The glorious fall carries on. I am spending a lot of the time in the garden. The days are bright and sunny and the
temperature rises to about 20 or 25celcius, but the nights are often near zero,
so it’s impossible to ignore the fact that winter is approaching. I also decided to have some repairs
done to the stucco near the foundation of the house and was lucky to be able to
contact the woman who had worked on the place about 5 years ago. Houses in this area shift a bit because
they are on clay, but there is a new caulking that she has just learned about
that expands and is designed for this kind of problem. She’s working on that while I get the
garden ready for the cold. I’m
finally really trimming the roses.
This process revealed a tree peony that I hadn’t realized was as
beautiful as it is. It’s leaves
last all season and turn from green to a dark burgundy red in the fall.
The birds seem
to be having trouble adjusting to the newly painted red tree at the side of the
house from which their feeder now hangs, but I’m hoping that they will accept
it as the cold forces them to find new sources of food. A neighbor’s cat is not helping them
make this transition. It sits in a
sunny spot near the red tree, in hope of their arrival. I shoo it away whenever I see it. So both enemies and friends eagerly
await the return of the birds.
I think I’ve finally gone overboard with tutoring and
volunteering. I now have 3 Korean
students as well as Jessica, the woman with whom I exchange English lessons for
Korean lessons. I have 2 evenings
in October when I will be a volunteer usher at the Vernon Performing Arts
Centre and I am going to volunteer again this winter with the Silver Star
Adaptive Ski Program. I
don’t know what’s happening with my student at Immigrant Services. She has
severe health problems and an abusive husband, so we have not had many classes
lately, but I’m keeping that time open.
I had also attended a morning course on how to help elementary students
with reading problems, but when they sent me the proposed schedule, I had to
withdraw and ask to be placed on the supply list because I couldn’t go at the
times they suggested.
I have hit another pothole on the road to surgery on my
right shoulder. The 11/2 year wait
I was told I had in March has now been extended indefinitely as the surgeon is
no longer doing surgery. I may try
to get a surgeon in Kamloops or just decide to live as I am. I can do most of what I want to do and
am in no pain.
There will be no pictures this week. I had hoped to be able to include
photos taken on Sunday, September 30 at the Vernon Cemetery where I met three
cousins that I had never seen before.
They came here from the Vancouver area to celebrate the interring of
their mom’s, my father’s oldest sister’s, ashes with those of her husband. Dad had asked me to go, and I did so
happily. They welcomed me into the
group. We had Scotch and Champagne
at the plot and went on to lunch at a local restaurant. The pictures were taken by my cousin’s
daughter. She sent me some, but
they are not in a format that I can put in the blog at the moment. We were talking about how we had never
got together before and how reclusive some members of our family are. They said that their mom, ‘kept herself
to herself,’ and dad is very much like that too. He’s pleasant with any people he meets, but doesn’t
seek their company. Mom’s always
been his social convener.
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