Some Randon Updates from our House

After talking myself out of getting up early for about an hour, I finally broke my resolution to stay in bed until 6 am, and got up at 3:40 to start on this post. Sneaking down the stairs,there's Henry on the laptop and Gerard on the I-Pad! It must be the full moon which is shining the brightest in 20 years! Did you see it last night? It was amazingly bright!

So by now the renovations at Henry and Melanie's house are in full swing. As the contractor is opening up the top floor to level things out for a new bathroom, he's finding more and more things that need to be replaced or upgraded. The whole upper floor is gutted right down to the bare brick , floor joists and ceiling. This is giving them the opportunity to rethink the layout of the whole space. Decisions, decisions!

Ken spent most of this past week in the hospital, initially going for a blood transfusion. Then a doctor questioned why he is on palliative care and started running all kinds of tests, hoping to get a Canadian diagnosis of his condition, which has never been confirmed. So that took most of the week and now he's back home and our merged family feels complete again.

Speaking of our merged family, it's working out great, living here with the five of us. It took a bit of adjusting on everyone's part, I think. Think of it, six adults (including Alida at first) who normally don't live together and are all out of their normal routine, trying to figure this out. It's like getting married... what's everyone's morning routine? Who wants to be left alone? Who gets up and is ready to chat? Who needs the shower and when so we can all get out of the house on time? Remember not to fill the water kettle or flush the toilet while someone is in the shower!

And then there was the matter of meal preparations that we had to figure out. At first we were all (well they were, not me) wanting to be helpful and pitching in with every meal. Too many cooks in the kitchen! At Alida's suggestion we drew up a schedule: who's in charge on which day? So when I asked who was on next, Ken said, "I am." "What are we having?" " Not telling! It's going to be a surprise." It's fun! We have the most delicious meals! I feel like I'm eating in a restaurant with new ingredients and new recipes. So whomever is in charge of the meal makes sure those groceries are in the house, has the kitchen as their exclusive domain for the time required and then the others clean up.

The rest of the household chores have kind of naturally divided themselves. Ken has taken on the morning clean-up of the kitchen, oiling squeeky doors, making smoothies, and quite a lot of the cooking with Melanie on her days, Henry & Melanie do groceries, laundry and clean their part of the house, support Ken with rides, doctor's appointments, etc. I've claimed responsibility for the front hall, the sinks, and plants, and Gerard is the "overseer" of the household, doing our laundry, shopping, driving, and just generally ensuring that everything gets done. We're getting to know each other's ways and schedules and this family is runing smoothly and it's fun and working out well.

Last Sunday my niece, Anna, and I - we're the two plant lovers - divided and transplanted the basil, and parsley that were growing and getting crowded in the Jiffy pots.

Now look at our living bay window herb nursery!

I'll soon update you on the patio/deck challenge. Thank you all for your input! It got put on the back burner for a while because there was so much else going on here, but it's starting to emerge again.