THURSDAY TRIUMPHS

[helia]

Your energy for giving and helping those displaced by the fires is really wonderful to see, nancy. Must be so hard for those families. I work well with deadlines too.

[CathyS]

I have been working and sleeping for the past 3 days. The intense 4 day packing fest begins tomorrow morning.

I triumphed in that when I was driving on the highway this morning and the skies opened and transport trucks started to park under bridges due to the intensity, I kept driving. I wanted to pull over, but there were numerous people on my schedule that had to get places.

Went to a delightful store last night. I don't know if it's in the states. P rincess A uto. WOW! It's the first store I have ever seen Wayne really take his time in. The music was turned off at 8:45, other people, mostly men, straggled up to the cash... At almost 9 Wayne came along, saying an employee was giving him a dirty look, so he guessed if it was time to go, we had to go. (I think he was joking, but who knows.)

[Sunny]

Our Thursday Triumph came when dh and I went to the tax office to renew the registration tag on the Impala and also renew dh's handicap parking sign. There was quite a few people there, but when we talked to the man at the reception desk he gave us our ticket and our number was called immediately. The lady took care of both renewals and we were out of there in 15 minutes. On the way home we stopped at grocery store for milk and eggs and dh's RX refill.

Earlier this week we got the front yard mowed. Dh started it and got about half done. When I went out to check on him I saw he was tired and heat was getting to him so I finished the job for him. He had an INR test and that was good. Ds#2 stopped by yesterday on his way home from work with his mower. He was going to do the back, but it started storming just as he arrived, so just visited for a little while.

Tues dfam#3 was on their way to TN to take dgd-H to ETSU in Johnson City. She will be able to get into her room today. Haven't heard anything from them yet. They borrowed a dfriend's pop up camper so they could stay for the week. Ddil's two dsisters live there, so they will have a nice visit. We talked to dgd Mon. evening and she is nervous and well as excited!

I've been trying to stay cuop --- Harriet's dd & school schedule; Harmony & car issues; Nancy & issues with fires. It's wonderful what you are doing with the donations for those who are displaced. Thinking of everyone and sending good thoughts to all. I know there are many more....

[Nancy]

Thanks for the kudos. It is windy here now and smokey too it does not seem to be clearing out one fire south of us has headed to our county and crossed the stae line. Limiting my out door time.

Dinner is in the the oven.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Am "home" in Dartmouth, in our hotel room that overlooks the harbour. The staff welcomed us back and noted we have stayed with them frequently. Yep, at least one stay a year for the past 10 years, and often before that. Only one night this week, but two nights next week.

We started the day still on Cape Breton Island, drove to visit friends on the eastern shore, took them to lunch, then left from there, strategically 30 minutes closer to Dartmouth than their place.

The drive to Dartmouth went smoothly with me working on the sudoku and crossword. Checked into the hotel and phone Unc to see if we could visit tonight. Once he realized who dh was (he can't hear) he had us come over.

He looks good, great if you consider he's almost 103. He's in a nursing home now which is quite nice (no nursing home smell) but he says the food is awful. There's something wrong with his stomach but he can't remember the diagnosis. I've emailed my cousin and asked about it.

Last time we saw him (102nd birthday) his goal was to live until one of his 'girls' had her baby (he is a charmer and has dozens of women who love him as much as I do - this one was the daughter of a neighbour.) That was to be in December. She had a little boy who is named for Unc. I teared up when he told me and showed me a picture of him with his namesake.

Tomorrow is the closing day on the sale of the house. He gave it and the contents to my cousin who has managed to clear it out on his own (I had offered to come help when he was ready to do it.) It makes me sad to think of the house being sold because it is the last link I have to Dartmouth. My cousins either live outside Dartmouth or over in Halifax - which is where Unc lives now.

The house itself wasn't a long-time house of theirs - he's lived in 3 in Dartmouth, plus down in the village my grandmother lived in and out on his son's property but this is the home I've visited him at the most. I think dh and I will drive by at some point this trip. The house sold itself, word-of-mouth led the buyer to my cousin and because it sold privately, my cousin got top dollar for it. The neighbours have been unbelievably wonderful over the years so it is no surprise that anyone who knows about that street would want to pay extra to live on it.

I ate very poorly today but I enjoyed the 'cheat' day and starting tomorrow we'll be cooking our own meals so I hope to make up for today's transgressions. There was a delicious blueberry scone and an equally delicious cinnamon roll from a specialty bakery so I cheated with high quality food.

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! My triumph is that all my bills are paid, even the ones not due until next pay period, and I am on track to get Master Card back to zero balance by next payday (9/4). Doctors appointment went better than expected. I was there for refills on meds (needed blood work too) and asked him if I needed to make an appointment for getting the stitch out or if it could be as a walk in on Tuesday. He looked at it and was amazed it had healed so well. He decided that there was no reason not to remove the stitch then and there. I took care of one of my DPCs and now have dinner plans on Saturday. Still need to do the other DPC. I have cat safed some yarn, did the kitchen junk drawers for the declutter challenge, and replaced the printer ink.

Still left to do tonight: calendar update, finish cat care, me care, tomorrow prep.

Tomorrow: must do that last DPC!