Reflections – Good and Not so Good - Last Day of 2020 👏👍

Paisley, On

On New Years eve day, Thursday, Dec. 31^st, Bill and I were up to greet this last day of 2020 by 7:30. He rolled over first thing and said ‘it’s the last day of the year, sweetie’. I just wanted to jump up and do everything in hi-speed, like our hi-speed wi-fi. Let’s get at it and blink through this day. Enough of 2020, I say!

Christmas tree box all packed up for another year

Aside from wishing the day away, there was nothing about this year that we wanted to hang onto any longer. So, while Bill went down and made his coffee, I had my shower. Once dried and dressed, I went down for my tea. Last night I’d read most of the blogs so was up to date other than new ones from today. When my tea was done, I set to work.

And the ornaments tucked away too

Between us, we got the tree box and ornament boxes down from the upper closet. My goal, even though earlier than what we normally follow, was to take all the decorations for Christmas down and put them away. In the hopes that we can make it to Durham in the morning to clean, we’ll take the boxes and deposit them in the already stuffed bunky at the Ridge. There will be much sorting once April comes but it gives us a bit more space here in the meantime.

Poached eggs on rye with a piece of Pat's yummy
Christmas cake for dessert

I finished that and at 11:00 we were ready for another hot drink. For lunch (brunch) Bill just wanted toast and peanut butter and I chose 2 poached eggs on rye toast. That was good and filled us up. We sat for a while at our laptops and time passed. It was around 1 that I decided to go for a walk. Taking the mail key and my library book with me, I headed out without my ski poles. It is too difficult to carry something with them in my hands.

Looking outside, I knew I needed to get out for a walk today

It didn't take a lot of convincing

The walking was a bit dangerous so I slowed down considerably to my normal pace. Any snow that was left on sidewalks had hardened and made things slippery and rough. After dropping my library book in the ‘drop box’ I walked a couple of blocks (carefully) and crossed at Cambridge St. to Ross. This is a dead-end street so I turned and found the snowy trail that would take me along the river and back to the main street.

The Foundry Chimney in winter snow

I used the 'Burlesque' setting for this picture, just playing

I could hear excitement as I approached the bend and was thrilled to see a family with 3 children sledding down the hill. The young parents informed me that they’d been out there for 2 hours and were hoping the little ones would tire soon. 😊 Ah, yes, I remember those days. Finding hills was difficult for us, as a young family, living in the small town of Zurich and then London. We didn’t go out much other than up and down the sidewalks and out to my parents.

You can see that the roads were not great to walk on

And the sidewalks were no different so
I crossed at the picture above to the hilltop trail

I heard them before I saw them

There was a nice little 'bump' which usually lifted
their sleds
You can see the little guy flipped over instead
He didn't get hurt, just laughed

Dad told me he went down once and that was enough
I said I'd be down at the bottom after one run sayiing
"Help me!"
Kind of like the little girl laying down there.
I think she was tired out. 😅

I took some pictures and moved on. Lastly, before coming in I walked to the post office. Fingers crossed made no difference, there was still no parcel for me. Bummer! But we did get mail, Christmas cards, so that was nice. K & D from London had to redirect theirs with the correct address but it wasn’t too late after all! Yesterday, we got one from our youngest daughter with this lovely picture.

I carried on towards town

the cold Saugeen wasn't too fast today

I felt sad for this duck, swimming all alone

He kept going under and coming back up 6' behind where he just swam from

Back at home, I joined Bill and started my blog for the day. I was just settled on the bed when I realized that it was bright enough to work in the garage on my puzzle so went down for a couple of hours. I made great progress today and ended up sorting the remaining pieces into shape categories. It’s what I do for myself to help in the process.

At 3:30, I was losing the light so made a cup of tea and took a Z Coke upstairs for Bill. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, snoozing and crocheting. It will take me forever to make this shawl but it is something to occupy my time, my mind and my hands. At 6 I told him to finish his chapter and I went down to begin supper. We had fried burgers with brioche buns and they were really nice for a change. After dishes, same old routine, we retired upstairs. 

Just a juicy cheeseburger for supper
with pecan pie for dessert

It’s New years Eve and there are some things to reflect on that happened this year. Some sad, some happy. The winter of 2019/20 began happy with us heading south with friends, meeting more friends and eventually starting our slow trek home in February. 😊 The trip soon turned sad when we learned of the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping across the countries. ☹ We turned our slow trek into a fast trek, arriving home 3 weeks sooner than planned originally.

Home early, Mar. 21, 2020

We dealt with the virus fall out, quarantining for our 2 weeks on the Ridge. We got happy again as the weather turned into a beautiful summer for gardening, our hobbies, bird and critter watching. We even hosted a week on the Ridge for our rv friends, keeping under the maximum # of the allowed groupings. Woops! My pictures are out of order. Oh well.

Ridge Campout
Aug. 2 to 9th

Canada Day, July 1st

We celebrated Canada Day with Bill’s 2 sisters, husbands and Marilynne. I was also able to spend time with my 4 of my 5 sisters during our July LadyFest. These were very happy times. 😊

Ladyfest with my sisters
Aug. 11 to 14th

The pandemic continued to rear its ugly head throughout all of this, keeping us distanced and masked while shopping. It was very sad that we couldn’t visit Mom in Rockwood and outside visits were very difficult given her current state. ☹ Bill and I both worked pretty steady all summer and were happy to be earning some extra $ to put us in an easier financial position. 😊

Suite goes to CanAm for the winter 😢
Oct. 23rd

However, we were soon saddened when we realized that the border between Canada and United States would not be opened for us to travel to our favourite destinations for the winter. We had moments of disappointment, confusion, unrest and just down right panic. We needed to find a place to live. ☹ 

A new granddaughter on the horizon
April news

During the course of all this, we learned that ‘our’ youngest daughter was expecting her second child. This brightened our spirits. There were friend visits, children visits and many good times throughout the summer of 2020. We needed each and every one of those moments. 😊

Moved into Paisley home
Oct. 17th

In September, we were once again swimming in relief and a state of happiness when we found a home we could share for the winter. Things were looking up even though we couldn’t follow our hearts and travel to the southwest. The glee was short lived as in October we lost Mom. The ensuing month passed in yet another state of sadness although we knew it was time and things happen for a reason. ☹

Saying goodbye to Mom
Oct. 15th 😢💔

Mom, in her prime 💓

As we wait out the last hours of the last day of 2020, we are once again filled with happiness. We learned in the last week that ‘our’ 4^th oldest daughter has become engaged to a wonderful man. This couldn’t be happening at a better time, when they, as well as all of the rest of us, needed something bright in our lives. 😊

Congratulations Krystal and Matt
Dec. 24th engagement (her birthday)

So, with that, I will close saying that I don’t know if we’ll make it bring in the new 2021 or whether we will greet it in the morning. The older we get, the less important it is to stay up until midnight. We’ll see. However, your 2020 played out, I’m sure you can say a lot of the same happy and sad moments took place for you too. Looking forward to bigger and better things ahead, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And my last memory this year
Dec. 31, 2017
good night everyone!
all the very best in 2021!

Thank you for your visit.