Dupont:

Have gone back to read the last couple weeks. Wonder where I have been! I had to find where I left off and see what folks have been thinking/doing.

Charmion: PLEASE be sure your builder uses non-toxic materials and keeps you safe!!!

SRS: Dogs are great but… Well do you know it! Just one notch down from our children - or half a notch! I have had a bunch in my life. Each one a member of the family; each loss a heartache. But worth it in any case. Now I have two stuffies - no walking, no fur to clean up, no sweet kisses… I gave the last two away to good homes when I left Whidbey. I miss having one but the mere thought of walking a dog on icy Quebec/Ontario roads…! Also, the thought of leaving one behind; I had been adopting Senior dogs for about 15 years so they would not outlive me.

Friends: Mine are scattered across NA, many so scattered I have no idea where. Going through the archives, I found a postcard from 1984! Found him on line and on FB and PMed him. Delighted to find he is still writing, taken up art and involved in Plowshares! My first playmate just turned 90, in Hanover, NH, where my father and I took him for his first year at Dartmouth - all those years ago! He helped develop the Appalachian Trail. My newest dear friend - songwriter/poet/musician - has me thinking, contemplating, a uniquely spiritual connectedness. A gift.

That darned house! R says he is selling it; it is "for sale”. So are a number of other buildings he and bro own. Nothing ever seems to move forward. Once in a while I ask… At least I don’t have to go there and see the mess made of the yard I planted with care: Clematis. Hardy hibiscus, day Lillies… GONE! And I have started over again - with less energy. HE says he moved everything out (not all the furniture) but I feel some things are missing - but cannot bear to go there.

Just got to Mrzzy’s “Ethnic pile”!!! That sounds interesting! But prob not what I would think - like the folk dance skirt which our leader once referred to as a bedspread -“How many of you had a bedspread like that?!!” I love it! One of the things I rehomed last spring in PA was a dress we bought from an Indian booth in Old Montreal in 1970. The friend we stayed with in PA loved it!

Senoufou’s massive TV reminds me of a wonderful article my DIL wrote, “When the Black Satan Came to Our House”. She had never had a TV until my son moved in to her life!

UH OH! I am dangerously … Just smelled something …??? OH yeah!! I put ribs in oven for a long slow heat. Not sure how long or what. Using fresh ones instead of frozen ready to heat and eat… I hope this works. At least it smells enough that I shan’t forget them…. Hopefully!… They look good but I have no idea when I put them in or how much longer they need. Guess I could have sought advice… They are not burning.!! yet! ...

Caught up! Busy folks! I found enough energy to throw some pots a week or so ago. YAY!!! 8 bowls from 10 kilos of clay!!! The next morning, I barely made it out of bed. A hot bath helped but it still was a few days before I could trim 3; the other 5 are still on hold.

My goal had been to go back to Beaver this past Monday. HO!!! HO!!! I was still walking with difficulty and the pots were not ready! And now it is snowing and snowing.... Beautiful all day today! The bridge from Montreal was SLOW at 10 pm last night! Not sure if R will make it home tonight! I am thinking the trip will wait until February - after the First Friday music.

We visited friends!!!!! Last Sat we celebrated my BD (86), which R had totally forgotten! When I pointed this out to him, "What would You like to do!" The roads were not too bad so we drove down to southern QC to Chez Alain, a small neighbourhood restaurant with good food and a great staff; the kind of place you can chat with the folks at the next table, which we did! I hoped some friend might be there, but not.

Then we went to see Joe and Jessie and Theo (10). My ginger plants?? "Oh, they need LOTS of heat and light. Just keep them damp until warm weather." So I've moved them to the upstairs South window above a rad. Spring will be here ....

Theo played Ragtime on the keyboard, between playing with a neighbour and eating fresh chicken soup. They raise the chickens, grow the ginger for the tea, and the nuts - "here, try these." Theo, "home" schooled, is fluent in French and English (parents are one of each), a friend is teaching him Russian and he has picked up some Spanish from the Latins in the area. Joe and Theo are going to Colombia this summer to work on a building project. Last year they helped build something for an Inuit group north of the Arctic Circle, and learned some Inuit. This is home schooling! And he beat R at chess!

Both parents near died of Lyme disease a few years ago, due to lack of knowledgeable healthcare. Joe passed out in the ER waiting for care. (He was dying.) Jess (about 40) had a stroke, and a pocket of blood in her brain was giving her seizures - amongst others she would hear recorded music when there was NO music playing. She is still recovering from a 6 hour brain operation. I mention this to underline the need to pay heed to the ticks and to insisting on adequate health care. I had no idea the effects could be this dreadful.