Thankful Thursday

It snowed again yesterday...and no I'm not thankful for that!  We had a lot of wind, the snow was blowing off the roof of the house and swirling around in the area of my front patio.  

When I woke up this morning, this was the view from the front window.

Normally I would be able to see my car which is parked just to the right of the tree.  Not today!

When I went outside to start the car before leaving for work, I grabbed the camera to take a couple of outdoor shots.

The pile of snow is now higher than the window sill.

I went out last night and used the electric shovel to clear the driveway and sidewalk.  My silk poinsettia and the brickwork took a blast of snow.

That is not why I'm thankful.

Isn't it interesting the shapes the wind how carved into the snow bank?  It almost appears to be a cloth folded on the top of the pile.

Pretty as it is, that is not why I'm thankful.

One of the reasons I'm thankful is the snow ended yesterday and I fly out to Houston, Texas tomorrow.  Our temperature this morning was -22C, Houston was +22C.  Oh yeah, that is definitely a reason to be thankful.

But the best reason I have to be thankful is this: K is feeling well enough to travel.  She still isn't 100% but her doctor has cleared her to travel and we both think she can rest and relax on board the cruise ship.  See you all in a week!

Oh no...not again

My friend K could certainly use some healing thoughts.  She and I are scheduled to leave Friday for our cruise, but she is very ill at the moment.  The diagnosis is pneumonia combined with a possible bug she may have picked up on her South American cruise...she just returned to Canada on February 2nd.

If she is unable to travel, this will be the second time for this particular cruise.  When we talked briefly today she thought perhaps she's not meant to visit Belize.  I'm certainly hoping that's not true.

So if you have a moment, and could spare a thought or two for K, I know she'd appreciate it as do I.  While I'm not afraid to travel on my own, I do enjoy her company, and it will be a shame if she has to miss out on this trip again.

Thanks!  Hope your week is going well.

Random Saturday

The Olympics (especially the curling) have captured my attention this week.  The mid-day draw in Sochi is aired at 4 a.m. local time.  I haven't been so foolish as to get up that early every day, but I'm usually planted in front of the television by 5:30 or so to catch a few ends.  In the evening I've been pulling up the webcasts of one of the other draws or watching the replay on Sportsnet.

As a result I've getting to bed later and arising earlier than normal.  This weekend I'll planned to catch up on my sleep but was up at 4 a.m. this morning to watch the men's game between Great Britain and Canada.  We won, but it came down to the last rock in the 10th end with a steal. Exciting!

I did go back to bed after the game ended and slept until my younger brother called at 10 a.m.  I appreciated the wake-up call as I think I would have slept all morning!

******
My cousin's cat Simon passed away suddenly this week.  She woke one morning and found him in his final sleep in his normal spot on the back of the couch.  E said they only reason she realized anything was wrong was his tail was hanging down, while he normally had it curled around himself. Simon was only eleven, a black panther, who is greatly missed by his mom.

******
I was pleased to read in the news this week that a man has been charged with animal cruelty after a cat was found with 17 pellets in his head.  The cat, now named Joe underwent surgery, he lost an eye, and one pellet will remain in his cheek but he has survived and will be available for adoption.  I hope Joe is able to trust humans again after his horrid experience.

******
The weather remains cold, though we are expected to get an additional four inches of snow tomorrow, with more to come this week.  We'll get a brief warm-up while the snow falls, then it's back to the deep freeze, just before I leave for my week's holiday.  I know I'll enjoy the sun and heat even more!

I've pulled the large suitcase out of the closet. Now I need to make a list and start packing.  Now if I only had a television in my bedroom I could combine watching the Olympics with dreaming about vacation.

Sunset off Belize 2012

******
Have a great week everyone!  I'll be around to visit but I suspect this place will be quiet as I try to get everything done before I leave.

The countdown begins!

Two years ago, in January 2012, my friend K and I planned to take a two week vacation, with one week in Saint Lucia and the second on a Western Caribbean cruise. Unfortunately she fell ill and I went on my own. It was still a great trip but I missed having her along.  Last year, we made up part of the trip, spending 10 days in Saint Lucia.

As you all know...because I've complained about it often enough...the weather this winter has been absolutely horrid.  When I arrived home from Jamaica in late November, I told K there was no way I was making it through the winter without another warm vacation to look forward to.  At that time I didn't know how bad it was really going to get!

So she told me to start looking for a deal in mid-late February. She couldn't go any earlier because she and her partner J were crossing another couple of trips off her bucket list...a cruise round the tip of South America from Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  And since they were going to Chile, they went early and made a trip to the Easter Island as well.

Can you tell who is my inspiration for travel?

I did some research and found the least expensive trip for a week was a cruise out of Houston, Texas in late February. I even found a deal on flights and hotel so we booked.  This cruise has almost the same itinerary as the one I took on my own.  Since we're cruising out of Houston we won't get to the Cayman Islands, but K has been there before.  Our ports are Cozumel, Mexico, Belize City, Belize, and Roatan, Honduras.  On the last cruise we didn't make it into the port in Roatan as the sea was too rough.  As K has never been to Belize we'll both have new ports to add to our list of places we've visited.

AND we'll have made up for the trip she missed out on two years ago.

I'm looking forward to this:

Sunshine, blue skies and a deck chair...bliss!
Only fourteen more sleeps....I can hardly wait.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Shock and sadness

There are times when a news story hits me hard and today was one of those days.  Before I share the details, I'll explain a little of the why.

As I grew up on a farm I rode to school everyday by bus.  Every school morning, Jack the bus driver, would arrive at our driveway at 8:10 a.m. to pick us up and return us home again after school. 

Our route to town took across the "old bridge" known for having crooked hair pin turns to get on and off the bridge and a very narrow width.  In later years, they actually put up signal lights on either end of the bridge so only vehicles coming from one direction could cross at the same time. 

But when I was a child, vehicles often met on the bridge.  Large vehicles like our bus, would pull in the mirrors, slow to a crawl and everyone would hold their breath as the drivers cautiously moved past one another.  Occasionally despite best efforts someone lost a mirror.

Sometimes though the accidents were more serious. One day we arrived on the bridge hill to find traffic was backed up. From our vantage point we couldn't see what was happening on the bridge but eventually we made our way down the hill and onto the bridge meeting the ambulance as it made its way towards town and the hospital.  As we continued across the bridge we saw the wreckage of the vehicles involved in the accident.  There was an immediate gasp as we all recognized one of the vehicles as belonging to a family whose five children were riding on the bus that day.  The oldest daughter B broke into tears at the sight and her younger siblings were quiet.

There was nothing our bus driver could do but deliver them to their home.  There was no such thing as cell phones in those days, nor did the bus carry a two way radio.  It was quiet ride as we all worried and wondered.  Later that evening, the party line was busy when the neighbours called one another and we learned that C, the children's mom had suffered minor injuries in the accident and was released a short time later.  

It could have been far worse.  I am truly grateful it was not, especially after the accident on Monday.

The accident didn't happen on this or any other bridge but on a highway here in Saskatchewan.  A school bus collided with a pickup truck hauling a cattle trailer.  The truck was stopped on the side of the road due to mechanical problems.  A woman was outside the vehicle at the time, was struck, and later died of her injuries in hospital. There were three children on the school bus; news reports suggest two of the children were her own.  

When I heard that last bit of information my heart sank and my thoughts turned to these children who witnessed their mother's fatal injury. I can't imagine how devastated they must be.  I believe their father was in the truck (and sustained no injuries) so one can only hope he was able to shield them from the trauma as much as possible. 

I don't know the family but my heart aches for them tonight.  What a terrible, tragic, unfortunate loss.

 

Super Sunday

It's the most wonderful time of the year....at least it is according to me. It doesn't matter that the weather is still cold outside and my house is a disaster....being gone a week and leaving the house to the devices of two adult children whose idea of cleaning is loading the dishwasher....but I digress.

Yesterday was the start of the Canadian women's curling championship (the Scotties), and today is the first full day with three draws.  AND even better, there are three provincial men's semi and finals being telecast today.

Basically, there is a game or three being broadcast at the same time from 8 a.m. this morning until 9 p.m. this evening.  I thought I was going to have an hour break between 12 and 1, just enough time to get a couple things done and grab a bite to eat.  Except one of the games went into extra ends, so it was nearly 12:30 before got away from the television!

That's not to say I haven't gotten anything done.  When mom was alive, she loved to watch curling...now you know where I get it from...and she had a rule. When an end was complete, she leapt up and did something, whether it was a bit of laundry, sweeping a floor, or doing some dishes.  I try (not always successfully...darn computer) to do the same thing.

Sami is happy about clean laundry!

The upstairs has been vacuumed, the kitchen floor washed, and the laundry folded. I even got my daughter to do the dishes, by hand no less, by offering her a choice between dishes and vacuuming.
I've still got the basement to vacuum and lots of tidying up to do, but most of the day I'll be planted in front of the television.

Oh yeah, and then there is that game being played in New York that I need to keep an eye on.  There are three Canadians playing in the game; one of them, Jon Ryan is the first player from Saskatchewan to play in a Superbowl.  So although I don't generally follow the NFL, today I'm saying "Go Seahawks!"