Sorry for being out of touch

I have been remiss.  I have watched and responded to your lovely blogs but just couldn't find the energy to blog about my own life.  Actually my quiet winter here in this village seems so un-interesting, especially after the years of RV travelling and exploring new sites to write about.  That is strange for me.  I started a walking programme with my bum leg today.  I plan to do 2 blocks around and back to home, and then each day go another block.  Maybe I will be able to do the hills by March.

Last Sunday we were invited up the mountain to visit with Andrea and to have dinner.  Above is my favourite calico cat that they have.  I don't want the bother of looking after pets anymore but do like my friends' pets.   Andrea made a special Shepherd's Pie that I will try baking one day soon. 

We didn't leave much for her to have for left-overs.  

I just tried to talk to my grand son for his eighth birthday but after two calls we gave up...at least he knows I tried to phone him.

  

We did send a present, and card in the mail.   He just had time to say 'Thank you' before the phone connection died.  

We had our favorite Auntie here this week.  Donna is Old Man's older sister.  She is 81  and qualified for the Alberta Seniors' Winter Olympic Games for bowling.   So she was here for 5 days on her way back from a holiday in the heat of Phoenix Arizona, and then had to get back to Alberta to settle in and drive an hour over to Lethbridge, Alberta, where the games are happening.  We took her to the airport an hour away in Kamloops, and stopped for lunch with one of her grandchildren's other grandmas at a fish and chip shop.  We had a good time with Priscilla and she took Donna to the airport so we could get home before dark.   We don't like the halos on the headlights in the dark anymore.

Our oldest son and family live in Ontario.  They cope with winter well, and find ways to make it fun.

Canada is getting a winter-kicking in the east as is the northern  U. States.  When it gets this bad folk just hunker down inside and wait.  There is no sense in trying to get a car out onto the roads that the snow/blowers/graders can't even keep cleared.  Maybe that is why we are such avid readers in the woods of Canada.  There can be a true beauty though in an old-fashioned country snow fall.  I used to enjoy the weeks stuck inside under blankets reading when the children had 'snow days'.  The fires had to be stoked and animals tended, but then you jumped back into bed with some hot chocolate and a stack of Canadiana best-sellers (not Harlequins). It also seemed like good days to be stuck inside baking cinnamon buns or bread.  It is possible to enjoy it, but I am thinking I like boon-docking in the deserts of southern California/Arizona more.  I can read in the heat as easily in the cold and don't mind not having to feed pigs or chickens or cattle.  I still make a fire in the evening but it is just for something to poke and the life-style ambiance.   It is also a place to burn our paper trash.

On our western side of the country it has been so mild, I am starting to want to see daffodils.