September 11th, 1979 and September 11th, 2001 – One Happy, One Sad

On the Ridge

We were up at 6:30 on Wednesday, Sept. 11^th. Work called for both of us. We drove through the fog and the morning warmth of 65F/17C to the Laundromat at 7. I started my cleaning and Bill started taping and measuring walls. I was very pleased with the brightness of the cream coloured wall they’d painted yesterday. The wall isn’t finished, but I won’t spoil the surprise.

Not a clear path to work this morning

A customer I’ve met before, name unknown, came in with his dog, Nova, whom I remember as a very friendly excitable pet. She was even more excitable today with seeing us and ran up to us, jumping and wanting to play. She is a border collie and just gorgeous but because of her size, could almost knock me over. Her owner was a little less attentive than I would have liked at the beginning but then became firmer.

It looks so much brighter already!

I should mention that when I woke this morning, I felt slight discomfort at the base of my throat so gargled with salt water as soon as I was up and brushed my teeth. I took a couple of Vitamin C as well to combat whatever it is. The only person I’ve been around with a cold is Baby Easton last Sunday. It improved as the morning went on and after I left Bill at work with Jamie at 8:30, I came home still through fog and made my tea. That feels better.

Bill tapiing and Jamie shifting the pop machine

Also, before we left the Suite this morning, I called my son. Patrick is celebrating a very special birthday today. I just don’t understand it though. How the heck can he turn 40 when I don’t think of myself as much over that age? (Until the aches remind me, of course). Anyway, we chatted briefly before he set off for work and texted a bit more after that. He has come across some good fortune in a side business he has so we were glorifying in that.

a favourite old picture of us at Patrick's wedding

 Of course, we all remember the unfortunate thing that happened on this day, only 18 years ago. At 9:03 the first plane hit the Twin Towers in New York City. On Sirius XM radio, Phlash Phelps is asking if we were in the same position today as we were then. My answer is no, but I certainly remember that morning’s events at work, having a radio in our office. We abandoned our desks and ran down to the lunch room to watch it over and over on tv. Not a happy memory, that day.

And another oldie but a goodie of Patrick and his Grandma
Happy Birthday, son!

I don’t have much on my plate today. I need to vacuum in here and then search for the carpet shampoo that we bought when we borrowed Rob’s machine last summer. We don’t want to have to buy more if we still have some around. I finished my tea and got the vacuum out. There might not be much sunshine today so we may be plugged in to power for the day. Since it was starting out to be an inside day, I got the Windex out and when I removed all the window screens to vacuum them, I cleaned the windows again. Inside.

As I turned into the driveway, this was the least amount
of fog I encountered

Home sweet Home

It is a warm day and now all clean windows are open and the fresh air is filtering slowly through the Suite. There is not much of a breeze and already it is a lovely 21C/71F at 11:30 am. My work is done! Yay! So, since I didn’t eat when Bill had his cereal, I dished out a bowl of the chicken veggie soup I pulled out of the freezer the other day. Looks like at least 2 lunch meals for me. Bill doesn’t eat chicken soup so all the more for me!

Vacuuming the window screens

I had to heat it on the stove as the microwave part of our combo oven isn’t working. Odd but for right now, only the convection part operates. I’ve Googled briefly for the error message but it wasn’t very helpful. Not a day to worry about it. My soup tasted awesome! I’d forgotten how good this batch turned out. Sometimes I’m not so pleased with my homemade soups but this one and my tomato soup were good.

Chicken soup from the freezer

I didn’t have to look far for the carpet cleaner, it was under the sink. I was looking for the wrong colour bottle. We’ll do the carpets either Friday or Saturday when Bill isn’t painting. It isn’t a big area so won’t take long. Now that it is warmer again, we can open windows for faster drying. After cleaning up the dishes, I wanted to have a shower but since Bill didn’t have a vehicle, I had to be kind of ready for when he called for a ride.

Odd to find the flyers in the blue bag on the ground (on the right)
And on the left the mailbox was right there

So, when I finished my coffee, I texted him to get an idea of timing. Then I hopped in the shower. With all things taken care of and only 1:30, I took a walk down to check the mail. Just the flyers and for some reason, the delivery person dropped them at the end of the lane instead of in the box. Huh! That’s a first, I think. The day turned out to be a beautiful one and we’ve been unplugged since about 11.

It was a gorgeous day to sit out with a book

When I got back, I poured myself a cold glass of water and sat outside to read the flyers, separating mine from Bills and of course pulling out the crossword. Then I got my book out and sat and enjoyed the heat of the sun. Wunnerful, wunnerful. Bill texted me at 3:30 and asked me to pick him up at 4 so I got to see what they’d accomplished today. No picture this time, but they have got a lot done. One more day this week will see a big improvement. He was tired when we got home but sat and read the flyers before putting his chair back and dropping off.

Doesn't it look like Chippy is hanging on to the pail handle?

And then he dared to come closer to me for some dropped seeds

For supper, I’d decided on sausage, but thought I’d do it with a twist tonight. In Madame IP, here we go again with plugging in but I’m not asking Bill to barbecue after his long day. At 5:30, I sautéed 2 large links of Italian sausage in oil and then added a can of spaghetti sauce and a can of chopped onions. I cut the sausage into small chunks and dropped them into the sauce.

I was happy to see a goldfinch back
they've been absent during the cool weather

The messy part was when I put the trivet on top of the sausage/sauce and placed the inner pot with rice, water and butter on top of the trivet. From sautéing to dining, the whole meal, with salad on the side, took 20 minutes and it was DELICIOUS! It just proves that you needn’t be afraid to try things in your Instant Pot. Mine just doesn’t want to let me down. For dessert, we had custard. Yum.

I'm very impressed how well this meal (out of my head) turned out

The weather network said rain at 6:50 and I couldn’t believe that at 6:50, it started. That doesn’t happen too often! We did dishes and I sat to work on my post while Bill sat in front of the tv. This was a great day. I finished cleaning and my ‘home’ work in the morning and Bill had a full day of painting with Jamie. We can’t complain about this day at all.

And that was it for our day, ending with a delicious custard
Good night everyone!

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