Last Day of December

A snowy grey day here on the last day of December 2020. I expect that most people are really happy to say goodbye to 2020. I am always excited by the roll over into a new year that is for certain. 2021 has such an interesting ring to it. When I was a child I met someone that my grandmother had struck up an acquaintance  with and she was an ophthalmologist. She told my grandmother (and this in my memory actually perhaps because it was a bit profound to a small child) that I would be blind by the time I was fifty. It is true that my eyes are rather complicated. That was a long time ago that that was said. I was just three years of age and knowledge of eye disease/limitations has grown rapidly. My grandmother was so convinced that her acquaintance was right that she taught me to read; that was how it affected her. She painstakingly taught me the letters of the alphabet and then words and then we started to read. I loved learning to read and became quite accomplished at that at a rather young age. I especially liked to read stories about traveling and far away places. By the time I was ten I was drawing spaceships as I just wanted to travel all over the galaxy. But whatever does that have to do with 2021 coming tomorrow? Nothing really but the end of the year always brings me back to thoughts about my grandmother as she usually had all of us over at some point early in the New Year. She celebrated New Years Day just as her family had in England. It was the only custom that she retained from her twenty years in England before she came to Canada. As soon as the Citizenship Act was passed in 1948 she immediately became a Canadian Citizen. It did not interest her to remain a British Subject. She was such a very interesting person. I was sad to lose her when I was just 21 years of age. The night she died I was sitting with her in the hospital and one of her fingers moved. She had had a stroke and basically was lost to the world on that day but I thought she could still hear me so I was singing one of her favourite songs and talking to her and her finger moved that last night of her life. Was it just an accidental happening? Who knows really but that evening when she died I had the most miraculous happening. I woke at 4:00 am hearing her calling my name but she was in the hospital several miles away from me. When my mother called a little later to tell me that she was gone she told me the story that the nurses told her which was that my grandmother had called out a name just before she passed. Coincidence or reality; does one ever really know but that has stayed with me from that day to this one and always for some reason it comes to mind every once in a while. I know she is with God as she was a very good person; always kind to people and spent many many hours knitting baby sets for baskets for northern communities. As 2020 draws to a close and I can remember my grandmother talking about the Spanish Influenza so that much of what I have said in the past about the Spanish Flu was from her I wonder if I will talk about COVID-19 in the future to some known/or unknown child in my future. I had never thought to live to the age of 75 actually and I have this strong desire to write which may yet come to fruition.

The days fly by and it is almost New Year's Eve Day

I always feel a bit nostalgic at New Years thinking of years past and the years that may come. I permit myself that little bit of license just to dream away for a bit. Generally we are with our children at New Years and that has been the case for many years. This year will be somewhat different as just one of our children will be with us but the others are there in our heart and soul. We will miss being with them as another year comes around. 

What will 2021 bring? I guess for most it is a desire to return to normalcy. I have actually enjoyed all of this at home time and very little shopping. It suits me very well. When I do go shopping it is very precise as I have a list in hand. When I want to shop I generally go to the websites of the establishments I intend to frequent and again my time there is brief and precise but then I have always been like that. I do not like to dawdle around stores. 

For me this part year has been a normalcy for me in many ways. The COVID-19 is just one of those blights that occur in our lives over which we have limited control. It was that way with polio in the 1950s in London, Ontario. Vaccine comes along and one more blight disappears. But Pandemics are to be feared because this one has been so very difficult. Mother Nature does not intend for us to ruin this earth. She will fight back.

Beautiful sunrise

Warm rich yellow orange colours spread across the sky at sunrise this morning. Now an hour later it is still minus 11 degrees celsius and yesterday's snow has mostly disappeared. The ground is frozen solid and awaits a blanket of snow to protect the perennials from this frigid cold. 

Day four of the lockdown here in Ontario. Yesterday's hurried trip to the grocery store happened much later in the day than usual. It was well past dusk before I made it there. The days move much too quickly for me these days. 

Another busy day today as Ed is into ParaMed for a dressing change. I have done the last two dressings and they will do this one. Then I do not know where we go next with that. It has been good to watch how they do this medical work; my time in the hospital was spent in front of a computer for the most part. I did do CPR years ago now but even that knowledge is pretty ancient. Will see what the day brings. 

Entering into the third day of lockdown

 Number three day of lockdown and I must do some grocery shopping today. I will go in the slow time. Ed is still bothered by his back weakness and pain. We are working away at that. Everytime we solve one problem another one pokes up its existence. I was pretty tired all weekend and I suspect this will be another tired week. Once we have the vaccine then I would be comfortable having a Health Worker coming in to help me a couple of times a week. Ed is just too heavy for me to manage by myself. Combined with my daughter we are managing but eventually both of us are going to be very worn down. 

It was a good Christmas though and we managed to make the feast last three days in total with different meals each day all of them selected by Ed. He does love Christmas time with all its festive meals. I did make a pound cake with yeast once again which he is enjoying.

Second day of lockdown

We haven't gone away from our property at all this first and second day of the lockdown. We walked around the back yard this afternoon.  I will stick to my pattern of shopping two days a week when the grocery store is not busy. If I have to go to the drug store then I do that at the same time. 

Have to figure out if we still have our eye appointments as they are before the four week lockdown is completed. 

I see we have our first case of the UK mutation of the COVID-19. I would have been surprised actually to see that it wasn't already all around the world. People are still traveling. We are staying home and not going anywhere.

Another week nearly ended

 Life is moving along so rapidly these days. Another week is nearly done and we are looking at the last week in December. This year of all years is forever seared in our memory. We are locked down now until the 23rd of January. When we once again come out of lockdown (if we do as there is talk of six weeks) the world will be forever changed. We move bravely along this path waiting patiently for our turn for the vaccination against COVID-19 and then we continue much the same way wearing our masks and distancing ourselves until COVID-19 has disappeared from our midst. Then and only then will we know that we have truly vanquished it. That was the way of Smallpox and Polio.

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas

Busy day yesterday

 Yesterday was one of the busiest days I have put in for a while. Three trips to the grocery store before I finally secured a fresh chicken for Christmas. Perhaps next year I will book one! Then off to ParaMed for bandage change and I am about to start doing the changes for two times and then return just to check on the progress. That is working very well. 

Physio for Ed started and muscoskeletal difficulties appear to be the problem which is a relief in some ways but very painful for him. But it is good to get started on that process. He will go once a week and then perhaps twice a week once he is stronger and likely in less pain. 

Five trips out and about is a lot for even me. I was exhausted. Having to help Ed rising up has been a strain on my back and I really felt it yesterday. Today I am minimizing any lifting on my part so that my back has a rest. 

Tomorrow is Christmas. The birth of the Christ Child and the time when I do tend to recall Christmases past. We had huge family Christmas days with all the grandparents, uncle and aunt. My parents also tended to entertain more at that time of the year so the house was always busy; full of the smell of fresh baked goods and savoury meals. My favourite part of the turkey was always the sausage stuffing until I learned to appreciate more solid meat! I loved Christmas; singing at Church and all the family times. I used to tuck myself away in a corner of the living room and watch mostly as I was number 4 child and rather small and skinny when I was young. But it was fun and I often tell my children and grandchildren at Christmas time what life was like in a big family at Christmas. They love those stories. 

Time to do my calisthenics; best medicine for my back actually. That routine set of 20 exercises cover all of the major and minor muscle groups. I fine tuned it through the years so that by the end of the twenty minutes my entire being is refreshed as there is also counting to relax the mind.

Getting ready for Christmas

A small Christmas this year but hopefully next year we can all be together again.  In a way this mucky weather; winter and then thaw, leads us to a less significant Christmas and time will pass and we will forget this long year. To be honest, the year has passed quickly for me. I have enjoyed the hours and hours of solitude. I am sorry that my husband has been in hospital twice but he is getting stronger once again. We are having fabulous meals all cooked from basic ingredients so that we know exactly how much salt is going into my husband's food. It has been interesting reaching back in time and memory as I recall that my grandmother made her pound cakes with yeast not baking power and so I have done the same. It is a very tasty pound cake actually and I highly recommend it. I love a slice of pound cake with butter just as my grandmother used to eat her pound cake (a thin slice lightly buttered!). I liked that as a child and it is by far my favourite cake. I do not like iced cakes that much; they are just too sweet. 

We put up our small wooden tree that we brought back from Germany on one of our European trips. It stands about 30 centimetres high and has four angles that fit together and are then decorated with interesting little handmade decorations. We love that little tree and it is fitting on our small Christmas that we would set this tree up. It reminds us of our trip through Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France a decade ago. It was a fabulous trip and we enjoyed every minute. We were perhaps one of the oldest couples on that trip and a young family was the youngest (a couple with their eight year old daughter). Most of the people were younger and the pace was quicker but we were also younger and did keep up very well. 

Back to getting ready for Christmas.

The first day of the week is always special

I always felt that the first day of the week, Sunday, is special. There is just something magical about waking up on Sunday. A day of promise is how I saw it as a child. A special day that belonged all to me. No school; no dancing lessons and just all that time that belonged mostly to me. I read a lot as a child and also played board games/card games with my siblings. I visited my grandmother often enough on the weekend but not usually on Sunday unless I stayed overnight from Saturday. My uncle used to ask me to stay with my grandmother from quite a young age actually as he and my aunt liked to go to Toronto on Saturday afternoon and come back Sunday night. His store closed at noon on Saturday and he did not open on Sunday. It was also special going to their house as I was the centre of attention which didn't happen in my home. I didn't need to be the centre of attention; it actually rather confused me but I gradually got used to eating dinner on Saturday evening. My uncle would ask me about school and the subjects that I was taking. He was keenly interested and so I would talk about that. He would tell me about his life as a child with my grandmother offering corrections or additional information on occasion. Sometimes he surprised her by the things that he said. He was an interesting person my uncle. 

Tomorrow is Winter Solstice and there is a special gathering managed by the Cathedral Labyrinth Guild. I would like to attend (online) but the evening here can be quite busy as we tend to do things together at that time. We have our busy day and then the evening is when we sit and be together. So we will see.

The Christmas Star

 We have been watching as an event 2000 years ago it is thought by many to have occurred and been the Christmas Star that led the wise men to Jesus.  It is 800 years since the closest visible conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has been known to have occurred and this year it would be on the 21st of December; the winter solstice. 

Interesting in this year of all years that the conjunction would occur once again. 

Another Sunday tomorrow, the fourth Sunday in Advent and my bulletin is already in my InBox. 

God's blessings on all.

Electric toothbrush

I like the idea of electric toothbrushes but was not having any luck keeping one running well that had batteries. Today I bought one that is rechargeable to try out. I am hoping that it will work well. Manual toothbrushes are okay but I tend to wear one out in just a couple of months. The electric I feel less of a need to press so hard especially as the rotating head does a good job on the teeth as it passes over them. 

Must try and get some work done but I am spending more time with Ed as he can not sit and work at his desk for long periods. We watched the Aeronauts today and that was a really good movie. It was especially interesting to see the views of London in the 1860s. We walked and walked the streets of Old London in 2013 and again in 2016. It was a marvelous experience. Although I have very few London people; I have a lot of material on those few about where they had their shops and where they lived and went to Church. So it was fun to wander about and see all of that. I had not expected to find the streets still intact as they were (certainly the housing was newer) as the area was heavily bombed during World War II.

Christmas is sneaking up on us

Usually this is such a hectic time - getting gifts wrapped, decorating the house. Will do a little decorating but probably not a lot. Ed uses a walker on two floors and I do not want things in the way of that. 

He recovered more than two years ago so that he did not need a walker so I have high hopes that he can do that again. He loves to walk.

Physio and Massage for Ed

 Have been thinking that Ed needs to get back to his physio and massage. Will let the physiotherapist work that one out. We do a lot of walking about the house these days. Once we get our COVID-19 vaccine then we will go back to walking at the Mall. But you just can not really trust people. The other day I was using the hand cleaner at our Metro and a young woman dashed in close to me and without so much as an excuse me was into the store. No waiting in line for her I guess. That can happen at any time and you never know if that person is an asymptomatic carrier. Really very undisciplined of them. I am not in any danger likely from COVID-19 but if I catch it my husband might as well and for him that would be a disaster. 

Time continues forward and I have done almost no decorating for Christmas. Did manage to get gifts fortunately and they are mostly wrapped but no decorations. Must remedy that a little. It will just be our own little group living together that does Christmas this year. We will stick with the guidelines and that does require a lot of discipline. Hopefully everyone will do that although with the cases skyrocketing in the Toronto area obviously some people are just very selfish. 

Still no DNA work done; must get back to that soon. I also have a newsletter to do but can not seem to settle my mind down to that at the moment. 

Still no accomplishment in my phasing work

Although I have not had any time to work on phasing, my time has been well spent. My husband looks stronger. That is more important to me than anything else. I marvel at his perseverance although he says it is because I am like that. I just get up and keep moving. My grandparents were like that. I wonder what they think looking down. They would be sad for me not having my children and grandchildren living near me as we had lived near them. They would think that I live a very lonely life with no family around me; my siblings, nieces and nephews and their children are all elsewhere. They would be sad for me that my husband is ill. Their life was so totally different from mine.  

Their life was organized. I try to keep mine that way but life doesn't actually flow that way anymore. Organization is hard to maintain. There is always something to throw off a schedule. Perhaps that is the charm of modern life; it is always changing. Our experiences are so very different from our grandparents and yet they enjoyed their lives. Interesting to think on that.

The Vaccine has arrived

Nice to see the vaccine has now arrived in Canada. We are likely still looking at another year of wearing masks until the traces of COVID-19 disappear from our air. But it is such a great start to now have the vaccine here and soon into people's arms. 

For just a moment in time way back in the spring it looked like democracy could not survive the onslaught of COVID-19 but in the end the people as a community do know what is best for our generations to move forward. A bit sluggish at times as young adults just didn't have the discipline to stay the course and still do not apparently looking at Toronto area but moving along. Ottawa has done well this past month and we just need to stay the course. For most people a year from now is just a blip in time but for those with chronic illness this is a very fragile time and for them a year from now is an eon. 

Will democracy survive to the south of us? I watch as the events unfold there. I wonder how people can prefer a person who cares not a whit about the average American letting them die by the hundreds of thousands without even trying to stem the flow. Actually making a mockery of wearing a mask. Yet he received over seventy million votes which of course doesn't compare to the other candidate's 80 million votes. How can each state be happy with their votes (some led by republican congresses) and yet people in other states look at them and see fraud. Is there no respect for individual states these days in the United States? The Republican Party is the party that defends State's Rights! Really hard to understand when you are on the outside looking in. Sharing our thousands of miles of border can be a frightening experience when you see people with guns bigger than they are parading down streets. Who needs a gun like that? You can not hunt with it and what other value is there in having long guns? Glad that I turned my revolver in to the police a while ago now. I could never own a gun again watching the dreadful murders that have happened to the south of us and in our own country. 

Dark in the morning

As the longest night approaches; it is now dark in the morning when I awaken. Gray and overcast anyway today but the sun is now up and the new day open us. It is Sunday and I have my Church Bulletin in my inbox. I am enjoying my Church once again and probably I could have been doing this for the past fourty years equally enjoying it. It is a while since I have been out of step with my Church. I think some of my list of wants would be baptism for all comers; no jumping through hoops just welcome people to the altar on one Sunday of the month and bring their babies; children and grownups to be baptized. That is what Jesus would do I am fully convinced. 

I have a few other thoughts which includes the wine in Communion; use the money to buy medicines for countries who do not have the money to do so or will not provide for the poor in their midst. Especially during this pandemic providing vaccine to all is a must. 

I am slowly getting ready for Christmas. I have not really done a good job of it this year. I just couldn't seem to get it all done in my mind. It took me ages to actually observe what I had purchased but keep thinking that next year I will do better with Christmas. We will have a quiet Christmas this year and I am looking forward to that. As time marches forward so will the availability of the vaccine and Canada will be free once again.

The snow is falling

Most of our earlier snowfall has disappeared and today we awoke to a covering of white fluffy snow. Perhaps this snow will stay and winter will begin. It has been fairly cold except for a couple of slightly above zero days (which melted the earlier snow). 

We will likely spend most of our winter indoors this year although on warm days when the sun is beating down in the morning we could go out on the back patio which is protected from the wind and it actually gets quite warm there (say minus a couple instead of 20 below!). Last winter I built up my walking in the back yard after injuring my knee. Eventually I was doing a hundred times around the yard. Perhaps we will do that again this year. 

No work done again although I might get a chance to think more about the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter which was due at the beginning of the month. 

Just completed the first stage of discharge from hospital

When Ed left hospital he needed to have antibiotics by IV for four days. The initial plan was to have a nurse come and do his vitals but no nurse was available. The next step was to use ParaMed which meant driving to the local Medical Centre and having the IV given by one of the nurses at the centre. That was a terrific experience actually. 

Not much work done today

Really did not accomplish any genealogy today. A note from a person writing about the Siderfin Family and I replied. Will have to send some of the information that I have acquired. Time is such a treasure. 

What have I missed?

Realized today that I have not done the Pincombe-Pinkham Newsletter for this month. Will have to look at this today hopefully. 

Still busy with Ed's recovery as he has to go and have an IV daily for a few days. Working out okay though; took about 1.5 hours yesterday to accomplish that. Also went food shopping; just a small order which took about an hour as I needed to do the drug store as well. 

Time moves quickly these days but slower times are hopefully around the corner.

Whereever do I begin

My husband is home again and we are managing with the help of our daughters. It is nice to see him sitting at his desk once again in his study. He loves that room. It holds all of his family memories and genealogy which has occupied all of his retired time since 2004. He has been thus occupied almost half as long as he worked for the National Research Council. 

I think that my life will made a radical change. I had decided several weeks ago that I should spend the mornings with my husband in our living room talking and watching TV and walking about in between for exercise. For me that is a big change as I always closeted myself with my computer all morning long as my mind is at its best in the mornings; I do creative thinking then. In the afternoon I tend towards repetitive work and then in the evening I seldom work as I am definitely a morning person in spite of my genes saying that I am a night person. 

That means I will not get a lot of work done while we are operating on this new system. I will try but the time available is just so much especially with cooking most items from scratch to avoid salt. It sort of reminds me of our first years together when we spent most of that time together except during classes and lab times. 

A million things to do!

Husband is home again

 We brought Ed home again this evening. It was tiring for him but he is happy to be in his own home again.

Husband is improving

This time I am able to visit my husband in the hospital for one hour on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday. He is improving but likely will be in hospital for a little longer.