It's a mixed bag today

It's definitely a mixed bag of things today:

First, my cousin had her breast reconstruction (after a 3-year wait, post-double mastectomy) on the 14th. She opted to have the construction done by taking her own tissue to rebuild her breasts. Unfortunately there have been problems with blood flow, I believe, and she had surgery the next day, and again on Sunday. She's a tough cookie, but she told my mom last night that if she had known what this would be like, and the pain level, etc., she wouldn't have done it. (Presumably she meant she'd have opted for implants.) 

Second, my co-worker lost one of her two elderly cats on Monday, Family Day. He had not been overtly sick, was always the robust one, but Sunday he stopped eating, had difficulties and on Monday, when they took him to the emerg vet, it turned out he was in acute renal failure, and I think had other health issues. So they had to let him go. Poor Rocky. 

This is the pic she sent me, when she emailed to let me know. It was taken at the end of September 2012.

What was doubly hard was that my co-worker lost her heart dog on the same day just last year, on Family Day. So it was a cruel twist of Fate to lose Rocky on the same day. (This is the co-worker who has seen me through so much over the past 12 years, since we've been working together. It's her mom who has multiple myeloma, diagnosed just before Christmas.)

Third, and on a cheerier note, my mother's husband's daughter has just adopted two 5-month old cats, black panthers, from the same litter. She's always had cats, but always let them roam. She and her husband live in the country outside of Halifax, and her two previous ladycats disappeared at separate times, likely becoming part of the food chain. 

These two, she told my mom, will be indoor-only cats, the first time she's ever kept cats inside. I told Mom to suggest that C. leash-train them or even build them a safe, enclosed "catio."

Meet Fred and Gracie. I have no idea who is who! LOL.

 

 

They've settled into their new home without any problem at all.  :-)

Fourth: I was scanning in some old photos yesterday, and found these 35-40 year old pics of our house in Sunnybank (about 7 miles outside of the town of Gaspé, Quebec). Maybe I've posted them before, I can't recall. Middle-aged brain. I know I've posted other pics of the house.

Anyway, I looked at these with soul-deep longing, not for the location (you couldn't pay me to live in the province of Quebec again), but for the property. The land. The trees. The breathing room. The sense of freedom and joy I had, roaming around. The space. Every fibre of my Being longs to have those things again, and has since Mom and I moved to Halifax in 1980. My body is city, but my heart is country, and always will be.

Taken from the front field, planted with potatoes. All the trees are still there today,
with the exception of the two glorious lilac bushes we had.

The house was falling down around us, and Dad had no interest in repairing it, let alone being a parent or husband at the time. But the current owners have done amazing renos and turned the house into something magazine-worthy.

I'll just leave you with a few more greenhouse pics--mostly to cheer myself up. It's sunny but freezing here, and our overnight windchill will be minus 20 Celsius. I'm heartily sick and tired of "Old Man Winter."

 

 

 Peace. And purrs from the boys.  :-)