Week 24 – Close the Door

Saying Goodbye

It is not every day you get to say a final goodbye to your mother.  Last Sunday, when I usually publish my blog, that is exactly what I was doing.  She died peacefully at wine time, her favorite time of the day, with her three children by her side.  It was a moving and profoundly sad time for us but I have a feeling she was welcomed by her family and her husband who went before her.  Tuesday would have been my parents 70th wedding anniversary.  They were together for it.  On Thursday, we had a graveside service in our family plot on the top of Mount Royal.  All week long it had been threatening rain but the day awoke with brilliant sunshine, blue bird sky and a gentle breeze.  What Mum would have called a perfect day.  Her immediate family of children and grandchildren, minus only a couple of grandchild spouses were there along with her three caregivers and three sisters oldest children.  Two of those had been in her wedding as very young children.  It was everything she could have hoped for and more.  It was everything we could have hoped for and more.  We followed up the service with a beautiful luncheon at her home of 55 years that had been arranged by her granddaughter Katie.  We ate good food and toasted her with her favorite wine and then…….

The sink backed up!

Not only did it back up in the kitchen, but in the bathroom and in the bath tub.  I left Montreal with my sister on the phone to the plumber and realizing that my mother had the last laugh.

It was a PERFECT send off for a remarkable woman and she will be very, very much missed.

 

Walking as Healing

As is the case whenever I can, I get out and walk.  Walking is not only good for you physically but it is without question good for you mentally.  There seems to be a lot of unhappy people around these days and I only wish they could get out in nature and walk in the woods, listen to the birds, breathe the purest and cleanest of air, and connect with the world around them.  Even in the city there are park and trails to be found.  Trees give off lots of good healthy oxygen and they clean up the bad stuff.  I can just feel my lungs filling with goodness when I am out there.  I had a couple of really wonderful walks in Montreal with my girls and my brother and sister.  It gave us time to process things and to talk and to wander through the woods.  We were all better for those walks.  Returning to North Hatley, our home in the country in Canada, I was out as soon as I could with the dogs and finally had a good long walk, about 2 1/2 hours worth, through the woods and along the road the goes by the lake.  North Hatley heals and it certainly is working its magic on me.  I am blessed to have this home and this place to be when I most need it.  Years ago, 45 to be exact, my father died and after we buried him in the city, we came back out to North Hatley to again, heal.  My mother was only 48 and my sister and brother and I barely grown up.  We still got out and walked and let the air and the earth heal us.  My mother was a walker all her life as was my Dad and it continues on down through their children and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  And so it is!

 

Food Keeps You Going

Sometimes it is the caring preparation of food that provides the real sustenance that we all need.  We didn’t pay much attention to what we were eating but we needed to eat.  With so many of us together and needing support, one or two came out as the suppliers of the food.  Daughters and nephew did a big shopping for the basics and a couple of meals.  Comfort food like lasagna and salad as well as turkey burgers that most everyone blamed for snoring to whatever else they could.  They aren’t bad but they certainly aren’t hamburgers.  We had wonderful salads and lots of veggies and cheese (Baldersons) her favorite, and wine.  We did have one family dinner out and it was at a superb Greek restaurant that one and all said was the best they had been to.  So we were well taken care of.

Pups and Kittens

After a long drive from South Carolina the dogs and cats arrived in Canada and have settled in beautifully.  The dogs had a visit to the dog camp down the road while we were in Montreal but they loved Allison and she them so it was a success.  Now they are happy to explore North Hatley.  Wyke was here last summer so he has some memory that he has been here before and he likes it.  Much cooler for one thing and lots more room to roam and no alligators.  Bean has not been here so everything is new but as is her way she just follows what Wyke does.  We took a very long walk on Saturday morning.  It was two and half hours with a few rests thrown in but they both loved it.  We had a renewal of a friendship when we met Wyke’s Canadian girlfriend, Millie, at Scowen Park and they found the mud and the ducks and the deer but were very good about coming back when called.  Needless to say they didn’t look as beautiful as they did when they started.  Bean is just too little to let her roam free except when we do our nighttime walk which all of us enjoy very much.  The cats have settled into their routine and seem to love their cat tree in front of the door.  They watch the birds and keep tabs on the comings and goings of the family.