Saturday 8 July 2017

July 8th - life

Yesterday, the husband and I went "down to the city" because we needed to renew our membership to Costco. We haven't been members for perhaps a couple of years and we want to order a solar blanket for the pool through Costco's online orders. Our old solar blanket was done for, depositing little blue circles in the water on a pretty regular basis.

Unfortunately, our timing was a bit bad because their machine that takes the photos and produces the cards was not working, so we got a membership on paper, but in order to receive our cards, we will have to go to a Costco again.

Now, I realize many people shop at Costco once a week, which is mind boggling to me. I don't know how they control themselves. They must have closets filled with multiple bottles of sauces and giant boxes of cereal and a couple of extra televisions or solar lights. We managed to control ourselves (mostly due to the fact that we had a small car and could only purchase what would fit in the trunk).

While in the city, we ate at an Indian restaurant which is something we enjoy doing. We have no ethnic restaurants around where we live, apart from the obligatory Chinese food restaurants found in most towns. I had the butter chicken (I know, not very adventuresome, but very good) and husband had curried goat. We each tried the other's and liked both, especially with naan bread.

We were travelling home around dusk and the day had been warm so I knew we would likely see many animals out and about. Certain parts of our route are on what I would describe as back roads, bordered by bush land and fields. First, a small raccoon ran across the road and husband was able to stop in time, only to have to stop again quickly because another raccoon (little brother?) ran after the first one. On the same road, we encountered another raccoon, bigger than the first two, and it crossed the road unscathed. Still on the same road, I could see something ahead of us, and it was a deer. We were able to stop in time and the deer took a few moments to decide which way it wanted to go.

I always worry about my own kids who sometimes have to drive at night. I'm not really ever concerned about their driving abilities, but I do worry about other drivers they may encounter, or animals that dart out in front of them. We witnessed two separate idiot drivers who passed on a hill yesterday. They blindly pull out and, I guess, hope nobody is coming over the hill on the opposite side. Not only are they putting their lives in danger, but lives of those in oncoming cars and other drivers on the road in the general vicinity.

Today, I went around and watered all planted pots, urns, window boxes, and hanging flowers. I finished more weeding in my small vegetable garden and realized that with all of our heavy rains, the ground dried hard like concrete. The water would now have a bit of difficulty soaking in, so I tried to chop up the ground as I was weeding. All I've had from the garden so far has been lettuce, but it is still early days.

I spent a bit of time reading on the porch. I got the most recent Janet Evanovich book called Turbo Twenty-three. Her books are purely fun and I love the whole series. They are a quick read and I enjoy all the different characters who are part of each one of her books. Anyone else out there a fan?

As I am typing this, husband is watching a programme on tv about Bruce Lee's life and career. He has seen every Bruce Lee movie and has watched many other programmes about him. I've never really been the type to have a "hero" or absolute favourite actor / athlete / musician etc. I think I'm too varied. But husband has loved Bruce Lee and his discipline and philosophy since he was young.

As I think about it, even as a child, I never had a favourite toy or doll or blanket. I know children tend to have their one toy they take to bed with them or they can't sleep without a certain blanket. That was never me. In fact, weird little kid that I was, I remember trying to play equally with many toys, so as to be fair and not show favouritism (good lord, did I need therapy?).

Favourite books? How could I possible choose? Favourite movie? Maybe if it was narrowed down by category, but even then... Favourite colour? It's not about the colour, it's the combination of certain colours. Favourite food? C'mon!! Maybe I just have trouble making decisions or choices. Or maybe it's not a big deal and it's fine to have lots of things that I like.

Anyway, to continue with my stream of consciousness here, now that I am on my holidays, I find I have a never ending list of things that need doing: hair appointment, dentist appointments (for all of us!), renew all of our passports, house cleaning duties, organizational duties, yard work. All I really want to do is read a little, relax a little, realize that I have time off - and make sure I don't spend it substituting one kind of work for another.

To go back to a previous thought in a previous post, I still find I am contented. I am contented to look at my flowers, and see the many chipmunks on the property, and enjoy the warmth of the sun on me when I'm in the garden, and knowing my family is safe and sound. I am contented to know I have food in the pantry and the freezer. I am contented living in my small rural spot, especially after being slowed down to almost no movement on the 401 yesterday, even if we don't have the choices in shopping. I am contented to have my time in the morning when I have a cup of coffee sitting on the right hand side of the computer desk, reading through "my blogs" where I get to laugh, enjoy, commiserate, and share. It is a little ritual that I enjoy most mornings, but now I have even more time. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, all.



17 comments:

  1. Mmmm....interesting. "A day in the life" sort of post. Very good.

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  2. Lovely post & I enjoy reading & catching a glimpse of someone else's ordinary day(s). Mr Man & I alternate task days with relax days when we have a week off & we definitely make the day before returning to work a relax day. Costco can be tempting & I like casually casting an eye on other's shopping baskets. Costco is definitely on the list only store. We wish our little village had a Chinese food place, we have 2 pizza places! I hope you enjoy your week off.

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  3. I liked your post about life, all the everyday things that must be done and then sit and have a cup of coffee, look meditate and enjoy.

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  4. It seems a week of deep peace. I hope you have another week off on the schedule.

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  5. I have favorites, but all of my favorites have sidekicks I like too. There's been a debate in my neighborhood about what to do if you encounter a deer on the road. The current theory is that it's better to hit the animal because swerving to avoid it may cause a worse accident. I don't think I could do it. we always brake for critters on the road.

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  6. Thank you for sharing your "stream of conciousness."

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  7. Wouldn't it be nice to just relax and read a book on the terrace. That's all I thought I wanted to do when we retired out of town. Rarely happens.

    So much to be thankful for though!

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  8. I feel that same content the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep! Honestly, it's ironic you wrote about this because the only time I ever feel in danger is when I'm in the car on the road - at the mercy of other idiots out there. From the young "racers" to the bullies hiding behind their steering wheel, I dream of a life where I never ever have to drive again. I don't know that it's possible though for the lifestyle I want. Alex says we need an "intern" to go shopping for us lol...

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  9. I'd like a week of doing nothing...........that's what I think now and again but I know if I did have such a week I would still be busy doing something!
    Nice to read about your day, I love the mind picture of you treating all the toys equally so none felt left out, so sweet.

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  10. Enjoyed your post, Jenn. Keep sharing your thoughts with all of us in `blog world` so we can live vicariously through your eyes.

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  11. Being contented is, to me, pure bliss. We have the same trouble with drivers here - there are many curves in the road, hills and blind spots and there are always drivers (from Down Below) who seem to think they are invincible. I did not have any favorite toys, either. I would say that green is my favorite color, but I tend to be fickle...

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  12. Everything would be floating in our garden if we so much as waved a watering can at it! We had to go to Petawawa today. On the way back we noticed several fields that are VERY water logged. I know for a fact that one of these fields has tile drainage. The corn there is only about 4 inches tall. My friend in Cobden tells me they don't know what they are going to do about harvesting their wheat if it doesn't stop raining soon.

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  13. We joined Costco once and realized it was inviting us to buy way too much, so we stopped. It's also about 40 minutes from here - I like shopping as locally as possible without a highway drive. I'm going to check out that book series! Haven't heard of it.

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  14. We don't go to Cosco's... but even though at one time we had a membership with Sam's, there is only DH and myself... so we never buy in bulk. But I do have friends who buy at Cosco's all the time.

    As for hitting critters on the road, my daughter has hit a deer (or had a deer hit her car)twice in the hill country of Texas. It really upset her. She cried for the poor thing and wanted to take it to the Vet's. I think someone on site 'put it down'. It is a problem and a dangerous one.

    And reading the rest of your post made me think that perhaps it's us cancer birthdays that find contentment easier than some. I too have trouble answering when people ask my favorite things or why I enjoy something. Sometimes I think it comes from a mindset with no real expectations... so no obvious disappointments.

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  15. I love everything about this post but especially your comments on contentment. Isn't that the best feeling ever? Just makes a person smile.

    I don't have a Costco near me (they threaten) and so don't belong. I'm not sure if it's worth it for one person, though when I go with my friend I always end up with something. Usually more than one or two or three somethings! It sounds like you had a wonderful time on your excursion.

    And I have a hard time with favorites, too. I can usually pick a group of favorites in any category but how can you compare a mystery with a novel or a biography? A musical to a quiet, thoughtful movie? I can't. I love this post so very much!

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  16. A lovely post. It's like we're sitting on your porch chatting about stuff. I have read many books from Janet Evanovich in her Stephanie Plum Series. They are very much a quick read and very funny. I didn't finish all of them because I ventured off to other books (I've got a gazillion or so waiting to be read) but I'll get back to that again. I also don't know how people show regularly at Costco. Even when the kids were both living at home we didn't need that much stuff. I also haven't had a membership there in ages. Right now it just doesn't work for us.

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  17. I'm a little late to the party here (which has been my constant state lately), but just wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed your "stream of consciousness" post. Loved it.

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