Monday, September 22, 2008

Welllllll...

What a summer and what a September!! Been in a car accident, almost sold my house twice and did a professional development seminar... Our new house has heat and A/C now as of today, and we're about a month away from getting some furniture. The studio is done after many months of hard work and I've resumed my sewing. I'm pooped. It's autumn equinox today, so we're half-way to winter...

Peaches continues to expand her people skills. We took her to the beach on the leash a few times, and she seemed to relish the walking. Her leach skills are good, but she can still escape through 2 layers of sheep fence. Escape artist extraordinaire. The rest of the animals are fine...

Angeni is enjoying another year with a favourite teacher in the new school in Penetang. She is in a 5/6 split, so that is stimulating for her to work at the level of the older kids. She grew about 3" over the summer after many weeks in day camp. She had more adventures in one summer than I've had in a lifetime.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Summer zooms by...

Been a long time since I posted - haven't abandoned the blog, just settling in and renovating takes all the time we have outside of work. The studio is within sight, but not quite complete. New windows and doors are being installed and we have to get the heating thing sorted out yet. I won't be on electric heat for another winter.... The Durham house is still for sale, but all the reno's there are done.

Angeni is enjoying the Tiny Twp camp and is entering her 6th week of it... given the long weekend we're just completing, this is a short week. She turns 10 next Monday!!! What a decade!!!

Peaches is grooving along, and would be a model dog except for the urinary incontinence. I think her spaying was problematic, as this isn't really healing. All the other animals are doing fine...

To end this glorious long weekend we're having a family camp fire in the yard... time to go get that started.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Settling In...

Not settling for... Hmmm. That sounds cranky, but it isn't meant to be... Rather, I am making sure that how I move in here reflects what I want and how I want the place the be... We're still without heat in about 40% of the main floor, so I can't set up my work room. It's still too cold out there.

I'm struggling with an abscessed tooth and the horror of walking pneumonia. I've taken today and tomorrow off work to allow me to heal. Other than a funding proposal to finish, I am caught up. I'm involved in prepping for a National Aboriginal Day celebration, so we can present the institution with a painting by Eve Dexter of white buffalo. Finding dignitaries to participate, and native dancers, is a trick. And expensive. We'll see how it pans out.

We're working specifically on the library and office. The office is 90% done, while the library is maybe 70% done. We need to purchase some more bookshelves and finish installing the electric fireplace to make it complete. It looks quite spiffy in there, actually. There is an adjoining bathroom - sink and toilet only - which we've managed to make look quite grand. As we separate out the stuff for a garage sale I'm amazed at what I can now let go of - solid pine end tables made in 1977 by my first husband, dressers, all our Ikea furniture, lamps, kitchen overflow and just incredible amounts of stuff. It's like an archaeological timetable of my life. I am able to let it all go.... Good, healthy stuff. There is a sense of relief, actually, it just letting things go... maybe I'm becoming Buddhist? Nah, I like jewellery too much.

Angeni is finally accepting of her new school in Penetang. This is a much anticipated adjustment. She still sees the kids she left behind as her 'best" friends, yet they don't communicate at all. The dogs have not adapted to their confinement in the small yard. The dog control officer told us of complaints he's received, so we have to tie them up until we can fence the yard. Better to be good neighbours than have happy dogs.

Better get back at it - the office won't be right until I finish it.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Long time coming...

It's Sunday March 9th, a week after my 51st birthday, and I'm chilling to Pink Floyd... I apologize for the loooonnnnggg time away from this blog. At the last entry we'd been to work for two weeks and dealing with extreme financial and moving stresses. I get huge numbers of emails every day, although who these emails come from has changed... few clients and more work-related tomes. So let me catch up on what has happened... These won't be in any particular order, just as they come to mind...

My lovely Nonny had to be euthanized on Monday, Feb. 25th. She had developed lung cancer, after her kitty mastectomy last June (the week Pooky died). She was cognizant of who we were, and even in weakness meowed her recognition and purred on my pillow... I had Nonny almost 17 years. She goes back to the early days when I lived with Fred. I chose her from amongst a group of new kittens at the KW animal shelter. At 6 weeks old, she was sitting there, like the Sphinx, with other younger kittens crawling all over her. To say she was mellow was an understatement. Nonny never got caught up in the household cat/dog hierarchy. Ethol, her original house mate was always "The Quoon" and kept everyone in their place. Even after Ethol passed in December 2005, it was Zuna who took over the crown. Nonny was just herself. I called her Nonny Monster, but she was always the antithesis of a monster. She was much-loved and is much-missed.

Angeni started school in Penetang on January 7th. I really like her teacher, Mrs. Ball, who watches her interactions and doesn't pressure Angeni. Mrs. Ball has a wisdom and gentle approach that Angeni needs. Slowly she is making friends - this coming March break week Angeni is going to a day camp run by the community, so there is more opportunity to meet her friends and simply play. There were a lot of tears the first couple of months, but now we see more relaxation and laughter. It was clearly very hard for Angeni to give up the only home she ever remembered. She is resilient, in the face of all the changes.

We've moved in, more or less, to this new home. There are parts of it without heat, so Brian and Del are moving forward on a boiler system to replace the electric baseboard heat we now have. There is propane here for a faux fireplace, and the hot-water heater, so we have the opportunity to go all-gas. I smell a joke in that statement, but I won't go there.... Anyway, I miss my studio space, and until the heat is in the large room on the west of the house, I can't set up my sewing or knitting machines. What I notice I miss the most right now, is making jewelery. That surprised me, when it bubbled up from my subconscious. Soon, within the next month, I should be functional in the studio - this will help me feel more settled. Of everyone in the family I am the least settled. While I miss Durham for the space and peace, I relish being close to the water. But I won't be "here" until every last box is completely unpacked.

I guess this is enough of an update for today... While it should be a sleepy Sunday, Brian has been plowing the yard for 3 hours now, and it is lunchtime. He's got his tractor back, so he's still tractor dude. If the old tractor could run on testosterone, we'd be set - Brian's reaction to the tractor is similar to "Tim the Tool Man Taylor" - grunt, grunt, grunt. Boys and their toys.

Have a blessed week, and maybe spring will peak through shortly!!

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year to everyone! May 2008 bring the brightest blessings for you all... We are not really doing a festive thing, just had a quiet evening watching other revelers. I read a good book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert - this is an excellent read if you like spiritual journeys. Ms. Gilbert happens to have a similar sense of humour to my own, so I'm really liking her writing style. My New Year's night contained massive heartburn, and a sore throat, so I'm laying low today. Or is that lying low? Got to dust off my grammar books.

All the animals are adjusting quite well to the new surroundings. Starr had taken to peeing, etc. in the office because when he was tethered on a long rope, he wouldn't "go" outside. We're trying to keep the dogs off the road and out of the neighbours' yards - this is a challenge. Maxine won't come upstairs, and doesn't like being left outside for long. Spunky, for an old dog, has adapted quickly and without developing problem behaviours. The cats are enjoying the new house. Bob went outside for a little while one day, and basically hid under the trailer until I called him. No further requests for outside. Nonny is sneezing. If she isn't better by tomorrow afternoon I'll find her a local vet. Zuna has bladder irritation, so I'm trying to give her an antibiotic - this is like trying to get a shark to ballet dance. Not easy. Otherwise Mr. Bill is still flying the furniture (like Snoopy flies his doghouse) and all is well.

Brian went back to the Durham house on Saturday to clean and retrieve some missing items. He ended up leaving without some of the things as he just didn't have enough room in the van and trailer. He will wait until spring to gather the remainders. It was a long tiring day made even longer by driving a round trip in one day.

It is a quiet New Year's Day. I plan to cook a roast and tidy more of the house. We bought a new stove so I don't have the psycho-stove experience any longer. For all the work its taken
I'm enjoying my new kitchen, but have one box of utensils still missing out back. Every room is a mess except the kitchen... We've found most of our clothes, I think, but I'm missing a specific bit of native jewellery and that troubles me. I have to have my studio space up and functional by the end of March, as I'm expected to teach topical embellishment at the Doll Artists AGM in April. This means finding my stuff and making up kits.

We're having a bit of nasty weather with high winds and blowing snow today. I wasn't expecting this... It drops to -18 degrees overnight with a high of only -12 tomorrow. Brian says by Sunday it's supposed to be +5 degrees and rain!!! Weird winter, and I'm sick of it now. I hope the roads are ploughed - in the meantime we're back to work tomorrow.


Enjoy this wonderful new year of 2008. Intuitively it feels like a major positive year.