37th Anniversary

 

July Journaling

1.     Day ten: second sea day. The second part of the on-board behind the scenes excursion of the theatre, kitchen, bakery, laundry, and supply storage. Very interesting. It’s also Canada Day. We dressed in red and brought the flags to dinner again.

2.     Day eleven: Kiel, Germany again, so we stayed on board. I had a Bali foot massage and pedicure.

3.     Day twelve: Copenhagen, Denmark. We did a hop on hop off Royal City bus tour. It was nice to see the little mermaid but it was otherwise unremarkable and the stops weren’t clearly marked to get back on, so we took a cab back to the ship so we wouldn’t miss it and also it was raining. The weather changed every five minutes there. That evening we rewatched the theatre show Aziza with this amazing contortionist. We heard our three-year-old granddaughter broke her leg on the trampoline. This kind of fracture is common in preschoolers, apparently.

4.     Day thirteen: fourth and final sea day. Packed, dinner at Butcher’s Cut. They didn’t serve butter with the lobster so it wasn’t very good. I guess I compare it to the Keg which is much better. And for it being the only specialty restaurant on board this ship, they should have chosen a better location without a view of the lifeboats.

5.     Day fourteen: Tallinn, Estonia. I liked this place; it has a language closest to Finnish so I could make out most signs. Everything is cheaper there so many Finns go over by ferry to buy alcohol and other things. We also went to a KGB prison which didn’t close down until 1991. It was near the Russian embassy which had a bunch of signs protesting the war in Ukraine.

6.     Day fifteen: Returned to Helsinki. We had the morning here, so my sister invited us for a beautiful Finnish brunch. Then we had a long return flight home. We flew on Finnair and American Airlines. I watched two movies because I couldn’t sleep well. We had a layover in Chicago. We were awake 24 hours. Glad to get home.

7.     So. Much. Laundry. My mom was dropped off by my cousin. She was in London with my aunt the whole time.

8.     I pulled a muscle in my leg so I’m limping around.

9.     Back at church. Picked up the grandkids for VBS this coming week. The little one has a cast but can weight bear a little bit.

10. First day of VBS; the theme is Keepers of the Kingdom about the armor of God and the two kingdoms. I’m in charge of snacks this week. We took the kids swimming today and we covered the little one’s cast and dipped her ‘like a teabag’.

11. The busiest day for snacks this week because it is baking and we only have two hours to make enough for 80 people. Then I go out to the grocery store to get the food for the following day.

12. Went for another swim today after VBS and I swam too.

13. The kids had VBS then the older ones were taken to a trout pond to try to catch fish, but only one of the adults caught four, and none for anyone else. It was her first time. We ate them and they were good.

14. Final day of VBS and then we had a hot dog lunch for the kids and their parents. Our daughter and her husband came to pick up the kids on their way home from a few nights away together.

15. Finally a calm and quiet day for the first time after our trip.

16. Church. I was on coffee time, and there was a lot of leftover stuff. I also baked an apple cake.

17. Our daughter is visiting her boyfriend in Colorado for the weekend and meeting his dog, Aldo.

18. Guest speaker at church, then we had him over for lunch. It was Roger Fellows, whom we’ve known for thirty years.

19. My mom had an appointment with a kidney specialist a year and a half after her acute renal failure. That’s a bit ridiculous. Went to Hamilton to help out and will stay overnight. My mom is coming too, but it’s harder for her with CPAP and things like that. The three-year-old is starting to weight-bear.

20. Took the grandkids to Giant Tiger to buy hats and sunglasses for the kids in Uganda. Of course they got some too.

21. Women’s ministry meeting. Finally back to my podcasts after a month. Some are missing. I’ll have to re-record them.

22. Church then out to Pickle Barrel with our travel companions for lunch.

23. Taking my mom to the hospital for a scheduled iron infusion. It should top her up for ahile.

24. The cleaning lady is coming today, but we’ll be out in Hamilton for two days.

25. The two older kids are at gymnastics camp all week, so it’s just the three-year-old with the broken leg with us during the day. It’s also our 37^th wedding anniversary, but we’ll celebrate on the weekend. I’ll post our wedding photo and a recent one. She is weight bearing quite well and can scooch up and down the stairs on her butt.

26. Trying to figure out how to reduce the price of my book on amazon.ca They are charging over $80 for a paperback copy, whereas it started out at $21 and I’d be happy with $9.99 They are not an easy company to work with.

27. Going out to the Keg for our anniversary dinner. Our daughter is coming home for the weekend for a concert.

28. Had an awning installed on the deck for more shade. It’s almost back to normal after the fire in mid-April.

29. My three-year-old granddaughter was told she needed to have fruit with her waffle at breakfast. She asked, “Is a Timbit fruit?”

30. Church this morning. Concerned about my mom’s health. An x-ray showed calcification of both her carotid arteries and aorta. I contacted the cardiologist to see about increasing her blood thinners. No change.

31. Organized my spices into a drawer instead of a cupboard for accessibility. Much better. Dropping our daughter off at the train. She won’t be back until Thanksgiving.