Tamworth Life and Penny, the cat

This morning we headed off to church. It was nice to see everyone.  It was like I had never been gone.  I got the 50 Plus sign up ready and set it up in the foyer.  I turned to talk to someone and another person asked me if there were more envelopes.  I went to get them and then church was ready to start.  After church, I met with Connie.  She is the person that reviews the finances. My desk looks like it has lots of work to keep me busy for a few days.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at home.  For supper, we headed to the arena for a Fish Fry and Corn Roast.

The arena was full. There was country music playing.  

The line up to the food table was long.  

My cousin and his wife were there and so was his son and his girlfriend.  Another man there said that he had worked with my dad for years at DuPont.  We sat with a couple who said that they lived by another family connection.  The fish was good and the corn nice and sweet.

It’s great being a part of a small community that has a lot of nice events happening. On our walk home, Penny, the cat was strolling too.  

She followed us to the house and came in for her dinner and treats.  

She stayed around to have a little visit.

I guess Penny, the cat is happy that we are home.

No Guarantees but Live with Joy

Last night before going to bed, I loaded the dishwasher and pressed start.  Just as I laid my head on the pillow, the dishwasher started to do a little alarm.  I came out to check it.  There were two codes flashing which, when interpreted by google, meant that it wasn’t draining.  I scooped, and sucked the water out with a Turkey baster.  I then cleaned the filter and restarted it.  I went back to bed and heard the same chimes.  We shut it off and decided it was a tomorrow’s problem.  So, this morning, it was today’s problem.  I drained the bottom again and Ron began his research.  He tried a couple of the tips and we pressed start again.  The now very familiar alarm went with the same two error codes.  Ron did more extensive research, and by research I mean watching YouTube videos on what the problem might be.  After careful review of the situation and one more trial and error which also meant another suctioning out of water, it was decided that the pump is done.  Ron removed it and ordered the part.  Stay tuned…this means hand washing dishes.

We had an early lunch and headed to Napanee.  A special lady in our church passed away while we were out west and her funeral was today.  Mary Esther and Bob always sit right behind mom and dad in church.  She always had a beautiful smile and would have something friendly to say.  She was a school friend of Ron’s mom.  Mom and I went to the hospital to visit her just before Ron and I left for British Columbia.  She smiled and said that she remembered Stephen when he would come to church with Donna.  I was sad to hear that I wouldn’t have any more visits with her.  Today, we celebrated her life.  

She had planned her own funeral.  Listening to the songs she chose and the scriptures to be read shows that she was ready to meet her Lord.  We mourn because we won’t see her smile and hear her encouraging words anymore.  We mourn because we will watch Bob attend church by himself but we rejoice knowing that she isn’t in pain and we will someday see her again.  

There is no guarantee of tomorrow so we should live each day with as much joy as we can.  I can almost guarantee that I probably will have to do the dishes by hand tomorrow.  I will have more joy when the dishwasher is fixed.

A Blog Worthy Day?

Today was a recovery day.  We were a little tired after traveling and dealing with a three hour time change.  Enjoying morning coffee on the front porch was feeling like we were getting back to normal.  Ron went for a bike ride while I caught up on the laundry.  

Our neighbour, Lynne and her dog Bella walked by.  Before we left, she had told us that she would water our gardens.  Lynne went the extra mile and planted new flowers.  She has an amazing garden and was sharing her talents with us. We haven’t given her what we brought back for her but we think is very appropriate.

Janie, a friend from Tweed, sent me a morning text.  She was coming through Tamworth and wanted to drop off a treat.  She makes the best tarts and I was excited to have one when she handed me her sweet treats.  She brought some tomatoes and cucumbers too.  Bacon and tomato sandwiches became our lunch.

We both had an afternoon nap and felt a little more in the Ontario time zone.

After supper we went for a little walk and stopped to have a visit with Todd.  Todd is our neighbour, my cousin and our insurance agent.  When we go away he comes daily to check on our house. As we continued around the block, Rod waved at us.  I commented on his perfect vegetable garden.  He told me to pick anything I wanted.  We have great neighbours and excellent gardeners surrounding us.

So today was a relaxed day and a reminder that we have a nice home in a great community.  We may not be catching salmon, watching for whales or looking for bears but we can still enjoy the day.  It might not be a blog worthy day but I guess I just made it one.

Oh and Ron may not be feeding his Steller’s Jay but the humming bird got new juice.

And We Are Home!

I woke up this morning in Vancouver and my coffee and muffin waiting for me.  Ron, the early riser, had already been up and going.  A travelling day is always full of hurry up and wait.  We did feel like we were taking a more of a relaxed approach to the day.  Our shuttle to the airport wasn’t until 8:30.  Our flight was at 11:30 so we had lots of time to check our luggage and get through security.  We walked from one end of the airport to the other and picked up a sandwich for the plane.

I got a message from June, a friend from Swift Current.  She said that she had been following our Bella Coola adventures through the blog but wanted to hear about our Tamworth life too. So, if you have been following along and would like to know when I do the next post, let me know so I can send you the link or you can be like June and follow the blog.

We boarded the plane and were a little excited that there was a no show in our row.  We had a little more room.  

The flight went by quickly.  

Meanwhile back in Bella Coola, Stephen had an extremely successful fishing day.  

He also had a bit of excitement when a whale surfaced about 8 feet from the boat.  He was able to get a video of it and it was pretty amazing.  

When we landed in Toronto, our luggage did too.  That is always a bonus!  

We have AirTags in our luggage to see where they are.  I’m always happen when the tags show up at the same location.

The shuttle to the truck was right outside the door waiting.  The highway was busy but no traffic jams.  Things went pretty smooth for us.

We arrived home around 11:30…tomorrow will be a laundry and grass cutting day.  We may have time later to slip over to the Black Cat.

….and I was able to add some salmon to our freezer!

I Hate Goodbyes!

The day arrived that I always dread.  I dislike saying goodbye.  We enjoyed being with Stephen and Kylie so much. We started the day off with going for breakfast at the Cafe Bella.

 I ordered the Eggs Benedict with salmon.  Everything about the meal was done right.  The hash browns were a little different and very tasty.  The hollandaise sauce had a bit of a tangy flavour and I was glad that I had the full order.  My red rose tea complimented my meal perfectly.  

The views all around made the breakfast special and being there with Stephen and Kylie made it a perfect morning.

You might think that the house would be quieter because we were flying today but that was not the case at all.  They had been asked to dog sit two dogs for the next three weeks.

Stephen also received an email from relocation and things are being put into play for their next move.  It was fun to be there for that and remember the feeling of the process.  They will have a phone meeting on Monday morning to discuss the next steps.  We are so happy that we got to visit Bella Coola twice.  Next year, we will be headed to Haida Gwaii.

Kylie said goodbye to us at the house because she had to take a work call.  Stephen drove us to the airport.  We said our goodbyes through tears.  As Stephen drove away, my heart hurt.  After we checked our luggage we went for a walk through the woods.  The trees are so huge.

We found our way to the end of the little runway and watched the plane arrive.

We boarded the tiny plane and found our way to our seats.  

We flew up over the mountains.  It is so beautiful.  Ron spotted a fire on the ground as we got close to Anaheim Lake.  

Stephen is on standby to go to the fires once he is done with his holidays.  Thankfully, we didn’t have the smoke in the valley and hopefully rain will soon give those fighting the fires some relief.  We landed at the little airport at Anaheim Lake.  We had a short stay and then boarded again, headed to Vancouver.  

There was a little bit of entertainment on the plane.  A couple of kids were acting out quite a bit.  A fellow passenger came up behind Ron when we were walking on the tarmac.  He told Ron that he must be a saint to have sat ahead of one of the kids.  Apparently, she was kicking his seat for a lot of the trip.  

We caught the bus back to the main terminal.  We had a coffee while we waited for the hotel shuttle.  We went for walk after we checked into the hotel.  We ordered pizza for supper and had a restful evening.

Thank you Stephen and Kylie for a wonderful vacation.  It was exactly what we needed!

 Love you both!!

Final Moments…Holding onto the Memories

This morning was a mixed kind of day.  Ron and Stephen got up early and headed out on the boat.

Kylie was back to work today.  She is currently working from home for Rio Tinto.  She was hired recently to help with some of their files.  Rio Tinto is located in Kitimat, where they last lived.  She also continues to pick up shifts in emergency at the hospital in Bella Coola.  I had a quiet morning…doing a little packing and checking in for our first flight.

The guys got back early afternoon. They had a beautiful morning on the ocean.  

They were pulling up their traps that they had dropped yesterday.

They were looking for prawns and crabs.  They were successful with the prawns but the crabs were a little too smart for these fishermen.  They pulled in a salmon along the way.  

Stephen cooked the prawns and we had them in a rice bowl.  So fresh and so tasty!

Kylie had to go to the post office for work and she brought home frappes.  It was our farewell treat.

Stephen barbequed hot dogs for supper.  We went through some camping gear and Kylie and Stephen gave us some extra items to take home.  We are thinking we might add camping to our next adventure. 

Tomorrow, or if you are reading this on Wednesday..that would be today, we will be starting the first leg of our trip home.

We hate goodbyes but we are already planning our next trip!