Evelyn's Christmas Present

Hello All,

I think that Effie had several favourite Christmas Presents ... and she will tell you more about them in due course. However, here's a picture of the one that arrived just before Christmas ......



Evelyn found a handy man from Acton who would install the tiles ... and he and his son arrived on a Wednesday just before Christmas. They were here to measure up the area and tell her how many tiles to order; at this point, they were unaware that the tiles had been here for 2 1/2 years!! Evelyn was out visiting a patient when they came so I was the negotiator. I showed them the tiles and they measured anyway ... and speculated that we didn't have quite enough tiles. Then Randy asked, "When do you want to do this install?" So I replied, "Two and half years ago!" Non plussed, Randy said, "How about Thursday or Friday?" Turns out that a job that they had on their list got postponed and they were looking for a small job to fill-in.

So ... the tiles got installed on Thursday and the grouting was done on Friday and everyone who comes in is enthralled. In fact, Tom is so excited with the nice green tiles that he wants to install MORE green tiles someplace in the kitchen!!!

More later from the Republic of Eramosa. Ken

what a great day!

Hey there to all in The Republic, Rothesay and Guelph. 'Hope you all had a wonderful day full of thoughtful surprises, big hugs and a little too much outstanding food.

Gotta give applause to the Rothesay contingent - the calendars were a big hit. In Ontario, we were all comparing photos, and ooh's and aah's were plentiful. What a great surprise! We also had 100% agreement that Marejo in her pick dress looked stunning!

It's nice to reflect on a day that focussed on being together. The good laughs, relaxed mood and absence of an urgency to be anywhere else was lovely.

I am reminded what a groovy group of people I am related to, both near and far. Aren't I lucky to have chosed you all?!

'Here's to a grand 2010!!!

Santa

After a few years of languishing in the ornament boxes, Santa had some corroded insides plus a nasty battery mishap. But with a little tender care, hes all better now.

sandy's Magical Sweater

Christmas 2009, Sandy tries on his new sweater at last!!Very exciting;

like wearing a magical energetic forest.

Happy christmas to all!

have you met my new trainer, buddy?

I never would have believed it either - I now willingly pick up the poop of another living being!

Buddy belongs to my neighbour Jackie, who broke her hip earlier this year. She mentioned one day that Buddy would not be able to stay at her house until she became more mobile, since he needs regular walks. So Buddy and I became a team.

Each day, I call over to his house at about 8:00 a.m. and we head out for a wee trek. It's a little surprising for a non-dog person to learn how truly compelling the scents (notice the delicacy of terms) from other pups can be! But man, he does have a grand time with the sniffin'.

We try to schedule our walks to the time that kids are going to school. A couple of girls would greet us regularly and warn up away from the uber excited poodle, Eddie - a little too wired for words. And wow, dog people are pretty friendly.

So ready or not, Buddy gets me out every morning. The pose you see is not him adoring me but rather expecting a treat from my pocket. He's kinda fun.

sunday morning coming down

ok, it's not really sunday coming down, it's just a good line...
Fin arrived home from PQ last night, late, so lots of us stayed up late, and now I've been up cooking pancakes for a few hours while the nighthawks are still resting their heads- I am the comparative early bird and the worm is mine

last friday, I was driving home with some chest pain, so rather than wait for my appointment on the 23rd (booked), i stopped into St Joe's for a quick check up. I mentioned chest pain and they had me whisked into motion very quickly. A few hours later, they say my BP is great, perfect really, blood sugars excellent, EKG looks perfect, same as in 2006 the last time I checked it out, so I'm great. Nice little vacation.

You can burn a pancake in the time it takes to write a paragraph. I'm listening to Stevesellorssongs, practising for a recording session later this afternoon.

To download a  photo, open a  post-link and you'll se the icon for photo on the tool bar up there F tT B I so on...

Newfoundland Icebreaker at Work

Good Morning all,


I just found this spectacular photo of a Newfoundland Icebreaker at work. I'll see if I can copy it in here (I'm still very low down on the cottonpickin' learning curve so i hope you'll forgive me if I botch this up.

More later, Ken

What's all this about technology, then?

So I agree with GK on the silliness of technology, (never mind that we're both ON it, it's the thought that counts) mostly because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to post on this thing. Then a friendly button in the corner brought me to this page, so I suppose that's an accomplishment.

So far there's two new things in my life.
1. Mum wants me to get new tights, because the one's I'm wearing are rather ripped to shreds. (She got me to come home at 1:30 in the morning just to tell me this!...Okay, there were other reasons, but still!) Besides, I think the ridiculously long runs in them add character.

2. I found out where I'm going with Katimavik this upcoming spring/summer! I think I scared some of our guests when I got the email, I nearly toppled some things in my excitement. So! The places are!
1. Sioux Lookout, ON. This is North(ish) Western, for the March/April months
2. Ville-Emard, Montreal, PQ. I sure hope my educated family knows where Montreal is! If you google earth it, it isn't that far from Mont Royal, which is exciting. Also a far cry from my first placement! May/June
3. Alberton, PEI. Little farm town in out littlest Province. And, as Fin said, a good place to go visit while I'm there! July/Auguest.

I googled earthed them all. Quite Fun =)

There's my update! Well, for now. At only 2:30 in the morning. Can't turn in now!

Love to all, Zoodle

tommy

 pra

Quiet .......

All is quiet in the Republic of Eramosa this morning. We phoned Sandy in The Republic of Rothesay to see if that Snow Storm hitting the East Coast of the Excited States of America was going to hit the Maritimes as well. He said "No, it wasn't coming to the Maritimes because they didn't pay for the extension!"

All for now, Ken

A TT Epiphany

Many of you will know of Effie's expertise with using Therapeutic Touch. And perhaps you will also know of Ken's role as "official skeptic". Occasionally he will hurt a hand and she will offer to do TT to relieve pain ... and he doesn't usually feel a thing. And usually he doesn't sense any relief either.

Well ... on Wednesday, he was having pain in a muscle in his chest near the right shoulder. Not severe but painful to move his body in certain positions. He has a lingering cough from a cold that began nearly two weeks ago and wondered if he sprained a muscle during one of the svere coughing spasms. Anyway, he went to bed that night in bad shape, unable to roll over in bed and having a helluva time to get up to go to the bathroom (required routine!!). After the 4:00 a.m. bathroom visit, he didn't even go back to bed; went downstairs, made on the fire, and slept for a little while in one of the reclining chairs. Getting the damn chair to recline was a serious effort!

Evelyn appeared at daylight and listened patiently to the sad story ... and as is her wont, offered to do TT. A 15-minute treatment relieved MOST of the pain .... and two more treatments during the day has led to pain reduction from a ten-level to about a one-level. Just bloody amazing!!

Ken had a good sleep on Thursday night; at this stage, there is a slight ache at the muscle and a sensitivity when moving in certain ways. Otherwise, he is A-OK.

Ready to attend to The Republic of Eramosa. Sir!!!

Cottonpickin' Learning Curve

It seems like all of these social network facilities each have their own idiosyncrasies regarding posts, naming conventions, passwords (how many $%^&* passwords does one have to have to exist in this virtual life anyway?), and profiles. Please may I exist with a null profile ... I really don't want Google or Yahoo or whatever studying my habits or digging through my priceless prose in order to know how to pitch advertising towards me. Hmmm ... I don't see any advertising in here yet ... maybe I'm being prematurely cynical.

Anyhow ... I thought that I had sent two very short message earlier but perhaps I didn't wait long enough for the Google account to kick in.

Here's to Learning, Ken

First Post for the Republic

So, let's get started. Why are we doing this? To figure out how to do it. We're a systematic tribe: we'll practice and fail a few times before we get serious. We might practice a lot and fail a lot, but in the end, like maybe just before we die, we'll look like we know what we're doing.

Then again, maybe not.

Who cares?

It's all for fun anyhow. Okay, let's see how this works.

Anybody want to play along with me?