Saturday, January 2, 2021

Resolutions? Goals? Or Same Old, Same Old

Paisley, On

On Saturday, Jan. 2nd of this new year it was 8 o’clock when we got up. I’d been sleeping for 8 ½ hours but Bill didn’t close the final page of his book until 1:30! My oh my! He is reading so much this holiday and finishing books within a couple of days! It is nice to see him relaxing for this week. Once he’s back to work the reading will slow down which is kind of good since I didn’t bring enough books.

A walk along the river road (Water Street)

The Suite has many good ones that I’ve read and he hasn’t but I didn’t think we’d need that many. I might be visiting the library for him in the weeks ahead. 😊 Susan took advantage of the holiday yesterday and got their laundry done so we didn’t need to wait until Sunday to do ours. I sorted two loads and took them down to get our drinks and say good morning to W & S at the same time. We all slept in!

Looking back to the Legion, bridge and town

Upstairs I read blogs to see what our friends across the U.S. are up to and my heart pined a bit for the warm weather that Doug and the Duchaines’ are experiencing. When they mention going inside in the early evening, when it cools down, I wonder if Bill and I will feel that chill as quickly our first time back to Arizona? That is our biggest ‘resolution?’ ‘goal?’ for 2021. Pray for open borders come October and get our butts back down there!

There wasn't much of it, but blue sky
made brief appearances
this walk was so much nicer than yesterday's up to the Ridge!

As for other resolutions, well, they never pan out for me. If I vow to lose weight, I gain so maybe if I resolute to gain weight?? Ha ha. Yah, no. I’d probably succeed. No, it will likely be a lot of the same old, same old for me since I feel, like other bloggers, that having daily, weekly, monthly personal goals is a better way to go. Small victories can be just as important as the large ones and we get to celebrate more often! 😊


It was past 9:00 when I transferred the first load to the dryer and thought about getting dressed and going for my walk. It would be a short walk but then again, maybe I’ll wait until both loads are finished and put away. I have books to drop off but I don’t know if they will all fit in the Book Barn Box plus walking with them would be too difficult with my ski poles. Once the snow melts a bit and makes for easier walking, I will take them.

Looking across the park where snowmobilers frequent

The day zipped by but at a slow pace How’s that for an oxymoron? We finished the laundry and Bill and I went down for a bite to eat around 11:30. Then, I went for my walk and got my 2 miles in. I took my ski poles and although I didn’t need them on the sidewalks all the time, I needed them to walk down along the river and through the campground. It was beautiful out, feeling quite mild at 2C/35F. When I returned I went to work on my puzzle.

It was so peaceful that I stood looking at the sparse wood area
across the river wishing I could see a critter
I was thinking 'deer' but then I heard this little guy

Bill was downstairs in the basement working on a plane while I was out. I’d bought some peameal bacon last week and had it in the freezer. This morning I took it out and it was just thawed enough to slice it this afternoon and package it into meal sizes. I took some steak out of the freezer for supper as well. I did some more crochet work on my shawl (it will take me forever), read my book and played online games on my Samsung. Trying, with variety, not to let boredom have any part of my day.

He was on the far side of the river and had himself a nice
size fish dinner

We had our supper around 6:30, steak in Madame IP with potatoes on top. Finally, I was able to clean up the last of my green bean casserole and Bill had corn as his side. Having a piece of pecan pie each leaves 2 pieces for another night. I’ll be glad when that sweet delight is gone too. No, I’m not making a resolution!! Ha ha 😊 With dishes done, we came upstairs to spend a couple of hours together. I worked on my blog and Bill did some hobby stuff on his laptop. He has a movie to watch at 9 in the other room.

I'm not sure exactly what it is but I'm sure someone reading this
who is familiar with Ontario's wildlife can help

I waited patiently so I could zoom in to all angles of his body

And I think you can see the colouring around his face

An update: I’d ordered a beautiful leather jacket from Wish on Nov. 13th. Delivery date was to be Dec. 26th. I told you about this. Upon checking the tracking # yesterday, I found that the order was cancelled (!!!) by an unknown user on Dec. 30th. I was furious not to mention very disappointed. After waiting so long…………and being so patient.

He didn't know I was there and went about his business

He didn't seem to be making much headway on the fish
Perhaps it was a frozen dinner?
My excitement for the day 😀

So, I went on and of course “Contact Us” means you get an automated question and answer blurb that comes up. This gal wasn’t happy but apparently, they will refund me within 14 days. I expressed that it wasn’t me that cancelled, as briefly as possible (you can only use so many characters), and can only hope I don’t get dinged for the cancellation. Lesson learned but I still am upset. It was in a colour that I can’t find anywhere else in genuine leather.

All done!

At the Mat yesterday, a new puzzle was left
just the perfect size for my area
Probably an unwanted Christmas gift

Okay, I’m over it and found another one from Amazon that is more $$ but still very nice. I’ve ordered it and was pleased when they emailed to confirm the size measurements before they begin tailoring it. Fingers crossed that this is a ‘done deal’. I’m not saying Wish isn’t a good company, just be careful and read all the information about returns and refunds in advance.

The steak wasn't perfect cooked for 5 min.
It was a new cut from a beef tenderloin of which I've not had much luck before
but I'll try not cooking it as long

This was a great day and with one more day home together, we hope tomorrow is another good one.  

the quiet streets of Paisley
on a Saturday afternoon.

Good night all!

Thank you for stopping by!

Friday, January 1, 2021

Happy New Year! First Day of 2021

Paisley, On

So, I didn’t make it to midnight last night. It was 11, after first my book and then my phone kept falling out of my hands, that I toasted Bill with the last mouthful of Disaronno and closed my eyes. They were already halfway closed throughout the preceding hour. I was done for. Now, I did roll over at 12:10 to face Bill and got my first 2021 kiss. He was still reading his book and managed to stay awake until after 1 am.

Driving to Durham, the sun was just hanging in there
behind the clouds

Today, Friday, Jan. 1st we were up by 8. We went down for our tea and coffee, read blogs and sent out multiple wishes on social media upstairs. It’s hard to reach everyone but we all try and then I’m glad when that part is over. Aren’t you? The day is fairly mild and no precipitation for the morning, at least. Good news so far on this Ontario front. 

Leaving the clear highway, Bill chose the back roads
to bypass Walkerton and Hanover

Bill had his shower and then we had a bite to eat with our second hot brew of the day. Everything is new. Everything is fresh. First time for this, that and the other thing in 2021. The morning passed quietly and around 12:30 we headed over to Durham to clean. The Mat was busy and cleaning around people was a bit challenging as they were in many of the areas. 😊 Not unexpected. I’d texted Jamie to let him know of our later arrival.

It is going to be hard for you to tell how deep
this is but trust me, I'm glad I wore my knee high boots

We weren’t there long when Jamie and his pretty daughter, Emma, showed up. He paid me for the month of December and surprised me by giving us a couple of Tim Hortons gift cards. Not necessary but very much appreciated. From there, we drove to the Ridge with the intention of dropping off the Christmas tree box, a stuffed full box of ornaments and a couple of other boxes of ‘stuff’. Boy oh boy, we didn’t quite expect it to be such a challenge.

It was pretty wild and windy up on the Ridge
so I didn't hang around taking pictures
The wind keeps the snow off the shed roofs

We had to park on North Line, no way were we able to turn into our lane, and walk through 15”of heavy snow all the way up the drive. You know the walk I enjoy all summer? Well, not today! By the time we got up there, after multiple rests, we were huffing and puffing. In shape? Not by a long shot. That was very difficult. 

I tried following in Bill's footholes on the way up and down
but they were too far apart and twice I lost my balance and went
down on my knees
It was better for me to create my own holes 😄

I remembered what my little sister, Wendy, said about feeding the birds on New Years Day so I grabbed a dish full of bird seed from the Bunky and spread it out. It means good luck and can’t we all use some of that right now? For example, we needed it to get back down the laneway! 😓

I made this photo a bit darker so you could see our tracks better

It took us 45 minutes to an hour to get things up to the Bunky and get us back down to Ptooties again. On the way through Hanover, we made a stop to wish Donna and Gerry 'Happy New Year' before trudging on home. We'd had to borrow his keys. For supper we had cottage roll, carrots, peas and scalloped potatoes with a delicious blueberry buckle dessert. It was delicious.

Baptist Church Road heading home

In our room, around 7:30, outside our window was white again. The snow was heavy but someone must have missed the message that Christmas was over and we didn't want any more of the white stuff. Bill and Wes had discussed repositioning our vehicles for the weekend to make it easier to get the truck out for driveway clearing so Bill got Black Beauty and Ptooties moved around before settling upstairs.

Supper was good!

It was a good day, nothing untoward for our first day other than forgetting some keys for the Bunky. LOL Thank goodness we could use Gerry’s set or it would have been a wasted trip. I hope your first day of 2021 was a good one. May you only experience joy, happiness and good health in the days to come.

Good night!


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