27 February Month 2010
We are watching and bawling through the special that Tom Brokaw did for the NBC Olympic coverage about Newfoundland and 9/11, when all planes had to land here. They were sent to the airport in Gander; a town with 2 stoplights and 10,000 people that had almost 7,000 people landing in a place that they may have never heard of. It was chosen due to the fact that large aircraft have always been able to land here because they needed to refuel in the 60's on transatlantic flights. There were 167 flights that landed in Gander, as for the first time American airspace was closed. It is fascinating and it is exactly the way Newfoundlander's act all the time; helpful, kind, sharing, gracious.
My husband must really love me....I decided we needed to take a walk on our back acre + which we have never set foot on. I decided in my mind that it would be easy to walk over the snow and see what it was like back there. Off we went in our boots and a walking pole apiece and a flashlight. We went to the back gate and had to climb over as there was too much snow to open it. We started our trek and got about 10 to 15 feet and were going into the snow past the tops of our boots. Mind you, it was not easy. The next step we were buried up to our knees and that was a scary feeling. A great visual for you...Chet walking and me crawling across the snow towards the side of the stable where we could have gone in the first place and not had to climb the fence....duuuuhhh. I finally crawled far enough to get my footing on the mashed snow. A year ago, we would have had to call for help as I wouldn't ever have been able to get up. Our Wii Fit and our small trampoline have helped me get some of my strength and balance back from when I fell and broke my leg and ankle in June of '03. We were in fits of laughter and totally winded but managed to walk some more on terra firma.
The learning curve for a beach girl is a bit steep here on how to live in the snow...dressing in all of my layers, hats, jackets, gloves, scarves...on and off...on and off every time we go in or out....no wonder my folks moved us to Miami from New York when I was 4....no sooner would Momma get us dressed in our snowsuits then we would have to go to the bathroom. It is a job......
Where we are located, the wind keeps the snow from piling around the house. We only had to shovel the back porch... It has been the mildest winter in years here and the locals are not minding it at all. We finally had a snowdrift a few weeks ago in the driveway and we were going out for supper. Chet decided he would sail right through the middle of it .....not. We got buried right in the center of the snow and there we sat with me holding salad and other foods in my hands and Chet trying to back out. Now there is a feeling of pure and simple stupidity that goes along with being stuck in one's driveway....we did our fair share of laughing and then Chet got a shovel and started digging......not 3 minutes went by before there was someone there to help us out. They pushed and I was to slowly back up but they managed to just push me out...The documentary that we watched on Newfoundland so expressed the essence of who the people are...Tony, who helped us out, is a young man going through major treatment for a brain tumor....need I say more.
Tomorrow is pizza night here as we watch the Canadians and the Americans fight it out in hockey and then the ending ceremonies of the Olympics. Nina and John will be here and it should be a fun evening.
Last night we went to supper with Randy, Tracey, and Tia, her baby doll and our friends Heidi and Bob Scarfone. We had a great time and today we all met in the community of Cottlesville for a lunch/fundraiser for a young boy in Tia's school who needs a liver transplant. After sharing a great lunch with our friends, we headed home to not being able to find my everyday glasses....oh where could they be?????
We have had a wonderful day besides knowing my brother and sister-in-law, and niece and nephew are in Hawaii...we heard the news about the earthquake in Chile and called their other daughter in N. Carolina to tell her so she could call her dad...we would have been calling them at 4:00 a.m. as we heard the news at 10:30 in the morning here. They are all okay thank goodness....life is high anxiety.....sometimes, sad sometimes, and sometimes down right hysterical.
We should laugh until our sides hurt as often as we can!!
24 February month 2010
I have been on a roller coaster of emotions for the past few days....the other two cats look for their buddy as do we....It seems the older I get, the closer to the surface come the emotions....and for me that is waaaay up there as I have always been an emotional person.....when the "hard as nails" part of me would show it would only mean I was really afraid.....it was my armor. It seems the tears are always stinging behind my eyes. They are there and it is not always tears of sadness as joy makes them run down my face as well.
Spotty is buried right outside our bedroom "turret" windows and we can always look out to where he lays. It was not an easy job to bury him here between the rocks and the bog....
Last evening we went to Tracey and Randy Hann's for supper and one of our fun domino games....we were reduced to tears of laughter once again as we are so often when we spend time with them. I had trouble walking to the car as I doubled over twice in hysteria. Laughter like that is good for the soul. We got to see the two top female contenders ice skate before we left and it was amazing. It was at that time the fits of laughter reached a crescendo due to my reading something that didn't, at all, say what I thought it did on the tv. We were rolling and there is no way I can do it justice on paper.....
Tia got a new baby doll for her birthday that looks EXACTLY like a real baby so I made a blanket for it. I was worried about the size until Chet, ever so gently, reminded me that the "baby" wasn't going to grow.....the consensus of opinion of all of the adults was that it looked like a dead baby....which her grandfather had said in front of her....thankfully, Tia loves her doll and doesn't see it with the eyes of the adults. Our mutual friend, Heidi, stopped by in the afternoon and was telling us that she had seen the doll and that it gave her the creeps......the dolls have to be ordered from the states and are supposed to be the new rage....(fair warning).
Tonight is our meditation group and I am afraid I may fall asleep there as there weren't too many hours of sleep last night. We are supposed to watch a movie afterwards; tomorrow night supper at friends and then friends here to watch the closing of the Olympics on the weekend...on and on for the next few weeks.
The snow is melting quite a bit but it is still snowing on and off. Winter is soooo absolutely gorgeous and we will have fond memories of the beauty while we are not here next winter.....lol.....
Have a beautiful day and enjoy......life is so fragile........
22 February month 2010
I don't know where to begin so I will just start....
My old boy Spotty is no longer with us in his earthly form. He has been losing weight since Freddie died last March and had gone from 20 pounds down to 10. He has been so thirsty and eating but withering away to skin and bones. I made an appointment at the vet for this afternoon last Tuesday and before I hung up I said I hoped he would live that long. We awoke to him vomiting and he had messed all around the house. He was cramping terribly and I had noticed his breathing was a bit labored the past 2 days.
We cleaned up and left for the 2 hour ride to the vet. Twilly and Moose came for their shots. June Pardy, my angel, came with us and was able to hold Twilly and watch Moose travel everywhere he could in the car while I held a very, very sick Spotty. Oh, my heart hurt for him. We didn't leave to come home with him to bury, but the vet said Spotty was so sick and had a big tumor in his intestines which she had me feel....I had a premonition as he just kept getting thinner and thinner. He was not in any discomfort until today....all fell apart this morning....we all stayed with him and I had them sedate him before they put him down. I whispered in his ear that I loved him and that he was a good and loyal kitty. Boy we both feel like someone hit us head on in the stomach. I grieve, I grieve.......he was born in my bed as I watched.
I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's day....
I had a lovely day with my love...we stayed in bed late after a fun Valentine's party the night before. Nina and john came for supper that evening and we had a sweet time...as time goes on we get to know some of the locals better and are finding our circle of friends is a sweet caring bunch of people. Chet has joined the Masonic Lodge and has had a great time with the men in the group. My grandpa and uncle were Mason's and my mom was a member of the Eastern Star...my not being a group joiner, never pursued membership...the things we do and don't do.....
Chet went skidoo riding with two if his friends and had a ball, in the states it is snowmobiling. We have joined a weekly meditation group, which is a good thing and have been so busy with friends, suppers, movie nights, and the Olympics that our days and evenings are pretty full.
Last night Chet went to the lodge to watch the USA hockey team beat the Canadians....I had never sat and watched a whole game but was riveted to our tv...I had planned a long bath and some knitting but the game was so exciting. I was rooting so loud that I am surprised they didn't hear me at the Mason's. We have been glued to the Olympics.
The winter never really arrived...got to see the harbour all white from one side to the other for 1 day. It is probably better, as I go outside dressed to protect my outsides but my "linings" get so chilled that it takes me a couple of hours to warm up. My nose is in a constant state of cold.....
It was a beautiful day today and was up tp 42 degrees F. Many of the locals are loving this but it certainly has put a crimp in the winter sports here.
Well my family and friends......I will just deal with my hurting heart for now......there is no bond stronger than Love......
7 February Month 2010
The days have slid by and I have been meaning to write every one of those days....but....but....and it is today. I am in the car waiting as Chet and some other friends are moving some speakers and stereo equipment out of Bernie's place. He is giving to the Mason's Lodge.....it will be nice to have there....maybe used for some dancing on Saturday night for their annual Valentine party.
It has been pretty incredible weather...we had our first big winter storm several days ago....wind a constant 50 to 60 knots and snow, snow, snow....for a while we couldn't see the fish market across the street. The harbour has finally frozen completely over...not hard enough to walk on but it is so neat to look out from my bed and see white everywhere....It was like going click on a computer and everything changed to white.
Since I last wrote, the icey fingers have retreated. I feel like they lie in wait along my spine. That is a good thing as they are far away and at rest.
Thursday we decided to take a ride, as there was blue sky. We planned a day trip to ride around the loop, as it's called here, from Gander Bay to Carmenville and then southeast to Gambo. We saw the seal again posing on the ice. He put his flipper and his tail up in the air in salute. We can only stop for a quick look as it's on the narrow causeway and there is no place to pull over. As we rode, there was white in every direction that we looked. It is so neat to see that the water has "disapppeared" and every island was white...a sight to behold for one who has been a beach girl most of her life...well, a warm weather beach girl.....as I now have my very own beach on the shore of the N. Atlantic.....maybe enough room for a beack towel when the tide is out.
We got to Carmenville and drove out to the wharf to look at the longliners and no sooner did we pull out there did a man circle in front of us and pull along side ....Chet got out and introduced himself and told him where we were from...the mand had a marked stammer so it was a bit difficut between that ant his dialect but he did tell us not to take the loop as it was too late and that he was out therr to check his boat...we had a nice chat and proceeded to look up some fanebook friends and go for a visit....Audrey laughed and said..not many people come to Carmenville in the first place and certainly don't go out to the wharf in the middle of winter....we all had a good chuckle as we knew he was following us to see what we were doing out there in the first place....we had a beautiful ride and went through Gander on the way home for a very quick stop at WalMart so Chet could get a shirt to wear with his wedding suit on Saturday to become a member of the Mason's. My grandfather and uncle on my mom's side were members and she, like her mother was a member of the Eastern Star......then there is me.....not a groupie! The real pisser is that he still fit in his suit!!!!!!!
We came home so I could go to Nina's to an estrogen evening of ladies cooking many different things....we had a great time...
The next fewdays were bitter and we had our first and perhaps our only big winter storm...the harbour was slob ice by the shore and it was so neat to see it forming in patches out past the white...by morning most of the water was white and yyesterday we took a drive to the other side of the harbour and it was frozen all the way across. It could be gone in 1 day, I hear. It is so neat to watch it swirl and see where it has heaved over itself. This is an "experience".
Saturday night I went to another Pampered Chef party at Nina's and Sunday back there to watch the Super Bowl which began here at 8:00 p.m. It was the best football game I can remember watching...... yea Saints.
We lose all sense of time and what day it is here which is really nice...today is now Monday and I am finishing up from last night where I began this at the local Chinese restaurant....it is snowing now... steadily but not hard.... I don't want to see the ice leave the harbour yet. When we were levving Nina and John's last night... Chet took a slip and up in the air my cake that I made went crashing and then to the ground... at least Chet was fine....it was really icy out.
All is well and we miss our family and friends soooo much....but then again, we have made some wonderful friends here....
2 February Month 2010
Write....I must... The long, spindly, icy fingers of depression creeping around my throat; strangling, squeezing the life out of my soul....ever waiting on my shoulder to slither to its mark. It hasn't been like this since around 1995 when my mom was still alive and in a home with Alzheimer's. I was, miraculously, able to ward the fingers back and have held them at bay since then.....I am not sure why they have come back to chill my shoulders as I feel them tingling near my throat. They are here and I fight back with all I have holding them at bay until they slide into position and start to squeeze. The tears start to roll and it seems to help some. In all reality, the depression may have hit anywhere....
This afternoon I watched my love as he was coming out of the stable, which now has light, electricity, and tomorrow to have the fixtures up. The smile on his face showed a man who is truly happy and in his element; the wind blowing his hair as it flows from his favorite stocking cap. My man, my Chet, enjoying this so much that it oozes out of his pores. The snow and ice crunching under his feet, the "ice candles" all along the edge of the building and the motorhome, glistening in the sunlight. To see him so happy is worth it all to me.
I love the fact that winter has finally come and we are sitting in the upstairs turret room watching the sunset and the slob ice forming across the harbour. It is what we have been waiting for. It is about 9 degrees F out now with a 0 wind chill and on Wednesday it will be around 1 degree F. The wind is blowing and gusting to about 60 K which is whatever that is as I still don't know how to convert it. We turned the heat on up here today so we could watch as the harbour freezes from upstairs windows. I don't think we will be able to do it tomorrow as the windows are freezing over with beautiful shapes of ice crystals. We watch as the ice falls from the roof upstairs. The car is parked farther away from the house so it won't get hit. I still can't wrap my head around the salt water harbour freezing, but it does; first slushy slob ice and then the pans form to be covered by snow.
Today we took a ride down to the causeway that connects us to New World Island which attaches to the main island. June Pardy, had her husband Heibert, call us to tell us there was a seal on the ice by the causeway. We took a ride down there and saw it on the ice.....at least for now not someone's supper, as there was no way to get to it. We saw another bobbing its head up and down in amongst the ice. That was worth the trip. After, we rode out to see where the rotting ferry was that used to take people across the water before there was a causeway. This is why we stayed, this is what we wanted to see. It is finally arriving but not the way it used to be when it would freeze so hard that one could drive across the harbours for long distances.
June is my angel and cares for us and our kitties with the softness of a mound of tissues....she was dropped from the sky to land here and for that I am so grateful...
We spent 4 nights in St. John's with Ellen and Adam. We went to the "Rooms" which is the museum and art gallery. The building and the views are equally as beautiful as the works housed in there. That was Sunday and Monday Chet and I did our shopping...Costco, etc., and then went to see Avatar which was so splendid. Once again, Man's inhumane ways contrasted by the gentleness of the Avatar's. I was talking to the usher and he said, not knowing, that it was the Americans and what they are doing. I said no, it is about man's inhumanity since the beginning of mankind and the sadness was that it really didn't have to happen at all....heavy sigh...what have we done as supposedly intelligent humans.....
It is chilly up here and we are losing daylight fast so I think it is time to head downstairs to take a tubby...we have to leave the water at a trickle 24/7 so the pipes won't freeze....oh the learning curve.
A wonderful night was spent at Nina's with 10 women cooking different dishes on Saturday. We ate some wonderful food and laughed until our sides hurt. Tomorrow night we are all getting together to discuss a meditation group and on Saturday night another Pampered Chef party. I should say, the women are more raucous then the men when they get together.
Sunday night was spent with Cal and Jose having supper and watching the beginnings of an Irish series called Mrs. Brown....it is hysterical and we are watching the rest of the 8 dvd's....
I wish you all the best and that you follow your dreams......even if they do bring tears now and then! They will be outweighed by smiles... :)
23 January month 2010
Well, that is the first time I have written 2010...strange...just a moment ago I was watching New Year's Eve around the world as the new century as the year 2000 arrived....
It is 12 degrees F and around-11 or -12 C. The sun is blinding as it reflects off of the snow....we have actually had three days of it this week past. It wasn't all in a row though. It snowed all day yesterday and winter has finally started to set in. We are told that this is one of only about three times remembered that it has been as warm. Heck, it was colder in Florida than here and several days in Portland, Or. were colder too.
We are on our way to St. John's to stay with our friends, Ellen and Adam. She is the first friend we made here when we first came to the island as she worked in the park where we stayed in St John's. They are engaged now and are going to get married in the big cathedral in town. It is so beautiful; like being in England....but then again, why should that be so strange as Newfoundland was England's first colony; 1495 A.D.
Everywhere my eyes look, I see pure white snow; the harbours are freezing...some with just siob ice but many covered with a layer of snow on the ice. It is what we so wanted to see and here it is before my eyes. Once again the magnificence is inexplicable. People are outside shoveling their driveways so life can go on. Chet had to shovel the porch yesterday and today so we could get out to the car. The snow blows so hard where we are situated that it really doesn't pile up except for the area by the back door....it swirls like the sand in the desert and is sooo pretty.
We are turning around to go back to a lookout and take a few pictures of the water....we could be stopping every 5 minutes or more. The trees are laden with about 8 TO 10 inches of snow on their bows....It looks like the ceramic trees that live in my village. What a sight!!!! I didn't get out of the car as the wind was ripping and Chet, my manly man, said it was bitter.
It is really hard to type as I can hardly see due to the reflection here in the Jeep; can't type worth a damn anyhow so there will be a lot of editing.
Our holidays were so sweet with parties, dinners, suppers, cookies, cakes and the down home hospitality of Twillingate....first time without my family but we all survived and did that pretty well....we had a New Year's Eve party which was really lovely. It got us moving to get the top floor straightened up and some of the rooms upstairs.....that was a good thing......everyone brought things, food, drink, fireworks and a shotgun. It was a bitter night and the first round of fireworks came straight at all of us and the house...hmmm....luckily all was fine...the rest went up in the air. Friends cleaned up and it was hard to imagine there were over 25 people there......I thank you all, once again, for making it a great evening.
Unfortunately, my psyche took a dive after the holidays and I had a pretty bad bout of depression....Chet would get me up and take me into the living room and turn on all of the lights and make me absorb the daylight. I go to bed very late and with it being dark at 4:00, we figured I was only getting ABOUT 4 HOURS OF DAYLIGHT.....I figure it was about a 35 on a scale of 100% which is where I have been more than once,,,fortunately 35 was only as bad as it got...He took me to Gander and I was walking around the stores with the tears running down my face. At least I know what to do and that it will pass...this one left me with what we can best figure is a very mild case of shingles...not fun.....not at all.
On to better things....Twilly, our older of the Newfie cats, loves to go outside and gallop through the field next to us, which I am not at all happy about...he hates the wind and makes a beeline right back in...that can be often as the wind goes by for days like a freight train. He went out in the snow and there were enough footprints to turn around and come straight back..pretty funny. Moose got out the other day and he was in the ditch where the stream is frozen and all you could see were two little ears moving along....Spotty is really getting old...16 now, into 17 years. Battery on laptop getting low so will finish later...
Our life together is a dream come true for both of us and we find more to love about each other each day...may the powers that be give us many many more years....we dance together through life....may we live until we are 4 hundred and 83...
17 November month 2009
It has been a while and people are asking where I have been...here, painting until it got too cold...the worst October in 40 years they say.....furious and cold...winds that howled for days...the seas amazing....but people not too thrilled with the snow , etc. I want to keep up on this but there are people who lurk and darn I want them out of my business but this is public forum so I will try and keep you up to date with the happenings a little better....
We had some time getting the partially painted storm windows up and sealing up the cracks...there is even air coming in through the light sockets...we bought insulation to put behind the plates...Chet, my sweetest one, reminded me I knew how to work a screwdriver...lol...my arthritis in my knee is giving me fits so it is not easy to do...sooooo I haven't.
It is howling today and spitting snow a bit...we are going to go to the grocery store and take a drive to look at the waves...in the past couple of weeks we went to the lighthouse to look at the water and got about 20 feet from the car and our feet were almost out from under us...we grabbed on to each other and got back to the car...It was really freaky.....takes one's breath away.
The locals are having fun with me and all of the clothes I put on...it is hard to bend my arms and legs...lol....just trying to keep warm and layers is the thing but you need a shopping cart to carry them all in when in a store or else sweat starts pouring....like living in Florida in reverse...cold outside instead of hot outside and then going in to the air conditioning.....
The 3 cats are fine but Spotty is aging faster...sad as he is such a loyal old boy....the 2 young ones are quite the characters....we let Twilly out sometimes and boy does he HATE the wind.....we have the crawl spaces covered and insulated so he has no place to hide so his jaunts are quite short.
We are off to the store...I send you my apologies and best wishes from a very loved and happy woman......
20 September month 2009
I love you, my family..........
Sometimes a story is just right in front of you and you have no idea.....
We took a ride to Gander on Friday to pretend we were going to the "big city"......we stopped at the Arts Center and were talking to the person at the ticket booth and a gentleman who was standing there, too. He asked us where we were from as we are not the typical Newfoundlander and our accents always give us away...lol....we told him we were in from Twilingate for the day. He asked the usual questions as to why we were there and we mentioned the gentleman who sat down next to us in 07 as we had coffee and started chatting....telling us he used to work as an air traffic controller and to be sure and look up his cousin in T'gate when we got there....he was the thread that started our stay here.....it is a long story and I want to get outside to paint before the rain comes so.....
The man we were talking to at the ticket booth said he was an air traffic controller and just ducked out work a little early....I looked at him and said that didn't sound too safe, we had a good giggle and he assured me there were plenty of people manning the tower....long of the short of it is he called Pleman and spoke to him for a few minutes of their trip to Russia...he also said there was someone who wanted to talk to him...Chet chatted, related our story and said we had looked for him before but saw a for sale sign in front of his house so we figured something had happened as he had Parkinson's....well, we were looking at the wrong house....it is amazing that things like that happen here all of the time.
I wanted to invite our friends, Tracey, Randy and Tia over for supper but couldn't pull myself together. We had been berry picking earlier and then were painting and who drives up but Tracey, Randy and Tia....we were glad to stop painting as it was getting cold so we came in for a tea and a chat. Time went by and they stayed for supper...the exact one I had wanted to make for them....salad, potatoes and pork chops cooked with onion and a lemon garlic sauce we brought from the states....it was deeeeelicious.
My arms are so tired from battling the lawn and picking berries. It was hard to hold the paint brush. One more whack at the yard and it should be finished for the winter.
Twilly is out and I want him to come home...........
P.S. Twilly came in just after 9:00 p.m.
