A birthday and an adventure

On Thursday it rained in the morning with thunder and lightning, so we did not go paddling. Instead I got myself caught up on various chores and in the afternoon went to a birthday party at a local restaurant.

The birthday girl was celebrating her 80th and she invited a couple of other women who also were celebrating birthdays in July. 

Altogether we were six. Since the weather was a bit iffy, we chose a restaurant that had a fully covered patio so we could be outdoors without getting soaked (or baked, if the sun came out). It's a marvelous restaurant specializing in Turkish food. The owner lives around the corner from me and is a single father, I often see him in his apron walking down my street to his restaurant, with two young boys in tow.

We had a lovely meal and greatly enjoyed this being our first restaurant meal since the pandemic started, we showed off our funniest fanciest facemasks. You have to wear a mask when you are moving about but can take it off when seated at your table, and all of us were double vaccinated. Near the end of the meal the owner came to our table bearing a plate of baklava made in-house, with lit sparklers in honour of our birthday party and the fact that several of us had birthdays in July.

"Here in our restaurant, we all have birthdays in July!" he said.

Afterward we retired to the birthday girl's home for more wine and celebration.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One day this past week the kayakers booked in the afternoon instead of the morning because one person had a dental appointment in the morning. I decided not to go. But as luck would have it I did end up kayaking with someone else I had met at the Reservoir while swimming there. She had bought an inflatable kayak and wanted to learn to use it but was reluctant to go out on her own. I said I would accompany her in my own inflatable. We chose a lake close to town, Lumsden's Pond. There's a provincial picnic park and tiny beach there. 

After unloading all our gear and lugging it down to the beach, I realized that I had locked my keys inside the truck. J, my companion, thought we could go back to my house to get the spare key and then return to Lumsden's in her car which she had left at my house. Then she remembered that she left her car key in my truck. She had her phone and thought she could call CAA (my phone was inside the truck), but it turns out there is no cell coverage at the park. J said never mind, we will cross that bridge later.

I've used my kayak a couple of times already this summer so the process of getting it ready for the water is properly memorized; time-consuming but not confusing. J had no experience at all and her kayak was brand new. Also very cheap. It really took a while to figure it out, even with both of us reading the instructions a couple of times. But eventually we got it water-ready.

J couldn't figure out which end of her kayak was the bow, we had to guess and my guess was opposite to hers. She went with her guess. As it turned out, she was wrong and the kayak was very unmanouverable. She couldn't paddle in a straight line if her life depended on it! So after all that frustration we went back to shore after a very short paddle. Once onshore we turned her kayak upside down to see which way the keel was pointing, and then turned it right side up again to see if there was anything on the bow end that was different from the stern end so she would know the next time. We packed up the kayaks and then tried to figure out how we were going to get my truck unlocked.

As luck would have it a young woman and her child were just heading home, they stopped to greet us and we asked the big question: would you drive one of us to town? And also back to the beach again? At first she said she was happy to take one of us to town but not back again, and we hesitated as we tried to figure out how we would get back, then she said never mind she would drive us back too. She didn't mind the driving, she was just concerned about how her young daughter was going to take it.

I went back with the young woman and her daughter who was fine with it all, she sat in her little car seat smiling until she fell asleep. We had a nice chat, it turns out I knew the woman's parents and we talked about a variety of things, from travel out west to Toronto weather to whether or not to invest in solar panels. She turned down the offer of a bottle of wine for her trouble saying it was her pleasure to help out. Of course my house key was also locked in the truck, but I keep a spare outside so I used that. Note to self: spare truck key somewhere outside the truck cab!

First thing I did was unlock the truck and get J's bottle of water out as I was pretty sure she was quite parched by now. Then we went for a swim. We swam across the lake and back, a much longer swim than I am used to but we were chatting so much that we didn't think to turn around until we reached the other side. I didn't sleep so well that night due to neck pain because of the long swim, but it was otherwise a very interesting day that ended well.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

J mentioned a book she was reading, Why We Swim. I looked it up on our local library website and the e-book version was available so I borrowed it. Looks interesting. In the first chapter the author writes about the earliest known record of human swimming, dating to over 10,000 years ago. There are cave paintings of swimmers in the Sahara Desert! In those days there was a whole chain of lakes full of fish, and in addition to the cave paintings there are old harpoons buried in what was once a lake bottom. I can't get those ancient swimmers out of my mind, the idea that where they once swam is now a complete desert.

Death days and birth days

Hapi enjoying springtime sun and water

Today the first news I heard upon waking up was that of Prince Philip's death. I have heard nothing but good things about him, so it is a little sad, but having lived almost a century one certainly cannot pity him. Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth once visited my little town, I didn't see them at the time but a friend of mine had a brief but fun conversation with Prince Philip. He was the outgoing sort who enjoyed chatting with strangers. The friend was a single and handsome young man, considered "a catch" at the time, so some of us got a hold of an official colour photo of the Queen and scrawled "Love, Liz" across the bottom and posted it above his desk at work. But it was Philip he chatted with, not "Liz".

I've been having phone chats throughout the pandemic with an old friend on the other side of the country, we met in college back in the '60s in Toronto. She was a devout Baptist, I was a pragmatic agnostic, we both engaged in long after-midnight philosophical debates over wine, cigarettes and sometimes hard liquor. We only attended that college for one year, after that we went our separate ways and had very different lives, but we maintained the relationship through long absences and surprise get togethers over the decades. Now she is dying. So among other things we talk about what happens when you die.

She has already signed all the necessary papers for palliative care and medical assistance in dying, she just doesn't know when she will do it or even how she will decide. For all of her life she has believed in some kind of afterlife but now at death's door, she is reluctant to pass over. At the same time, she would like to be conscious at the moment of death, but the doctors keep upping her dose of morphine and she is afraid that she will pass into unconsciousness before the moment of death. She is not sure what she believes now. Her very strong Baptist upbringing still influences her, but she has dabbled in Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Up until recently she was a member of the local Anglican Church but I don't know if she still is. Apparently there was some altercation that made her think twice about her membership, however she has not talked to me about it, so I don't know if that was resolved or not.

Not all of our conversations are so weighty, sometimes we talk about our dogs and the silly things people in our lives do, sometimes we go on at length about our various physical symptoms of illness and age. Our conversations are sometimes brief (less than 30 minutes) because she is tired, and sometimes they go on and on for hours; I have to beg off to go to the bathroom.

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday, which occurred a couple of days prior. Four of us got together for wine, cake and snacks in the afternoon. Rather than "blow" out the candles, I fanned them with my hand, which took a really long time. Two of us are already vaccinated once, one has an appointment and the fourth is waiting for her turn to make an appointment. My birthday gifts are eclectic: a small jar of gummy bears, a slightly larger jar of homemade salsa, and a print of a painting created by one of us. A good time was had by all. The artist amongst us will be showing some of her paintings in a group show next month so we all hope to attend.

Malt bread

Memories of malt

It's been a week of birthdays, starting with mine and going on to a brother, a friend, a daughter-in-law and a son.

On my brother's birthday I phoned him and he mentioned that his partner had just made some malt bread remarkably similar to the malt bread our mother used to buy on weekends. I asked for the recipe and a few days later he sent me a photo of the recipe, marked up with his partner's adjustments and comments. I have all but one of the ingredients in stock, I will have to go on a bit of a hunt to find the missing ingredient, to wit, the malt for which the bread is named. Strictly speaking the bread should be baked in an empty apple juice can but it will work in any old bread pan.

Locally we have a malt house where they actually make malted barley which they then sell to craft breweries; they also sell to customers at their small brewpub (now closed). But their malt is a dry powder and the recipe calls for a liquid extract. I could probably find out the equivalency, but first I'll look for the liquid version. Apparently you can buy it at wine and beer kit stores, but in much larger quantities than I really want. And I don't even know if any of them are open for business now, it seems unlikely. My brother suggested a natural food store, I'll try that first.

I can't wait to try it out.

Later: I called the local natural food store. They didn't have malt extract but they did have barley malt syrup. Dr. Google says, 'same-same'.

A Four-Eagle Day

Yesterday another friend emailed that she was making cloth masks to give away and would anyone like one. I said I'd love one, two if she had enough. This morning we spoke on the phone and I told her I was sick and she said she'd leave the masks outside her front door. I went over to pick them up, now I have three sewn masks and a bunch of bandanas I can use so I have a great selection. Pandemic fashionista!

Hapi doesn't like walking up hill and neither do I for that matter. Since the university campus where I have been taking her is on a hillside it means we are both very tired when we get home. Today I took her in the car to the far end of the local dyke and we walked there. This is the perfect time, no wind, not cold, no bugs yet, and the grass on the dyke is dead and flattened by the winter, making for easy walking.

The sight lines were great I could see other people—if they were there—miles away. Not a single person in sight, I got to walk mask-free and Hapi was off leash. She did manage to find a pile of manure in a field which could have been a disaster, but for some reason she chose not to roll in it (whew!). I walked pretty slowly but even so I came home exhausted.

Eagle nest in tall tree, centre

On the road to the dyke you pass under a big tree with an eagle's nest in it, the nest has been there for a very long time. I saw one of the eagle parents sitting in the nest, another brood hatching. Later when I was walking on the dyke I saw four eagles circling in a column, the highest one looked like it could almost touch the sun. Wish I could have photographed that.

My brother's birthday was yesterday, I called him and we chatted for awhile. It seems you can't talk to anyone without bringing up you-know-what. Later I called a dog-walking friend and she said she had seen me out walking earlier in the day and had yahoo'ed at me but I didn't hear or see her. She is healthy and still goes out shopping at local small markets. She says all the markets have protocols in place to enforce physical distancing and she always meets people there to chat with from a distance. She is a firm believer in homeopathy and is taking a homeopathic remedy that she says will prevent you-know-what.

You'll see, she said, I am protected.

Okay, I said, We'll see.

When I told her my birthday was a couple of days ago, she wished me happy birthday and said, Now you're almost as old as me!

I laughed. She's past 85. I may never make it that far.

To test or not to test

My illness may be Covid-19. Turns out I may have been exposed 2-3 weeks ago, I don't know that for sure but it does explain a few things if I was. I had a phone appointment with my doctor and she said that while there is no longer a requirement for having travelled or been in close contact with someone who has travelled in order to get tested, there is still a requirement for having a fever greater than 38C and a cough. Since I don't have either symptom right now I probably could not get tested on my own, but as my doctor she could insist on me getting tested.

I said that I would rather not get tested. The reason is, if I test positive then I can't walk my dog and neither could anyone else. I would prefer, for purely selfish reasons, to continue to go for walks with her. My doctor said that as long as I was practicing physical distancing and I was self-isolating as much as possible then she was okay with that. However if any of my symptoms worsen, or new ones appear, she wanted to hear from me immediately. She also wanted me to let my neighbours know so that they could check on me as needed. That's okay by me.

I made a mask, and someone else also made a mask for me. So I now have enough masks for two walks a day. They're not N95 quality by any means, but I think that wearing a mask will alert other people to be careful around me. I see a few other people around town also wearing masks. I think it is a good idea, provided one is also practicing physical distancing and not going away from home unnecessarily.

In a way, finding out that I may already have the virus is helping to lower anxiety. I don't have to worry about it any more, it's already here. That may not actually be true, but it feels true so I am going with that. Who needs anxiety.

In other news, the doctor gave me the results of my sleep study test a couple of months ago. Turns out I have severe sleep apnea, but only when I am lying on my back. I have 'positional sleep apnea'. I actually already knew that and have done my best to not sleep on my back, but apparently during the test I spent an hour on my back. I'm kind of shocked by that. I don't need a CPAP machine but the doctor thinks I should try to arrange my bed so that I don't flip onto my back while asleep.

Yesterday was my birthday. My eldest son organized a zoom call and it was great, I really enjoyed it. Then later in the day I got email birthday wishes from someone I never expected to hear from again, and that was good too. Happy birthday to me!

My friend B who was in hospital was supposed to be transferred to a nursing home, but that didn't happen. Instead they moved her to another hospital quite a ways away. She is of course miserable about that but I talked to her the other day (she has a cell phone) and tried to tell her how much the world has changed since she first went into the hospital. You would be no better off anywhere else I said. Everything is changed, you would hardly recognize this town now I told her. Doesn't make her happy to know that but what can you do.