Tag Archives: George

magic…

11 Monday Apr 2016

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been thinking about cancer quite a bit lately…

  
picked these daffodil pins up on Thursday and left them at the office for my colleagues to wear during April… the daffodil is a symbol of strength and courage in the fight against cancer… 

the colleague we recently lost had her birthday in April and I’ve been thinking of her a lot…

also, the many others in my life who have succumbed to the disease… my mom, mother-in-law, family friends… and those who have survived…

it has been nearly four years since my surgery… the cancer is all tied up with George’s death as the diagnosis was just weeks after… 

I am doing very well but the magic number is five years… wonder how I will feel when that last appointment at CancerCare happens… 

I remember how shocked I was at the relief when the doctor called to advise that there was no cancer left following the surgery… I had thought that I wasn’t worried about it at all, lol… wrong…

orchid bloom opening…

 

delight…

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

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took some pictures of my newest orchid this morning… it is such a delight to gaze upon…

  
great way to start the day… beautiful flowers and photos…

a colleague was out for an errand and brought back a bag of chips… as it happened there weren’t any in my treat drawer… nice to have a few goodies available at all times, lol…

it was my lucky day because someone else brought me Vietnamese shrimp rice rolls... one of my all-time favourite things to eat…

came home and enjoyed them as a late afternoon snack while dinner was cooking…  

  
I remember how my colleagues came to see me a few at a time during the days right after George died… they brought me many of my favourite things as well as their company… these rolls were one of the items they brought and were the first thing that I eventually ate… wasn’t eating or drinking at all for a number of days and when I finally felt able to get something, down the rolls were exactly what called to me… enjoyed them for a few days as I was trying to get my appetite back…

kind of giggled when they arrived today as I had just been thinking of them…

special moments… all in all, a delightful day…

cards…

28 Monday Mar 2016

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saw a memory on Facebook a few days ago about my writing thank you cards after George died…

so many people did so many kind things for all of us during those difficult days…

didn’t know what to do with all the beautiful words and cards that were sent to us…

my son-in-law took all of them and scanned the fronts and backs into the computer… what a clever idea…

was able to keep the memories and not have piles of paper gathering dust… and I can go in and look at them now and again… which I did tonight when I was taking a picture of the scans… 

 

lovely to read the heartfelt comments… cried for quite a while…  

was reminded of this a few days ago when I was changing out the drawers in the living room table as I was getting ready for Easter…

the sweet valentine card that my colleagues presented to me was there and I wasn’t prepared to just throw it out…

  
took a few photos, after reading it again, and then scanned it into the computer…  makes putting the original into the recycling so much easier…

  

we write notes of appreciation for our colleagues on a fairly regular basis and pop them into their box… I wrote one for a colleague a few days ago… 

it is wonderful to go into your own box and read a great note… particularly on a day when things aren’t going as well as they could, lol…

I write one for each staff person each year on the anniversary of my starting… I know how much I appreciate hearing their kind words and want them to know how much I appreciate them individually… 

as a society I don’t think we write near the number of cards that we used to…
 

 

remembering…

05 Saturday Mar 2016

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woke up to hoarfrost everywhere…

  

it was beautiful…

  

the last thing that George and I did the day before he died was drive around the Park and take pictures of the beautiful trees covered in hoarfrost… 

seeing the hoarfrost was such a reminder of him… felt like he was sending me a message…

  
spent the afternoon with my daughter wandering through the mall… had lunch and picked up a couple of pairs of shorts…

when I got home PBS had a special of Simon & Garfunkel‘s concert in Central Park, New York City in 1981…

  
he loved Simon & Garfunkel… I spent an hour watching the program, enjoying the music and remembering… the songs had all been played here… comforting…

in recent days I have been walking down memory lane looking at many pictures… it has been fun to remember all the great times we had in the forty-three years we were together… 

what an amazing life I have had…
 

 
 

lights…

13 Saturday Feb 2016

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recently heard a report on the radio about synchronization of the street lights in the city…

this was one of George’s pet peeves and he often commented on how the lights were out of kilter…

  
the commentators talked about the fact that our lights have never been synchronized…. apparently they will be by December, 2016… we are one of the last cities to make this happen…

made me laugh because George assumed they were on a system but just never worked right…

bet he’s chuckling over this, lol…

beloved…

04 Thursday Feb 2016

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missing my beloved today…

first thing the toilet was acting up… time was when I would just tell him about it and he would fix whatever the problem was…

not these days…

had to dig out the appropriate equipment and solve the problem myself…

last weekend I had to go and find a different shovel so my shoveler can get down to the cement, and salt, so he could make sure the ground isn’t crazy slippery… also had to pick up a few bulbs so I could replace some burnt out ones…

I find choosing bulbs a very difficult job… there are so many and they seem to be similar but when you get them home they don’t throw the amount of light you expect, or are the wrong strength, or colour… arghhhh…

thankfully my son-in-law helped pick them and looks like they will all work…

many days I just do whatever needs doing, but other days I can barely keep from crying because he isn’t here…

today I happened to read a blog I wrote a year ago… it was all about flowers and how they have always lifted my spirits… also talked about how my beloved made sure there were lots around during January and February…

took this picture today…

  
beautiful… does make me feel better…

serendipitous…

18 Monday Jan 2016

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took this picture of the beautiful sunrise this morning…

  
am always amazed at how I walk by the window at just the right moment to catch something so lovely… what made me look out this time and not just focus on getting down the stairs… interesting…

had an appointment after lunch so needed to get a few things done in a short amount of time…

stopped in at the credit union and after making the deposit asked about when we could meet with the locksmith to drill out the key to our safety deposit box… it was serendipitous that the locksmith was on the way there for another reason…

I waited a few minutes and when he got there and opened it, we discovered that the box was empty, as I had imagined… we had that box since 1979…

 
was hard to see George’s signature on the document… brought a few tears… never know when things will hit hard…

after a quick grocery shop, I headed to Toyota to have them check the silly remote starter… met up with my sales guy and he took me to the place down the street that did the install… they checked it out and said it was fine… they gave me a lesson in how to use it and I drove away within half an hour… need to wait in one place, double click in another, and turn the key a certain way… will see how it goes, lol…

  
was so pleased with how quickly the visit to the dealership went that I decided to take her for a car wash as she was very dirty…

was a bit nervous about what I had to do when I got there but it was easy… left her at the door…

  
went in and paid, and discovered that the cars don’t stay in the same line they started in, yikes… a nice person helped me figure the system out, I found her and drove away in a lovely clean car…

beloved…

09 Saturday Jan 2016

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this morning I spent a bit of time in the kitchen… while I was cleaning the stove I was thinking of my beloved…

he had the strongest hands and arms… anything that needed serious scrubbing ended up as his job… that stove would have been spotless had he cleaned it, lol… he could also wring things out so there was no water at all left in them…

 
for breakfast I cooked some spinach in my new cute purple steamer… second time using it and it worked much better than the first time… cleaned up nicely as well… also used some of the frozen spinach for my lunch smoothie… came out great, so I can use frozen next time I run out of fresh, lol…

sun was shining all day, although it was -34 with the wind chill… got a nice shot of a couple of garage roofs which have squirrel paths all over them… not sure I’ve seen tracks on the neighbour’s garage before… 

  
while I was doing laundry I also went through all of the tops in my closet… filled a box with things that are too big… a friend is going to pick them up for a swap event they are having…

  
always happy when I’ve been able to do a bit of decluttering… George would have been proud…

back…

08 Tuesday Dec 2015

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sore back today… might have had something to do with carting all the Christmas decoration boxes up and down the stairs…

but, the space looks fabulous:-)…

had imagined that by the end of the day it would be better… unfortunately not the case, which made for a long day…

  
this wonderful sky greeted us on the way home… 

dragged myself to aquasize and was pleased to make it through the session… didn’t do any twisting…

back home and had supper in stages… started with smoked goldeye and tomato, cucumber and avocado salad… once it was cooked enjoyed a yummy sweet potato…

tasty… now to rest my back…

  
part of the stairway decorations are small wooden trees which George made many years ago…

glitter…

06 Sunday Dec 2015

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excellent day…

found the cookies I’d been searching for… got a glittery outfit for an upcoming event… and spent a wonderful afternoon with a friend while we decorated the main floor…

  
so nice to have someone to work with and bringing another eye to the project…

having lived here for over forty years it had become a bit ho hum to put out the decorations… having a designer’s view brought new life to the space…

  
my Advent boxes have taken on a more prominent place, even though they are in the same space, lol…

put George’s stocking in the drawer in the living room table… I think this is a great place to display it and feel his presence…

  
as she was leaving my friend noticed all the glitter on her face and laughed as she described being covered in glitter the whole of the Christmas season when she had her shop…

as the afternoon has turned into evening and it is dark outside it is even more beautiful… I love the glitter of the lights everywhere…

  
these trees drop sequins and glitter everywhere… they go into a special bag so as not to distribute glitter throughout the whole house…

the kids came for supper and brought me cherry surprises – cookies our dear friend and neighbour made every year for our Christmas dinner…

after they headed home I spent time sitting in the living room enjoying the space, and listening to A Jann Arden Christmas while writing my post…

feeling peaceful as we move into the busy days of the season… happy my shopping is complete and the parcels wrapped… just need to add some ribbon to finish them off and see how many I can fit under the trees…

  
anticipating many gentle moments as I remember so many special Christmas seasons with my beloved…