Dwight Arrives

Thursday morning was wet. It wasn’t raining, but it had rained in the night and so I was glad not to have to water today (except Pete and Ali’s tomatoes). I tidied up and unloaded the van, and then I took Her Highness for a walk. She did not want to go, but I ordered her out of the car and demanded that she walk. 

Once she accepted her fate, she hurried off trail to poop. Mission accomplished. She was content to walk the short circuit of the trailhead #6 trail in very, very light rain, and then we came home. I had lit a fire, but it was too warm, so I opened the doors to cool the house down a little.

I had no idea when Dwight would arrive, but it didn’t really matter. My plan was to stay home all day after a day that crushed me in Nanaimo. I have a gift certificate to our best restaurant, Woodfire, so either we will go there for dinner, or we’ll get pizzas to bring home to eat while we watch a movie.

At 10:40, I heard from Dwight. He was in time to catch the 11:15 ferry, and that was perfect timing to arrive in time for lunch. While I waited, I went out to harvest a monster number of tomatoes from the garden. I’ll be making tomato sauce with it for pasta and freezing it because I’ve so many tomatoes.

Just a few minutes before noon, I saw a bright yellow jacket on a bike rider coming down Violet Crescent. He was here, and I was very happy. We had lunch and did a lot of talking, then we went to Drumbeg to walk. And the sun came out! I was so happy that we had good weather!

Lunch.

On a bench in Drumbeg.

We came home and I found a big bottle of cider from our Gabriola cidery, and Dwight sat in the sun on the deck drinking the cider and having some peanuts while I Zoomed with Steve and then I read the pizza menu on the Woodfire restaurant, chose one with Dwight and ordered it. Then we went into town to pick it up and settled in to watch a movie. We chose a stinker, so we took a long break to chat and I showed him the Library of Dysfluent Voices that I am a part of. We finished watching the movie and he went to bed at 21:00. I stayed up a little longer and then went to bed. 

This morning was bright and cool (12°) when I got up at 5:30, but my 6:00, the sky had become overcast. I have no idea what we’ll do today, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Dwight’s staying until tomorrow.

Dwight Arrival Day

The pets woke me early yesterday morning, but that was fine with me because I like to have lots of time to attend to chores and get all my stuff together for a trip to the big island. I charged all my electronics, posted, spot watered the most vulnerable plants and made a list of things that I wanted to get while in the land of big box stores.

It was overcast and only 15° in the morning. Rain had been predicted, so I hoped for some showers while we were away. At 7:30, I took Her Highness to Rollo Park for a walk on the grass before we went to catch the ferry, and she pleasantly surprised me by joining me along the entire trail. 

I decided to go quite early and make a Walmart run for a lot of my paper supplies and to get bulk kitty litter. I had free ferry fare because of my medical appointment, so doing errands on a free ferry trip is very practical. 

We left home at 9:50 to catch the 10:35 ferry. I was the last car allowed onto the ferry. Once on the big island, the first stop was for sushi and to do grocery shopping. Then we went to Walmart and I was in and out quickly, then we headed off to the hospital. And more luck: as I turned onto the street where I like to search for parking as it is close to the dog off-leash area, a car was pulling out and I got free parking!!

We had a good walk together and then I gave Sheba a treat and I headed off to the pacemaker appointment. I sped around on foot looking for the clinic for half an hour and couldn’t find it. Finally, I stopped to ask for help inside the main hospital. The grounds around the hospital are a huge construction project, so it is hard to find entrances. With the help of a lovely man at a reception centre, I found out where to go.

Good news! I do not have to have my pacemaker replaced because I have a lot of battery life left. They think my pacemaker will last another eight years. Will I? We were done quickly, so then we raced to the ferry terminal where we had a short wait, and we were home just before 16:00 as rain started to fall. 

I unloaded nothing. I felt like I’d been through a world war. I fed everyone and fell onto the chaise. Nothing interested me. I just flipped through YouTube videos until 20:00 and went to bed for a long deep sleep.

Today has dawned dark and wet. I wonder if Dwight will cancel. It’s not great weather for his bike ride to visit. I shall unload all my purchases, and rest while I await word on whether Dwight will choose to come when the weather is nicer.

He's coming! I got a text at 8:00 saying he was at the ferry terminal. Hooray! With my bro until Saturday!

Sheba Doesn't Like to Walk

Tuesday began bright and sunny, but soon clouds came in, leaving large patches of blue sky, but we had a mostly cloudy day. 

I took Her Highness to the Ricki Ave. trail to walk, but she refused to join me. SO, off we went to shop for supplies with which to make another curried rice salad, this time adding lots of small scallops and shrimp that I fried up in lots of my new yellow curry. Dwight eats seafood, but not meat or poultry, so the salad will serve us well for lunch when he is here.

On the way home, I picked up some soil with which to surround the new heather plants I added to the front bed, and then we went to Rollo Park where Sheba was willing—almost enthusiastic—to walk on the grass. Then we came home, her to chill in the yard until lunchtime, and me to make the salad.

When I was done, I decided to chaise myself and read instead of watering as rain is predicted while we are in Nanaimo. I’ve got an early afternoon appointment at the pacemaker clinic today, and a date with the sushi master at Quality Foods for lunch. 

I read some more in the afternoon because Sheba refused to walk on a trail she is always very willing to explore. It’s a popular dog walking path that’s rich in foreign urine, so I was surprised at her balking. However, reading more of Angle of Repose was extremely delightful.

The bird frenzy on the fountain was spectacular today. As I stood still beside it, at one point there were thirteen birds on the fountain edges and om the stick I’ve jammed into the bowl for them to perch upon. They move me because they are so trusting and I am so happy to be providing so many birds with water. 

In three months, I shall be entering my eightieth year. I turn seventy-nine in early December. I’m rather chuffed about becoming eighty, so I shall start thinking of myself as that age immediately after this year’s birthday. Most of my life I have lied about my age. I only stopped a decade ago. I picked up the habit in elementary school. I wanted to be the same age as the rest of the kids, so I added one year to my age and the habit stuck.

It’s overcast. I should water, but I will spot water before we leave, then late this morning Her Highness and I will go to Nanaimo to do some shopping and to go to the pacemaker clinic. We’ll be ruching home immediately after the appointment.

Sheba Walks!

Oh, joy of joys! Sheba walked like her usual self at Rollo Park yesterday morning, and that left me keen to try walking the Elder Cedar trail with her later in the day. When she feels better, I feel much better. It was beautiful in the early morning at Rollo Park. There are so many signs of the end of Summer; it’s always emotional when the seasons are in transition.

And the birds were back on the fountain yesterday—scores of them at a time. Everything was moving b ack to normal. When we returned from Rollo Park, I got busy watering the garden beds. Although it had been two days since I watered last, no plants were wilting. Another signal of the changing seasons. However, I love this time of year. The air is fresh and temperatures are comfortable. I love lying in the sun again. It’s cool enough that I don’t overheat; neither do I burn.

I was very tired yesterday. I had a nap early in the morning and another at noon after I’d done half of the watering. When I got up, I finished the watering and then Her Highness and I walked the Elder Cedar trail. It felt so, so good to be back to normal walking together.

Last night was the usual, except the TV is huge and I love watching movies more now than I have for a long time. 

Today has dawned bright and sunny but the house is chilly now in the morning. I was tempted to light a fire this morning, but I didn’t. But I likely will tonight for a treat. So, without heat from the fire to warm me, I had a morning soak in the tub.

The yellow curry I ordered from Amazon arrived yesterday, so I’ll be making another batch of curried rice salad. It was incredibly popular at the brunch with Pete and Ali. Everyone wanted some of the salad left at the end of the lunch to take home. The batch I make today will be even better with the yellow curry. Dwight is a vegetarian, so he’ll have this salad to snack on.