Dear Neighbor . . .

 

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FRIDAY, November 21st, 2025
Estate Lane, Nova Scotia
-6*C/22*F partly cloudy

Dear Neighbor,

Its pretty chilly out there this morning. I think it is safe to say that the cool Winter Temperatures have arrived. It is still dark out as I am writing this, but I am sure a heavy frost will be on the ground once the sun is up. My brother, who lives in Ottawa, shared some lovely photos yesterday of a Hoare frost that they had there. Simply stunning.  Nature is such a craftsman.

Everything coated in a crystal finish.  Simply stunning.

 

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 As you all know, I, who am always so careful in how I go, fell on Monday and injured the left side of my body. Thankfully nothing was broken.  I was very blessed in that. It could have been far worse.  The pain on Monday was almost unbearable but has gradually gotten better with each day that passes. I have regained a lot of movement in it and can now hold my arm away from my body and lift it up almost all the way, in three of four directions. It is still very painful to reach behind or move it backwards. I can reach across my front with it and touch my right shoulder and this morning I was almost able to use both hands in the shower to wash my hair. 

The temptation is there to not use it at all because it does hurt when I do, but I cannot allow myself to give into that temptation for fear of losing the use of my arm. I am quite pleased with the progress, and I don't think it will be long before I feel safe and comfortable driving again.

 

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This has been a fairly boring week to be honest, as I have spent most of it resting from my injury. I have not been sleeping well so I have been tired as well. Yesterday is the first day I actually baked or cooked anything. Thank goodness for a well-stocked freezer and larder, as I have been able to feed myself fairly well. I have not gone anywhere, except to dinner with Dad and Cindy on Wednesday night. And other than them and the cleaners on Tuesday, I have not seen anyone either. So, yes, a very quiet and somewhat boring week. I have watched more television than I have watched in a long time, but it was a good opportunity to catch up on some films that I had not seen in a very long time before they are dropped from Netflix. I finished Memoirs of a Geisha and Titanic.  Both are very long films.  I watched the film Wonder. Yesterday I watched Girl Interrupted.

I have come to really appreciate having the use of both arms, more and more as each day passes. Yesterday I managed to bake some muffins.  I also made myself oven fish and chips for my supper.  Both involved opening oven doors and sliding things in and out of the oven whilst using both arms. Two days ago I couldn't manage that, but yesterday I could.  Things are definitely improving. 

Today I have plans to go out with Cindy and Dad this afternoon as he has his weekly visit with MaryAnn. I need cat food. (I always need cat food it seems! lol) And I don't have any fresh veg in the house. I had bean salad with my fish and chips yesterday.  I don't be able to get much as there is limited space in the car.  Dad's walker takes up the whole boot and so there is only the space in front of my feet on the passenger side.  If I am feeling more confident, I may go to the grocery store tomorrow. We shall see what happens.

 

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People are starting to put up their Christmas decorations, but I am not feeling especially festive as of yet. Hopefully the bug will hit soon. Oddly enough none of us is feeling very festive this year. Not even Dan, the holiday man. We will have to wait and see what happens. It is early yet, but having said that, Christmas is less than five weeks away. I need to start watching my annual Christmas films in earnest now. It never feels quite right watching them after the holidays.

The first one I like to watch each year is "The Holiday," with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet. I had not seen it until my friend Valerie sent me the DVD of it a number of years back and it because a favorite with the first watch! I also like The Family Man, with Nicholas Cage. The Homecoming. (That is the film which was the precursor to The Waltons.) Home Alone, Planes Trains & Automobiles, White Christmas, A Miracle on 34th Street (the original), It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, etc. I also like the Hallmark movies, most of which I have never seen. Now that I am a woman living on my own, I don't have to bow to the preferences of a male who hates Christmas movies. I am free to watch what I want, when I want, as many times as I want.

 

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I have not gotten as many things done over this past year as I would have liked to have done. I wanted to do a lot more art and to get some sewing done, more crafting. Here we are almost to the end of the year and I haven't really done much of anything in that respect.  I find that if I have any kind of appointment at all that is it for me. My whole day revolves around that appointment. It doesn't matter what time of day it is. Whereas in the past I used to be able to get lots of things done, including the appointment, these days the appointment will swallow my whole day.

Is anyone else like this? If I have a week full of appointments, then that whole week is gone. I guess I am just getting slower at getting things done.  I do not know how I managed to get all the things done that I did when I was working fulltime.

 

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Last night I dreamt I was back working at the Manor again. They had had some large function, and I spent ages cleaning up after it. The dream went on and on and I no sooner got one mess cleaned up when another one appeared. Finally, the Mrs. told me to go home. I told her in my dream that I had not made them any supper yet or gotten in any groceries. She said that was fine, they really didn't need anything. I woke up soon afterwards. 

I am always really tired after I have dreams in which I have been working, working, working. I think it is mental exhaustion more than anything. It certainly isn't physical as I have been sleeping, lol. Its weird how just dreaming about working can tire you out!

I am grateful that I never took them up on their offer to come to work for them in the Bahamas. I could never have coped with that I don't think. I am more than happy to call all of my time my own. I do admit that I was flattered in being asked, not once, but several times, several years running. It is nice to know that people value your work that much. It is nice also to have the luxury of being able to turn it down.

 

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I was talking to my friend Jacquie on the phone for a while yesterday afternoon. She is 83 now. She finds the days very long and she says she gets very lonely. It made me appreciate the blessing of busyness. I am a person who tries to stay very busy all the time. This little job of mine, in cooking for, photographing for, and writing for, the food blog has been a real blessing in my life. Not only does it help to keep a roof over my head, but it gives purpose and meaning to my life. It gives me something to do, and to think about. It has been, and is, a gift from God. I mean that sincerely. 

Although I have been doing it since 2009, it was only in the latter part of 2020 that I decided to monetize it. The timing could not have been better as it was not long after that, that my life fell apart. I would not have been able to care for myself financially were it not for that blog. I am sure that it was God, who knows the beginning from the end of everything. who prompted me to start monetizing it, and I got my first paycheck from it about a month after I returned to Canada. It has gone from strength to strength since then. What a blessing in my life it has been these past five years, and God willing it will continue.

It really has helped to fill my days with purpose and meaning. It has kept my brain and my hands active. It has kept this lovely roof over my head. It has given me my independence and afforded me a very good life in so very many ways. It truly has been a gift.

 

I was reading this, this morning and thought to myself what a wonderful tradition that is. Santa always brought my children a new pair of pajamas and a book on Christmas Eve. I did not know I was following an Icelandic tradition.  Reading time before bed was always something that I did with my children all of their younger years. We would gather in the girl's bedroom as they had a large double bed, and we would all sit on the bed, and I would read to them. Most Christmas's I would try to get them matching pajamas to wear.  Giving them a new book on Christmas Eve, the new pajamas and a bit of a treat of some kind helped to get them through to Christmas morning. It broke some of the excitement and was a tiny taste of what was to come I suppose.  I sometimes miss those years when I had all of my little chicks around me. I did not appreciate them as much as I should have done, but perhaps it is only in the looking back that we are truly able to appreciate the gifts we have been given for what they are? Most of the time when I was raising my babies, I was so busy trying to get all the things done that I needed to do, I didn't have the time or energy to fully appreciate them.  Those quiet bedtime reading moments were a gift to us both and ones that I often take out and enjoy again in the remembrance of them.

Here I am running out of time again so I must draw this missive to a close  . . . 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

☾ ° ★° * 。  

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

*Joy comes to us

in ordinary moments.

We risk missing out when

we get too busy chasing

down the extraordinary.

~Brene Brown• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。

• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。 

In The Kitchen today  . . .  Chicken Stuffed Rolls. A hot sandwich that is not only very simple to make but incredibly deliciously filling, with chicken, cheese and spring onions, in a zesty combination.  Stuffed into a roll and baked to gooey melty perfection. Perfect as a lunch with some crisp veggie sticks or as a light supper with a bowl of soup!

Once again I wish you a happy Friday. The weeks seem to be rolling past far too quickly don't they! Whatever you get up to today I hope it brings you joy!  Don't forget!

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⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿

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And I do too!