would be able to return to bed to sleep till morning.
Kenya accompanied me downstairs, accepted a bit of turkey as a middle-of-the-night snack, and then sleepily followed me back upstairs. She was sound asleep while I pecked away here at the keyboard, absolutely wired.
In spite of all my protestations about feeling overwhelmed by life, it is also exhiliarating to be meeting artists and travelers, to be attending storytelling performances by the best in the business (I did tell you about Ivan Coyote's performance on Monday evening, didn't I?) and to eat in a restaurant that combines the best of everything a restaurant should offer. I feel very alive ... if exhausted.
And it is gratifying to be in demand ... and appreciated. Imagine! Kelly has a whole store filled with beautiful things by real artists ... and she wants to showcase one of my pieces. But I have to be careful ... I don't have skill ... just a beginner's enthusiasm ... and that could be destroyed by being pressured to become an assembly line producer, especially now that I cannot work outdoors so cannot use alkyd primer as a base on the difficult chairs.
In the midst of all this turmoil, my first great grand daughter arrived. She is Lindsay and Johnnie's first child, Deb's first grandchild, and the first great niece for Zoom, Mud Mama and Techwood (and that's just a fraction of the family this baby has joined) ~TA DA~ a big welcome to little Chelsea Katherine ~TA DA~ who was born two nights ago. There is a wonderful welcome on Zoom's blog (knitnut.net) for this tiny little soul (5 pounds 9 ounces) with the long legs and arms and red hair. I can only add my genuine delight and echo Zoom's feelings ... and vow, as she has, to get my own baby sweater pieces sewn together.
And it is gratifying to be in demand ... and appreciated. Imagine! Kelly has a whole store filled with beautiful things by real artists ... and she wants to showcase one of my pieces. But I have to be careful ... I don't have skill ... just a beginner's enthusiasm ... and that could be destroyed by being pressured to become an assembly line producer, especially now that I cannot work outdoors so cannot use alkyd primer as a base on the difficult chairs.
In the midst of all this turmoil, my first great grand daughter arrived. She is Lindsay and Johnnie's first child, Deb's first grandchild, and the first great niece for Zoom, Mud Mama and Techwood (and that's just a fraction of the family this baby has joined) ~TA DA~ a big welcome to little Chelsea Katherine ~TA DA~ who was born two nights ago. There is a wonderful welcome on Zoom's blog (knitnut.net) for this tiny little soul (5 pounds 9 ounces) with the long legs and arms and red hair. I can only add my genuine delight and echo Zoom's feelings ... and vow, as she has, to get my own baby sweater pieces sewn together.
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Madness ...
I think I may be mad ... November is looking like the busiest month of my life ... and I have just signed up for NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org) ... the crazy marathon writing spree in which one contracts to write 50,000 words in a month. I don't even have any idea what I will write ... I don't want to cheat and use something I've already worked on ... but this is completely insane ... I don't have a single idea about characters, plot, setting or plot!
I think I will likely write in a variety of places ... here at my regular computer ... on my laptop at different cafes like Le Hibou ... in my writing journal ... dunno where else.
I am pike-lake-oma if you are looking for a writing buddy ...
Today I had a pleasant lunch with a former student ... from way back in the seventies ... and then I bought a case of wine and picked up furniture Carlos and Tamarak have been collecting for me, and groceries. By the time I got home, unloaded the car, loaded the wheelbarrow and got everything put away I had had it for the day.
Tomorow I will make a cake and a special dinner for Zoom's birthday ... it will be fun to see Zoom, GC and James ... it has been a while since they have been here at the lake and they will have a chance to see the cedar board and batten as far as it has progressed.
I think I will likely write in a variety of places ... here at my regular computer ... on my laptop at different cafes like Le Hibou ... in my writing journal ... dunno where else.
I am pike-lake-oma if you are looking for a writing buddy ...
Today I had a pleasant lunch with a former student ... from way back in the seventies ... and then I bought a case of wine and picked up furniture Carlos and Tamarak have been collecting for me, and groceries. By the time I got home, unloaded the car, loaded the wheelbarrow and got everything put away I had had it for the day.
Tomorow I will make a cake and a special dinner for Zoom's birthday ... it will be fun to see Zoom, GC and James ... it has been a while since they have been here at the lake and they will have a chance to see the cedar board and batten as far as it has progressed.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Mixed Blessings
August 3, 2009
When the house empties ...
It happens every time. I feel as if I am drowning in noise while they are here and when they climb into the van, they leave behind a vaccuum that I fill with tears.
Mud Mama is the only one of my children who still has young kids. And she has a passel of ‘em ... six all told ranging for almost two to just turned eighteen.
Usually life here proceeds by inches measured in silence.
When Mud Mama visits, the hermitage vibrates with shrieks from the pre-verbal Sprout who know exactly what he wants to say but can't form the words, gleeful noise from happy kids, and wails from one or the other when a hurt, either physical or emotional occurs. Then there are all the adult sounds that are also so foreign here. This time we had a birthday party on their last day, so Zoom and GC, Erin, Emma and Aidan, and the Arch Angel joined Mud Mama, Maurice, Sprout, Nature Girl, Wild Thing and Dark Mirror.
I feel as if my life went on hold for the week. I don't have a studio to escape to; my living space is also my working space ... and it was impossible with a toddler around to have paints and projects in various stages out where he could hurt himself or them.
Today I cleaned and did laundry after my little weep, and then I went to pick up some chairs Nature Girl and I purchased at a garage sale coming home from our three hour jaunt to Cumberland to get fresh corn for the party. I still have a line filled with laundry to bring in. By tomorrow I will be ready to start working on the two chairs I have started ... another wonky woman and another happy cat. In between times I think I will work away at the smaller projects I've been picking up ... boxes ... a bread box ... a shelf ... a mirror ... children's chairs ... a little pine bedside stand ... a wooden bowl ... more carousels.
My life is really too quiet. I need to see my kids and all my grandchildren, including these young ones more often. But it doesn't work to try to fit several months of absence into one short week. The stresses and strains of living together in a house set up for one old hermit and her dog, are not conducive to good visits. I think we are going to have to figure out a better way.
I am thinking of driving to Nova Scotia in September. I wish I could afford to fly people up for a few days so that we could have small sane visits. But I can't, so we will have to figure out something that will work.
Life will get back to normal by tomorrow ... my kind of normal, at least. I wish my life could have some kind of sane balance. I don't think it has had that since I left an eighteen year relationship in 1995.
When the house empties ...
It happens every time. I feel as if I am drowning in noise while they are here and when they climb into the van, they leave behind a vaccuum that I fill with tears.
Mud Mama is the only one of my children who still has young kids. And she has a passel of ‘em ... six all told ranging for almost two to just turned eighteen.
Usually life here proceeds by inches measured in silence.
When Mud Mama visits, the hermitage vibrates with shrieks from the pre-verbal Sprout who know exactly what he wants to say but can't form the words, gleeful noise from happy kids, and wails from one or the other when a hurt, either physical or emotional occurs. Then there are all the adult sounds that are also so foreign here. This time we had a birthday party on their last day, so Zoom and GC, Erin, Emma and Aidan, and the Arch Angel joined Mud Mama, Maurice, Sprout, Nature Girl, Wild Thing and Dark Mirror.
I feel as if my life went on hold for the week. I don't have a studio to escape to; my living space is also my working space ... and it was impossible with a toddler around to have paints and projects in various stages out where he could hurt himself or them.
Today I cleaned and did laundry after my little weep, and then I went to pick up some chairs Nature Girl and I purchased at a garage sale coming home from our three hour jaunt to Cumberland to get fresh corn for the party. I still have a line filled with laundry to bring in. By tomorrow I will be ready to start working on the two chairs I have started ... another wonky woman and another happy cat. In between times I think I will work away at the smaller projects I've been picking up ... boxes ... a bread box ... a shelf ... a mirror ... children's chairs ... a little pine bedside stand ... a wooden bowl ... more carousels.
My life is really too quiet. I need to see my kids and all my grandchildren, including these young ones more often. But it doesn't work to try to fit several months of absence into one short week. The stresses and strains of living together in a house set up for one old hermit and her dog, are not conducive to good visits. I think we are going to have to figure out a better way.
I am thinking of driving to Nova Scotia in September. I wish I could afford to fly people up for a few days so that we could have small sane visits. But I can't, so we will have to figure out something that will work.
Life will get back to normal by tomorrow ... my kind of normal, at least. I wish my life could have some kind of sane balance. I don't think it has had that since I left an eighteen year relationship in 1995.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Life is good ...
Update that doesn't read like a to-do list, I hope ...
Yesterday I visited my daughter and her partner and delivered the happy cat chair ... a convalescence gift. She lay on the couch with her huge orange cat looking absolutely beautiful ... serene and healthy ... for the first time in a long while. I suspect it is a combination of not working, finally getting enough rest, and feeling surrounded by love. The cancer has been removed and the worst fears have been faced and eliminated by competent medical care. She is still in pain because of her back, but the pain killers are helping, and we all hope that she will get real help for that soon.
On my way to and from her place I stopped at garage sales where I bought a doll's crib, a child's rocker, a dark green sweater for felting, and a huge comfortable maple chair. I also dropped in to the Parkdale market for veggies and bought maple syrup at a roadside stand.
That's about my limit for any one day, but when I got home I brushed Kenya, slung my camera around my neck, and set off to deliver fur to a neighbour who uses it to discourage animals that like her garden produce. Rowboat Flo was working outside and asked for some so I gave her half. Enroute I visited with Claire and Tom who were swimming (Tom, doing the length of the lake and back, and Claire, wading up to her waist with a floatie, getting exercise). Not too long ago, before her cancer, Claire would have been jogging miles for that exercise. After the delivery we visited with several other neighbours we met on the road and then came back home to swim. Playing in the lake with a dog who loves water, watching the Merganser family leave my shore with great squawking, and just breathing in the sense of peace and neighbourliness on this lake was wonderfully therapeutic.
I have decided that I am less likely to meditate while doing yoga than by staying home and swimming, painting, knitting, or just looking at the lake and sky from a deck chair, so I am not going back to yoga. I would like to find an aerobics class for older people though, one like the morning class I attended when I lived in Cumberland, easy on the knees and other joints, non-competitive except with yourself, and fun. It was the only place I felt a sense of community in Cumberland ... and it is far worse now with all the development that has scarred the landscape. Everywhere you look you see the facelessless of identical houses sitting on muddy lots, your ears blasted by the roar of noisy earth moving machinery. Almost all shopping is done in the atomized anonymity of box stores except for the bagel shop run by the Kenyans, and I bet the Ray Friel Centre is still providing its dose of neighbourhood.
Today I will finish arranging books in the bookcase that once housed the DVDs, and then it is back to painting chairs (and that table for beside the couch).
On Wednesday I may receive a passel of household pets for five days ... two Black Labs and two cats ... that will be a first ... and I suspect I will have my hands full. But I also think it will be fun to have such a houseful of loving creatures. Don't know how much painting I will get done ... but maybe that will give me a chance to do more sanding outside with the dogs, and then base coating in the porch to escape from their demands. Have to remove the winter windows first though or I will succumb to heat exhaustion and paint fumes!
Yesterday I visited my daughter and her partner and delivered the happy cat chair ... a convalescence gift. She lay on the couch with her huge orange cat looking absolutely beautiful ... serene and healthy ... for the first time in a long while. I suspect it is a combination of not working, finally getting enough rest, and feeling surrounded by love. The cancer has been removed and the worst fears have been faced and eliminated by competent medical care. She is still in pain because of her back, but the pain killers are helping, and we all hope that she will get real help for that soon.
On my way to and from her place I stopped at garage sales where I bought a doll's crib, a child's rocker, a dark green sweater for felting, and a huge comfortable maple chair. I also dropped in to the Parkdale market for veggies and bought maple syrup at a roadside stand.
That's about my limit for any one day, but when I got home I brushed Kenya, slung my camera around my neck, and set off to deliver fur to a neighbour who uses it to discourage animals that like her garden produce. Rowboat Flo was working outside and asked for some so I gave her half. Enroute I visited with Claire and Tom who were swimming (Tom, doing the length of the lake and back, and Claire, wading up to her waist with a floatie, getting exercise). Not too long ago, before her cancer, Claire would have been jogging miles for that exercise. After the delivery we visited with several other neighbours we met on the road and then came back home to swim. Playing in the lake with a dog who loves water, watching the Merganser family leave my shore with great squawking, and just breathing in the sense of peace and neighbourliness on this lake was wonderfully therapeutic.
I have decided that I am less likely to meditate while doing yoga than by staying home and swimming, painting, knitting, or just looking at the lake and sky from a deck chair, so I am not going back to yoga. I would like to find an aerobics class for older people though, one like the morning class I attended when I lived in Cumberland, easy on the knees and other joints, non-competitive except with yourself, and fun. It was the only place I felt a sense of community in Cumberland ... and it is far worse now with all the development that has scarred the landscape. Everywhere you look you see the facelessless of identical houses sitting on muddy lots, your ears blasted by the roar of noisy earth moving machinery. Almost all shopping is done in the atomized anonymity of box stores except for the bagel shop run by the Kenyans, and I bet the Ray Friel Centre is still providing its dose of neighbourhood.
Today I will finish arranging books in the bookcase that once housed the DVDs, and then it is back to painting chairs (and that table for beside the couch).
On Wednesday I may receive a passel of household pets for five days ... two Black Labs and two cats ... that will be a first ... and I suspect I will have my hands full. But I also think it will be fun to have such a houseful of loving creatures. Don't know how much painting I will get done ... but maybe that will give me a chance to do more sanding outside with the dogs, and then base coating in the porch to escape from their demands. Have to remove the winter windows first though or I will succumb to heat exhaustion and paint fumes!
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Whoosh! Updated
Another flying visit is over. Mud Mama, Maurice, Sprout and Micah all left this morning to return to Nova Scotia, leaving behind them lots of dog hair, several items placed out of reach of 1 1/2 year old hands, and an empty space in my heart. I always breathe a sigh of relief when they leave and then feel as though I'm much more alone than I was before they arrived. This time, however, they will be back in a month so it's easier.
Daughter #2 has come through her surgery with flying colours and no invasion of the lymph nodes ... I am breathing again.
I started cleaning a couple of hours ago and am now melting ... and my place is cool compared to the city. Kenya and I are going to take a swim as soon as I finish this post. Tonight I will try out the yoga class again and tomorrow I will get two more DVD holders from Ikea. Then I will paint a table to put into that niche in the living area and create a painted shelf to secure the four tall skinny cabinets together and anchor them to the wall. As soon as I name the photos taken with my new camera I will retrieve and post them so you can see what I mean.
Then it will be back to the chairs and the knitted socks. I am attending a meeting of interested artisans who live near Wakefield on Friday evening. We are trying to set up some kind of artisans' co-op so that we can work together to sell our products without having to always be with our things.
The camera is proving its ability by taking excellent photos of Kenya. It is very hard to take a good photo of a black dog with an inferior camera. Soon you will be able to see just how beautiful she is without having to smell her now that she is swimming every day and trapping smelly things in her, still-shedding, undercoat.
The first photo I have tried to upload is the Sprout in motion ... WHOOSH! ... it is taking a very long time ... hope that doesn't mean that the camera is incompatible with dial-up! Can anyone tell me how to save these photos in a smaller format? I am an absolute novice with an SLR and know far too little about the technology we all use daily. I have been trying for half an hour and am now giving up.
I must get ready for my day!
Daughter #2 has come through her surgery with flying colours and no invasion of the lymph nodes ... I am breathing again.
I started cleaning a couple of hours ago and am now melting ... and my place is cool compared to the city. Kenya and I are going to take a swim as soon as I finish this post. Tonight I will try out the yoga class again and tomorrow I will get two more DVD holders from Ikea. Then I will paint a table to put into that niche in the living area and create a painted shelf to secure the four tall skinny cabinets together and anchor them to the wall. As soon as I name the photos taken with my new camera I will retrieve and post them so you can see what I mean.
Then it will be back to the chairs and the knitted socks. I am attending a meeting of interested artisans who live near Wakefield on Friday evening. We are trying to set up some kind of artisans' co-op so that we can work together to sell our products without having to always be with our things.
The camera is proving its ability by taking excellent photos of Kenya. It is very hard to take a good photo of a black dog with an inferior camera. Soon you will be able to see just how beautiful she is without having to smell her now that she is swimming every day and trapping smelly things in her, still-shedding, undercoat.
The first photo I have tried to upload is the Sprout in motion ... WHOOSH! ... it is taking a very long time ... hope that doesn't mean that the camera is incompatible with dial-up! Can anyone tell me how to save these photos in a smaller format? I am an absolute novice with an SLR and know far too little about the technology we all use daily. I have been trying for half an hour and am now giving up.
I must get ready for my day!
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Just a Scattering of Stuff ...
Words instead of pictures today.
Yesterday I picked fiddleheads and fried them in olive oil and butter and then doused them with balsamic vinegar. Yummy addition to a dinner of leftovers.
I had spent most of the day painting a bookcase/room divider I bought in 1963. It was once teak, then blue washed, then white. Now it is simply ochre and holds all my painting supplies out of sight and supports a lot of plants more attractively than they were displayed before on a broken table base and an ancient table top.
It began life in an apartment situated just north of the railway tracks in Beaconsfield. Maybe you have seen a print of that station done by G.A. Scholes. I used to commute from that station every day ... and one day almost died there in a gory accident. I was waiting for a westbound train to pass and almost stepped into the path of the eastbound train that had been hidden and silenced by the first train. When I close my eyes and remember, I can still feel the roaring heat that knocked me backwards out of harm's way.
The bookcase moved in its original teak state to a number of homes in and around Ottawa. After my dad died, I had a great many of his watercolours framed. I redecorated the spare bedroom in the yellows and blues of Provence, and created a gallery for them. That was when the bookcase was stained blue. Much later I lived in an apartment in Westboro, painted the bookcase white, and used it to display pottery pieces in the diningroom. For the first two years at the Hermitage it held linens, bath salts and laundry detergent in the laundry room off the main bathroom.
Now it is downstairs starting a new life in front of a large window overlooking the lake.
While I was painting it ... a base then three coats of ochre acrylic and then two coats of polyurethane, I painted a board to make a new sign for the hermitage. Then I began to sketch and letter it in chalk so that it will be somewhat like the happy chair I made. I will post a photo when it is ready.
On Tuesday I learned from Rowboat Flo that my child-sized chair stained aubergine is not a child's chair at all. I knew it fit me but was much closer to the ground, and thought it odd. Now I have learned that it is a potato peeling chair. Imagine! Some farm woman, tired of peeling mounds of potatoes at the wrong height, and remembering that in summer she peeled spuds, shucked corn and took fresh peas from their pods in comfort while she sat on a step outdoors with a pail between her feet, simply cut the legs of a kitchen chair down to size ... and now I have it sitting in a corner of my kitchen so that I can use it that way too. (Rowboat Flo is a woman in her seventies who spends summers at the lake ... I met her while she was fishing from a rowboat near my deck a couple of years . Some day I will write a post about Rowboat Flo ... who is at least as colourful as Tugboat Annie.)
I need to get my propane tank re-filled and buy some more paint so that I can try a new palette. I am thinking rich jewel-like tones such as you find in stained glass windows. Or maybe dusty pinks and mauves. More grown-up than the happy chairs, but I still have lots of chairs that I want to make happy as well.
This morning I was looking at Haliburton's calendar and discovered a course being offered that would teach me all kinds of techniques for re-painting furniture. Hmmmn!
Have a great day and send good thoughts to my daughter who meets with the oncologist this morning.
Yesterday I picked fiddleheads and fried them in olive oil and butter and then doused them with balsamic vinegar. Yummy addition to a dinner of leftovers.
I had spent most of the day painting a bookcase/room divider I bought in 1963. It was once teak, then blue washed, then white. Now it is simply ochre and holds all my painting supplies out of sight and supports a lot of plants more attractively than they were displayed before on a broken table base and an ancient table top.
It began life in an apartment situated just north of the railway tracks in Beaconsfield. Maybe you have seen a print of that station done by G.A. Scholes. I used to commute from that station every day ... and one day almost died there in a gory accident. I was waiting for a westbound train to pass and almost stepped into the path of the eastbound train that had been hidden and silenced by the first train. When I close my eyes and remember, I can still feel the roaring heat that knocked me backwards out of harm's way.
The bookcase moved in its original teak state to a number of homes in and around Ottawa. After my dad died, I had a great many of his watercolours framed. I redecorated the spare bedroom in the yellows and blues of Provence, and created a gallery for them. That was when the bookcase was stained blue. Much later I lived in an apartment in Westboro, painted the bookcase white, and used it to display pottery pieces in the diningroom. For the first two years at the Hermitage it held linens, bath salts and laundry detergent in the laundry room off the main bathroom.
Now it is downstairs starting a new life in front of a large window overlooking the lake.
While I was painting it ... a base then three coats of ochre acrylic and then two coats of polyurethane, I painted a board to make a new sign for the hermitage. Then I began to sketch and letter it in chalk so that it will be somewhat like the happy chair I made. I will post a photo when it is ready.
On Tuesday I learned from Rowboat Flo that my child-sized chair stained aubergine is not a child's chair at all. I knew it fit me but was much closer to the ground, and thought it odd. Now I have learned that it is a potato peeling chair. Imagine! Some farm woman, tired of peeling mounds of potatoes at the wrong height, and remembering that in summer she peeled spuds, shucked corn and took fresh peas from their pods in comfort while she sat on a step outdoors with a pail between her feet, simply cut the legs of a kitchen chair down to size ... and now I have it sitting in a corner of my kitchen so that I can use it that way too. (Rowboat Flo is a woman in her seventies who spends summers at the lake ... I met her while she was fishing from a rowboat near my deck a couple of years . Some day I will write a post about Rowboat Flo ... who is at least as colourful as Tugboat Annie.)
I need to get my propane tank re-filled and buy some more paint so that I can try a new palette. I am thinking rich jewel-like tones such as you find in stained glass windows. Or maybe dusty pinks and mauves. More grown-up than the happy chairs, but I still have lots of chairs that I want to make happy as well.
This morning I was looking at Haliburton's calendar and discovered a course being offered that would teach me all kinds of techniques for re-painting furniture. Hmmmn!
Have a great day and send good thoughts to my daughter who meets with the oncologist this morning.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
The Sudden Emptiness of the Hermitage
For ten days the hermitage bustled with activity created by dogs and family. Yesterday it really swelled when the three older children arrived. Then, just as suddenly, the noise, the clutter and the love stopped ... like a clock in mid-rhythm. Everyone clambered up the 39 steps and into the van and disappeared.
Before I even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief that I had my orderly solitary life of solitude restored to me, I felt terribly terribly lonely. Mud Mama and her noisy brood had been sucked out of my life leaving only a vacuum in their place.
I felt the way Kenya always feels when we give back our dog boarders ... bereft.
The two of us are moping around. Kenya keeps flopping down on a surface near me. I try to fill the empty quiet with spring cleaning.
Three months is a long time to wait for another visit. I wish Mud Mama lived close by. I wish all my children did.
Before I even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief that I had my orderly solitary life of solitude restored to me, I felt terribly terribly lonely. Mud Mama and her noisy brood had been sucked out of my life leaving only a vacuum in their place.
I felt the way Kenya always feels when we give back our dog boarders ... bereft.
The two of us are moping around. Kenya keeps flopping down on a surface near me. I try to fill the empty quiet with spring cleaning.
Three months is a long time to wait for another visit. I wish Mud Mama lived close by. I wish all my children did.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Quick Post from a Busy Household
My usually quiet hermitage is bursting at the seams with energy.
Sprout is singing with his dad in their bedroom after a good night's sleep aided by a homeopathic teething remedy. The night before he was high on his first chocolate. We discovered that chocolate not only makes him hyperactive and unable to sleep; it also ups his gastric acid production and makes him very grumpy. No more chocolate for Sprout!
Mica and Kenya went on a very long run yesterday. After an hour and a half they had not returned despite calling for them ... (very unusual) ... so I went out in the car looking. I had almost reached the main road when I saw Mica's silver form shoot out of the bush and come onto the road. I tried to offer her a ride but she was on a mission. She was following Kenya who was streaking for home quite a bit ahead of her. At home they drank gallons of water and ate a treat and then they slept for hours. Mica continued to sleep long after Kenya was re-energized and we noticed that she was not just exhausted but limping. She is refusing food and treats now and it seems that she has broken one of her toenails right to the quick. They had been going cross country over the mountain and Mica was very muddy so who knows exactly where or how the accident might have happened. I suspect they were chasing the deer and she caught her foot in fencing or undergrowth. From now on they will be let out in tandem. No more going out together for these two girls.
Mud Mama and I have been poring over the knitting book she brought with her ... one skein wonders ... and I have nearly finished the second sock of the pair I started last week. These will be Nature Girl's birthday present, I think. Mud Mama has been practising various stitches and things while she has a guide at the side.
I did a ham wrapped in bread dough yesterday for dinner. I started the bread dough the evening before and Mud Mama stayed up and played with it for hours after I went to bed so that it was ready by morning. (I hadn't put nearly enough water in it and then mud mama put in too much and had to knead flour into it before putting it into the fridge.
It has been nice having family around. The hermitage bustles for a change.
Sprout is singing with his dad in their bedroom after a good night's sleep aided by a homeopathic teething remedy. The night before he was high on his first chocolate. We discovered that chocolate not only makes him hyperactive and unable to sleep; it also ups his gastric acid production and makes him very grumpy. No more chocolate for Sprout!
Mica and Kenya went on a very long run yesterday. After an hour and a half they had not returned despite calling for them ... (very unusual) ... so I went out in the car looking. I had almost reached the main road when I saw Mica's silver form shoot out of the bush and come onto the road. I tried to offer her a ride but she was on a mission. She was following Kenya who was streaking for home quite a bit ahead of her. At home they drank gallons of water and ate a treat and then they slept for hours. Mica continued to sleep long after Kenya was re-energized and we noticed that she was not just exhausted but limping. She is refusing food and treats now and it seems that she has broken one of her toenails right to the quick. They had been going cross country over the mountain and Mica was very muddy so who knows exactly where or how the accident might have happened. I suspect they were chasing the deer and she caught her foot in fencing or undergrowth. From now on they will be let out in tandem. No more going out together for these two girls.
Mud Mama and I have been poring over the knitting book she brought with her ... one skein wonders ... and I have nearly finished the second sock of the pair I started last week. These will be Nature Girl's birthday present, I think. Mud Mama has been practising various stitches and things while she has a guide at the side.
I did a ham wrapped in bread dough yesterday for dinner. I started the bread dough the evening before and Mud Mama stayed up and played with it for hours after I went to bed so that it was ready by morning. (I hadn't put nearly enough water in it and then mud mama put in too much and had to knead flour into it before putting it into the fridge.
It has been nice having family around. The hermitage bustles for a change.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Ancient Titles
Some titles sound VERY old. Great Aunt, for instance. The only people who ever talk about great aunts are themselves middle aged or older so the words Great Aunt (usually pronounced with a distinctly upper class British accent) always conjure up for me a vision of crepiness, blued silver hair coiffed in unmovable tight curls under a hat with a veil ... in short a very old but very fashionable woman of some means.
My daughters, Mud Mama and Zoom, are so far from this image that it makes me laugh.
But yes, they will be great aunts by Christmas.
I will be an Ur-Oma ... and that also makes me giggle. I am far too young to be an Ur-Oma.
But strangely enough, Debbie is exactly the right age to be a grandmother and Lindsay is exactly the right age to be a momma.
I am delighted that my eldest grand daughter is going to be providing our family with a new baby for us all to love.
Isn't it lucky that I have learned to knit with such fine wool on such tiny needles just in time to make baby clothes?
Thank you, Lindsay, and congratulations. You will be a wonderful mother.
My daughters, Mud Mama and Zoom, are so far from this image that it makes me laugh.
But yes, they will be great aunts by Christmas.
I will be an Ur-Oma ... and that also makes me giggle. I am far too young to be an Ur-Oma.
But strangely enough, Debbie is exactly the right age to be a grandmother and Lindsay is exactly the right age to be a momma.
I am delighted that my eldest grand daughter is going to be providing our family with a new baby for us all to love.
Isn't it lucky that I have learned to knit with such fine wool on such tiny needles just in time to make baby clothes?
Thank you, Lindsay, and congratulations. You will be a wonderful mother.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
THAT conversation; THOSE socks
THAT conversation is coming along. I will leave it for now and move onto the other conversations and revelations that must occur between the conversation and the discovery. The benefit of writing it like a patchwork quilt is that each scene does not loom as a huge unwritable chore, and I am able to start fresh each time, which might make the writing fresher too. The downside is that I think I work best when I follow a forward moving flow in which one thing leads naturally to the next so that I am always building on what went before. Also this method leaves me with several ends to weave in seamlessly afterward.
Sort of like the THOSE socks I have almost completed ... which will have a few ends to weave in later. It won't be quite as much drudgery as weaving in the myriad of endlings that were left after Wild Thing's stripey pirate sweater pieces were completed, though.
As long as there aren't too many loose ends, I think it will be fine. At any rate I have no choice because there are these various bits and pieces of conversations, arguments and thoughts that need to happen between CC's confession and Emily's discovery. Then I can go on to writing the conclusion.
I write for a couple of hours and then I think about it, re-read it, and make notes, and then I reward myself by working on the sock. The socks will be finished long before the novel is ... but I still have two more beautiful batches of wool ... and then I can make a conglomerate piece from all those leftovers!
Last night Tamarak, Lois and Carlos came for dinner. That is Lois sitting beside Tamarak in the photo from the show. We had fun. So did the dogs. Kenya always looks a little depressed when she is once again alone. She really likes having a playmate. (Not that Teddy and Shea are the best playmates, you understand. They are a bit wimpy about the cold and would rather sleep on the warm floor than join her outside.)
Nevertheless they sure beat me these days.
I fell on my head on Monday night on my way to the show. No; I had not been drinking wine. No; it was not because I am getting long in the tooth and unsteady on my pins. Several people have fallen and hurt themselves on Ottawa streets recently ... I know of two others, both MUCH younger than me ... and also sober ... who fell. One cracked her skull; the other broke her ankle. Good thing I have a hard head.
When Mud Mama heard that I had driven home alone after the fall she said I was going to be the kind of old lady who has to have her car keys hidden; that they would have to keep the door locked to keep me safe from myself. She'd better bloody not even think of it!!! I'd rather die making mistakes than live my life wrapped in cotton wool, thank you.
Yes, I know Mud Mama exactly what you will say ... I would be a danger to other people not just myself ... well phooey!
Sort of like the THOSE socks I have almost completed ... which will have a few ends to weave in later. It won't be quite as much drudgery as weaving in the myriad of endlings that were left after Wild Thing's stripey pirate sweater pieces were completed, though.
As long as there aren't too many loose ends, I think it will be fine. At any rate I have no choice because there are these various bits and pieces of conversations, arguments and thoughts that need to happen between CC's confession and Emily's discovery. Then I can go on to writing the conclusion.
I write for a couple of hours and then I think about it, re-read it, and make notes, and then I reward myself by working on the sock. The socks will be finished long before the novel is ... but I still have two more beautiful batches of wool ... and then I can make a conglomerate piece from all those leftovers!
Last night Tamarak, Lois and Carlos came for dinner. That is Lois sitting beside Tamarak in the photo from the show. We had fun. So did the dogs. Kenya always looks a little depressed when she is once again alone. She really likes having a playmate. (Not that Teddy and Shea are the best playmates, you understand. They are a bit wimpy about the cold and would rather sleep on the warm floor than join her outside.)
Nevertheless they sure beat me these days.
I fell on my head on Monday night on my way to the show. No; I had not been drinking wine. No; it was not because I am getting long in the tooth and unsteady on my pins. Several people have fallen and hurt themselves on Ottawa streets recently ... I know of two others, both MUCH younger than me ... and also sober ... who fell. One cracked her skull; the other broke her ankle. Good thing I have a hard head.
When Mud Mama heard that I had driven home alone after the fall she said I was going to be the kind of old lady who has to have her car keys hidden; that they would have to keep the door locked to keep me safe from myself. She'd better bloody not even think of it!!! I'd rather die making mistakes than live my life wrapped in cotton wool, thank you.
Yes, I know Mud Mama exactly what you will say ... I would be a danger to other people not just myself ... well phooey!
Monday, 5 January 2009
A Hermit Again
Mud Mama and her family left yesterday morning and Maggie left at noon, so my house is very quiet for the first time in a couple of weeks. I spent the day putting things back in their pre-Christmas state ... undressing trees ... washing bed linens ... moving clothes back to their original rooms and closets ... and so on.
By evening I was exhausted but my home was almost mine again. I find that the older I get the more I need my defined space ... especially in terms of the working spaces. It has nothing to do with whether my way is better or worse, just that it is my accustomed way. I felt during this period that my life was on hold.
Kenya relaxed as well. She likes having other dogs for company and playtime, but I think she also likes not having to share food, beds or me for a change.
Maggie was a lovely dog who just wanted plenty of love and was submissive with the other dogs. She clung to me like a burr for the first while, but really liked all the human companionship and would stay out for hours playing with the other dogs. The last night she had an ear ache and then diarrhea. I gave her the medication her owner had left, and she promptly whoopsed up the pills and her last meal in three sessions, so our final night together was less pleasant than the others. However; she was such a loving well trained dog that it didn't really affect how I felt about her.
Sprout (the human baby) had also been sick too, and the last couple of nights were sleepless ones for his parents.
I awoke about midnight last night knowing that I had probably caught Sprout's bug so I am dosing myself with Vitamin C, Cold-FX and a chest rub of almond oil laced with decongestant oils like eucalyptus and cedarwood.
Today I will call the Eye Institute about the recurring infection. The ER doctors last time gave me a note for them saying they suspected an inflammatory orbital pseudotumour. Hmmn ...
I will also go to my regular dental appointment ... and I will finish cleaning the house.
It has been a hectic Christmas season this year ... the company ... all the extra dogs living here ... Mica, Stella, and Maggie ... and all compounded by the two day power outage, the recurring eye infections and other illnesses ... and we also had to deal with some idiot's dog.
A guy in a truck dropped two husky-shepherd crosses off at the nearby boarding kennel. The owner managed to catch one but the other ended up on our lake flirting with all my girls ... who fell in love and followed him everywhere. Maggie and Mica were especially smitten. He was a handsome fellow.
Two neighbours also took an interest in him and one managed to lure him into her home where, for a few days, he lifted his leg on every piece of furniture and discombobulated her resident cat. Despite this, she liked him and managed to keep him with her until he could be taken to the boarding kennel where he and his brother were to be picked up by the local SPCA. Like me she is glad to get back to her old routines, including sleeping upstairs, in her own bed, but she is also saddened by what she knows will likely be this dog's fate. When a dog owner can't be bothered to train his dogs and then rids himself of them in this way, they are unlikely to find homes easily.
By evening I was exhausted but my home was almost mine again. I find that the older I get the more I need my defined space ... especially in terms of the working spaces. It has nothing to do with whether my way is better or worse, just that it is my accustomed way. I felt during this period that my life was on hold.
Kenya relaxed as well. She likes having other dogs for company and playtime, but I think she also likes not having to share food, beds or me for a change.
Maggie was a lovely dog who just wanted plenty of love and was submissive with the other dogs. She clung to me like a burr for the first while, but really liked all the human companionship and would stay out for hours playing with the other dogs. The last night she had an ear ache and then diarrhea. I gave her the medication her owner had left, and she promptly whoopsed up the pills and her last meal in three sessions, so our final night together was less pleasant than the others. However; she was such a loving well trained dog that it didn't really affect how I felt about her.
Sprout (the human baby) had also been sick too, and the last couple of nights were sleepless ones for his parents.
I awoke about midnight last night knowing that I had probably caught Sprout's bug so I am dosing myself with Vitamin C, Cold-FX and a chest rub of almond oil laced with decongestant oils like eucalyptus and cedarwood.
Today I will call the Eye Institute about the recurring infection. The ER doctors last time gave me a note for them saying they suspected an inflammatory orbital pseudotumour. Hmmn ...
I will also go to my regular dental appointment ... and I will finish cleaning the house.
It has been a hectic Christmas season this year ... the company ... all the extra dogs living here ... Mica, Stella, and Maggie ... and all compounded by the two day power outage, the recurring eye infections and other illnesses ... and we also had to deal with some idiot's dog.
A guy in a truck dropped two husky-shepherd crosses off at the nearby boarding kennel. The owner managed to catch one but the other ended up on our lake flirting with all my girls ... who fell in love and followed him everywhere. Maggie and Mica were especially smitten. He was a handsome fellow.
Two neighbours also took an interest in him and one managed to lure him into her home where, for a few days, he lifted his leg on every piece of furniture and discombobulated her resident cat. Despite this, she liked him and managed to keep him with her until he could be taken to the boarding kennel where he and his brother were to be picked up by the local SPCA. Like me she is glad to get back to her old routines, including sleeping upstairs, in her own bed, but she is also saddened by what she knows will likely be this dog's fate. When a dog owner can't be bothered to train his dogs and then rids himself of them in this way, they are unlikely to find homes easily.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Let's Be Friends
I now have three adult bitches living with me ... and they get along wonderfully well. I took this photo in my den/bedroom this morning. Maggie loved all the people from the get go; it has taken her a couple of days to settle in with the dogs.
Right now Mica is half howling because she is the outsider, and her voice is querulous as she talks to them. I have let her outside so that she won't awaken Sam who has croup and been up during the night.
Life is slowly getting back to normal after the eye infections, the power outage, and the puppy food thief's stay.
Our latish New Year's Eve supper:
* giant shrimp with sauce
* beef tenderloin roast with slivered garlic inserted done rare au jus
mashed potatoes
roasted sweet potato, green beans, sugar snap peas, onions and garlic cloves
* red wine
sparkly pear juice
ginger tea with honey
The real difference was that I felt calm and happy as I prepared the meal.
After supper I thought Maggie was outside and I went off hunting, flashlight in hand, only to discover that she was curled up on her pillow in my den/bedroom!
Then Sam's first croup attack occurred and Mud Mama responded calmly and effectively by getting him into the cold night air, making him a chest rub of essential oils like eucalyptus carried by almond oil and giving him drinks of the honeyed ginger tea. She and Sam were absolutely calm; his dad less so.
I went to bed at 9, but I haven't managed to stay awake till midnight for years, so this was no surprise. I had created my "toe of the stocking" piece earlier in the day ... not a New Year's Resolution list of must nots or exhortations ... just something I have been doing since about 1985.
I take the time in late December to reflect on my life and consider what direction I would like it to take in the following year, and then I write down some of the steps I should take on that path and put it in my Christmas stocking to be read the following December. I don't ever follow the path exactly, but it is still a guiding light of sorts. And it makes me consider consciously at least once every year what is making me happy and what I need to change.
What do you do on New Year's Eve?
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Update on the Evil Eye
Two ophthamologists examined it for a very long time and came away scratching their heads. It is not acting like a classic infection or a classic allergy. They have ordered a CTscan to rule out the unlikely possibility of a tumour (shades of Fozzie Bear!) and I am on Cipro, a strong antibiotic, for 5 days and have an appointment again at 9 a.m. on Boxing Day.
Maurice's van is in the ditch on Rutledge Road and the CAA should be here by 3 to pull him out. Then we will have to park at a neighbour's till the road is plowed.
Merry just before Christmas!
Maurice's van is in the ditch on Rutledge Road and the CAA should be here by 3 to pull him out. Then we will have to park at a neighbour's till the road is plowed.
Merry just before Christmas!
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Kites
Today I will be doing last minute things to get ready for Mud Mama's arrival ...moving dog pillows out and cribs in to my den ... setting up everything so that I can use the laptop instead of the desktop ... buying groceries ... making sure the sleds are up by the car for them to use if they arrive at 3 a.m. as expected ...
I will deliver the cards and tiny gifts to my neighbours ... Christmas tree ornaments I made of pottery ...
But I also want to make the next tea cozy ... the second in the poetry series ... it will be a colourful kite on a pale mauve background ... I will post a photo when it is ready ... it will be a Christmas gift for a tea drinking friend.
This is the Leonard Cohen poem that will be included:
A Kite is a Victim
A kite is a victim you are sure of.
You love it because it pulls
gentle enough to call you master,
strong enough to call you fool;
because it lives
like a desperate trained falcon
in the high sweet air,
and you can always haul it down
to tame it in your drawer.
A kite is a fish you have already caught
in a pool where no fish come,
so you play him carefully and long,
and hope he won't give up,
or the wind die down.
A kite is the last poem you've written,
so you give it to the wind,
but you don't let it go
until someone finds you
something else to do.
A kite is a contract of glory
that must be made with the sun,
so you make friends with the field
the river and the wind,
then you pray the whole cold night before,
under the travelling cordless moon,
to make you worthy and lyric and pure.
I also like these two:
March by May Richstone
A boy with a kite
In windy weather
Tying the earth
And sky together.
... and this one by Emily, a grade one pupil working with the word "kite" ...
Kites fly high in the beautiful sky.
Ice cold kites freeze in the wind.
Twinkling kites swerve in the wind.
Ends of kites are pointy.
Swiveling kites surfing in the sky.
I will deliver the cards and tiny gifts to my neighbours ... Christmas tree ornaments I made of pottery ...
But I also want to make the next tea cozy ... the second in the poetry series ... it will be a colourful kite on a pale mauve background ... I will post a photo when it is ready ... it will be a Christmas gift for a tea drinking friend.
This is the Leonard Cohen poem that will be included:
A Kite is a Victim
A kite is a victim you are sure of.
You love it because it pulls
gentle enough to call you master,
strong enough to call you fool;
because it lives
like a desperate trained falcon
in the high sweet air,
and you can always haul it down
to tame it in your drawer.
A kite is a fish you have already caught
in a pool where no fish come,
so you play him carefully and long,
and hope he won't give up,
or the wind die down.
A kite is the last poem you've written,
so you give it to the wind,
but you don't let it go
until someone finds you
something else to do.
A kite is a contract of glory
that must be made with the sun,
so you make friends with the field
the river and the wind,
then you pray the whole cold night before,
under the travelling cordless moon,
to make you worthy and lyric and pure.
I also like these two:
March by May Richstone
A boy with a kite
In windy weather
Tying the earth
And sky together.
... and this one by Emily, a grade one pupil working with the word "kite" ...
Kites fly high in the beautiful sky.
Ice cold kites freeze in the wind.
Twinkling kites swerve in the wind.
Ends of kites are pointy.
Swiveling kites surfing in the sky.
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Happy Birthday, Deb
Happy Birthday, Deb
Today is my daughter's 51st birthday. It seems strange to me that we are both enduring hot flashes and night sweats now. Fifty years ago I was enduring hormonal fluctuations and demands while she was still needing her diapers changed. It seems that the older we get, the closer our ages become. My group of friends includes people of all ages and many are younger than my children.
But I am not 51 and my body reminds me of that fact quite often now.
Last weekend I went out for lunch and to an art show with friends who are younger, and decided by 3 p.m. that I needed to go home to the serenity of the lake and just veg out with my dog. They continued on to other pursuits.
This weekend I planned to go to many different art shows, see a play at the Elmdale Tavern, and generally keep happily busy for three days and evenings.
But, reality intervened.
On Friday morning, I walked Kenya and then went to my pottery class where I laboured for three hours on a bread baker. (Slab plus coil for anyone interested.) By the time I finished the building I was exhausted, fed up with it and my stomach was growling. And then Carrie noted that the base was too thin for the sides so it had to be re-done and attached.
Before I could go home though, I had to photocopy a set of directions for some fingerless mitts and send them off to an email-less friend in Barrie. By the time I got home the growling had become thunderous and then sullen.
I boiled two eggs and wolfed them down with toasted whole wheat challah bread, and then felt awful: bloated, nauseous and sweating profusely. I thought maybe a hot bath and a nap would help... it didn't ... maybe a 2 mile walk with Kenya ... uh uh. By the time I got home again I was feeling no better, just more exhausted. And I had to go to an art show at 6:30 and then entertain friends for dinner.
I took meat out of the freezer and planned the menu. And then I realized I did not have to do this. I could phone and cancel. As soon as I did, the world came back into focus. I could breathe again. Life was once again manageable.
I can no longer overload my plate, it seems ... either with food or commitments. I need to maintain a quiet pace of life with regular meals and a balance between being alone with my own thoughts and opening myself to new experiences.
I will try to get to Cathy and Dave's show this afternoon ... it is in Chelsea. And maybe I will check out the Nearly New Shop in Chelsea as well while I do my grocery shopping.
And, then, I think I will spend the rest of the weekend baking 3 different kinds of bread with the giant zucchini I grated yesterday, making a curried pumpkin and mushroom soup and more challah bread, and listening to Stuart MacLean when Tyler's story will be read. And I will invite my friends to share food with me here and tell me all about what they saw at the Bead show, the 260 Fingers show and the art exhibit at the old Creighton Street School.
I will also continue reading Merle's Door, a book that makes me very glad I too have a free thinking dog.
I hope you have a wonderful day and weekend, Deb, and that this birthday is special.
Today is my daughter's 51st birthday. It seems strange to me that we are both enduring hot flashes and night sweats now. Fifty years ago I was enduring hormonal fluctuations and demands while she was still needing her diapers changed. It seems that the older we get, the closer our ages become. My group of friends includes people of all ages and many are younger than my children.
But I am not 51 and my body reminds me of that fact quite often now.
Last weekend I went out for lunch and to an art show with friends who are younger, and decided by 3 p.m. that I needed to go home to the serenity of the lake and just veg out with my dog. They continued on to other pursuits.
This weekend I planned to go to many different art shows, see a play at the Elmdale Tavern, and generally keep happily busy for three days and evenings.
But, reality intervened.
On Friday morning, I walked Kenya and then went to my pottery class where I laboured for three hours on a bread baker. (Slab plus coil for anyone interested.) By the time I finished the building I was exhausted, fed up with it and my stomach was growling. And then Carrie noted that the base was too thin for the sides so it had to be re-done and attached.
Before I could go home though, I had to photocopy a set of directions for some fingerless mitts and send them off to an email-less friend in Barrie. By the time I got home the growling had become thunderous and then sullen.
I boiled two eggs and wolfed them down with toasted whole wheat challah bread, and then felt awful: bloated, nauseous and sweating profusely. I thought maybe a hot bath and a nap would help... it didn't ... maybe a 2 mile walk with Kenya ... uh uh. By the time I got home again I was feeling no better, just more exhausted. And I had to go to an art show at 6:30 and then entertain friends for dinner.
I took meat out of the freezer and planned the menu. And then I realized I did not have to do this. I could phone and cancel. As soon as I did, the world came back into focus. I could breathe again. Life was once again manageable.
I can no longer overload my plate, it seems ... either with food or commitments. I need to maintain a quiet pace of life with regular meals and a balance between being alone with my own thoughts and opening myself to new experiences.
I will try to get to Cathy and Dave's show this afternoon ... it is in Chelsea. And maybe I will check out the Nearly New Shop in Chelsea as well while I do my grocery shopping.
And, then, I think I will spend the rest of the weekend baking 3 different kinds of bread with the giant zucchini I grated yesterday, making a curried pumpkin and mushroom soup and more challah bread, and listening to Stuart MacLean when Tyler's story will be read. And I will invite my friends to share food with me here and tell me all about what they saw at the Bead show, the 260 Fingers show and the art exhibit at the old Creighton Street School.
I will also continue reading Merle's Door, a book that makes me very glad I too have a free thinking dog.
I hope you have a wonderful day and weekend, Deb, and that this birthday is special.
Friday, 20 June 2008
Fields of Diamonds
"You are, at this moment, standing, right in the middle of your own 'acres of diamonds.'"
Earl Nightingale 1921-1989, Syndicated Radio Announcer and Author
I think we are, all of us, standing in our acres of diamonds. I know I am.
My acreage is certainly a treasure, and I write often about the joy of being a hermit here, but Lois told me the first time she met me after reading Gone to the Dogs for a few months that I wasn't a true hermit because I liked people too much. She is right. I have family, friends and neighbours on the lake without whom life would be lonely and sterile. A lake, a mountain and a dog are wonderful, but I also need human companionship.
My blog has brought other people into my circle of friends, and they are some of the diamonds. I am thinking of Barbara who now reads every day to see how I am, offers advice on dealing with a bruised buttock, and sends me a piece of her newest art. I am thinking of Eveline who is reconnecting after 30 years and from half a world away. I am thinking of Erin whom I hardly knew till we began reading one another's blogs.
This week has brought me incredible generosity from family and friends. I don't want to embarrasss anyone, but four people have done things for me this week that leave me without words to thank them properly. On each occasion, tears came before words.
Thank you all for being diamonds in my fields.
Earl Nightingale 1921-1989, Syndicated Radio Announcer and Author
I think we are, all of us, standing in our acres of diamonds. I know I am.
My acreage is certainly a treasure, and I write often about the joy of being a hermit here, but Lois told me the first time she met me after reading Gone to the Dogs for a few months that I wasn't a true hermit because I liked people too much. She is right. I have family, friends and neighbours on the lake without whom life would be lonely and sterile. A lake, a mountain and a dog are wonderful, but I also need human companionship.
My blog has brought other people into my circle of friends, and they are some of the diamonds. I am thinking of Barbara who now reads every day to see how I am, offers advice on dealing with a bruised buttock, and sends me a piece of her newest art. I am thinking of Eveline who is reconnecting after 30 years and from half a world away. I am thinking of Erin whom I hardly knew till we began reading one another's blogs.
This week has brought me incredible generosity from family and friends. I don't want to embarrasss anyone, but four people have done things for me this week that leave me without words to thank them properly. On each occasion, tears came before words.
Thank you all for being diamonds in my fields.
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