Absent

2010 Vancouver Olympics

Although sometimes it seems like I'm absent from thought (or has thought been absent from me?) I have really only been absent from my blog. It has now been over two weeks since I have written so here is my attempt to get back into the routine of writing again. The past two weeks have been both full and empty - full of events & activity; empty of creative spirit (which sometimes escapes me completely).

The 2010 Winter Olympics being in Vancouver seems to have afforded a number of opportunities to be out & about doing things. I was invited & attended a Women's Hockey game (Canada vs Slovakia). The fanfare was very Canadian & at times it was difficult to see or concentrate on the game without getting caught up in the atmosphere of excitement. I have to thank Aaron for the opportunity to take part; it was very enjoyable & I otherwise wouldn't have gone because we hadn't planned on or gotten tickets to any of the events........thank you so much Aaron; I will cherish the experience & memories.

We wandered around down town a while after the game (I was with Katie's mom & dad....the young-uns went off in search of more excitement than they would alternately have found with us). I'm not a fan of large crowds so was just as happy to find a small eating place (I was treated to my first Thai eating experience.....thanks to Sharon & John) & then we aimed for the sky train & headed towards home.

Danielle came to visit for this past week end so we got to spend Sunday doing Olympic activities with her. We visited the Aboriginal Pavilion; they had a 45 minute live show which was excellent........well worth seeing. After that we went to see the cauldron, took some pictures of and with the flame. By then it was time to search for a place where we might watch the Canada/USA men's hockey game. We ended up not finding a place where the action was but took a bus to Karli & Tobias' restaurant. We ate & watched the unfortunate Canadian loss there. We started out on the sky train at 8 am Sunday, got back home around 8 pm and (hard to believe) did only those three things. Good grief!

There are a lot of new films out that we hope to see. Avatar captured our attention so we went to see that (in 3D) & really enjoyed it. Shutter Island also enticed us & we found it was pretty much as the book (often not so).

Computer problems have demanded much attention over the past few weeks. We got new computers & have had our fun. I was only able to get on the Internet intermittently & that gradually grew worse until I was unable to get on at all. That was a challenge.........especially for me because I have little patience for technological (or programming) issues........I just want things to work without troubleshooting on my part. After replacing the hard drive, I think we finally have 'most' issues ironed out (touching wood). Not being able to get on the Internet gave me added time off from such things as "Farmville" (a totally addictive game) so that was and is a good thing! Bye bye Farmville!!

Amidst all the goings on a problem tooth gave me cause for concern. The infection seems to have calmed down but I will eventually lose the tooth; I'm just trying to hang on to it as long as I can. Some days I think I should have just had it out rather than try to buy whatever few days I might still have with it (good grief grace sounds like a comrade or something). In any event a tooth ache was not at all an added benefit to my life!

I am looking forward to going to Edmonton/Sherwood Park for a visit in March. Hopefully spring will be on the way by then & the weather will not be toooo wintry as March can sometimes be in Alberta.

So much for my absence.......!

Home Again

Feels good to be home again! I get to rest; unfortunately George had to go to work Feb 03. Think we caught a bug while we were away; both not feeling up to par.......but when I walked Mocha on Thursday the SUN WAS SHINING! I was ecstatic because we arrived home to rain and it had been raining (forever it seems) before we left. It was shining Friday and today as well.....wonderful!!

We had a busy 10 days in Ajo with much activity; anyway, we are home again, working at getting back into the swing of things here and looking forward to catching up with everyone!

We enjoyed a nice visit with Aaron & Katie today..........always great to get some time with them!

Ten Days With Three Tomatoes and a Chicken Leg (Part 2)

Wednesday Jan. 27.........the toilet repaired; hot water tank needed a part but George rigged up something to make it work so the pilot light stayed on, and we finally had hot water in the main house......Whooooopeeeeeeee!! The Real Estate was to bring someone by to look at the house - he didn't show. We don't know what happened to him but they set it up again for 10:30 Jan 28. There was still more sorting, a trip to the dump and grocery store. I hadn't taken anything to read but to this point I had written three poems.

Thursday, Jan. 28........The Real Estate brought the guy to look at the house (he didn't seem ready to move) & there was a rental option on the table so George went for that. There is some sort of 'Border' project in the works and they are looking for furnished accommodations. It seemed to fit the bill for the moment. There was yet more sorting and arranging as well as work on the cars (he had three) to get them started & moved out of the way for the renters. They had to purchase one more bed (also required for the renters). We buried Amber's ashes in the back yard, said a few words, played a song & put her to rest. (Amber was George's dad's wife whose ashes were still in the house & whose family none of us new anything about). We arranged for a cleaning person to come in and do a thorough cleaning before renting. During the period of the rental the company will be paying for a weakly cleaning (a definite plus).

Friday, Jan. 29.........It was off to Tucson again to see the lawyer to sign documents. Hopefully everything is back on track again now after the first lawyer & her non action. We (one more time) had lunch at 'Sweet Tomatoes' then drove Gary & Ginny to Phoenix. They had a flight home on Saturday morning (Jan 30). Now if you can believe this we had dinner when we got to Phoenix at (you guessed it!) 'Sweet Tomatoes'. Good grief twice in one day!

By this point in time we were three pretty faded vegetarians a discoloring carnivore.

George and I drove back to Ajo that evening; got there by about 10:30, tired & ready for bed!
Saturday, Jan. 30........Up to this point we had been using Gary's cell phone. I purchased some minutes to use when they went home & we were there alone. Well I suppose you can guess (because I'm bringing this up) that my cell phone didn't work when I tried to use it.......don't know why & still have no explanation now that I'm home & have enquired with Rogers. (One of those mysteries of life). The cleaning person came; shampooed carpets, cleaned, re-arranged furniture, took a trip to the dump, and tried to start the car (no luck). We went out for dinner to Bill's Road House Cafe..........not impressive but filled the stomach..........stopped at Dairy Queen for dessert..........went home and played a couple games of cards then to bed. We're poooooooped!

Sunday, Jan 31.........More cleaning and cleaning and clearing! Got two cars moved but the third one was still giving George grief. We're tired! We are ready to go home!

Monday, Feb 01.........just a few more odds 'n ends to tie up & we were on our way to Phoenix by 11:30. Twenty minutes down the road we realized we had to turn back...........we had forgotten to return a tow strap we had borrowed. Back we went, returned the strap & were back on the road by about 12:15. We stopped for a bite to eat; arrived in Phoenix to drop off the car at 2:45 (it was due by 3:00).

It was one flattened vegetarian and one stretched carnivore that boarded the plane to Seattle at 6:10..........on our way home at last! It seemed like we had been gone a long long time!

Ten Days With Three Tomatoes and a Chicken Leg (Part 1)

2:00 am is almost before breakfast and a bit early to rise but we were on the road by 2:30 (Jan 23) headed for McDonalds, coffee and a wee breakfast. Alas no breakfast served until 5:30 am so we settled for a (thanks to the lady who sued McDonalds) barely warm coffee and were off. Stopping at a McDonalds in Burlington we were too early for breakfast there as well - no breakfast served until 4:00 am. Third try, success! Breakfast and a coffee (yup barely warm again) at McDonalds in Marysville.

With plenty of time to spare, we arrived at the airport in Seattle around 5:30; our flight was out at 8:15 supposedly arriving in Phoenix at 12:10, but we landed a half hour early. After collecting our bag, munching a snack, we settled in to wait for Gary (George's brother) who was to arrive at 1:50. His flight was on time; we met his new girlfriend Ginny then made off to pick up the rental car; we were off from Alamo by 3:00 (three vegetarians and a carnivore).

Some folk were hungry so we went to 'Sweet Tomatoes' to eat; an excellent restaurant if you like salad (huge salad bar); delicious! Wish we had this restaurant up here!

Next stop for groceries at 'Whole Foods' and we were outa there and heading for Ajo. We arrived around 8:00, checked in with the local police (we had them keeping an eye on the place) to let them know we were in town and staying a while. After stopping for popcorn and Dairy Queen (I know strange combination) we got to the house around 9:00, found no water and no propane. Oh JOY! We had arranged before hand for the propane and water to be turned on for us........the gas company didn't make their trip to Ajo as scheduled because of storms & rain.........the water folk in Ajo just turned on water at the wrong address. We did attempt to get the water guy to come out without success so with nothing much more we could do at that late hour we hit the sack (now around 11:00 pm).....and tired we were!

Sunday, Jan 24; water promised by 9:00; by 11:00 we still had no water; another call revealed that the man had again turned on water at the wrong address; third attempt successful & we had water by noon; still no propane to heat the water though (and no way to contact them until Monday) so no shower! The rest of Sunday was spent with more sorting, bagging donations for the church, bagging more garbage for the dump. I was surprised (after our work in July) that there was still so much to go through. Another long day!

Monday, Jan 25; off to Tucson to see the lawyer; had lunch at 'Sweet Tomatoes'; while there we arranged by phone to have the gas turned on so we would have propane by the time we got home; we did, however the pilot light on the hot water tank for the main house wouldn't stay lit so STILL no hot water. By now we had discovered also, a plumbing problem with the toilet in the summer house so the search for a plumber was on (Tuesday morning Jan 26). The pilot to the hot water tank for the summer house though was lit & working so we at last had showers out there. Yahoooooooo! Another busy day sorting, cleaning, loading (someone from the church came to load up the donations), plumber arrived, & the Real Estate people came. The plumber ran into problems when he didn't have the part he needed so he would have to finish the repair the next day. After a trip to Dairy Queen that evening soothed our wearies, we were off to bed to get ready for another day!