I was away for a week

and had a lovely time with my parents and my family. It was a bit of a unique situation in that we stayed in the cottage next door to our old cottage. My parents had a cottage in Thornbury, Ontario (if you are looking at a map of the Great Lakes, look at Lake Huron and how there is a bay off of it to the right. At the very bottom of the bay, the southern-most point, is the Georgian Triangle and that is not only where I was last week, but also where I grew up.)

Anyway, the year before Doug and I got married my parents bought a great little cottage on the water. We spent part of every summer up there and it was just 5 minutes from my parent's house (where they both ran their businesses). Two years ago they sold it and we lost that beach connection; or so we thought. Last year my dad (a handyman by nature and someone who can't possibly sit still) was "hired" by the guy whose cottage was next door to ours. He was needing new windows put in and he offered to allow my parents the use of his cottage for a week is my dad would do the work. Dad said yes and he and mom invited us to stay up there with them. It was so great that we decided to rent it again for this year.

When we arrived this year I met the neighbours who bought mom and dad's old cottage. They are a lovely couple but it was surreal to see them going in and out of our old place while we were next door. They were not around last year when we were there.

Funny thing though, that couple hired my dad to install a dishwasher for them last week. They left on Monday with plans to be back Friday and could my dad have it installed by then??? WEIRD!! (My parents had done SO much work on their cottage over the years and dad's working there gave us a chance to go in and see how they had re-decorated -- or not as was the case. They did paint the pine ceiling white which is a mortal sin in my dad's eyes. I thought it looked great.)

Once he got started with the installing and working around the two places, he couldn't stop. I was hysterical. He did take time out to kayak with the boys and have dinner with some old friends but mostly he worked.

I had a chance to see my cousin, Melissa and her children too! It was SO great to reconnect with Melissa and have a couple of opportunities to catch up on what life is like for her, her husband, Luke and her two kids. She has a 5 year old, Adia and a 3 year old, Thomas. All four of the children played SO well together. I don't have her permission to post pictures of them but trust me, it was wonderful. Fergus has been asking me about his cousins and this was a great chance for him to get to know them.

Anyway, the boys spent a great deal of time in the water and on it too. Doug left Monday and came back Friday so he didn't get as much time at the water as we did. He made the most of it anyway. His mom had been in Collingwood (20 minutes from Thornbury) for the week visiting her sister and so on his way back to the cottage on Friday he picked her up and brought her to the beach. The benefit was two-fold: she had some time to visit and hang out with my family but it also meant that I wouldn't have to leave as early because I didn't have to pick her up en route.

Next big adventure??? Camping in two weeks (after Aunt Jen goes home)! The boys are in for a GREAT month!!!

Ontario Place June 22, 2007

Here we go! This is going to be mostly pictures. I will tell what is what but suffice it to say that Fergus and Quinn had the time of their lives at Ontario Place and the fact that they were able to share it with their best friend was the cherry on the top!

Quinn felt too small to go bumper boating with Fergus and Adam. He knew he was tall enough (he just BARELY squeaks in at 48") but he was not certain enough of himself to feel safe so while they bumper boated, he drove a little blue car.






Once they had finished driving and boating we went to see the IMAX presentation of "Mysteries of Egypt." What a cool movie and it was Fergus and Quinn's first experience seeing that kind of IMAX movie. They saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" in IMAX last year but it wasn't filmed the same, nauseating way. What glorious landscapes through Egypt though.

We stopped for a quick slide before grabbing our lunch. After lunch we decided to spend some time in the water park. At almost any other time in the recent past we would have been able to be at the water park and be adequately heated by the sun when coming out of the water. Not so on this day. The first full day of summer and we managed to FREEZE out in the wind when coming out of the water. It reached a high of 22 degrees Celsius while we were at the park and the breeze was blowing off Lake Ontario into the water area. Brrrr . . .

Fergus, Quinn, Adam and Stephanie (Adam's mom) first went to the VERY top and shared a large tube down. Once they had done that once though, Steph and Adam had had enough. Despite Quinn's lips being the same shade of blue as his sun suit his brother managed to convince him to try it again so the two of them rode the tube ride again. I must say, Fergus made every effort to keep Quinn near him all day. Both Fergus and Adam are extremely welcoming of Quinn with most everything they do.

Once we were finished with the water, everyone got their dry stuff back on and the boys head off for some climbing. Before climbing we played 9 holes of mini-golf and we spent as much time in the bushes trying to find balls as we spent on the course. It was fun none-the-less. This climbing structure is WAY up. It is difficult to get a true sense of how high they were. Let's just say that I used the full zoom feature on my camera. From left they are: Fergus, Quinn and Adam.

We finally managed to get them down from up there and convinced them that it was time to head back to the car to go home. Steph and I were zonked.

As we were heading out of the park we saw a perfect picture spot with the city of Toronto and the CN Tower in the background and stopped one last time to take a photo of the boys posing with their best "bad boy" poses.

Another crazy busy week and then . . .

the weekend will arrive. I have been out doing water-related activities with the boys every day this week. We started by going to a new splash pad Monday and then swimming and yesterday we were able to combine swimming with visiting some friends we haven't seen for a while.
Today we are off to celebrate the end-of-year with our friends from Shady Grove. Shady Grove is the name of the Homeschool Enrichment Program that Fergus has been a part of for the last two years. This year we are finishing off by going to a conservation area and playing in the water and just hanging out. Hopefully the teachers will be there too. I must remember to take my camera.
Tomorrow Steph and I are taking Adam, Fergus and Quinn to Ontario Place for the day. My boys haven't ever been and have just come to the age where they are learning about amusement parks and such. I must remember to measure Quinn today as I suspect he will be tall enough for most but not all of the rides that Fergus is able to go on.
Saturday we are having our annual pot-luck BBQ with some of our friends (the same group we go camping with every summer and such) here at our place -- our home is small enough that outdoor, summer activities suit it best.
And then . . . wait for it . . . Jennifer arrives on Sunday. We had become spoiled with her more frequent visits in the past few months and so it feels as though the 5 weeks since her last visit has been excessively long. The boys feel the need to see her as do Doug and I.
My children are SO blessed. They have FANTASTIC relatives who love them unconditionally and give them undivided attention. I just think it is so fabulous that they get to see their Aunt Jen as often as they do considering that she lives several hundred kilometres away. I love that they can see their Noni and their Chris as often as they do. Like always though, I wish that we could all live a little closer to make it that much easier to see one another. And don't get me started on Nathan. I miss him like crazy and miss the relationship that he hasn't (YET) been able to forge with the boys. It will come. Eventually Nath won't be living in Taiwan and the boys will have more opportunities to see both him and Aunt Chantel. Aunt Chantel (Nathan's partner) is coming back to Canada for a week or two at the beginning of July. We are definitely planning to make time to see her while she is here.
That's the week in a nutshell. Hope yours is as beautiful as ours!

Two of my gardens

Yesterday I posted that I have a plethora of lettuce that needs eating. In this first picture you can see my vegetable patch (on a weird angle, I know. I was trying to get more of it in that way). You can see the sunflowers all over the place and the purple is the lettuce coming up wherever. Last fall when my MIL pulled the seeding lettuce from the garden she placed it in the compost. A *great* idea for lettuce that is *not* seeding. She did the same with the sunflower seeds the she swept off the floor of the shed. When I pulled compost out of the bin and worked it into the soil the seeds self-propagated and now I have sunflowers and lettuce EVERYWHERE.

The tall poles out of the ground are for my pole beans. I have a fabulous pairing of both purple string beans and a spicy, long, skinny green bean. They grow beautifully together. In the picture there are also some yellow wax bean plants, some carrots, spinach, beet root, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, marigolds and basil. Most of that stuff you won't be able to see for the lettuce and sunflowers.

I have also posted a pair of pictures that Quinn and I took this morning of one of our perennial beds. (Again, sorry for the odd angles.) I love my flowers as much as I love my veggies. We are to get some rain today too.

Our Father's Day

The post below this one is a (poor) copy of the page we put together for the door of Henry's room at the Long-Term Care Facility (LTCF). The other people in Henry's room both have pages of information about themselves on their door and it is kind of neat. Doug and Christena asked if I would do something for Henry and it was fun to spend the time on it. Now, the page I did has the images centred better and the layout more aesthetically pleasing but this works to give you the idea that we were striving for.

I like the idea of this information being shared. Indeed much of it is what Henry remembers more clearly than the stuff that happens from day to day. It also helps the nurses have something to talk to Henry about when they know what his past was like.

We had a great Father's Day with Doug yesterday. The boys and I had been to Sears earlier in the week and picked up the pop-up dining tent that Doug really wanted. That was his gift and yesterday morning Quinn, who has been aching for Father's Day to hurry up and arrive, jumped out of bed at the crack of 9:00 am and immediately wanted to know when we could give daddy his present. I reminded him that it was Father's Day and that it would be nice if he let daddy lie-in for a while before dumping a gift in his lap. Doug got up a few minutes later with Fergus following closely behind.

Doug was excited about the tent. The other thing he wanted for "his day" was to go swimming. We thought and thought about where we could go and relax and have fun and the best place that came to mind was my aunt and uncle's place in Varney (about 75 minutes from here). We packed everyone, including Christena, into the car and set off. We had made arrangements with my own dad to meet in Varney (after having invited ourselves to my aunt and uncle's I also invited my MIL and my own parents, aren't I kind??) so that I would have a chance to see him for Father's Day.

We enjoyed the afternoon laughing and splashing in the water, visiting with family, and playing around out in the summer sun. It was a great day. We finished it off with a BBQ dinner and salad (we are trying desperately to eat all of the lettuce we have in the garden but there is no way it will happen -- if you live nearby and want lettuce PLEASE come get some) and then Fergus and I went to softball practice while Daddy and Quinn fought with the new tent. It was standing and in one piece when we got home so it would appear that Doug won the tent war.

We are off to a different splash/spray pad park this afternoon with friends. We have decided to try a new one every week all summer to see which ones are the best. It promises to be a hot and hazy afternoon with a maximum UV rating so the boys will be slathered with 50 SPF sunscreen AND sunsuits while playing in the water. I, on the other hand, will hide in the pavillion and visit with my friend.

Have a wonderful week!

Henry's note on his door

I hope this works out like we have it on the sheet:

Henry Gardiner

Henry was born, July 12, 1929 and was raised in Provan Mill, a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. He was youngest son to John and Margaret Gardiner. His siblings included: Maizie, Jack, Robert, and Tillie. Maizie moved to Canada with her husband, David, and it was to them that Henry came when he migrated at age 29.

Henry’s first job was making and selling umbrella handles around age 14. He went on to spend time in the British Armed Forces and was placed in various countries around the world, including time spent in Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. Upon returning from overseas he worked in various places of employment. While still in Scotland he worked in different vocations including time spent as a delivery truck driver. He was such a good driver that he took driving tests for a number of his friends, including one of his brothers!

He migrated to Canada in 1958 and began work at the Collingwood Shipyards in 1960. This was his place of employment until the Shipyards closed their doors and ceased operations in 1986. Henry worked with men like John LeGoaix and George Mittimier who became lifelong friends of Henry’s. In fact John LeGoiax stood as Best Man at Henry’s April 25, 1964 wedding to Christena Hoel of Stayner.

Henry met Christena through Herb Hudson, husband of Louise Hudson, Christena’s eldest sister. A year and five days after being wed in a small ceremony in Collingwood, Henry and Christena welcomed their first child, Jennifer Margaret Gardiner. Six years and three months later they had a son named, Douglas Henry Gardiner. Their family was complete with two beautiful children.

Henry and Christena lived a numerous residences over their years of residing in Collingwood. The found themselves at home on Pine Street, Fourth Street East, Spruce Street, Alice Street and Tenth Street in the growing town. They watched their children grow up and move out on their own.

Jennifer went to York University for a few years until she realised that what she was studying was not feeding her heart. She left York to pursue other interests and now resides in Calgary with her partner, Nino and is owner of her own successful company: Meet The CEO.

Douglas studied Photography at Fanshawe College and now owns DSF Imaging and put his digital imaging skills acquired at college to use for himself and his customers. He and his wife, Samantha, have two boys: Fergus (aged 9) and Quinn, (aged 6).

A lovely day in June

Wow! I hadn't realized that it had been a while since I last posted. In that time one of the things we have done is that we have watched Fergus' end of school year play. The two pictures I have attached are of Fergus drumming (the whole younger class was drumming while the older class danced - this picture is only of Fergus and his friend Ayla) and of Fergus as a streetkid in an abbreviated version of Oliver Twist. They did a GREAT job and it was really fun to watch them. Christena (my MIL) as well as my own parents made the trip to Eden Mills to see him perform with his peers.

That night, after racing from Eden Mills to Glen Williams, he got his first run ever in softball (he has only been playing for a few weeks). He hit himself to first base and then was hit and walked around to score a run. We were over the moon!! What a great day!!!

Friday we had a huge but FAST storm run through our neighbourhood. We were on our way to have dinner with friends in Burlington and saw the dark clouds. As we were getting into the Wagon Doug decided that the increase in wind was making him nervous about leaving the Rabbit under the tree in our front yard so he got out to move it. Since he was moving the car I decided to make sure things were tidy and tied down in the back garden. We told the boys to wait in the Wagon as we would be right back.

We went about our chores, Doug coming to help me once he had the Rabbit safely away from trees and no sooner had we finished when the big pellets of rain started hitting us and we ran for the Wagon. Once we got around the side of the house we were enveloped in a wall of wind and debris. We had dirt, grit, leaves, and bits of twigs all over us; in our hair, our mouths, on our clothes. The wind was so strong we followed our instincts which were to grab the boys from the car and take them into the house. We then watched the storm from the front porch. Within a few minutes we saw that about a third of the houses on our street had lost significant pieces (limbs, boughs, branches) from their trees. We never did end up with anything on either of our vehicles but I am still relieved that we took the boys inside.

And after all was said and done, I still needed to come home from dinner with friends and water my gardens because we didn't get enough rain to keep anything alive. All around town there were trees uprooted and power lines down.

Doug took Christena up to see Henry on Monday. He is doing well. His breathing is certainly much improved. They are very good to him there and allow him to function on his own schedule. That is to say that he is truly a "night owl" and daytimes are not when he is most active. Retrospectively I can see that that was a big part of the challenge Christena faced with him being at home. He wanted to be awake at night and she did not. He still isn't able to do things for himself at night any more than he can during the day, but that is why he kept waking her at night. His schedule was backwards.

He sleeps most of the day away with them only waking him for meals so that he doesn't go without. He is not conversant anymore although he will give one word answers to questions. As I have said before there is some grace in the fact that he is at least far enough into his disease that he doesn't seem to *see* the other individuals around him and how they are behaving. At least he isn't always pressing Doug and Christena to find out when they are going to take him home. He seems settled where he is.

This weekend is Father's Day and I hope Doug gets to go up to Mount Forest to see his own dad on Saturday so that Fergus and Quinn can have their dad on Sunday. I have managed to have the day off so I can be around too.

Fergus, Quinn and I went shopping for Doug's gift on Monday while he and Christena were in Mount Forest. We wrapped it as soon as we got home and hid it from view. Quinn is so excited about the fact that the gift is here, in the house, and ready for Doug to receive that he can hardly stand it. He is counting down the days to Father's Day and is checking regularly to make sure the gift is where I put it. It is very sweet. A cute reaction for a gift he is giving that he didn't actually donate any funds to. Ah well, the innocence of youth!

Have a glorious weekend!

Summer fun!

I have a couple of pictures to throw up here because I think they are cute. Yesterday was a warm day and it was also the first day that was warm enough to visit the local splash pad. My boys (and Adam, who is my spare child most of the time) were the eldest by far.

A splash pad, for those who are not aware of these locales, is a flat, open water park. There are jets that shoot water up out of the ground, into the air, and the children run around and get soaked. They are a fairly new phenomena around these parts so the trees are not very mature and there is little shade to speak of. This particular location also seems to get a lot of wind because it is out in the open, and so it has to be fairly warm for the children to use it without freezing. The water is clean (which is good and bad -- I can't get past the HUGE waste of water) but because it is clean it is like ICE shooting out of the floor.

As I was saying, the trees are young. This summer they put a couple of new trees in and new trees require a lot of water. My boys like to take pails to the splash pad so they can collect the water and dump it on one another. Yes, I know, it's a painfully mean game to play but they seem to love having their heads ache from the cold water coursing over their skulls. When one of the local Parks and Recreation workers saw them collecting the water he came over to ask if the boys were with me. When I indicated that they were indeed mine, unless they'd done something wrong of course, he asked if I thought they would be willing to water the two new trees around the parkette. The boys were delighted.

I guess all of the running around and playing was enough to wear poor Quinnie out because he couldn't make it all the way through my reading of Chapter 8 in Harry Potter last night. Reading Harry Potter is a new thing for our family. I wanted to wait to read them myself until the boys were old enough to hear it. We started just after Easter and are halfway through book number three. It is all Fergus wants me to do with him these days -- well, that and play tennis on the Wii, which I do fairly well I might add. Hopefully we are able to read them fast enough to get to the last book shortly after it is released this summer.

Henry is okay

Very briefly for those who are checking in to find out how Henry is making out, he is doing fairly well. It seems they caught the pneumonia at the beginning this time (an advantage of having him in a place with 24 hour nursing staff to assess his well being) and the antibiotics have stopped it's progression. He is now complaining more constantly about pain in his back. The pain is behind the spot on the lungs where the cancer is. We don't know if this is related or not. It would seem sensible to us but we are not oncologists.

Christena's sister, Marianne, lives in Mount Forest and she was kind enough to stop by to see him last evening on her way home from work. She felt Henry was fairly engaging and seemed to know that he should know her from somewhere. This felt fairly positive to us.

Anyway, that's what is new. I'll write more when there is more to tell.
Take care

Wii did it!!!

Well, since Christmas Fergus and Quinn have been patiently (or sort of) waiting until such a time would arrive when they would have enough money to purchase a Wii. For those who are not familiar with this item, it is a video game system of the latest variety. It is interactive in so far as you swing the controller and move your body to engage the game. In the two images attached Fergus and Quinn/Daddy and Quinn are boxing against one another. It is entertaining to watch. I haven't actually tried to play it yet.

The system arrived this morning. With Quinn's birthday money added to the cache of Fergus' Wii funds, we had enough to buy the system. Last weekend when we were in Future Shop to see if they had any Wii in stock they told us they didn't BUT would likely have more on Friday next. They also said to call on Thursday to see if more were coming in. When Doug called last night he was told there were more coming and he set his alarm to get up early and go stand in line. Because we didn't know what kind of a line up there would be we chose not to tell the boys about the Wii coming and instead Doug took the money they had set aside to purchase it. They were fairly excited when he got home with this treat!!

They whole day has been about this gaming system. I suspect that it will be on the list of activities to do when it is raining outside this summer. The boys have been allowed to play most of today but know that tomorrow they are back to their one hour of screen time per day.

Anyway, thought you might like to see these pictures. The flash wasn't working so I have lightened them as best I can. Sorry about the image quality.

Take care

And Quinn turns 6, second.

Can it really be that six years ago this past Saturday I managed to birth another baby of my own (and Doug's too)?? The time goes by so fast. Yes, it is so and our own Quinnsterman (as my parents call him) has moved into his seventh year, having happily completed six (by the skin of his teeth a few times, I might add).

They day dawned sunny and bright so we found Grandma outside, working out and we interrupted to have some birthday gift time before the party started. The party didn't start until noon but there was some tidying to do first and food to prepare. All Quinn wanted was money from everyone to be able to add his money to Fergus' so they could collectively by a Nintendo Wii. The gift we gave him with the money was because giving money still feels weird to me -- even when it's all they really want.

The pictures are of Quinn opening the gift from Doug and I (he had already opened the money from Grandma and the Phlat Ball from Fergus) and of Quinn and his party cake.

We had a few of his friends here on Saturday and we let them beat on a Scooby-Doo pinata for a little while before they gave up and just pulled the ribbons hanging out the bottom. My brother emailed from Taiwan -- where he and his partner stay -- and asked how Quinn's birthday was. I wrote: "It was great. A party with a bunch of 4-6 year olds running around, eating chocolate and swinging a large wooden stick at a papier mache "Scooby Doo." You know . . . it was non-stop entertainment. Then we reeled them in to sit still in the theatre to watch Shrek the Third. [Quinn] said it was "the best day of [his] life!" So I take it that he had fun."

It was a great day! Doug joined us at the theatre for the movie and Fergus came home about ten minutes after we got back as he had been in Guelph at another birthday party for a couple of his friends. What a busy day. And that was just the start of our long weekend.

Last night (Sunday) we went to hang out with a bunch of our friends and sit around the campfire (well, a caged campfire as we were in town) sipping wine and visiting until the fireworks started. We could see the town fireworks display from their backyard. It was perfect!

I saw my parents and Uncle Des on Friday while Christena was visiting Henry and then saw my sister and Chris today. It has been a GREAT weekend all the way around. I hope yours was GREAT too!!

An update about Henry first . . .

as things have deteriorated with Henry's health. He
seems to have another case of pneumonia. We don't know how bad it is
at the moment but while Doug and Christena were visiting him today his
condition became steadily worse and when they left he was being given
a nebuliser treatment and a dose of antibiotics. This also likely
means that his Alzheimer's will advance too as that seems to be the
case for him (and anyone I suppose) who has Alzheimer's and ends up
with pneumonia. Unfortunately the pneumonia is normal as Alzheimer's
patients tend not to walk much. Even when they do, as my MIL swears
that Henry walks a lot, it isn't done as exercise, it is done as simple
movement and that's not enough to work his lungs. He mostly just shuffles along.

Anyway . . . any thoughts, vibes, prayers or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Our weekend

Well, we were lucky enough to have Jennifer in Ontario again this week. She had to travel to New York for business and when that happens, she travels through Ontario to stay with us for a day or two at either end.

We were extra glad to have her here this time as this past Sunday (after she flew in from New York Sunday morning) Doug, Jennifer and Christena took Henry to a Long-Term Care Facility to have him admitted into permanent care. In the week prior he was spending time standing, unable to move, he had fallen in the bathroom having forgotten what to do when needing to toilet, and had become increasingly hostile and unwilling to take the medications necessary to keep him alive. It was time.

It was indeed that hardest thing Christena (or Doug or Jennifer) had ever had to do. Christena was talking last week about all of the things in her future that aren't going to be as she had planned. She was looking forward to retirement and taking walks with Henry, socializing more. She was looking forward to the two of them spending more time doing things with Fergus and Quinn. And to top it off, it was Mother's Day. Not how any of us wanted to spend Mother's Day.

He has been there for 2 days now and I have agreed to drive her to see him -- the closest available place for him was in Mount Forest, about a 1 hour drive from here -- this coming Friday afternoon. As soon as there is a bed in a facility closer to home, he will be moved. The idea is for him to be in a location that she can access by bus if we are not around to offer her a ride.

Stuart, would please make sure that Uncle Robert knows what is happening? I don't know if Jackie reads my blog or not but if you are in contact with him, Aunt Tillie or Uncle Jack, would you let them know what is happening here? Anyone who has more questions is more than welcome to call so I can further explain what has transpired to find us at this point.

Thank you to all for your words and thoughts of support and encouragement.

Our weekend

The weather has become consistently more sunny and agreeable. On Sunday I was able to couple the nice weather with some time off to be spent with my family. Since we don't often have this opportunity we took a little drive to Belfountain, a hamlet just north of where we stay. It is a lovely little place and we wandered around and took a few pictures (as you can clearly see).
http://www.belfountain.ca/

Fergus and Quinn both had a sleep over at Adam's house on Friday night. It was Quinn's first sleepover with a friend and his nervous parents had nothing to worry about. He managed to snuggle down and sleep soundly through the night. When I left for work Doug was wondering when they would be home. Turns out he had a large part of the day to himself as they stayed at Adam's and played outside until mid-afternoon.

After their play, daddy's day alone and my day of teaching we met at a local pub for dinner and some time to reconnect. We had plans to celebrate the Cinco de Mayo with friends in the evening but we wanted some down time first.

Saturday evening we went over to see friends (Karen and Larry) and were joined by another family (Janice and Dave) where we enjoyed an evening of hot tub, wine, fire, and card playing. The boys had friend, Liam, to play with and after running around in the back yard they settled to watch a movie downstairs. It was clear that Quinn was losing steam and the movie seemed like an easy way for him to wind down. By 11:00 Fergus was up to tell the adults that both Liam and Quinn were asleep on the floor and he sat to watch us play cards.

As I have said, Sunday dawned sunny and bright. I knew I wanted to spend some time in the garden but I needed time with Doug and the boys. How to decide?? We started with a big fry up for breakfast and Fergus went over to Adam's while I went to Kim's to receive some of the perennials she was willing to split for me. Fergus was only going to Adam's for a little while but long enough for me to get a trunk full of plants and come home to plant the most sensitive.

When we got home from Belfountain Doug made burgers for dinner while I continued planting. He is an AMAZING man. Not only did he feed us but he also tidied up and then came out to water the plants I had added to my gardens.

Some of you might be wondering how Henry is doing as this is often what I post about. He is okay. Not a lot has changed other than that we watch him slip into his disease a little more every day. For instance, he has forgotten now how to put his shoes on. (What??) He hasn't been able to dress himself for a couple of months but he was still able to put his shoes on. Over the past couple of days this has not been the case.

He no longer asks after his family the same way that he was a month or two ago. In fact, he almost never generates a conversation. He will sit for extended periods of time without saying anything and not appearing to see the people in front of him. His physical health seems to be okay though. While he wasn't able to climb the stairs between their home and ours only a few weeks ago, now he is up and down the stairs with ease. His depth perception has gone and we need to help him on the stairs so he doesn't lose his footing but he is able to do all the lifting without aide.

How is Christena doing as his primary caregiver? It is taking a huge toll on her to have to be in the role of caregiver instead of that of wife. He is not agreeable about most of the things she has to do for him so there are arguments over everything. He doesn't want medication, he doesn't want bathed, he doesn't want shaved, he doesn't want to drink the fluids necessary to stay hydrated. You can see these aren't little things and so the arguments go on most of the time. She is having to be home with him all of the time as he can't be left alone and that is exhausting.

Jennifer will be back tomorrow -- on her way through to New York -- to spend a couple of days. She will also be back on the weekend. It does help Doug and I when she is here so that there is not only someone else for mom to vent with but also so that there are another pair of eyes to watch Henry and allow mom to go out and clear her head.

Well, I think that's what is new here. Hope all of you are well. Please keep in touch!!

Henry is home again

While we were gone we were hoping that the hospital would keep Henry to be able to give Christena the break. She does not cope well when she can't have time to herself (not that I can blame her, I would be EXACTLY the same way, I am sure). No such luck. Henry did not have pneumonia again, the nebulizer was keeping his airways clear. This time he was severely dehydrated (the man doesn't drink anything other than tea and coffee which only serve to further dehydrate). They kept him in to rehydrate him.

We did learn that the cancer is continuing to advance. Christena really wants to investigate to find out how much it has changed but Henry was clear (at a time when he was able to be clear) that he did not want any further treatment. Because we are planning to treat the cancer, they are willing to spend the money on more testing. Quite frankly, I suspect the treatment would kill him faster than the disease anyway. He took a huge medical beating last time and he went in to that treatment otherwise healthy.

Anyway, Henry is home and life is back to what it was last week. Amazing how fast things return to normal.

The boys are happy we are home and loved the gifts we got them. Apparently they had a riot with Nani and Papa and now Quinn is happily riding a two-wheeler, thanks to some help from his big brother.
Have a great week.

The attractions we didn't go to

but that the boys would REALLY like us to go back and check out (with them in tow of course)

US

To prove we were there and didn't just buy a couple of postcards, we finally thought to have someone take our picture yesterday morning. This is just down from our hotel and the American Falls are in the background.

The weather was GORGEOUS and we had a great time walking and talking and holding hands! Doug did spend some time by himself taking pictures while I went and had a WONDERFUL massage!!! I would have loved to hang out with him, holding his lens cap but the massage table was calling me.

What a GREAT weekend!!!

To say thank you will never cover it all! We had such a wonderful time and so here are some pictures that we took while we were there. This won't be wordy, just pretty!

Picture #1: the view from our room
Picture #2: a view of our room
Picture #3: another view of our room

(PS - Yes, that's Doug's computer on in the one shot. He had a couple of hours work to do in order to be able to have the weekend off.)

Henry is back in hospital

We thought perhaps his pneumonia was back but apparently not. The nebulizing treatments he has been receiving have kept his lungs in better health. The doctor last night (when we took him in) thought that is was an advancement of the cancer. Unfortunately this also means an advancement of the Alzheimer's disease. They are keeping him for now and have mentioned perhaps putting him into palliative care. It is my understanding though, that palliative care does not have the facilities to house or accommodate his wandering tendencies, etc. due to the Alzheimer's. I do not know, at this time, how things will unfold.

I will not be home to post an update over the weekend (as you will know if you have read other blog entries) as this is OUR ROMANTIC WEEKEND AWAY!! I will post again Monday or so if there are any changes.

I am off to finish waxing my legs and maybe have a nap. It would be terrible to get to Niagara Falls only to sleep the weekend away from fatigue!

What world is this?

I posted to a group of AMAZING and wonderful on-line friends (whom I have been extremely close to since we "met" even though there are many of these incredible womyn that I have not actually MET IRL) about Kristin setting Doug and I up for the night in Niagara Falls. That, in an of itself continues to blow my mind!!

After posting about how blessed I felt these womyn took it upon themselves to further fill my cup to overflowing and pitched in to give us an extra night. Now Doug and I have two nights away in Niagara Falls while the boys get to spend the weekend with my parents.

I was stunned speechless . . . and you know me . . . that's no easy feat! Then I started to cry. (Again, no surprise there!)

For everyone who contributed, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. For those who have simply sent positive energy our way to allow us to have the stars line up in such a way that we can manage to swing time off together to make sure our marriage stays on track, THANK YOU! We have been feeling your love and support over the past several months and we want you to know that we know and that we appreciate it.

Sheraton On The Falls

The web address for the hotel we will be staying in is linked here: Sheraton
(I hope this works because I don't do it often enough to be confident.)

Anyway, we have been gifted with a room that has:

2 Queen Beds Traditional Non-smoking, City View, Sweet Sleeper Bed, Large Marble Bathroom, 330 Sqft Room With Cherrywood Furnishings, Oval Table With Chairs, Overlooks City Of Niagara And Famous Clifton Hill

Thank you again Kristin! This is the nicest thing EVER!!!!

The chocolate is wearing off . . .

Good morning.

Things with Henry are about the same. It is a steady decline in his abilities to do anything. He broke down crying last week because, in a momentary period of cognizance, he realized he can no longer do the little things (like get dressed or shave) himself. It was quite sad. Christena still doesn't know how to handle him and she spends a great deal of time losing her patience with him. It is infuriating but there isn't much we can do until a space becomes available for him in a care facility and we aren't the primary caregivers for him.

Right now the biggest challenge is getting her to understand that we agreed, when he came home, that she needed to be with him *ALL* of the time, unless she had arranged for respite care to come in. Our lives are *so* busy that we can't be counted on to drop everything and go sit with him while he looks at the television. She still decides, on a whim, that she needs to go to the drugstore and will just come up and announce that she is going out. She does not get that he can't be left at home alone, at all. It isn't safe for him or for everyone else. We struggle with that and she gets angry with me when I tell her she can't just go out. I think I have posted this frustration before though and so will leave it.

Last week I had a client killed in a car accident. It was HORRIFIC! She was due on April 26 and her husband was driving. He spent the week and Sunnybrook and is slowly recovering. She and the baby went to Trillium, to deliver the baby to try to save it before she died but had no luck. Both mom and baby died as a result. I asked Doug to come with me to the wake on the weekend and it was a Catholic wake. The casket was open with mom and baby laying together, holding the rosary. I don't think Doug will ever be the same. It REALLY upset him. He wasn't upset that they would do that, rather it bothered him to see the mother and baby together.

With all the has gone on here in the recent past Doug and I have decided to get away for a night. My parents have agreed to take the boys to their place the weekend of the 21st so that Doug and I can go away. We can't even do that here because Christena thinks nothing of coming upstairs to vent if she is feeling frustrated. I was out for coffee last night with a past client/now friend and was telling her we were going to Niagara Falls for the night. I explained that we had never really been before (other than to do a 5 minute viewing of the water) and when I got up this morning I found an email from her explaining that she used some of her travel points to book us a room at the Sheraton On The Falls hotel. It was so sweet. I started crying. It seems silly but there has been SO much stress lately that this seemed like the sweetest thing anyone could ever do for us.

Anyway, other than the colds that all of us seem to have, life is pretty much the same. How are YOU doing????

Noni and Chris

bought their first house. (For those of you who don't know Noni -- or Rhonda, for short -- she is my sister.) This is a picture of them on the floor (before the floors were were sanded, stained and verathaned) in their living room. I was there yesterday to see the new house and it is beautiful. They have great plans for it too.
CONGRATS Noni and Chris!!!

A brief update

A friend just asked me about Henry and I realized I haven't posted here for a while. It can be hard to keep up sometimes (with life just moving along at a break-neck pace) and this week has been especially hard. I learned that one of my clients, a woman from Mississauga who happens to be a nurse at Trillium Health Centre, was killed in an auto collision last weekend. She was still pregnant at the time and was due to deliver around the end of April. I can not tell you how profoundly this has hit me. Her partner is at Sunnybrook with serious injuries and I hope he has recovered enough to be able to attend the wake tonight and tomorrow as well as the funeral on Monday. He will need these opportunities to work through his grief. Doug has agreed to come with me to the wake tonight so that I have a support network of my own.

In any case, with that going on I have forgotten to keep you informed of changes happening here. Now that Henry is home again I think Christena is understanding why we encouraged her to allow him to stay in long-term care. It is more of a full-time job than she realized. This is especially true given that most nights, regardless of being both "tranquilized" AND "sedated" (with two different medications) he does not sleep through the night. When he doesn't sleep at night, neither does she . . . or any other adult in the house (Fergus and Quinn seem to be able to sleep through ANYTHING). Henry is most confused at night and so is louder and angrier at that time of day. It is certainly difficult for both of them.

She is also having trouble with the idea that he can't be left alone. At all! And this has happened a couple of times this week. I can't seem to get through to her. This morning I was still sleeping when I heard her come up and ask Fergus to tell me that she had gone out to the drug store for something. She has him locked in downstairs (I can get in easily, but he can't get out because we know he has a tendency to wander) and left him sleeping on the chesterfield. I couldn't do that with the boys and she needs to learn that she can't do that with him. It's like leaving a toddler home alone. I just went down to sit with him while she was gone -- even though he was sleeping -- in case he woke up.

Henry started his day program this week. It is like day care and it gives Christena a break two days a week; not to mention that it's a social and stimulating environment for him. We have someone from the local Red Cross come to pick him up at 8 in the morning. They feed him and keep him entertained and then bring him back around 3:3o in the afternoon. This is on Tuesdays and Fridays and is to give her some time to go out and run errands or catch up on lost sleep. He didn't mind going and she felt like she got a lot accomplished.

Physically he is in the same place he has been since he got out of hospital. We are hopeful that we can keep the pneumonia away with him being nebulized 6 times a day. We'll have to wait and see.

For those who celebrate Christian Easter, Happy Easter. For those who celebrate the Pagan "Hiding and finding of eggs brought by a rabbit (the symbol of fertility)," good egg-hunting to you!

FERGUS is 9!!!!!

He stayed in bed until 9:00, although he REALLY wanted to get up at 7:30. That's too early for him so I reminded him that he wanted the energy for staying up later. Now I have the whole morning to plan for the party.

We are off to pick up friends in Guelph (about 35 minutes away) this afternoon to have them come back here and have a big play. Ferg's best friend, Adam will be here when we come home from Guelph. They are planning to have a play outside, a treasure hunt and then pizza. Fergus has also asked for a dessert pizza instead of cake so we will see how that goes over. Presents will finish off the home portion of the party before we pack them in the cars and take them to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the movie theatre.

All in all I think all of us are equally excited about the party plans. I am even going to take Fergus out for lunch this afternoon so that I get some time alone with my birthday boy. He and I rarely get time one-on-one and so this is more for me then it is for him. He is very much "my" son in that his personality is much like my own so I don't think he will mind having to spend time with just his mom.

Downstairs, Henry is okay with being home. It is FAR more work than Christena thought it would be. I know he has only been gone for a few weeks but the difference in his abilities is dramatic as are his medical needs. I have spent no fewer than 3 hours tracking down all of the medications he now needs to take. He is being nebulized 6 times a day and that takes timing and patience.

Henry asks after his brothers and sisters many times a day. He does not understand that Canada is not Scotland (or Wales). He asks if we have seen Robert or Jack or Tillie or Maisie. We try not to further confuse him (because there just is no way to correct him and make him understand) so we tell him that they must be at work or out or something. When we have tried to tell him the truth he has become angry and he doesn't want that any more than we do. I am glad he thinks about his family though.

It is a glorious spring day and I am going to go out and enjoy it! I hope you are well.

He's coming home again

The long-term care facility that Christena looked at last week with Douglas and Jennifer is 50 kms. from our home. As I mentioned, Christena does not drive and would have had to take two different types of transit to travel one way. This coupled with the fact that she was convinced that others would look at her and assume she put Henry into care because she didn't want the responsibility anymore and she has decided to have him come home.

I know she never wanted him to go into care in the first place. I have tried to help her understand that no one would EVER judge her for putting him into long-term care because it is extremely emotionally and physically difficult to look after someone who is as mentally and physically incapacitated as Henry has become in the last couple of months. She didn't hear me though. She didn't hear Doug or Jennifer when they said the same thing. She is worried about how it looks and I am sure that is as much a product of the age she grew up in as anything.

If she wants him to be at home for now, until a bed becomes available at the local facility, then Doug and I are certainly happy to help her achieve that goal. She wants him home. She believes he wants to be at home. She may very well be right. The hardest part is that he doesn't know anywhere to be home anymore. She told him that she was going to bring him home and he was confused. He told her he "was home." The next day he told her he wanted to get out of there and go home.

She misses him and I don't blame her. They have been married for 43 years (April 25) and that is a long time to live with someone. I am sure I would miss Doug too and would do whatever I could to keep him home.

Henry will come home with a variety of new medications and machines to help look after him and people to come in and help out but at least he will be here. That will be easier for all of us, I am sure of that.

Hug your family!!!

Happy Ostara

Warm spring wishes to all of you! It is a typical spring day here in southern Ontario. It dawned cold and sunny and warmed up, clouded over and is now raining mid-afternoon. Goddess only knows what tonight will bring.

Henry is still in Georgetown. We know that he will be moved out of town when the next available bed comes available but we are not able to know what community he will be in. We have asked for consideration because Christena does not drive and we shall see if that is recognised at all. We acknowledge that the local hospital is not equipped to look after him as they do not have secure facilities. Yesterday afternoon he wandered out while the staff was on lunch. Thankfully he didn't get too far before they stopped and redirected him.

This reminds me of stories my parents would tell when my grandmother first went into long-term care. She was there for some time before the decision was made to place her in the secure unit as she made her way out "to go home" on a few occasions. That's what Henry was up to. He was "going home" when they found him. The challenge is that he doesn't know where home is. Even when he was here he would ask when they were going home.

Jennifer has gone back to Calgary. I am certain it was excruciating to have to leave with all that transpired while she was here. She has so much work to do that I know she is feeling grossly torn between all that she wants to be able to do. It was lovely to have her here though and to be able to spend some time together.

My irises are starting to poke their small, leafy heads through the soil in the front garden. I was looking this morning at the new bed I put in around the front tree and wondered if I should get to work at it before the ground gets too hard. I think I need the temperature to increase a little though. There's something about working the soil with your hands that rinses the worries of the world away.

Happy Spring/Ostara to all of you!!!

How Often Does It Happen

that we make a point to speak with the people most important in our lives about our wishes for the future? Nestled in bed, safe behind the cloak of darkness you reveal your secret worries to the person you love the most. Is it the future? Is it a fear of not being able to pay the bills? Is it a desire to be something you are not? Is it a longing to have more time to connect with the family you adore?

I hear many people pledge to their loved ones a commitment to stay home, a promise that no matter what, they will never be placed in a long-term care facility (previously known as a "nursing home" -- although that sounds funny to me as a breastfeeding educator). How can we ask that of the people we love? How can we even begin to know what may still lay ahead of us?

I ask these questions at this time as we are facing something monumental in our home. The doctors at the hospital are worried about the combination of Henry's lung cancer (and it seems to be advancing faster than we thought) and his Alzheimer's disease. They do not feel it is safe or wise for us to bring him home once his current bout of pneumonia passes.

To that end, Christena and I met with the hospital administrators about what was required from us, as the family, to begin the process of having him transferred to a long-term care facility. We also wondered about the costs, the locations of such places, and whether or not we would be allowed to bring him home from time to time over the holidays or something. The two women we met with (Sylvie and Brenda) were lovely. They understood how difficult it was to have to talk about these concerns and were nothing short of patient with both of us.

We have left it now in their capable hands. We know, and are slowly trying to come to terms with the idea that Henry is not ever going to live with us again. I am certain this is not what he wants. Christena feels desperately sad that she can no longer handle his care on her own. It is unbelievably sad to see how much he has changed. He no longer knows where he is living let alone who the people are in the house he lives in. Except Douglas. He always seems to know his son. That will change too, I am sure. It breaks our hearts to watch him go from confused, to angry and then cognitively completely unavailable in rapid succession. It must break his heart to that he has no control over this. Somewhere, in a recesses of his brain, I wonder if any part of him has an inkling as to what is happening to his body and his mind. It's impossible to know. I truly hope that he has no idea.

If anyone -- family or otherwise -- has any questions or would like more information about Henry's health, please email me or leave a comment here for me to advise me to get back to you.

Take care of yourselves!

Quinn followed Grandpa's example

Quinn decided he wanted to try having his picture taken like Grandpa. This is what he came up with. Given how hardy our laughs were, we were all glad Aunt Jen arrived Saturday afternoon with her various hats to choose from. This was the hat with the rhinestone skull and crossbones on the side (which is unfortunately, not visible in this image).

I wanted to post this quick note to update family overseas about Henry's health. He appears to be suffering from pneumonia again and we had him admitted to hospital last evening. His breathing became quite shallow and his oxygen levels seemed to be dropping so, despite his desire to stay home the decision was made to have his lungs looked at. The X-ray revealed what we had suspected and had been warned would likely happen. The pneumonia was back. The doctor (different than the doctors we saw a month ago with him) thought the pneumonia was quite bad and was somewhat upset that we had waited so long. He did not compare to the X-rays from last month's time in hospital so I don't know if it is worse this time or not.

Henry continues to be his feisty self and would rather be home than in hospital. After his experience of getting out and wandering around the neighbourhood last week (he was looking for his childhood home in Glasgow) we felt it important to warn the hospital staff in case he decided to pick up and leave. I feel badly for him being kept against his will. It is so hard because we know that the hospital is a better and safer place for him to be.

Henry is having a good day

What we consider to be a good day is that Henry is willing to come up and have dinner with us at our house and is not getting too impatient about getting home.

He was even willing to let Quinn stick his plastic ball on his chin and Aunt Jen's hat on his head.

We are enjoying having some time to spend together as a family as we make some monumental decisions about what the future holds for all of us.

Take care

Today seems better, so far . . .

I woke today to find myself sleeping in my own bed. That's a great start to the day. Hopefully that means that the sedatives we had ordered for Henry for nighttime did what they were supposed to do. Hopefully that means that Christena finally had the chance to have a full night's sleep.

Quinn shows fewer scars over yesterday's call to the paramedics than I do I think. His lip still has a bit of a discolouration on its right side and his finger still has a VERY small spot from the glucometre. Other than that, he has completely recovered. I think I will carry the wounds for a few more days.

Anyway, after such a crappy start to yesterday I thought I would report that today the sun is shining, the birds, well, the birds are too flaming cold to be outside as it is still only -11C here (not including the wind chill) and everything seems to be happily moving forward. Things are great this morning and we plan to have a fun day instead of a stressful one.

Thanks to all who sent words of support, encouragement, and more. Don't think I haven't seriously considered following through on the suggestion to go to the Bahamas. My only concern is that I would have to contend with the crowds of gaping tourists who have flocked there to watch the funeral procession and burial of Anna Nicole Smith. Maybe Barbados would be a better idea. Oh right, there is that pesky concern about the cost. Oh well, a girl can dream, can't she???

Here's the 4-1-1 er, um I mean the 9-1-1

Well, what have I done today??? Well my day first started at 6:00 a.m. (which may seem like a normal time for some of you to get up but for this night-owl it is a few hours too early for me) when I heard my mother-in-law, Christena trying to help my father-in-law, Henry understand that the rest of the house was trying to sleep. How my boys sleep through these conversations they have in the middle of the night, I don't know.

Henry has not been sleeping well and despite trying to give him something to encourage sleeping he has been waking every hour or so through the night for most of the last several months. It has escalated in the last couple of weeks. I don't know the last time Christena was able to sleep straight through from night to morning. He wakes and gets dressed, goes into her room and turns on the lights, fumbles through her dresser, comes upstairs "to see Douglas," and tells her he wants her to get up with him so they "can get going home." You can imagine, I am sure, how hard this would be if you were a well-rested person. Now try to imagine your frustration with sleep deprivation. Remember what it was like when you first brought your baby home from the hospital and wondered if you would ever sleep again? It's kind of like that only there is an added layer of stress as you try to work through the fact that although he is old enough to know better, he *doesn't* know any better.

This morning, after I woke to them talking loudly, I moved out to the sofa and to sleep some more. Around 7:45 I heard Henry come to the kitchen door and try to open it but we had had the foresight to lock it when going to bed last night. He went back downstairs for a while. A short time later he was back at the door but this time he knocked. I answered it and told him Douglas was in the shower and then would be going to work. He said he was going back downstairs but when Douglas came out of the bathroom he saw Henry continuing to stand at the top of the stairs.

Sometime after that (so any time after 8 a.m.) Henry let himself out the back door and left the property. He was dressed in a turtleneck and a cardigan with his pyjamas under his dress pants. Ordinarily on a March day that would be enough to keep him warm except we are in the middle of a cold spell and he went out with the temperatures around -20 C. Apparently a woman saw him walking along the road and convinced him to get into her car. She wrapped him in a blanket and called 9-1-1. (9-9-9 in the UK) Around 9:10 a.m. the police managed to find out his name and called to let us know they were bringing him home. I have no idea how long he was out in those frigid temperatures.

Once Henry was home the boys got up and moved around doing normal morning things. Fergus was anxious to get back outside to work on his "fort" so I sent them out around 11:00 to get some fresh air, Vitamin D and exercise. I watched them run around and play, listened (while I worked) to them carving away at the frozen snow beside our house and just trusted that they were enjoying themselves.

While they were outside I was checking my work email and discovered that I can anticipate a minimum $3500.00 pay cut from the hospital this year. YAY! You can imagine that I was in a wonderful emotional space when Fergus and Quinn knocked on the door at 11:54 a.m. asking to come in.

Quinn had blood on his face and I saw there was a cut on his lip. I asked him what had happened and he let me know that it was ice that cut his lip. At this point I was having trouble putting everything together and assumed he fell on the ice and cut his lip. He told me he wanted to see what his face looked like and so once we had his snow clothes off, I took him into our room to have a good look. The blood was smeared up his cheek and looked to be more substantial than I knew it was.

We moved into the bathroom to wash his face off so I could get a better look at his lip. He was trying to tell me what had gone on but then said, "Mommy I can't really see."

"What do you mean you can't really see?" voice rising rapidly.

"I can't see, Mommy!" fear and panic in his voice.

I looked over to ask again what he meant and I saw his body convulsing and he lost consciousness in my arms (I am so thankful I was there to catch him). I grabbed him and took him to the floor in the living room. I was yelling his name and his face was white as a sheet.

Fergus got Christena and then the found the phone for me. As Quinn has never passed out before my first thought was to call 9-1-1 and ask for an ambulance. By the time the paramedics arrived Quinn had better colour and was more upset by the commotion than anything else.

They took his vitals and did a glucose test (yeah, Quinn *really* doesn't like the glucometre) and said he was okay. I chose not to have him taken to the hospital as the more I thought about it the more I realised that it was likely anxiety that caused him to pass out. The blood on his face and knowing I don't like them eating icicles was probably enough stress to cause him to become overly anxious and lose consciousness. I am to keep a watchful eye over him today and take him right to the hospital should he pass out again. (Like they really needed to tell me that . . .)

What really happened outside??? Well, he pulled an icicle off the furnace vent on the side of the house. It is SO cold outside that the icicle stuck to his damp lip. When he pulled it off he took skin off too. This caused the bleeding. (Remember putting your tongue on the cold metal pole when you were a kid?? This is pretty similar to that, except that the metal pole isn't as easy to carry around with you as the icicle.) No fall, no concussion, no major catastrophe.

So, that was my day so far. Actually, that was the first three hours of my day. How was your day? I know my BIL was hit by a car this morning. (Not hard enough to be hospitalized but hard enough to know he didn't like it. And when asked if he got the plate number or make and model of the car that hit him, my source tells me that he simply answered, "No, but I gave him one of my patented evil glares.") Anyone else find today not to be the day of their dreams?????

In like a LION

As you can see, there is snow and ice as far as the eye can see (of course, we live on a quiet, residential street so the eye can't really see very far). I know the boys were anxiously waiting for snow as we watched December and early January pass without more than a few flakes. This is ridiculous though. We got about 6 inches of snow in less than 3 hours yesterday afternoon. We couldn't choose to ignore it either because we knew the freezing rain and then warmer rain were coming and unless we wanted to move heavy snow we had to act quickly. I took this picture this morning and Quinn less posing for having his picture taken and more winding up to be ready to launch his snowball at me. I had to act fast and get in the house again before he nailed me.

Yesterday, while the snow continued to fall I sound myself stuck (literally) at the home of some friends (they have a laneway that is about 1 kilometre long). I was driving the Rabbit and the poor car just couldn't get out until they had plowed the lane. The boys didn't mind. We were stuck at the home of Fergus' best friend, Adam. They took advantage of the extra time to play more video games. It was nice for me though in that Stephanie (Adam's mom) and I rarely take the time to hang out and visit with one another. We are usually dropping off or picking up from play dates while we rush about to get tasks accomplished without children in tow.

Henry is doing fairly well right now. His memory continues to fade rapidly but his physical strength is coming back dramatically. He is eating full meals (toddler-sized portions but full meals none-the-less) and manages to get himself up and down the stairs that connect our homes. He has made a habit of coming up a couple of times a day to see Doug and to visit with the boys. Last night, once we were home and while I was outside doing my share of the shoveling, Henry sat at the table to make and fly paper airplanes with Fergus and Quinn while Doug tidied up the dinner dishes. It was great to hear of him interacting with our boys like that. It happens so much less frequently these days. I know the boys miss it too.

I must finish up here by telling you that while it was sunny 20 minutes ago when I took the pictures of the boys, now it is snowing again. One thing I can't keep track of is the weather patterns of Southern Ontario!

Take care and stay warm!