A Fabulous Day!

 

Yesterday morning it was Fred and Ethel who claimed the footstool in front of the fire, but this morning Her Highness was taking in the heat.

•

I rolled through Wednesday morning at 90K/hr. I was up at 5:00 and I fed the pets, lit the fire, wrote and posted on my blog, and then I made a huge stir fry. After that, of course, I had a lot of dishes to wash and some cleaning of the stove, and I did a load of laundry—all before leaving at 9:15 to meet our friends to walk.

I had a Zoom chat with Tess, a SPACE ally whom I had never met before and because of where my computer is located, when I Zoom, the people I am chatting with get a clear view of my kitchen, so I always want it to be tidy and free of clutter and mess. Hence my speedy morning.

Our walk was truly lovely. Thank goodness for warm clothing and wool mits. The low sunshine cast long shadows on the meadows and as the fog rolled in things got a bit eerie, but it was still lovely to be out walking with friends in the cool clean morning air. And because of the fog, boat whistles and hoots fill the air and remind me of times gone by when we’d hear foghorns all through the Winter. I miss those sirens of the sea.

My Zoom call with Tess was incredibly wonderful. She speaks as poorly as me. I’m not celebrating her disability, but it’s rare for me to meet a stutterer who is as severely affected as I am. She is a delight to talk with. She’s very young, and she’s getting her PhD in Edmonton, doing her dissertation on how stuttering is represented in literature.

After my Zoom call, it was time to feed the brood their lunch, and for me to have mine. I wrote up something for Aidan and our colleague, Ezra, to consider, and sent it to them. Then I edited a letter Aidan had written until it was time to Zoom with him. He has one problem when he writes: mixing tenses.

I was, as always, thoroughly delighted with our Zoom chat. We had a full agenda. Tess, with whom I spoke in the morning, is well known to Aidan, and as part of her PhD work, she listened to every person in the Library of Dysfluent Voices, and she told Aidan that my contribution was the best. That, plus Aidan’s and Ezra’s generous compliments about my contributions to the discourse on memberships, has me feeling very, very proud and happy to be part of SPACE. I get so much from my involvement, it is nice to hear that what I am giving back is valued.

When our chat was over, Sheba and I went walking in the fog. At least the temperature had risen to 6°. And then we came home to settle into our regular evening routine in our beautiful log home that I love so, so much. And the fire. And the chaise. And a Simon Mason DI Ryan Wilkins novel.

Today I begin a four-day stretch of time alone. My neighbours have invited me over on Sunday. I don’t want to go, but I may. They are nice people, but I love my days alone.

Hooray!!!!  All threats of snow are gone. When this long stretch of sunny weather ends, rain is predicted now. It’s odd to be happy about rain in Winter; give me rain over snow any day. I doubt ice and bone spurs go sell together.