HMMMMM.....

The house is dirty.  I haven't had to think about the house's state of stickiness and hairiness since, well lets see, I guess since I lived in North Vancouver.  When I moved to Langford I got a house keeper and in Kamloops I had Scary Alice and now Millie....who can't come.

Peter did dishes last night and when he was done he came into the living room saying that the kitchen floor was sticky and dirty and gross..in a very disgusted tone.   He doesn't know that the rule in my house is 'if it bothers you, you clean it'. LOL!!!!  Consequently the house gets really dirty, no one says anything about it and I end up doing it eventually.  Unfortunately for the people with higher clean standards, I am not one to be too disturbed by dirt, ergo it doesn't get done as quickly as others in the house would have it. Aryn and I always said we don't like cleaning a 'clean' house.  We like it good and dirty so we see the fruits of our labour when finished.  But...it is my prerogative to do it when I wish, after all, like it or not.

But upon his saying this last night, I did start to notice the dog hair balled up on the peripheral.  The black spots and marks around the sink and on the walls in the bathroom from a certain someone's black charcoal (?) toothpaste.  Dust on the side tables etc...  (shovel list). I asked Peter to bring up the vacuum cleaner today and I shall get at it.  I don't have a mop so I shall have to get down on bended knee to wash the floors...just like the old days.

I want to thank Cheryl and Chris for recipes.  I was soooo excited to see them arrive and boy! are they good ones.  I am making a grocery list and going to get started on them...one by one.  I way prefer to get personal recommendations from people than a generic one off the internet.  The internet ones so often just don't do it.  I like food that tastes good. So thank you thank you!!

The other night I made a dinner that was so tasty and delicious.  It was lettuce wraps.  Of course its really the hoisin sauce that makes it beyond delicious and what I made was just a vehicle to eat that sauce but holy moly was it ever tasty!  And I don't care what people say, nothing beats iceberg lettuce.  None of that limp, stick to your teeth, spring mix or spinach for me.  I like a good fresh CRISP crunchy, hold up under all circumstances, iceberg.  And the one we had the other night was amazing.  Mind you by the time we finished eating our hands were completely covered with minced up sesame oiled veggies and hoisin.....worth licking off it was!!!!

The other day I needed to go to the bank and Shoppers to mail something.  Pete came with me and when we were finished neither of us felt like going home.  So we drove down to the river, parked at the parking area looking out over the river, and just sat there for about an hour.  It was heavenly to be out of the house and as usual had a wonderful conversation with each other.  He is amazing to converse with, always has been from the first day I met him.  And I haven't just sat in a vehicle, looking out at the view, for a long time, just enjoying it, since Bill died.  It was a real treat.  I would have loved this at anytime, but right now it was a very special treat.  Covid has made the little things so significant, which can be good....or not!

Well I must get this day started.  Take care folks.  TTYL

RANDOM PICS....IN PARIS IN THE GRAVEYARD WHERE JIM MORRISON IS BURIED

TUNA PATTIES, CARROTS AND SALAD

THE RIVER VIEW THROUGH A TINTED JEEP WINDOW

WAITING FOR PETER

IN THE ERIC KAYSER JEWISH BAKERY AROUND THE CORNER FROM APRIL'S AND MY HOTEL IN PARIS

THEY DON'T MAKE FOOD LIKE THIS ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND....SADLY

ONE THING I NOTICED

I think with the much less stimulus from outside, as we sit here in our houses day in and day out, including jaunts out in the neighbourhood, that things that do get through, mostly on the news, affect us more mentally.

Like seeing that old man get pushed down by that racist.  I know that that would have been horribly disturbing at anytime you saw it, but that reduced me to tears this time.  That dear old man tumbling onto the cement like that was simply horrifying and awful. What if that were our dear old person?

And last night the four of us watched Michael Moore's new documentary about our beautiful planet.  I hope everybody takes time to watch it.  That video really reinforced what we already knew.  And now, with our earth getting a much desperately needed breather, it's time to make changes.  We are selling our van...one car is more than enough, we are going to start to grow at least some of our food, less travelling, live local as much as possible and make a sincere attempt to eat way less meat.  I am going to talk to the crew about that.  Greed is definitely the most evil of the seven deadly sins.  And Al Gore is a big fat lying greedy phoney.

I am still sitting in my bed, with my window open and our illustrious leader, spending us into oblivion and horrendous future inflation and taxes is pontificating on the tv.  So whilst he repeats and repeats and spends and spends, I thought I would write this post.  But.....

There is another annoying noise coming through.  Pigeons.  Many pigeons.  They sit on the roof of my house and coo and coo and coo.  You know, its kind of like a nose whistle...that frigging noise your nose makes sometimes.  So you snort in big whiffs of air to see if that stops it. First you plug one nostril and snort, then the other side. Then test with normal breathing.  But no, it's still doing it.  So then, even though you aren't supposed to touch your face, you grab your nose and yank it and twist and squeeze...but again...whistle.  Then you get a Kleenex and blow....blow hard.  Nope.  Finally you take to bashing with two fists on each side of that honker and finally, if it isn't bleeding, your nose stops making THAT noise.  But I can't do that to pigeons on my roof.

Graeme just brought me a cup of coffee in my bed!!!  Coffee in bed...that has almost never ever happened in my lifetime.  What a treat!!!

Every morning I always took Bill a coffee and his newspaper in the bathtub.  Every morning...until he retired and we moved to laptops from paper.  And in all those many many years he never once brought me a coffee in the morning.  Not once, insert an Oma sniff here.  I asked him once why he never had and his answer? "I don't know. You never asked."  Sigh.

I  quit Global news a while ago.  And I was missing my morning news fix but Global is all Covid and doom and gloom.  I mentioned this to April and she suggested Breakfast TV.  She said it is happier and less gloomy.  So I have and she is dead right.  They still touch on Covid and still show PM but they have the best most fun stuff on their news.  Give it a try you locals!!!  Just now they showed a low carb vegan ice cream place that's open, safely, in Vancouver!  Mmmmmmm......

Alright, I am rambling.  Gotta wind 'er up here.  Have a fantabulous day people and if you have any vegetarian suggestions or recipes, please email them to me.  I need help.  TTYL

hp1104@gmail.com. 

MIND BOGGLING

Sorry folks but this is going to be a rant.  So if you don't like rants please feel free to not read.  And if you totally disagree with me, feel free to let fly in the comments.

It's about all the people that just can't either stay home or keep their walking to their neighbourhood.  I can't believe what a bunch of babies our society is.  They can't comply with the health admins orders.  And the only way, THE ONLY WAY, this virus spreads is by people getting too close to people.  

Of course, prisons, hospitals, old folks homes...it would be hard to keep it from spreading in those places.  But the general public?  I see people that just HAVE to go to the beach.  That just HAVE to go to the parks.  That just HAVE to go running on public pathways full of people.  That just HAVE to ride their freaking bikes.  Every time someone goes off into the hills or woods on bike trails, they risk an accident that then involves rescue people and puts them at risk.  If you want to hurt yourself go ahead...but don't ask rescue people to come save your ass.  Oh yeah thats right...it won't happen to you right?  It frigging makes me mad.

I was just reading some articles...about how people are getting 'frustrated' because they can't have their weddings, family reunions, PNE's, pot smoking events, music festivals etc...I think they don't understand that until there is a vaccine there is no safe time or place to go out.  And I can see the powers that be are being very very careful to NOT make that statement but are dribbling out tiny little tidbits of things that might restart soon.  All because we are a society of spoiled brats that don't like doing what we are supposed to. 

 Well not everybody.  A lot of people are doing exactly what's being asked of them and that is fantastic.  They are staying home.  They are keeping their walking within their neighbourhood. They aren't out hiking in the mountains and getting lost.  They aren't out biking trails and getting into accidents. The credit for the progress we have made completely goes to those that STAYED HOME AND IN THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD.

I am sure this might piss some people off.  But I know just too many people that I love that probably wouldn't survive if they became infected, myself included.  I do not want myself or them to become your selfish collateral damage.

Be safe out there....TTYL

If you really disagree with my opinion just read about Alert Bay.  Thanks to people, visitors, who wouldn't stay away, as asked, half the place is infected now, including the mayor.  If the visitors had stayed home all those people would not be sick.  





  

HOLY HANNAH...TIME FLIES!

Wow!!!  How did six days fly by?  It amazes me how fast the days accumulate between posts.  You'd think I was busy or something!!!!!

Each day bleeds into the next.  I did get tired of making dinners.  I didn't think that would ever happen but it has.  So I implemented a roster.  We each take a turn and the one that cooks doesn't have to do the dishes.  I started with the cod. 

 Next it was Pete's turn.  He made pirogies.  The first thing he did was ask Graeme to be his 'sous chef'.  Made me laugh as that is not in the spirit of YOU making the dinner.  Graeme refused...outright.  Really all Peter wanted was help cutting the bacon and cooking it....on the grounds he is vegetarian and doesn't want to touch it.  Keep in mind that a very short time ago he was eating bacon.  Honestly it was pretty funny.  I went in and sous cheffed for him.  And his dinner was divine I must say.  He cooked those pirogies beautifully! They were almost as good as dead Bob's and thats saying a lot!

Last night it was Monte's turn.  He made a Thai curry with the rest of the cod, and rice.  I truly hate Thai curry.  But the one he made was delicious!!!! He used a jar of PC green curry and it was not what I expected.  My only experience is at Wagamammas in London and Noodle Box in Langford.  Yechch!

Tonight it is Graeme's turn.  He has worked in professional kitchens before so we are probably in for a nice meal.  But he does have to work with what I have in the fridge.  Sounds like its going to be a vegetarian spaghetti.  Sigh.

I am getting to know the neighbours bit by bit.  I have finally met the girl next door.  When we moved in she was heavily pregnant.  Her baby is now 8 months and adorable.  We are just deck friends at the moment but eventually hopefully we will be able to get together properly.

I have also talked more with Harry on the other side.  I like him.  He seems like a really nice unaffected guy.  Again, balcony friends.

So we have been watching crap tv.  I mean, why not?  Our little routine starts with My 600 Pound Life.  Ummmm...really....a really good motivation to put that third cinnamon bun down.  Graeme calls them plumpers.

  Then we watch Hoarders.  Again....a great motivation to clean the house up.  I call them crazy lazy. I shut my eyes when they get to the bathroom part of the initial tour of the house.

  Then we go to the PVR and watch Real Housewives, silly bitches screaming at each other...probably at the producers encouragement to do so.

 Then on to 90 Day Fiancé, desperate old men chasing very young asians and really fat ugly old broads going after really young Nigerian rapping dudes who want to get to America.  Then endless episodes of Murdoch...which I can't recommend enough.  A fantastic show.

But right now I am watching Bradley on Facebook doing his DJ stuff!  Pretty exciting!  Apparently he has had a lot of fun getting it all set up and working on his playlists.  Good for him!!!!!

TTYL

MY CLEANED UP DECK

OUR FINISHED PUZZLE

I FOUND THE BEST RECIPE!!!  TWELVE CUPS OF FLOUR THIS WAS!

THIS IS A CHALLENGE

You know when you sit in your house day after day after day, it's difficult to find something to blog about.

I could just make this a complaining blog.  I have way too much time now to think about crap that isn't right and can't be made right because we can't go out or all the businesses are closed.

For example:  My eyesight.  Its bad and getting worse, slowly.  I really need to get into an ophthalmologist and soon.  My right eye is so wonky now I can hardly train my brain anymore to ignore what it's seeing.  It's beginning to interfere with what my left eye can see.  It's almost impossible to read music, or do puzzles and now, horror of horrors, reading.

To make matters worse, my glasses are ridiculous. They def aren't strong enough, and they are all hazy and scratched.  I really have trouble seeing up close stuff.  Distance is just fine though thank goodness.  Plus at any given moment I have enough gunk on them I could scrape off and make soup.  They are ALWAYS dirty from cooking.

And I don't want to feel like I am walking out into a holocaust any time I need to leave the house.  I look out my window and I see 'enemy'.  The low grade constant fear in my gut reminds me of how I used to feel sometimes when I was 16, reading all those post apocalyptic books....where the world became poisoned by atomic war....which seemed so imminent at the time in the 6o's.  My problem is that I am never afraid of anything...even when I should be.  This is an alien situation for me and I am having to develop new coping skills.  Whine!  (shovel list). I thought my learning new crap was done with.

Enough whining.  Now about the good stuff. I got a phone call from Pat yesterday.  A friend of his had gone fishing that morning and had a load of cod and halibut for sale!!!!!  We don't eat halibut but boy do we eat cod!  So I bought about fifteen pounds of beautiful, cleaned, suspiciously small, whole length fish filets.  And cheap cheap cheap!!!!  It was soooo good.

  Sometimes I just arbitrarily decide I don't feel like making dinner.  Last night was one of those nights but that sure changed quickly.  I coated them with mayonnaise and rolled them in extra crispy shake n bake. Mmmmmmm.  Delicious delicious delicious!!!!  And I made a bunch of steamed broccoli and put butter on it.  OMG!!!  And Monte had never had butter on hot broccoli before!!  Loved it!

Well I think that's it for today.  I am kind of cranky again today.  I need to stop that.  I think I will go out and try to make the deck look nice.  It's such a nice big one, it's a shame to not make it look good. Sorry about the lame post.  Stay safe peeps.  TTYL

JUST FOR FUN...MY FAVE ROCK IN MAUI

OUR PETER IN HIS DOMAIN DOWNSTAIRS

MY MESSY BACK DECK....THE BEFORE PIC
TOMORROW THE AFTER PIC

WHAT I MISS MOST?

Picking my nose.  I seriously miss picking my nose.  That is turning out to be the single most difficult thing I am trying to quit doing.

There is a whole thing that goes with picking your nose.  You surreptitiously glance around to see if anyone is in your sight line.  If so you wait it out.  If not but it's possible someone might come by, you hide your hand and be quick.  If you are alone in the house...well have at it.  But now, one cannot stick their possibly diseased finger up their nose at any time!  I miss it!

And I miss eating vegetables straight out of the grocery bag.  No washing or wiping, no looking for crap on them.  Just bust off a piece of celery and munch it down whilst you shove the rest into the fridge, still unwashed.  Not any more.  Fill the sink with bleachy soapy water.  Immerse grapes, bananas, broccoli, celery etc... in the water and wait a couple of hours.  Then rinse, dry and put away.  So not me believe me.

I miss going days without washing my hands.  Oh, I used to wash them before hands in or on cooking and after the John but that was about it.  Now I wash them every time I turn around.  They are now cracked and dry and scaly and there is no point in putting on lotion because five minutes later you are just washing them again.  We are on our fourth bottle of hand soap in just one of the bathrooms.  Not my fave thing.

Yesterday afternoon Monte started to complain about stomach and chest pains.  They got worse and worse.  I finally gave him a couple of my acid inhibitors and it seemed to help a wee bit but at one in the morning he came upstairs in agony.  He phoned 811 and they told him to call an ambulance, it could be heart.  So we hopped into the jeep, its faster than calling an ambo, and I zipped him up to emergency.    Long story short, it's the beginning of an ulcer.  So no more booze, no more coffee, no more sugar, no more pop.  I will be buying lots of veggies and coconut water.  We will see if we can kick this with the right diet and a minimum of those inhibiting acid pills that are so hard to kick later.

Well its time to go and get all the fruit and veg out of the sink of water.  Peter went shopping for me today and I am washing all the produce.  I washed everything else too and put them away.  Now I am going to nap.  I am sleepy after pulling an all nighter!  Stay safe people.....TTYL

SAD

I have been feeling something over the last few days that has slowly increased and snuck up on me.  Today it got strong enough that it was making me feel kind of pukey.  So I stopped and thought and thought about it.  And I finally identified the culprit.

I am really really really missing Bill.  I think I am missing him more now than I have since he died.  I also am super missing my mom right now too.  What the heck??!!  I think I just want someone older and in charge to lean on and make me feel safe.  And there it is.  I don't feel safe.  I am actually afraid.  And I am pretty sure I have lots of company out there feeling the same way.  And I miss my kids.  Tomorrow is April's birthday and I had planned on being there.  I even have a lovely present here for her.  And I want to see Arnie and Kevin and the grandkids.  And I miss Kathy and her crew and my brother.  It's family time and I miss them all.

Well enough of that boohooing.  I am so fortunate to have the three boys here.  If I were completely alone, like so many are, I would go bonkers.   And another group I want to shout out to are the awesome peeps at Telus whom I phoned today because one of my tv's wouldn't work.  They fixed it over the phone and I profusely thanked them.

  I mean I am very grateful for the frontline health workers for sure, but every single person out there that is still going to work to help us in every aspect of our lives, deserves equal credit and gratitude.  Police, firemen, grocery clerks, the tax person at city hall, insurance people, garbage guys....all of them.  Every day out they go braving a sick world while we get to either stay in our safe homes or go walking all alone or with our dogs.

I had a great call from my clinic doctor.  He is so funny!  He had me in stitches!!  He asked all the right questions and sent my prescriptions into the right place.  So easy peasy!

I made a cake day before yesterday, I think the best ever!  It was a wacky cake, a throw back to the war days and rationing.  No eggs, no butter, no milk.....chocolate and delicious.  Really delicious! A nice solid cake, not one of those insubstantial fluffy ones.  And I made a double batch of the coconut/brown sugar broiled icing on it.  Holy moly was it ever good.  So much so that I am about to sign off here and go make another one!  Take care out there peeps and stay safe.  TTYL

WE ARE GETTING A LITTLE DOWN

There isn't much to report.  Graeme is all better and has been released from his room.  It looks like the rest of us escaped the virus and we have totally hunkered down and staying in.

I finally did push the furniture back in the living room and Peter set up the Costco tables and Graeme and I organized the puzzle pieces.  It's a tough one!  It's going to take a while.

I also bought a very complicated paint by number. I need to figure out where and how to paint that sucker.  Its a beautiful pic but with my failing eyesight it is going to be a challenge!  I love the pic though.  It's a front porch on a log cabin looking out over a lake. 

I had a long chat with Cookie, caught up on all the newsies.  I have also had convos with my other chillens....all doing well thank goodness.

I have been baking a fair amount of bread.  Pickle juice rye, regular brown and white.  I went shopping for groceries one morning and totally forgot to get oatmeal to make cookies. But....I looked it up on Amazon and the oatmeal is totally cheap.  So I ordered it there and it comes on the 8th.


Okay this is getting as mundane and boring as our day to day life is.  Cooking, baking, puzzles, painting, playing instruments.....jeez there just isn't anything interesting to report.

One unexpected thing happened yesterday.  My phone rang....a local number I didn't recognize.  I answered and a lady asked for me.  It was the MO from the clinic I go to to get my prescriptions renewed.  I am needing a renewal and I figured I would have to call the virtual doctor.  But she told me that they noticed it was renewal time and the Dr. would call me around one o'clock on Monday if that would be okay with me.  He will want my latest blood sugar numbers and blood pressure if I have it!  Then he wants to know where to send the prescription!!!  Hokey Dinah!!!!  Chalk one up for the virus!!!  No three hour wait in the waiting room.  No doctor poking around my nethers.  No going to the lab.  I am one happy camper!!!!

So now I go.  Maybe something momentous will happen in the next couple of days.  TTYL

THIS IS A PIC OF THE PUZZLE

THIS IS THE PAINTING