Waiting, waiting, waiting

 This is a photo of my 'stuff' when I lived at 3 Donegal Bay. I actually sold the armoire, on the right, because the move from 90 Forest Cove Drive to two rentals to Donegal Bay was very expensive to pay for. If you have ever had to pay for the moving of a heavy armoire you will soon realize it is better to sell it because, by the time you pay $250 for each move for a ridiculous piece of heavy furniture, it makes a whole lot more sense to look for a new piece when and if the finances become available to do that.

 So, I am still waiting for a settlement from this address, 3 Donegal Bay. Some estates are so long in settling. The photo, above, was taken from a transport truck, the company that my dearly departed was, at that time, working for. Have you ever agreed to a 'ride- along' with a transport company? Well, I agreed to the experience, riding along, with B-trains. That is a very frightening experience in winter, in particular. For those of you who may not know what a B- train is... it is two 53' trailers coupled and pulled by a 'tractor...,' which is the word that is used in the transport industry for the cabbed truck that pulls these trailers. I went on two or three of these to experience what my, then, truck driver would be required to make a living. I went through this during    'Covid- 19' and that was rather traumatic.

I really appreciated my son when he agreed to walk from Fleming to 3 Donegal Bay to give me the bad news of the death of my transport driver. I had put my son as a 'emergency contact' in case of injury for my 'ride- alongs' so when Dear B died he dutifully gave me the sad news. I was very grateful that my son lived close by to be able to console me that day.

When I was at 3 Donegal Bay, I was busy renovating the basement.

This is a door I purchased from the Re-store on Watt Street. I found two of these solid wood doors. One of them I was  able to use at the full 36" width. The other one had to be cut down to fit the basement bathroom. 

I really loved the way the stain was received by the wood. 

The result was such a rich colour. The full door, 36", was able to fit the entrance to the 'rec room.'

It really looked like a lovely library door. 

This photo is of my gardening boxes, built on site, as a gift for me... it was my Mother's Day gift.

This was my gardening, looking from the London street entrance towards the shed.

I was able to walk to my sons' house from this address, it was so close by.

I also purchased quite a few historical books at the church, on the way, when they had a summer sale.

So, I'm still waiting for a settlement from my time here. I hope it comes soon. 

Protected, Protected, Protected

 

The Orchard Walk- El Dueck page 357

"Room Service."

"... got out of bed looking for his robe and grinned lopsidedly when he realized he was still wearing it from the night before."

This past year I have purchased three robes with the name 'Room Service.' I am using all of them because the fabric is so different from the white robes to the blue robe.

I also sent a robe to my son. That was a designer name but, where I purchased, they were all a very good price. So, the photo, at the right, is my stool that my Dad made for me... it is easy to identify because it has a little heart shape in the middle where I put that bowl of flowers... my sister has protected it for a while. She hasn't managed to return it to me yet even though my Dad fixed it for me, before he left for heaven.

I hope she's not in a fugue state. That's my latest researched lingo into a temporary amnesia brought on by a traumatic event. Of course, the passing of a parent is always a traumatic event.

The significant amnesia event that happened in my life, I mention in The Orchard Walk...         El Dueck, page 47 "... that very first car my father bought me when when I turned sweet sixteen. You remember what happened to me in that tin can," Simmy held a bit of a grudge for weightless cars. "The ruts were too large on that dirt road..."

So, the wonderful thing about surviving hardship is that these traumatic events make for good novel scenes. I really did suffer a fugue state from that vehicle rollover. The amnesia I suffered from a head injury has hidden the memory of that accident in the deep recesses of my mind. Fortunately, all was stitched up and 46 years has passed since then and my memory seems very good. 

So, what is there to be learned from this particular story? Well, some rules are impossible to circumvent. For instance, due to a receipt mix up, (for my little light blue used car) my father was only able to claim the amount, for my 'gifted' (pun here) car that he had written on the receipt. At that time, 1979, there was a time frame within which you could claim the entire amount of a purchased vehicle if it was, accidentally, written off by the insurance company but you could only claim what was on the receipt of your purchase. 

Advice for my sons... Always make sure you are protected with receipted paperwork. It's such a good practise.

Site Map

 

My crudely drawn site map, above, was part of my display in May of 2013 at McNally Robinson bookstore. I didn't have all those pillow cases made at the time. 

I think I still have most of those sets of pillow cases and I have made quite a number of quilts since December of 2012, when my self- published novel was actually ready at the printing company I hired. 

The site map is a tree because the basic premise of my novel is a love journey through life represented by "the tree of life."

This is definitely a 'lifetime project.' 

Life is a physical and metaphysical journey. If you look closely at the site map, I deliberately made one side flowing and organic- looking and the other side looks more like building lots because I squared those off. The entire map is my concept of a project that has never been built because I haven't had anyone interested in building a place like this.

So, as I did all this work, I was trying to match a Biblical study to the current day novel that I thought was important to write because so many people think that Biblical history doesn't coalesce with today.

My goal, in writing and publishing The Orchard Walk was to engage the reader in my historical fiction novel. This required a 'modern day' depiction of the old time story that started in a garden.

The Orchard Walk El Dueck

Chapter 1

"Sam slowed the Hummer down to a dusty road crawl."

(In 2009, I purchased a Hummer H3 and it was demolished in an accident on August 19, 2019.)

Much of the inspiration for my novel came from my own life and the people I would meet.

"It was a good thing that they'd decided to travel in this rugged vehicle. These roads were raw gravel, pitted and dust driven by wind that is master of nature. The wrought iron gates of the winery...

Simmy rolled down her window to get a better view, taste, smell. "Hey Sam, maybe this is why I love flowers so much. Flowers are the depiction of Eden before the thistle entered on the back of the serpent.

I think you just found that artistic edge you were hoping would grow wings for your next novel."

So, I really have no intention of publishing the sequel to this novel unless I find a financial backer but I continue to work on this lifetime project.

Is your home peaceful?

 I've been living emotional ups and downs with the husband lately. I don't know very much about men and aging but I am experiencing it!

Now, I know there are many reasons that people start acting a little bit strange and mean... my Dad once told me, when he was still alive, that he and mom always loved each other but they were getting a little grumpy in old age.

I was sound asleep last night (this is a pillow case that I have already worn out but it was the best photo I had to describe sweetly sleeping with grey hair) and my husband woke me up and was berating me for making noise while sleeping and I thought,... oh my, am I going to have to record our sleep habits now? This is crazy! So, I couldn't get back to sleep until he was done with his little tirade (tirade definition- a long, angry speech of criticism or accusation).

Do you think he's watching too much news? Maybe this is why he is struggling with anxiety. 

I was a little relieved when he went to work but I am wondering how long he will be working into his retirement years (65 years of age in Canada).

Now, don't worry about my pillow cases. As you can see I have made many more. I stored them in my armoire for a while but I keep shifting things around.

Now, I know we are all stressed out because of the lack of peace in the world. I make sure I bless my house with peace signs to remind us that the home is really the first place we must make sure we have peace. We all want to feel safe in our homes, yes?

My maintenance peace plan for my home...

I will make a little calligraphy note and put it by my bedside, "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

(just do it in your own writing or printing, it doesn't have to be calligraphy)

 Gratitude, prayer, blessings... I have a little sign in my bathroom that says, 

                                              "God Bless Our Home." 

I believe it is a sign of a very good homemaker who makes peace in the home. Now, we need cooperation to maintain peace especially when you don't live alone. So, every time I enter my home, I am going to say, "Peace to this house." 

I am going to put up a little sign, right where I see it when I come in the door. If you have a hard time remembering... this is a good practice.

Always bless your food. This, actually, seems the easiest blessing my husband speaks. This is where he is most consistent.

I feel peace every day... the peace of God transcends all understanding.

                              I make small blankets and the end result is very satisfying.

Justified

 

Do you know what justified means in 'Adobe' documentation?

So, when I purchased Adobe CS6, it was for the express purpose of putting my novel into the program to bring it to a printer. If you have ever phoned around for prices for a project, piecemeal style... as in, trying to decide what you might be willing to pay others to do versus what you decide to do because the cost is so outrageous...

you will have come to a similar conclusion, in lifes' work, as in all of lifes' work...

do it yourself or pay someone to do it.

Those are the only choices for everything... don't you find?

So, when I utilized my purchased program, I had to learn a lot things to accomplish the task of transferring my novel into this program for the purpose of hiring a printer.

What does it mean when a document is justified? In Adobe.

Well, you have choices... you can justify to the left, to the right, or centered.

So, I tried all the different ways and I looked at many books to see what others had chosen for their format.

Justifying to the right looked very strange because the spaces between letters changes to make each line end up exactly the same. Then, because Adobe doesn't seem to know word hyphenation, some words are not hyphenated properly which required that I justify to the left.

So, by the time my document, my novel, was completely justified, I asked myself this question...

Was the work I did justified in comparison to paying for the service?

The answer is... of course doing the work was justified because I haven't, yet, made any money on my project.

One other bit of information that is needed when choosing a printing company... does their 'dated' printer match the program you are using?

The Gift You Are

Proverbs 15:6            "The house of the righteous contains great treasure..." NIV

Many years ago, when I was living and giving at 90 Forest Cove Drive, I received a greeting card with this Scripture in it.

I had provided 'hospitality' to the person who gave me these words of appreciation.

When thinking of great treasure, what do you think of? I have expressed myself, to a few people, in the song 'the gift you are,' a little known song by a long ago famous artist...

as a way of saying... 

'Don't you know how important you are compared with 'stuff?' 

You can never be replaced by a 'thing.' Think of a list of things you, currently, have in your house. The list will be long, I'm sure. Now, imagine, that each of those 'things' was a gift from someone... even if you bought everything yourself...

Just pretend.

You know what comes to mind when I 'do this exercise' of gratitude?

I see the people who carried the gift into my house. So many times, I see my weary child coming in the door, at the end of a day, carrying food of some kind so I could prepare a meal for all the tired and weary 'worthies.' 

If you really want to bless someone, look them in the eyes, and say... 'You are worthy of this.'

Now I'm crying.

The reason I wrote my novel was... 

I was trying to write a current story to represent our walk of faith and to make the Bible come alive in our every day plodding to that eternal purpose of a life... the allegory, I thought, was brilliant because it was historical and yet, current. 

I wrote about my life experiences, with humour, yet challenging ideals and maybe even 'traditions,' because traditions really can get people... stuck.

So, as you ponder the gifts you have received, in life, ask this...

Was it the giver that I appreciated or the gift? We can, of course, appreciate both... truly, can we even have a gift without a giver?

 

Rental Hell

EBell seems to think they can extort money from good people who always pay their bills.

So, I used to live on De la Morenie Street, in Winnipeg, and that was a very difficult place to live. I was treated very badly there.

Now, I moved out the end of June, 2022. I was living here, where I now am, and Bell telephone service suggested I owed $3.00. So, I disagreed, and believe I have paid up fully.

Today, they seem to think that I owe $103.00. That is impossible. 

How do I deal with these extortionists?