Musings on a Small Life

Spied on the way home on Monday.  :-)   Comments are off today. Peace .

And so life goes on. Mom seems to be doing okay, all things considered. She certainly sounds less stressed now, when I talk to her on the phone. One of my favourite of the pics of us taken during my trip.  As for things at my end: It looks like we do have a replacement for my retiring director, though it's not officially signed, sealed and delivered yet. 2018 will bring significant work changes for our little sub-group, which also will be slated to expand by one or two people above and beyond the new director.  " For the times they are a-changing...." Morning sky the week before my trip. I got home from errands yesterday and was in the mood to put outdoor Christmas lights up, after writing in my last post that I wasn't going to bother this year. LOL. Well, what can you do when the mood hits? I limited myself to lights around the exterior door frame, as I used to do. No ladder necessary (just a step-stool), no pipes in the way to almost take ...

I wasn't even thinking of my flights to and from Halifax when the subject title popped into my head, but it certainly fits! So this will be two disparate topics under "What goes up must come down." Going up, out of Kingston on the Dash 8 propeller plane on the 11th. Mercifully, it was the 37-seater, not the 12 or 14-seater I was on two years ago. I still bawled on take-off, though! It's also a very quick flight from Kingston to Toronto. You get up, you get offered a drink, then you're preparing for landing.   Below: Waiting for the plane to come in at Pearson Airport in Toronto, to head to Halifax. The gate is on the right. And yep, I bawled all through take-off on this flight too, whereas the toddlers were fine. This was a mid-afternoon flight, and when the flight attendant came around with the cart I asked if it was too early to drink. Her reply? "It's never too early." So it was "SCOTCH, please" for me, along with a...

A lot of things have been going through my mind since Harry passed, and since the interment and get-together afterward last Thursday. Both of Harry's remaining (living) sons came from Edmonton for the burial. One of them, whom I would have seen only once before at Mom and Harry's wedding almost 32 years ago, now is 60 years old. I don't think any of us had any idea, until the get-together, how much anger and bitterness he's still carrying over his childhood, that Harry wasn't the father he needed him--wanted him--to be. That really struck me, because it took me till my early 40s to be able to forgive my own dad for not being the father I needed, to have an understanding that he did the best he could at the time, with the knowledge of a what being a father meant to him. But to go a lifetime without understanding that our parents are a product of their own upbringing and emotional baggage, to go a lifetime carrying so much hurt, is terribly sad. And yes, I ...

I got home last night (Friday November 17th) around 8 PM. Tired, because I'm not a good flier and it was a stressful week, but I'm not nearly as exhausted as my mom. At least I only bawled on the two take-offs heading east; I merely white-knuckled it on the return flights. The bottom line is that I'm really glad I was able to be with her for the week, for her sake and for the sake of my step-dad too. I hope that in time, she will find a new path for herself, one in which she focuses on her own Self, not on caring for, or worrying about, someone else. One of Harry's sons took this snapshot and sent it to me. A friend of Mom's did the little memorial. I took a few snapshots in the air and at both Toronto's and Halifax's airports, and I might post them another time. For now I just want a bit of down time--literally feet on the ground as well as unwinding. Godspeed, Harry. Peace .

Thank you so much for all your comments; they're very much appreciated. I think the shock of it is wearing off now, leaving the sense of loss in its wake. Even though Harry had been in decline for so long, I don't think any of us really thought he would pass at this time. I'm heading to Halifax Saturday morning, will return the evening of the 17th. Interment of the ashes will be the afternoon of the 16th. I've turned comments off for this post, and will leave you with some snapshots from Saturday through this morning. It's odd, isn't it, how life just goes on, no matter what's happening in one's personal life. And when I saw the blooms below,  on the way to work yesterday morning, I just thought that always there's life in the midst of death, always something glorious about this world no matter what the circumstances around us. I'll return to blogging once I'm back. Peace .

My step-dad, Harry, passed away this morning at 10:40 AM local time (Halifax). Mom and his daughter and son-in-law were with him, and he quietly slipped away from an unconscious state. He's being cremated (arrangements have been made in advance) and I will head to Halifax for the burial of the urn, presumably within the next week or two. One of Harry's sons, who lives in Edmonton, wants to be there as well. Thank you for your good thoughts. Mom's pretty distraught, but Harry's daughter and son-in-law are with her (the daughter is pretty overcome with grief too, obviously). Peace .

There wasn't much for picture-taking this week. We had over 100 mm of rain between Saturday night (the 28th) and Monday October 30th, with the winds blowing a gale for the duration. And more rain through the week too, so I didn't get out for any lunch time jaunts. Now we'll "fall behind" a hour with the time change tonight, so it'll be dark by 5PM, as I'm getting home from work. We're on the cusp of winter! I do have a few stragglers from the week of the 20th, though, a couple of pics I downloaded after my last update post, as well as a few from this week. The "Principal's Residence" (houses Advancement), on a nice day.  I'm sure there aren't any morning glories left this week! Evening clouds from an upstairs window.   Someone was displaying his hate for cardboard. That would be Nicki. I've recycled the scratcher and bought a carpeted one instead, to add to all the other scratchers cluttering up the dow...