Small and Wonderful Things . . .

 

"The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny? It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. what you see is what you get." ~Anne Dillard 

 A few of the small and wonderful things which bring untold joy into my life. It's the small things in life which truly mean the most. Simple abundance . . . it's the best.

Sunday dinner with the family.  Yesterday it was my turn to take everyone out for dinner. We went to the Farmer's Family Diner which was just a tiny bit of a drive, but not our usual place to go. They are a bit more expensive than our usual place to go, but the food is all homemade and delicious.  There was dad, Cindy, Dan, myself and Hazel, Dad's friend, joined us.   I had the turkey dinner which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Cindy had the fish and chips. Her piece of fish was enormous, but I am not sure she enjoyed her chips that much. Just frozen fries.  Dad had a hot dog and chips.  Dan had the hamburger steak dinner.  Dad enjoyed his hotdog and chips, which made me happy. He had said he wasn't very hungry, but he ate every scrap.  I thoroughly enjoyed my turkey dinner as well.  Best part  . . .  you know it!  Being there together!

Going shopping with Cindy on Saturday. I don't go every week, but I did this week. She usually has a few things to pick up for Dad. We went to Walmart first and picked up a few bits there, then to Giant Tiger for a few more bits. Then we went to the Super Store where I really racked up my points. I got almost 20,000 points on my purchases. (I had planned it well ahead of time.)  If you have a PC Card, you get points which are redeemable for groceries.  $10 for every 10,000 points.  I have almost 60,000 points now.  I am not sure how many you can redeem at once.  I am saving them up for something special though. Once we finished there we went to Sobeys for a last few bits and then on to dad's to take him his stuff.

We always do a few chores while we are at Dad's.  I wash a few dishes. Cindy makes his bed. I feed the cat and change her water.  Cindy scoops the litter box and does the garbage. We visit with dad for a few minutes.  

Once we were finished there we came on home. Cindy had to pick up dad's prescriptions at the drugstore on the way and then we were off loading at mine.  The cats were happy to see me.

I did not get to church this week. I had developed a niggling cough later on Saturday.  It kept me up most of Saturday night, almost a choking cough. I tested myself three times for Covid, negative all of those times. (New tests)  I only got about 3 hours sleep, so I took a pass on church. I spend most of the morning napping in my chair with Cinnamon on my lap.  The cough gradually got better as the day went on. It seems to be worse when I am laying down.  I didn't want to be in church and coughing, coughing, coughing though, so I thought it best I stay home.  I listened to Music and the Spoken Word on the television, and a few conference talks.  I mostly just relaxed until it was time to go out for supper.

All in all it was a very quiet weekend. I didn't do any real cooking.  On Saturday I just heated up some chicken fingers from the freezer and some Yakisoba rice that I had gotten at Costco. It has lots of veggies in it.  Cindy had invited me over for pizza, but I had started to get the cough by then and I wasn't sure what it was so I didn't want to risk infecting anyone until I knew for sure. Pizza would have been nice.   I am grateful for a family that doesn't seem to mind spending time with me, for a sister who is my best friend.

My brother and his wife now have a family Doctor, so that was good news.  Out of all of us here (Cindy, Dan, myself and Dad) only Dad has a family Doctor. The number of people on the need a family practice registry here in Nova Scotia has been ballooning, more than doubling since 2021. Nova Scotia Health reported 153,373 people  in the province were waiting as of Feb 1st of this year.  About 10 per cent of those people have been on the list for more than three years, which would include all of us.  From what I have read online, we may never get one, and there is really not a lot that we can do about it.  It is what it is. 

We are lucky enough to have a health care clinic in town, however, and most of the time we are able to get appointments there.  You call on Thursday to make appointments for the next week.   I always cross my fingers and hope that the appointments are not all taken up before I get through. If you have an emergency, the emergency room at the hospital is open most weekdays between 7:30 am and 12:30 pm.  At all other times you need to drive to Kentville which is 45 minutes or so away.

There are not enough people becoming Doctors.  And who can blame them. Overworked, underpaid and snowed under with red tape.  They have a new Dental plan in Canada for Seniors but most dentists are not signing on because of all the bureaucracy involved, at least that is what I have been told.

One thing I really miss about the U.K. is the free prescriptions for people over the age of 60.   I picked up my latest prescription on Friday and it cost me over $100 for the  one drug, and that is with the Senior's Pharmacare.  This drug is not covered at all so I have to pay the full shot.  But at least I have availability to life-saving drugs.  That is a blessing.  And at least I had the money to pay it, another blessing.

And free health care, when you do get to see a Doctor, it is free. That is a very good thing.

Lovely home, bags of faith, loads of family love, my two kit kats, friends.  A place to lay my head, food in my belly, clothes on my back, relatively good health.  I have not a lot to complain about in this life. I am blessed. My cup is definitely half full.

And with that I best leave you with a thought for the day! It is the Victoria Day holiday here in Nova Scotia.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛

˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★

 *.˛.Ignorance is the curse of God;

knowledge is the wing wherewith

we fly to heaven.° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

~William Shakespeare° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Easy Cheesy Chips. Another British Chip Shop favorite!

I hope that you have a lovely day.  It is cloudy here at the moment, but hopefully the sun will break out before too long and we will have a fine day.  Whatever you get up to, don't forget!

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And I do too!