later

I meant to get back at this the next day or so but other things got in the way. 

Last fall the oven door fell off.  It couldn't be welded but has served us well.  It was given to us when we built the cottage and was at least 30 years old then and we have had it for 25 years or so.   They don't build them like they used to.  Lifetime then meant probably 30 years or so and todays model may last 10 tears if you are lucky and don't use it too often.  We mentioned that we were in the market for  a good used stove  and lo and behold our son-in-law found one . It is not more then 5 years old, has a working clock on it plus a self cleaning oven and is beautiful and the price was right.  Never thought I'd be so anamoured with the likes of a stove but am smitten.

Last fall when Don made his annual batch of fruit cakes and when time came to put them in the oven it took the 2 of us.  Don would  put his knee to the door and open it easy and not too far and me to slip the tray of cakes in the oven.  The door only came part off once and it was a hot thing to put back in place.  This fall when cake baking time rolls around he should not need my help.

 

I usually read any letters I send but by the time I got the last blog done just forgot and when reading it over since, the mistakes in spelling and such must not do that again.

 

 On our trip to Digby we arrived in rain and most of the weekend it rained, misted then would clear but no sun till Monday afternoon when we were leaving. 

 

We arrived in Digby on thursday afternoon.  We went to the arena on Friday to register and Don had forgotten to register, he thought he had earlier in the year.  He then registered and we gathered at the meet and greet room.  There sure are a lot fewer who attend but we had one couple from Vancouver and one couple from Victoria so had a good time with them.   All are in their 80;s and so it is understandable that those who used to attend are no longer able.  In the room we had at the inn was a microwave.  We went shoping and bought some popcorn so we popped pop corn and as the executive meeting was in our room I had popped corn for the 7 members who attended. No one believed we had such a goodie  but they sure devoured it.  It was not raining when we went to the arena that evening for the banquet , rained hard while we were in but had quit when we came out after.  Good timing.  On Sunday was to have been a parade which had to be cancelled due to a possible rain.  Many gathered at the cenotaph to watch the laying of the wreaths.  As Don had a wreath to lay we attended that and no rain but very overcast and the rain waited till we were back at the arena. The committee put on a very entertaining afternoon entertainment. In the evening we had several back to  our room for drinks and popcorn.  On monday afternoon we took the ferry to St John and on our way to Woodstock.  As I was to watch for the turn off, and missed it we were going south instead of west.  Three quarters of an hour later, after realizing we were not on where we should be , we got on the road going west.  Wouldn't you know the sun was low and so bright and we driving right in to it Don could hardly see but the traffic was near nil so it was easier.  We found a motel and next morning we left for another motel.  Don has a wonderful sense of direction but each day, coming and going we managed to get on a wrong road. We arrived in Montreal on the next day and to visit Don's navy friend with a report for him and as we had been there the sunday before and found their home  we got lost again and had to stop and ask, and that is not a man's way , to ask directions but we did. We arrived home later that daay, happy to have gone but tired so home felt good.

 

Last year I had a ringing in the ears and at times I thought everyone could hear the ring and it is a wonder that someone didn't say, Answer that phone.  By Christmas time the left side of my head was so sore along with a major headache.  To the Dr and was prescribed therapy as my neck was so sore , that didn't work.   Then on antibiotics for an inner ear and sinus infection  and thay didn't help so off to a heart and stroke Dr as I had had a dizzy spell.  I had the appoinment the next week and he diagnosed it as temporal arteritis .  Never heard of it so on the interenet and read all about it.  I sure had all the symptons as well as the blood test said so.  I was on and am on prednesone  and am much better.  Not crazy about the side effects.  They don't know what causes it but it is an inflamation of the arteries of the head.  The biopsy showed negative.  It is not as rare as I thought as I have read of many reports of others suffering from the same thing on the interent.  This is what happens when medical science is bound to keep us all alive till past 100 or so and the old bod is trying to adapt.

 

June 1st was my 84th birthday and when did it show up so fast? I am now working on my 85th and plan on making it as we have plans for next spring as well as a bus trip to Myrtle Beach this October.  The day before my birthday we were going out for a celebration as we had been invited out to dinner at friend the 1st and when we arrived at the restaurant, there were our 2 grandaughters waiting for us .  What a welcome surprise.  They knew where we were going and at what time.  They spent the night with us then had to go back the next morning as work got in the way.

 

Have been to a few Red Hat affairs and fun there.  We have done some volunteer work and visiting so seniors can do a lot to keep busy and happy.

 

We were to have gone with the steam boat crowd this June but there were too many other things we had said we would do so had to miss that this year.

 

This past thursday evening it started to rain then came the hail.  It hailed and rained heavy for at least 5 minutes and I thought , my plants, but they survived.  The porch was covered in white as were the pots of flowers.  It was the size of marbles, never have seen that before. It has been cooler since as we have had some very humid weather. What a relief for a lot of people with breathing problems.  We are on our way to dinner, Have a good one all.

June 10

Finally after 2 months it is time to blog again. March was the last time I was so inspired and time to again.  Daughter #1 suggested that she found it dunnu about a citation we recieved on the dash of our car one day when we were in our local city. We had parked on a side street, not knowing how long we would be and parking fees rather on the silvery side, we went to a clinic.  When we returned there was a paper in a plastic bag, a miserable day it was, under the wiper blade.  On it was a violation for parking too close to a driveway.  No closer than .05 m is tolerated. And it wasn't a driveway, it was a piece of lawn the owner of the place had carved out for a parking lots for apparently more than one car that they possessed. We were at the edge of the spot.  At the bottom of the list of violations was a happy face.  As we have a veterans license plate on the car plus a NAVY sticker on the back window and the officer felt sorry for the old boy who was driving there was no charge.  Good for the officer.  It was during the day and no cars parked in the driveway. There is hope yet for we seniors.

  During the winter Don walked to the sseniors each morning to hear any gossip, swap stories and have coffee whle I went to the pool for exercise. We manaaged to play 6 handed euchre with 2 couples once a week or whenever convenient and generally enjoyed letting the days open like a rose. We attend the Legion most Sunday nights for a delicious dinner and a visit with whoever we meet there.

 

We visited the cottage near the end of April and a few mice had founf their way inside so a cleaning job to do.  Also the well pump had quit so we had to have a new pump put in probably due to the fact that we hadn't used it all winter.  As there has been a loy of country building most of the men who do pumps were busy but through a neighnour we found a fellow who came one night and installed a new pump so we were  once more in business.

A good navy friend of Don's who lived here in town died 4 days after we had a good visit with him the end of April.  As there was an annual navy  reunion

May`18th weekend in Digby, Nova Scotia the friend and wife were planning on attending and possibly driving with us.We were fearful for this plan as he wasn't good then but things do have a way of looking after themselves.   We often played bridge with he and his wife but his heart was so bad we all wondered that it had beat for  as long as it did without giving out before.

 

For several years we have had a lazy boy chair at the condo,  very comfy but was glad that we spent 6 months or so at the cotage and away so I din't have to look at it.  I didn't like the colour, didn't match anything.   We had it before we moved to Picton, which was 15 years ago and this spring it got to me.  The local furniture store was going out of business so a SALE.  I visited and liked what I thought would do altho the colour had to be changed .  I mentioned it to Don so another day when we were uptown I persuaded him to have a look.  He decided that a new chair was in order. The one we had went to a granddaughter who had just bought a condo with a finished rec room and a chesterfield but nothing else so she has the chair plus a new pretty blanket I won, to cover whatever,  It was delivered  after we moved to our summer place so have yet to have a nap in it.  We moved to the cottage thursday May 3rd and it has been lovely here.  As we have lots of wood and a neat wood stove we are warmer than in town with too high priced electric heating.   Our young retired lady police officer who lives next door helped us mopve the few things we bring back and forth each time we move.

On May 4th our son-in-law from the city came down to buy some lumber , cheaper than the city, and to deliver a new stove .  We all have a million stories to tell and the stove episode is one of them.  We had to hussle to get things ready as our son Tom came that night from Vancouver to help his dear old parents do whatever had to be done. We had it done. He was with us till the next the next thursday and we took him to Kingston for a flight to Toronto where he met his wife and they flew to England that night.  They were there  and in Ireland for 3 weeks.  Christine had a neice getting married and they wanted to go to the wedding.We had a good time with him and lots of visiting as well as work.  You don't have the younger ones around and not have them do a few jobs.On the friday we volunteered at the dialysis clinic, packed  and on Sunday left for the Nova Scotia.  It was Mothers Day and shortly after 7 a.m. the phone rang and it was Tom phoning from England to wish me a Happy Mothers Day.What a wonderful surprise.  He left a suuny week here to a rainy England.

We stopped in Montreal to visit Don's treasurer, Don has been President of the combined operations section of the navy since 1983, no one else wanted it, to find him ill with cancer.  We left there and started for Drummondville, a place in Quebec.  Don has a good sense of direction but it rathere left him but as I was the navigator I should have had a better finger on the map as we each day got on a wrong road but managed to fix that before we got completely lost.

The next day we drove to a place called Pugwash in N. S. to visit the Andersons.   Our daughter Sandy and their daughter Pat , when they heard that we were going to Digby decided the parents should meet.  They set up the whole affair  much earlier.  We met Pats parents over the phone and arrived at their place in the early afternoon.  The girls flew in to Moncton that evening and arrived after 7.  In the meantime we had a good visit with her parents.   her fathere has been in the process of building a house for some time.  If I had been Pats mother I would probably have said , You can't ask people here when we aren't built yet but that didn't bother them, and we had a delightful time with them. Don was showm all the wonderful things that have been put n the heat saving and energy conserving house and was very impressed.  It rained off and on whil;e there plus on Wed night it SNOWED.  On Wednight we had a lobster dinner.  Pat's dad went out about 4 and came back with 6   2 pound lobsters.  I never saw any like that before but then we don't have any lobsterd inland except in the restaurants.  I had my first lesson in unsheelling the critter.  It was so good.  As we left the next morning with snow and rain coming down I threw a soggy snow ball at the house.  Down the road from them was  more snow thewn as we got closer to Halifax it just rained. 

It is rest time so will continue another day. 

Have a happy one.