Friday, August 28, 2009

Still Here, Just Busy



When I begin to get phone calls and messages saying "Jean, are you okay?" I know it's time to take a moment to sit down and blog.

Things are a bit chaotic around here - I took a three day trip back to the mainland, cramming in a thousand errands and visits, and came home to find my bathroom renos were to begin the very next morning instead of a day later. And my dogs are taking turns having the runs (Charley and Belle), feigning weakness or mental incompacity (Sadie and Oliver), learning new tricks AKA "countersurfing" (Sadie), stealing each other's food (Sadie and Belle), developing new lumps and bumps that send me scurrying to the vet(Belle),and being generally upset at the extent to which renovations disrupt their lives and constrain their freedom. However, a couple more days and we will have a nice new bathroom with a new soaker tub and tub surround, new flooring, new sink, new counter, new faucets, new paint....and all I will need is a new supply of bubble bath and a lottery win.

The trip to the mainland was primarily to return my university computer and to archive my gradebooks and exams from my last semester. But I also stopped by Hearts on Noses to finish off a grant application I'd been working on for Janice and to deliver a ton of apples from my tree for the piggies.




The vehicle was full of crates of apples - in the back cargo space and on the back seat - over 200 pounds of them, and that's not counting the two cratesful I kept for myself or the 1/2 boxful my daughter took home, or the several dozen more still on the tree. In fact, I only picked what I could reach without a ladder - and I'm only just over five feet!



It was great to see the piggies, though I didn't have time to do much more than feed them a bunch of treats and give them all a little luvin's. I didn't take any pictures - I was going to do that after we'd finished the grant proposal, but time ran out on me. I had dinner out with Ellen, but didn't get to see the Whippet Boyz. I stayed with my friends Ann and Ken, then next day ran around doing other errands - the university, returning a phone that didn't work, picking up things I can't find here on the island, visiting with my Emma, and then back to Ann and Ken's for a scrumptious dinner. Day three was a visit to my mom, taking her out to lunch and then to the beach for a while, before heading back to the island.

On the ferry home I finished up some financial tables for Hearts on Noses, and then took a few minutes to just enjoy the surreal blue-hazed mountains on the horizon.



I came home to a warm welcome from my canine and feline crew, who had been spoiled rotten by Else while I was gone, and the message that renos were to begin in the morning so please clear and clean the bathroom......

And that's what's going on in my world.

3 comments:

Janice Gillett said...

Thank you so much Jean for including us when you had such a tight time frame with so many things to do.

And "The Super Wee's " but really all of noses thank you too!!

Patience-please said...

Some times, some things have to come first.
But, it's GREAT to hear from you.

Black Jack's Carol said...

Wow! Retirement is not quite the restful time one might have imagined, Jean, but I'm happy to see you keeping in touch with your loved ones on and off the island, and those apples look delicious. And, for sure, you are earning the right to that beautiful soaker tub. Hope the reno's go well, and the critters adjust to the disruption, and the lumps and bumps are harmless ones. Thanks for taking time to keep your fans posted:)