A Purfect Day - March 12, 2017
(Normally, my columns are about things going off course. The one is about a day that went off without a hitch.)
If there such a thing as a perfect day? Well, Tuesday, March 14 was darn near perfect.
OK, granted, there was a terrific snowstorm happening, and (as usual) I was awake for part of the night. But even those clouds had a silver lining. The snowstorm made me feel like I was living in Sudbury again (and I do miss Suds,) and when I was up in the night I got to witness my two grandcats sitting in a comfy chair together. (They don’t like each other – this was a rare sighting.)
As the coffee was purring around 6:30 am, our superintendent at Jubilee Place was blowing out our patio walkway. By 7 am, it was still too crazy outside to go for a jog/walk. But, our building has a tread-master in the basement in a hobby room. Fifty minutes to walk 5 k – all in the comfort of a warm, nice-looking room – listening to my current favourite running mix of 80s music. It is humbling to know that my outside run takes only a few minutes less than my inside stroll. Ah well.
Just after 8 am, our granddaughter Emma arrived. She was snowed out of her March Break activities. I got out the toys and the markers and paper, but all Emma wanted to do was find Lucy and Charlie – the cats we are catsitting. She found them hiding behind the washer-dryer and was none too happy that I was going to be doing a wash later that day. Didn’t want the cats to be upset. I like her values!
Off to GoodLife – Laur and I had a spin class and a swim to enjoy; Emma was going to the child-minding service called “Jump.” And yay, the facility was open! In Sudbury, this would never be a question – there is this “bring it on!” mentality. In St. Cats, people fear the snow. At the same time, they don’t use snow tires in the winter months. I don’t get it.
Spin was challenging, and the swim was more challenging because we were trying to get in 20 laps in 40 minutes. (Child minding is only for two hours.) Laur succeeded, I got in about 18. 18/20 is still an A; I’ll take it!
Emma loved Jump because they had the movie Trolls. She had just finished talking to me about it and I thought we could watch it in the afternoon. GoodLife got the jump on me – har har har.
Back to our place for lunch. Emma had brought her own – she is not terribly keen on the food we have here. We’re herbivores – Emma’s a carnivore. Nuff sed. And after lunch, Emma got treats – but not for herself, for the cats. She had a delightful time locating them and giving them two each. It might have been around this time that Lucy emerged and decided Emma was her BFF (Best Friend Furever.)
I had a manicure and pedicure booked. (If you saw the state of my nails and hands and feet, you would not begrudge me this.) So, Emma and Grumpa Laur decided they would watch a movie – more on that in a minute.
This time I went to Fantastic Nails with Shila. She lives a few streets over with her dad and their two dogs – Lucy and Charlie. What a cute coincidence. Shila has such a lovely way about her and her studio is so clean. She did a beautiful job on some pretty ugly nails and charged very little. I am going to become her number one fan. (Oh, by the way, the tread-mill at Jubilee Place has a fan built into it. How cool it that!?)
Back to the apartment, where Emma and Laur were watching The Incredible Journey – the 1963 original. It was just at the point where the cat was thought to have drowned. Laur assured Emma ahead of time that the cat was going to be just fine, but Emma wept anyway. Sensitive little soul – I can’t imagine where that comes from.
Then Grumpa went for a nap and Emma wanted to make up a storybook about Lucy. She took some ten pictures of her and then dictated to me what was to be said about each picture. And she was very specific, right down to “I’d like the number 9, not the word nine.” I printed it off and stapled it to specification, and she read it to Grumpa whose nap was shortened by the sound of the printer. Oops.
Her dad, Neal, arrived, and off she went. I immediately phoned my mom to tell her about the following incident. At lunch time, I let Emma call her mom (Anna, our daughter) to check in. At the end of the call, Emma says, "I love Lucy." And Anna says, "I love you too-cy!" To which Emma responds, "No, mom, I said 'I love Lucy!'" In other words, not "you-cy!" I stifled a belly laugh so hard that I nearly…
Supper was mostly a mountain of (vegan) mashed potatoes, covered – at least by me – with siracha ketchup. Pure joy. It was too snowy and blowy for an after supper walk and I was too lazy to take a stroll on the tread-master. Besides, Laur normally comes with me for my after-supper walk and I doubt the two of us could share this exercise machine. We can’t ever share a kitchen counter.
So, off to bed by 7 pm, with a good enough book and some very good podcasts and so much gratitude.
If there such a thing as a perfect day? Well, Tuesday, March 14 was darn near perfect.
OK, granted, there was a terrific snowstorm happening, and (as usual) I was awake for part of the night. But even those clouds had a silver lining. The snowstorm made me feel like I was living in Sudbury again (and I do miss Suds,) and when I was up in the night I got to witness my two grandcats sitting in a comfy chair together. (They don’t like each other – this was a rare sighting.)
As the coffee was purring around 6:30 am, our superintendent at Jubilee Place was blowing out our patio walkway. By 7 am, it was still too crazy outside to go for a jog/walk. But, our building has a tread-master in the basement in a hobby room. Fifty minutes to walk 5 k – all in the comfort of a warm, nice-looking room – listening to my current favourite running mix of 80s music. It is humbling to know that my outside run takes only a few minutes less than my inside stroll. Ah well.
Just after 8 am, our granddaughter Emma arrived. She was snowed out of her March Break activities. I got out the toys and the markers and paper, but all Emma wanted to do was find Lucy and Charlie – the cats we are catsitting. She found them hiding behind the washer-dryer and was none too happy that I was going to be doing a wash later that day. Didn’t want the cats to be upset. I like her values!
Off to GoodLife – Laur and I had a spin class and a swim to enjoy; Emma was going to the child-minding service called “Jump.” And yay, the facility was open! In Sudbury, this would never be a question – there is this “bring it on!” mentality. In St. Cats, people fear the snow. At the same time, they don’t use snow tires in the winter months. I don’t get it.
Spin was challenging, and the swim was more challenging because we were trying to get in 20 laps in 40 minutes. (Child minding is only for two hours.) Laur succeeded, I got in about 18. 18/20 is still an A; I’ll take it!
Emma loved Jump because they had the movie Trolls. She had just finished talking to me about it and I thought we could watch it in the afternoon. GoodLife got the jump on me – har har har.
Back to our place for lunch. Emma had brought her own – she is not terribly keen on the food we have here. We’re herbivores – Emma’s a carnivore. Nuff sed. And after lunch, Emma got treats – but not for herself, for the cats. She had a delightful time locating them and giving them two each. It might have been around this time that Lucy emerged and decided Emma was her BFF (Best Friend Furever.)
I had a manicure and pedicure booked. (If you saw the state of my nails and hands and feet, you would not begrudge me this.) So, Emma and Grumpa Laur decided they would watch a movie – more on that in a minute.
This time I went to Fantastic Nails with Shila. She lives a few streets over with her dad and their two dogs – Lucy and Charlie. What a cute coincidence. Shila has such a lovely way about her and her studio is so clean. She did a beautiful job on some pretty ugly nails and charged very little. I am going to become her number one fan. (Oh, by the way, the tread-mill at Jubilee Place has a fan built into it. How cool it that!?)
Back to the apartment, where Emma and Laur were watching The Incredible Journey – the 1963 original. It was just at the point where the cat was thought to have drowned. Laur assured Emma ahead of time that the cat was going to be just fine, but Emma wept anyway. Sensitive little soul – I can’t imagine where that comes from.
Then Grumpa went for a nap and Emma wanted to make up a storybook about Lucy. She took some ten pictures of her and then dictated to me what was to be said about each picture. And she was very specific, right down to “I’d like the number 9, not the word nine.” I printed it off and stapled it to specification, and she read it to Grumpa whose nap was shortened by the sound of the printer. Oops.
Her dad, Neal, arrived, and off she went. I immediately phoned my mom to tell her about the following incident. At lunch time, I let Emma call her mom (Anna, our daughter) to check in. At the end of the call, Emma says, "I love Lucy." And Anna says, "I love you too-cy!" To which Emma responds, "No, mom, I said 'I love Lucy!'" In other words, not "you-cy!" I stifled a belly laugh so hard that I nearly…
Supper was mostly a mountain of (vegan) mashed potatoes, covered – at least by me – with siracha ketchup. Pure joy. It was too snowy and blowy for an after supper walk and I was too lazy to take a stroll on the tread-master. Besides, Laur normally comes with me for my after-supper walk and I doubt the two of us could share this exercise machine. We can’t ever share a kitchen counter.
So, off to bed by 7 pm, with a good enough book and some very good podcasts and so much gratitude.