Rain!

Above: Some of the icicles from my roof and in front of my bedroom are now almost two meters long! It’s certainly giving my home that mountain cabin look.

Below: The giant icicle just outside one of my guest rooms.

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I took Her Highness for a morning walk, and it felt great to walk with confidence on the path, thanks to my new ice grippers on my boots. Then we went into the village for supplies for dinner. But nothing is open. All our stores are closed today. WTF? They should be open for holiday hours. I mean, good grief: it’s just another day! When I got back, there was no message from Julien confirming his plans, so I called Di and told her I was coming to her place for lunch.

Great news! Really great news! My friend, Cathy, who lives in Halifax, did a few years of ASL training, so we’re planning to ‘chat’ together to learn vocabulary and to practice signing. I was thrilled to get her proposal in an email yesterday morning. Hurrah!!

Below is a photo that doesn’t do justice to the stunning beauty of these snowy mornings with clear bright skies. 

By 11:00 am, I had not heard from Julien and Mayke, so Sheba and I went to Di’s for the lunch she invited me to be part of. Donna, Erik, Rod, Di and I had a delicious lunch of very moist ham, scalloped potatoes, one of Di’s phenomenal salads, and some cake and ice cream for dessert. Yum! Yum! Yum! 

When I got home, there was an email from Julien saying they weren’t coming but will come here for lunch today, instead. I have a Zoom call at 10:00 with my BC stuttering group, so they will likely arrive shortly after the call concludes.

Then tonight … yay! … Episode one of Around the World in Eighty Days on PBS. I can hardly wait. David Tennant. Yum! I love the guy; he’s a fabulous actor!

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I awoke last night to the sound of rain. By the time I got up, water was dripping from every icicle and the snow is slushy and compacted. I had to rescue the roof of my plastic garage; I was almost to the point of tearing dur to the build-up of water in it. The entire yard is full of forest fall, however. There must have been quite a wind bringing the warmer weather. But it’s a relief to see my plants returning to the vertical position.

Sheba is now suffering with two damaged paws and she’s responsible for it, so it’s back to the vet, back on Prednisone and back to waking up in the night to let her out to pee. Prednisone makes her drink all available water.

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My experiences of yesterday—lunch with Di, Donna, Rod and Erik, and my video call with Dwight—they tell me that my speech is better. I’ll have a better idea of where I am at when I Zoom this morning with my stuttering pals, and when Julien and Mayke arrive, but I do feel it is far easier for me to speak when I’m with friends in a ‘safe’ place. And I think I know why.

I believe that beginning to learn ASL is the reason. I think making the decision and finding out that I like learning to sign has been good for my brain/soul/condition. I think the learning has given me hope for my future, pride in accomplishment and I’ve always loved learning, and I my new positive frame of mind has positively affected my speech.