I decided yesterday was the day to get the car into the garage before the rest of the leaves and all the stems come down from our tree in the front yard along with the pine needles from the tree in the yard next to us. There wasn't a lot to do to finish emptying the garage. The high pressure water pump (electric) went to the curb because it is not going with me and I never have used it. I can barely remember now what Edward used it for actually. Somebody took it away and I must say that is an excellent way to get rid of items. If they do not go in the day then generally they go to the Salvation Army or the garbage collection because no one wants it.
The last hose is drained and the outside tap is turned off at the back. I started the cycle of moving around the yard and cutting down the plants. First was the rose bush and that is nicely trimmed back. The basil plant that we put in in May is now huge and I must remember to pick leaves and use them in my chicken stew as it is a nice flavour addition. I will continue that process down the yard and then back up the other side and the back and then the main garden will be trimmed down and weeded heavily. I have possibly as much as two months before a snow fall which is great news. The front yard is more or less ready for snow.
The other item I figured out was that I can use a fine brush and remove the hardening sand from the stone bricks so will also work away at that most days to clean that up.
I have also been thinking and searching about on line since I received the call that my roof repair would happen on Tuesday that I should actually upgrade the contract from basic repair of the faulty flashing to redoing that entire section of the roof. I finally resolved to do that and have signed the contract and spoken with the contact person at the company (on email). Initially I did not want to pull up and throw away perfectly good tiles as the roof was just done in 2009 (more refuse in the landfill just isn't needed if you can avoid it) but I feel that redoing the entire section is probably a better step. There was a small leak during that heavy rain that followed the hurricane in the United States that crossed into Ontario and went east. Just a couple of marks on the ceiling of the room over the garage without any repeats and we have had a lot of rain. But the winter snows and all that possible ice accumulation could be a problem and so I decided better to simply replace the entire section and I am pleased that I am able to do that. There was so much going on with the fence that the roof was escaping me until suddenly it was time for that. I am getting old, at 79 managing all of this when I have not done any of it my entire life really as I lived at home until I married and then Edward was most adept at managing everything like that. I always said that Edward did manage the house upkeep except for the cleaning I did that and later paid my daughters to do that when I went back to work outside the home. He was extremely good at all things that he took on actually. Very organized and detailed. Plus he was a people person which I never have been; generally I find dealing with people a lot of work and it is easier in widowhood and retirement just to work away on my books that I enjoy and have the family time that comes my way.
Today is Sunday and I look forward to Church online as usual. The theme "A Service for Generosity" and it is at Holy Trinity, Roehampton, Surrey in England. We did spend a little time in Surrey but generally in the Bermondsey area of Surrey. This is a beautiful part of England with lovely flowers I remember my grandmother saying when she visited in the spring of 1939. How to be generous is always of interest to me as I have donations that I make in memory of Edward one at the time of our anniversary to the Branch Library of Ontario Ancestors/BIFHSGO here in Ottawa and then at Christmas to The Ottawa Hospital, Montfort Hospital, Orleans United Church, and Shepherds of Good Hope. The two hospitals had taken care of Edward during illnesses, he helped to build Orleans United Church, sang in the Choir and was Church Treasurer until he decided to move on to Dominion Chalmers when our children were grown, and we had between us given donations to Shepherds of Good Hope and the Ottawa Mission for a number of years (initially I had been donating to them when I started back to work here in Ottawa) but he wanted to do one of them so I suggested Shepherd of Good Hope for him and I continued with the Ottawa Mission). I am contemplating another donation in his memory and I am thinking about possibilities. He had a number of favourite charities including the World Wildlife Fund which is my thought but there are others also; I will decide by Christmas. Not huge amounts of course I am retired and not wealthy! I was amazed when I first started into genealogy back in 2003 looking at the Briefs in English Church records. Briefs are lists of donations and back in the 1600s the peoples of England were sending money all over the world to various disasters and also where people needed help not because of wars but fires, famines and floods which are weather disasters of course. It was amazing really to find that. I was used to the churches of my youth collecting money for peoples around the world but discovering that this went back centuries and centuries was an eye opener.
Breakfast completed and on to the day.
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