Lilacs!

You people are awesome!  I needed to share that.  About 10 minutes after I sent out the blog this morning, I got texts and phone calls telling me to please ignore people who don’t know how to mind their business and not let them affect when or how I wear what I want.  I loved the advice from one friend who said that I look wonderfully alive, and I’m well, just that my body is slow to catch up!  And another friend said that she loves my baldness, and to just rock it with some funky jewellery and my traditional smile. All that love followed by lilacs?  What an amazing day, thank you all so much.  There’s a lot more, but I’m going to hoard some of it 😁  One of my neighbours, I don’t know who, is making curry.  I can smell it, it’s making me hungry, although I feel stuffed.  At lunch I had a chicken burger (I’d bought some chicken patties) and I ate the whole thing, but that’s about 1/3 of a burger too much.  I’ll just sniff the curry and think thoughts about it…   Normally I cut the burger into pieces and wrap up most of it to eat later.  But I was in the “eyes bigger than my stomach” stage of being hungry, and, well… I’m uncomfortable now.  I’ll be fine.  I’ll have some tea with Don and I won’t eat until the morning.  Jerry is still somewhat sulky, and I shared some strawberries with him.  We’re disappointed with them, because they taste like water… absolutely no flavour!  He vacuumed down 2 then I moved the bowl because I don’t want him to get sick.  More puppy sulks.  I’m going to get kicked off the bed if I continue like this 😂  I’m also happy to report that since we reduced my medication, I’m less groggy than I was.  I’m still tired (although I think that’s more related to a lack of sleep from a revolving door of people who all want to see me before 8:30am than anything else.  I napped for about an hour this afternoon, but I’m still sleepy.  Don is also much more alert and active than he was, so I’m very happy about that.

Small detour through the land of books.  Is there a song about how much we love books?  Or a haiku?  Because I truly appreciate books.  It’s astonishing how much you can learn from them even without trying.    I’m reading a book that was written during WWII, and from the casual comments that are made, I got a better understanding of rationing than I did from a visit to the War Museum.  The thing is, most of the books that I read talk about “ordinary people” but seem to be referring to upper middle class families, who have maids.  Even the “very poor” people who were introduced have a “weekly” cleaner who comes in.  That doesn’t seem to be too “ordinary” to me!   Plus they’re in the country, where they keep hens, have gardens, bees and so on, to stretch their coupons.  I know, from visits to assorted museums and displays, that once upon a time, even railway stations had vegetable gardens that were accessible by the poorer members of the village.  I think that it’s a crying shame that as a society we’ve reduced access to public transport, by closing railway stations, reducing bus runs, and generally isolating smaller, rural towns and making it difficult for individuals to afford to get around, unless they either live on a bus route (which can be expensive) or scrimp to buy a car.  I’m going to sound a little socialistic by saying that we’d do better to have regular runs of trains and buses to smaller or remote areas, so people can manage to get around.  It sounds good to encourage “walkability” in cities, but it doesn’t help people who have mobility issues.  I’ve listened to our mayor (full disclosure, I’m not one of his fans!) who pushes the need for bikes but completely overlooks the pedestrian population or those who use walkers, canes, etc.  The sidewalks are dreadful for people who are less than perfectly stable and strong!

Back to books… I’m still learning a lot about WWII and how people lived through that time.  Not the soldiers, but the average civilian, living in small villages.  There’s a lot in many movies, TV shows and other media about how people “pulled together” and the great spirit that they demonstrated in difficult times.  But the challenges they faced with getting enough food for a family on ration coupons — imagine, 1 egg per week per adult… And the coupons for clothing… barely enough for a new dress a year.  We’re super spoilt now by comparison!  I’d love it if we were a little more appreciative of our freedoms to shop as and when we want!  The misery that I encountered in those stories were more human than for a lack of things.  Sorry for war injuries, or loss of family members, not temper tantrums for not getting a pink cupcake.  My soapbox is getting crowded, so I’ll jump down now and return to enjoying my books and leave you to have fun with summer.  Take care, and good night!  Hope that all goes well for you!