Surprisingly, 37 degrees does feel quite nice after 45 all afternoon.
The fact that there is no humidity helps.
My brief encounter with direct sunlight yesterday caused a bit of a panic. I burned within minutes. This morning my mum applied sunscreen to me like I was a kid again. It was highly amusing. Even more so, because the sunscreen we were using is for babies with sensitive skin. ;)
It was weird seeing the house completed gutted. They took down everything to the studs. It’s now in the drywall tapping stage. Looks a bit surreal. The only part that still feels my grandmother is the backyard patio. My mum was telling me about the little road runner that visits each day and feeding the ducks.
My parents have been in Palm Springs on and off this spring overseeing renovations on their house, getting it ready for when they move down in the late fall.
I’ll be visiting them next week.
We’ve been having this “conservation” (aka argument) over what colours to paint the various rooms in the house. As technically the house is all of ours, as my Grandmother left it to everyone. They (mainly my dad) are afraid of any colour.
So I was not at all surprised when I got this e-mail attachment today titled “New paint colours”
I simply replied, “FYI: Those are not colours.”
“Be nice” was the response I got.
I’m rolling my eyes here in an effort to get it out of my system before next week.
I think I’m going to purchase them a red chesterfield for their next anniversary.
p.s. When asked what colour I disliked the most, I replied “Siamese Kitten.” Note whose room is getting that colour.
I’m back from holiday, hence zero updating while I was away. I actually took a week off from the computer too! Well, mostly. Sometimes you just need to unplug.
While I was home visiting my Mum and Sam (Dad was away in NYC), I also made a side trip to the dentist, where he sliced open the tip of my tongue. Which, my friends, did not tickle, and is still healing. Thankfully, my Mum baked me some delicious banana bread to take home with me and that has helped. Soft goodness. Also a salt water rinse multiple times a day. I don’t think I could ever handle having my tongue pierced.
Anyway, here are a few photos from the week. I was also was flipping through some of our old albums and see that my aversion to the camera started at an early age.
Animal Farm in Canatara Park
My favourite Lake (Huron)
Chucks on the sandbar
Avon River, Stratford
Chair dancing with PB&J
No, one more story!
One of my first memories, with my Grandmother in Cape Cod
Mum: Al, I wanted to know how to order something from Amazon. I pulled up the account part where you put your e-mail address and password, but what password do I give them?
Me: You have to make an account first and register it to your e-mail. Did you want me to order something for you? I already have an account. What are you trying to buy?
Mum: Tomato paste in a tube.
Me: What?
Mum: It’s for Paula, she saw it on the Food Network and wants to try it.
Me: Did you try going to the grocery store?
Mum: Yes, wasn’t there.
Me: What’s the product called specifically?
Mum: Tomato Paste in a Tube. I’m looking at it right now on Amazon.
Me: No the brand – wait, are you on .com or .ca?
Mum: .com
Me: We can only order from .ca. Hold on. I’m calling you.
Mum: Why can we only order from .ca? That’s silly.
Me: Pick up the phone.
You’ll be happy to know that after a quick Google search we found the product was available in a variety of grocery stores. Now I’m tasked with the job of buying said product and delivering it to my Aunt when I visit next month.
Teaching my Mum how to text and order things online has been a humourous process. So glad she’s learning though. She makes me realize how much of the interweb and computer knowledge I take for granted. Also, she properly composes text messages better than any other member of my family.
By the way, am I the only one who had never heard of tomato paste in a tube?
We went out to dinner, and sitting right across from us was Colin Firth. We got a picture when they were leaving. Hope you now how to photoshop; Mum wasn’t smiling and had her eyes closed. I was thinking we could switch heads?
I’ve always been perplexed by lawn ornaments, especially my parents fascination with gnomes. However, the most disturbing new addition to the backyard has to be the pants growing marigolds.
I’m going to look for some upper body cavity planters for them for Xmas.
I think this is because my mom is a dental hygienist, so growing up we were exposed to the different machines, and nothing ever really scared me. Until today.
In recent years I’ve become quite the excellent teeth grinder and have subsequently managed to do some damage to my teeth. Something happened this week and my mom had to fix it. Off we went to her office, got into the chair, glasses on, thrusters on full, all that jazz and suddenly the drill started, she leaned in and I looked up at her and sheer terror flashed before my eyes and I bolted from the chair. Screams of I don’t trust you – it’s like the curling iron incident all over again trailing behind me. I should mention now that neither my mom, nor the dentist she works for, have never been my dentist. And that is was my mom, not any dentist who scared my forehead as a child.
She told me I was being ridiculous (clearly), and ordered me back into the chair.
This time I closed my eyes, hoping that would help. It would have it I hadn’t opened them at the last-minute. Bolted again.
My mom started to laugh, and she has a bit of a maniacal laugh (much like myself), and whilst holding a drill was not comforting me at all. I say I can live with the problem until I return to my regular dentist in July.
My mom turns off the drill and says we should take an x-ray just in case. This involves those lead vests that render you immobile – if you’re a weakling like myself. In hindsight, I really should have seen what was coming next. Under the x-ray guise my mom puts on the vest, and then sits back down and starts the drill up before I even have time to process what was going on.
In mere minutes the problem is fixed.
Oh, but it will be years before my trust is restored.
Hard to complain about a little drizzle, eh. I went out for a walk this morning and just kind of stood for a bit looking at the mountains. They are so peaceful from a distance, especially with the water.
I do love it here, but the east has been on my mind, seeing as it’s Thanksgiving and all. I will be partaking in festivities with an old friend and her extended family. I can’t remember the last time I had Thanksgiving with my family. Probably my fist year of university. I took the 10 hour train trip from Kingston and vowed then never again for a 3 day break. I now save up time and take a longer break in December.
Since then it’s been enjoyable to be invited into other peoples homes, or make my own dinner with friends. Less arguing. Although I guess it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a little bit of vocal disagreement. It’s just more amusing when it’s not your family.
On summer evenings when my parents weren’t working late, after we had exhausted the record player and worn footprints in the shag carpet, we would be ushered into the bath and then dressed quickly into our pj’s.
Hair still wet, we would wait perched on the foot of the stairs, with our heads dangerously close to getting stuck in between the banisters and watch mom take coins from the jar in the corner of the dinning room that held our discarded spare change. The jar, would later become the vehicle from which we would steal pennies from for candy at the corner store. After the right amount of money was lifted from the jar by mom’s hand, we would be out the front door to the car. The beautiful beast of a car.
By now we knew the routine. We knew what was coming next, but if we didn’t behave…if we didn’t behave before we reached our destination, we knew the car would turn right back and go home. We had seen him turn it around before. My brother and I would share a nod, a mutual understanding of I won’t bug you until tomorrow. We even had a “truce” hand gesture – a fist with a pinky raise – which in later years we would pretend was the middle finger and get away with mouthing off to each other behind mom’s back. For now though, the pinky raise meant truce and it was one step closer to our destination.
The drive-in ice cream shop.
There was always something magical about eating ice cream whilst in our pj’s, even outside on a hot humid summer night. Sometimes we would eat in our car, but often times we would sit outside on the picnic tables, probably when my parents realised ice cream, kids and the interior of a car didn’t work so well.
It’s one of those moments from childhood that I remember being blissfully happy. As though nothing could touch us right there. I get that wave of nostalgia every time I sit at a picnic table, or eat a sweet after a night-time shower.
Even now sometimes when I’m feeling down and need a bit of lifting, I’ll purposely do this ritual. Although typically nowadays, the ice cream comes from my freezer into a mug and a curl-up on the couch with a book comes next.
There is something really calming about taking a night flight.
It’s a much more relaxing vibe. I try to travel at night as much as I can, as it’s the best way to maximize your time under a tight schedule, but I also like traveling in my pj’s.
When I was flying from Smithers to Palm Springs last summer, trying to get to my family, I was seated in seat 7D on all 3 flights, and in 1 on the return. Guess what seat I’m in tonight? 7D.
Bit weird.
I’ll share one story with you that I’ve written so far for the eulogy.
The “undomestic goddess” you said you were. Still, there was always homemade spaghetti sauce when we came to visit and fresh lemon squares, but when someone complained about your ironing…well you would arch that eyebrow and tell the story of Jack. Jack complained about your ironing skills, specifically that you would never get his collars clean or straight enough. Then one day after he came home from work, he uncovered that you had cut all the collars off his shirts.
Jack did his own ironing from then on.
***
This made me smile today.
What’s something that made you smile, or laugh this week?
