Category: Family

More comments about family and internet and church

I got to see Katie’s apartment yesterday!  We can tell she’s a real New West Girl, she can see the bridge from one window.  She doesn’t think she’ll be cold this winter, but the scarred single pane windows (they haven’t been painted since Tommy Douglas was alive, if appearances are anything to go by) and her remoteness from the furnace lead me to believe otherwise.

Despite the 101 bus going right by her place and despite how close she is to the Skytrain tracks, it’s a quiet house.  She lives there with Mona and a couple of other people in a house sharing arrangement.  Mona’s about my age.  She lives on the ground floor, Katie lives in the attic and some guy lives in the basement.

Daxus is currently living with a married couple who just had their first child – at home.  Katie doesn’t believe this living arrangement is likely to last but I’m sort of hoping it does.

Paul returned safely from Ontario.  He and I and Keith and Jeff supped upon a variety of things including the two cobs of corn I harvested from the garden.  They were tiny but perfect.  Now that I know corn will grow nicely in that location I will plant more next year, and earlier, too.

The quinoa harvest has started; it was either that or let them rot on their stalks.  The first batch is hulled, but by god they are still very bitter with the saponin layer, and most of the grains are much smaller than the commercial variety.  I will have to clean them some more.  I have to find a more efficient way to clean them.

I was invited to Tanya’s and to Baumfest this weekend and as I was feeling quite low I didn’t go.

Church was excellent.  The minister preached of one of the theologians of Unitarian Universalism, Hosea Ballou.

Chipper sends me this disheartening news from the internet front.  Disgusting.

Ziva is running quite rough – she hates the wet.

I have a sound tech for the Social Justice Open Mic.

My parents gave me the wrong freaking name

I shoulda been called Cassandra.

My whole life I’ve been predicting things that any sane person, looking at the evidence, could predict.  But for some reason the sane people don’t look at the evidence, and the crazy people make up their own.

I have too much work and not enough mojo, brains or skill to deal with it all.

I love Jeff.  He is being very supportive about an organization change I am working toward right now. 

My boss RULES.  I can count on his support.

Keith RULES.  He’s the second brown belt in the Caspell clan, as of this week!!!!   Welcome, third kyu!  (Bows).

Sundry and various

Church was good; I like the water ingathering service because people do the “How I spent my summer vacation” by using the physical and metaphorical linking of water.  The Tea Lights (my secret name for a harp/recorder/cello trio composed of church members) were fabulous, as always.

I was opening and closing, too; I had to be there for 8:45 and didn’t get out until 1:30, and I forgot the flipping signs so I had to drive all the way back and get them.  I was going to put them back in the building and realized that they need to have the times amended so I am going to get little laminated bits to cover the inaccurate times this week… and THEN put them away.

Paul and Keith came over and Paul and I attempted to put 25 years of being incapable of sharing a kitchen behind us.  The chicken stir fry came out pretty good. Then Katie turned up and we watched True Blood’s season 3 finale, all together for once, and I have to say A-Skars (Eric Northman) got all the good lines.  Then Keith, who has his driver’s licence (did I mention that he finally broke down and got a driver’s licence previously? Guess not!) drove his sister home.  Aw.

Now I’m going to fold laundry and have a shower and really get at my day.

I let Paul drive Ziva last night

And I complained non stop.  Some things never change.

Anyway, I ate supper (stellar meal, fresh tomato and fresh basil salad, pork chomps with Paulegra spicing and Chilliwack peaches and cream corn so fresh it was like an explosion of sweetness) with Paul and Keith last night, and I was expecting Part II to be me whining at Paul to put the new Resophonic strings on John’s resonator guitar, but instead he says, “We’re going to Rev Katie’s place to get her hockey gear.”

Turns out Paul’s having a visitor from Seattle who is a ginormous hockey fan who is planning on taking it up as a hobby – she’s about my age.  She’s coming to town and Paul thought, “Rev Katie doesn’t play hockey any more, maybe she wants to ditch her equipment”.  Strangely, she did, and we also got in a nice visit, more social than bitching about church thank goodness.  But honestly, I didn’t think I would be hauling women’s hockey equipment across the Pitt River bridge when I got up yesterday morning; all I can say is: my life is full of incident.  Got home around 9, watched tv for a bit and collapsed.  I drove home BTW….

Unbelievable, very stressful but ultimately good things happened at work yesterday, and of course I can’t talk about it but I am very, very, very stressed out.  Good stress and bad stress.

Round up of events

Up at 4:30 yesterday, fed myself and Jeff breakfast (bacon scrambled eggs), then fighting with two different printers to get the order of service printed out. Got to church around 9:30, discovered we had a plethora of sound people (after my initial fears) but my karma must have just been to the spot remover, because there wasn’t a single feedback squeal all morning.  I hug them all, those sound sound people.

Lots of people out to church and we had a lovely service talking about how it is normal to be afraid of change, and we have had had a lot (as in far too much for this cowgirl), and we’ll be okay, but we have to stick together and be nice to each other.  I know, a hopelessly Pollyanna-ish take on events, but accurate, and my goodness people were thankful to have everything brought up to date.  We did our absolute best to neither minimize nor dramatize the financial and volunteer crises facing our church.  The minister was in the congregation, which provided some reassurance that the board is coping with this crisis as a unit, which never hurts.

It will be okay.

Then I took Sue to lunch at the Amelia, then I bought lemons, then I made lemonade, then I took it to Tom and Peggy (with special guest Joe, squee, whom I haven’t seen since he made his wife so spectacularly rotund) and I watched them pour concrete and then beat a hasty retreat.  Then I came back to my place and apart from a half hearted attempt to throw food into the microwave for Jeff, Katie, Keith and Paul (had them all over, heart full of happy) I didn’t do another thing for the rest of the day, oh, except take the awning down with Paul’s help.  It was full of insect eggs, so just as well.  Either moth or katydid, I’d have to look it up. I looked at the wind and sky and determined it was time to get the awning down before the weather got wetter or windier.

Now, for nautilus3, a flickrset of Birds of BC. I only know about this because Paul found a dead bird and took pictures, and be darned if I can identify it.  I may need to call on experts.

Eddie let me cut all his nails and he hardly struggled or wailed, and he made no attempt to bite or scratch.  The same cannot be said of Margot, who popped her claws into me the last time I trimmed her.  I guess Eddie is finally getting over his antipathy to me.  If, and only if, I’m sitting on the downstairs couch and Jeff’s sitting there too, Eddie will let me scritch him.  Sometimes.

More meetings?

More meetings.  Last night’s was awesome… a planning meeting for the 5th September service, which I’m abruptly helping with.

There’s no beer in the house, and Jeff and I are going to leave it that way until the weekend at least.  I am finding my crabbiness has increased somewhat, but not enough to be too worried about it.

Katie has definitely found a place to live and is now agitating for help moving.  I’d say no, but I volunteered already.  One of my ongoing personal hazards…..

John gets a parting shot

From his close friend and landpeer, the incomparable Juliana, comes an email I simply must share in its entirety:

Allegra, as an anarchist I thought you would appreciate this.   In 2007, John took to me a movie to celebrate my birthday.  It was at University of Victoria, where he had a film membership.  He carefully parked his scooter on the sidewalk next to the bicycles and we attended a wonderful film about the life of Edith Piaf.  When we came back out, it was to find a parking ticket, & he was NOT amused.  Being John he had no intention to pay the ticket and ignored a number of friendly reminders from the University.

Forward to this morning when “he” received a letter from the University telling him that they had not been chasing him for the past 1.5 years because of a court dispute regarding the right for UBC to issue citations but that he still owed the money and they now wanted it.  Apparently after appeal and counter appeal, UVIC is with it’s rights to cite violators so…. they were back at it.

I phoned, asked for Accounts Receivable and started the conversation with  “Account # blah blah”  …   I explained that John would not be paying the bill because he was dead.  I controlled the urge to tell her he wouldn’t have paid it if he was alive either.  Period of Silence, then a pause for review and she came back on the line to tell me his account had been deleted from the system.

I know John is happy to know he won.  A small victory and I’d much rather pay the $20 and have him back but… he won.

hugs and love

Juliana

Grr-thwack

Zombie walk this aft.  Katie K and I will meetup at the Art Gallery and drag our shambling carcasses down the parade route.  I can haz corn syrup and food colouring, and clothes to sacrifice. Oh yes, there will be pix.

Church meeting earlier this afternoon.  I’m an invited guest rather than a regularly scheduled attendee; I suspect I am the Katelijne Adorne of my crowd, and happy I am that there is precisely one reader of this blog who will get the reference.

Leo is whomping up Finnish pancakes in the kitchen.  Lawsy me, and there’s BACOM tooooo. Linda indulged me by watching the most recent Futurama episode with us last night, of which much internet woo, and I have to say “The Prisoner of Benda” is one of the best episodes ever and it’s FULL OF MATH.

Tomorrow, hymn sing at Tom and Peggy’s (ever so much more fun than it sounds, my irreligious pals).  I’m thinking about going into work and doing some documentation, but I bet I turn lazy and stay home and watch depressing movies instead.  Leo and Linda will head out sometime Sunday.

It is my sad duty to report that Katie and Daxus are dating again.  Hence the title of the post. I am keeping my mouth shut (apart from giving Suzanne and my mother a heads’ up, and Paul and I had a brief and eyerolling confab yesterday) and hoping that a cooler head prevails.  It’s too bad that her staying away from him was a condition of tenancy.  As of the end of this month she’s homeless – you read me? – and only Paul is prepared to take her in, as Jeff and I -after a brief and dispassionate strategy session – do not wish to borrow more grief than is already our portion.

Did I say recently how much I love and appreciate Jeff?  He really is Made of Awesome.

The quinoa is as tall as me and four cobs of corn have set on.  I let the peas go to seed.

Leo and Linda safely arrived

Leo was happy to hear about the wireless.  His internet access during his trip has been somewhat variable.  It was good to catch up on the kids’ doings – Kevin working for a rafting company, Kathy inching towards pummelling UVic into submission and wresting from then some sheepskin, and John is in Afghanistan, from whence it is my earnest prayer that he returns safe to his family and loved ones.  Was amused to learn that Kathy is living with her equivalent to sister in law, just like my daughter.

We stuffed ourselves on schnitzel at the Balkan House, Jeff suggesting it as it is a brief walk from here.

Linda teaches developmentally delayed teens, and her stories were both touching and entertaining.  She has a parent who believes his son’s autism was caused by vaccinations.

Sigh.

Leo gave me my first guitar.  So if you ever got the Tapioca Song stuck in your head, it’s his fault.

busy tizzy

1.  Paul and kids over to watch latest True Blood.  Since I knew they were coming I went to Choices and got delicious om-nom-noms for them, like fresh bread and Dijon turkey and Avalon chocolate milk, which still comes in a glass bottle and is the best commercial chocolate milk in the known universe.  Even Paul had some and he stopped drinking cow’s milk years ago.  Damn, it’s fine!  Also edamame salad and fresh veg.

2.  Leo and Linda coming tonight…. can’t wait for them to meet kitties.

3.  Jeff biked to and from work yesterday… go Jeff. The last three 3 k involve about three hundred feet of elevation, so he was rather warm by the time he got back.  I took one look at him and asked him if he wanted some water.

4.  At church meeting last night (Nominating committee, my house) we had fun and got shiz done.  I was so happy to see everybody.  Now I have more work to do, even though an item came off my list!

5.  I’ll be doing a bed and breakfast thing in Bellingham in September but I don’t know which weekend.  I’ll be taking Katie for some CBS.  (Cross border shopping).  Clothing for women my size is more easily obtained Stateside.

6.  I’m helping train somebody at work, and as a consequence my house-fly strength attention span is even MORE truncated.  I’d like to thank her family for raising somebody so smart.  And she takes kick boxing classes, too.

7.  Keith was too – I don’t know – to check flickr for pictures of Animé Evolution, and when he said he didn’t know where pictures would be, I said, “You’re daft, check the flickrstream.”  Gosh all whacky, am I the only person in the world who knows how to use the internet, grump grump.  And there he was, in his costume.  Now I go looking for it and I can’t find it, but suffice it to say Keith made a GREAT Dr. McNinja. Grandparents are warmly encouraged to apply to him directly for photographs.

8.  Dropped by her workplace to see Lady Miss Banjola and inspect her tummy.  Yup, she’s knocked up.  She’s also artistically pale but I think she looks great.

9.  The spicy Thai beef salad yesterday was unbelievably yummy, but the transit time of 8 hours was accompanied by the burnination of a lifetime.  I can no longer eat hot peppers, unless I want multiple lashings of discomfort and abrupt departures from whatever conversation I’m engaged in at the time to flee for the house of ease.  It was worth it, but only just.  Ky can cook.

There’s more but I gotta go.

An anniversary of sorts

Twenty-nine years ago today I left my then legal husband, Phil, and moved in with Paul on Springhurst Avenue in Toronto.  It was during the CNE, and with the casual rain of coincidence that marks every part of my life, there were fireworks every night; we’d sit on the third floor balcony overlooking Lake Ontario and watch them.

Three years ago this past spring I moved out.  Our friendship is now more solid – and more civil – than it ever was.  But we had to go through a lot of dross burning off first.

Is Margot in the well, Eddie?

Eddie was screeching up a storm last night.  Jeff realized that something was amiss and got up.  He started following Eddie around, and Eddie went straight out the back door and to the garage, where Margot had been locked since Jeff had worked on his bike.  Eddie got many scritchings and “Good boy”.  (I locked Margot in my room all day last week, so you’d think she’d learn about doors…..)

Sorry, Eddie, we’re on to you.  You just PRETEND to hate Margot; like the rest of us, you haz succumded.

lovely visit

Lexi had me, Jeff, Darci, Jasmine, and Paul over for chicken dinner last night and it was excellent in all ways.  After dinner I suggested we go for a walk – it was a lot cooler by the seawall – and Jasmine and Darwin and I kicked around a soccer ball on the beach.  Lexi gave me a frowning after I let Darwin walk through a bunch of puddles, upon which I learned that all of his shoes were now wet (give your head a shake Allegra, your kids never had more than two pairs of shoes when they were little).  Anyway, I gave up on that when I made the mistake of trying to use Mr. Darwin as a croquet mallet (head first).

Lexi got complimented on Darwin’s hat (again) – it happens every time I see her, it seems.  Chill Monkeys is doing awesome.  I have added it to the blogroll.

It was lovely to see Darci and Jasmine, who is the most preternaturally polite, well spoken, intelligent and compassionate 4.5 year old I ever met, bar none, and cute as the dickens, besides, in her pig tails.  If my dad doesn’t turn into a gibbering ball of mush upon interacting with her I’ll be surprised.

No meteors, too much skyglow.

ps Katie and Keith did not attend.  Keith had a date and Katie wasn’t up for a family gathering.  I’ll leave my own feelings out of it.