Beautiful fall day here. The sun is out and the trees and bushes are showing off brilliant red, yellow and orange foliage among the wintergreens – takes one’s breath away. Chilly enough just for a light fall jacket or heavy sweater. My kind of weather!!

I took a dose of Nyquil last night before bed and slept for 8 hours, with only a couple of sleep-walking visits to the toilet. I’m feeling much better this morning, although still coughing. It’s a good thing because both my boys and their families (Rugrats included) are coming for an early supper. This was organized through texting during the hockey game last night – an impromptu affair that will send me to the grocery store this morning so that I can feed the bunch.  We used to have family meals here nearly every weekend, but it dropped off with Covid, then just never started up again. I’m looking forward to it. As usual, my daughter and I texted this morning, but she is doing the last jaunt at her SIL’s orchard and will be back too late to join us.

I want to stop off and see my friend, Helen, who will soon be 83 and who is feeling down lately. I made some turkey noodle soup and some French bread yesterday, and have a jar of apple jelly from the orchards that I will drop off for her. She hates to cook, but enjoys eating, although when I met her in town the other day, I noticed she has lost too much weight. From what I could gather during our short conversation, she is in a sort of depression, and her appetite is suffering. Working full-time keeps me from visiting her as much as I would like, and her family is certainly no help; in fact, they are probably a huge cause of her sad state. Another reason for my daily thanks – my gang and their antics and love allow no time for depression here! They keep me too busy, haha!

Speaking of which, if I want to be ready for them all this afternoon, I’d better get a move on! Wishing you all a great Sunday, sending out the SMILES to each and every one of you. A virtual hug with that?

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC.

I believe I have mentioned that my daughter and I chat on Messenger each morning at 5 AM. We did this even before I started working for the same company and, now that I do, because we all have a shared team software, I can see when she logs on or off the site. My daughter rarely misses a day, and if she is sick enough to not work, she lets me know.

So a couple of weeks ago, when she was 15 minutes late logging on and I had not yet had the ping on my cellphone telling me she has reached out, I sent her a message. “Slept in? A little late?”

There was no answer. I pinged her again…and again…and again. I knew she was driving in from her SO’s house, a 15 minute drive at the most, and she would have notified me if there was car trouble. Because she didn’t, an accident was the next thing that popped into my mother hen mind. She is NEVER this late.

I called. No answer. I was debating on whether I should jump in my own truck to go check things out when my phone rang. It was her, and she was calling back from the police station. The story she told me was scary!

She had been followed from the village where her SO lives right into the main town where her office is in her home. Now, even if it was 4:40 AM, it is possible that the driver behind her was heading to an early job too. However, she had a gut feeling that something was not right. Instead of going straight to her house, she went to a MacDonald’s restaurant. The driver followed. The MacDonald was closed, so she went a little further up the street and pulled into Tim Horton drive-through and picked up a coffee. The car stopped in the restaurant yard and waited. When she left, the car was behind her again. She dialed 911, and kept going until she reached the police station further along, where she entered the parking area in front of the building. The car stopped on the other side of the road and sat there idling. A police cruiser, having been warned by 911, pulled up next to her. She explained what was happening, so the officers made their way to the other vehicle to ask questions. It turned out the young man was on mescaline, and admitted that he didn’t know my daughter but that he couldn’t tell them why he was following her. He was arrested, first because of driving under the influence, then entered the station, a cop on each side of him, where a full inquiry would be made. My daughter’s voice was still shaking when she told me about it.

What could have happened? We don’t know, and don’t want to even imagine. I am happy she decided to follow her intuition and therefore avoid having to find out. It took a while for the mother hen heart to settle down from the scare.

And that was just one of the reasons I could be extra observant of this past Thanksgiving weekend, even if the family did not gather as usual. Thankful, and SMILING!!

Sharing it with you, folks!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC

We’re sick, and have been since last Monday. Little Flea brought the cold home from school and shared it around. She has bounced back but both my son and I are still feeling it, especially me with a sore throat, deep coughs, and headache off and on. Fortunately I am able to complete my workday, seeing that I don’t even have to change out of pyjamas, plus am able to break up my hours so can rest if needed. My son is a courier, but has rid himself of most of the symptoms. A good thing too, because he had to spend last Thursday pumped full of iodine for the lengthy scans required following his kidney removal and for a closer look at whatever they think is on his liver. Results are to be given on October 18^th.

On the good side, the autumn weather here is fantastic for splendid, colourful scenery, for the tangy bush smell, for the cool evenings snoozing under cozy blankets, cuddled by three beasts for extra warmth. The appointment for chimney cleaning is this weekend, and wood fires will be added to the atmosphere. There is a turkey in the freezer for our Canadian Thanksgiving, although I’m not sure what will be happening this year. Karen will be away in Toronto with her sons’ families; my daughter and her SO are helping out his sister in her huge apple orchard all weekend…and the chef (me) is still not too sure about handling preparations for a huge meal feeling as I do, plus it would be irresponsible to share these germs. I wouldn’t wish THAT hassle on anyone!

Even better – hockey pre-season has started, and baseball is so close to an exciting playoff time! That’s it for now – the energy isn’t there, but I will try to be more regular in my posting. Sorry folks, but sending you a heap of lovely maple foliage coloured SMILES to make up for time lost!!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC.

I admit that I do agree with Kabu’s comment on TAPS’ post. She wrote

Everyone. Listen. No excuses. Let’s just write even if it is only to say I am still here and it is another day. I love you all so much…

I am in reading regularly, and I know I get worried if someone doesn’t post for more than a couple of consecutive days unless they have warned us they will be away for a bit. So…guilty as charged.

It’s not that I have nothing to tell. Being surrounded by animals and friends and family, especially the little ones who always have something going on, there is plenty of material available. I just need to mind myself to sit down and WRITE. Today my promise is to endeavour to be more regular in the future. We shall see how that plays out.

Tuesday night my Dunany Demons brought us a small storm; a little rain and slight winds. I had been working since 3 AM and at 5:30 BANG – electric power off.  Totally unexpected, nothing prepared, and my new generator delivery delayed until next week. Bummer. The hydro came back on at 2 PM, but the internet did not. I called our provider, who told me there seemed to be a problem on the line; the technician would only be available tomorrow.

Fortunately the work I am doing for the new job doesn’t require that I go to the office if unable to do it remotely for a couple of days. Make up time is allowed when the internet is restored (I did so Thursday night until 10 PM and again yesterday) so I was there to watch the techie climb a pole to change a wire. Those pesky squirrels had chewed on it, leaving it open to the elements!  Grrrr!  With all the trouble the rodents (cute or not) cause around here, I’m still wondering why I feel sorrow whenever I see one crushed on the road. The poor thing was probably on its way to join the others in my ceiling so I should be rejoicing instead, right?

And both Karen and I have become avid baseball fans, in the absence of basketball and hockey. With a game televised most days, we tend to time activity so that we can sit and cheer on our Toronto Blue Jays, who at present are trouncing the Baltimore Orioles. All we need to add is football and this place would be a sports guy’s paradise, LOL!

That’s it for now, Folks. Sending our SMILES to y’all, wishing you a great Sunday with all kinds of nice things happening for you.

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC

All it took was me bragging about our perfect temperatures. Today made a liar out of me – it is humid and too darned hot. A thunderstorm is on its way tonight they say, which will be wonderful to cool things down, but certainly not conductive to any sleep in this house. So far Mommy, my oldest beast, isn’t showing signs of unease, so maybe it won’t happen. She is actually much better at predicting those storms than the weather station.

Little Flea’s mommy contacted me today, telling me that her boss’s wife has gone into labor and he was off to the hospital and wanted her to open the restaurant for him tomorrow. Could she drop Little Flea with me in the morning? Well, of course! Even if I am working here, the child is quiet like a little mouse – a magic mouse – and it is always a pleasure to have her. She’ll stay until daddy picks her up in the evening. It had already been planned that she come on Wednesday and Thursday after school, so I’ll get plenty of Little Flea time this week. Happy Mémère!! I’ll also get plenty of son-time too, because he has his supper here when he comes for her.

Suzie was on her way home to Detroit yesterday, she had come up for our friend’s celebration of life, and she got rear-ended on the Trans-Canada Highway 401. Fortunately nobody was hurt, although the vehicles have enough damage. From what she told me, the disturbing thing was that there was a baby in the car who hit her. It kind of makes our heart do double time whenever a child is involved in a dangerous situation.

It has started to rain, and is now my bedtime. If I’m lucky I’ll get a couple of hours in before or if thunder happens and Mommy gets too wired, so I’ll send you my sleepy SMILES, and wish y’all a goodnight!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC.

Since childhood, I am what could be categorized as a night-owl?

One of the best jobs I have ever had was for the Foreign Exchange in the Airport. It was only a 30 minute drive from home with hardly any traffic, and not long after being hired, I was named supervisor and asked to take the 4:00 AM to noon shift. Even less traffic! It was a perfect fit.

My kids were all young and in school at the time. Although I wasn’t home for breakfast, actually the easiest meal for all of them, usually being cereal, their lunches were prepared the night before, and I returned in plenty of time to do any shopping necessary, relax a bit, often with a short nap, then prepare supper, help with homework, and all of us to bed by 9 PM at the latest. I would be back up and rolling around 2 AM. Like I said – a perfect fit.

Jobs and things change; becoming part of the corporate world meant having to be awake and functioning along the 8 to 6 highway like most others. My sleeping habits degenerated over the years. I blamed it on aging, spent hours researching ways of curing my ‘insomnia’, and hated feeling so tired all the time. What I now realize is that I’ve been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

We’ve come full circle. This new employment, done from home in pyjamas yet, offered the choice of shift hours. How long do you think it took me to request a gig from 4 AM to noon? I’m always awake around 2 AM, no matter what time I retire or need to wake, so this is, once again, a perfect fit.

I’m in bed and SLEEPING around 8:30-9:00 P.M, then up again and ready to start anywhere between 2 and 3:30 AM. Not counting the training period it has only been 10 days and I finally have energy to burn!!

Folks – I am SMIING all over my face!!! Sending some of those SMILES out to you – they are big and sooo happy and quite easily turn into a giggle!! I hope you enjoy them!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC

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My training went better than expected, so I was able to start working from home on Wednesday instead of next Monday. Loving it, as are the beasts and Miss Pistache, who calls to me when I Ieave her area to go into my office. After a bit she stops squawking, and I hear her mutter to herself; that’s usually when any new word she has picked up is tested. The little mouthpiece won`t always say it when I’m trying to show her off to someone.

Lots has happened in the past 3 weeks, during one of which I was catching up on my keyboard skills from home, and the remaining days commuting to the office for the official initiation into the Brokerage world.

During which….

We lost a friend suddenly from a brain aneurism – her viewing was last night and her Celebration of Life is this afternoon. A beautiful person, original and one of a kind, who will be painfully missed. My Suzie arrived yesterday from Detroit for this reason and will be spending the week here.

There is a huge hole in my gallery, blocked off to the dogs, of course, because it has become dangerous. I stood and watched as another friend pulled up the boards with his HANDS – they were that rotten – and wondered just when I`ll be able to have it repaired with the cost of everything today. I love my gallery – it’s my favourite place in this whole house. We can still use it, but instead of going around the building it is now is two sections; to get from one section to the other means going back inside and out another door. The beasts are confused and not at all liking me being on one part and them on the other without access to where I am standing.

The Canadian World Junior Hockey Championship has been giving us some spectacular games, and our lads have been winning. They will be playing Finland tonight for the gold, and I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t had time to cook or bake, so thankfully hockey is my stress reliever in the meantime.

That’s it for now, folks. Sending you all huge SMILES – no matter how busy, there is always time for that!!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC

Today is my last day at the present job. I would have liked to leave with a flourish, if only in my mind, but Morpheus was evasive last night, so I imagine at the end of my shift I will be limping out of there, clenching my teeth with pain in my back, as usual.

One of my friends, hearing my plans, shook her head and laughed. “So…at 72 and you’re changing careers?” What does it say that she wasn’t surprized all that much, with only a slight raising of her eyebrows when I told her where I have been working for the past 5 months, or that I was still working at all? Anyone who has been told I was changing assumes it will be for something in the accounting field. Not. Nope. Please, no more!! And what kind of challenge would that be?

In the coming days I need to spend time preparing my home office for the installation of new equipment, anticipating that the Company’s provider can schedule it before the end of the month of August. I will also be registering for a customs brokerage course, which hopefully will be completed within the year. It’s going to be busy, but it will be from home, and THAT will make a huge difference, especially for my beasts and the mouthy bird.

Karen left for her sister’s place yesterday; she’s pet and house sitting while that family is on vacation, and I am responsible for watering the gardens and plants during her absence. The timing couldn’t have been better, seeing that my training starts the day after her return.

The rhubarb is ready, and I have crates of strawberries in the fridge, so I will take the time to make our pies too. I can already taste them…YUM!

Off I go, folks. Shower and dress and prepare the animals before my departure…all which seemed to take much less time when I was 30 years younger…or is it that I was faster then? Whatever, I’m on the run right now.

Sharing with you huge SMILES, and wishing you a lovely day with plenty of joy!!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC

Beautiful weather in my mountain right now, 24C which is around 75F, I believe. Sun is shining with a few puffy clouds in the sky, but no mention of rain in the forecast. Guess there will be some watering to do in the garden, although I’ll wait on Karen to get back this afternoon to be certain. She’s the expert, and I don’t want to drown the poor plants, which is well within my blunders.

I mentioned already that we have been having problems with the internet since the recent huge storm. A company technician came last week and repaired mine, but the Company hadn’t given instruction to do the same with the one downstairs, so he couldn’t touch it. Again, after this Sunday’s heavy winds, both WIFI connections stopped functioning. It takes forever and a day to get things regulated with a tech over the phone, so I waited until after I arrived home from work to call. We first tackled my modem, and after many, many minutes he managed a miracle, and my modem was flashing positive! We tried the same downstairs, but after many, many more minutes, a couple of times his hanging up to get info elsewhere then calling back, it was confirmed that another technician needed to come on site and check things out.

We’re talking being on the phone for approximately 2 hours here. During that time I had him on speaker, so of course he heard me let the beasts in and out a few times, make myself a coffee, use the ‘john’ (but I blocked the speaker during THAT event, LOL) and the mouthy bird calling ‘Hello? Coucou!’ over and over, plus the sweet nothings I routinely murmur to my animal (and bird) friends when with them.

At one point near the end of our conversation he told me he needed to, once again, put me on hold while he called another department. I had already mentioned that I had just finished standing for 6 hours at work, implying politely ‘Can we hurry this up?’, so it was no surprise when he nicely suggested that I take a break, have a drink and relax while waiting. “Way ahead of ya,” I answered. “I’m on my second glass of wine.”

“Good for you!” He replied. Within 10 minutes he was back confirming the tech would come here tomorrow. I asked him his name (always a good idea to take names). He was already chuckling when he told me “My name is Sam.”

Immediate flashback. My male pup, Sam, had come up to me for cuddles during our conversation, and I had done the usual “Hey there, my sweet Sam boy! You’re such a good boy, just my lovey-dovey fellow, aren’t you? Just the best boy in the world…etc., etc.” The guy had certainly heard all this. After my red-faced moment of silence, I realize how hilarious it was.

“Ummm…well, my dog here is called Sam, and you do realize I was talking to HIM, right?” We were both laughing outright by now. He assured me that yes, he was aware that I hadn’t known it was his name too, but that he was grinning all along during my cooing… and he was hoping that I would ask for his identification at the end of our call so he could share the joke.

That’s how my day ended, folks. No wonder I’m SMILING!! Hope reading this made you SMILE too!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC

We did get to visit our friend, bringing along a care package, in which was included some cinnamon buns baked while the oven was hot. We spent a couple of hours chatting and laughing with her, only leaving when the storm started. On the way home I had to drive around some big branches that the heavy wind blew down across the road. The beasts were happy to see us, but the mouthy bird was in a huff. When a human has been absent, in most cases on their return dogs will be ecstatic with joy, and usually cats will totally ignore us, but that bird gets very, very grumpy! The electric power was off when we arrived, so no lights, and I was tired so went ahead to bed shortly after. Because it was still dark, I didn’t cover her cage as usual, and I guess the hydro coming back on during the night and lighting up the room wasn’t to her liking. She is still grumpy this morning, attempting to bite me as I fed her. She got a scolding, no cuddles and a time out – meaning her cage is closed up for a while. She’s in there now, ringing her bell as hard as she can with a temper tantrum. That girl has character!

Today I’m starting my last week at the store. Following that there will be another week between jobs to prepare my home office for the new equipment to be installed. I am so looking forward to this! I am ready for a new challenge; I already feel 10 years younger just thinking about it. I plan to register for a course in Custom brokerage that will begin in August, paving the way for advancement in the Company. There is another incentive for that; during my interview, I inadvertently mentioned that I had been in accounting most of my working career and the interviewer’s eyes lit up. He was too interested, and I really don’t want to go down that road again. By being involved in brokerage, I’m hoping he will forget accounting was ever mentioned, because I am well aware that there is always room for that type of work in most companies. UGH!

That’s it for today, folks – got run to prepare. Seems to take me much longer than it did when I was younger. Wishing you all a great day, with lotsa SMILES, whether you give them or get them in. I’m sending mine off to y’all right now – in fact it’s a huge, happy grin!!

LUV FROM THE BUSH IN QUEBEC