Tag Archives: haircut

Walking Shoes

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Sunday, March 22, 2015

Here we are, approaching the last week of March! I can’t tell you just how excited I am! Attila says there is little sign of spring at the country house, but I KNOW it is coming soon! Here at the little house in the city the snow is melting fast. Every day I look out and admire a few new tufts of brown grass, a puddle by a snowbank, and the mini-flood on the south side of our driveway. The mini-flood is there because, when the town repaved the road they graded it so that all the water that runs down the street runs into our driveway, and settles there. Every day the puddle fills with melt water, and every evening after the sun goes down it shrinks away, as the water soaks into the bordering grasses.

It is nippy and windy out of doors. I bundled right up to go for my walk this morning. The sun was shining bright, so that although my face was cold due to the wind, I felt invigorated by the the time I got back to the house. I don’t go far, but I always congratulate myself on the fact that I do go at all!

I have needed new running shoes for a very long time. My last pair, purchased when Terra was a teenager and was still living at home, wore out last summer. The soles literally fell off of the shoes. I tried to glue the soles back on, with no success. I decided that the new pair must be good for walking, since I won’t be running.

I noticed there was a sale at Sportchek, a sports store in a nearby city, so off I went to check out the merchandise.

I came away with two wonderful pairs of shoes, because if I bought one, the other was 50% off. The expensive pair are asics “Gel-Tech Walker Neo 4’s”, and are by far the most comfortable pair of walking shoes I have ever owned. The price tag attested to that.

Screen Shot 2015-03-23 at 7.43.59 AM

The young man who assisted me in trying on shoes was dismayed when I said, “These shoes may outlive me!” Silly young man, he assumed I was being pessimistic, when quite the opposite was true. He didn’t have a curious enough of mind to ask me what I meant, so I let the moment pass. The last pair of running shoes I purchased were cheaply made, and they lasted over thirteen years. The asics are very well made, so I anticipate having them for twenty years. At my age, anticipating a shot at another twenty years is optimism, in my opinion.

The second pair were “skechers GOwalk2’s”, a slip on sneaker. When I tried on the shoe it felt as if my foot was being gently and lovingly massaged. It was hard to believe, it felt so good. I put the second one on and it felt just as good. I decided I had to have them! The funny thing was that I thought I might like a different colour than the pair I tried on. The young fellow brought the other coloured shoes out, and they would not go onto my foot. It was like Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters trying on her glass slipper, that shoe was not going on my foot. It was a shoe that was supposed to differ only in colour, it was the same style, the same size. I liked the pair that fit, so I bought them, deciding that my preferred colour was way below my comfort on my list of priorities.

Screen Shot 2015-03-23 at 7.44.53 AM

I have been wearing the skechers as slippers around the house, and they are warm and comfy. They make standing to work in the kitchen a lot easier. I have been wearing the asics out for my daily walks, and they are more than I could have hoped for in the way of comfort and support. My knee has not suffered from the walks at all. When I was wearing my old shoes to go out for a walk, my knee was a bit sore by the time I arrived home after my walk. Not so with the asics walking shoes.

I was on a roll of self-indulgence that day. Before I left in Tank to drive to the city, I did a bit of a web search hoping to find a reasonable place to get a haircut. I had cut my own bangs that morning, and I rather botched the job, badly. There was a place that emphasized family hair cuts, and their employees were long-term, so they must be happy! I telephoned ahead to make an appointment, and get directions.

The hairdresser asked when I had last had my hair cut. August 2014! I think that inspired her to cut my hair very, very short. It is between two or three inches long on the top, and everywhere else it is much much shorter. I feel few hair breadths away from the brush cut! It seems quite short to me, but I think this cut will age gracefully. She says she will cut my bangs for free, just to call her. If this works out, I may have found my hairdresser! I have my fingers crossed. The cut was $45, which included the tip, which won’t be too horrid if I only need to go twice a year for a cut.

So that was my day of extravagance, running shoes and a hair cut. “Last of the big time spenders”, as they used to say euphemistically when I was a kid.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

Little House In The City
-6°C
Date: 5:16 PM EDT Sunday 22 March 2015
Condition: Light Snowshower
Pressure: 102.1 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: -6.2°C
Dewpoint: -16.9°C
Humidity: 43%
Wind: W 29 gust 40 km/h
Wind Chill: -14

Country House
-8°C
Date: 5:00 PM EDT Sunday 22 March 2015
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 102.2 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -8.0°C
Dewpoint: -16.0°C
Humidity: 53%
Wind: WNW 24 gust 39 km/h
Wind Chill: -16

Quote

“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.”
Aldous Huxley
1894 – 1963

[This could be good-bad-good-bad-good-bad…. we are what we are.]

Saturday and Sunday

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Saturday, January 31, 2015

Ah, here it is already, the last day of January, and the sun shone in the morning, then clouded over and offered snowfall this afternoon! We are experiencing another cold snap, both at the little house in the city and the country house. At the little house in the city this means we pay more for heating fuel, at the country house this means that Attila has to work very hard keeping the house warm with firewood. He is looking tired again! The weather should warm up a little by the middle of the week, which will be a relief to Attila for many reasons.

I have been working on the web site for the church each and every day. I have learned a few new tricks with DNS and how the Internet works, which is always fun! The site is coming along nicely, or so I think. The proof will be when I send an image of the final product to the customers; I am sure some editing will be needed, but hopefully just superficial stuff. Then I have to figure out how to “go live”, transferring the site from google, which will be a challenge since I have heard that google does not relinquish its conquests without a struggle. I will do it though!

Yesterday afternoon I took a quick trip to the laundromat. I am becoming accustomed to this task, and can be there and back again in forty minutes. Then of course there is a 24 hour drying period, with damp laundry hung all over the house, over the backs of chairs, on hangers above the tub, everywhere! This morning everything was bone dry, and quickly folded and stored away.

Diesel continues to be good company. He slept with me last night, waking me a few times as he crawled over me. Finally he curled up by my head, fell asleep, and began to snore. This morning he insisted on sitting on my lap to be petted, while I chatted with Attila. He likes a lot of companionship and physical contact, but then so do I, so we are well matched.

When I work on a website I am totally focused for three or four hours. When I stop I am groggy for a while. I was going to pay a bill today, after I finished working on the website for the day. It was a bad idea, I almost paid the wrong bill, but decided it looked wrong. Thank goodness! I will wait until I am fresh and aware tomorrow morning, to tackle paying bills, and sorting through the pile of mail from January.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Another sunny morning! This morning I sipped my coffee and watched as the sun began to light up the distant clouds. How beautiful the early morning is, when all is quiet, the street lights have winked out, and the outside world slowly comes into focus.

The site design I am working on was approved by the customer this morning. I changed zone files for site redirection, it was a little bit of a learning curve. It went smoothly and the new site should go live in the next day or so, then more testing on browsers and devices, and reconfiguring my computer so that I can access the new site.

My last hair cut was a very good hair cut, but it was quite a while ago, last August, the middle of August. The price for that good haircut was more than I could afford, so I haven’t gone back. The fellow cuts men’s hair for $16, but for my haircut he wanted $45 AND a tip. Men get all the breaks at this guys salon.

Last autumn Harriet cut my bangs for me. My hair grows quickly and my bangs have grown so long that I needed barrettes to keep them out of my eyes, so that I can see. I looked ridiculous, as you can imagine. I took to wearing a wool cap with my bangs slicked back underneath, when I needed to go out in public. I thought about going to the cheaper salons, and then I thought about how wretched I always feel after they give me a bad haircut. So this morning I talked the situation over with Diesel, which was really more like talking it over with myself, and decided to take matters into my own hands. I grabbed the kitchen scissors, placed a small garbage can in the bathroom sink, and went at ‘er. I took off more than an inch. It doesn’t look too bad, better than the barrettes, I can see, and the cut within my present budget.

Diesel has short hair. Even so, the hair situation was getting out of hand, so this morning I vacuumed the entire house. It took thirty minutes. I love a small house!

The replacement windows Attila installed last autumn, in the dining area of the kitchen, were stored in sheds near a farmer’s field, where we purchased them. I discovered that they were full of Asian Ladybugs! I have been killing scads of these attractive insects, each and every day. They come out of the nooks and crannies of the window’s mechanisms when the sun shines on the windows. Usually they are crawling on the ceiling, across the window glass, or on the frames around the glass and the windows. I use a scrap of paper towel to capture and destroy them, then throw the collected results in the compost. They smell terrible when they are squished, and their blood is orange. I read that they bite, but I have not been bitten yet, thank goodness. Perhaps by spring I will have caught up with these unwelcome hitchhikers. I don’t mind them outside, but they are not welcome inside the house.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

Country House

-24°C
Date: 6:00 AM EST Saturday 31 January 2015
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 102.7 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -24.0°C
Dewpoint: -26.4°C
Humidity: 81%
Wind: calm

Little House in the City

-22°C (the thermometer just outside my kitchen window says -26C!)
Date: 6:00 AM EST Saturday 31 January 2015
Condition: Clear
Pressure: 102.8 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: -22.2°C
Dewpoint: -26.4°C
Humidity: 69%
Wind: NW 4 km/h
Wind Chill:-26

Quote

“Frugality without creativity is deprivation.”
Amy Dacyczyn

The Date

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Monday, 19 August, 2014

Sunday, and again Monday, Terra dropped by on her lunch break. Her workplace is a few minutes from our little house, so it makes for a nice break from work for her. For me, it is a treat. I prepared salami and cheese sandwiches for us, topped with a thick slice of the fresh tomato she brought for me over the weekend. It was a heritage tomato, fresh from her garden.

Today Terra and I have a date. She is coming over to “help” me mow the front lawn. Truth be told, she will be doing the lion’s share of the work. The push mower is tough going, the lawn is large, and my injured knee is still recovering nicely. I am not taking any chances with this knee!

I have been able to chat with Attila daily, morning and night, and it makes such a difference to my comfort level, when we are apart for more than a few days. He is accomplishing much in my absence. All of the split wood is now in the woodshed, and it amounts to about half of what we will need to get through the winter. The brush from the storm-toppled yellow birch tree has all been burned, thanks to the rainy weather, which allows a decent safety factor for burning. The rest of the week, Attila’s evenings will be spent bringing in more wood from the back of the property, splitting it and storing it in the woodshed.

Monday I bit the bullet and ordered the pressure canner that I have had my eye on for quite some time. The factor that tipped the scale was an article about canning beans. We eat a lot of beans, and have been cooking and freezing them. Canned beans would be much handier though. We buy dried beans in bulk, so it would be very economical to can beans. I do not buy canned beans because of the commercial canning containers, either metal, or plastic lined cans. With a pressure canner we will be able to can anything, in glass. Since harvest season is upon is Ontario, this canner can be put to use immediately. I will need to plan my future canning shelves now, storage is important, both for the empty jars and for the jars of canned food. The canner is a present to myself. It is a good one, an All American, which should last a few lifetimes, and will eventually land with Terra with the huge garden, when I am no longer able to use it. Who knows, Terra and I might just end up having canning days together, that would be a bit of old fashioned fun!

Our little garden, at the little house in the city. The cucumber plant, on the right, is one cucumber plant, it is still spreading! I have too many cucumbers!
Citygarden2014

One of the projects I wanted to accomplish while staying at the little house, was washing and cleaning the car. It hadn’t been done since last summer. I began the project a few days ago. It is slow going for me, as I take frequent breaks, at the slightest twinge from my knee. Today I finally finished the job! It began with the shop vac, proceeded to cleaning the unbelievably dirty roof, progressed to the exterior body of the car, and ended with a wash down of the interior, including window washing. It looks great! Since I used a bucket and rag, it only took about ten buckets of water to complete the entire job. If I had used a hose, it would have taken a lot more water to accomplish the same result.

Monday morning I took the shiny clean car to the grocery store, thought I’d show it off a bit. I don’t think anyone noticed how spiffy she looked, but I noticed. The shopping trip included an error in the store’s computer, where they charged me $5.99 for a block of cheese that was actually $3.00. Since I purchased four of them, three for the freezer, one for today, the refund was significant. I seldom pay attention to the prices at the checkout counter, but this bill seemed high to me, so I checked it before I left the store, thank goodness.

Little tasks kept me busy for the rest of the day Monday. I sewed a few buttons on my work shirt, an used man’s shirt I picked up at the second hand store. I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to this little job, it only took a few minutes, and it was so annoying to use bobby pins to keep the shirt closed while working.

There is some excitement in the neighbourhood at the little house. Our dead end street is changing, drastically. A new subdivision is being built in the swampy area at the end of the street, an area that has two streams feeding into it. One wonders about the wisdom of this, profit is obviously a strong factor in the building approval in this situation. Today the company who is developing the area had their workers busy destroying the forest. They cut down the trees, and fed them into a chipper. It has been very noisy here today. The forest behind the homes across the street has been clear cut in this way, the neighbours are devastated by the loss of the trees. Apparently the new build will be a high-end seniors complex, with expensive rental units. And we will be living on a through street, instead of a dead end street. I suppose this kind of development happens around you, when you have a property at the periphery of a town or city. The only positive I can think of, is that the new homes will be worth a lot more than this little house! It might have a positive effect on property values.

Giant Marigolds, I am finding them very cheerful!
Marigoldgiant2014

I arrived at the little house in the city one week ago Monday. The transition period was longer than usual on this visit, probably because I haven’t been here on my own much this spring and summer. We can blame the purchase of the camp lot, and putting the country house up for sale, for that! So here I am, and finally, finally, I am settling into being here. Projects are popping up in front of me, all over the place! I am planning my days around projects, little ones of course, in keeping with my abilities. My meals are a source of pleasure, plenty of fresh vegetables, cheese, and fruit. I am drinking lots of water, and sticking to my “one big mug of coffee” in the morning routine.

The thing is, just as I am settling in nicely here, but I am also aware that soon I will be travelling back to the country house. Activities await! A dinner hosted by Attila’s employers is coming up, on San Souci Island. A visit with a gentleman I met on-line is coming up, he is married to a cousin of my mother’s, and they will be visiting us at the camp, and also Granny and Grandpa’s house. He has wonderful memories of going to dances with my Aunts, and we have a great time sharing our memories of the area and the people we knew, despite our significant age difference. And, as a super treat, Luna, Janus and the Grandbabies are arriving next week for an overnight stay, sort of like a slumber party, our annual overnight visit with the Grandbabies.

Attila and I are very pleased that we have managed to finally pay off the camp lot! This is not as impressive as it sounds, as we purchased the least expensive piece of property that I have EVER seen on the market in that area. In fact, when we purchased the camp lot, the MLS listings had only two properties that were around the same price, in all of Ontario, and both of them were very remote, much further north, on seasonal roads. The camp lot purchase was a once in a lifetime thing, for both Attila and I. The land is purely recreational, and will not appreciate in value in the future. No one else will love it the way we do! It was an impractical indulgence, and we are both delighted with it.

Tuesday, 19 August, 2014

A bit of excitement here at the little house in the city this morning! I had the window in the bathroom open, but it was chilly in there, so I closed the door, so as not to lose any more heat. I did not realize the keyed lock had been engaged. Hours later I needed to use the facilities, and the door was locked! And of course, in this old house, I had NO KEY! The window is too small to allow a body through it, so that option was out. I tried the credit card thing, that did not work. I looked at videos geared to opening locks from the outside, but they were either irrelevant (not dealing with keyed locks) or extreme (cutting out pieces of the frame). I messaged Terra, thinking she might have an idea, she was unavailable.

I thought I might try to pick the lock. But before trying that, I got out all the keys on my keychain and began to try them in the lock. “You never know,” I thought. As it turned out, the mail key opened the bathroom door! Thank goodness for that. Now we have keep that mail key forever, or at least until we change the hardware on the bathroom door. I might be able to disable the locking mechanism, another research project in the making.

Terra came to visit, she and I had a date, to mow the front lawn. She pulled out the lawn mower and had the lawn cut in less than a half hour. What a girl! I took the snippers and trimmed around the trees and the front steps. She finished before I did.

As an added bonus, Terra brought along her skill saw. I do not have power tools here with me, so I asked her if she could bring a saw. We measured the table legs, on an old table that I purchased many years ago. The bottom section of the legs were rotted, so I wanted to saw off the rotted sections on the bottom and put casters on the legs. It only took her a few minutes to complete the job. Now I have some sanding to do! I can’t put the casters on until I have access to a drill, which I will bring down with me the next time we visit the little house in the city. I will be doing some research on refinishing painted furniture.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

19°C
Date: 2:00 PM EDT Monday 18 August 2014
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.4 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 18.9°C
Dewpoint: 11.3°C
Humidity: 61%
Wind: SSW 13 km/h

Quote

“Never be haughty to the humble; never be humble to the haughty.”
Jefferson Davis
1808 – 1889

Little Things

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Thursday, August 14, 2014

On Wednesday Terra and I planned a shopping trip to the city. I drove out to her place, wanting to see the new siding Lares put up this summer, and also try out the new patio chairs they just purchased for their verandah. They got a steal of a deal on those chairs, so comfortable! The verandah is wonderful, it overlooks a bay of Lake Ontario, the view is beautiful. Terra and I never did tear ourselves away from the view and our visiting, to go shopping. She showed me her garden, where everything is lush and green. After picking fresh spinach and kale and beets, she used her juicer to prepare vegetable juice for us. I stashed the beet greens, rescuing them from the compost heap where they were headed, to take home with me for my dinner. The juice was very good! She also prepared kale chips, and I have to say they were impressive, we both loved them. Lares, he did not care for them at all.

On my drive back home from Terra’s, I stopped at a roadside stand. The woman who has the stand is a hobby farmer, a sort of market gardener who puts her produce in the stand for passer’s by. I bought one huge heritage tomato, a zucchini, a green pepper, two garlic bulbs, and a quart of tiny new potatoes. The daily corn was gone, so she gave me two of the older cobs. When I got home I got busy, boiled the potatoes, boiled the beet greens, boiled the corn, and sat down to a veritable vegetable feast!

Thursday, Terra arrived at the little house, so that we could go shopping. It was a rainy day, so shopping seemed like a good option. The one goal I had for the day was to dispose of the old bathroom sink and faucet. That meant a visit to the Restore. There are two Restores equidistant from the house, in two nearby cities. Terra hated the parking lot at one of the Restores, so I assured her the other Restore, in the other city, had an accessible and roomy parking lot. So off we went, in my car, to drop off the sink and check out the items for sale at the Restore.

It turned out to be a good choice. Terra found baseboards for her entire living room, solid pine, for $5.00. I found a dusting device meant for blinds, which we have a lot of in the country house. The total bill was $8.00, and they accepted the sink for their stock. Our next stop was the Value Village. Most of the prices there are quite high, in my opinion, for items that are a little more than gently used. We did come away with some very nice items though. I found two bed sheets in excellent condition, to be steam cleaned when I get them back to the country house, and a Wedgewood Peter Rabbit coin bank for $3.99, which will be a lovely baby gift. Terra found a basket, a Christmas ornament, and a mirror. Quite a successful day of shopping, and we spent less than $20.00 between us.

Friday and Saturday, August 15 & 16, 2014

Friday, I looked in the mirror at the worst haircut I have ever paid for, and decided to do something about it. I looked at salon revues, picked a salon, made the call, and took the opening that had come up the same morning. I had enough time to eat my breakfast, get dressed and drive to the city. But I did get lost when I had to take a downtown detour. I drove in circles for a while, then stopped by one of the dump trucks on the construction site. I rolled down my window and shouted to the truck driver for directions. He was a long way up in that very large dump truck. A friendly fellow, he gave me a two sentence explanation of how to reach my destination, which I followed carefully, and arrived at my destination.

The new haircut is a huge improvement. The top was cut a little too short. My hair has to handled with caution, cutting it short is cutting it loose, it takes off in all directions. This time the short top layer is heading up on a space flight mission, elongating my head by several inches, not good. It isn’t perfect yet, but I am optimistic that by the time I get it cut again, it will be well on its way to being exactly what I want.

After leaving the hair salon, I was hungry, and had forgotten to bring food with me. The only two restaurants I have found that take responsibility for adequately identifying their ingredients, all of their ingredients, is McDonalds and Pizza Pizza. The McDonalds was close, so McDonalds it was. Since my “eating out” experiences are limited, I always enjoy McDonalds hamburgers, although so many people speak of them disparagingly. Luckily, I have learned to like what I can have.

After arriving home, it looked like rain. Being optimistic, the shop vac was dragged out of the garage, and the task of vacuuming the car was undertaken. The job was completed and it never did rain.

A quiet evening of reading and watching Netflix ensued. The sleeplessness has subsided, making for restful nights. Thus far, this has been a peaceful and productive visit.

Saturday was a quiet day, here at the little house. I called Attila as arranged, just after 6:00 a.m. Since neither of us is up to much, there was little to say. Attila is working, stacking firewood, cooking, eating, bathing, and sleeping… round and round he goes.

My existence at the little house is a bit more varied, I try to do something productive every day. Today the daughter of the neighbour across the street had a yard sale, I purchased two mugs, gave her three times what she asked, although we do not need them. She is trying to find the cash to buy a $300.00 used text book for one of her third year courses. It is an outrageous price for a used text book.

Her Mom observed that Attila and I have a difficult time keeping up with the lawn mowing, since we are seldom here this summer. I think it bothers the neighbours a bit, when we don’t keep up. She told me she will get her son to do the front yard, which is really very, very nice of her, and him! They have a birds eye view of our front yard, so I suppose it will also be nice for them, to look out over a nicely mown lawn. They will only be cutting the front yard, as I specifically asked her not to mow the back, since we have a double lot it would be a lot of work, and we can catch up with it when next Attila visits. I wish I could do it! But that old push lawn mower is just too much of a challenge for me. A new self-propelled lawn mower is under discussion.

I am searching for the mouse traps we bought a few years ago. Attila put them away when the mouse issues seemed to be solved, but who knows where, neither he nor I remember! The mice are back, coming in through the ceiling of the linen closet, which thankfully does not contain linens. It is being used as a tool closet, and the only thing the mice could find to chew on were my work gloves!

We will be looking at where the mice might be coming into the house, in order to block their entry. In the meantime, if I find the traps, I will set them, in hopes of catching the little fiends.

Another project I accomplished on Saturday was spraying another work shirt with permethrin. The work shirt I first sprayed for myself was actually Attila’s, which I mistakenly took for mine. I left that one with him, since he will be working outdoors with the firewood in the evenings, when the mosquitoes are fierce. I don’t need a mosquito proof work shirt at the little house, but it will be packed in the car and ready for use when I return home.

I also washed the interior of the car. It didn’t look that dirty to me, but the water was almost black when I was done, so I guess that tells the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Highway 11, Ontario, heading south towards North Bay. Trucks! Rock cuts! Caution! Beautiful!
BereavementROAD

Worldly Distractions

Weather

16°C
Date: 7:00 AM EDT Saturday 16 August 2014
Condition: Not observed
Pressure: 101.1 kPa
Tendency: rising
Temperature: 16.4°C
Dewpoint: 12.0°C
Humidity: 75%
Wind: SW 17 gust 30 km/h

Quote

“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.”
Frank Tibolt

Pie Social

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Last weekend we visited the little house in the city. It was a beautiful drive, as light lingered through the evening.

Attila and I worked on the yard, mowing the lawn, and tending the garden. We lost one tomato plant, and one hot pepper plant, but the rest are maintaining their health. They have not grown very much, but they look healthy.

Attila fixed the lock on the front screen door, and I did the usual shopping for supplies. I did manage to get my hair cut, which was long overdue. Ending up at one of those places that offers cheap cuts, I wasn’t very happy with the result. Never mind, the trick is to avoid mirrors for a while, out of sight, out of mind. In a few weeks my hair will look completely different, and within a few months it will be ready for another cut, and perhaps I can return to the salon that did such a nice job.

Terra worked the weekend we were there, but did manage to drop in before one of her night shifts. We had a nice little visit. My children always look so beautiful to me!

The driveway at the camp is done! We dropped by to see it and were pleased. I called this morning to request the final inspection. After that, all that is left to do is pay the bill. We will be robbing Peter to pay Paul for the rest of the summer, in order to assure that the bill will be paid in a timely manner.

The completed driveway at the camp!
CampdrivewayJuly2014
The view from the driveway at the camp. Where we live in the country, we are enclosed in the trees. The only view of the sky is straight up. At the camp, the endless sky beckons. I have been looking at this view all of my life.
CampskyJuly2014

Last night we attended a local pie social and bake sale. This is our third pie social at the old church/school house near my Granny and Grandpa’s house. It was wonderful to hear again the story of my Granny, and her ingenious way of keeping the ice cream frozen, during pie socials, many decades ago. We bumped into several of my Mom’s cousins, and chatted with neighbours, who will now be our “new” neighbours at the camp. Attila had cherry pie, I could not partake due to my allergy. I did buy two loaves of homemade bread, which will be lovely for Attila’s lunches.

The old building where the social is held is full of memories for me. My Great Aunts not only attended primary school there, but also taught there. My Mom attended school there. My Grandmother attended church there. One of my fondest memories was a Christmas Concert, organized when the building was a school, and my Great Aunt R was the teacher. It was a magical evening, with poetry recitals, and a little choir, and I think a little nativity play. The scraggly tree was decorated with ornaments made by the students. The one room school house was small, and packed with parents, family members, and people from the community. The human warmth that was created there still warms me, almost 60 years after the event.

I think that this, and a few other experiences, were why I became a teacher myself. The reality of the modern urban school was quite a shock, when I entered my own classrooms to teach! My teaching experiences bore little resemblance to the one room schools that inspired my career.

I had a lovely chat with Harriet yesterday evening. She and Hogan had been at their cottage for the weekend, and enjoyed the lovely weather. They had a lot of company over the weekend, by her account, which she enjoys very much. She also cut the grass again at Granny and Grandpa’s house. Attila and I will be out to visit the camp, and Granny and Grandpa’s house over the next few days. I hope to work a bit more on Granny’s garden, and perhaps assess with Attila what can be done with the broken support beam on the store porch.

I have been corresponding with my distant cousin Chadwick over the last few days. He shared a link to a book about my half GG Aunt Nana’s love affair and marriage, The Nana Letters. It was an interesting little book, and really brought home to me the havoc that tuberculosis played in people’s lives; the author compares it to the disease of cancer today.

I had a last minute call in to work today, so in I went for a short shift nearby. Golly, I fall out of shape quickly! I was stiff and sore, and exhausted at the end of three hours of bending, stretching, and lifting!

And so another day draws towards closing, and the last lazy rays of the sun fall softly in the green.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

13°C
Date: 8:00 AM EDT Friday 4 July 2014
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 102.3 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 13.2°C
Dewpoint: 11.6°C
Humidity: 90%
Wind: NW 11 km/h

Quote

“Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Lewis Carroll
1832 – 1898