Musings on a Small Life

The 18-seat commuter plane to Toronto, November 25 A deep, heartfelt thank you to Judy, who chatted with me while waiting to board that little plane to Toronto. You kept me distracted when I needed it! I hope your flight home to the Sudbury area was a safe one. To Heather (blue sleeve on far right), who offered to hold my hand on takeoff, because you saw the tears were rolling down my face, out of fear, in spite of the two Ativan I had taken in only 12 hours. I was grateful for that hand! I hope the visit with your brother in Calgary goes well and that your travels are safe too.     You can see the blur of motion from the propellers on the far right. Over greater Toronto, heading for Pearson Airport.     To the older gentleman I sat beside on the Toronto-Halifax leg: Thank you for chatting with me and keeping my mind occupied. You, too, don't fly well and so understood how I felt. I hope your short stint to Halifax for work went smoothly--as...

I'm flying out to Halifax early Wednesday morning, for a few days with Mom. Some of you know that I don't fly well at all (I have Ativan for this trip) and right now I can feel my anxiety levels rising off the charts. The plane out of our city seats only 18, and just the thought of it makes me want to hyperventilate. It doesn't help that every time you turn on the news there's a plane being diverted for one reason or another, or a plane crash. Aacckk! Of course the pet sitter will be taking care of them; she's stopping by after work today so I can go over everything with her and give her the four pages of notes. Four pages for three days away...That's reasonable, right?  :-D Nicki's improved on the Prednisolone and is back to eating. I have no clue what the root cause of the fluid in his ear is. Viral? When I get a cold it almost invariably goes to my right ear (like now), but I've not heard of that happening with cats. I'm sure it's p...

Nicki on the red carpet. I had a whole-home humidifier installed this afternoon, with the hope it will help air quality in the cold, dry winter to come. It was a three-hour, noisy procedure. Derry hid under the bed the entire time, of course, and Nicki alternated between going downstairs to check out the work, going outside, and needing comfort and reassurance (I presume) from me. He did great, though, even taking his Flovent as one of the guys (there were two) came upstairs to turn the furnace back on. He didn't miss a breath; I was impressed! I had taken the afternoon off work, and was able to put up my holiday decorations before the furnace guys arrived. I think it's the earliest I've done it, but I can't do it either this weekend or next, so it was now or in the December cold. I opted for the sunshine and +10 Celsius weather. The only thing I didn't put up yet was the wreath, and of course I'm not turning on the lights until the end of t...

At the suggestion/encouragement of a (former) blogger, I've set up a FaceBook account for the boys under "Nicki Derry". Never thought I'd cross over to the Dark Side.  :-p So far I'm not seeing the advantage, but I did just set it up. Maybe the experience will improve as I learn to how manage the account. LOL. Peace .

I'm going back to the questions in the TinyBuddha article , because they can generate thoughtfulness in me...and maybe in you too! I'm passing over question #5, which is related to fulfillment from one's spiritual practices, because I feel that's a private matter. Question #6 is wide open, though: What’s the best thing that happened today so far? For me, probably that was 4:00 AM to 5:30 AM, enjoying my morning coffee with the cats, while watching the latter half of and episode of " Death in Paradise " and all of an episode of " The Dr. Blake Mysteries ." (Thank you, PBS!) I love both those mystery programs and am tempted to buy the DVDs of each season at some point. The other was a "Lunch and Learn" session on building resiliency, though that was too short to go into any depth. I'm taking a three-hour workshop on the topic in December, though. It's good timing in my life! How about you, what's been the best...

I didn't think there were any blooms left in this city (other than potted mums!), but I spied these on my way to work early yesterday morning. The light was still a bit too low for clear/sharp shots, so apologies for the slight blurriness.       They face south, so I'm sure that helps considerably! Oh, by the way,  Nicki's T4 results came back just fine, as expected. Thanks for the good thoughts for him. Nicki, testing the resilience of my purse. Nothing else of note at my end, it's a grey and dreary week, and I'm looking forward to the weekend. On a good note for my mom: the house-closing went through on the 10th, and she now is completely free of it and officially starting this new chapter in her life. Way to go, Mom! Peace .

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I was in our main shopping centre this morning and noticed that Santa's village has been put up.   I dunno. Before Remembrance Day seems too early to me. There's one municipality in our province that has banned holiday decorations on public property until after the 11th. Not our city, though, the street decorations are up downtown. I guess the workers want to get them up while the weather is still good, and I understand that. (Of course stores are not public property.) Still. *** Anyway, yesterday's memorial for my coworker's mom was lovely, though definitely a tear-jerker. Three of us long-time employees went, along with someone who used to work in our suite (not in our dept) but now is retired. One of the little items being handed out was a bookmark with a photo of my coworker at about 3 years of age (I'm guessing), being held in her mom's arms. The quote on the bookmark, written by my coworker: My mother's greatest gift to me is h...

The celebration of life service for my coworker's mom is this afternoon, out of town. A few of us from our original group are going, and I'm getting a lift with one of them. I don't have a suit or any "dressy" clothes, am just wearing my usual outfit of black slacks and a sweater.  But I just laughed to myself, thinking that these days "dressing up" for me means putting on a bra! So I guess I will "dress up" for the occasion! How about you? What does "dressing up" mean for you? Once upon a time it used to mean suits and (low) heels, pantyhose, matching accessories, etc. Now I figure if my clothes are clean and colour-coordinated, and yeah, I'm sporting a bra for the sake of decency, I'm good.  Peace .

I had to take Nicki in today for his anal glands. I had them take a blood sample for his T4 (not checked for a year), but didn't do the ionized calcium test for possible hypercalcemia. (He wasn't fasting, which is necessary.). I also had his weight rechecked, as he had been down slightly (about half a pound) in August, and it was that weight loss, coupled with the at-top-normal calcium level that put me into a such a state of worry and fuss. Well, his weight is back up again, to 5.8 kg (12.76 pounds), so I guess I can stop stuffing his face with as much canned food as he wants.  :-D Anyway, he survived, though he made his unhappiness known VERY, VERY loudly and nastily when the anal glands were being done. Half of me wanted to cry for him, the other half wanted to crawl into a hole out of embarrassment. LOL. Now he's alternately chowing down on his favourite Weruva and cleaning off the vet stink. I'll get the T4 results next week, and hope that will be no...

No "wordless" for me today. First, new argyle socks! Second, Mom has moved (via a moving company) and thanks to a good friend as well as Harry's daughter, she's unpacked and (mostly?) settled too. Lots still to do, but her things are put away, her furniture in order. She feels good about the place, says that because of the layout it's more like a house than an apartment. I'm looking forward to seeing it for myself, when I make a short trip east at the end of the month. Third, we had another magnificent day, about 20C I think, which is NOT typical for our region. I made a point of going out at lunch time and soaking it in. I'm not thinking of the coming dreadful winter; rather, I'm thinking that we're one day closer to Spring. Remind me of that, please, when we have our first blizzard! Sunrise a couple of days ago, while waiting for the bus. Fourth, I wasn't quick enough to save a poor little mouse from Nicki this afternoon aft...

Mom's moving day!   I'm sitting here wondering how things are going, but as her phone and internet won't be hooked up until tomorrow, I don't think I'll find out. It's a crazy day for her, I'm sure. The end of 30+ years and the beginning of a new phase of her life. *** Anyway, I thought I'd toss out question #4 from that TinyBuddha article: http://tinybuddha.com/blog/50-questions-to-foster-gratitude-and-feel-good-about-life/ 4. Who’s someone who always really listens when you talk, and how does that affect you? Um...Well, my former cubicle mate (with whom I met at lunch time) really listens when I talk. It's actually a bit disconcerting to have someone truly listen, because most of the time we're busy talking at people, or thinking of responses, or just doing other things while we're talking. At least I'm guilty of that--not always, but too often. Sometimes I find email is easier; I can take my time in responding, without ...

It was pretty mild and calm for the trick or treaters last night, but then got rainy and windy in the wee hours. It definitely looks like November now! Looking west while waiting for the bus this morning. The construction of the overpass (train tracks) is along this road, in the distance. Waiting to come home:   The boys went out briefly, but prefer to be inside and snoozing.   I would join them, except for the noise and banging from next door. (Just another day in paradise, folks.) BTW, Derry really likes the new throw on the couch, all of $10 from Giant Tiger yesterday. Very soft, he's furring it up nicely. Oh, and my mom moves on Tuesday the 3rd. Two days! Exciting times, though she might choose another adjective.  :-p Peace .