Dear Neighbor . . .

 

(source)

 JULY 24th, 2026

Estate Lane

Nova Scotia

11*C/51.8*F

Sunny

Dear Neighbor,

I took a little walk down the street to check my mail as soon as I got dressed this morning. I have been doing that each day. It's invigorating and refreshing. The air is nice and cool and I can hear the birds singing. It's quiet for the most part. I like it. My knees are not too bad first thing in the day so it is much easier for me to move around. They still hurt but not like they do later in the day. Also the neighbor across the way isn't up and her dog isn't out on her deck. After seeing it jump over the railing and go at that woman who was walking back from the market the other day, I am a bit nervous that it might come after me. I was attacked by a German Shepherd when I was about 9 years old and that fear of large dogs has stayed with me the whole of my life. It is not something I have ever been able to overcome.

 

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One of the houses not too far down from me is blessed with beautiful tall daisies at the moment. Those and a lovely clematis that grows up the side of her deck to the roof every summer. It is a brilliant purple color and it delights my heart every time I see it. I do so love clematis. I think it must be one of those plants that grows easily with little to no care, but I could be wrong about that.  This neighbor is somewhat disabled and doesn't do gardening, and yet her garden is lovely. I never see anyone else out there working at it, so I can only assume that the plants which grow there have been carefully curated to grow well without any care. That's the type of garden for me, lol

Having said that, however, I do so love to look at people's gardens and I truly do appreciate the care that goes into them. I have noted that this year Jane, who lives at the end of the street on the other side, has not done any gardening at all. She has always been out there pruning, trimming, etc. The last time I spoke to her, she had told me that she has leukemia, so I am surmising that she is not well. I really should send her a card or a note.  I must put that on my list of things to do.

  

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More and more I find myself doing what the sign says.  There is far too much negativity online these days. Oh, I do look at the things that are posted by people I know and trust, but I am not looking at anything. I do my own posts, I do my Facebook posts about cooking, but for the most part I am ignoring everything else. In talking to my oldest son the other day he was telling me that his children don't have much hope for their futures. A lack of jobs, failure in Governance, climate change, the rising costs of housing and food, etc. They are growing up depressed. I found myself wondering if they did not spend too much time plugged in to their devices. My son admitted that his youngest son sits in front of his all day, playing games, chatting with friends, etc. That the only way they can get him to eat anything is to put it down in front of him, and then it is iffy as he has an ED. I do not know what the answer is. They need these devices for school, etc. 

"Be still and know that I am God." ~psalm 46:10

This is a scripture that I find myself turning to more and more often in these challenging times. This is a scripture which has brought me great comfort and lets me know that despite all the scariness of this world, I have a God who knows and wants the best for all of His children. Nothing is beyond His reach. We are not beyond His reach and that if we can allow ourselves to just trust in Him we can have confidence in an unknown future. His promises are sure to all those who trust and believe in Him. My fears are quieted as I put my trust in Him and turn off the outside world. It is no surprise that if you do nothing but listen to the news and pay attention to the negativity which surrounds us, our lives can become very fear-filled and lacking in hope. And to the immature mind this can be amplified by their lack of understanding, experience, and knowledge of how things really work. Be still  . . .  that is the answer.

 

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There is not a cloud in the skies above my place this morning. It is a beautiful summer day. How blessed I am to be living where I am at the moment. This summer has not been too bad so far. We (knock on wood) haven't really had any extreme weather to speak of thus far.  It hasn't been overly hot, or humid for the most part. It's been quite tolerable. I like that.  

It is a bit dry however and we could use more rain.  It did rain a bit off and on yesterday, and Wednesday as well. But it looks to be sunny now for a few days. Every time I drive by the fields of corn they look to be another foot taller. It won't be long now before we will be enjoying corn on the cob. One of the joys of summer is corn on the cob. When we were growing up we would have several "feeds" of corn on the cob every summer.  Days when that is all we would have for our supper. Corn on the cob and bread and butter.  We could eat as much of it as we wanted to.  I can remember slathering the hot corn with as much butter as it would take. Cindy remembers spreading the empty cob with more butter and sucking on that as well.  It tasted so good.

I did the same with my own children. They would be put to work husking the corn out in the back yard at the picnic table and we would feast on as much corn on the cob as our bellies could hold afterwards.  Back in those days you could buy corn on the cob, a baker's dozen, from the back of trucks on the country side roads for about a dollar. I used to use my big canner to cook it in. What a treat it was. It still is, although to be sure I could not manage much more than one large cob these days, nor would my digestion comfortably allow it.

 

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Eileen has her hearing appointment today in Kentville. The CSS workers are taking her.  She will have a hearing test and the hearing specialist will be looking at her ears. She is really hoping that she can have tubes put in again. She has had hearing problems the whole of her life.  Ear infection after ear infection has plagued her all of her days. I was much the same when I was a child and even as an adult, although I can safely say that it has been quite a while now since I have had one.  I do recall how very painful they were. Mom used to fit my ear with a cotton ball loaded with Vicks vapo-rub and give me the hot water bottle to lay on. I don't recall it helping much to be honest. I also remember having bad ear infections as an adult, when my children were small. I remember once having one where all I could hear was an echo of everything. I couldn't go to the Doctor as I had nobody to watch the children and I didn't have the money for a prescription even if I could get to the Doctor so I just suffered through it.  My children, however, I did all I could for them if they were not well. For some reason I did not think my own health worth the added expense or attention.

That's what mother's do.

 

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I have not made much headway with my decluttering this week for some reason. I think I have just been too tired. Thankfully I have gotten some good sleep these past couple of nights.  I even managed a quick trip to the grocery store yesterday morning. I did not need much. I will probably be going with Cindy this afternoon when she takes Dad and his friend Maryann to the mall. We usually pop into Walmart at the same time and then on to Sobeys before heading back to the mall to pick them up after their visit together. We have a fine day for it at any rate. 

There is a flurry of activity on the roads these days with ongoing road works. Once they are done it will be a pleasure to drive on them, but in the meantime they are a real nuisance and there are long hold-ups in traffic.  The roads sorely need the work however as they are loaded with pot holes. I have always said we have two seasons here. Winter and Pot Hole Season. haha  In fact, I remember that there used to be pot hole updates on the radio when we were children. New and ongoing potholes would be announced as people called them in. 

There is no such thing as community radio these days. No community newspapers either. I miss them. That's how you kept up with whatever was going on. We enjoyed our breakfasts each morning while the radio kept us informed in the background of our lives. It would be on most of the day actually, and late at night you could catch the radio waves coming in from the border towns of the U.S. which was really important as far as the Hit Parade was concerned. That's how we kept up with the most currant music and pop tunes. The count down as it were. Local radio here was country music. I remember one of my favorite bands, aside from the Beatles, was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and we did love The Eagles as well.  I also liked the Osmonds and Elton John.

Back then they used to quite often have dances for teens at the local Rec Center. Live bands in those days. Almost every teenage boy had a guitar of some sort and many formed their own bands. Once or twice a month a more sophisticated group/band would come to play at one of our dances.  That was always very exciting. Of course I could never stay to the end of the dances as I had a curfew to follow, dance or no dance. My parents were very strict that way.  I used to think it most unfair, but now, in looking back it was probably a good thing.

 

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I find myself in awe of these young mothers today.  Running YouTube channels and raising families, keeping such clean and tidy homes. I do not know how they manage to do it all. Even with no children in the house I could not do it all, and keep my house tidy and well maintained. Mind you, I am slowing down a lot these days.  It seems to take me twice as long to get anything done as it used to do.  

I remember when my children were growing up I barely had time to fit in anything for myself. Any knitting, embroidery, etc. was done at night time after they were in bed. I certainly had no time for frivolous activities during the daylight hours. It was all go, go, go.  With cleaning and laundry, cooking, childcare, etc. I would not have ever had time enough to film and curate videos to share. However do they do it I wonder. I am glad that they do though because I really enjoy watching them. They seem to be so smart and have their lives so much more together and organized than I did at the same age. And many of them have gardens as well. They put me to shame!

 

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I don't really have a lot to share with you this morning. Now Eileen is gone there is not a lot going on and I find that I have slowed down even more. By the time I shower, dress and get my writing done and then do any cooking I need to do for the blog I am almost through the day. I am quite tired these days by late afternoon and just don't have the energy to do much of anything else but relax, read, etc. I wish I had the energy and time to sit and paint or whatever, but I just do not.  Life has not been the same since I had my fall last September. I have never regained the full use of my left arm. I cannot reach above with it, or behind me and I have no strength in it at all. Combine that with my arthritis in my knees, etc. and I do have a lot more difficulty getting around and doing things, but I do my best, which is all anyone can do.  Who was it that called these the Golden Years?  They need to re-assess. This is not golden from where I am standing, lol  These are the years when all of the misdeeds of your youth come back to haunt you with sore bones and backs, etc. ha ha

And with that I will bring this missive to an end. Not a lot I know, but I guess some weeks are just like that  . . . 

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

*A thought to carry with you  . . . 
Knowledge becomes wisdom only
after it has been put to good use.
~Mark Twain

In The English Kitchen this morning, Creamy Chicken Salsa Verde. This was delicious. It was rich and creamy. My cornmeal dumplings did not rise as much as I thought they should but they were really delicious regardless. I have already had the negative nancy tell me that there is too much dough and not enough sauce. All I can say it it was delicious.  I hope someone will want to try it. Loaded with chicken, and the gravy was really flavor-filled. The dumplings had a lovely flavor as well.

I hope you have a great Friday.  Whatever you get up to, I hope it brings you joy, peace and comfort.  Don't forget!

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And I do too!