An even bigger blaster

It's Monday, February 20 and the house is still hot and humming. It looks now as if the upstairs bathroom floor tile will have to be replaced and the hardwood in my bedroom sanded and rubbed again with whatever finish was used originally. I continue to couch surf around the house, choosing whatever location is the least hot and noisy.  For my third perch tonight,  I think I'll be on the closest thing to a real bed that I've slept on in almost two years, the memory foam from the basement futon that I recently bought for guests. It's is now on the floor in the spare room upstairs while the basement is being restored. Yesterday I resorted to some shop therapy to lift my spirits. I bought new winter boots at 50% off and two tops at Winners. If this job takes as long as Jay thinks it might, I could become the best dressed woman in Vernon.

It never rains,

but it pours.  
I'm drinking ginger and honey tea and trying to recover not only from my cold but also from the fact that when I walked in the door yesterday after being in Kelowna seeing a cardiologist, I heard such a loud rush of water that I ran downstairs; the floor was covered in water, but the sound had diminished, so I ran up to the main floor bathroom where a fountain gushed up under the pedestal sink. I ran back down to turn off the main water switch. Then I stood for a while in water over the souls of my boots, too stunned to do anything until I had a flash of clarity and realized that what I needed was exactly what Jay does, restoration. I phoned him, he called May, she came over and we got up most of the water using swimming noodles, mops and pails. Jay and his partner came right over when they had finished their job in Sicamous. They put in about four hour's work last night and came back around 8:30am today to continue all morning.  Jay, his partner and a plumber have done all the work so far. There was no damage upstairs; it's just being dried with heaters and dehumidifiers. It's the basement that is a mess, but not total. It's especially hard on Jay who built the room and is now partly pulling it apart. Much of the ceiling has to be replaced but first all must be dried, so they have removed bags of wet drywall and  set up heaters and humidifiers in the basement too. The house is much warmer than I like and noisy, but I slept here last night and probably will again tonight. It's a relief to have it worked on so quickly. I've contacted my insurance and all sounds fine there, but I'll be happy when the adjuster gets here and confirms that. The one for this area is on a big job at Silver Star. 
That's the spring news from Vernon. 
More anon,

Just some of the blowers and heaters that are drying the place out. 

Valentine's Day

A day of love and massacres.  I find myself somewhere between the extremes; although if it weren't for the flowers the kids brought me when they came over for dinner last night, I'd be tilting toward the latter.  I'm still sick, haven't skied in twelve days and hardly have the energy to care.  What a lone lorn creature I am.  Miche was supposed to arrive for a week of skiing today.  I'm sorry she had to cancel her trip, but it's for the best because I still don't have the umph to ski and the weather forecast is for warming and rain all week.  There aren't even any cheery birds at the feeder, just a hunched up, dun-coloured wren with her back to me.

And Alaa just phoned to say her husband is sick so she won't be able to meet me for class.  We had a laugh last week.  I discovered that she can neither hear the distinction between 'b' and 'p' nor make it.  Her determined efforts brought us nearly to tears.  I thought of using a piece of paper between my lips to illustrate the difference between the breathy 'p' and the deep and breathless 'b' but the paper stuck to my lips.  We laughed so hard at that that everyone in the lobby of the Rec. Centre turned our way.  Today I was going to arrive with a feather that I have tested; it flutters out quite well.  Oh, well, next week.

My activity has been limited to walking, mostly to and from Tai Chi.  I decided to commit to it at an opportune moment; I don't have the energy for anything else. This Saturday I attended the three hour special session with a teacher who comes here from Penticton about once a month.  The instructors frequently refer in reverential tones to him, his classes and the fine points of positioning he has them work on.  From this I got the impression that either they were excessively awed acolytes or he was a piece of the real cross.  After one session I can't decide.  He definitely looks like the real thing, an elderly, lean oriental with an impeccably trimmed white beard.  That alone will bring me back for another look even though I sometimes got the impression that he derived subtle pleasure from watching his class of mostly occidental people furrow their brows and contort their bodies trying to duplicate the positions that after lengthy explanations he demonstrated and then tossed off with an enigmatic expression and a comment that it's 'natural', knowing full well that our desperate attempts to do everything right would doom us to being graceless, awkward and risible.  Even Sarah, my first teacher, who always seemed to flow like water when we did the set in our classes seemed to have been frozen into angular shards after being the focus of his meticulous attention. 

The tulips from the kids give hope of spring to come. 

Another flash of colour. 

I enjoyed reading Doug Saunders' piece in 'The Globe',one of my favourite sources of fake news, this Saturday. 

  

February 7

It's Tuesday, February 7.  The sky is blue; the snow is white.  The sun's not warm though it is bright.  And I'm staying home with a cold.  Even my most rugged friends decided not to ski today.  This is the coldest winter in Vernon since I've been here.  We were even getting low on snow until this past week, but now we have a lot.  Skiing was perfect on Sunday.  Miriam and I went up to see the Winter Carnival snow sculptures at Silver Star after skiing at Sovereign.  Two of them were exceptional, considering the dingy blocks of snow they had to work with.  The winning team will compete at the Quebec City Winter Carnival.  

The winning sculpture.  I forget the name, but it had something to do with first contact, I think

Second prize 

Other entertainment that I've enjoyed in Vernon recently has been at the Performing Arts Centre.  The Okanagan Symphony Orchestra's January concert, Beethoven Blockbuster, featuring a guest pianist, Ian Parker in the "Emperor" Concerto No. 5 in E-flat was wonderful. Another evening, there was a tribute to Dave Brubeck by the Remi Bolduc Jazz Ensemble from Montreal.  The opening act was the Jacob Soucy Quartet from a local high school.  Their first piece was shaky, but the others were good and Remi Bolduc even asked Jacob to join them in their first number.

Jay stopped by for a chat on his way home yesterday; he's been getting tons of overtime and has had about enough of short, cold days and long hours of hard work.  He is looking forward to long, warm days and fewer hours of work.

My thoughts have also turned to summer these days.  Yesterday I bought a ticket for a flight to Deer Lake, Newfoundland on Aug. 15.  I'm going to meet Caroline and her friend Barb for two weeks of touring the Rock.  It will be my first time there. I want to see some parts of Canada where I've never been in this 150th Birthday year.