Dear Neighbor . . .

 

FEBRUARY 7th, 2026

Estate Lane

Middleton, Nova Scotia

-15*C/4*F

partly cloudy

3 days of snow expected 

from tomorrow on

Dear Neighbor,

To be honest, I really don't have a lot to write about these days. My life has gotten very narrow since all of this malarky with my kidney stones, etc. I haven't been able to walk far without needing to go to the loo, which has meant that I haven't really been able to get out of the house much. I really do not know how people manage to go to work with a stent in, but somehow they do. It boggles my mind. I will be happy when it is all over.

Each day passes somehow and stuff gets done, but not a lot. Not really. I have become a bit of a voyeur and it's not all it is cracked up to be.

 

(source)

Its hard to believe that a little over a week has passed since Eileen moved in with me. She has been great company. Today she has her Bible study at her church, so the lady from that will be picking her up to take her to it and bringing her back home afterwards. I believe Tim will be there also. I hope it is not too difficult for her, although I can imagine that it won't be easy. Just so long as he doesn't have his new girlfriend with him. That would be tres awkward. Alas, it is something she will have to get used to. They have a very small group of friends and community, because of their learning disabilities, so they are bound to be thrown together in a lot of situations, and this is a very small town. Overall, she seems to be doing okay, but it is hard to say really. I think she holds a lot of it in.

I was thinking about how difficult life is when I was taking my shower this morning. Life is so very hard, and for everyone. How much more difficult it must be to have to traverse all of the problems life throws at you when you are developmentally challenged. In some ways I would imagine things might be a bit easier, but it must be super hard to deal with some of the monumental things life hands us. 

She had bought herself a Grade Three curriculum workbook with some of the money I had given them for Christmas and she was working in it yesterday. There is Math, English, Social Studies, etc. One of the things she was doing yesterday was called "Acrostic" poetry. 

"In an acrostic, the first letter of each line spells out a word or phrase that’s generally related to the topic of the poem. There are several different types of acrostic, including a double acrostic where both the first and last letter of each line spell out a message. Another type of acrostic is the abecedarian, where the first letter of each line goes in alphabetical order. Acrostics are often one of the first types of poetry kids learn, by writing a poem using the letters of their own name."

This was something I had not heard of before, or if I had it was something I had long since forgotten. It was fun to try to make up a poem like this. 

The math on the other hand  . . .  not so fun.  😟 I am very poor at math myself.

I had ordered her a knitting spool to give her something to do.  I figured she could use some of my scraps and it would keep her hands busy. It came a couple of days ago. We tried to figure it out yesterday.  I even brought up a video on YouTube for this exact tool, but I was unable to figure it out.  I will try again today. I know it can't be all that difficult. 

Our father had made us knitting spools when we were children out of our mom's old wooden thread spools. We used to play with them for hours, making long snakes of yarn and then sewing them together to make thing like little mats, etc. We had lots of fun with them. There was no fancy tool to loop the yarn over the cogs, just a safety pin. It worked beautifully.

I hope we figure it out soon. 

 

I have discovered a new YouTube channel which we have both been enjoying. Les Frenchies.  She is American and he is French, although he had lived in American for many, many years.  They decided a number of years back to move to France and leave America and their channel is all about their adventures in France (Paris typically.)  We have both really enjoyed the videos we watched.

Watching them shop in Carrefour brought back some nice memories for me of going there with my friend Joy and her husband Simon many years ago. We also watched a video on them visiting Costco, iconic Paris Bake Shops and trying out Onion Soup in a variety of restaurants and ranking them. 

All very interesting and entertaining. 

Armchair travel, one of my favorite things to do.

 

(source)

Last night after we had both gone to bed the emergency alarm went off on our phones, scaring the life out of us. So loud and startling. The RCMP were notifying residents of Digby county to seek immediate shelter and stay inside due to an Armed man being about. A bit scary even though he appeared to be quite a distance away.  The highway he was travelling on goes right past the back of my house however, so a bit unnerving even so. Thankfully we were tucked safely up inside and locked in for the night.

The sound of the alarm didn't half startle us however. There is nothing like being at the point of falling asleep and having that go off to get your blood coursing through your veins!

Isn't it wonderful however that we live in a day and age where such things as emergency notifications like that are possible!

 

(source)

I have been craving pancakes all week.  Pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) is on the 17th, so not long away. I am not sure I can wait that long however. I am really wanting pancakes now. I am also wanting cake.  Very little has been done in this house as far as that kind of cooking goes. There have only been simple meals for the most part. Things I have had frozen previously, and one night I made those TikTok egg omelet sandwiches. Pretty boring.  I may try to get something cooked today and see how that goes. I have been slacking off for far too long. I need to get up and do something. To cook something. I need to go grocery shopping. This living out of the store cupboard is getting pretty boring. 

I can order things like cat food from Amazon, kitty litter too. The cats are well cared for. For myself, I am really craving some fresh vegetables, and I need some potatoes. Maybe today I will try to go to the farm market behind my place. We will see how things go.

Otherwise, there isn't really a whole lot going on here. I have plans to change my bed today and do a general tidy up, perhaps bake a cake, make a meal from scratch. Lets hope it goes well!

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

☾ ° ★° * 。  

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

*You need to let the little things

that would ordinarily bore you

suddenly thrill you.

~Andy Warhol• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。

• ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • •。★★ 。* 。

Another new/old recipe in the kitchen today.  Easy Baked Rice Pilaf.  This has always been a favorite side dish in my family. Oddly enough rice wasn't something we had very often when we were growing up. If mom cooked rice at all it was Minute Rice. As an adult I have come to love many kinds of rice and enjoy cooking it in a variety of ways. This oven pilaf is a delicious option!

I hope that you have a really nice day today.  Stay warm. Stay safe.  Keep out of trouble, lol.  Whatever you do get up to, 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!