Tue., Nov. 24, 2020 ***** I wanted to sleep in today. No not just sleep in - I wanted to just stay sleeping, maybe for the whole day, dreaming, staying warm, avoiding wakefulness and the world outside. There is no special reason for this feeling. Oh, sure, Covid sucks and it's raining outside. But I think it's just an inside job. I just wanted to hide today. Then the phone rings - unknown caller. I HATE unknown callers. There's almost no excuse for that anymore. But I answered it and it turns out to be the Stirling Marathon people calling to say they do warranty the door. Yeah! They will send a new one and send someone to install it, too!  Wait a minute - I have to back up here. The other day Danielle peeked around the sliding kitchen door to say her oven door has just exploded in her hand! The door has been slightly off kilter and never closed correctly (brand new ffing oven by the way, bought in the spring). So she looked up the manual online and removed the door and was ...

 Wed., Nov. 4, 2020 -  ***  Apparently yesterday was the federal election in the States, but I have decided not to watch tv news or read anything online until at least next week, once they have all the numbers for sure. And maybe by then all the suing will have been started, and maybe a civil war or at least riots. I just don't want to know. My family in the States will do what is necessary to stay safe, I am sure. I cannot worry about them, but I do ask the angels to protect them - and indeed everyone in that country. It is harsh watching a country I grew up in coming apart at the seams. I suppose it seemed like it was coming apart during the 60s with the war protests and the black rights movement and women rising up and the gay liberation movement. There was a lot of people in the streets in those days too.  Of course now there are also fires everywhere, and a worldwide pandemic and climate crisis and the rise of fascism everywhere. It seems worse to me than ever, ...

Fri, Oct. 16, 2020 - *** Well I just booked myself to get a flu vaccine. This is kinda new for me, but I recognize that I am actually 67 years old (when did THAT happen?) and this move is like "an abundance of caution", as the phrase goes. That phrase, by the way, I never heard before in my life and now it's everywhere - much like this dastardly virus. Anyway, although I have not been known previously to pracrtice an abundance of caution in my usual day-to-day life, I am doing so now.  I am not actively concerned about dying myself, but I would not want to pass it on to any of my friends, many of whom are older than me and possibly comprimised in some ways. Also, the long term effects of that virus sound dreadful - long term heart problems, lung issues, kidney damage - ugh! I just got my heart fixed - last thing I need is health trouble. So, I wear my mask when in town, and I wash my hands, and I only really see about 3 people (my bubble, as it were) and I will get a flu ...

 Tue., Oct. 13, 2020 ***  Yup - it's still 2020. We are expecting a big wind apparently, so I am making sure everything in the yard is safe and will not blow away or get knocked over. I cannot guarantee that I will not get knocked over, of course. Ha. Then the phone rings and it's my emergency POD person, Jane, and we get to talkin and I discover she is from Ireland. Well, that got us going. And that she used to live in Alberta - in Edmonton at one point, and in Strathcona! What! Small world isn't it sometimes. After the call, I continue to straighten up outside, fill some buckets of water inside and boom...there goes the power, right around 2pm. Well no use to hang around now so Sadie and I head to town to pick up Norah and get Sadie some new name tags for her collar. Very nice ones too - all rainbow coloured. I got two so they will rattle and at least I can hear her when she goes of the trail, Which I hope she never does again but of course she will.  So I pick up Norah...

October 12, 2020 *** Sadie got lost today. Charlie and I went for a walk in Channel Ridge with Sadie and Neimar, who love each other. We took one of my favorite trails off Merganzer and up towards what we lovingly call "the moonscape", the area where they tried to develop housing several years ago but were stymied. Anyhoo, I know there are bunnies where there is broom so I am usually cautious with Sadie in those areas, but today she had not veered off the trail at all so I was complacent. As we turned up towards the moonscape, she ran off ahead with Neimar - and then l00 feet later - no Sadie. We started calling and whistling, figuring she would return any moment. 5 minutes - 10 minutes - should we go back the way we came? Or keep going forward? We did both - after 20 minutes, I was worried. I had my phone on me so we stopped and I posted on the Salt Spring Exchange (using Charlie's prescription glasses since I cannot read the words on my phone without specs!). I also pos...

 Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020 *** Will this year ever end? Anyway.... I came thru my heart ablation surgery with flying colours. Dr Leather said it all went well and except for the extreme tiredness I felt these last 3 days, I feel really good. Last night was a 12 hour sleep marathon and today I feel pretty normal. Nice. And all at no more cost to me than my usual income taxes. I am so grateful to live in a place with health care for all. And good health care, too. I cannot even begin to imagine the cost of the surgery I just experienced. A ward full of nurses pre-op, about 6 people in the room (lab) where they performed the procedure, several more behind glass watching various computers and cameras and other fancy equipment, a giant camera and god knows what else in the room. Two hours it took, the doc said, and 5 hours of lying flat to recover from the surgery and the anaesthetic. Then to the hotel overnight and home the next day. It does take a village however. My friend Suzanne drov...

 Oct 2020 **** I cannot believe it - I got myself scammed online today. 😒A friend emailed to say that had an urgent favour to ask and could I help. I did notice it was a different email than usual, but weirdly decided it didn't mean anything. IT DOES!!!!! Anyway, suffice to say I bought something for them, and when it dawned on me what had happened, I quickly contacted Paypal to cancel it, and put a lock on my Visa and called Visa too (but of course they NEVER answered - Visa is useless with the phone). Paypal quickly refunded me, thank goodness but I felt stupid the rest of the day! On another subject I am going in for a heart ablation next week. It's a bit daunting in that I have to get to Victoria the day before since they need me at the hospital for 7am. Ugh. My friend (not the scammy one) will drive me an stay with the night after the procedure. Last time I had no real trouble afterwards so I am hopeful for the same this time. Such a production though - we have to find ca...

 Sat., Sept. 5, 2020 *** This blog is kind of turning into my morning pages, in a way. I blather on about whatever is on my mind today. I do not think it would be of much interest to other people, but then again, who knows? I am not a deep thinker but I can be mildly interesting sometimes, and occasionally even funny. No promises, however. THEATRE - Last weekend we had an invited public reading of Wendy Judith Cutler's new play, Undutiful Daughter. (See photo)  There were about 15 people in the audience, a cast of 4 and of course Wendy and Cory. Everyone wore masks as they entered, and they took them off once seated. We had sanitizer and paper towels available, too. Dr Bonnie would have been proud of us!   The cast was ( left to right in PHOTO ) Wendy Beatty, Barb Slater, myself and Kevin Wilkie. Robert was the usherette and also facilitated the short talkback; Cory handled the front gate and telling about protocols how to socially distance in their chairs. Jean brought ...

 Sunday, Sept 6, 2020 Is it STILL 2020? When will this end please? Anyway - had a lovely socially distanced meet up with Diane who is leaving the island, and Sandra and myself over at Kareen's place outdoors. She is going back to Kimberly where she knows she can find a good rental - indeed already has. Here is impossible nearly. We lose so many people due to lack of rentals. We are always short of nurses and restaurant staff of all sorts, including chefs. But I guess there is no money in building rentals or someone would be doing it! I heard that POD is also closing, as well as Frankly Scarlet - both clothing, jewelery and shoe places. Also Rhubarb has moved to Victoria. We don't have enough tourists now to sustain those places, plus they have very high rent. Landlords refused to budge on rental costs so now they will have no one renting those spots. C'est la vie, I suppose. Today we have a plumbing emergency - the toilet appears to be backed up - not overflowing (gross), b...

 Sept. 27, 2020 *** ACTING! I do miss it and I wonder about getting back to it. I did a little acting of a kind today with a friend who was doing an audition self tape for a tv show. I was her reader. It was very fun of course, and done over Zoom. Isn't everything these days? Anyway, she's in Vancouver and telling me that Netflix has just bought a bunch of studios there, plus all the Hallmark movies that are done over there. Sure, Hallmark scripts are cotton candy fluff with no real drama or point, but they are work! And being on set can be so much fun. I will be thinking about talking to my former agent about it. I am in a different category now that I have long white hair, I am a lot older, and not quite as fat as formerly but still robustly rotund. Not sure what roles they would consider me for - probably anything loud and obnoxious. I don't look like the sweet granny type that's for sure! Something to chew on. My first headshot - Gah! So dreadful. Maybe 1996? My las...

 New pottery - some from a workshop I took with the fabulous Julie MacKinnon and some I did on my own (which is not fired yet.) I always have fun at the workshops and this time my friends Sue and Susannah were also there, which adds to the enjoyment. <I like making slab work like this open bowl.  And I tried throwing a plate at home on my borrowed-from-Julie wheel. ^ I think it's the new speckled clay, which is not as soft as the white but definitely softer than the curry. I will underglaze this one, I think. And this big bowl - WOW. Love it. Meanwhile, down in Idaho miss Stevie Dirks is going great guns, throwing mugs like a pro and selling already! What! I spawned an artistic genius. It sure didn't come from me, her talent. It is all her own. I will keep playing with clay and hopefully improve on all my skills, but I do not see selling anything in my future. Hey I tried painting some clouds too. Youtube was very helpful. It is not finished yet, but I am enjoying adding de...

Wed Sept 2, 2020 🌀 "Another gorgeous morning in paradise!" This is a standard greeting on our little Salt  Spring Island. It points out how lucky most of us feel to live here. Currently, the Covid crisis seems far away - no cases here that we know of! We are surrounded by beauty, and the ocean, and we all walk on incredible beaches and forest tails, and swim in clear warm lakes, and eat from our overflowing organic gardens. Yesterday morning a pod of Orcas wandered into my own Fulford Harbour, and I see Eagles every single day and every manner of songbird and woodpeckers. Hell, we don't even have skunks here in paradise - just racoons, mink and the ever-present huge population of island deer (smaller than your average deer so they all kinda remind you of Bambi.) Yes, it's another gorgeous morning in paradise. I will partake of the beauty today and go for a forest walk this morning, and perhaps a beach walk later in the day when the sun is hotter. My dog enjoys swimmi...

 Monday, August 31, 2020 We have been in the midst of the Covid19 Pandemic now since February - locked down at home, wearing masks in public, staying 6 feet away from everyone - no hugging in Country Grocer anymore! Sigh. It has changed us - well, me anyway. I am always aware when I see people that this virus is lurking, waiting to pounce and that keeps me behaving in the safe ways prescribed by health authorities. It is way worse in the USA who now leads the world in Covid deaths. Trump likes being number one so he must be pleased. I am wondering when I will be able to see any of my family members again. I remain hopeful that a treatment or a vaccine will come along in the next year and to that end, Stevie and I have blocked off May 2022 for our trip to France finally. The way I am feeling now, however, I kind of want to fly to Europe and just stay there for a very, very long time. Visit Belgium and eat chocolate, visit Italy and Greece and see the ancient beauty, go up to Denmark...