Battered and bruised

Tags

Charlottetown, Club, ER, Health, hospital, medical, nursing, QEH

I wanted to write about the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia we visited in Halifax last week. The City is not far from us at all and an easy ride, it also has great restaurants and many nice sights.

Instead I will speak of a little drama in my life which happened last night at the Club. As a retired person you would never know that I am retired, I volunteer in many causes and work often 30 to 40 hours a week, here and there. Currently I am involved in the renovation and redecoration of several rooms at the Haviland Club, an old mansion celebrating 150 years since its construction in 1869 by a young widow of 33 and single parent Esther Full Lowden, she was also a business women. Her older husband George had died suddenly in 1864 at age 47. She was left with a shipping empire and had to navigate the difficulty of being a women in an age when women were not heard from nor voted, in a very narrow minded society on a small Island.

The house at no. 2 Haviland street is in the Italianate style its quite beautiful and has many interesting features. Its a big job but an interesting one renovating the rooms but it is fascinating as you learn the history of this building.

We are also now in the midst of a Provincial Election campaign voting day is April 23, a strange date since is falls immediately after Easter and in Canada both Friday and Monday of the Easter weekend are holidays and you cannot campaign on Easter Sunday, nor on Good Friday, bad form.

I have been helping out our candidate in District 12 which means canvassing door to door. This week the winds have been very strong and cold even if the days were sunny. I was over tired and kept going anyway. Skipping lunch etc… You know sometimes you just have to stop and have a coffee and a sit down, something I have to learn, I am not 20 anymore.

So on Friday afternoon I went from canvassing on the streets to Party HQ to the Club for pizza and a glass of wine, I suddenly felt very dizzy and I knew I was going to faint. The Club has security cameras and this episode showed how well they work. I apparently fainted twice, broke my glasses and banged my head on a pillar thus the big bruise on my forehead. When I came to I was in the hallway with people around me and the paramedics. Off we went to the hospital sirens blaring. I apparently fainted in ER, have no recollection of that either. Everyone saw the security film at the Club and at the Hospital, I did not, made me smile.

I did ask Will to take the photo of me in ER, it just struck me as funny. We are also planning to rebuild the wheelchair ramp at the Club, a fellow club member had been after me on that topic, so I asked the paramedics how they found it structurally, it’s ok but could be a lot better, it is wood and dates from 1997. I got excellent care at the hospital, very kind and attentive staff, could not ask for anything more. Thank you to all at the QEH in Charlottetown.

The next day I was very tired and still a bit uncomfortable. I will be going back to my doctor to see what can be done about this despite the fact that after all the tests at the Hospital all was normal. Answered all the strange questions they ask to see if you are coherent, no problems there. So life goes on, but at a slower pace, no need to kill myself, I am retired after all.

Needless to say this photo is unretouched.

 

 

 

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Memories of

Tags

Anniversaries, Apollo, Arachova, Greece, lamb, life, Travel

It seems that in my life time anniversaries for both me and Will have always been in a city or place around the world. Will just wrote about Moussaka, The recipe he gives on his blog is very good, it’s from our friend Akis Petretzikis who is a famous TV chef in Greece  https://willyorwonthe.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/not-moussaka-its-moossakka/  and he included in his blog post photos of our anniversary trip to Greece when I was accredited to the Hellenic Republic.

Akis 

We travelled in Greece not as much as I wish we had but nonetheless it was always memorable.

For our 30th Anniversary in 2008, we travelled by car from Athens to Arachova which is a famous ski resort. The mountain dominating the region is Mount Parnassos, elevation 2457 meters home of the god Apollo and his aunt the Muses. The village of Arachova is above the Gulf of Corinth and about 10 minutes by car from the ancient site of Delphi.

Arachova being a mountain town, you can walk everywhere but a lot of streets are in fact stone staircases, so you do get a good workout. The food is grilled lamb and other Greek dishes. Most people speak only Greek. Being so close to Delphi we visited the ancient site with its wonderful temples and other religious sites dedicated to the gods of ancient Greece. Delphi is a magical site hanging over the cliff with the Gulf of Corinth far below. Mount Parnassos during our visit was hidden in the clouds, certainly lending an air of mystery.

Delphi is known as the Omphalos or Navel of the World with its vegetation of olive and pine trees. Of course the famous Oracle of Delphi is dedicated to Apollo, the god of light, harmony, music and prophecy, was the most visited oracle in Greece and people from all over the Mediterranean would come to ask for help. It needs some climbing up to get to the actual site, which stands on top of a rocky hill.

In 2018 for our 40th we were in Lisbon, one of the best 10 days in Europe and we would love to return to Portugal.  In 1998 our anniversary was in Poland, we travelled from our home in Warsaw to a small resort about 40 minutes to the West of Gdansk. In 1988 we were then living in Mexico, I don’t recall what we did, it seems we spent the weekend in Cuernavaca or San Miguel Allende. No anniversaries are the same and all carry wonderful memories.

Birthdays for Will and I are also special and each decade saw a special trip to commemorate. Vietnam, Ireland, Egypt, Poland, Mexico, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Beijing, Italy, etc.

 

 

28 Sept.

Tags

apple pie, Death, Funeral, Remembrance, thanksgiving

Yesterday 28 September I got a call from my cousin Gilbert in Montreal letting me that his mother, my aunt Laurence had died aged 92 after a very long illness. She was the elder sister of my mother and my little sister reminded me that our mother had died 5 years ago on this day.  What a strange coincidence, both died in their sleep after long illnesses. I have two aunts left on my maternal side, one is 93 and the other is 88.

My aunt did not want any funeral service and her ashes are to be buried in the same cemetery in Saint-Laurent beside her son Louis and her ex-husband Jacques. There will be a memorial service some time in the future.

Such news brought back a lot of memories of childhood and it seems almost unbelievable that aunts and uncles all aged and now are gone. In my mind though time passed I never really thought of them as getting old, they seemed frozen in time.

I remember my aunt Laurence coming to visit me in Chicago back in 1994 when I was working at the Canadian Consulate in the Prudential building. But I do not remember much more than us going to a steakhouse for dinner.

Today more of the same, only 38 days left in the campaign. I can’t wait for it to end. I fear the vote will be very split with 4 candidates on the ballot. Two of the Mayoral candidates opened their campaign offices today with sandwiches and cake, photos and a few speeches. The weather is still pleasant for canvassing, some people are interested in the elections other could not care less. Apathy is out there and it is difficult to counter, there is a belief that voting is meaningless. A lot of young people are either mildly amused or indifferent to the elections, I am trying to point out to them the difference they can make by getting involved, not an easy task.

Win or loose, I want to take a vacation afterwards, we are discussing where we might go. Lisbon, Portugal came up as a possibility. Just a week might do a world of good.

Thanksgiving in coming up on 8 October, I think we are doing turkey, no stuffing, some vegetables, a pumpkin soup to start and apple pie for dessert, lots of apples this time of year.