2012

I've been very busy this past year.  In January, I went to a wedding in Mexico for my niece Randi, and shared a room with my sister Pat and friend Paige. Apparently, I snore terribly! On purpose! Of course, neither of these two dainty ladies uttered a sound. I also got very sick, but I think it was more a virus than Montezuma's revenge. Mike stayed home to look after the dog.  In spite of it all, it was a nice place to stay and a cute wedding.

The grandkids are now 5, 3 and 15 months, going on 30, 13 and 2.  We have spent a lot of time with them all; at least once a week and more often recently since Valancy returned to work. 

We finally gave up on solar-heating the large pool and bought an electric pool heater.  Swam nearly every day this past summer. We have been volunteering a lot with the Cancer Society, since 2010.

Went to Manitoba in September and had fun visiting friends and family in Winnipeg, Portage la Prairie and Brandon.

Mike retired in September, 2011, but still shows up as working at Statistics Canada online and if you call his work number.  His former colleagues have suggested that this is because his old empire-building boss wants to "cut" him and get brownie points for it!

Third Grandchild!

I like to tell people that I really hit the jackpot on grandchildren, given that I only had one child myself! I imagine my own grandmothers were less amazed, with their (seemingly) dozens of grandkids, because they had (seemingly) dozens of kids. Yet Grandma Holdaway always sent us all a $2 bill with each birthday card.

Peter Thomas Stuart Reynolds was born August 4th, right on his due date, after having been expected to be early since June. Here he is, being fawned over by his siblings, who so far have welcomed him. He's a quiet, serious little baby, concentrating on eating. He's been packing on a pound a week so far, and already weighs about twelve and a half pounds, at one month. The little guy was holding his head up right after birth and has already flipped himself over from stomach to back repeatedly. His fingers are long, his feet big, he's destined to be tall. His hair has so far been darker than that of the other kids; we imagine we can see a reddish cast to it. I think his brows look like Colin, Dave's brother, and my friend Paige says that this one looks more Reynolds than the other two, who look more like Maydans (i.e., Mike or me).

We expected that he would be named Thomas, as Tom was the only one of the grandparents yet to be honoured, but the name Peter was a surprise. Apparently it was to his parents, who decided that their predetermined options didn't fit this fellow and that he looked like a Peter. We can't help thinking of him already as "Little Petey". The "Stuart" is for Ruth's maiden name. Being Scottish, it fits with Reynolds.

Waiting for Another Baby and Memories of Ruth

July 12 was Orangeman's Day for some (Irish Protestants), commemorating the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. As my Dad said, "Tell you what kind of Irish I am: if you bring me a white horse, I'll ride it!"

My mother-in-law, Ruth, was born on this date in 1925; she would be 86 if she were alive today (sadly, she developed Alzheimer's and died August 15, 2006). My daughter is expecting her third baby on August 4, 2011, but she has had her first two children early. She has also been getting contractions off and on since June. I had wished that the new baby might be born on Ruth's birthday, but we're still waiting.

Ruth raised her four kids mostly alone. She went to Library College in Toronto and became a children's librarian back in the days when few married women did such crazy things. She was the first librarian at the new St. Vital library in Winnipeg. Later in life, she separated from her husband and moved the kids to Sudbury, Ontario, where they all went to Lasalle high school eventually. She was the librarian at Garson school, and was later forced to teach English, which she hated. She retired and moved back to Winnipeg where all her children had moved. She loved spending summers at the family Cottage on the north shore of Clear Lake. She lost the use of the cottage when it was stolen by her shady brother-in-law, Bill Knowles (AKA Kobus) for a dollar!. Ruth's mother had left the cottage equally to her two daughters, but had left her son-in-law as the executor, seeing that he was the only "man" of the family. Without telling Ruth, he paid each sister $1 and bought it outright, selling it for a profit of about $60,000 back in those days. This betrayal hurt Ruth and her family deeply. She never spoke to her sister again.

Ruth loved the summers spent with her mother at the lake, and books, and dogs. In fact, that is the epitaph that I suggested to Mike: "Summers. Dogs. Books." It describes her so well. She was a great mother-in-law and a wonderful, exciting and youthful grandmother to our daughter.

When Ruth first started forgetting to return calls, ignoring birthdays or telling us the same thing twice in a row, we were not too concerned, although sometimes it hurt our feelings or made us angry. When we realized that something was physically wrong, it made us more understanding but more heartbroken. It became hard to remember her as she was - yet when she died, it was as if the ill Ruth was replaced by the young and optimistic woman I remember. My friend Barbara was so amazed at how very attractive Ruth was in her 60s and 70s. They both shared a love of dogs and the softer blues like Wedgwood, turquoise and periwinkle.

Ruth was a joy to shop for; her clothes always looked so becoming. She was an indefatigable traveler and fun on road trips. Her sense of humour rarely failed her; she enjoyed most English comedies and the Giles series of daily cartoons, as well as the Far Side.

I Loved Lucy

On February 2, Groundhog Day, we had to put dear old Lucy to sleep, on the advice of her vet. I felt very badly about it because I had made an appointment with the vet in December for Lucy to have a check-up January 5. I was at the vet's picking up Lucy's special low-protein cat food and it occurred to me that Lucy hadn't had a check-up in some time.

Lucy went in twice; the second time was to get blood and urine samples. She apparently had a "mild" bladder infection and came back with all kinds of medicines: an antibiotic, some blood pressure powder and some Omega-3 oils to help her coat and joints.

She had a lot of trouble with the antibiotic and started not eating, even after we stopped it a bit early. She became confused, staggering when she got up, and wasting away. Even her favourite, bacon, wouldn't tempt her, although she licked a bit of another favourite, sour cream, off my fingers. She drank a lot of water, as cats with failing kidneys do, and mostly made it to the litter box. She even jumped up to the window seat one sunny morning (via the chair we leave there for her to make it easier).

I feel like my decision to have her checked speeded her demise. She was 19 years old, poor girl. She had a good long life, but there's a hole in our lives now, where a sweet gentle cat used to be. She was always very gentle -- never bit or scratched anyone. She missed her companion, Daisy, after Daisy passed at the age of 14, but seemed to perk up a bit after the little dog came on the scene last year. She never quite figured out what the heck that was: some kind of weird cat? Lucy still had 3 pounds on the dog!This picture of Lucy was taken January 3, 2011, just two days before her first vet appointment. Andrew took the picture. As you can see she had jumped up on the bed, which is fairly high.

Lucy's friend Deb, of "Just Cats" cat-sitting service, posted a lovely farewell to Lucy, with nice pictures of Lucy in the sun room and on the window seat. Deb is a delightful woman in a nearby town who not only looks after cats while you are away, but updates you on their progress via email and blog. She also volunteers with shelters and fosters.

Earth Moved (and I retired)

We had a 5.0 earthquake today. I had been doing some pilates on the floor (yoga classes having finished for the summer) and was recovering on the couch. Suddenly the dog started to bark, and I heard a rumbling noise, getting louder and louder. The floor started vibrating and the couch swayed from side to side under me. It took about 5 to 10 seconds. The epicenter was about 50 kms north of Ottawa. No injuries around here that I know about. Mike and Dave, Val and the kids were all okay.

I retired from the federal government in April. I was so ill all last fall and winter; I had the flu or a cold constantly. The management where I worked seemed hired purely to block movement of any kind. When you are trying to get people's compensation out, that is very frustrating. I know of one director general who took months to approve a simple confirmation letter; another would waste every meeting talking non-stop about herself, dropping what I'm sure she thought were clever little bon-mots and Dorothy Parker-isms, necessitating an entire other meeting between the other participants to plan actions we could undertake to move things along despite her. Her claim to fame is allegedly having sex once with Bobby Orr. Or maybe Bobby Hull? Whoever it was, they didn't call her back for a repeat performance, sort of like her father's career as a Member of Parliament!

The new Assistant Deputy Minister was from a department we worked with to process payments. When I announced the name to our partners in that department in a weekly teleconference, there was a second or two of silence, and then they all burst out laughing. You can imagine our consternation. Now I know why they laughed.

One of my retirement projects was to get a dog. I had always wanted to have another Pomeranian; I'd had one briefly as a child and it was taken away. Apparently my Ukrainian grandparents had also had one, according to my Aunt Isabel. So in April I bought Dreamer from a local breeder. He is learning to walk on a leash, bark less, and do the "sit" "stay" "down" stuff.

Mamma Mia

Valancy and I went with Bev and Laura Reynolds to see Mamma Mia at the National Arts Centre today.

It was a lot of fun but I cried and cried when they did "Slipping Through My Fingers". Valancy held my hand. Don't know why I was so emotional, I guess it conjured up memories of Valancy's wedding:

Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that Im losing her forever
And without really entering her world
Im glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think Im close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when shes gone theres that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I cant deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didnt
And why I just dont know

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think Im close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers...

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile...

Ella Joins the Family

Ella Janet Beverley, Andrew's little sister, was in quite the rush to join her new family. We received a call at 3:50 am on the morning of June 26, from our daughter at her home, to say they were leaving for the hospital and we could join them there if we wished.

We got up, got washed and dressed quickly, and headed into town in the dawn. There was no traffic. We arrived, found a good parking place, and went up to the labour and delivery floor. We were allowed to go right in.

Our daughter and son-in-law were sitting up, smiling, looking far more relaxed than one might expect.

"It's a girl!" they grinned at us, pulling down the sheet to reveal a sweet little 7 pound .9 ounce baby girl, with ruffles of white-blonde hair across her head.

We had all been thinking another boy - this wee Ella is full of surprises! Apparently, Dad left Mom at the hospital entrance while he raced to park the car. Val was ushered up to the maternity ward by security, getting strange looks from another couple walking off the labour. Dave arrived just in time to see his daughter's head crowning. Ella and Dave beat the doctors, who arrived shortlt afterwards.

Val's shoes and lower clothing were left on the floor, just where she'd jumped out of them.

Ella was born at 4:15 am, June 26, 2009.