Friday, November 30, 2018

Recovery



I loved Chris and Frani’s visit but I had so many seizures while they were here that all I could do was rest yesterday.  
For me, the highlight of their visit was our second night together when we played Cribbage together. When I moved here, I bought the cards and scoreboard hoping to do just what we did together that night. It was SO much fun to play games together.
There were two New Yorkersin my mailbox yesterday. Finally! I’m so glad the postal strike is over. I also received The Vegetable Gardener’s Biblein the mail. I’m really looing forward to learning how to grow vegetables effectively.
Today, I feel back to “normal” and ready for the great weather coming.


















Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Chris & Frani Day

I was stunned: Tuesday dawn unseasonably warm and with a cloudless sky. The unpredicted sunshine turned the treetops into gold at 8:00 and so our first walk of the day was a delight (even though the trails were flooded from yesterdays torrential rain).
The break in the weather allowed me to do some tidying in the backyard before Chris and Frani arrived just after 3:00. We immediately had coffee and started getting caught up. We ordered pizza for dinner and ate together here.
Talking was really hard for me. It’s almost like the more I care for my visitors, the more difficulty I have speaking. I also had a few seizures—all of them mild. But it felt great to be together with such good and longtime friends.
It’s still rather warm for this time of year and good weather is predicted right through to my birthday. It looks like we’re going to get through the entire season without any weather disturbance whatsoever.
Today Frani is coming with me on my dog walk, we’ll lunch together in the village, we’ll spa and we’ll have another evening together. They leave tomorrow.
Frani and Chris are making plans for their future. By “future” I mean their demise. They are underwriting the expansion of their childrens’ homes so that they will have a place to live as long as they can live outside a medical/housing facility. We’re all around seventy; it’s a wise thing to consider. But I didn’t feel comfortable because I’ve no family to lean on.
I’m not worried. What’s going to happen, is going to happen; that’s the depth of my attitude. Chris and Frani’s daughter and son-in-law have offered to care for me. Now you know why I love this family. 
For now, however, I want to live as long as I can in the paradise of an island and in this ideal home with my beloved pets, doing nothing but enjoying the moment.


















Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Chris & Frani Arrive Today

Wow! It’s Spring-like outside. At 5:30 am, when I went outside it was 12°. We must be having a Pineapple Express—a wind/storm front that blows north from Hawaii.
Monday began as one ugly (wet) day. I took Sheba on a very short morning walk and went to the arts council meeting where we continue to make progress and I continue to value the opportunity to be a happy volunteer. (A sub-committee is coming here in a week to see my ladies and consider how we might best monetize them.)
I got home just in time to have a bite before Amy arrived. She’s a lovely young woman whom I met when I first came here. We bumped into each other yesterday; she’d just returned from the Nanaimo General Hospital psych ward into which I also checked myself. I told her I’d been there and she immediately asked if she could come by for a chat.
We talked about living with compromised mental health for a couple of hours; she hasn’t told anyone else about her condition. She really appreciated our time together—particularly about how I use the hot tub to change my mood. And she loved playing with Sheba.
After Amy left I made cookies with my new cookie presses. I’ll honour Chris and Frani's visit today by serving them cookies imprinted by my new kitchen toys.
Late in the day I Skyped Steve and arranged for over three hundred dollars worth of Pralus chocolate to be delivered to his house. I can’t get it anywhere in Canada or shipped here from anywhere else, so Steve has ordered it and he’ll ship it to me.
In the evening, I was back with Mrs. Maisal. The show is delicious compensation for the lack of Mrs. Durrell in my life since The Durrells ended. (Season two comes online on December 5thand she goes to Paris. I can hardly wait.)
I’m off for a decent dog walk. It’s not raining and it’s delicious and warm outside. Then I clean up and wait for Chris and Frani to get here.