30 September month, 2008

Yawn!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, I did NOT get enough sleep.  Oh well, there is always nappy time.  It is a foggy morning and I am not sure what we will do today.  There is a possibility of a blueberry picking experience.  

We gave Carl and Jeff a 50 cent tour of T'gate and the outlying areas yesterday.  We stopped at the T'gate museum and Carl and Jeff bought a few things.  We were supposed to see Steven Rogers after his work, at the museum, and we added a supper invite.

It was a beautiful day here as the USof A was in the process of falling apart.  It makes me sick to watch the news. 

We had a lot of fun at supper and it was midnight before we even stood up from the table.  We had turkey burgers and it was a new experience for Steven.  He only put "Archie Bunker" sauce on his as we covered ours with pickles, mustard and all kinds of goodies.  I made them triangular so they would fit in the ciabatta rolls.  We drank a lot of tea and   said a loooong good bye to Steven and he left closer to 12:30.  It was interesting to hear of life in T'gate from someone younger than Marilyn and Gordon.  I still want to have a piano and Steven's fingers dancing across the keys so I guess I will have to start those adoption proceedings sooner than later!

We got our new kitty on the way home Sunday and is he a cutie.  We took some pictures last night, so hopefully some pics will be posted soon.  He looks so tiny next to our big boys and he is adjusting so well.  They have been very gentle with the baby who has taken to my fringed blankets and is always found buried in the middle of it.  Twilly was just like that and he still loves the blankets.  We are still having trouble with his name as we want to keep it area specific.  It has gone from Puss Puss to Skipper and now we are fooling with Luxie.  I am not sure of the spelling but Steven told us it is a T'gate specific word meaning "do you understand what I mean.  It would be like "I am going to the g'rage luxie b'y", or "I am going to the garage boy, do you understand?"  It just sounds cute to our ears as Skipper is what an older person would be called.  It is such a delight to listen to the people speak, here.  I just wish I could remember all of the little sayings.  I guess I will have to ask Steven how one would spell it.

I want to visit with my friends now or go back to bed.  Hmmmmmmmmmm,  I wonder what it will be?

Have a good day after the stock market lost only about a trillion dollars yesterday...............

 

27 September month, 2008

We are at the St. John's Airport waiting for Carl and Jeff.  It is 10:41 p.m. and they should be off the plane momentarily.

We left yesterday so I could have a full day of shopping, fun, a movie, and of course, food.  For you, my Jonathan, we went out to a restaurant and had a real breakfast.  We were sitting and futzing with our computers and we heard our names being called.  It was our friend Ellen we met at Pippy Park and her boyfriend......our food came and I closed the computer until now...2:13 a.m. Tuesday the 30th of September month.

I'm too tired so I will finish later today.......

 

24th September month, 2008

Good morning to you.....It feels like I just went to sleep and I am up.  Well, I guess you have figured that out....I'm typing ;>). I'm trying to, at least.  It really is getting easier.  What is it, just over a year that I have been writing these muzes?  It was painful in the beginning as I couldn't make it through 1 sentence without 3 or 4 mistakes.  Instead of 3 wpm I may be up to 10 or so.  I still have to look at the keyboard and especially like the times when I have accidently hit caps lock and have gone through sentences before I have looked up.  With my compulsive nature, you can imagine what life is like when my fingers go dancing across the keys....most of them being the wrong ones.  I dare say, I am not doing so well right now.

Maybe it will be better now as we just had breakfast and are back in our beddie with our kitties.  Chet is working on an ocular migraine so his eyes are behind his lids and his hand right now.  I could turn on the news but I don't want my stomach to turn right now.

We went to supper at Nina and John's last night and had one of the most pleasant evenings since being in T'gate.  I was hoarse when I got home from laughter, stories and a few tears.  What a lovely connection......I keep thinking I am all grown up now and had a half of a cup of coffee and I think that may have contributed to my 3:00 a.m. bedtime.  I am able to consume several cans of diet soda without it bothering me in the least but coffee is another thing.  I actually had 3 sips of wine during supper and my cheeks turned their usual bright red.  Nina is having movie night on Sat. but we will be in St. John's this weekend and then the following one and the week after that is Thanksgiving here.  My, what a schedule!!!!

Wayne and Calvin, our workers, who are now Nina and John's workers, were there when we arrived.  They are adding a little covered front porch to their place.  It is funny here as everyone comes to the kitchen and they actually walk right in and holler if one is not visible.  Kitchens are considered public space here.  It is hard to explain why there are even front doors on the houses.  Actually, there are many houses with a front door and no porch or steps.  They are called mother-in-law doors but I don't want to give Jon and Erin any ideas as the finalize their plans for their new house.  It would be fun to do a collection of photos of porchless, stairless front doors which are some 10 feet up from the ground.

It was nice to see Wayne and Calvin.  It has been a bit quiet here without all of the workers around.  Wayne is always a crack up and I just start to giggle when I see him.  I , and everyone else from away can't understand a thing he says so I am always in stitches.  I have invited all of them over for supper so it will be interesting to have a house full of people that I can't understand.  It will make for a fun evening.

I just spoke to my grandchildren and that was a sweet morsel.  Erin is knitting now and I am sure she will be producing beautiful things in no time.  Jon reminded me I didn't talk about food in my last muze so I will add that we had a deeeeelicious chicken, broccoli,cauliflower, carrot and onion bake with potatoes for last night's supper.  I had fresh fruit without the ice cream.  MMMMMMMMMMM...happy now, Jon.

Matt dug for 7 hours yesterday and opened the stream completely up from the back fence to the culvert.  I still want to lift the wood about the size of 2 big barn doors and see what is under them.  It was filled with muck and he could bury the entire handle of the hoe without hitting anything solid.  I was afraid we would have to tie him off to the fence as we didn't want to lose him in the bog.   Chet reminded me the people who live here are quite used to the land and its intricacies.

We had our first hail storm last night and I was clapping my hands.  It was forecasted for today also but the sun is beaming through the clouds right now.  It's supposed to be 70 on Friday and 45 today.  I hope we have dry weather while Carl and Jeff are here.  

I called to see how Puss was yesterday and he is still quite attached to his mum's teat.  He wants to get good and fat before he moves in with 3 giants.  I would love to be holding him right now.

Chet just found an amazing program for his screen saver that takes our photos and makes it like a virtual tour of an art gallery.  Sorry WC and Leslie...you will have to get to a pc to see the photosynth pictures on the web page and I can't have a cool screen saver on my Mac like Chet just put on his.  

It is almost 1:00 so I guess I'd better get up and do some more decorating......

20th of September month, 2008

We were already pretty close to the border this time last year so we are into new weather conditions in T'gate now.  It has been howling for 3 days and not necessarily in the same directions.  I see my little trees straining against the wind and at the same time the grasses are dancing in another direction.  EEEEWWWWW this is exciting as fall is here and my trees have gone from summer trees to fall trees in less than a week.  Marilyn called to tell us our back storm door was swinging open and shut and didn't want it to go flying away.  It is so well insulated in here that we can only hear the doorbell.

We're off to see Puss Puss in a couple of minutes.  He is just starting to drink milk as of yesterday and is 4 weeks 2 days old.

We picked partridge berries again today for the third day and have them spread out all over the place in the kitchen.  There is a plethora of them where we go to pick them and I sometimes just lie back in the bushes and start to laugh.  The bushes are very low to the ground and intermingled with blueberries and a juniper type of plant.  It is soft to kneel in and such a pleasure to get on my hands and knees and not have my knee hurt.  We come out of there with red hands, knees, and seats of our pants.  I feel like I never want to leave the island as I have found such joy here.  We saw a man also picking again today and spoke to him.  He had a gallon bucket and a bag full of berries.  He says he hates them but picks them for his wife.  His hands were really red.  There are little tools to be had to just rake through the berries, which the people who sell them do, but it just ruins the plants and the younger berries.  I will have you know, my friend Bonnie, I was a "clean picker" today.  That means you don't get a lot of leaves and grass mixed in.  It will be nice to get the berries all cleaned and put away so we have room in the kitchen again.

Tomorrow, Marilyn and Gordon are coming to supper for roast leg of lamb.  I am looking forward to that.  I had to check with her that I didn't say tonight.  I would have been in a big pile of embarrassment if that was so.  

We're zooming down the road and getting quite a buffeting from the wind.  Soon to see Puss Puss.

I hope you are all well and living your lives to the fullest.  We are very thankful we are doing what we are doing.......

I get my kitty Sunday or Monday week.

By the time all of my boys finished calling to say goodnight last night, I got to sleep at 3:00 a.m.  Trying to get up today was quite an experience.

Love!

Gaye Flyer

gazemail@gazings.com

19th of September month, 2008

EMBRACE THE DAY!!!!!!  It is 2:46 p.m. here so there aren't many daylight hours to embrace.  We have been cutting the lawn.  It is quite a project and aren't finished.  It is supposed to rain so we are going to put some fertilizer stakes in the ground for the trees.  

We are sore today as we painted and picked berries for hours.  Truthfully, I think it is easier to buy jam already made but we are pioneers now.  Chet took a spill while painting and his shoulder is hurting besides his whole body.  I sat on my little stool while berry picking but sat it in a downhill position which would have my back facing downhill.  I sat down and you can figure the rest......I ended up on my back laughing hysterically and only lost 1 berry.

Oooooo it just dawned on me that I have my grass covered boots on in my bed......not a good thing.  talk to ya later...........

I cleaned the grass off my bed and then we finished in the yard.  The rain came, as promised, but not the 80 mph winds that were here while we were in St. John's.  Fall is definitely here.  It's amazing how fast it happens.

Chet helped me get some of the village up to the higher shelves.  Maybe we can do a little each day and I can get it finished in a week or so.

Oh did we have wonderful showers in our new shower that finally works.  One of the handles came broken soooooooooo we will exchange it ourselves.

I do hear the wind blowing quite hard right now MMMMMMMMMMMMMM I love it!  

All else is well and it is waaaaay past bedtime.  Sleep well with happy dreams...............

Nighty night!

16th of September month, 2008

I woke this morning with an all too familiar ache deep in the pit of my gut.  All I could do is utter guttural sounds to try and assuage the pain.  I thought of my life and came up with the word hard.  Not hard in a difficult way; not to say I haven't caused it to be that way on more than one occasion.  Hard in a way that everything I experience in my being I experience it "hard".  It could be said with fury or like a freight train barreling down the tracks at maximum speed and running into a mountainous block of granite.  Maybe I will choose the word fury as I am not one who sits down with Roget and looks for esoteric words to fill my pages.  I experience my feelings with a fury.  They may be hurt, pain, joy, passion, love, hate, disdain, pleasure, disappointment, betrayal, sharp words, tenderness et al.  I have always been told I do my art with wild abandon and that is how deeply I love and hate; with wild abandon.  The one thing I do have is an almost masochistic tolerance for is physical pain; sometimes to my detriment.

When I hold a young child and feel the silkiness of their skin, the smell of their breath, to touch their little noses, to feel their cheeks against mine.  When I hold a kitten or a puppy and feel their little ears and listen to their breathing as I hold them close.  When I look into my old boy Freddie's eyes and see how he would like to let me know how he is getting old, tired and not too well and would be leaving me soon as his job  will be done.  He came to me the morning after the death of my father.  I woke to him on my chest with his face close to mine and his gaze when he looks at me is still the same.  You did send him to me daddy and I have had to tell him it is okay to leave as I told you.  I will ache with fury when he leaves.

Today's fury was waking to the knowledge that I would not be going out to the couch and finding my Brett sleeping and that when I get back to the house I will have to touch and bury my face in the sheets and blankets, smelling the lingering smell of my youngest man as I change the bed to wait for his return.  I ached with such fury but I ache for myself and know he is happy and safely at home.  Va viejo; go on with life. Get up and shower to go to the RV agency to hear them tell us they couldn't do anything about our heat or A/C system and we will have to find someplace in the states to get it fixed.  We are headed home to T'gate with still broken steps, no propane to the fridge that is packed with Costco goodies and a lot of ice and no central heat or A/C.  We're tough, we will be fine as we are like pioneers in a luxury motorhome instead of a stagecoach.

We are supposed to stop and see Randy Hann at Harbour Grace at the art show he is in but we are also battling go home mode.  We will stop in Clarenville in about 100 miles and see what we are doing.  It also happens to be the town that I found my favorite Pirate t-shirt last year and want to look for the shop to see if the still have more.  A hooded sweatshirt would be perfection.

Now, I can spend every waking moment decorating and thinking about planting the Iris and Daffodil bulbs I bought yesterday.  I want to take down the white fence on the right side of the house and enlarge the garden on the other side of it, perhaps even building it up with rocks, but I don't think I have a snowball's chance in hell pulling that one off.  

I'm hoping to return home to a shower that actually works as we got our part last week and the fish markets paint job being finished.  It only took 2 1/2 months to get the part we needed for the shower to work.  I have enjoyed some wonderful baths though.  The bathroom is a masterpiece.

I was told that the jury is still out on the color of the window trim at the fish market which I think looks edibly delicious.  I actually hadn't entered into a juried show and am delighted with how it looks.  I can't promise how soon the photos will be posted as there are no photos yet and there are many waiting before.  Maybe Chet will sequester himself in his office and do some work as I freak myself out on the step ladder putting my village together on the shelves I haven't been able to reach.  I don't know....I may need Chet's steady hand or lack of fear about getting on a ladder.

I want to watch the scenery as it is particularly clear out so I will bid you adieu for now...............It is quite poignant that Chet found the quote at the bottom of the page yesterday.  In my life it is furiously true!

Gaye Flyer

gazemail@gazings.com

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. 

It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

15th of September month, 2008

God's grace and speed for Brett....We were up at 5:50 am to get him on his way; fluffed and folded.  We filled him with breakfast at McDonald's, which is like eating donuts before going out fishing on a boat (speaking from experience)!  He was just a tad nervous....HA!  We got passes to go to the gate with Brett and it took Chet 3 tries before he could clear security.  First, the cup of coffee, second, the pocket knife and the 3rd time the charm and he found us at the gate.  They were a little puzzled with my necklace but figured it wasn't a dangerous weapon and I thought it was my size 19 knitting needles.  Brett was in the bathroom and I went to the counter and asked how much an upgrade was to first class.  There were 2 seats left but the ladies couldn't get any information but thought it might be around $1,000.  I thanked and no thanked them and told them about Brett as I always do before he boards a plane.  One of the ladies said, "you were here last year,  weren't you.  I remember you".  I was pretty amazed and as Brett got ready to board they moved him to first class.  Needless to say my eyes got wet.  One of the ladies asked him if he wanted her to walk him to the plane and with a big smile and a sigh of relief he said, "yes, please".  I pulled him to me and whispered to him that he had just been moved to first class.

I go on and on about the Newfoundlanders and the amazing kindness they have about them.  They are a kinder, gentler people than we, as Americans, are used to.  It is so common here and we just experienced another shining example.  We are trying to drop off our tv to be repaired and are in the motorhome so we didn't have to move the tv again to the Jeep.  Chet put the wrong address in the GPS and we were in front of the Lt. Governor's house, parked, as he was checking the address out on the computer.  Mind you, we are driving 40 feet of motorhome through the small streets of St. John's and getting to see the sights and the "jelly bean" houses as they call the brightly painted places.  They are colored like our "painted ladies".  A cabbie whipped up in front of us and got out of his cab and I went into immediate defense mode.  Old habits die hard and I forgot where I was.  He came back and asked if we were lost.  What a thought.......we were and were only about 5 miles in the wrong direction so we thanked him and found our way to the tv repair place after we drove through the downtown area and past the harbour and got to see the fleet of Coast Guard boats and their ship.  They come into our harbour in Notre Dame Bay and spend the night on occasion.  We haven't seen the ship before, though.  Last year we got to go on one of the boats and talk about living quarters and heat.  It was like a furnace.

Tv dropped off and we are headed back to Pippy Park for another night as we can get in to the RV place to have the thermostat problem looked at tomorrow.  Hopefully we can get it to work.  We ordered a new board for the workings of the fridge as the propane won't work.  That's why we aren't staying at WalMart tonight.  We need the electricity.  It also gives me a day at Costco, Pier1 and Home Depot to return the light fixture that burned up when I turned it on in Brett's room the other day.  Amazingly, I actually have the receipt.  It's been a long day and it is only 11:03.  We will go back and hook up again and then off on my shopping spree!  I have been freezing water and making ice cubes so we will be able to keep our food cold on the way back.  We are supposed to go to Harbour Grace, near here, to see Randy who is doing a show there.  

The great NL road race started yesterday through NL and as I had mentioned, they have it here, New Zealand and Tasmania.  What a kick....just imagine traveling to those places to race.

WC, we went to see Tropical Thunder last night with Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr., Ben Stiller, Tom Cruise and a cameo by Toby Maguire.  It was a movie about the making of a movie and I didn't see the part that said the movie was starting.  I thought the first two opening scenes were advertisements for candy and another movie.  I was hysterical as I couldn't imagine how they could sell what they were advertising due to the nature of the names.  I was knitting so I missed the fact that it was part of what was the beginning.  Chet just shook his head and said to me "WC, it's just so easy".....thank you very much!  He has so enjoyed your statement and hasn't tired of using it at every opportunity as I am still as literal as ever.

I just spoke to customs in Newark for the fifth time in the past week and finally got a positive to an escort for Brett to customs and he will be met by his greeter on the other side.  Thanks, Jon, for your love and letter you wrote.  Hopefully it will go smoothly and the gentleman you were in contact with, besides having a sister with autistic children, asked me to call him tomorrow and let him know how it went as he is off today.

We're back at the park now and maybe there will be more later........my heart is crunching right now.

 

14th of September month, 2008

We are at Pippy Park in St. John's so we can put Brett on a plane home tomorrow.  AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  His 55 days of vacation are almost gone and we will miss a loving house guest.  It is time to go and get some breakfast and then to a movie.

We left Friday evening to head to Gander so we wouldn't have such a long ride on Saturday.  We got about 30 minutes down the road before we realized we had forgotten 5 things we needed so around we went back to the house.  By this time it was 9:30 and we hadn't eaten.  We drove an hour to Lewisport and got into Subway just as it was announced there were only 14 pieces of bread left and there was a nice sized line.  There was a carnival in town and I think everyone had eaten at subway.  We got the last 3 pieces of bread as a couple of people ordered wraps.  We got to Gander after midnight and then to the RV place in St. John's around noon yesterday.  We picked up the correct thermostat this time and it doesn't work either.  Sooooooo between our fridge not working on propane, our steps still not right and no heat or A/C, we have to ask the question of the RV place as to whether they can do the diagnostics properly.  If not, we will have fun getting to New Hampshire in Oct. with no heat!!!!!!

We will probably go to a movie today and spend a sweet day with Brett before he hits the skies tomorrow.  

After cleaning furiously for the whole day before Brett's birthday, we finally found the top of the dining room table.  The next day I cooked a fantastic meal, if I must say so myself.  I have NEVER been so organized and it worked out amazingly well.  I even followed directions.  I made spaghetti and sausage, caesar salad with home made croutons, and brownies that Brett had requested.  MMMMMMMMMMMMM it was so good with anchovies in the home made salad dressing.

We didn't tell Brett that we had a party planned including Bernie, Nina and John, and Marilyn and Gordon Ashbourne.  I must add that Gordon doesn't go anywhere or to anybody's house to eat.  He is a very shy man and goes to the post office and the store to do the grocery shopping in the evenings when there aren't many people out.  He did go to Bernie's once and I was given the impression that it would be impossible to get him over.  When I spoke to Marilyn, who is really a kindred spirit of mine, I heard him in the back ground saying yes, I go to people's places who are nice people.  I was immensely touched. We had a lovely time and everyone went home with a right full stomach.  Chet had gotten some decorations and put them up.  I can't tell you how nice it was to have a relatively straightened house.

It is funny to be in the motorhome and be back in our little space.  Well, now it feels little.  I said to Chet this morning it is about the right amount of space to have to clean up after ourselves.  We can finish decorating and live in the motor home and just go in to sit and visit the house......Not....

Twilly seems to be making a habit out of vomiting when we take off so I will try to be a little more prepared the next time we leave home.  He is such a screwball.  We had to bring the big tv with us to drop it off to be fixed and we lowered the dinette to lay it on and covered the top of it with tinfoil as cats don't like to walk on it.  Not only does Twilly like to walk on it, he likes to burrow in it and sleep on it.  That boy is a Newfie boy through and through.  

I haven't mentioned Puss Puss yet as I am dealing with my nuttiness.  Puss Puss is 3 weeks old and we have ben visiting since he was 3 days old.  He is very similar in color to Freddie and the old boy is just getting older and more frail sooooooo.  Chet wants to name him Quincy as we are getting him from the Adam's family and he is really in to his John Adams series.  First he watched them, then I bought him the CD's and we listened to over 30 disc's.  Oh my, were they verbose, and was I glad when they were over.  Being a glutton for punishment, I bought him the series on DVD and I think I will let him watch them by himself.  I don't want to name the kitten Quincy Adam's as every time he will get into our bed I will thin of Paul Giamottii (sp?) and that is just not who I want to think of when I go to bed!!!!!!!!!  Thank you my friend, Heidi, for the introduction to the kitten!

We still love the ride across the island to come to St. Johns as it never loses 1 drop of its beauty.  We have to come back in 2 weeks to meet Carl and Jeff and hopefully get our tv back.

I have to stop as we want to spend the day out with Brett soooooooo until after I put him on the plane!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wish me strength...........

 

9th of September month. 2008

I think so often about my muze but my fingers just don't want to cooperate and type.  I'm in deep Village assembly and don't want to get sidetracked.  I say I don't want to get sidetracked but that is a virtual impossibility...My brain is always going in a million different directions and I don't stay centered too well.  

We continuously lose things; my good bifocals, the parts to hang 2 towel hooks in the downstairs bathroom, our receipt for out tv from Costco, one of my big pieces to my village and I could go on and on.

We leave on Saturday to head to St. John's so we can go to a movie with Brett before we put him on the plane on Monday morning.  My insides are in turmoil as I am sorting through my separation anxiety.  It has been a sweet visit and it is hard to believe the 55 days have all but gone behind us already.  We also have to take the big tv with us to leave it in St. John's to be fixed. We have a growing line going down one side of the screen.  We will hopefully be able to pick it up when we go in to pick Carl and Jeff up at the end of the month.  They will be here for a week and I am really excited.

Thanksgiving is celebrated in the middle of October month here...Randy, Tracey and Tia are coming over for the weekend and we are going to cook an American/Canadian turkey day.  We are looking forward to it as we have such a good time with them.  We went to their place for supper on Sunday and it sure helped me as I was in major "miss my family" pain.

We have spent the last 2 days with a lot of wind and rain as we had a cold front just before the tail end of the hurricane.  Today it is beautiful out and the neighbor across the street is busily cutting his winter wood into pieces.  It is next to the fish market which is still not finished being painted but looking very pretty.  It is hard to paint outside here as the weather is always changing and a day is needed to dry before the painting can be continued.  One of these days Wayne will get it finished.  He is working on scaffolding and can't get up there if the wind is blowing and that is a common thing here.  He just has a couple of things to do in the house to hold us over until next year when we can finish our painting that has to be done as time is running out and neither of us wants to start on the cabinets and the moldings in all of the rooms.  We don't want to move the furniture one more time this year....enough.

Wayne is going to build a computer area in the motorhome before we leave.  It will be in the area where the dinette is.

Our minds are turning to winterizing correctly and finding out what to do with food, cleaning supplies, and the paint we are going to be able to leave at the Paint Store for the winter or it will freeze here.  We will have all of the pipes blown out with compressed air and close up properly this year.  Ahhhh another project....  We also have to wrap all of the new trees in burlap to protect them from the weather.

It's time to get up and start the day and a beautiful one it is.  I slid down some porch steps yesterday so I am hurting a bit and have a cut knee and a bruised shin.  I can't understand how I became such a klutz.  My friend Phil used to tease me that I could trip over a crack in the sidewalk that wasn't even there.

We had 5 visitors yesterday as life rolls on in NL.........It is such a kick and I LOVE the house.

Supper at the Ashbourne's on Saturday was absolutely spectacular as it always is a treat to eat anything that Marilyn cooks.  We had fun looking at all of the old pictures we have of T'gate that Chet showed on their tv from the computer.  

Have a blessed day....I miss you!

 

5th of September month, 2008

I guess I never did get back to my muze as it is today already.  I am in my bed after waking to a very windy cold morning.  We had breakfast and I climbed back in here with Freddie, my cat, and snuggled down.  

We were up late watching a movie that Nina and John loaned us.  It was "Never Again" with Jill Clayburgh and Jeffrey Tambor and it was really a sweet movie but we didn't get enough sleep.

Wayne isn't here so no painting.  Maybe he will show up as the sun is out now.  About half of the fish market is done with 2 coats of paint and 4 colors.  We will post the before and after when it is finished.  

We took Marilyn Ashbourne to supper at the Chinese restaurant last evening and our friend Heidi came in while we were there.  It is fun to see so many people we know popping up everywhere.  

After supper we went over to Nina and John's for dessert and tea.  We were going to sit outside and watch the sunset but the bugs had different ideas so we went inside.   It is really nice to be able to look out of clear glass and actually be able to focus on things.  We have all of the old wavy glass in all of our windows except one window in the kitchen.  Focusing is a bit of a drag but I wouldn't replace the old windows.  

I don't know what we will do today as it is really a lazy day.  Tomorrow night we are invited to Marilyn and Gordon's for supper and we are taking the disc of old pictures of T'gate. We will hook up to their tv so they can fill us in on all of the details.  There are about 192 pictures on it.

I had better get up or the day will be gone before I know it.  There sure is a lot of yawning going on here.................  

 

4th of September month, 2008

I opened my emails to the most precious pictures of Jack and Lilli Mae on their first day or school; he in 1st grade and she in pre school.  A flood of memories came pouring into my head and I will add an excerpt of my reply to Erin, my sweet daughter.  

"Oh god, I'm dying.....they are so adorable.  Does that ever bring back memories of not only my boys but also my mother dragging me up the steps of the school building my first day of first grade and throwing up and then the teacher holding on to me as I was hysterical .  I threw my doll out the door so I would have to get it only to have the door slammed and I was a prisoner.  Oh how I love separation.

I love you, my sweet daughter....."

Oh, it was a HOT day yesterday.  Fortunately, there was a breeze blowing.  I didn't paint on the fish market yesterday as I wanted to be around Brett and his day of painting the day before was all he was interested in,  He was completely speckled with oil paint from using the big roller on the back of the building.  The day before that he used a small roller to do the clapboard sides.  It looks great, by the way!

1st of September month, 2008

I figured I'd better get this written as I have been putting it off for days.  First it was the Olympics, then the convention, and now the hurricane.  We get everything 1 1/2 hours later than the East coast so tv time starts at 11:30 p.m.  It makes for some late nights and not a lot of sleep.  Chet is asleep in the other recliner as we have been painting the fish market and he gets to go up and down the ladder.  Brett helped do some scraping today and the other day and today also did some painting.  He did a great job and did all of the boards he could reach on one side of the building.  I was so pleased to see him helping and how well he did.

Let's see........what has happened since I wrote last.  The days fly by and I am so tired at night.  I have started putting up the village.  I honestly thought I may never set it up again when I spent the 5 days it took me to pack it.  It makes me smile just to see the dozen houses I have up so far.  It is going to take forever to finish.  The mannequins are slowly being moved down from the attic and are being incorporated in to the house.  Boxes are being emptied and the walls are starting to disappear.  Ahhhhhhhhhh, I'm home again!  I had to get Twilly out of the village twice the other night.   For those of you who haven't been in my houses; the village is the Dept. 56 Dickens Village houses, etc.  I collected pieces for 5 years, until I saw the pieces that were supposedly never to go on sale, go on sale, so I quit buying them.

We got a rug for the bathroom that looks great with the new mirror that Chet bought me.  To give you an idea, a 5X7 carpet was used to cover part of the bathroom floor.  The room was so big that it felt like it needed furniture in it.  It felt strange to take a bath in there.  I'm getting it filled up and it is beautiful.  We wired 2 large hanging oil lamps for the bedroom and the bathroom.  They are too beautiful.  Brett and Chet keep banging their heads on them so we put a table under the one in the bedroom.  I have finished decorating 2 of my 3 year round Christmas trees.   We got some real cute decorations in the desert last winter so I did it with pink flamingoes, fairies and hibiscus flowers.

Yesterday, we went to "The Prime Berth" fishing museum and found out all about the fishing here in NL.  We went with Nina, John, and Bernie.  It was a guided tour and the only thing we didn't get to see was the gutting and preparing of a cod.  I wasn't at all upset about that.  It was interesting to listen to how the fishing industry was shut down.  It certainly changed the face of NL.

Marilyn Ashbourne just came by and while she was here the man who sold us Brett's tv at Costco in St. John's came to the door.  He and his girlfriend will be by tomorrow for a visit.  Just before that our friend Heidi came by for a dvd she loaned us.  It has 192 pictures of Twillingate from many years ago.  We just saw our house and saw where the back kitchen was 2 stories and twice as big.  It will be fun to look at them with Marilyn and Gordon as they are a wealth of information.  

It was funny while we were painting today and all of the people who came to buy fish had a different bit of information on how to paint.  I said tomorrow I will bring a bunch of rollers and brushes and have everyone demonstrate their skills.  The brown has a burgundy tinge to it and wasn't as dark as I had thought it would be, but it is pretty.  The bottom of the market that goes down the hill will be a lighter shade and I still haven't decided what color to paint the window trim.

All is well and the end of Brett's stay is fast approaching.  It will be empty here without him.  The end of our stay is drawing closer too, and we are sad we have to leave but we will get the itch to hit the road again.

I hope you are all well and safe and that the hurricane doesn't do too much damage.