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Ramblings

Posted on July 31, 2015

Why doesn’t this Simcoe Day weekend feel like an extended holiday? I think it needs another name – few people remember a bewigged old British guy in a frock coat. Costco was insanely busy yesterday, with about a dozen people lined up to fill their propane tanks. Tons of burgers, sausages and buns flying off the shelves. The price of three thick rib-eye and strip loin steaks is twice what we paid for our Christmas turkey. Maybe it’s time to forget mowing the back lawn and buy some cattle to fatten up. I went for my annual boob-squeeze this morning at 8 a.m. and the place was surprisingly busy. I joked with the technician that I wanted to get done early because we’re not…

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Categories: What I'm Doing

Inspiration, perspiration

Posted on July 28, 2015

Waking up at 6:20 is no joke, but once I don my snorkel and fins and leap into the frigid pool waters, it’s like I’ve flipped a switch. I’ve trained myself to get into a monotonous stroke rhythm and let my mind float free. No worrying about laundry or the damn forest of weeds growing out of the front steps or my sewing class projects to finish for tomorrow’s class. Splash, splash. Focus. It’s thinking-of-book-scenes time! And yes, you can work up a sweat in a pool if you work hard enough. In the last few weeks since I started my early morning plunges, I’ve been on creative fire. This morning, three scenes popped into my head out of nowhere.Rich, fully formed Goldilocks-type scenes…

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Categories: What I'm Doing

Fuss-Budge

Posted on July 24, 2015

I’m transitioning into morning swims three times a week. Sort of a shock when the alarm goes off at 6:20 a.m. and the radio announcer’s voice interrupts my dreams. Although I did the early rise for two years while I was working, now that I am formally retired (for now) I’m not fond of having to get up before my body and mind (or bladder) say, ‘Get up’. On the positive side, summer mornings are magnificent – soft golden horizon, diamond dew, the hum of critters waking up. There’s usually a strong pong of skunk in the air. I suppose they’re wending their way back to the burrow after frolicking all night. Maybe it’s because I wear a snorkel and mask when I plow up…

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Categories: Modern life, What I'm Doing

Emergency, emergency! Nope, thread ball.

Posted on July 22, 2015

This being summer and me having half a dozen projects on the go, I was totally freaked out when my lovely Bernina sewing machine began grinding and groaning like an ancient tractor. I’d had it serviced last fall when we were in Italy and had never heard anything so ominous coming out of an expensive piece of electronic equipment. I telephoned That Sewing Place, because I’ve been dealing with Evelyn, Wayne, Jaret, Liana and Fred for more than 25 years, when they were located on Leslie Street at Evelyn’s Sewing Centre. Like me, Evelyn sold the original business and sort of retired for a while, but she got restless and there was a demand for a friendly, service-oriented store so the family jumped back…

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Categories: What I'm Doing

When a tree falls…

Posted on July 17, 2015

Several weeks ago, we had three successive days of lashing rain and high winds. Great for the lawn, which looks like a hayfield, but not so good for the ancient Manitoba maple at the back of our property. One meter in circumference, it had always leaned to the east. In fact, one huge branch had already subsided onto the lawn. The grandchildren have practiced their tagging skills on the giant trunk for years. One morning we came down for breakfast and a gigantic canopy of green was covering a corner of the lawn. We didn’t hear it – I wish I had, just for the experience. It must have fallen in the night, so swollen with moisture and weakened by age and disease, it…

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Categories: What I'm Doing