Dave & Ursula Come to Visit

My mojo for diarizing seems to be back.

David and Ursua got back late Saturday. They are lovely people who had been away for six weeks visiting their daughter in Costa Rica. I really like them, but I was sad to have neighbours again. I loved the feeling of privacy I enjoyed while they were away. 

I was sad when our men’s hockey team lost in overtime. I was also sad that the USA won; it’s become such a loathsome country, I want them to lose at everything. I listened to the broadcast; I couldn’t sit and watch it. I did my morning chores so that when it was over, I was up for walking in the light rain with Her Highness, and we were happy to see the sky getting brighter as we walked.

When we got back home, I built up the fire. It was My Day so I could burn as much wood as I wanted. And then I got to working for SPACE. Province by province, going from West to East, I am trying to capture contact information for as many speech language therapists that treat people who stutter as I possibly can so that we have an extensive database of SLPs for our advocacy and research work.

All my work is volunteer except for the work that I do on our grant project. When I work on the grant, I get paid forty bucks an hour. It’s not a lot, but it’s income to replace some of my scammed cash. I’m grateful to Aidan for choosing me to be part of the grant staff. Plus, love our objectives of the work we are doing. We are to identify ten service providers and assess and improve their accessibility for dysfluent people.

At 11:00, the sky cleared and the sun came out. I immediately served lunch and then Her Highness and I went for a trail walk at Ricki Ave. I had my coat open, no hoodie up for the first time this year and since the Fall, the few people I passed were carrying their coats!

When I got home, I worked outside. I collected all my empty plastic and tin juice and pop containers and took them to our elementary school because they were having a bottle drive to finance their grade seven’s annual trip to Thetis Island. It felt very good to help them. I love this island and doing what I can to contribute to our community’s wellbeing.

When I got home, I did yard work! Yard work, in February! And with no coat. I got rid of all the pruning detritus from my Fall pruning, and I collected things from around the shed and yard to go into the garbage can that had hardly anything in it. Collection is today, and I was able to fill the bin with stuff I no longer wanted.

When I got tired and came in for a rest. I had to shed my hoodie because it was so warm in the house. I opened some windows to cool the place down, and I let the fire go down knowing that I’d want heat from a fire again in the evening.

Dwight called. It was pouring rain in Vancouver. He’s likely free on Friday to have lunch with me. That’ll be nice, to be with him in person. We’ll have a leisurely lunch, then I’ll drive to Ambleside in West Van to walk Sheba before we go to John and Bunny’s for dinner and to sleep over.

At 15:30, there was a knock at the door and, of course, Sheba went berserk barking like a banshee. It was Dave and Ursula from next door. They came in and we had a lovely impromptu visit for over an hour. I was thrilled to have their company. And then, when they left, our regular evening routine began.