I slept only as long as I needed and was up at a decent time. I relaxed over coffee and then got myself ready and headed for a visit with mom before heading to work. Of course your feet are down when I got there although she swears she has them up whenever she sits in her chair. I have never gone in her door and seen her with her feet up. Her feet swell and she has issues walking, but I cannot seem to make it clear what a difference it will make to sit with her feet up.
We did have a nice little visit and she was heading to bingo so I headed to the office and took care of some payments for her before buckling down on a file that I have been trying to catch up since it’s July 31, 2019 year end. I actually got a great deal done in the last couple weeks, all the way through to Oct 2022 which is very satisfying. I really do hope to get it completed before I leave on my trip
Speaking of my trip, unfortunately I hesitated too long on the Drach caves trip in Mallorca as I didn’t realize something that makes a lot of sense. It is a timed entry with only a certain number of people, and I am now on a waitlist. Fingers crossed.
I am now sipping blackberry crown, gifted to me by the lovely Nesta and watching the current season of upload. It amuses me immensely.
I woke up sometime after eight and was heading to make a coffee when I got a text from Rae to call her when I woke up so Idid right away FaceTime her. It seems they had planned to head to Creston to get fruits and vegetables, but remember that Sawyer had a party for the afternoon and could I have him dropped off just after 10 and bring him to his party for 130?
Of course, I said yes, and just adjusted my schedule for the day which had involved going into work. When he arrived, we worked together doing some pretty solid chores. We took out all the garbage, including the litter and seriously clean the litter box and surrounding area. Then he scraped the old non-skid stickers off the bottom of my bathtub I scrubbed and clean the tub, grabbed a shower and then we put the new stickers on. I think they are super cute.
Next, we emptied an entire closet of storage items and sorted all the Tupperware to make sure it had matching lids, etc. Any of the offbrand named items went into the to go box and some set aside to post for sale as they are a little lunch boxes so it is a good time of year to sell them
I made us some Annie’s shell pasta and tuna. Well he played a little bit of a little big planet and then I drove him to his party. It was up in Spruceland. I have seen the sign before but never been up in that area and it is quite lovely. The family that was hosting the party invited the entire group going into grade 5 at TM Roberts French immersion for a pre-school starting get together.
Once I dropped Mom off, I headed to the office and worked until I got a text from Rae that they were not going to make it back in time to pick him up. I picked him up and brought him back to my office where they arrived 15 minutes later or so with some peaches, corn and cherry tomatoes for me.
He is such a good little guy and there’s two weekends in a row now when he has been helping me to get motivated to do the things that weigh heavily on me. I may book him again soon.
I stayed working at the office until a zoom happiest hour with Rotarians on both sides of the border occurred. I enjoyed meeting the two people that I didn’t know and chatting with Steve and Joe. Apparently it is every Saturday night at 5 o’clock pacific time. It started back in Covid and has continued and I hope to drop in fairly regularly.
I came home and had a short visit with Tracey before settling in with a dinner of corn on the cob and cherry tomatoes, and watching How to sell drugs online (fast). It is a quirky show that I am now into season four of on Netflix.
I started the day with a reflexology appointment with Lorraine. I gained a lot of insight on what is going on with my body and am making a plan to get the Altra she’s that she recommended
Left work, raced home to get my bevies and headed to Galen and Monica’s for her 50th birthday bash. It was a lovely gathering and I had many great deeper conversations with people that I generally see when I am busy with other things. Marie even had Altra shoes and highly recommended them. Jess is going to set me up for an appointment to get orthotics and then I will go to Kimberley and get a pair of them.
Rotary lunch was very interesting as Nancy Reid (Emmy’s other grandmother) gave a great presentation about the new low barrier shelter opening Sept 8th.
Rae invited me to pick up the pizza and come watch How To Train Your Dragon with her, Lukas, Will and Sawyer. I very much enjoyed it.
Today was broken up by going to pick up Mom’s pill packs and then her to take her for her lower denture fitting. On the drive she told me that she had fallen down last week, but her brother was there and helped her up. Her feet are quite swollen, and I had to lecture her once again to have her feet up whenever she is sitting in her chair, especially during this heat. Sigh.
The best part of the day honestly was being engrossed in the books back at the office and getting a message from Rae asking me if I was home. She sent me a picture of her parked in my driveway so I shut everything down and headed out. It was long past office hours anyway.
She was there to deliver a bottle of blackberry crown from Nesta one of the owners of Encore for a thank you to my work at rock the kootenays. We ended up sitting and having a nice long visit outside planning our trip. She was very considerate that she didn’t want to take over my trip, but would I like her to help plan that five days at Walt Disney World? Of course, I said yes! I completely trust her ability to be on top of all of the apps and know all the times and etc., etc. etc. We also debriefed RTK she had a meeting with the organizer today. She would also like me to consider running the trivia for the next season. I would like to do that, but it will be hard not to actually be on a team competing.
I am actually starting to get excited about my trip, which is only 50 days away!
I would like to say that I popped out of bed and print through the day and came home and accomplished much but the reality is I dragged myself out of bed got on the treadmill, went to the office came home made some dinner and I’m watching trash TV nearly falling asleep in my chair. I only barely managed to get one chore done. At least my back doesn’t hurt as much, but I am definitely going to hit the hay early.
After all the work yesterday I didn’t sleep comfortably. At one point I got up and took pics in the den where Sawyer and Emmy were sleeping. They went to sleep so fast last night I was amazed
Sawyer was so cute when I got out of bed around 8 and he told me he wouldn’t let Emmy wake me up. I made cheesy eggy hash browns for breakfast. They had fun sorting through my earrings and pairing them up. Rae showed up for Sawyer and I spent time brushing out Emmy’s hair while she applied the press on nails her mom bought her. They are really something for an 8 year old lol. Her grandma picked her up to go shopping for school shoes.
Once everyone was gone I mowed the lawn and tidied up inside. Around two in the afternoon I noticed that my muscles around my rib cage were sizing up. I’m not terribly surprised as everything in the shed was moved out, sorted and put back in, as well as heavy totes from inside the house
I took a long hot shower and an extra strength Advil, but it barely made a dent in the discomfort. Standing outside I heard the click of my gate and it was Diana dropping off a gift she’d misplaced for my birthday. I love it!
At 5 pm I joined the group gathering for Rotary in the Rocks it was outdoor bocce at Colombo and I found myself having a great time in spite of being seized up. It was lovely to chat with Ben and Sven about their immigration experiences as teenagers. Two rounds of bocce was a great deal of fun. And I was sent home with leftover sandwiches, veggies, fruit and peach pie! Lunch for tomorrow to look forward to!
Had a nice chat with the ABC lot this morning and then got myself over to pick up Sawyer. We dropped Lukas at work for noon where I ducked the chef’s jeep
and then picked up three bags of salt chunks to add to my water softener system. I took him to Centex for the first time and we had a picnic back at home of Chester’s chicken. Over the next 3 hours we emptied my metal shed, sorted by season and to keep or not. We made a run to the Salvation Army thrift with two boxes of vinyl that Jake had already gone through and a large IKEA bag full of bags. I kept 4 of the albums and had a good laugh at this one
We even brought several totes out of the house to the shed further opening up my den. Missy was being odd and it was no surprise as I noted the temp on my weather station!
Emmy showed up and we had a quick visit with her sisters. Gwen wanted to stay over but understood she can when she is a bit older. I had to block my driveway as the across the street neighbours company turned in my driveway with a truck and made an actual chewed up area.
Emmy and Sawyer helped me with the last chore for the day, moving all the shingles that Roger and I scooped from Bills supply out at Moyie. We wagoned them over and put them in the shed until I can get them on it. Both those kids are strong!
I made them a nummy dinner of Alfredo sauce stirred up with bow tie pasta, tuna and peas. It was a hit. We then watched two movies, The Willoughbys, and IF, had some popcorn and laughs.
Randomly I started my day with asking ChatGPT to create an avatar one of my pictures and it cracked me up when it said that it was a punk rock princess
My day was productive and ended with spending the evening at Encore. Deb & Dave joined me and we watched Tennyson King and Lindi Ortega perform. It was most enjoyable and it was lovely to see him again.
They are both incredible Singer songwriters. I do love her dark songs, clearly driven from loss.
Tennyson got Deb to take a picture of us with his vintage style Polaroid and that was much more fun than a selfie
Up early and on the treadmill for the third time this week. Also still haven’t smoked since Saturday morning. Baby steps towards my goals.
Rotary was interesting as Penny Coyle from sunrise. Rotary got up and asked for volunteers for Gran Fondo. By the end of the meeting, it was felt best that I would be most helpful as the parking crew coordinator and I had already recruited three of the four volunteers I need. Should be a fun day although I told her it showed how much I love her that I will be out at Saint Eugene Mission before 7 o’clock on a Saturday morning.
The other speakers at the meeting were relatively young veterans who have formed the committee about the restoration and upkeep of the cenotaph in Rotary Park. The history of it was very interesting and it has moved four times and shall not be moved again, but they wish to build a fence around it and I thought one of the most beautiful things was that they were not here to ask us for funds, but rather ask us how they can raise funds. It was actually a very beautiful moment. I stopped so Ashley could let her dog out and ducked the Jeep that was parked beside me.
I spent late afternoon early evening working on my schedule of things for while I’m away, including what days I will need to run payroll and file government filings and what time it will be there at midnight mountain standard time. I feel a bit relieved even getting that much figured out already.
It should work out most days that when I am back on the ship from adventures, it will be time to run payroll.
I did stop at Rotary Park to see there was a new arrangement of things on site and had quite a few lovely catch-up conversation conversations with people who flagged me down. One of them was Doug Mitchell who completely caught me off guard by asking if I would be interested in Minh for the Locals. It is a monthly performance of local musicians at the studio stage door and he said they have had before, but they’re not Marnée. That was a lovely compliment and exactly what I needed so of course I told him I would be honoured and he will get the schedule to me soon for the winter
I’m not sure why Lyhne with velvet wasn’t the opener at the park instead I saw that it was Slo Jo Crow playing
Maddisun and her full band played out the evening. It was nice to see her so happy.
Also sticking to my commitments to me, I decided to come home and make dinner rather than spend more money out and about.
I seem to be really processing my spot on this planet in this space in the overall what do I wanna do with the next 20 years of my life?
I found myself on the edge of tears, too many times today
I did manage to get a lot of work done as well as book Rae’s flight home with me from Florida using my AirMiles and give her information about getting to Fort Lauderdale to meet me on November 16. I met her, Bill and Deanne, Roger, Dee and Lukas after work for a bevie and then Bill, Deanne and I stayed behind and had something to eat at Encore. Good thing I stayed as I ended up having to run up to the house as Lukas had gone home with Bill’s keys in his pocket.
I am currently watching AGT and planning to hit the hay early again
Fell asleep thinking I early so I woke at 3,4, 5 & 6 before finally getting up. I spent time on the treadmill.
Then I spent time on the work ‘treadmill’.
5 pm EdFest meeting. Pretty sure I am done with it. Bob McCue has been asked to emcee Friday and Brad McCue will on Saturday. They already do all the things theatrical.
I no longer feel that I am valued as a performer in this town. I suppose that’s ok as it peels away the strings that bind me here.
Rae asked me to book her flights to join me in Florida!!
I slept well I n the back of my car but kept waking up cold as I should have brought another layer. It was still 15 Centigrade at 10 am!
I had a coffee with Paul before he headed off fishing. Elva and I sat and read and relaxed. I needed to get warmed up so I loaded up my car
Just before noon I headed out and drove up to rain. I still went through a basic car wash to get the dust and mud from the week rinsed off.
Once home, I unloaded everything, put on a load of laundry, did a couple payroll assists, and then sunk into a fabulous bath while I watched Shrinking.
Now it is only 8:30, i’ve had dinner and I am ready for bed. it has been a most unusual week!
I woke up at a ridiculous early time as I had gone to bed early. This let me enjoy a couple coffees and watch my shows before packing up the car and heading to the spot that Elva had dropped a pin for me to find. Honestly, it was one of the best days ever going out on the boat hanging around the beach playing with the dogs, enjoying great fun playing ticket to ride Amsterdam and exploding kittens. Levi and Sam, Elva and Paul and myself all seem to get along well and had a great afternoon, followed by convos around the fire with Elva, Paul and I
I was very impressed by the outhouse that someone built and not gonna lie and very grateful. I set up my car but only with the inflatable mattress in the back I decided not to put the tent over as I’m leaving tomorrow and it is very dusty and dirty. My battery pack for my CPAP and turning my phone is working well and I’m just so grateful to be here.
I had a decent sleep, my power pack kept my CPAP going and charged my battery honestly it rained off and on in the night and misted and drizzled throughout the morning. Just before 10 Sawyer and I went for a short swim. As you can tell by the pictures it was comfortable in the water but a bit chilly out
Jeff and Roger made a delicious pancake breakfast. Roger got me to drive his truck up the access road where he met me with a quad and I hopped on to do a couple trips gathering shingles to redo my shed. Bill kindly told me to take what I need. we took the time to pick and eat some huckleberries while we were at it. I also took a picture of the one I mistakenly ate which Roger said may be poison but I used an app to identify it as Brides Bonnet and I shall not die
Before I left Rae let me know she was considering doing the week in WDW with me. I was surprised and I think it would be great as we did have fun together as n Vegas. It would also make that week cheaper for me as she would kick in.
I headed homeward around 12:30 and met a couple birds who were not afraid of me. I suspect there was a nest nearby
Once home, I unloaded the car and worked in the yard for a while. I cut back the hollyhocks that had fallen over and bagged for transfer station.
I then took a long bath and watched the documentary about the Biggest Loser show.
Now I am curled n my chair watching the next season of Acapulco in n AppleTV before heading to bed.
I intend to join Paul and Elva camping out past Kookanusa for an overnight tomorrow. That is, if I can find them with the directions she sent as there is also sketchy connections out there.
So much to get done today! Checked it off and headed to buy buns and snacks at Safeway before my nail appointment with Minh at 5. Turns out he’d had a scary experience of his hands seizing up earlier in the day and was going to cancel but saw it was me at days end and stuck it out. Unfortunately that made him running late and I finally was done and picked up my sleep over stuff to leave home at 7. It should take at least 45 minutes but I shaved off 15 to make it to the cabin by 7:30. Dinner was still available for me which was delicious; baked beans, brisket and potato salad. Rae’s peanut butter chocolate cheesecake was made by Jeff and was unbelievably good. I cracked a bottle of the ‘fancy’ wine that I was gifted by the owners after RTK, Chronos Cab Sauvignon and it was really good. We gathered round the fire and enjoyed each other’s company before the others all headed off to bed. I am sitting in the dark enjoying the fire. It is good to be me.
On the way to my Rotary meeting this morning, I was stopped at a light by a car that lived up to the deck on the back of it disturbing the peace since 1987. It did entertain me.
The lunch guest was Debra Parker who just won the Masters time trial and road race cycling and is off to the world’s where she has placed before. She has a local Mortgage Broker who I know from her office in the Groundfloor and I love that we are reconciling Local heroes. Also part of the meeting involved welcoming for a members who are all of a younger age than The average there which is also impressive.
Norm was the sergeant at arms and it may not make sense to everyone, but it was entertaining
I got a lot of work done this afternoon and then headed out to meet Elva for a bite to eat at Fenwick & Baker before heading to watch the Unfaithful Servants from Vancouver Island at Summer sounds in Rotary Park. Quin, the fiddle player, I knew from my crew at music fest back in the day and they also played there in 2019. I wore my shirt with their name on the back and it was great to see him and reconnect. It was nice when Ward did a shout out that they were there because of me as I had recommended them last year and they are the first band that they brought back two years in a row. There was a really good crowd and the evening was lovely although there must’ve been a sound issue because the volume was not high enough. I did buy a CD and have a great chat. It was very nice to hang out with Elva and Monica joined us towards the end.
A woman actually stopped me in the park to tell me she was from Halifax and recognized that Quin was an extraordinarily gifted player and if I could connect him to come play there to please let her knowas her son is a fiddle player, and she would love to connect them. I did let Quin know if they ever want to head east I could help them to make a connection.
Oh, and a small side bar lol it is my beautiful first child’s 41st birthday today. I am proud of the human. She has been come and look forward to seeing her tomorrow. 
I took a couple pictures in the pitch black before I went to bed last night around 11. One was the circle of my headlamp which resembled a moon. I had a terrible time trying to get to sleep. I didn’t bring my CPAP machine with me. I couldn’t get comfortable, although the mattress was amazing I still found my ankle to be uncomfortable. Once I did get to sleep, I woke up many times in the night and finally at 4:49. I decided I would get up and go to the bathroom before the cold hit and I would have to, and maybe there would still be some of the meteor shower left. As it happens, the moon was making it as bright as morning, and I didn’t even need a flashlight. I took a picture from near the trailer. I was in and one in the exact same spot that I took after the fire at nine; amazing difference.
11:00 pm4:49 am
Of course, I manage to get a little scratch on my foot from the raspberry bushes that Sawyer said he would clip away and I told him not to worry about it, sigh. He was more worried about me than I was, and it was right.
I got up I think around eight or nine can’t remember and went and sat on the deck, intending to read my book when suddenly people started appearing from every direction and a coffee was presented. I had a couple cups and then headed my way back to town.
Went home. I got showered and headed off to the office to get a little bit done before heading to the Rotary board meeting. We were very productive and I enjoyed the delicious Yorkies at the Heid-out.
Sometime after one, back at the office, I did get a lot of work done over the course of the afternoon and was very surprised when I stepped out to find how smoky it is. Turns out there’s a few fires just south of us. It is the first smoke of the summer though so that’s pretty amazing given the last couple of bad fire Summers.
Once home, I made a delicious meal and then sat with my feet up, watching my shows and giving myself a break. It is definitely time to head to bed though.
triumphgal 