Still laughing…

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just got home from Wash Your Troubles Away  by the Headingley United Church Players…  it was hilarious…  they have been presenting dinner theatre for 30 years… this was my first experience…

one of our colleagues was a member of the cast and a group of us from work went tonight… two of us had dinner at a table of Red Hat Society women…  we learned a lot about the organization and had a great time…

Red Hat Society group...

Red Hat Society group…

just before the show started we joined the rest of our group…  we had lots of fun… comments were made throughout the show, socks were tossed about, and everyone enjoyed themselves…

our star...

our star…

we presented flowers to our colleague at the end of the show and I got a great shot of our managers, lol…

on the way there I got a few great pictures of some frost and we saw a herd of deer on the river…

frost on the window...

frost on the window…

it was a lovely evening…

Sorrow and healing…

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my neighbour of over thirty years lost her forty-year old son to cancer a few days ago…  I cannot imagine her pain…

I spent a few minutes with her and we talked about the sadness but also the need to go on, one step at a time…  a friend of hers was there and my neighbour mentioned that my husband had died a few months ago… it is nearly a year but time passes so quickly…  she will be fine, like me, moving forward and doing what needs to be done…

for me there is no choice…  I work at seeing the good in things around me, remembering the best and looking forward with hope…

I ordered roses for my girls and did very well until I was asked what the card should say… then the tears began to flow and I could hardly speak… both of the florists I spoke with were very compassionate, patiently waiting until I could speak again… the cards said – remembering daddy…

no matter what else was going on he always made sure that each of them got a rose for Valentine’s Day to be sure they knew how much he loved them…  what a romantic he was… I miss him so…

had quite the up and down day today…  woke up very early thinking about George and wishing he was here…  at work, I delivered flowers to one of my colleagues and was feeling a bit sorry for myself because I wouldn’t be getting any…

cupids, making their delivery...

cupids, making their delivery…

then I was called out of a meeting to deal with a situation at the front…  it was two cupids singing and playing a cute song as they delivered a heart-shaped cinnamon bun and chocolate heart…

In the heart of winter you may feel like an icicle – but your heart can be warmed with this message by bicycle – let there be no questions or shades of grey – your kids wish you a happy valentine’s day – so ignore the quality of singer or song – just know that with us, you can do no wrong.

treats...

treats…

it was our soup day so I had a lovely lunch with some of my colleagues – Thai Coconut Curry soup and sugar cookies – some very pretty ones that Crystal dropped off, and some rather strange looking ones that I made last night…

after work Crystal and I went to look at cars and consider whether I should upgrade… then we went to The Keg, where we met up with Jeff and had a lovely dinner…  steak and lobster for me, yum…

finally I got dropped off at home and charged into the house on a mission to get the garbage and recycling out for tomorrow’s pick-up…

on the floor I spot…

what the...

what the…

and followed along…

photo1

up the table...

up the table…

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where I discovered a cute card from all the kids…

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… your “Lots of Love Club”!

as I sit here writing, and drinking a small glass of Baileys, I can look over and see the chocolate hearts, which I have not yet moved, lol… pretty great kids…

what a day… filled with tears and laughter as I move forward in this new reality…

great evening…

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Monday night I had dinner and spent time with my ReImagining friends…

it is always wonderful when we gather…  we take turns hosting, some more than others, depending on our current situations… someone looks after the dinner and someone else leads our program… there are lots of hugs, deep sharing, lots of laughter, and often tears…

we had a lovely chilli with all kinds of toppings, salad, ice cream with chocolate sauce; checked in around the table; had a short program, and then we finished reading our book…

we lit candles in celebration of Candlemas and Valentine’s Day…

lit candles...

lit candles…

then we looked over a number of offerings for our next read…

we have moved from programs that were on a variety of topics, and took a fair bit of time to prepare, to simpler gatherings…  the important thing is to be together and so recently we have been reading out loud and discussing guided questions…  no one has homework, and we get done what we get done… often a simple question will take us off into a wonderful discussion of life… what insights we share…

these women have been part of my life for at least twenty-five years and provide a powerful sense of home when I am with them… after the last week it was very healing to be with them…

really, how blessed am I…

Kodak Pulse frame is working again…

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in December the new PVR system was installed and I continue to learn and enjoy using it…

unfortunately, when they installed it, they also changed the router, which really irritated my electronic picture frame…  so, it hasn’t accepted any emails since that time because it would no longer connect with the internet…

I added a bunch of pictures from the trip and, of course, it wouldn’t accept them…

the other day my nephew, one of the wonderful geeks in my life, was over and he spent quite some time getting the frame to connect and now it works…

waiting for the plane in Cancun...

waiting for the plane in Cancun…

it took a while to download the 200 plus pictures I had put on it, as well as a dozen or so that Cyndi had sent me, some from Calgary and some from our vacation…

now I can look up and see pictures of our wonderful time in Mexico, or maybe a shot of George, or the kids, or one of our visits to Courtenay…

maybe I will even arrive home to a new picture that one of the kids has sent…

 

Missing George…

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wow, last week seemed particularly long, and I have really been missing George…

not sure if it is all the Valentine Day stuff out there, the fact that we are coming up to the first anniversary of his death, the time of year, or what, but it has been very intense…

I did put my big girl pants on and figured out how to fill the hot tub, all by myself…  George always did this and then Jeff has done it for me, but it was really low and I didn’t think I could wait until Jeff was here again to do it…

cool snow formation on the hot tub...

cool snow formation on the hot tub…

so, I figured it out for myself…  then, of course, I couldn’t use it for a day because it takes a while to heat up again… but I must say, I was proud of myself…

on top of that, the people at Toyota are wanting to buy back the car, which means I have to think about whether it is time to turn it in and get a new lease…  this feels very much like a big girl pants type of thing, so I am going to have to think about what I want to do…  I have never chosen a car on my own…

a few days ago I was looking through pictures and found some of George examining the car when we picked it up… can’t for the life of me remember when we got this car… bet if I look in that pile on the desk I will be able to figure it out, lol…

life is very full and I continue to live in the moment… this past week or so many of those moments have been low, but I continue to feel them anyway…

 

Friday payday Chinese food night…

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many years ago, George and I would go to my parents’ house once a month on a Friday after payday and have dinner with them and their neighbour and friend Margaret…  it was before we had the kids, a really long time ago…

we would decide what we wanted and George would call in the order and it became a lovely tradition… it is always more fun to eat Chinese food with others so you can have lots of variety…  we did this for many years and the people at the Chinese food restaurant would recognize George’s voice even many years later…

I decided a while ago that this would be a good family thing to do as I certainly don’t want to order just for myself…  so I’ve tried a couple of times to get this going again, with Crystal and family and my nephew and his girlfriend…

once it worked out and we actually went to the restaurant… this week we had a lovely time with family and a friend chowing down on a lovely dinner…

Chinese food dinner...

Chinese food dinner…

it reminded me of my parents, which was funn,y because today I was going through some files and was looking at some of my mom’s poetry…

time goes by so swiftly and you forget so much of what has taken place…

I hope the picture will help remind me of the special moments in my life…

Shovelling…

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yesterday I texted my son-in-law to see if he could come by and shovel out to the hot tub…

I did something to my arm and haven’t wanted to shovel and make it worse so the one piece I usually do – from the back door to the hot tub so I can walk out in my slippers – hasn’t been happening…

occasionally I will shovel the front steps and sidewalk, but usually when the kids come over on Sundays for dinner, one of them will do any needed shovelling…

Crystal shovelling the neighbour's sidewalk...

Crystal shovelling the neighbour’s sidewalk…

I don’t have any pictures of Jeff shovelling because when he’s doing it I am often not here… like yesterday, when he snowblowed as well… now I have a lovely open area to get to the hot tub… and he even cleared a space out in the back lane so that maybe the garbage guys will pick mine up…

tonight, while I was in the tub I was thinking I might need to consider hiring someone so I don’t have to keep calling on them…

George did nearly all the shovelling, except when his health meant we had to hire someone…

 

 

Forgot…

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was so exhausted last night from the busy last few days at work and home that I forgot to write a post…

I can’t think of the last time I was too tired to even bring the house phone downstairs and put it on the charger…

my link to the world...

my link to the world…

maybe it had to do with leaving my smart phone at work and being without it until a colleague kingly dropped it off on their way home from a late shift a work…  she told me it was beeping and chatting the whole time she had it…

it was quite amazing how disconnected I felt without it… which really made me laugh this morning when I read a post by Burton Cummings about how much he disliked his cell phone…

and my kids...

and my kids…

technology, and how we make use of it, is quite funny, actually…

Dinner…

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my BS group meets regularly on Monday evenings at my house…

lately we haven’t been studying or reading, just taking the opportunity to spend some quality time with one another…

more quality time...

more quality time…

every year we plan a dinner together which includes our spouses… the dinners have varied over the years from progressive dinners, to everyone bringing a dish to one person’s house, to going to a restaurant…

last February we went out for dinner...

last February we went out for dinner…

this year we decided to have a chef come in and cook for us…  we chose a date, without too much difficulty, planned the menu, and were all set to gather this weekend to pahty

then life intervened, and the date needed to be changed…  we went through all of our calendars, called varies second halves and came up with two possible dates over the next two months…  then one of those dates was scratched off the list…  then the chef wasn’t available for the only other date that worked… yikes…

after some more wrangling the chef was able to change her schedule and fit us in for the actual date that worked for everyone…

reminded me of how quickly things can change and how important it is to be flexible, willing to consult with others, and persevere to solve a problem…

this year there will only be nine of us, but I am still really looking forward to our dinner…