Musings on a Small Life

I was visiting my aunt (Mom's younger sister) in Cardinal this weekend. She had moved back to Ontario from Halifax after Mom passed, as she has a daughter and granddaughters in the area. We had stopped in and visited with this middle daughter yesterday, a cousin I hadn't seen (and didn't remember other than name only) in almost 50 years. The daughter/my cousin lives further out in the country with her partner on a couple of acres of gorgeous property, backing onto a farmer's fields. (It's beautiful, I'd never leave if I were there.) Anyway, they have two cats, Tigger and Oscar. Oscar was in hiding the entire time, but Tigger was quite sociable and happy to pose for the camera. He knows how handsome he is! They also have a dog, Onyx, who is a real sook! She couldn't get enough scritches and cuddles. The four-legged fur therapy was wonderful! I'm off very early tomorrow morning to visit friends, will take my camera in case the weather clears (cold and rain...

Happy Friday and happy Thanksgiving (October 10) to those of you (us) in Canada. I hope everyone has a good long weekend. As usual, the cartoons/graphics come from my Pinterest feed.  :-) And a bit of inspiration/life advice if you need it right now (I do!). Derry is off to the vet this afternoon to have the Freestyle Libre device applied; poor little mite. It took him several days after his last appointment on the 28th to really start eating again (he's had a viral flare-up since the last appointment, stress-induced I'm sure). I'll ask for a Cerenia injection for him this time (had done the first appointment, forgot on the 28th), maybe that will help. I've given him some gabapentin this morning, but had done the last time also.  It's a challenging position for me to be in: How much to do I push him, how much do I force him to endure? I have the means to care for his body, but what of his spirit? This thought circles around and around in my head, and I'm doing m...

A very happy Thanksgiving weekend to those of you in Canada! I hope you have a lovely long weekend, whether you're celebrating with human or fur family (or both).  Comments are off. Enjoy the holiday and please heed your public health recommendations; we're definitely not through this pandemic yet. Peace.

The visit with Dad and his wife has come and gone; they left Tuesday late in the morning. It was terrific to see Dad and he looks fantastic. He turned 79 yesterday, but he could have been turning 69. Good genes. It helps that his wife cooks very healthy food, keeps him active (she's 16 years younger). It was exhausting, though! Dad's pretty laid back and easy going, but his wife is very high energy, always has to be on the go walking (pretty much power walking) somewhere. My poor feet with their plantar fasciitis couldn't keep up, and I left them to it on a couple of occasions. However, we enjoyed the food tour on Sunday, stopping at 8 or 9 downtown venues for samples of gourmet food. Yum! The guide was energetic and knowledgeable, and there were only 10 of us in the group, so that made it a nice 3 hours. We did other touristy stuff as well, and enjoyed the waterfront, etc.  Both the boys and I were completely wiped out after they left, though, and we al...

The maples are starting to turn now...I guess that means we really are in fall, though you'd never know it by the weather today.   I'm on vacation this week, enjoying being able to go at my own pace, not head in to the office at 6:40AM. I'm spending more money that I should, but hey, life is short...and getting shorter every day! I think the boys are enjoying having their servant around a bit more too. Nicki did have an asthma attack yesterday morning, unfortunately, after three months of being cough-free (to the best of my knowledge). I'm admittedly disappointed, because last year he went 10 months without coughing, it was only with this past spring pollen that he had several bouts. I'd hoped he'd be fine through fall this year as well, but that's not to be. I really don't know why, nothing has changed in the house or outdoors. He seems fine otherwise, knock on wood. They're still having fun chasing the squirrels that are brave or...

Leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner, chicken not turkey. I'm not that fond of turkey. Leftover vacation pics, snapped yesterday, from a walk in the cemetery and elsewhere:  Some trees are showing colour now.  It's still mostly green, though.          The dead tree at the World War burial site. Fitting.    The pond still was spouting water.  Little Melinda's grave with mums.  At Rotary Park, adjacent to our "big" shopping centre.  One of the public libraries is in the background (left of centre).  On the way home.   Leftover news, of sorts: Last week a PR intern who works for a firm in Toronto got in touch about my generic versus brand post. Someone from Swiffer had seen my post and they wanted to send me a box with several of their products. I got it today. Seriously. The only reason I responded to the person's email in the first place was that he checked out as...

I remortgaged the house a couple of weeks ago, for the third time, to clear the debts, had to add an extra year to the amortization period. It feels like I’ll never be free of it. And if the Universe/Fate doesn’t give me a few years’ grace period of being house and vet emergency-free, I’ll be screwed. Again. But for the moment I'm doing my best to budget and to take out a weekly amount in cash for groceries and cat food, so as not to spend indiscriminately. (Swiping the debit card is so easy!) I did add in enough to the new mortgage to be able to replace the old, hideous laminate kitchen counter top with a less repulsive one. The money is put aside (what I estimate, plus a cushion). I truly hope it won't take the full amount, as I need a few small household items, like a new vacuum. The hubby of my former cubicle-mate will do it, but I don't know when. Obviously not as soon as I had hoped! We have a co-worker who’s leaving in early November for greener pastures (a ...

(Comments are off for this post; it's my "talking out loud," trying to sort things out for myself.) I did a lot of walking yesterday: downtown, around campus for snapshots with the little Elph, then back up. I wasn't inclined to go to any Thanksgiving church service, thank you very much, certainly not after last week's fiasco at the cathedral. And also because, as anyone who reads this knows full well, my beliefs are a potpourri of various doctrines.       So you can imagine my mental balking as my feet somehow, of their own accord, made their way to the United Church I'd been going to, off and on, through the spring and summer. I'd not been since the end of August, when services were still in the hall (slightly cooler). Well, hell's bells. Damned if it wasn't a terrific service. And damned if Bill (reverend) didn't say something that really resonated with me, as he always seems to. And damned again if I didn't know thr...