into the gloom

 'They' say that November is the darkest month of the year but this year October is in the running - so many cloudy days. Of course the first two days of November are dreary so perhaps it's going to get worse :-(

The sun shone for the whole day Tuesday :-) which was great as Mom and I were in and out of the car a bunch of times… It was a busy day for Mom with radiation and a bunch of other related appointments at the hospital, and we even managed to shoehorn in some retail therapy at the thrift store (we both brought home some treasures!). Once you get into the system, the cancer centre supports your journey with dieticians, speech therapists, nurses, audiologists, counselling, etc. There are handouts and videos. It's a hard slog for sure, but they do everything they can to ease the discomforts.

The day started at 6am with me freaking out about how dark it was and the heavy frost on the road… I don't drive in the dark and have slight ptsd about slippery roads… but I made it and it wasn't so bad. Luckily the moon was almost full and hadn't set yet so it wasn't pitch dark. It may not seem impressive, but for me it was a huge deal and the pit of fear in my stomach was real! I reminded myself that other people can do it, and surely I'm not THAT disabled! And so I did it :-)

By the time I got home just after 5pm I was exhausted and happy to have beef stew leftovers for supper :-)  No yorkshire pudding but it was delicious. I still have some leftover gravy so tonight we'll have black-eyed pea burgers and fries with gravy.

I had plans yesterday to give Lupa a much needed haircut but decided that she needed a bath first so into the tub she went. She puts up with it fairly well (although what choice does she have) and is now squeaky clean and ready for a haircut Friday. I figured two assaults in one day was enough - a bath and getting their nails clipped are nobody's favourite activities. 

The other day I mentioned that I made chickpea brownies to take to Trudie's… I'm still snacking on them :-)  I think they make great breakfast food and a good way to get some legumes into my stomach! Who can feel guilty when they are eating beans! (and isn't chocolate a bean too).  

I read this quote: “Grief is the price we pay for love”. It took a while, but now there is only a hint of sadness in my smile when I see photos of Spike. Our little grey shrimp hasn't taken his place in my heart but the laughter that she brings to our lives everyday is a ray of sunshine.

November second!!! Almost time to switch house decor from fall to winter :-( On Sunday after the time change I'll put out all the fairy lights - I love the tiny points of light on a long winter night.

Awesome!

“spending the day with my Mom with a few visits with Dad & Graham thrown in for good measure”

“a belated birthday gift from Graham - purple almost pink!”

“apres bath puppy zoomies”

“Carm vacuumed all the nooks and crannies while I was gone!”

“getting home after a long day - gate open and pets already fed”

“Lupa running in the long grass in the hay field - she bounds and leaps and makes us laugh”