Among the missing??

It has been busy here, sort of.  I'm still not able to blog on my laptop, so have to find time when David isn't using his.

Yes, I have heard of the Hooded Merganser--a very pretty and distinctive duck. Ducks and geese all over the place around here--and we don't have a lake!  Where are you staying in Pinawa, Cathy?  At Wilderness Edge?  My memory of that is a nice place that has seen better days, but the food was good, especially the desserts.  I'll be spending the weekend of May 10& 11 in Pinawa attending a mixed media workshop, but will be staying with a friend.

This week I have had a terrible time trying to sleep.  So I have been dealing with those appointments I have and then napping, as it seems to reach the point of lay down or fall down.  My little quilting group met on Wednesday, which is three hours of constant vigilance, as my ladies work on their own projects, but I have to keep watching to make sure they  don't get in trouble.  Thursday we ran a lot of small errands, paying bills etc, & "between pay day" grocery shopping.  Friday I had scheduled a day of indulgence, and went in for a manicure, pedicure and facial.  After not sleeping well, the night before, I was in a bit of a fog the whole time, only made worse as the whole process is designed to help you relax and "zone out".  Saturday, I was out at the gallery in Selkirk, and then Amber took us out for supper.  Now what all this means is that I get up, have breakfast, and then head out the door.  You can imagine what the kitchen is looking like, and I still haven't finished the laundry from Friday.  Thank Goodness for the meals I have in the freezer.  One of the errands was picking up the two books on the Tarot, that I had ordered from the library.  I have read of a lady who makes $$$ with art based on the Tarot, and we recently read some books that referred to the Tarot.  I thought I would try to research some of the symbolism involved.  Cathy, didn't you say that Keri is familiar with the Tarot?

Lately, David and I have taken to asking each other, at bedtime, if we have had a good day.  This has lead me to thinking about how we measure a "good" day.  I imagine each individual person has their own system.  This week, David got to see a John Wayne marathon, including some movies from the very early 30's.  Yesterday we saw pelicans on the river amongst the ice flows.  I got my spa day.  We saw, and talked with Amber.  More small things than big things.   In the end, it seems to be becoming a satisfying ritual to actual pause for a moment, at bedtime, and say "This has been a good day".  Any thoughts?

What a week

Ever had one of those weeks that you just can't figure out what happened?  On Good Friday I did something to my foot. I have no idea what, but it became quite swollen from the instep back, and up the side.  I went to the clinic on Monday and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong either.  I saw the Dr. on call, and he asked another dr. to come in and check me out.  They eliminated a number of things and decided that they would treat me with anti inflamatory and see what happened.  I got crutches for a week, but I found them hard to walk with.  The swelling has gone down a lot, but there is still a large lump on my foot.  I am trying to walk normally, but I keep walking on the side of my toes, which causes the rest of my foot to hurt.  Unfortunately, in the midst of all of this, Jim hurt his back, so I had to take care of the "poor baby".  How come women are not allowed to hurt as much as men?  I did take Friday off work, but I didn't rest my foot as much as I wanted to.  I will finish my pills and see how my foot feels then.  Oh, and yeah!  The crutches hurt my shoulder, which I was already on medication for.  I just can't win!  We go to Pinawa next weekend for the ACT Festival.  Everything is already paid for, except any alcohol we drink on Saturday at the banquet.  The room is being held by credit card, but ACT will reimburse us for almost $200 of that cost.  The room rate of $129 per person for the whole weekend includes our breakfasts and lunches and evening snacks.  I am not sure who is taking care of the animals while we are gone.  Jim asked Rodney, but I am not sure if he said yes or no.  His daughter has a volleyball tournament in Brandon, but I think he said they are coming home every night.  If that fails, Rrain said she would do it.   I have a Union meeting tomorrow in Brandon.  Jim is driving me in, and we are stopping at Walmart on our way home.  New underwear !!!!  Yippee!!! (How sad is that :)  )  He is going to go to the "gun store" while I am at the meeting.  The snow has finally dropped here.  All that is left is the remains of the large drifts  I even found my garden yesterday and started to look at what I am planting.  Tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, maybe garlic, and my "eating" garden..... peas, beans and cucumbers.  I will see what survived in my herb garden, but I think I will be starting over with that one.  We threw away our swimming pool last fall and were going to get a small one, but now Jim is having second thoughts.  We will see what Walmart has when we are there.  Have a great week

Hooded merganser

Ever heard of this duck? I spotted a strange duck at the lake the other day - never seen it before and there was only one swimming in the shallow waters now open around the shore.  Had a white plume at top of head similar to an Iroquois hair cut.  I told my friend Sue about it and she sent back some pictures of this particular merganser and it looks like a match. I haven't spotted it since but I'm on the lookout now. Wondering if it is off it's normal migration path and has lost his buddies?
I enjoyed my Luncheon yesterday with Sue and of course she came bearing gifts for my Birthday. She keeps me in good standing with my Owl collection. She says she wanders about in her excursions and spots different Owls and always says "they were calling your name Beth" so buys them. She had about four different Owls wrapped up in a gift bag. A notepad, a package of serviettes, a candle holder and a solar light for the garden. I felt spoiled! Once the ground warms up, I shall place the solar ornament in my Herb Garden that I made last year. Can hardly wait.  It was a very pleasant outing for me, and I look forward to the next visit with all the others on June 21 at the same Swiss Chalet restaurant in Huntsville. There will be five of us on this occasion - one of whom I have not seen since I left the CCAC in 2007.  Today as soon as it warms up - still hovering around freezing mark with a sharp wind - it will be greenhouse work. I have to make space for more transplanted pots but the shelves are so full, it may be a challenge. The snow is almost gone in our yard - some piles of ice and snow in sheltered areas but if this nicer weather holds up, it should melt soon enough. And if the rains hold off, I shouldn't have big worries with water? so all is good.  How are things there? Take care for now.  ps the issue with blue underlined words is on this end and I am still not sure what. When you put curser on the word a pop up comes up saying something about Spyware? Maybe this computer is infected somehow?

Just testing the spelling icon as suggested.

No, apparently the icon was not on, but the blue underlined words are still in my blog page. I guess no harm is done as everything seems to work otherwise and I'll just ignore the coloured prose. Bye for now

So, another week begins...

...it was fun having a little celebration to break our persistent weather woes, so thanks to Easter for coming our way.  Raining here right now but on the mild side today at plus 10 or so, so quite nice. I was out a few times and raked two flower beds but it is too wet and still too frozen to make a difference right now.  So I sewed a few more of the two inch pieces of fabric into some nine square blocks. I will sew 30 in total and then arrange them between a border of one solid colour. That colour is unknown at present until I find the Rubbermaid container with all my stash and see what I have on hand. I would love a bright yellow - what do you think of that? The sad part is that I have almost depleted the mystery box of 2 inch pieces that I keep going into to create my work. On the other hand, all my pieces of work look the same because I have been using the same fabric pieces. So maybe this is a good thing? I may have to move beyond my comfort level and cut into new fresh fabric haha  Tomorrow I go to North Bay to take care of a few chores, and then Wednesday I go to Huntsville to meet my friend Sue for lunch. So this week is already looking like a good week. Hard to believe that April is almost over. I paid our Income Taxes the other day - the government should like that - they could maybe go on a spending spree with all my money haha  But all is not lost as I won $5.00 on the last Lottery. Maybe not enough for my much anticipated bus trip to Toronto to pick up my winnings - but believe me, one day I will take that trip!!!  So it is off to bed now, and read a bit before lights out.  Hope all is well with you folks. Take care

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a relaxing and pleasant day.  I sure wish that damn rabbit had been to my house, I have such a craving for chocolate!  But--it will be on half price tomorrow and maybe I can indulge.

Today's obituaries

In today's obituaries I found one for William Harold Tomlinson, wife Mary.  I checked with Loren and he says this is definitely Mary Overwater's husband.  (Loren was/is close friends with two of their sons)  There is no service.  This is the first of our family, of our generation to die, of "an age", as Judy McCrea died in her early 30's, of breast cancer, and the two of Flo's children who died, were quite young.