Some Wonderful Memories

I wish I had more time to blog these days but I just don’t.

Surgery on my left wrist is on March 15th and I have some jewelry orders to fill and some stock to get done before then. I’m afraid that I might not be able to hold my tools for about 12 weeks and that leaves me feeling a bit frantic. Funny because I do this because I love doing it. I can be so silly some times.

 

Okay – here’s a couple of pics that I think about often as I look at the weather forecasts and see –34C and colder. Ah! Alberta!

I Wasn't Planning This Post - But Here It Is!

Today I received an email from a friend telling me of her sorrow over the dead baby dolphins washing up on shore. I had not heard or read that news for reasons I will give you a little later on in this post.

During our holidays when my brother and his partner were visiting we drove down to Grand Isle which is southwest of New Orleans and pokes out into the Gulf of Mexico. Once we arrived we found a place to park beside some cottages and walked over the dunes and down to the water's edge. There were a number of strange machines combing the sand - sifting out oil. And this in what used to be a very ritzy summer getaway spot for the idly rich. Now a tourist's spot - sort of.

When we arrived at the water's edge - we stood there and looked at the black water and sand that washed at our feet - in and out - creating a brownish gray foam that looked evil. We could see the oil in the water - underneath and on top of the surface. My stomach not only sank but turned.

Further along the Isle we came to the State Park and we were told we were NOT allowed on the beach due to the clean up. Perhaps we weren't allowed where we had been either but I didn't see any signs. What I did see was how this was not only going to affect the tourism on Grand Isle but also change the shore life of the people who had cottages on stilts or on the dunes that looked out over the Gulf of Mexico. We saw a LOT of signs about BP - signs of hatred and despair. The future of Grand Isle almost looked futile.

It does not surprise me that this is happening. Trying to scream at the machine is only going to rip our throats out in the end.

And now the great breaking news that makes the front pages here and puts this sort of story on page 9. Jennifer Aniston has changed her hairstyle! OMG!!

Home Again - Home Again - Jig Jiggedy Jig

I'm back in the land of cold. Plain and simple.

Today the temp outside is -28C with a windchill factor of -36C. For those of you who don't 'do' Celsius those temps are -18.4F and -32.8F.

This is actually rather balmy compared to the temps we've been having this last week. Think -40C and wonder if there is really any possible reason that would drag you out your front door to spend time frozen to the sidewalk. Nothing? Right. Same here.

We've actually been home a week - in fact a week later than we had originally planned. That huge weather condition that wiped out half of the United States also hit us and we kept trying to get away from it only to have it slap us in the face yet again. The normal 5 day trip took us 13 days. When we finally walked through the front door we couldn't believe that we had actually made it - and safe and sound at that.

At present I am putting the recounting of our trip aside as my thoughts are focused on New Zealand and the horrific news that is coming out of ChristChurch. I have 2 friends in New Zealand - Michelle who writes the blog Mickle's Pickle and lives in Wellington on the North Island and who has let us all know she is safe. And the second is one of our rafting guides who is traveling around New Zealand and was in Queenstown when the quake struck. He let me know he was also safe and informed me he was heading to ChristChurch to try and help out. Didn't surprise me in the least.
I must add here that I have another friend who actually lives in ChristChurch. For some reason - okay let's call it menopause and opium - I completely forgot that Fi from Four Paws and Whiskers lives right in the area we are all focused on. She is safe as well!

Reading the news of Libya and the rest of the world has me wondering what is going on in this world of ours. My mind is churning over our experience in the US where as outsiders we watched a country being torn apart. I must think more on this before I write a post about it.

The biggest question I have at the moment about life on this planet that is ripping itself apart is this:
Why does news of Justin Bieber getting his hair cut warrant a place on the front page??

A Much Needed Break

The Man and I have not had a holiday for two years. He is burnt out from a very stressful job and I am burnt out from watching him get into this state and from Dolly's condition.

I believe it was 6 months ago that The Man handed me 2 tickets to see Celine Dion in Vancouver. He had tried to get tickets for Edmonton which is only a 2 hour drive from here - but they were sold out. So he opted for Vancouver. At the time we didn't know any of this would be going on or those tickets wouldn't have been purchased.

Some of you may ask why we would want to see Celine Dion. The Man goes to watch my face and to see how happy a concert like this makes me. As for me? I admire Ms. Dion greatly. I remember when she was a young girl and they played her first release (in French) on the radio. They said to watch this girl as she was going to go places. I have admired her dedication to her craft and to her husband and now her son. She has gone for what she wanted and she has more than excelled at it. Being Canadian adds to my admiration for we don't have a ton of people in this country who have gone out and shone like Ms. Dion. Then of course there is her ability to sing. She has an incredible set of pipes on her.

We went to see her show in Vegas at Ceasar's Palace and we were both blown away. It was incredible! We didn't know what to expect when we sat down in that unbelievable theater, but I sat there with tears streaming down my face for half of the performance and my mouth open in wonder at the other half. I know she sometimes seems like a hick who is overdoing the emotions - but to watch her face at the end of the show and see how touched she was by our admiration - well.... I believed the tears she had in her eyes were real. Those are hard to fake.

So now that she is touring again we thought it would be neat to see what kind of show she puts on out on the road. We'll be finding out on Tuesday night at the BC Place in Vancouver.

As it works out, my brother is leaving for his two-week holiday on the same day we are leaving for Vancouver. He has 3 cats. Two of them are beautiful Himalayans and of course his cats are his children as well.

So his three cats arrived on Thursday and they will remain here while we go away. My dear friend who lives right down the street and who was my roommate on the hall is going to look after my brother's cats while we take Dolly with us. Bless her soul for her generosity. My friend has such a huge heart and I know she will look after these precious angels like they were her own. Friends like that are hard to find. I remember very well the doctors telling us that making friends with a fellow nutcase is the worst thing in the world to do. We have proved them wrong on so many counts.

As for taking Dolly with us? There is no way I could leave her behind - even with the best of care. I would fall apart being away from her and not knowing how she is doing. Dolly has slept with her head on my pillow and her little furry body spooned into my chest - every single night for 16 years. We both think it's the best part of the day.

I actually got up the nerve to take her to the vet myself on Wednesday. Her problem at the moment is constipation and she is on enough laxatives to clean out a horse. On top of that she needs to be hydrated to give her enough fluids to help move things along and of course it makes her nauseous. I am unable to do something like that. My nerves just won't let me. So The Man went over and got a lesson on how to do it and he has been giving her fluids twice a day and will continue to do so until she poops regularly. Injecting fluids under the skin just makes me nauseous myself.

I was shaking so hard when I took her into the vets and of course it made her shake as well. Even with the xanax that the doctor prescibed for me - well - I'm just getting by.

I've got multiple whammies to deal with concerning this trip. I am terrified of leaving the barn for extended periods of time. I can go out and come back in as long as it is someplace familiar that I am going. If not then I get all panicky and nauseous. So that is one. Dolly's health and the fact that she has never travelled anywhere except to the vets is two. The third is the fact that I won't be able to keep up my production knitting while we travel and that the date of the huge craft shows looms closer by the second.

The only thing that keeps me sort of safe is the fact that we are towing our little house behind us and we can stop at any time and I can go and sit in it. Our little 13 foot trailer is going to be right behind our car and The Man is going to be sitting right beside me and Dolly is going to be on my lap.

Now if all this sounds a bit muddled it's because I didn't sleep last night with the anxiety of it all. Today I have to pack the trailer and prepare food and somehow fit some knitting into my day. I will be taking yarn to work on bears while we drive. We will be picking up my 90 yr. old aunt who lives in Vancouver and taking her over to Vancouver Island and dropping her off at her 79 yr. old brother's. They are the only 2 children left out of 5. We will visit with them both then until Tuesday morning and then we will catch the ferry back to Vancouver and go to the concert. Providing Dolly's health remains stable, we will spend Wednesday just shopping on Robson Street and Granville Island. Then we'll wander back home. It's a minimum 11 hour drive as the crow flies - we'll be taking much longer than that.

All of that sounds lovely doesn't it? You can't imagine how stressed I am over it. Fortunately The Man recognizes that in me and he wraps his arms around me and holds me tight - trying to relieve my anxiety. If I had my druthers - I'd have Ms. Dion give a concert in the barn and I'd be a happy gal.

So all of this to tell you I will be away from blogging for a week.

Plus - I want to thank all of you for your lovely comments and your thoughts about Dolly. I wish I could put into words how much every single comment means to me. Thank you.

Catch you on the flip side!