Eva’s Friends

[lightm]

This faith, charity, hope picture is calendar worthy!

 

[Callender Girl]

I am sorry about poor Prudence -- both for her and for you. You've lost so many in such a short time. I've never thought of them as "celebrations of life," either. I think it's just a euphemism substituted to try to lessen the pain that comes with mourning. Grief is inevitable, no matter what you call the ritual.

It's good that the door is still open on the job you turned down.

My sister and I got home from our trip to northern Minnesota. After dropping off me and all my stuff (we are serious rock pickers and always come home with "treasures" we've gleaned from Lake Superior), she drove to her home in southern Iowa.

The good news is that all of my critters are alive and well. I am not planning to use the pet sitter again. Although I left detailed notes about what to do and how, and walked her through everything, when I got home all the birds were in their runs, not their coops. Most were pretty safe but the ducks' run is simply 3-foot wire fencing; any predator could have attacked them. Also, one of the chicken runs isn't predator proof, and I would be heartbroken if something got to Camille, my last of the Salmon Faverolles and one of the oldest girls.

When I went to close the white coop's pop door, I found the wooden door had literally spilt in two, vertically. At least she could have left a note so I could have enlisted my sister's help in repairing it before Carolyn drove off. The mechanism that opens and closes the blue coop fell off in my hand; I'm guessing it was forced once or twice too often.

In terms of cleanliness, I'm sure she wasn't cleaning coops every day. The Omlet's pull-out tray wasn't just dirty, there were maggots in it. Dottie's indoor kennel was filthy and the basement cats' litter boxes were overflowing with the smell coming clear up the stairs. And, whatever she cooked in the microwave had to be soaked and scraped clean.

But, again, we got to take our trip and everyone survived. The trip was great. The owner of the place where we stay said she considers us "visitors," not tourists and hopes we always feel like we're coming home when we're there. Our room has a fridge and microwave but no kitchen sink, so she lets us use the sink in her she shed, which she leaves unlocked during our stay, just for us.

We crossed the border and spent a day in Canada. I hadn't been there in years, and it was my sister's first time. My sister is really into Tibetan-style singing bowls and we attended a session on those. We shopped at the weekly downtown artisans market. I've never before gone into one of the art galleries because I know I can't afford the art. But, this year, I bravely entered and bought a nice calendar, a beautiful greeting card that I'm going to frame and a bookmark decorated with one of my favorite paintings there. Maybe if I save enough money, I can actually buy a small print next year?

I got to see lots of old friends at the rendezvous at Grand Portage National Monument and stopped in town to visit a couple I've known for more than 20 years. He is 82 and not in good health, so I'm glad we could make time to see them.

So, a great trip until I got home to chaos. There had been a storm last week that dropped lots of branches, 2.5 inches of rain and knocked out electricity, so all the clocks in the house were blinking -- and had been for days. Everything is fixable, so I shouldn't complain but I'm disappointed because I was hoping this would work out well and I could use this person again for a few shorter trips this fall. Guess not.

Have you started your EMT classes yet? Hope they go well.