Monday, November 2, 2020

yippie ki yay

 I just got back inside after walking the dogs in the field… the sun lured me out and deceived me into thinking that a flannel shirt and down vest would be enough. Not. I could have used a down coat and mittens and perhaps a hat. I’ve gotta get into a winter mindset - maybe I’ll go and dig up some coats.


But I have a week to get those coats out as the forecast is for temps above 10C Wed, Thu, Fri, and into the weekend! Bonus days! Time to un-winterize the trailer and go camping! Not really, but I will get the slides out so I can wash and double wax the floors. Maybe I’ll go through the cupboards again for another round of purging. I’ll play at camping.


We’ve had a fun few days of socializing - mostly online. Saturday after we were back from a dog meat run, Jo Ellen and Don came by for an in-person laneway visit. It was cool but sunny and the good company made up for any chill in the air. I’ve dug out some blankets for future visits.


Saturday night we visited with Olaf and Stephanie for a few hours. We had such a good time that we dialed in again on Sunday night. Kirsten and Shawn joined us for part of that visit. I keep all this sort of detail in my mood log because it is so important for my psyche, so just for laughs did a count of Olaf visits - 22 times since the pandemic began! This is awesome as I’m sure we haven’t connected this many times in all the years he’s been an adult (well, surely more but not with such frequency). A silver lining in the pandemic.


Carm dressed up as 5 year old Olaf for Halloween.


The same could be said for Kirsten for face-to-face visits. It’s lovely having them nearby.


Amazon has been busy delivering stuff to our door. This weekend I got 75 teabags from Davids Tea called ‘Chock O Nuts’ (or some such thing). Kirsten gave me a regular size box for my birthday and I love it so much. The smell and taste transport me to the International Cafe on the ships where we’d go for a mid-morning coffee and maybe a pastry. I have a tea in the afternoon and then throw the used tea bag into my drinking vessel to extract a bit more flavour. It’s just enough to make the water more interesting. I’m trying to drink a lot more water and this definitely helps.


I don’t know what to say about Spike. He’s mostly fine but sometimes gets so worked up that he growls and bites. I can grab his collar and mostly stop him from making contact, but it’s very upsetting. Usually if I leave him alone for a few minutes he will calm down again. I’m not sure if this is part of his dementia, if he’s defensive because of arthritis, or he’s just becoming cantankerous. My heart breaks.


I thought he’d be one of the ones that lives to 18 but that seems less likely all the time. He’ll be 13 in February. I don’t know how I’ll cope in the end.


Oh gosh! I’ve got to find a more upbeat topic to end with! We brought the geraniums in from the front deck a week ago and already they have more blossoms. I wish I had held out for a colour that I loved but the salmony pink will still brighten that corner of the room.



I’ve been moving through my days in a deliberately cheerful way and so far so good. 



“Happiness consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur everyday than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.”

~Benjamin Franklin

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