Summer in Canada

We’ve heard from some people who are wondering about our news, and would rather we kept up this weblog. Here’s a synopsis, a little over half-way through our time back in Canada:

We've been home since early June. Most of June and all of July were rainy. It was warm, but not good for sailing, nor for any of the things on which I (Laurie) was working. I had promised to do some major fiberglass work on a friend's Hobie 16, had to rebuild the rudders on my own Hobie 21, and had also set up to do a lot of stripping and recoating of the varnish on the exterior pine of our Grand Lake cottage. Oh well, it ultimately all got completed. The slightly cooler evenings in July also allowed us to enjoy our hot tub more than during a normal summer.

We have had to make many runs into Fredericton, about an hour away. A lot of our time has been taken up by Dawn's 75 y/o father. He was showing some minor signs of Alzheimer's over the last couple of years, but he had a stroke in May, and went to the "head of the class". He has been in and out of the hospital, and now is back in, awaiting placement in a special care facility. Physically, his health is returning, but is still limited in what he can do, but is quite mobile. He isn't too bad when properly medicated, but he needs to be watched a lot, and is a wide-awake and confused problem most of the night. Dawn's mother just can't manage him in the long run. Anyway, this stuff - trips to town to visit him and help Dawn's mom - takes 2-3 days out of every week, and a lot of our "mental time". The trips to spend time with Dawn’s father have been nice, though. Although often confused as he lives this terrible nightmare, he is a model patient and good company.

We have been able to organize our visits to town with our own chores, which include an amazing number of dental and medical visits. The tooth I broke in Guadeloupe, which was repaired there and again in St. Lucia, ultimately took four visits to our dentist. Amazingly, the day after I had the permanent crown installed, Dawn broke one of her own molars; and the visits continued. It was apparently a banner summer for dental activity: My sister also broke a molar, and even our dentist, Dr. Biskupski, had to see a dentist for her own crown. With respect to the medical side, Dawn is presently walking around with a cast on her right wrist; the result of a carpal tunnel snip on Tuesday.

August was as good as July was bad, with the warm summer breezes that our minds dream of during the cold winters of Atlantic Canada. The weeks were quiet, with most of our friends still working, but the weekends were filled with visitors and parties. We finally got the H-21 assembled and sailing by the end of July, and had some fun on her. A neighbour held their 5th annual pig roast, and helping and attending that was fantastic, with over 100 attendees. With many of our neighbours involved in home/cottage improvement projects, I’ve enjoyed swinging a hammer and doing some light labour as well.

One thing that I have not done is visit my former place of employment. Dawn has had lunch with a few colleagues to help keep up. I feel guilty about not returning to see everyone, but I keep recalling what happens there when the retirees stop by. People, running from phone calls to meetings stop to greet then run away again, usually feeling guilty about the limited exchange. The retiree is left taking up the time of dispatchers and receptionists while the organized chaos carries on – not a real nice visit. As well, people and things change so fast. Well, maybe before I leave…

We still have ~ sixty more days here - we fly back to Trini on Nov 17th (and splash the next week). It is cool nights (expected to go to freezing tonight), and the days vary considerably. Each week involves a couple of days in town, and some quiet time back here at the Lake. The leaves are turning, making the landscape quite beautiful. Hopefully, we’ll enjoy the fall, and the coolness will help us to curb the complaining about the heat when we get back south.

So, that's the news so far.