Food, friends and music

Famously said by Eeyore, "What are birthdays, after all? Here to day and gone tomorrow." True, but how lovely a day it is when it is here and it is marked with love by friends from far and near!

Mine yesterday (February 6th) marked 56 years. I know that 56 is the new 23 -- or whatever the current clever quip is. But, really: 56 puts me waaaaay closer to 60 than I've ever been before, and that seems worthy of pause because by 60 I'll be in a position to seriously consider retiring from the full-time work world. And that's exciting to contemplate. 

Until then, I'll continue to enjoy my work as a college instructor and my recently acquired duties as department coordinator. Those who know me well will know how much I love organizing and planning systems and structures; now I get to do that beyond just the classroom. I hope to have the chance to update teaching materials and expand our offerings to include the teaching of interpersonal communication skills (our current focus is written communication skills). 

So, life is grand and the future looks good. The snow is swirling outside, but all is cozy and warm within. 

Sending love and thanks to all who are part of my world. 

xxoo 

FOOD: Birthday cake, which we started eating on my Birthday Eve,
after a delicious supper of Val's famous Greek-style chicken. Yum all round! 

FRIENDS: Cards and flowers: Who needs more than this to mark a birthday? 

MUSIC: Val and I, with Mendel and Debbie, attended a fantastic concert by the Winnipeg Symphony yesterday evening. Guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen  led the orchestra in three pieces, including Sibelius's 5th Symphony -- it was out-of-this world fantastic. Chen is a superb artist whose energy positively leaps off the conductor's podium. Remember her name; this young woman (only 43!!) is going places. We're seriously thinking about going to Chicago to hear her conduct that city's symphony. See her here, guest conducting the Vancouver Symphony: Mei-Ann Chen and VSO

New parts: all good

Val's surgery was very successful. The brilliant Dr. Hedden replaced the old 24mm ball with a new and improved 36mm one, which will give Val much better stability. I think the cup lining was also replaced. I'll get the full details from Val - or better yet, get her to write a post herself!


Today is Saturday, and it's possible Val will be home tomorrow. So, for me, it's 'get ready' day: rent the various pieces of equipment we'll need around the house and generally tidy up so there are no impediments lying around to trip her up!


She has her iPhone with her, so texts and emails get to her. She would love to hear from you.


xo

Update on three fronts

1. Mum is in the hospital with double pneumonia. Making slow progress. The local 'village' of friends is rallying round superbly and providing visits and nourishment of both the food and the spirit variety. Thank you!

2. I passed that kidney stone of the last post. Phew. Don't need to experience that kind of pain again. No diagnosis yet from the lab of the make-up of the stone.

3. This morning (Thursday), Val dislocated her right hip (replacement surgery took place in 2001). She's landed in hospital where the surgeon will do a minor procedure (that's what he called it) to replace the cup that holds the ball (I think I have the anatomy right). Poor Val. She is miserable about this; not so much because it was painful but because it is yet another thing gone wrong with her body that will require her to restrict her activities.

The dislocation happened, as these things often do, in a mundane way: She was getting her jacket out of the hall closet to go to the morning cancer-patient yoga class at Yoga North, she twisted her foot under the hall carpet and somehow twisted the damn joint out of the socket.

The paramedics and the hospital emergency staff were excellent, and I am so grateful for that.

Please send positive vibes this way!
Love,
Amanda

And now for something completely different

Anne continues to settle satisfactorily into her new life in Rosedale.

Val continues to struggle with the anti-estrogen drug she is on, as it causes aches and pains throughout her body. We'll see where this goes. 

Amanda is the 'something completely different': I am experiencing the pain of a kidney stone. Yikes. Who would have thought such a small thing could cause such major discomfort! I left my Friday afternoon class half-way through as I couldn't pay attention to the students' presentations for one more minute. A kind colleague drove me home; the pain subsided over the afternoon but had returned by Saturday morning. A trip to our local 'urgent care' centre gave me the diagnosis, even though nothing showed up on Xray (95% of stones don't). I'll book a CT scan on Monday; maybe that will show the size of this unwelcome intruder. In the mean time, drugs are managing the pain while I wait for the stone to, literally, pass.

This time last year, Val was heading towards 16 radiation treatments. These are the aloe vera plants we bought from which she used the gel to ease the sting of the burns. They now sit and merely serve to enhance the west-facing kitchen windows. We've come a long way, baby, in some good respects. Phew!

Anne's move to Rosedale

Dad's memorial service was held on Saturday, Feb. 7th. The following Monday, Val and I started the task of packing up Willow Way and getting Mum ready to move to Rosedale, her new digs. It was hard work, it was fun and it was oh-so rewarding. 

Anne was a total trouper who made fast decisions about what to keep, what to toss and what to pass along. 

Val spent hours packing up books for the local library, and more hours packing up toys for the neighbours, and more  hours packing up donations for pick-up by the Cerebral Palsy association. The driveway was half-filled (just about) with the boxes for CP. 

In addition, friends and neighbours all stepped forward to claim their favourite table or sofa or piece of art. Between the whole community village, we winnowed down the possessions to a manageable quantity that the movers then trucked over to Rosedale. 

These pics give  you a sense of Mum's new apartment on the third floor; it faces north/north-west and is well situated to view life on the street. Val and I spent three nights there and, by the time we left on Sunday the 22nd, it was beginning to feel like home to Anne. Phew! 

This week, Katy is there with Mum getting her truly settled in. Putting pictures and paintings up on the wall is something that will happen next. 

The entry way; front door is right behind you (as it were). 

From the kitchen looking across the half-wall towards the living room. 

Bedroom, where that box in the right corner has now been replaced with a snazzy new desk from IKEA - see below. 

The apartment is just 631 sq feet, so each room has multiple functions; the bedroom will serve as a study/office, also. 

Mum reading the weekend paper; that red chair will be replaced by a new reclining arm chair come spring. 

Jennifer came for supper on Friday. The four of us easily fit into the living room for conversation before the meal. Jennie is sitting on the new sofa bed that Val and I bought for Mum from Sears in Winnipeg and which was shipped to Edmonton from their warehouse in Calgary! 

From the living room into the kitchen; it's a good size, so easy to get around with a walker. 

Colin's memorial service in pics

The memorial service for Colin was held in Edmonton on Saturday, February 7th, and it was a lovely afternoon. The three children spoke, as did family friends Craig and Barbara and Jane, and Al tied it all together by singing 'To everything there is a season' accompanied by his guitar. Stories were told, tears were shed, laughter was shared, and food was eaten. I'm pretty sure that Dad would have enjoyed it! 

Some of us then gathered at the house for more conversation and refreshments. These pics below capture, I think, the warmth of the event. 

Many thanks to everyone who was there in person and many thanks to those of you who ate a chocolate biscuit in Colin's honour that afternoon!

Amanda

Katy

Charles

Max and Sam, Charles and Lisa's sons, acting up with the calendars that Colin and Katy made together at Christmas for the last several years. All full of family pics and put together by Dad on his computer, with Katy assisting from a distance. 

Ann Tweddle, friend extraordinaire, with Anne Le Rougetel

Charles, Amanda and Katy

The three Le Rougetel kids with their partners and nephews: (from left) Val, Charles, Guy, Lisa. Val, Katy, Amanda, Sam. Max in front. 

The whole family, with Mum reigning as the matriarch in the chair. 

Moving on

Colin as a boy,
sketched by his mother, Molly,
who was an artist

Just a short post to let you know that we will mark Dad's death by celebrating his life on February 7th.

It will be a historic event in more ways than one, as it will be the first time since 1993 that the siblings have all three been together - with their partners and, in my brother's case, children, too. It will be a moment to be captured on camera!

The family house has been sold and Mum will be moved into her new senior's suite by mid-March. Val and I will help with the move, and Katy will follow along to tie up the loose ends.

New beginnings all round.

Think of Colin on the afternoon this coming Saturday, and enjoy a good chocolate biscuit in his memory. He loved to have one...well, just about any time, but certainly with afternoon tea.

Colin Le Rougetel (1923-2015)

Colin Maxwell Helier Le Rougetel died on January 22^nd, just one day shy of his 89^th birthday. His death is a blessed release from an earth- and body-bound life that had become a burden to his spirit. He leaves to cherish his memory his beloved wife Anne, his children, Katy (Guy), Amanda (Val), and Charles (Lisa). His grand-sons Max and Sam held a special place in his heart; he loved being their Canada Grand-pa.

Colin was a man who loved and was loved. He embraced life and took on the challenges it brought. Born in Peking (Beijing) because his father was stationed there by the British Foreign Service, Colin was trained to enter the British Navy at Dartmouth Naval College; he served during the tail end of WWII. He left the Navy to attend university, but he met Anne and, like a bolt of lightening (as he always told the story), that was it; he was in life-long love. He left the British Navy, because he wanted to support his wife and the children whom he very much wanted.

Anne and Colin were married in London, England, in 1951, and moved across the Atlantic in 1953 to embark on a new life in Canada; it was a move that served his family well. His work in sales & marketing took him back and forth between Canada and Europe over the next two-plus decades, and his children gained tremendously from the experience: Katy was born in Montreal, Amanda in Toronto, and Charles in Bad-Homburg, Germany. Languages were learned, friends were made, and cultures were explored; we maybe had gaps in our formal education, but we had no shortage of life-lived lessons that formed us and prepared us for our own lives of challenge and change. Colin and Anne’s home was always the place their children’s’ friends congregated for conversation and fun.

Over the last 13 months of his life, Colin was faced with increasing physical difficulties; his body was giving out but his mind remained active. Conversations with his family were had by phone right up to the very evening of the night of his death.

The family thanks everyone who has helped along the way. It takes a village to care for a loved one, and we had a village, indeed. Carmelita, Robert and Brad from Baycrest were wonderful. Ann, Jennifer and Doug Tweddle; Barbara Chan; and Al and Jane Dunbar are family in spirit and in deed. No one could ask for better and truer friends than these.

A celebration of life is being planned in Edmonton for early February. 

Family update

Well. The New Year has started with sweeping change for the Le Rougetel family.

Colin has been moved from the small regional hospital he had been in since mid-November to a downtown long-term care home. He has been there just over two weeks and it's hard to say he's happy. His physical capacity has diminished and his dependency on the care staff has increased: Who would be happy about that? He struggles on, but often says he would be happier "on the other side". Please hold him in your hearts and wish him God speed on his journey. It is what he says he wants.

The same week that Colin was moved into downtown Edmonton, Anne received a call from the seniors residence complex saying that a suite had become available and it was hers if she wanted it. It took her only about 24 hours, much discussion and an on-site tour to know that it was perfect and perfect timing, too.

Since that time, we have all been poring over the suite layout plans and making trips to IKEA and discussing furniture options. Anne takes possession Feb. 1. I (Amanda) am going out for a long weekend at the end of January and then Val and I will go for about nine days mid-February to help sort out the family home and get Anne ready for the move into Rosedale. All very exciting.

To boot, the family home is now on the market (view listing) and viewings have already begun this weekend. Take a tour and pass it along to anyone who's interested in a good house (that needs updating) in a great neighbourhood (just south of West Edmonton Mall).

Keep your fingers crossed that all continues to move along. Life cycles through the various phases it offers us, and we must simply try to keep up.

I'll keep you posted on news as it develops.
Love,
Amanda

PS: Val is doing well, and I am getting into the swing of the winter term. We are the least of the news these days!

Christmas 2014 at the cottage

Lake Winnipeg was well and truly frozen, and gorgeous in the (very) crisp winter sunshine. 

My version of a Christmas tree. 

Val got out and about every day, first to fill the bird feeders on our our lot, and then off somewhere for a walk. 

Inside was warm and cozy; our friend Yvonne (right) came up on New Year's Day for a couple of nights. 

Holly is not her most active in the dead of winter! 

Before I arrived, Val and Yvonne went up with Yvonne's dog, Bella, and our friends' dog, Kiwi; they all opened up the cottage and warmed it up from the winter cold. It took a full 24 hours to get the warmth into the woodwork! 

We went through quite a lot of wood in our little Jotl stove. Holly loves the heat. 

I loved walking in the cold - not for hugely long, but a daily walk nonetheless: snowpants, down jacket, wool socks, winter boots, hats and mitts - no problem! 

Nice rosy cheeks! 

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!