Today (Jan
22) is yet another dull day on Lake Bernard.
We have been without sun for quite some time. The weather is an important subject around
the house as we are trying to maintain a skating rink on the lake. The weather affects this project in many
ways. Unlike a rink in the city or
simply on dry land, Lake skating rinks come with several different
challenges. Sometimes, when the weather
is too warm, the ice sinks and water pushes onto the ice surface from
below. That causes uneven patches as
they freeze and sometimes leaves areas with crackle snow that is almost ice but
is simply hard snow. When we have a good solid freeze, the ice seems to remain
stable and we can maintain clear patches that allow us to see the bottom of the
lake. That clear ice is great to skate on. However, there is a nemesis out there called
snow. Aside from the obvious work
required to remove the snow, it also adds weight to the ice and causes it to
sink more. Therefore, bringing water
back to the surface. That is a challenge
when trying to maintain a flat level surface on the rink. All this to say that I have a project that I
have been attending to since Christmas.
We were so fortunate this year to have a good freeze with clear ice (no
snow) shortly before the Christmas period.
Several families around the lake set up different sizes of rinks close
to their cottage and in some cases, they maintained paths to connect rinks to
allow for some social distancing on skates while visiting our neighbours. It was a fun time as the kids had access to
large areas for skating. From there I
decided I would try to maintain the rink so the kids could have access when
they were here.
I mentioned
Christmas and I am happy to report that we were able to have Christmas here at
the lake with Tara-Lee, Brehn, Kaia and Logan.
Unfortunately, we were unable to connect with Gray, Bree and Skylar in
person due to COVID restrictions and supporting non-travel advisories during
the COVID period. This was particularly
hard as Bree lost her Father (Larry) to a heart attach while he was riding his
bike just before the Christmas period.
He was awfully close to his two children and a great husband to Bree’s
Mum (Mary). This was a shock to all of
us and we were feeling extremely disappointed that we could not visit and
support Bree during this difficult adjustment. We maintained connectivity through the phone
and Face Time but that is not what is needed at a time like that. We wanted to help but we were unable to
provide the support that is needed when one loses a vibrant individual and a
loving parent.
Our
Christmas here at the lake was a rowdy one as Kaia was above excited about all
of Christmas and Logan had learned to communicate by screaming at us and banging
tin dishes together to amuse himself.
But we settled into our routine and we had a nice several days visit
through Christmas. I must say for all
the promises to restrict spending and purchases for others our Christmas tree
was no less laden than previous years.
The gifts were all thoughtful and had a story behind each one, so the
day was spent opening gifts over a long period of time. We had breakfast at 1 PM and dinner at 8
PM. It was a fun day and most of it was
inside. On the other days of the visit
the kids spent a good deal of time outdoors.
Particularly after Christmas as there was skating, cross-country skiing,
some sliding and even some attempts at wee ones on downhill slopes. Great fun for all.
Other than that, my life has been routine as I have mentioned in past entries. It seems the only changes are in my health and employment status. As of January 19th, I am officially and ex-WestJetter. As of that date all the Airport WestJet staff were permanently laid off and WestJet started operations with outsourced resources. It was a sad day for many of us who loved and respected our jobs and guests on the airline. Many of my colleagues had worked for many years whereas I was only employed by WestJet for 3+ years. WestJet made a reasonable offer to all departing employees and payout was set for the 19th. Most of our team have found new and interesting employment in other businesses and the long wind down is now complete. I will miss my WestJet people as with time communications and desire to get together will likely wane as people work with new and interesting folks. I do hope that once this Pandemic thing is out of the way we will be permitted to have a gathering of the WestJet Airport staff in some place that sells good food and alcohol. It will be a party for sure. I am currently unemployed and not too interested in starting something new unless it is attractive and allows me to interact with good folks like my WestJetters and our guests.
The other
thing that has changed is my health. Of
late, I have been feeling a little off and experiencing significant indigestion
when I enjoy meals or rich food. I have
managed to maintain a balance by using over the counter drugs like Tums. Nighttime has been a challenge as my
neuropathy and a pesky hip combination tends to keep me awake and
uncomfortable. This is affecting my
sleep and the result is that I am a bit cranky during the day. I mentioned this to my Dr on Jan 13th
and was told that I should try Zantac as it was stronger than Tums but not a
prescribed drug. However, the Dr had
news for me as my CT Scan (Jan 6) had a comment from the Radiologist that was
not routine. It went like this: “There
is however suggestion of newly developed peritoneal carcinomatosis with
multiple ill-defined soft tissue densities noted within the mesenteric
fat.”
Ok so I did
not know I had “mesenteric fat” and that set me off. I try to maintain my weight, but I guess even
good beef has its share of fat. I was
pleased that the densities were ill-defined, and I asked the Dr what that
meant. I was told that it meant it was
not defined as a cancer spot at this time.
It requires some monitoring, and my next CT (in about 6 weeks) should
shed some light on what these are and what, if anything, we should do about
them. We agreed that the right course of
action was to maintain the status quo in terms of treatment as we disqualified
three other options that were offered. They were to increase frequency of my
treatments, change the cocktail to a drug that had given me neuropathy in the
past and move to a daily pill for Chemo which would change my side effects in a
negative fashion. This all came as a heads-up as we know that things will
deteriorate as my treatment prognosis is “maintenance” and not “elimination” of
the active cancerous cells. In the
interim, I will bide my time and wait to see what happens with the next
CT. I am OK with that and will carry on
as normal as possible.
Finally,
today (Jan 24) is a gorgeous sunny and cold day and I will try to do some
repair to our rink as there is no snow in the forecast for several days.
I am
frustrated as we had to cancel our planned visit to Kauai in February due to
COVID existence and the associated difficulties imposed by the travel
restrictions of both Kauai and Canada. I
know I am not alone with my frustration and I am starting to lose hope that a
visit to warmer climate is in our future this year. Marriott, unfortunately, has moved my planned
two weeks to Interval International where I am able to access any of their 15K
properties over the next two years. I
guess that is a safe place for the weeks to be when we have so many
uncertainties about when travel will become accessible for people of all
nations. So far, we have lost 3 weeks’
vacation due to expiry and our inability to travel during this period. Those three weeks are gone forever. I am happy that we did not lose our two weeks
with Marriott as we plan on using them as soon as we feel confident that travel
is OK.
I will take
my leave today and send along best wishes for each one of you to make 2021 a
great year.
Thank you
for dropping in and please feel free to contact me should you have any
questions or thoughts about this content.
Be well and stay safe ……..
