Ode to the Winter Solstice...by Val

Ode to the Winter Solstice

&

Season’s Greetings

by

Val the Athiest

The month of December

Is a calendaric monstrosity.

It is a time when chronology

Recapitulates ontological religiosity.

On the winter Solstice,

The Pagans have their say

And, let us be clear…

It is a dark, dark day!

In this dark month

The Eight Days of Chanukah

Are celebrated by the Jews.

Their festival of lights

Claims the victory of the Maccabees

Over those ancient Syrian fools.

On march the Christians

Claiming December 25^th as The Most Holy Day.

The Messiah has emerged from the

Virgin’s womb, they shout.

Repent and convert all you

Pagan and Jewish louts!

Luckily the New Year will soon be welcomed in.

A fresh new calendar, a fresh new vision…

Rise up secular humanists and religious moderates,

Rise up spiritual atheists and agnostics.

Let us come together

And save ourselves from dogmatic religious division!

Evolution, evolution stay the course.

Let ontogeny and phylogeny

Guide ontology.

Let a culture of awakening guide

Human consciousness into

A grand, loving and kind tour de force.

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We are spending the holiday break at the cottage; lucky us. It's the first time in three years we've been able to get up there and I am really looking forward to it. Val went up a few days ago with our friend Yvonne. The cottage had been empty since my one overnight in late October. It was cold to the bone when Val and Yvonne arrived on Thursday, and it took a full 24 hours to warm up. The water is running in the taps and the kitchen drains are working as they should. I'm bringing fresh food. What more do we need? Oh yes. There's wine and martini fixings, as well as Scotch. There, now what more do we need?

The outside temps have been like Vancouver recently, although Boxing Day is supposed to bring us proper Manitoba weather again: minus 20 with bright sunshine. Bring it on, say I. These slushy mushy days of drizzle and grey are no way to spend the winter months; at least not in Winnipeg!

Colin is still waiting for a spot in a long-term home. Mum is settling in to her new way of life. Charles, Lisa and Max and Sam are spending a good chunk of time over Christmas with Mum at Willow Way; Katy and her partner, Guy, will spend Christmas Day with Dad and then overnight at Willow Way.

I am tired and grateful to have finally arrived at this evening. The New Year will bring what it will. For the moment, all is well with us. May you be blessed with peace and contentment, wherever you are and however you mark this season.

Love,
Amanda

More of the same

Colin remains in hospital, where his body continues to chug along and his mind is kept lively by reading books (My Life in France by Julia Childs is his current focus) and chatting on his cell phone to his various family members and friends. It will take some time to find a long-term care home placement for him, but that is the plan. 

Meanwhile, Anne is accommodating to life on her own at Willow Way. From our frequent conversations with her, it seems that visitors come and go often (some bringing shopping, others doing chores around the house, some just visiting). Last week, she was taken out by friends to celebrate her 86th birthday, which took place officially on Nov. 4th.

In Winnipeg, Val and Amanda are both in various stages of a regular head cold. We should be through it all by next week, here's hoping anyway. 

Winter has arrived with some snow and some cold. Nothing like poor Buffalo got and thank goodness for that! 

The new garage is wonderful: We drive in and out, using the automatic door, with great pleasure. 

I don't remember Dad with a beard, but he grew one for many years. I do remember him smoking, and all his various attempts to quit, which he eventually did in the early 70s when we lived in England. 

Mum celebrating her 86th birthday with friends recently. 

Our car parked, as we used to do it. 

Our car parked, as we now do it. It's a tight fit, not an inch wasted, not a problem. 

The structure itself in all its not-yet-sided glory. That will come in the spring. 

Colin update

Colin remains in hospital, now in a 2-bed room, and holding his own. Today, Anne and her good friend Connie procured a new cell phone with a call-all-you-want monthly plan and took it to Colin; he is now, once again, in touch with the outside world. He likes chatting on the phone. 

Where this is all going, we don't know, but going home to Willow Way is no longer an option; he just needs too much care. So. Anne is adjusting to life without full-time nursing duties, and Colin waits to see if a nursing home bed comes open sooner...or later. 

In the mean time, I've found a few photos from Colin's younger days. He was a truly dashing young man. 

Colin, circa 1961 (maybe '62). Katy on left, Amanda on right. 

Colin with his lovely Aunty Marjie; she is the aunt who rode on the back of his motorcycle (see below) and who was an entrepreneurial importer of coffee. Here is the accurate story, courtesy of Anne: "Aunty Marjie's coffee business was special. the coffee was called Blue Danube, a Viennese type roast that included figs; only high-class grocers stocked it, for the enjoyment of connoisseurs, so it was a fairly limited market. Marjie and her brother Geoffrey started the business and created the roast  from their memories of coffee they had  enjoyed in Vienna." A woman ahead of her time. This photo is from 1948.

Colin looks younger here than in the photo by the fireplace. Mum tells me this photo is from 1942. 

Updates: Colin and garage

The fall has been lovely, but winter is coming. I must get the windows washed! 

Colin is in hospital, having become weaker and weaker over the past 10 days or so. I was in Edmonton for a long weekend in late October, and he was just managing at home with phenomenal care from Mum and the homecare workers. This weekend, Katy was there and Dad couldn't manage getting in or out of bed on his own anymore, so the paramedics took him to a local  hospital. We now wait for news about his next move, possibly into a nursing home (the paperwork for which has been underway over the past week; thank goodness for this timing). Stay tuned. 

Val continues to recover and re-enter regular life. She doesn't have the stamina she would like and is easily tired, but she pushes on and is teaching two yoga classes a week, plus is deep into another session of teacher training at the yoga studio. Life goes on.

On a more mundane front, our garage is coming along well. These pics show where we're at. The roof should be up and on this week; we won't side the building til the spring. 

Our latest project

All continues along here. I am busy with quite large classes this term, and Val is teaching two, sometimes three, yoga classes a week. We are both tired and convincing ourselves we are enjoying this return to a normal pace...

And, just in case, we might be bored without all those endless medical appointments, we've decided to finally have the garage torn down and rebuilt by Paul Willems and his crew, Paint 'n Hammer (who also did the gorgeous paint job on our house in July). 

Wow. When a structure comes down, it sure opens up the property: Right down the alley to the next block! Tomorrow, a security fence will go up, and then, I guess, the old pad will be ripped out and re-poured and construction can start once that is cured.

Let's hope it all comes together before any major snow falls! 

Ours is the terra cotta house on the left: New paint job, old garage

Hey presto: Garage gone! For those of you who know the house,
note the new green awnings we splurged on after the paint job. 

From just outside the back door...
all the way down the alley to the next block

The backyard seems quite big without the garage. 

New awnings close-up

Val's birthday

Val's birthday weekend began with an appointment Friday afternoon at CancerCare to have her port removed - yahoo, no more need for that! Yvonne came over for a fun dinner that evening. Saturday we tidied out the garage (oh joy), had leftovers for supper and watched another episode of Foyle's War, a BBC WWII drama we are really enjoying. This evening we're having dinner with Randa. In the meantime, my parents and sister have called, and Erika dropped by this morning with a tray of birthday cookies. And the weather is sunny, so it's a good day here at our house! 

Birthday cookies from Erika, Eva and Jacki. Delicious! 

Val playing Scrabble last weekend in the gazebo at the cottage. She won. 

Val's Birthday Eve gift was a Scrabble mug. If she finishes the drink,
she gets a Triple Letter Score on the bottom of the mug!

Val's Birthday gift was a cordless rechargeable snow blower. She can't wait for the snow to come! 

Val at the cottage last weekend getting ready to head outside in the drizzle. Look at those curls under the hat!