Thursday, October 4, 2018

I Love Having a Blog

Talk about stating the obvious, right? The other day, while Pam and I were talking, she asked me questions about our pool remodel; how long did it take, what all did they do, etc. Telling her I couldn't remember all of the details because it was eight years ago (!), I said I would get back to her after searching my blog. Voila! It took nearly a month and it was at this very time of the year. One thing I so remembered is how happy I was once the pool was filled back up with water.

Thinking more about the subject of this blog, although it can take me two hours to get it right, how else would I know what was happening on, or near this date in the past eleven years? Well, here goes:

2017 we were in Vancouver.
2016 we were on our road trip through Ohio and New York. Plus, I was just getting over my second bout of c-diff.
2015 we had a perfect weekend and the air was what I described as "coolish" at night.
2014 we had just finished the marathon that was painting the kitchen cabinets.
2013 we were on a journey to Brighton with Matthew.
2012 we were fixing up our new space at FAVO with a little help from Angela.
2011 it was the 16th anniversary of living in our house on Gem Mary Court. Lots of good family stuff in that one.
2010 Pool remodel and more.
2009 A sales rebound for fledgling photographer Gail Peck
2008 Describes a hot and humid art festival, as well as me longing for paper and pen. Further, the stock market was in free fall.
2007 A successful art show!
And while technically on or around today's date. this was when it all began.

Well then, that was fun for me, and if you are thinking of checking out any of the posts, most of them are not very lengthy. Who knew, back then, that one day I would be hanging out at the pool with our son David on a Sunday afternoon in October?
Nor could I have predicted that I would spend the earlier part of that same day visiting my sister in a rehab facility. The former activity, it goes without saying, is the preferable one. While I was there a young man came in to do a portable chest x-ray, something that I'd done in my past, more times than I can count. The machines I used were nothing like the pictured one, so much smaller, not to mention digital.
It reminded me of one job I held when all of the children were quite small. A horrible job it was because I worked overnight so that B could be with the kids, obviously to save day care expenses. Back then it was called Lucerne hospital and there was a whole wing devoted to spinal cord injury patients who needed frequent chest x-rays in their beds. Imagine pushing a machine, probably two times the size of the above, across a bridge that spanned the street. At 5 in the morning I might add. No other details are needed, but suffice it to say, it was a good thing I was a very young woman!

Guess what? Talking to Nancy the other evening, while sitting out back, I heard the familiar call of a Barred owl. I knew it must be close and by golly, it sure was!
Because I was out and about with my camera, I decided to walk down to the pool to witness the evening sunset, passing by David and Michelle's place as they were putting up Halloween lights.
Michelle, especially, is a big one for holidays. I wonder if it will rub off on me? The sunset? Well it was glorious!
Because Bruce has been gone all week, I've spent most nights reading, reading, and reading. One night I read all of Rachel Joyce's new novel, The Music Shop which was so good. I'm now about halfway through, The Great Alone, another fantastic read, this one set in Alaska.

This week too, I've had my eyes checked, and the air conditioner checked by a fellow who had to fit his way between our clothes to get to it as it sits on a shelf in our closet. Weird set up but it seems to work just fine.
Thank God for air conditioning is what I have to say! You know how I've been moaning and groaning about the heat? I was not exaggerating folks.
I'm also sewing, making a new dress with pockets. I looked in my stash for a zipper as I knew I had a bunch from that estate sale bonanza. Looking at these two zippers, as well as the buttons, I wondered how it has come to be that everything is made in China these days? Who remembers when it began happening and why?
Interesting that although you can't see it, they have not changed the color name. See that paper on the bottom right? Medicare info which is daily filling our mailbox with sales pitches. Big business, or so it seems, selling supplemental insurance.

Here's what the Halloween lights look like at night.
When I scheduled the air conditioner check up, I'd forgotten all about the quilt guild meeting, so that did not happen for me this month. Instead, when he finished I went to Stone Crazy and put down our deposit on the new countertop which, if all goes well, will be installed on October 16. From there I went to Matt Manning Surfaces to pick out backsplash material. I'm thinking I will be going with the ivory one.
I do, on the other hand, absolutely love the tiles underneath! In an effort to not go too crazy, I'm trying to stick with something more subdued. While I was there Pam called, offering lunch, an invitation I gladly accepted. It's a bit of a long story, but this lunch was originally meant for others. Glad that didn't pan out.
While there we had a long discussion on kitchen sinks during which time she convinced me to go with my heart and skip stainless, instead going for a composite sink. Am I brave enough to go with a Cafe Brown sink by Blanco? Maybe I am.

Our darling Mr. Peck missed his connection last night, something that has happened so little in all of his years of traveling. Probably fitting as on this trip he's braved driving in a massive snowstorm in Calgary. How snowy was it? Here's how snowy. He described driving home in the morning, after working through the night, and my heart both sunk and soared. Thank God he was safe. I read on the Global News that there were something like 130+ accidents that morning as no one was prepared with snow tires yet. And he's always said that traveling was the easiest part of his job!

Well, who knows what will be happening in October 2019, but if nothing goes awry, I'll be sure to document it here in my little space on the World Wide Web. Stay tuned.

your friend,

Gail

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