Dear Neighbor . . .

 

(source)

March 13th, 2026

Estate Lane

Middleton, Nova Scotia

-4*C/24*F

snow showers, but hopefully stopping soon

more snow tomorrow

Dear Neighbor,

Well winter has revisited us this morning. This is such a transitional month. Snow one day, rain the next. Cold. Mild. And everything in between. It will be like this until spring finally decides to kick winter out of the room for once and for all. It won't be long now.  But in the meantime we suffer this to-ing and fro-ing.

I do look forward to the sunshine and the greening up of everything, the flowers, the birds  . . .  but not the bugs. In particular the ants. They drive me to distraction. There are just so many of them and I spend the warmer months in an on-going battle to keep them out of my kitchen and my bed. I can live with spiders, but ants.  I absolutely dislike them. And, because I live in a bungalow on a concrete slab, they are in the house, under my house, around my house.  Most annoying. But we learn to live with it.

 

(source)

Yesterday ended up being a very busy day.  Cindy messaged David and I about 9:30 or so to say that she had called an ambulance for dad. He had been in pain with his back all night and wanted to go to the hospital to have it checked. And he wasn't feeling very mobile. I went to the hospital with them. When someone is 92 you don't want to take any chances. You want these things checked out and he is not always very good at explaining things.

They gave him a good once over and any infection was ruled out. We were told how to manage his pain and we got to bring him home. Cindy had a kinesiology appointment in the afternoon so Eileen and I went over to keep an eye on him while she and Dan were away. Dad stayed mostly in his room. He came out for a bit and did a walk around for some exercise. I put some cream on his back, then he went back into his room for a nap.  Eileen and I spent the afternoon rolling coins.

Eileen has a small suitcase/container she brought that was loaded with change. Nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies, toonies. She had picked up the coin rollers earlier in the week, so we busied ourselves with sorting them out. We got most of them sorted but ran out of rollers for the nickels and dimes so need to get more. It is amazing how quickly it all added up. She is going to put them into her savings account.

 

(source)

Once Cindy and Dan got back we came home and I whipped up a quick supper of Chicken Salad Sandwiches for us.  I have gotten Eileen turned onto sourdough bread, which is much better for her than that cheap white bread. I know it is more expensive but she will be better off eating that.

Our lives have fallen into a comforting routine.  I get up first. I am an early riser. I do my writing on here while I listen to her sleeping. She gets up about 9 and has her breakfast. Then she goes off to her CSS visits if she is having one and I do some work. If she doesn't have a visit then she busies herself with copying out recipes or writing of some sort. I gave her one of my Susan Branch Recipe Binders for her to take to her new apartment, so she is busying herself with copying recipes into it that are simple and not too expensive to make. She also has her knitting spool that she is busy using as well. She is making a cat bed for when she is finally able to get a cat of her own.

I do my scripture study. She does hers. We cook. We laugh. We watch a bit of telly, do laundry, etc. She is not hard to live with and I do not feel like I have to spend my time entertaining her. We get along very well. We always have for the most part. There were some issues with masking and Covid a year or so back, but nothing too hard awfully difficult to deal with.

Sometimes we play "Where's Nutmeg." He's not too hard to find.  His white paws or bottlebrush tail give him away most times.  Sometimes you look and all you see is two eyes and those pompom white cheeks of his staring out. He makes us laugh. He is such a character. When Eileen is snoring really loud he stands at the doorway and watches her. Its so funny.

 

(source)

Now it is March I really need to get my act together and tackle my taxes. I save my receipts, etc. all year and then in March I gather everything and sort it and get it ready to go to the tax man. He is a funny little guy. A bit odd to be honest, but he does a good job and doesn't charge too much. I have been skimming a firm 30% off of everything I have received this year each time I get paid, and paying it into my CRA account. Hopefully I won't need to add any more to it. I don't have it to add.  Taxes are something I really don't understand that well.  Rich people don't pay taxes, or they pay as little as they can. They know how to hide their money. I know this from having worked for them. I have seen it all.  The poor and working class pay much more. My boss in the U.K was a tax exile from America and then when the U.K. started making them pay taxes on the money that was hidden in off-shore accounts they made the move to the Bahamas. They know all the loopholes.

I wish I knew some loopholes. Then maybe I could get ahead! haha

 

(source)

I am dropping Eileen off at the Baptist church here in town this morning to go to her Bible Study.  They are studying Revelations. I am not sure how much she understands of it, but she does enjoy the social aspect of it and they have a coffee break with refreshments which she enjoys. Tim's mother also goes and it is a chance for them to see each other.  Then after that she is walking to Tim Hortons as she has a CSS visit today and a People's First meeting.  They will drop her off home after that.

Cindy and I are going to go out and do a bit of shopping this morning.  We have not done that in a while. It is doubtful that we will be taking Dad to visit with his friend Maryann today. Because of his back.

I love these little outings with Cindy. I always really enjoy them. I am so blessed to have a sister that I get along so well with. My brother as well.  Last night we were sharing misheard lyrics on FB messenger and having a bit of a laugh over them.

All of my brother's tests re his kidney cancer, etc. have come back with good results. We are pleased about that.

 

(source)

One of the main things I need to get this morning is cat food and kitty litter. Walmart has the best prices as far as those things go.  I get a regular large box of the little pots of Whiskas chicken cuts and salmon cuts in gravy, but I also have to get a few different flavors of the little pots to off-set those so that flavor fatigue doesn't take hold. Cinnamon also likes the little soups. She is the fussy one really. Nutmeg eats pretty much everything. He is not near as fussy about what he eats.

I can only use the one kind of kitty litter as well, as Cinnamon doesn't like any other kind. Yes, she is a little bit of a Diva.

Ahhh . . . simple things. I know you were all just gagging to know all this. Sorry.

 

I have great plans for this weekend. I want to sort out my kitchen cupboards. I know there are some canned goods in there that have been there since I first moved in. I need to get rid of some things and just organize them better.  I could do a lot better in that area. I need to stop buying food on impulse and only buy what I know I am going to use.

I just looked at the clock and it is time to wake Eileen up so that she can be ready for me to take her to her bible study at 9, so I will end this now.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

☾ ° ★° * 。  

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

*Life is partly what we make it,

and partly what is made by

the friends that we choose.

~Tennessee Williams 

In The English Kitchen today, Apricot and Honey Muffins.  Soft, tender and just sweet enough.  A kind of a banana muffin that is really delicious and studded generously with plenty of apricots, apples, and toasted pecans. A powerhouse of nutrition.

I hope you have a lovely Friday. Whatever you get up to, stay safe, stay warm, and don't forget!

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And I do too!