Monday, February 05, 2007

Weekend Recap

Before my Grade 12 math teacher, Mr. Larmer, distributed the weekly tests, he would specify whether it would be an "ego booster" or a "character builder."

This past weekend was definitely a character builder.

On Thursday, my husband flew to Washington DC for an appointment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Without getting into too much detail, Friday morning was difficult. The working diagnosis was discarded, and a new (and in our view, questionable) label was proposed.

Saturday was our 12th anniversary. Steve's plane was to have landed in Watertown at 17:30. We had a table reserved at Sboro's for 18:30. The flight was delayed, but I was able to push our reservation by an hour. Then Steve got bumped from his flight, and had to spend the night in Pittsburgh. I cried a little, and then had the last glass of wine remaining in the house.

On Sunday, Steve's plane took off on schedule. Unfortunately, it could not land in Watertown due to a raging blizzard, so he ended up in Ogdensburg, which is about an hour away. I set out to get him, but I quickly determined that it was absolutely unsafe to drive anywhere. Local law enforcement concurred with my judgement, and issued a travel ban moments after I told Steve that I couldn't go to get him. So, he spent the night at a hotel overlooking the frozen St. Lawrence River while I undertook the Sisyphean task of clearing the driveway from the 2+ feet of snow that fell. I come from good, strong, Northern Ontario stock, so I was up for the challenge. But boy howdy, did I hurt after 4 hours of shovelling yesterday. And - here's the clincher - I had no martini fixings to soften the blow.

Finally, finally, the band of lake effect snow decided to inflict its brand of fluffy white winter cheer on the hardy folks to the south of us, and I was able to drive to Ogdensburg this morning. The husband is home. The driveway is completely cleared. We enjoyed a lovely late anniversary dinner of roasted lamb.

And I finally had my pomegranate martini!!!

Here are some stormy pictures to enjoy.


Whiteout!


Chickadee pecks at the snowless side of the seed bar.


Sparrow finds a few sunflower seeds.


Reddy Freddy finds a smackerel to eat.


The cats enjoy some cheep entertainment.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad my son in law finally made it home, safe and sound.

Will make a trip to the LCBO to have the ingredients here, the next time you come for a visit.

RBC

Anonymous said...

Rose: Having spent the first 25 years of my (long) life in H2Otown,
I can certainly sympathize with you. So glad your family is finally together, and if worst comes to worst, you always have the recourse of a trip to KGH and
a second opinion, They turn out some wonderful MDs at Queens. (My brother was one of them.)My thoughts and prayers are with you.
KMC

Rose said...

KMC, you are indeed correct. We have numerous aces left up our sleeves, including my status as a Queen's alumna and former KGH employee. :)
What was your brother's specialty? When did he train/work at Queen's? It's highly possibly that I may have crossed paths with him!

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a 'character builder'. I'm glad Steve is back home safe and sound. Let's hope an 'ego builder' comes along next - you deserve it!

Your photos are fabulous!!! What a delight to see nature in all it's glorious plumage amid all the white stuff. And I'm sure the birds are counting their lucky feathers that you live in their neighbourhood. Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos with us.

Anonymous said...

Here I am again! My first trip to Kingston was in the '30s with my brother to have our tonsils and adenoids removed. We were at the Hotel Dieu, and all I really remember was that everything was white: the walls, the linens, the
uniforms, the nun's habits, etc. We took the ferry from Cape Vincent. My bro. graduated from Queen's faculty of Medicine in 1959, did his interneship in the US, and later he did his residency at Mayo. He retired in the mid- 80's, and passed away at age 73. I doubt if he was in Kingston while
you were there, tho a neice got her Bachelors and Masters at Queens, as an OT.

I neglected to tell you how much I have enjoyed your blog. It is interesting to see familiar areas through somone else's eyes.
The area where you are will always be "home" to me, no matter how far away I am. Blessings on you and yours.
KMC

Anonymous said...

Correction: My nricr graduated from Queens, but her MS is from McMaster in OT. See how fuzzy one gets after they turn 78???
KMC