Duncan - warm and cuddly

 

Still finding this lots of fun. It's Katie and Cousin Michael Moon on the big day.

 

I've discovered Picasa...thanks to Cousin Nancy.
What fun!!

 

So...last blog, Jamie was unhappy. I guess he's not now because we aren't hearing from him at all.
Last night Brian, Dan and I went to Toronto. Our mission was to take the lovely walnut coffee table that Don made to Kate and Greg. That meant we ate dinner with them and then Kate escorted Brian and me to the W.W. One tribute at Toronto City Hall. We feel fear and pride when we set out with Katie on a trip like that. Fear because everything in Toronto seems to happen in a way that's so different from Cayuga, and pride because Katie has all the ins and outs (as in, in and out of the streetcar!) figured out. I guess our biggest fear should be losing sight of Katie and having to navigate the streets on our own.
We made it to Nathan Phillips Square and watched Vigile 1939-1945 Vigil for some minutes. Each name appeared for only a few seconds. Every person must have had a story that was different from every other, yet so much the same. The war came and their lives ended because of that. They would certainly never have imagined that they would be thought of one more time with a tribute like this in Canada and around the world.

That Will Teach Me

Last post I wrote about vague worries and how I shouldn't let them spoil good days. This week I realized how important that is. Jamie had a week with events that made me rethink many decisions of the last six months. How do you advise an adult child who refuses to agree that your ideas would probably have worked out best...until after lots of time and $$ has been spent on the plan he pushed through, which looks like it's not going to work? I've reached the bottom of my $$ (and gone even deeper than that) so at least asking for more money for another plan isn't an option for Jamie. I am very sad and worried about a real problem (which was a real problem last week when I wrote the blog, but I didn't know it). What next?

One Year Later

All's quiet and sometimes that's unsettling. I try to fill a quiet space with worries and imaginings. I should relax and enjoy the moment.
Last year on this Friday night, we were just settling in at home after Katie and Greg's wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Unusually for me, I didn't write anything much in a journal or a blog about the wedding time. There are lots of pictures, some organized in albums on Facebook, and I keep planning to do more with the Pro Gold program to put some of it together as a slide show.
If I just think about the rehearsal evening...hmmm, it's a blur with any memories becoming tied together with the photos of the evening. The only video we have of the rehearsal or the wedding (that I know of) was a very short one taken by Kyle as Katie and Brian walked up the aisle at the rehearsal.
I could write lots about how my disappointment and - I have to admit it - anger with Laurel and Melanie and their "pre-emptive wedding strike" coloured parts of the rehearsal, but thank heavens play a really small part in memories of the wedding day.
It is one of those - it must have been just last month - it must all have happened ten years ago kind of events. The biggest family change since the wedding has been Jamie's move to Japan. Will there be another wedding next year in Japan? I'll be wearing my suit from Kate's wedding and of course, my whimsey - feather hat. There's a memory. When Dan walked me into the church, we sat with Mom in the front row and Cousin Nancy and her family sat just behind us. Nancy saw my hat, leaned forward, and asked, "A tribute to Camilla, perhaps?" That was the little giggle I needed to relax a bit!
Katie and Greg looked wonderful. We were pleased with the way it all "went off".
It was the "Sweetest Day" of our lives.
Tomorrow we're going to Murray Houser's wedding and I think I'll wear the jacket from my suit - but not the skirt because a)a bit too dressy and b)it still has some grease marks on the back where I must have sat in crumbs when I was touring and visiting during the reception. Oh, and not the hat 'cause it's definitely a wedding mother kind of thing!

Short and could be Sweeter

Just coming down from a busy (Cristina's new word) few weeks - Katie's 30th with twelve or more here, a week's holiday at home for Katie and Greg, a shower for Jennifer A. with seventeen here, and a trip with Mom to Newmarket for Cousin Dode and her husband Don's 50th wedding anniversary (yes, I drove. Thank heavens for the 407.)
It's quietish now. Brian is in P.E.I. for a week of golf with Keith C. etc. Dan is working afternoons, so Duncan and I are mostly on our own. There still are piles everywhere to sort through and there are other "piles" of tasks that need to be completed, looming largest, the plants and flowers section at the fair to organize. Jamie is in Tokyo and last we heard planning a paper wedding in October. He's been difficult to contact. That would be one loose end I'd really like to have tidied up.
Well, I'll do a little token "needs to be done right" now. I'm going to pick some pears (the needs to be) and use them for a pear cake (why the hell not?). So much for the "task" of losing a few decades worth of pounds!

Visiting the Big City

Another Wednesday, another good day. Katie stayed here for two extra holiday days after the Aug. long weekend. Swimming, reading, spending some time with Mom and Cousin Nancy yesterday...and then it was time for Katie to go back to Toronto for work on Thursday. Brian drove us in and read on the couch (Mom's old pull-out) while KT and I did some dishes and a little clean. We locked Brian in the apartment and walked/taxied to the new AMC theatre in Dundas Square, at the North end of the Eaton's Centre. We saw the Mama Mia movie, which was quite lovely - full of fun, walked through Eaton's Centre (Cousin Lauren sighting at BG..(clothing store where she works), although we didn't stop to visit, took a TTC streetcar back to Niagara Street and then went back to the apt. at 800 Richmond. After we collected the men, we went to St. Louis Ribs and Wings and had...well, some of us did. Katie had a chicken wrap and I had a Cobb salad. We walked back to the Green P where our Volvo was parked and KT and Greg walked back up to the apt. The trip home was painless - mostly 'cause I slept through at least half of it, and now I'm back in the country.

Busy?

We have a student from Madrid - Cristina - staying here for two and a half weeks. The group she is with have been to all the hot spots, or will be going soon. I told her they were very busy. She didn't know what "busy" meant, so, since she is at a French school in Madrid, I told her it was the same as occupe(imagine the accent, please). Yesterday after Cristina left for school at 8:30, I cleaned, did as much as I could towards supper, then drove to Hagersville to go to Aunt Jo's funeral. Brian drove in his car because then we could go off on our own when the funeral was over. At 1 p.m. I left H. for Caledonia, picked up Mom, took her to Physio, shopped and banked while I waited for her, went with her to Lawyer Brown's to talk about Helen's estate, took Mom to the hairdressers', picked up the mail, watered plants at Mom's, went back to the hairdressers' for Mom, we drove together to Cayuga, finished putting supper together, went to Cayuga, shopped and picked up Cristina, ate Mom's 84th birthday supper together, took Mom to Aunt Jennie's, went to Aquafit at the Caledonia Pool, had tea with Aunt Jennie, Mom and Cousin Lynne, took Mom home and came home, talked to Kate, said goodnight to Cristina (who had chosen to stay home with Brian and Duncan) and WENT TO BED.
Busy?

Good-bye Visit with Aunt Jiggs

On Thursday Aunt Jiggs went with me to Mom's. We had lunch together and a good visit. It's hard to imagine that we won't see each other as often or as easily as we have for so many years. I tell Aunt Jiggs that I just have to look at my front garden and she is immediately brought to mind - the violets, the larkspur and right now the peony that she gave us so many years ago. On Thursday I asked Aunt Jiggs who gave her the peony and she said that it probably came from her mother. What a lovely family connection. I wonder who gave it to Grandma Gert?!??

Real Time

This blog isn't about the past, just the present, and of course, a little about what I think the future has in store for us...the next few weeks anyway.
Today was a pretty ordinary Saturday.
1. Recover from an eighteen hole golf tournament yesterday with the Murrays at Sundrim.
2. Go to Mom's and take her shopping. The most important thing on the list was a plant for friend Dorothy's birthday party this afternoon.
3. Come home, make Dan some chicken salad for his lunch, only to have him leave just before I finished it, while I was also talking to Katie on the phone! Maybe he'll have it for a snack when he gets home tonight.
4. Read the Globe in bed, listen to the rain, have a nap.
5. Get Brian and Jamie (sort of) supper - the chicken appearing this time as chicken and gravy for a hot chicken sandwich.
6. Fiddle in the garden, planting some cosmos, pulling weeds from the lovely wet earth!
7. Go back to the computer room where books etc. are everywhere and begin a pile of things to send with/photcopy for Jamie as he prepares to go back to Japan on June 30, with his first assignment being a Grade 2/3 class - English and all other subjects for fifteen days. I might be able to find a few things in this room that will be helpful !!
8. Get distracted by the new blog!!

Yeah! I feel like Sherlock Holmes. After much messing around, I finally hit on a way to get into my old blog. I went through my archives of Jamie's emails and finally found the one where I told him to go to my blog address and read about events at our house circa 2006-2006. He was in Japan at the time. Jamie probably never read any entries on my blog, but at least it was a way for me to get back in and of course, rescue all that world-shaking info. that otherwise would be lost forever!!
So, if I've piqued your interest (and to make sure I don't lose the address again...like the password that has vanished forever!) here we go....
http://1916dem.blogspot.com
Like all my secret "codes" this URL makes perfect sense now, but I wouldn't have guessed it in a million years.
Maybe my next blog will be "as it happens" 2008 version, now that I've solved the 2005-2005 mystery!!

Trying to Recover

I won't have much to say until I can see if I can transfer my old blog to this spot.....