A Busy Weekend

The cactus house down the street.

I tried to keep Mom and Laura occupied this weekend, so they can at least say they did more than sit around my place. On Saturday they took the bus in the other direction, to the mall. I decided to go to the beach and we were going to meet up there. The trip to the mall was very successful, both came home with new clothes. On the way home from the mall the bus stops at the beach just down the road, it is in kind of a valley so way easier to get to then walking all the stairs, and we decided we would meet at that beach.

I puttered around home then grabbed a beach chair and took the stairs down to Hendry's Beach (what I like to call my beach). Being a Saturday there were way more people walking, jogging, walking dogs. I found a nice quiet spot and read my book, people and dog watched. After a while I walked down the beach to Arroyo Burro (the other beach) to wait for the others. It was even busier, lots of families, kids digging holes and building castles. I had just about decided that Mom and Laura were not coming, when they appeared, got a little mixed up about bus times. So we walked home together, along the street where the slope is more gradual and easier to walk up then the 80 steps to my beach.

As well on Saturday morning we skyped with Lisa, and showed her Mom eating breakfast. Maybe she will not have to nag quite so hard about Mom eating when she gets home having had proof that we are not starving Mom.

Yesterday we went downtown, then took a little electric trolley to the beach. Each Sunday since 1966, there has been an art show with the local artists, about 200 booths. They had tons of different things, paintings, jewellery, wind chimes. We walked about halfway down and then decided to go back, it was really over whelming. Back downtown, and we stopped for coffee, at a place called Jitters. It is run by a british ex pat, and he made the most delicious scones with blueberries and raspberries fresh that morning from the farmers market. Yummmmmm. All three of us made purchases at the art show, and when we were walking through Paseo Nuevo Laura found the ball cap she was looking for Henry, I found a new pair of shoes at Nordstroms so we came home a tired but happy crew.

One more day of visitors then I will be back on my own for a week and then home for me. Time has flown by very quickly.

Staycation is Over

It's Sunday so back to work tomorrow, I have had a nice relaxing time, and I am kind of feeling like I should not have canceled my second week, but only 3 days next week so I am sure I can make it. Besides, this means I can join T&G on the road trip, so something more to look forward to.

For most of the days the weather was great, it has rained the last couple, but what can you do? While I was off, I did a few things. I went downtown on Monday to the Art gallery, but it is closed Mondays. Instead I went over to Churchill Square, bought a cider, and listened to some live music courtesy of the Edmonton Jazz Festival. Then I took in some of the Works. On Tuesday I went back to the gallery and enjoyed the exhibits. They have an Andy Warhol show on right now. Really interesting, not just pictures, but some video, and television shows as well. I was walking along looking at the pics, and found one that looked just like Baba, weird. It was actually a picture of his Mother. I wonder if we are related? I also met some friends for lunch and supper. Good to catch up.

Friday I decided to try and find the record store in Old Strathcona, bought a couple of CD's. Right next door is a knitting store called Urban Knitters, all you knitters out there will have to visit it. Lots of cool patterns and fibers. I also stopped by Gravity Pope, they are having their 21 anniversary sale, and walked out without a purchase.

This weekend I have not done much of anything, which still feels pretty good. I think today I will clean up the place, do laundry etc.

A Good Omen

I went to the hospital this morning for my pre-admittance. I decided to have coffee and a muffin in the food court before my appointment. As I was leaving the food court, I noticed all these familiar looking boxes, they looked like shoe boxes, and they were!! I could hardly believe it, a shoe sale at the hospital, this is my kind of place.

My surgery has been scheduled for 1:30 on the 4th, so I have to be at the hospital by 11:00 am. The surgery will take around an hour an a half to 2 hours to be done, around half an hour in recovery then off to my room. I met with a nurse, had an ECG, blood taken and an anesthetist. Everyone was very nice, and knowledgable. I watched a couple of videos, one on breathing and how to avoid blood clots, the other on hysterectomies. Everything is moving along nicely. One of the other people at the clinic, is scheduled to have her surgery on the 9th, I tried to trade dates with her, but we had different Drs, so no go.

I was able to sell my FF ticket, I posted a note on the swap board last night and had twenty different responses by 10 this morning. One of the first ones was from a lady who went into labour early, and had her baby on June 1. By the time she got home to try and get tickets, they were sold out. She is coming over tomorrow morning to pick up the pass. I am glad it is going to a good home.

Happy Birthday Mom

You are 80 years today, that seems pretty incredible, cause I never think of you as being any age, but just as Mom. Hope you have a great day.

The first week of the year is over and this is my first day off of the year, and I am feeling pretty happy about only working 4 days a week. I really think it is going to work out for me.

My friend Vicky has retired from IBM, and on Wednesday there was a get together with a whole bunch of people from work, both past and present. It was really a nice send off, very casual and everyone had a great time. It seems weird to me that someone I have worked with so long will no longer be around the office, when I was thinking about all the time we worked together I realized it was 19 years, and time really flew by. Vicky and Dick have a really exciting year planned out, they are doing a ton of traveling (of which I am really jealous) and will have a wonderful time I am sure.

It has been pretty cold here, with more snow but for some reason I am finding I don't mind it. I dress for the weather, and am toasty warm in all my new scarves and mitts.

I have heard through the grapevine that Wener Shoes has a big sale on, just wanted to let anyone who lives in Edmonton, or who maybe coming this way in the next little while, know. It is always a good day to buy more shoes.

Six Pairs Bought

We went to the museum today & saw exhibit. It was cool -- not enough shoes to look at though. Also: exhibit on Antarctica and Mexican rodeos. As Laura & I waited for the others to finish reading the exhibit info, there were about 100 shrieking children in the museum foyer. Ouch.

Then we went to Wener & bought 6 pairs; 2 for Theresa, 2 for me, one for Laura, one for Judith, none for Grace. But she bought some last weekend.

Now everyone is napping while Laura cross stitches and I work a bit.

Surprising phone call

I was just getting dressed this morning when the phone rang, and it was Stan (Mom's brother for non family members who read the blog). He and Bob (cousin) were going out for breakfast and wanted to know if I wanted to come along. So I said sure, when, and Stan said 20 minutes. Luckily it was at a place close to home (Teddy's, Jasper and 114). So I zipped over there and had a great breakfast and good company. Stan looked really good, he is in the middle of another round of chemo, but still has all his hair. One of the side effects of the chemo is that Stan has gotten blisters on the bottoms of his feet, so he has not been able to go out on his long walks. But since he heard that might happen he bought himself a great big TV and surround sound, so spends time watching TV.It was great to see Bob as well, he is always easy to talk to and got caught up on the other side. Not too much new there, Brenda and her husband are in Hawaii right now, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. And everyone else is good. I was really happy they called, I have been feeling a bit like a bad niece, since I have not checked up on Stan, and when I last saw Bob, when Les died, we were going to keep in better contact, but that fell though the cracks. Bob has been working back in Edmonton, he told his company he did not want to be on the road, and they have been finding him work here. That is good news.

Not a lot of news here, I am still enjoying my new furniture. My laptop, does not want to connect to the internet, but my work one seems ok, so I guess I will have to take the other one in for servicing. Maybe I should buy a new laptop, something from Apple?

Only one more weekend until Shoes! Shoes! Shoes! Can't wait. Lisa I am sorry you cannot be here too, but we have found a stand in for you. Grace will do the honours. and just on a sie note, Weners is having a sale, so we might have to stop there and see what there is.