QR and GOM

Time for me to say goodbye to the year.

What a year it was! Lots of new learnings for me, including so many acronyms I would hear that make me stop and think, “Hey, I don’t even know what that means.”

Lately I was hearing Rebecca and Duncan talk about the QR code.

I had no idea that the small box filled with black and white dots had a name or was an important was to identify products.

So off to google I went to find out the history of that code, and of course to marvel at the magic of human intelligence and how a small idea from someone can make such an impact on packaging and identifying material. I tried to find out what the initials Q and R stood for, but I had to give up that idea and just accept that a QR code is important, and to know why and where it sits on a product.

... guessometer coffee cup ...

My second acronym I learned a couple of days ago: GOM.

I thought Steve was teasing me when he said that it meant guess-o-meter, but again, fact always trumps fiction in the miracle of life’s adventures with words.

What a concept – a good guess at how many more miles an electric car will go on the energy the battery has at the moment.

So here is my goodbye to 2020, a little ahead of the clock.

I may watch that ball fall in New York, or I may watch the old year go out in a good Canadian way, with some concert on Ottawa.

Either way, I am looking forward to 2021.

Thank you, dear reader, for staying with me through 2020.

Arta

I've Got Your Back: - Part II of Taking a Break with Arta

Catherine Jarvis requested the longer story of the ride home to Victoria, so here it is and it comes in two parts.  This is the secoond part:

The Longer Story of the Break / or
The Sunday Road Trip / or
Taking a Break with Arta

December 30, 2020

Part II

Standing in the rain in front of the two dysfunctional EV Station Towers, I had my phone and could see the help number but couldn’t manage to type that number in with one hand. I got back in the car and phoned Steve. While I had planned to withhold this piece of storytelling until my arrival back home, I needed some help finding where the closest EV Station was. There is of course the longer version to tell including his counselling me to just take a few deep breaths and relax at which point I decided it would be unhelpful to continue with the narrative in which I was encountering anxiety related to an inability to figure the problem out, so I determined it was better to make clear to him that the challenge was how to problem solve with only one hand available to me. With this additional piece of information at his disposal, he went into action and phoned back with the address of the next closest station. After circling around the block a few times, we located free charging station at Howard and 4th street and plugged ourselves in. While waiting, I knew it was time for Arta’s pain killer meds and thought that I might take advantage of those as well. What followed was a five-minute Laurel and Hardy Schtick with two desperate one-armed women trying to coordinate their efforts to open one child proof pill bottle of Super Strength Tylenol. Not as easy as one might imagine. 

Or, I encourage this as a party activity.

By now we had to find another bathroom and this time the DQ was fine. We didn’t buy anything. We entered with our masks. I decided I have spent enough money there over the years that this one will have to be called our free visit. Moiya had given us a bag of turkey sandwiches for the road, but now it was too hard to look for them in the packed car and it was getting dark.

We hit the road again. It rained all the way from Hope to Vancouver, but I was just so glad it wasn’t snow. I don’t want to sound like I am doing a car ad, but the Kia was wonderful. It has lane assist, which made one-armed driving so much easier, as well as adaptive cruise control, which means that the car slows down in response to the cars ahead of you. By this time my left arm hurt too much to be able to use the turn indicator, so I just stayed in the slow lane and let my one arm do the job.

We arrived at the ferry terminal 20 minutes ahead of the next sailing and with no line-ups. Yay! When I bought the ticket the ferry person told me that the boat was very low occupancy, so that was encouraging. We could have stayed in the car, but by this time, I was too cold, so we masked up and headed to the main deck where there was plenty of room to sit in a socially distant way from others. I plugged into a book on tape to distract myself and pulled out my last bag of mini-jelly beans. Arta did a couple of laps to keep her body limber and spent some time in the gift shop where there were no other patrons.

By 9:15 pm we were back home again. The two boys unloaded the car and I asked Steve to just to drop me off at Emergency Department at the hospital. I took 3 little blue fleecy blankets with me because I know that Arta spent four hours in the Salmon Arm Emergency when she went in with her broken shoulder. Arta had reported her pain at 5. She always under reports her pain level. I reported mine at 7, which I knew was accurate.

I told Steve I would cab it home when I was finished.

It ended up being a much quicker visit than anticipated. The hard part were the screening questions. I walked in with my mask on to encounter the first sanitizing station. By this time, my arm was really killing me. I had only had one little cry and this was after Alex came to hug me at the front door before I could signal to him that my arm was hurt. That bear hug of love did kind of push me over the edge. But I did hold the tears off until I was out of the house. At the hospital they asked me to first sanitize my hands. By this time, I was holding the sore arm up over my head in a protective mode and couldn’t figure out how to get the pump mobilized to apply the sanitizer in a hone handed way.

Oh, back to the DQ. As a note, when we had gone to the bathroom here we had learned that 2 people can wash their hands if one person holds the pump and then the 2 people use the soap to wash each other’s hands. But at the hospital, I was uncertain how to do this. The woman just asked me to do as best as I could so I used the elbow of one hand to operate the pump and then drizzled sanitizer on the top of the fingers of the other hand. Then came the screening questions:

1. Had I been off the island? I told her no, I had not. I had just been to the Interior to fetch my mother and bring her back to Victoria. The screening nurse then called across the room, yes, she had been off the island and then moved me directly to speak to the other screening nurse.

2. When I told them I had fallen hitting my head and my hand, they did the blood eye-ball pressure tests and immediately made me a mini-splint for my arm: a piece of plastic she unrolled, laid my arm on and then rewrapped it.

Then they had an x-ray requisition form available within minutes. They moved me immediately off to the x-ray room where I was the only person, was called into the lab within 5 minutes, and was returned to the ambulatory area. I was happy to have my blankets which made the chairs significantly more comfortable. Within 5 minutes they had called me again and placed me in another room, which said Casting; I was pretty sure the x-ray had sown a break. Five minutes after that Dr. Kelly showed up. She told me I had a radial styloid fracture. At first, I thought she said a stylish fracture and I was happy about that. She told me that unfortunately, I would need a cast, but that I would happily be able to choose the colour. How is that for glass-half-full thinking?

Courtney, she told me, would be in to help me momentarily. When Courtney arrived another 5 minutes later, I recognized her as one of the nurses I had seen in the intake area, because of the 2 marvellous tattoo sleeves on both of her arms. She asked me what colour I wanted. I asked if black was available and she said yes, it was. She said it was a good colour for hiding dirt, unless you are an alcoholic, suggesting it is harder to wash the bile off the black, for it turns red.

As she began the process of casting she asked me what I did for work. I told her I worked at the Law School and then she asked me if I had anything to do with the Indigenous Law Programme. I told her that I was just beginning work on a Trans-Systemic Business Associations Class for next year and she asked me if I knew Shayla Praud. I told her I did, since Shayla had just worked with my colleague Dr. John Borrows, O.C., on a report on Indigenous economies.

She went on to tell me Shayla was one of her cousins and how proud everyone in the family was that she was in the programme. She then went on to speak passionately about why the programme just wasn’t a benefit to the students in it, but was important for all Canadians and it was going to change the world. And she went on that it was time all Canadians understood the kind of racism that is currently present in our systems. That was unexpected, but also l loved to think about the JID programme being a source of conversation within the BC Health Care System.

By this time Steve had already arrived to pick me up. This was the shortest emergency department event I have ever had.

Now I have a lovely cast. 

I forgot to ask for pain meds, but telehealth came through the following morning. Thank you, Steve. The colour of the bump on my nose has been spreading out and I am developing a bit of a black eye. The bump on the head is settling down and it is still unclear to me how my face plant also gave me back scratches. It seems every muscle in my body really hurts.

Arta and I have our matching blue slings, our broken left arms and the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune have treated us rather well. No head injuries. No broken legs.

Life is good, especially while the T-3’s last. I would never have believed that I have the capacity to drive 7 hours with a broken wrist. I don’t precisely mean to say that that was on my bucket list. At least I can say, it is something I have now done.

Rebecca

I've Got Your Back: - Part I of Taking a Break with Arta

Catherine Jarvis requested the longer story of the ride home to Victoria, so here it is and it comes in two parts.  This is the first part:

The Longer Story of the Break / or
The Sunday Road Trip / or
Taking a Break with Arta

December 29, 2020

After 2 weeks in the Interior, Arta and I were ready for the return trip to Victoria. We had practiced getting her in and out of the car without pain, as well as learning how to put on the seat belt so that only the lap belt was engaged and the shoulder strap could go behind Arta’s head, rather than across her broken shoulder. So that was part of what was holding us there at Annis Bay. If you can’t get in and out of the car, there will be no going home to Victoria.

The car was loaded up and the house shut down, or closed up for the season. Moiya brought us sandwiches for the road. Glen and David Wood had ploughed out the driveway. The day before, I tried to drive out but I couldn’t get enough traction to get up the hill from the large snowfall. Our water had stopped running as well, so I was melting large buckets of snow on the stove. (Five ice cream buckets of snow melts into one pan of water on the stove.) But now the electric car was charged up and we hit the road.

We arrived at Merritt with 70 kilometers left on the battery. I will confess that I had been a bit worried, wishing I had stopped at Kamloops for a bit more power, but the final approach to Merritt was all downhill so we arrived at Merritt with plenty of power. On the trip out here, I had arrived at the lake with exactly 000 on my GOM (guess-o-meter) and steve, who was following my progress on his phone app (since i was driving his car), was freaking out.  After running it that close to the line, i felt i should be commended.

I knew we would have a 45-minute wait at Merrett to charge up before crossing the Cocquihalla (the  formerly toll road through the mountains built in 1986). But we had been watching to see that condition across the Cocquihalla would be good. According to the forecast, it looked like Sunday would be the best day. I was also wanting to drive it during daylight hours. The prelude to our stopover in Merritt coincided with Zoom Church with the Jarvis family. So, we phoned into Montreal from the car to listen in. They had 2 great questions for their lesson.

Question 1: 2020 has been a year that we have spent in large measure "socially distanced." How can we close those gaps in 2021? What will you do in 2021 to be less socially distanced from others? 

Question 2: What lesson did you learn in 2020? What words of wisdom can you share with others about surviving a pandemic?

Everyone from the oldest to the youngest shared their answers to the 2 questions. The first invited us to reflect on ways we had managed to stay connected with people during a time of social distancing.

The second invited us to imagine advice we would give to our grandchildren, 100 years in the future, about strategies for thriving during a pandemic. 

We had a lovely time listening to the thoughts of others and we pulled up to the charging station just as the phone call was ending.

With the car fully charged and Zoom church over we headed off. Steve phoned in to the car as soon as he saw we were driving again. We updated him on our progress as I headed off to the highway and I was reminded that I often can’t do 2 things as the same time and one of them is to remember which direction I am actually going. Thus, I took that turn off back to Kamloops instead of going onto Vancouver. The moment I made that choice I had a flashback of doing the same thing while driving with Duncan and Ben and I knew I had a 32-kilometer drive ahead of me before I had the opportunity to turn around.

Curses.

Thirty- two kilometres up the mountain and 32 kilometers back down. I knew this would mean stopping in Merritt again to fill the car back up to make sure I had power enough to get through the mountains and back to the other side. I knew this would add another hour to our time in total. We have a rule on our road trips. There are no mistakes, only detours, so I did try to hold the increasing anxiety I was feeling at bay, trusting that we still had adequate daylight hours ahead of us.

... the eye continues to blacken ...

We had already taken a bathroom break the first time we stopped in Merritt.

And we had successfully negotiated the ritual of getting in and out of the car and safely negotiated the icy parking lot to the gas station bathroom, so on this 2nd trip, Arta stayed in the car and I decided a coffee ritual would be good for my driving.

I headed into the gas station with my supersized Tim Horton’s mug and made the worst possible health choice: the super syrupy English Toffee Coffee Beverage.

I paid and headed back to the car, coffee in one hand, wallet in the other. And then the moment of choice: shall I take one more bathroom break.

Something in the switch of my eyes from the car to the bathroom door on the right led me to a miscalculation involving ice and the curb.

Down I went.

The Tim Horton’s mug managed to provide a cushiony barrier between my head and the sidewalk, dosing me from head to lower chest with warm syrupy, wet deliciousness. Yes, my first words rhymed with ruckedy, rucking, ruckity, ruckiness. I was astonished both by the volume of my expression and the creativity even for me of my conjugation of that famous f-verb. I am sure there were also past particles and subjunctives in the string of words as well. 

I guess I could add that the fall was somewhat painful and I was conscious that my left wrist particularly took a solid blow.

I rolled to a seated position on the ground but I was not yet able to stand. I was approached my someone who worked at the gas station who wanted to check on me and who offered to give me a free refill on my coffee. Two people were there, both with masks. 

The woman who stopped to help me looked somewhat familiar to me, from the nose up to the extent it is possible to recognize people in face masks times. I could see she was wearing a jacket emblazoned with the Secwépemc Elder’s Council logo. Her name was Esther. I didn’t catch her last name. She works for one of the Court Assistance Programs in Merritt and had a granddaughter going to UVic. I told her I was working on the Secwépemc law projects and we both agreed we had met at some gathering. She washed out my mug for me, though I was prepared to throw it away since the meeting of my head with the mug had knocked the handle off. I wanted to throw it away, but she told me it could still be useful. That left me too embarrassed to throw it out, so into the car with me it went. She also brought me some wet paper towels so I could wash off some of the syrupy mess dripping off of my face. I thanked her and returned to the car which was still charging. 

While it is generally a 2-hand-job to attach the electrical charger, my left arm did not feel useful, but I successfully detached the charger with one hand. I took off my coat before getting in the car to throw it in the back seat, since it was still dripping with coffee. 

I said to Arta, “So did you see any of that,” and she said, “See what?” She indicated she was only surprised by how wet I looked and had wondered if I had taken a shower inside the gas station. My head was soaking wet. I don’t know if there is any way to capture that.

So, we headed off again.  Take Two, this time involving the correct turn off towards Vancouver and the Cocquihalla. As we drove, I filled Arta in on a few of the details so we could strategize options. At this point I could see a massive contusion around my wrist and I was pretty sure I had broken something. I was also pretty sure I didn’t have any pathway forward, except for forward. I momentarily contemplated us taking a hotel room in Merritt, but Arta has spent the last 3 weeks sleeping in a medical recliner chair and I knew there were 3 more such weeks ahead of us. It would be difficult to move her into a lying position on a bed. To do that I would need both arms. I thought about going to the hospital in Merritt but knew that if I did that, we may wait 4 or 5 hours and it would be difficult to get us through the pass, so I decided to keep going, and take advantage of the daylight hours.

Warning: Partial Nudity
(with consent)
If Rebecca took a faceplant,
then how is it that she has large scratches
on her back that went through her ski jacket?

The scariest moment in the fall was if I had broken my glasses when I smashed my face on the ground for then I would not have been able to drive. My glasses were crooked but not broken. By now I had a contusion on my forehead, a black and blue nose, skinned knuckles on one hand and a large swelling at the wrist of my left hand.

The Cocquihalla Road.

In the Coquihalla, the weather was clear though it was a bit slushy. 

I kept myself a solid 20 kilometers under the speed limit, pretending I was a truck. 

I also suspected that I had sufficient adrenalin in my body that the pain would hit later, so I could take advantage of the adrenalin -- which was true. 

I was also conscious of not wanting to drive off the highway and take my mother and me out in a fiery ball of death. 

I was pretty sure that would leave my siblings very mad at me.

Throughout the drive we knew that the next stop would be Hope, which is always ironic. We did stop in Hope to recharge. That was more frustrating. Plugging in the car with one arm was a challenge, though I figured out how to wrap the chord around my shoulder to assist me, credit card tucked into my bra. By this time, it was raining, but my syrupy soaked wet coat was in the back seat and I thought it would hurt too much to negotiate my arm back into it. So, I hooked in the electric, got back in the car, and about one minute into the charge, I could see the message on the tower reading, Charging Stopped. Assuming I hadn’t pushed the charger in hard enough, I hopped out to restart the process. Within one minute it gave me the message, Tower Failed. So I disconnected the charger, hopped back in the car, backed up and moved over to the next station and tried again with a new machine. Again, I got the message, Tower Failed. There was a number inviting me to call Petro Canada to tell them that the tower was out of order. But I was finding it a challenge to use my phone with one hand while standing in the rain. I think by this time, some of the adrenalin had worn off because I had quite a bit of shaking in my body, so I got back in the car, and phoned Steve. 

I had not planned to tell him about falling until I got home because he tends to get panicky if I get hurt. Why worry someone if there is nothing they can do? But I did phone him to tell him to find me the address of the next closest charging station. I had tried for this information inside the Petro Canada station but the attendant had no idea.

(to be continued)

Preparing for the Drive over the Coquihalla Highway

Rebecca and I took two days to pack, once we knew I was ready to be able to do the drive to Vancouver Island.  

She had packed quickly coming here, so it was easy for her to grab those things but leaving also required cleaning out two fridges, taking out the last of the compost, turning down the thermostats, locking the doors (and checking them twice), collecting the black bag garbage, the things that everyone does once they know they won’t be returning for a while. 

David Wood is going to take back the rented chair lift and turn off the water to the house – once again he comes to our aid helping with the last details.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the fall and early winter at the lake, watching the leaves fall from the deciduous trees, seeing the larch tree lose its needles, watching the steady flow of the water in the creek, seeing the blackberry vines, now leafless, lifeless, bent in large hoops, twisted around each other. I thought about cutting them, and circling them into vine wreaths, and then I remembered those spines are still on the stalks. 

They can stay there until I find a way to burn the lifeless vines in the spring.

I can’t say how much I have enjoyed September through Christmas in this spot – my first time ever and every day has been a wonder. 

Watching nature, such a gift to circumvent the downside of Covid!

Arta

FOOSH - Fall On Out Stretched Hand

Rebecca's eye is beginning to blacken
from the fall on her glasses.  Oher minor
injuries are occurring as well:-
scratches on her back, knee and left arm,
pulled muscles, too much to document!
pulled muscles, 

My friend, Ria Meronek, sends Rebecca some information her break.

~~~~~ 

Chauffeur fractures (also known as Hutchinson fractures or backfire fractures) are intra-articular fractures of the radial styloid process. These injuries are sustained either from direct trauma typically a blow to the back of the wrist or from forced dorsiflexion and abduction.

The former accounts for its name; trying to start an old-fashioned car with a hand crank sometimes resulted in the crank rapidly spinning backward (backfire) out of the driver's grasp and striking the back of the wrist.

As well, a FOOSH injury is short for Falling On the Out Stretch Hand.

Ria

Obituary for Jim McLellan

 

Mine will not be the only tears shed on learning of the passing of Jim McLellan. 

I cried on learning of his passing.  

I double cried on reading the obituary which can be found can be found in the Calgary Herald or at

https://calgaryherald.remembering.ca/obituary/james-mclellan-1081323824

The Zoom funeral is planned for Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 10:30am MST.

Arta

A Seasonal Break

Hi all, (Steve being the scribe for Rebecca)

Arta & Rebecca are back in Victoria and settling back into their respective routines.

However, Rebecca broke the Word of Wisdom on the Sabbath and stopped at Merritt, B.C., (for the second time after charging up and then quickly getting back on the highway going back to Kamloops rather than forward to Vancouver), for a syrupy English Toffee coffee.

The combination of ice and a curb lead to a face-plant.

Rebecca managed the drive home but the fall did result in a radial styloid fracture of her left wrist. 

The emergency crew at the Royal Jubilee Hospital offered her a choice of colours for her cast; black of course, as black goes with everything.

Now Arta and Rebecca have matching blue slings and will be shopping for some arrows in the near future (obscure Shakespearean reference). 

So the prognosis is between 4 – 6 weeks of healing, although the black and blue nose should fair a bit sooner. 

Humiliation achieved along with embarrassing every sailor within earshot with a masterful string of cursing. First to offer assistance was a women  from the Secwepemc Elders Counsel.

Arta missed seeing the main event but did question Rebecca as to why at this time did she decide to take a shower in the truck stop.

No water, all coffee (along with the sweet sugar).

The sugar did a wonder for her hair and reminded her of the scene from ‘Something About Marry’.

Moral: watch out if you break the Word of Wisdom on a Sunday, it might just return the favour.

Getting my voice back

Out on Facebook, Fred Leewenburgh wrote a comment on Rebecca's page, when she remarked that Arta and she were still at the Lake, while her broken shoulder was getting stabilized for travel.  He said:

-------

Did you know your Mom gave me my voice back?

One time when I came over for a visit I was singing to myself. She called out from the other room, "who has that rich/nice baritone I hear". 

This was an amazing thing for me to hear. 

Why? 

Because when I was in grade 4 music class the teacher asked for volunteers to sing. I volunteered. Afterwards the "music teacher" said that I could not sing and that I should never sing in public again.

From that time on I never tried to sing again in any kind of formal setting including church choirs. In church I would sing but generally rather quietly. I did however sing to myself or along with the radio if I was alone. 

To hear Arta say that I had a rich/nice baritone voice gave me such a boost that I began to be more confident in my singing. I knew that she was talented in music and her opinion was valued. While I did not go on to be a "great singer" she gave me the confidence to sing out loud. Later as I grew older I would practice singing while driving between Calgary and Edmonton. I would put in a cd and try to sing as close as I could to the performer, often hitting the repeat button numerous times. 

Much later I was chatting with a friend who was exceptionally talented musically. She could sing and play the piano. She was talking about how quite a few people would ask her to play for them for a musical number in church. During that conversation she made the offhand remark that she would sing a duet with me. I took that as a compliment and more proof that my 4th grade so called music teacher was neither musical or a teacher.

Please thank Arta for her remark. I never thanked her for that boost she gave me .

Bird Watching - the House Finch

 

House Finch
Carpodacus mexicanus

I stopped to watch a flock of bird feeding on the white berries of the snowberry bushes that are in our backyard garden. The birds stayed together in a flock perching on on the shrubs there. 

The red-streaked plumage on the breast and heads of the mature males is what caught my eye, bright flashes of colour on the rust branches that swayed a bit as the birds lit on them.  At first I only saw one -- then three, seven, nine -- so well camouflaged.

During Covid-19 I am learning to be mindful of what is around me.  I suspect I will try to gather more names of the birds who pause in our backyard, my nod to increased sociability with the birds.

Arta

National Theatre and Dick Whittington

From Rebecca 

Perfect thing to do tonight, if you are looking for relaxed family fun.

Go to you tube / national theatre / Dick Whittington 

Click on their link to watch a short video about panto (which is largely men in frocks, and lots of layered fun).

Or even better watch the 2 hour show.

Great costumes, very slapstick humour, you can play along (ie. boo at the bad rat character), sing songs you recognize, and play “spot all the ribald puns and double entendres). A perfect lavish and gender-non-binary evening!

See Guardian Review

I think the show is on until the 27th.

Rebecca

Imagining Christmas Dinner

At another home one of the Christmas meals
will be deer from Alberta's foothills.

Moiya phoned today.

She said she is cooking a turkey for Christmas, and wondered if Rebecca and Bonnie could drop by to plate up three platters of food for us to take home, since it is a COVID-19 Christmas for 2020 and we won’t be eating together.

One of Bonnie or Rebecca will drive down with our plates, enjoy the smells of Moiya’s house, mound food on the white platters, and bring them home.

The china is from Belgium from the days when Wyona would bring home European treasures for us.

These were $1.00 per dish.

Of course, I am looking forward to Moiya’s meal.

It is a Christmas first.

I have been thinking about other Christmas dinners.

I may have cooked 60 of them so far.

Some have been on the elaborate end of meal making.

One of them may have been a turkey, some mashed potatoes, some gravy, and some frozen vegetables steamed and buttered.

It is good to know that capacity to cook can change over the years.

I will be thinking about Moiya all day Thursday, getting the turkey ready, the potatoes peeled ahead of time and turkey dressing made.

I know she has already gone to town and I am trying to ease myself into the belief that it is OK to take advantage of all the work she is doing. I would rather stand beside her in the kitchen helping or offering to bring buns. This year I am happy to be the grateful receiver of her 2020 Christmas Dinner.

Arta

A Snow Globe

It started to snow again today.

I opened my eyes, looking outside, remembering again that I am surrounded by windows, and I had this feeling that I have had before; I am inside a snow globe!

I have loved those snow globes ever since I was little. I picked one up a few weeks ago at President’s Choice.

It was in the space where there were small toys, 5 for $10.

I shook the globe a couple of times, and then picked up a small toy, a wooden beaded animal sitting on a pedestal.

The kind where if you push a button on the bottom, the strings collapse, bringing the animal into a seated/downward position. When you release your thumb, it pops back up to a standing position.

I put 4 of those and one snow globe into my cart, and continued to walk up and down the aisles of Christmas decorations. I didn’t need to be there at all, except I had accompanied Bonnie to a medical appointment and I had nothing to do for an hour.

But the time I had finished my Christmas shopping, I knew to return to that aisle to put the snowglobe and the animals back: they had reminded me of Christmases long ago, and this Christmas I will not be surrounded by little ones.

So those toys should go to other homes, not mine.

It was fun to think about that as I was sitting in the chair, watching the snow fall all around me through the windows.

That feeling that I was the subject of the snow globe.

I wondered if the snow was falling in Cornwall, Montreal, St. Albert, Lethbridge, Calgary?

A phone call from Duncan let us know that it was, indeed, falling in Victoria.

David Camps-Johnson came out to the lake today.

He told his mom he wanted to come and walk around the property for the day.

He was amazed at the work done on lots 3 and 4.

Last year, he cleared a small path between the two lots so that branches and vines did not whip the legs of Betty, Alice and Michael as they ran back and forth between the two cabins.

David loofed at the clearing and said “Well that was a waste of my energy last summer, because now there is not even a hint of my path, let alone groves of trees having been there.”

He was amazed at the different look between the two yards, and he looked at all the stones that are piled and ready to be moved – moving some of them.

I am amazed at the tones as well. I see them around the telephone pole and the two larch trees where they have been gathered.

They need to be moved to their final resting place. The job looks absolutely daunting to me, and yet I know that, in a couple of years, all that area will be grassed and mowed, and look as if it always existed that way.

At any rate, Bonnie and David Camps wandered up to David and Shawna Pilling’s house, and took a lot of pictures along the way. David brought out his own hamburger, telling his mother, there is no use going through the fast food when we can just buy some beef, and have a better hamburger at Grandmothers.

During the course of the afternoon, Rebecca introduced David to the movie “Pulp Fiction”, telling him it was a classic movie, one that all teens should be familiar with. She hung out in the kitchen with him, as they watched on the computer screen. She coached him along the way, telling him that the movie was comprised of small vignettes which would pull themselves together as they approach the climax of the movie.

It is a long movie (well over 2 hours), and before he went home, I sat in the room with David and Rebecca while he tried to answer 10 questions for 10 dollars. This is always such a draw, this 10 dollars. I felt I could see David working it out in his head (how much will go into his bank account, if he can watch a movie a day at this rate and be paid for it). He said if I had known there were questions at the end, I would have paid attention in a different way. He did head to google for one quick piece of information (the title of the book was Travolta reading on the toilet?), and then the David and Rebecca threw questions back and forward, laughing at the difficulty or simplicity of the questions. The answers were present either way. I have seen Pulp Fiction twice. For me, it is not a memorable movie. I can’t even think the of the name of the genre to which it belongs. 

Rebecca suggests: hyper-real-Kungfu-influenced-gangster-pulp-inappropriate-drug/mob culture genre.

Arta

Fairy Houses

I heard there were some fairy houses in the woods in Annis Bay. I took photos of a few I noticed, as well as a few spots that seem welcoming should any new fairies plan to take up residence. I'm glad I got my walk in before the snow started covering the forest yesterday.

Cheese

About 10 years ago, Richard told me that he had been interested in the number of cheeses that are produced, buying many of them from the Springbank Cheese Company on the corner of 14th Street and 24th Avenue.

I had stopped in there myself, buying the gourmet cheeses and there are a lot of expensive cheeses there. 

At the same time, Richard was beginning to shop at Costco, and he told me that in his experience, cheese was 1/3 cheaper at Costco, not the infinite variety as the Cheese Company, but as he was trying to prioritize his budget, he would buy his cheese at Costco (especially if there were a coupon also involved). 

He must have planted that idea deep in my psyche, as I began to spend more time in the cheese aisle on my trips to Costco.

This was especially useful around Christmas time, and I was starting to get quite the collection of cheeses, which meant I could easily pull together an interesting cheese tray.

I kept buying cheeses, even when the holiday season passed, and even though I don’t particularly like cheese.

I did notice that when Betty would come over to my house, and I would tell her I was all out of snacks, she would tell me, “No, you already have lots of snacks!”, and she would open the fridge and pull out cheese with a bright smile on her face, as if to remind me that I had forgotten that I did have snacks available. 

So, the two of us would often have little cheese parties. 

A few days ago, Rebecca looked in my fridge and said, “What is up with all this cheese? Don’t you buy anything else?!”

Last night I did peer in there, and I could find the following: Forest Farm-Coastal Rugged Mature, BeeMaster Gouda, Merlot-infused Bellavitano, Castello Harvarti, Castello Extra Creamy Danish Blue, Squeekers Cheese Curds.

And there is also a big block of Armstrong Yellow Cheddar in the fridge, since Moiya had called and said it was on sale for only $20 (why would I say No).

As well, there are 6 packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I always think I will make those up into cheesecake, but instead, I slice them longitudinally and roll them in cracked black pepper, and reroll them from someone who might come by for a cheese snack.

There is also a big tub of feta cheese, but surely that is something everyone has in their fridge.

We have been trying to use up products in the fridge in preparation for leaving for Victoria. So, we have been having very high-end grilled cheese sandwiches.

As well, Mary has given me the idea that poutine does not have to be made from low-end cheese curds: any cheese is possible.

I haven’t seen the buying of a cheese as a hobby, really.

It is just that it is hard to pass by cheese that has a coupon attached. In fact, I have found it very satisfying.

Arta

Merry Christmas from Dan and Marina Wood

 

2020 of course has been different for everyone. Our family has been very blessed through this all. Dan was able to keep working through all the closures and the kids and I still love each other even through French school online! Not knowing French and trying to help kids learn it was quite the stretch! 

We were able to spend More time at the FARM and More time at Shuswap so really it was a glorious year. We certainly missed our family in Idaho, Utah and Washington and hope to be reunited next year with them! 

As you see in the photo we also got a “quarantine dog”. She is a border collie, we named her Keno and she has been the best “Mexico trip” (because of Covid our flights were cancelled so we got a dog instead) EVER! These kids have been BEGGING for a dog since they could talk (especially Autumn!) And they actually kept all their promises of taking care of her. So far she been an amazing addition to the family! 

AUTUMN started HIGHSCHOOL in Grade 9 at LCI and without sports she is spending her free time training her dog!!! 

OWEN is at Gilbert Paterson in Grade 7 and started football this year since there was no volleyball, he let me know after his first game he would not be returning to volleyball. He LOVED football and had a great experience playing this year! 

REGGIE is in his last year of Elementary School in Grade 5. Since he can’t participate in sports he has memorized ALL the stats for NBA & NFL players. 

OSCAR is in Grade 3 this year. His goal at the beginning of the year was to be more funny and he has definitely accomplished it! This kid is not only sweet and handsome but hilarious too! 

PEPPER is in Grade 2! That is crazy my baby is that old. She keeps up with everyone and is always the one to remind her brothers about their masks every morning! She might have a little bit of her Mother’s bossiness! We feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and family to keep in touch with. We LOVE YOU and PRAY that you can FEEL OUR SAVIOUR’s LOVE all year round! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dan and Marina Wood

Mary's Request - Glass Pictures

Mary asked for details or close ups on Moiya's churches thrift store find.  We looked at the underside and found the name of the artist.  Moiya will have to post that here.  I think it was the PO Box of someone on the Prairies.  Maybe she will do a few closeups as well.  This is all I took with my camera.

Missing the Jarvis House at Christmas -- Making Gingerbread Houses

 I asked Rhiannon what they'd like to do to get into the Holiday spirit.  They said, "I miss Aunt Cathy and my cousisn.  Can we make gingerbread houses."

This is something we've done many years at Cathy's in Montreal. And when I say "we" I mean Cathy makes all the gingerbread and pre-assembles it so the cousins just get to sit down and decorate.

And so, I started making the ginger bread pieces. 

I made enough for three small houses -- one for each kid in my house.

Then I was going to make a big house for Leo and I to decorate.  But Rhiannon wanted to be the architect and construction worker for the big one -- which they decided needed a lobby area and stainglass windows.

Nest Step: Assembly.  Harder than it looks. This is the point where the kids all agreed that it was way easier doing gingerbread houses at Aunty Cathy's -- pre-assembled.

Now take a close look at the first photo and tell me what is missing in the next photo

Wait for it, wait for it...  if you guessed the door, you are right!!  Now can you guess where the door ended up?

Even though I had pushed all the houses into the middle of the table so the dogs couldn't reach them, Gryphon still managed to get his paws on the table, use his extenda-neck, and reach that door with his tongue and manouver it off the table.  

Lucky beagle.

Stay tuned for Part II -- decorating.

Lethbridge Wildlife

 I never get sick of seeing deer in the city here in Lethbridge.  

This morning I walked out of my house with my two dogs and looked up and saw this. A young Mule buck -- or as I have learned to call them from Richard, a mulie. Can you spot him in this photo with the sun shining in your eyes?

The dogs started barking and lunging like crazy.  So of course I tried to fish my phone out of my pocket and get some nice pictures of the event.

The mulie didn't move until we started to walk past him.  Then he did one of those crazy cartoon departures, spring/hopping off with all four feet off the ground. 

What Candy Can You Make with Honey?

 We were gifted a veeeeeery large bucket of honey from a friend of Leo's (probably 2-3 litres).  His parents are getting older and trying to work their way through some of their food storage.  I think they may have a oil barrel full of honey in their basement. Nice dark, intense flavoured honey. Anyway, that is another story.

This story is about Naomi remembering we have that bucket of honey and deciding to make honey toffee to gift her friends this holiday season.  She looked up a recipe, then asked me if we had a candy thermometre.  We did not, but I went right out to Bulk Barn and bought her one.

I told her if she needed help, I knew a little bit about making caramels and toffees. She didn't want help so I left her to it.

She didn't need my help at all.  Perfect soft toffee the first time she tried.  Must be in her genes.

I have never made toffee by just boiling down honey.  It is intense --  like maple taffy.  But oh, so delicious.

She also decided to try making honey sponge toffee.  I think she's going to need to boil it to a little higher temperature next time.  It's pretty sticky (I almost pulled a tooth out eating it).  But still delicious.  Love the flavour that little bit of baking soda gives this candy.