Eight years old

Eight years have passed since the birth of my first grandchild. Today he will have a small socially distanced birthday party here with his grandparents, aunt and mother. We are not in their bubble and for a good reason. My husband is not well enough to have a long visit with anyone. It is so much fairer to let the bubble be my son in law's brother's family. I am very happy for that. But I have decorated the swing with eight balloons (hope they survive) and some Happy Birthday hangings and there is an 8 candle to burn.

I miss my grandchildren very much but that is the way with life. My father said goodbye to his grandparents in England and never saw them again when he was nine years old. It was a sorrow that he bore to the end of his life that he was not able to be with them ever again. My mother's grandparents were all dead by the time she was two years old. Having/seeing your grandchildren is a huge gift from God one might say at least I tend to see it that way. I had two grandparents a paternal grandfather and a maternal grandmother and unfortunately they did not really get along at all. But when I was very young I did not realize that. When my grandfather died I was eight years old and my grandmother had started having me over to her house very often that summer before he died and after a couple of months she asked me if I loved her now. I can still remember her saying that so I asked her why she asked. So she said I never loved her while my grandfather was alive; I was like that as a child. I did not love very many people deeply and I am still like that. She said that she knew that I loved her but wondered if I knew it. I was not a child to show my feelings particularly.

Up early watering; another scorching hot day but the garden is up very well now and the green onions have doubled in size the last day. The watering does help! Maybe we will get a good rain storm. Then you can really see the garden grow; Mother Nature endows her rain with all sorts of goodness that help to enrich the soil.

COVID-19 still with us; still controls our life and will for a while yet I suspect. Globally 8,435,080 cases (increase of 85,186 over yesterday), 452,520 deaths (increase of 3,123 over yesterday) and 4,134,210 recovered (increase of 42,232 over yesterday). In Canada 100,220 cases (increase of 173 over yesterday), 8300 deaths (increase of 46 over yesterday) and 62496 recovered (increase of 479 over yesterday).

A new drug dexamethasone is showing signs of helping extremely ill people on ventilators and oxygen. Ongoing trials for vaccines but no positive news yet. Everything takes time. A new treatment is such a welcomed announcement.