Ah, Sundays. I hate Sundays most of the time. Just the anticipation of having to return to work the next day. The neighbourhood is usually dead quiet. That's something I do like.

The trees are about 2/3 bare now. Lots of color for probably another couple of weeks as they drop off and lay on the ground before they rot. Then it'll be just blah brown and gray. I'm hoping I can make a trip South to Oregon before Christmas. We'll see.

Finally got my hair done again on Friday. I had a lot of regrowth. Now the blonde is gone and I'm back to my "natural" darker colour.

Funny thing is that my hairdresser told me I'm 70% gray. That's rather depressing. Because of that she uses a different type of hair colour so that there's better colour coverage.

49 years old and 70% gray. Sick.

Fall Happenings Thus Far

I was so sad to see Andrea & Clint leave yesterday! It was so hard to say 'goodbye'. We had a great time together - it was just nice to have someone else in the house for a few days. After yet another full week of illness behind me I'm back at work again. Still not 100% even though I started 2 weeks ago with a nasty head cold. Every day a little better, though, so that's good. Countin' my blessings, that's for sure.

So yesterday we took a walk along Sumas River. AND WE SAW A BOBCAT! We were walking along heading back to the car when all of a sudden a cat-like creature came up onto the dike from he river. It stopped and look towards us and Ralph said, "oh look - a cat". Tess, of course, saw him and I said, "Oh, she's going to chase after him!" And sure enough she took off. The "cat" turned to face the river, still looking at us and that's when we saw his short tail and Ralph said, "That's a BOBCAT!" and it bounded back down the path from whence it came! Tess ran into the grass at the edge of the trail but she stopped short. I think somehow she sensed this was no ordinary cat - wild, at that! - and she gave up. I had nightmares of trying to untangle her and her leash from the underbrush of wherever she would have ran to trying to catch the bobcat!

SO COOL!

We've seen a bear, coyotes and now a bobcat along that trail! So neat. Wish I had been faster with the camera and taken a picture even though it was against the sun. Even a silhouette would've been acceptable for my album!

Here we are - in our middle-agedness! Check out my hair, though - it's the SAME COLOUR AS THE LEAVES! Not at all my natural colour, that's for sure.

 Saw this little guy outside this morning - just before the sun hit him. 

 Along the Sumas River

 The lovely Tessie

 No - this wasn't the true colour - we don't have much colour this year because we got rain in September.  So this one is slightly touched up - I rather like it. 

My "baby" - Stephen - so cute! 

Summer Travels

Another slow weekend.

Some photos of our summer travels. This was one of my favourite places: We look so mad! But we were only trying to be "serious"! Star Trek museum in Vulcan, AB.

Sitting in the cockpit of an Avro Lancaster in Nanton, AB at the Bomber Command Museum. Very cool place.

Wandering around Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump - being wary of the bear trap (white barrel in distance)! It was hot here this day. GREAT walk around the area, though. Lots of crickets and stuff.

Trying to put on a smile in the HEAT at Drumheller, AB. That was a LONG drive - over 2 hours to get there from Mike & Erin's place in High River.

A picture of their place & cat:

Geronimo - isn't he cute?! He was "greeting" me by playing a little with my feet.

Enjoying the views in Kananaskis Country - great recommendation from Michael on such a picture-perfect day to drive the extra hour or so through this park. Beautiful country!

The "Blackbird" jet in the Air & Space Museum in McMinnville, OR - GREAT place and well worth the $20 per adult to go through. Lots of interesting things here. Will definitely go back again sometime.

And finally, a Jewish guy blowing a ram's horn "representing the Jewish Indians who live in Abbotsford - 700 or so, as he told me! He jumped off the back of this pickup to tell me so! I couldn't believe it! So many people, just jammed with people all up and down Townline. It was great fun and we'll definitely walk around next year! I was impressed at the respectful and quiet attitude everyone had.

So those are the latest happenings in my life. Sounds like a lot, but now it's quiet again. And so it goes ...

Air Conditioning

So, yesterday, I finally had this brainwave idea that just hit me mid-afternoon. I decided to get up and buy a portable air conditioner for my parents. The heat is just unbearable. Have to live downstairs where it's at least only 26 Celsius. Upstairs is something like 35 or more. At Abbotsford Airport it's 34 Celsius. The heat is supposed to stay with us for another 2 days then drop down to norms or mid 20-s. Thank goodness!

So, I did get up and drive to Sears and bought a portable A/C. The entire purchase took me all of 10 minutes from the moment I walked through the front door, talked to the sales guy, said, "I'll take it!", paid at the till, drove around to the back corner of the warehouse and had it loaded into the back of my little Malibu.

Ran over to the hospital to pick up Ralph who was just finishing up his shift, then drove to mom & dad's and surprised them with this delivery.

"I didn't want one!!!!" mom complained! Dad looked a little more interested in the fact that he might actually have some coolness in his living space! I said, "This heat can kill old people!" And that was THAT! Ralph and Peter set it up then we came back about 4 hours later to turn it on. Because it was on its side and not upright you need to wait a minimum of 4 hours before turning it on so that the oils and other fluids can filter into the areas where they're supposed to be for maximum functionality.

I wish we had central A/C here in this house. It's just ridiculously hot. I know it will cool down again in a couple of weeks and Fall/Winter are coming so I shouldn't complain, BUT this is crazy hot. Can't do anything - can't go for a walk or exercise at all because you might fall over from exhaustion!

So what did I do today? Went to Wal-Mart and bought a few things, looked at 3 different stores for black thistle seeds for the goldfinches (without success), vacuumed the stairs and basement living room and kitchen areas, swept the back sidewalk and the back door entrance "patio". Sweating all the while! Doesn't that count for a workout?! I think it should!

I've started going through my old magazines. Gotta stop buying these things - they just pile up and take up space and look unsightly. But they're so much FUN to buy and read!!!!! Can't give up my Victoria magazines, the vegetarian cooking magazines I'm also keeping plus the decorating mags and special issues.

The airshow is almost over. The Snowbirds are just now doing their performance - and they're always last. They're so beautiful to watch. Tomorrow everyone will take off for their next destination and things will quiet down here. Which is good!

Noise Pollution

Abbotsford Airshow starts tomorrow and the planes have been arriving for the past couple of days. Today the Snowbirds were practicing and some of the vintage WWI and WWII aircraft were flying around. It was fun to watch them - in the 18 years we've been here I've never seen them fly to close to our house when they're practicing. This was a treat today!

One of the USAF Thunderbirds - don't ask me what type of aircraft - it's just a fighter jet to me!

Again, I don't know what type of planes - they're just cool!

The "old timers"

Although a little out of focus (I'm not a professional photographer!) - still very cool - the Snowbirds.

Making a sweeping turn altogether - precision!

Trying to figure out something here.

It was exciting to hear these guys flying around - tomorrow will be even louder.

Really enjoying my time away from work. I took an extra 2 days of my flex time so that I could be off a little longer than 3 weeks. It will be a good break for me and I'll be ready to go back to work on September 7th. I just needed a break from everything.

So life is great. Ralph and I went for a hike yesterday and a good sweat-inducing walk today! Man, my butt is killing me from yesterday's hike up Teapot Hill. 15 years ago it didn't bother me as much as it is nowadays! 6 days of relative peace and quiet starting tomorrow then Ralph is off for 2 weeks and we'll do a little traveling to Alberta, then Oregon. I'm really looking forward to that since last year I was dealing with the whole post-surgery and pre-radiation stuff AND I had a wicked head cold. Seems like so long ago! So glad that time has gone by and I'm so much better! THIS year we'll do Banff again and THIS time we will be able to do more as I am much healthier. There are more things we wanted to check out so hopefully I can get some more good pictures from our little travels!

A shot of my backyard flower bed to end for today.

"For Christians, the beginning of the day should not be burdened and haunted by various kinds of concerns that they face during the day. The Lord stands above the new day, for God has made it. All restlessness, all impurity, all worry and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, in the early morning hours of the day, may our many thoughts and our many idle words be silent and may the first word and the first thought belong to the one to whom our whole life belongs "
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I think I might be getting sick. I am just not functioning well today. It all started with a disagreement with Ralph yesterday about our vacation plans. It threw me into such a downward spin that I'm still suffering from it. Heaviness in my chest, overly tired for no reason (I'm getting plenty of sleep), and just unable to function normally. I went to work but shouldn't have. Just can't accomplish anything and can't focus on anything. So I gave up and came home, crawled onto my bed and slept for about 1/2 hour until Peter decided to let Tess into my room AGAIN. Why does he do that?! 

 

Each Day a Gift from God

Every day is a gift from God - I don't realize it or appreciate it enough. A few thoughts I read today from Max Lucado:

"I will rejoice and be glad in it" Oops, another word we'd like to edit: in. Perhaps we could swap it for after? We'll be glad after the day. Or through. We'll be glad to get through the day. Over would suffice. I'll rejoice when this day is over. But rejoice in it? God invites us to. As Paul rejoiced in prison; David wrote psalms in the wilderness; Jonah prayed in the fish belly; Paul and Silas sang in jail; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego remained resolute in the fiery furnace; John saw heaven in his exile; and Jesus prayed in his garden of pain ... Could we rejoice smack-dab in the midst of this day?" 
 
And then he goes on to describe how you can start with one day and it turns out okay despite the little "setbacks" and surprises, and you realize it wasn't that hard to enjoy the day after all! So you resolve to do the same the next day and the next until:

"In such a fashion good lives are built. One good day at a time." ... "Saturate your day in His grace". 


Not enough time being spent in God's word = unhappy me! 

I must resolve to do this EVERY DAY - get up early and read; just read the Bible. Start somewhere and just read, contemplate and meditate on it. 

On to other topics. 
 
Not a whole lot different in our lives. My health is good. Had my first mammogram 3 weeks ago or so, and it came back perfectly normal! Yay! Praise God! No more cancer! The oncologist did tell me that with all this treatment (radiation and tamoxifen) that I would have a 92-3% cure rate. Or rather, only a 7 1/2% chance that the cancer will return in one of my breasts. So, I'm happy! It's very nice to be in menopause even if it is "artificial". I was getting to that point before going on tamoxifen anyway, so in 5 years' time (less now, actually!) when I go off the drug I'm hoping that I'll just continue on in menopause! Yay!

What we women have to put up with! Some women have it easy peasy. Not me. I struggled with it since the age of 12. 

So - LIVE LIFE ONE DAY AT A TIME; BE HAPPY NO MATTER WHAT; GIVE GLORY TO GOD; LIVE THROUGH HIS GRACE, "My grace is sufficient for you." Somehow, we manage because God helps us.
 

Spinat Auflauf

For some reason I decided to spend waaay more time in the kitchen than I probably needed to. BUT I made spinach auflauf, something that evokes childhood memories!

First you cook up a white sauce:

Then you chop up fresh spinach, blanched of course:

Doesn't that just look yummy?! I love the color of fresh blanched spinach.

Combine with the white sauce.

I could have saved tons of time and all these dishes if I had just used frozen chopped spinach. Next time ...

Then you make the pancakes:

Flour, salt, eggs, milk and water whipped up to this:

You have to fry up the pancakes in a bit of oil, every single one - otherwise it's just not right.

And when it's all baked up it looks like this:

Mmmmmm ... yummy.

I also made a strawberry rhubarb dessert type of thing that turned out delicious.

That's enough for one day. Started a new book, "Left Behind in a Megachurch World". Interesting!

More Gardening & Tessie

Well, we just can't seem to get enough of working in the yard. Ralph and Stephen started working on the other portions of our brick wall in the backyard. Unfortunately I have no pictures of it - silly me! Will do that tomorrow. BUT it's starting to take shape, and in fact is nearly done - just needs to be filled in and then I can transplant my peonies and buy some ornamental grasses. I want to plant those alternately which I think will look pretty good. I will only have room for 3 peony plants and 2 grasses. Then Ralph will start working on the REST of the flower beds to the right of the existing cedar trees.

Thankfully the neighbour's maples are starting to leaf out and I think today's and the next few days' worth of warmer sunshiny weather will help them to pop out even more. I look forward to having a bit of a privacy blocker there again - lush and green all summer long and it also provides lots of shade in the mid- to late-afternoons. That helps quite a bit when it gets stinkin' hot around here.

There's just something really therapeutic about mucking around in the yard, digging in the compost, potting up plants, planting seeds, digging up stuff, gettin' your hands dirty - you know? I just LOVE it! If only I could have a proper vegetable garden! I'm still dreaming of building some raised beds so that I can grow proper pole beans, cucumbers, peas, potatoes and squashes. I splurged this year and bought a couple of currant bushes that are a cross between black currant and gooseberries! I know ... what am I thinking?! But THIS IS SO COOL! I just HAVE to try it!!!! I bought 2 and planted them on the side of the house and of course loaded up the flower beds with compost from our slowly-becoming-emptier compost bin behind the shed. Man, that bin is FULL! Or rather was full. Thankfully it's about 1/2 full now and the City has started picking up garden compost every 2nd week on garbage days so we don't have to put ALL of our grass into the compost bin.

Anyhoo - life is good. NO WORK = HAPPINESS!!! I could get used to this. I shall try not, repeat NOT to think about work until Monday morning when the alarm goes off!

Annnnnd ... reLAX!!!

On another note, Tessie is not doing so well - she has what the vet believes to be a partially torn ACL, great. That means surgery. OR, with any luck with a reduced activity schedule, no jumping up or down and some "Recovery" (glucosamine product) she will heal up but two weeks since the vet's visit she is actually worse than better despite less activity. Poor little puppy, she is not going for walks or anything. Right now she's sleeping in her little bed at my feet. I miss taking her for a walk. She'll get better eventually. That Recovery product sure is expensive.

I also bought some for myself (human formulation, of course) and am waiting for the Cancer Agency pharmacy to get back to me if I can even take this stuff while on tamoxifen. They probably won't call me back until early next week.

Oh well! I will wait. I need something for my joints - I feel bursitis settling in to my right hip now too. Ah, the joys of aging, but more on that another time. I close with a pic of me poking my head through the hole in the board while stopped at Falkland the other day.

Just got back from a 3-day visit with Greg & Carol in Sorrento. Had a great time. For some reason I ended up doing all the driving THERE and BACK as well as WHILE THERE! I don't mind driving actually - it helps me to stay calm by being somewhat in control.

We drove to Falkland among other places. Nice little place - very isolated though. Not sure I could live there with dial-up Internet!

Mom at the Cheese store in Armstrong - playing tourist!    

It feels so good to be away from work for a little while. I was sick once more in April - 3x in 12 weeks was more than I could handle and the last virus hit me so hard that I nearly despaired of ever being well again. Fortunately I DID get better again and life goes on.

A storm is brewing back at home.

Trees!

Finally we bought some cedar hedging and planted them in our "wall project" in the backyard. Time to block out the neighbours who love to criticize everything we do. I don't know why we didn't do this YEARS AGO!

The first of the trees are in! Stephen helped a lot - digging up the compost from the pile behind the shed, carrying the trees from the upper yard down to the lower portion and lifting them into place, which I could NEVER have done! We did this all on Easter Sunday! Of all days!

The last trees are going into place. Can't wait for them to grow together more and provide a real wall of living green privacy! 

It was a great workout for me! 

Ta-da!

LOVE IT! If only the weather would warm up now so that I can get out into the garden and weed those nasty dandelions outta there. Have to be patient - the warmer weather is coming eventually. 

Speaking of weather - here's a couple of shots of the hail we've had recently - typical April weather, remember the old adage, "April showers bring May flowers"?! 

But this was ridiculous!

Choir

Remember being in grade school and high school and singing in the school choir? Well, maybe not everyone was in choir - maybe the band, then?! Anyway, our little church choir is practicing 3 songs for Easter program. I haven't gone to the practice every single week because I'm just so wiped out by Friday evenings that I prefer sometimes to stay home and rest. But tonight I went and really enjoyed myself. I just love the songs that Ben picked out ... fairly simple ... wonderful tunes. I'm glad I went. Brings back memories of Dorothy Schafer directing the choir back in Grades 11 and 12 at FVAA. Wow - she whipped us into shape. We were so good in Gr. 11 especially as we had one very strong lead in each part. We did difficult songs too ... with Kraig at the piano, we couldn't go wrong. It was a great combination, the coming together of wonderful talent.

Busy week ... so glad it's the weekend. Look forward to getting mom & dad moved into their apartment. Can't wait, really! Then mom will have some peace again. I really hope it will be okay for her ... difficult to make a move like this at this age (76 and 86) but I really believe they will be happier in a smaller space with no stairs and a GORGEOUS view! We have a little bit more cleaning to do and replacing light fixtures, closet organizers and curtain rods and then it'll look great! Andrea & Clint are coming tomorrow which will be good for mom - it will help to keep her calm. She needs someone to unload to all the time. Sometime to hold her hand, really.

On another note - Spring is springing. It's cooler now than it was during the Olympics, but the trees are blooming and daffodils also. Grass is growing. In fact, we need to cut our lawn but it's been raining the last few days and so we just haven't gotten to it. Maybe this next week but when I look at the forecast I see nothing but clouds and showers.

Oh well!

We had a great time last Saturday night celebrating my good friend Shelley's 50th birthday - can't believe it will be my turn to do so next year. How did I get to be that old? I should be only 30. Silly! Shelley really is a great person and I enjoy her sense of humor and friendship! Love working with her too. Here she is at her desk - we made her wear a crown and hold a wand - she could make wishes come true ALL DAY LONG! And yes, she's holding a toilet paper roll doll that I created with the rolls that I've been saving for the past several months! And yes, I used duct tape to hold it together!

Calling it a day for now!

Assertiveness

When I get tired and feel mentally drained I'm not terribly good at being assertive - I'd rather suck it up and take it than make someone else feel bad and be upset with me.

Oh well!

I had to escape to the river today - forgot the dog's leash but that was okay. Tess loved it! She even tucked herself into some animal's den. We almost couldn't reach her little paw to pull her back out again - what was she thinking?! Instinct!

Lovely weather, spring is here, and the weekend - yay!

Spring already?

Work, work, work, work!

I think I've turned a corner in my mood swings caused by the tamoxifen. It feels as though my body has finally adjusted to the lack of estrogen flowing through it nowadays. Hot flashes are becoming less frequent the last few days. I'm more even keeled the last week than I have been in a very long time. I'm so glad! I'm starting to feel a little more like my old self again, and even better, really. Church was so awesome last Sabbath. We had communion. The place was packed with visitors and they all stayed by for the footwashing and emblems portion. It was such a spiritual experience. I have never had such a wonderful Communion service before. Tomorrow is potluck so I've fried up some patties (new recipe) and made a couple of cakes. I'll also still fry up some potatoes and cook up some veggies.

Not much else is new around here these days. Spring is nearly here. The first green leaves are beginning to emerge on the shrubs - hard to believe but winter has been so mild this year that I'm surprised the trees haven't started blooming yet. I suspect they will be in about 4 weeks - the first, earliest trees certainly will be. I see my rhubarb is also showing its red heads already and the 2 daffodils (yes, I have only TWO daffodils in my entire garden!) are already 5" tall.

And we're having the winter Olympics here in just 12 days?! Should be interesting to hear what the rest of the world thinks of our spring-like conditions!

It's been a LONG time since I put anything on this post. So an update is in order.

I went back to work on December 1. Didn't really want to go back EVER but I knew that if I waited until January it would be a real challenge to go straight into service records. And starting December 1 means I would get the 12-day Christmas break. So that's what I did. I broke down and cried the 2nd week in. The first few days were great, then the usual challenges of that particular workplace got to me and my boss called me on it. We chatted and I wept - I simply could not hold back the tears. "If the ground opened up and it consumed me, I would be perfectly happy with that" is what I said. And I meant it. Sad huh?

Well, I'm doing much better since then, thankfully. However, my emotions are still running wild. I have a lot of anxiety. I never felt anything like this while going through the surgeries and even the radiation treatments were not too hard on my emotions. But now, it seems to be catching up with me. The last few weeks have been really tough. Every night I need drugs to be calm enough to go to sleep and STAY asleep. Is this what my life will be like until I die? Being on drugs to function? I suppose that would simply put me into the same boat as millions of others right?!

Andrea and Clint came for Christmas which was just wonderful but sheesh, I am SO TIRED now! It will be nice to have a few days to myself at home, peace and quiet, no work, Ralph gone at work for a few hours, all day to clean and cook and do the things that I won't be able to do once I return to work next Monday.

Christmas was wonderful. A picture needs to go in here now!

Peter, Ralph, Me, Stephen, Tess

I feel rather large these days. My attempts to go vegan have not been fruitful! Next year I'm either making a vegetarian meal or I'm going to buy turkey dinner! Hah! I'm sick of cooking the whole meal - so much work! Andrea helped in the kitchen which was wonderful and Ralph washed up all the dishes afterward. So nice. I was wiped out by the time we were done.

Mom & Dad with his usual gift of aftershave!

Kristina and Andrea - such a photogenic pair!

 

Dec 24 Supper Buffet

I don't even have pictures of Christmas Day! How ridiculous! 

Last night we went to the movies and saw "Avatar". What a viewing experience that was in 3-D - so colourful, so incredible. The story was "eh" but a good one nevertheless. But wow, to see an entire movie in 3-D that is TRUE 3-D is simply an experience that everyone should have at least once in their lifetime. Peter tells me there are 3-D TV's out there but cost around $20,000. No demand yet and the technology probably isn't up to snuff just yet to be able to produce it for the general populace! But that certainly seems to be the way of the future: 3-D. Wow. 

That's about it for now. Must close my eyes and rest and it's only 11:15 a.m.!!! 

Experimenting

Okay, so now I'm getting bored of just being at home. Spent a week at Andrea's which was wonderful! Just what I needed. Now I've been off work 6 weeks and I'm so ready to go back. My skin healed up nicely and I'm adjusting to the tamoxifen. I get more headaches unfortunately! There are other side effects but it's all okay. It's what I have to do.

It feels like the dead of winter without the coldness, of course. But the storms have begun. Last night was a doozy of a storm - I heard this rumbling engine-type of sound in the vicinity of the airport South of here. I thought, what kind of engine is that? Sounds almost like a train but it's more like a plane but not really. About 2 minutes later this tremendous gust of wind went whipping through the yard rattling everything and it continued like that through the night with gusts up to 96 kmh registered at the airport. It was pretty wild. As a result the trees have been stripped of even more leaves.

Today was a good day. I felt good all day. Went for a long walk along the river with Tessie - there was minimal wind, no rain and no people either! Perfect for letting her walk off leash. She totally loved it.

To occupy myself I'm starting to compile high fibre, vegan (if possible) recipes in an attempt to eventually be 100% vegan. It's tough. I can't quite wrap my brain around baking without eggs or butter. In trying to reorganize a few things around here I finally went through my collection of cookbooks in the kitchen alone (there are many more scattered in boxes and on shelves throughout the house, I hate to admit!) One that I decided to keep is called "High Fiber Cooking". I picked that baby up somewhere along life's path for only 99 Cents. Nice full colour, glossy paper, hardcover book! Small, but full of wonderful recipes. So, I tried this one recipe for Date Orange Bread. Here's a pic:

This recipe is made without eggs - can you believe it? Which, of course, is why it didn't rise much even though it has baking powder in it. The recipe also called for sunflower seeds of which I had none so I substitutes with pumpkin seeds that I found in the freezer.

Slices nicely and I have to say doesn't taste too badly at all. All in an attempt to keep myself regular - which is something we all want, no?!

Another picture just to show the texture.

Besides, I'm a sucker for dates. I just love them so much.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 lb bran cereal (I used Bran Buds w. psyllium)
Measures out to about 1/3 cup.
2/3 cup dried chopped dates
1 1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder

Grease & Line a 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan.
Put the bran cereal, dates, orange juice and honey in a mixing bowl. Stir well and leave for 1 hour.
Add the sunflower seeds and flour, then sift in the baking powder and mix together thoroughly.
Turn into the prepared pan and bake in a 350 F. oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn onto a rack to cool.

Freezes well.

Enjoy. EK