Amur maple shrub which are common around here.  I love the colour of the seed heads and the leaves turn a beautiful red as well.

Our garage door died on Sunday.  I'm not that superstitious but that's three now, we should be done:)  Jack had a small hissy fit because he couldn't get his electric scooter out of the garage, but everyone survived.  Fortunately a very nice man came on Sunday evening and replaced both springs and the door is working again.  

The countdown to back to school has begun.  We meet the teacher on Thursday evening and Jack starts back to school on Monday morning.  I may be very excited about this, a return to the very same schedule that seemed so onerous in June, I now desire once again.  Who knew?

I've given up my membership to the pottery studio in Fort Saskatchewan.  I just wasn't getting out there enough to make it worthwhile and the drive was 30 minutes each way.  Yesterday morning Jack and I went there so I could finish up my glazing and he painted a piece of bisqueware with underglaze.  He got upset a couple of times because he didn't like how he painted it and nana showed him that you can just wash the underglaze off and try again.  When my stuff comes out of the kiln I'll share it here.  I call it my sweary pottery collection and it gave me so much satisfaction to do.  I do love a good swear.

I have signed up for more pottery classes though and they start in a few weeks.  I also want to take a wheel class in the new year.

I worked in the yard for awhile yesterday.  It's been a shitty summer with lots of rain, intense heat when it wasn't raining, and then millions of swarming mosquitos.  The weather is milder now, the lawn has dried out finally, and the mosquito numbers have gone way down.  We can sit on the back deck again and relax, but the annuals are starting to die.  Sigh.

My raspberry canes are about 7 feet tall and I just did some reading about them.  They need pruning apparently so I'll get to that next month and redo the trellis supports I made for them which aren't working all that great.  I'll try again as I told Jack.

And then I came across this man a few days ago, Dr. B.J. Miller.  He inspired me.

One of my favorite photos of Lucy.

Another busy week.  Our fridge died on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.  It's been dying for awhile but it gave up the ghost completely.  I went to put something in the freezer and the tomato sauce that was sitting in a bag was liquid.  Much stress followed.  We have another freezer in the mud room so that things that were expensive (meat) or from the garden (tomatoes and raspberries) and still not thawed out were moved there.  That night my husband brought in the travel cooler that we have and plugged that in and I bought a small fridge from Canadian Tire for milk and eggs, and most importantly, my iced tea:)  Both the cooler and tiny fridge are jam packed.

Two mornings of throwing things out either into the compost, or down the sink.  Most of the condiments are gone.  It's amazing how many condiments slowly take over the fridge but I did save the mayo.  We made a trip to the eco centre to get rid of all the empty glass containers because they no longer pick up glass.  

I ordered a new fridge online from Home Depot, but first I watched some videos about the best fridge to buy.  The fewer the bells and whistles, the more likely the fridge will last.  The worst offender is in door ice makers, which I don't like anyway so not a problem.  Less fancy=less components to break, which could be part of the problem with newer fridges and their short lifespan.  That and planned obsolescence.

I took Jack to the Fringe Festival yesterday afternoon and we had a nice time.  His favorite part was the children's section where he made a couple of crafts and put on a puppet show which reminded me a little of a Punch and Judy show.  He also got to see a juggler who juggled machetes and fire.  Surprisingly, he did not ask to buy a machete on the way home:)

I saw a lovely podiatrist yesterday who fixed up my sore foot in literally minutes and he then refused to charge me because it took so little time.  Very kind man.

I'm in the process of writing a letter to someone I love very much which has made me think, a lot, and cry, a little.  I have discovered I only have so much bandwidth to deal with highly emotional or stressful things at one time, and I'm learning to accept that about myself.  Probably most people are like that, but what do I know?  It's taken awhile to get to the point of writing this letter, longer than I would have liked, but I also have a stressful life which I am learning to accept.  

A private off leash dog park that Charlie could run in, without me having to worry about other dogs.  Unfortunately it also had a small slough which meant Charlie was covered in mud and smelly water, but he loved it.

Proof of a wet summer.

I took a break from social media for a bit.  It was getting me down and raising my blood pressure, literally.  My blood pressure is now under control and well managed.  I'm staying off instagram because my algorithm brings me all kinds of crap about the provincial government which leaves me feeling outraged.  I'm tired of feeling outraged.  It's not a good feeling.

We finally seem to have the right medication combination for Jack.  He's eating better and is able to stay focused when he needs to be.  He doesn't have any camps this week or next week, it's just the two of us and so far it's going well.  I have also been making hard boiled egg chocolate pudding for him which he loves and his weight is going up now.

The basement is almost finished which is nice.  The final two windows from our May new window installation have finally been installed in the basement, windows which would probably have prevented the flooding that we had.  Sigh.  The utility room is tidy and organized, and the bedroom has new flooring which looks very nice.  I only have some more painting to do in the bedroom and then it's finished.

I took a break from Katie this past weekend.  Jack went to the lake with his grandma and mother for one night, so I also took a break from Katie on the Sunday.  She's hard work that girl and I think I need to step back more, for her sake and mine.  When I die it's her caregivers who will be doing all of the stuff I do now.  I'm aging and finding it harder to deal with her mentally and physically, so stepping back, ever so slowly makes sense.

I'm finally feeling less overwhelmed now that the basement has been renovated.  I don't think I realized how much mental energy it took for me to deal with it.  Katie's ovarian cyst is shrinking and bothering her less and less it seems.  My son is doing well.  He just started a new job yesterday and in October he's going back to school to become a carpenter.  He seems happier and more settled, but even more importantly he's staying sober.  I'm thankful.

Me driving home with the new flooring from Home Depot:)

Summer is coming to an end.  Some of the leaves have started turning yellow.  The tansy, asters, and goldenrod are all blooming.  Basically all the weeds and grasses are blooming.

Canada Thistle.

Perennial sow thistle.

That's it.  That's all I got:)

I had a lovely dream this morning about one of my best friend's daughters.  This is Shirley with her oldest daughter who will be turning 29 next month.  Shirley died in 2015 of cancer and I still dream about her, but the dream this morning was about her youngest daughter and it was so nice to see her, even if it was only in my dreams.

I took this photo of the big pond a couple of days ago.  There's been so much rain that the ponds are doing well and the water levels are high.  The pelicans have moved from one pond to the other as well.  The white birds on the water are pelicans who summer here every year.  Lac La Biche has a massive summer pelican population and we have six but I love seeing these six arrive every spring.  There used to be eight but two must have died, hopefully of old age.

We rented a bin this past weekend to throw out the damaged flooring and drywall from the basement flooding.  Then we removed part of the decking in the back yard around the window well.  The decking was rotting and the slope was downwards towards the house which would explain the flooding.  The decking was built years ago and many of the screws were impossible to undo so my husband had to pry the boards up with a crowbar, one at a time.  Brute strength was required.

Instead of rebuilding the deck, we have a huge deck, this part of the yard will just be planted with grass and clover seed, after more soil is added to repair the slope.  No need to repaint or repair in the coming years, just cutting the grass which will be easier in the long run.

Another photo of the pond.  Everything is green and growing well.

Jack slept in his own bed last night, all night.  This is the first time he's slept alone in the last nine months.  He stayed with his grandma and mom on Halloween and his mom watched a scary movie with him, because she's such a good mom and only thinks about herself.  So for nine months, Jack has been sleeping with us, disrupting our sleep.  He felt safer sleeping with us and we want him to feel safe, but it was hard.  He's feeling better now thankfully.  He had a good night sleep he said.  Nine months and his mom, grandma, and aunt remains oblivious to the harm she does to him.

He is seeing a trauma counselor now which I'm hoping will help him in the long run.  

Katie had a rough day yesterday and started to attack me in the car on the way home, not a lot, but trying to pull my hair.  I got her home and in the house and then she started to crying and hitting her face.  I gave her an ativan and hoped for the best.  I have no idea what was going on with her and often we never do.  She has a hard life sometimes.

Life goes on:)

 

The walk home the other night.

It's been kind of an awful summer so far.  We had a huge dump of rain yesterday at lunch and the window well filled up again but I was home and I bailed it out.  It's just the volume of rain.  Streets are flooding, sink holes are appearing, and underpasses are impassable.  The waters recede and then it happens again.

I went online to figure out what to do about the window well and about flooding.  I found out that it's not an unusual problem, which is good to know, and it can be fixed, also good to know.  I was worried it would be something that would require tens of thousands of dollars to fix and my neck and back muscles tightened up.  I also learned about the purpose of window wells, how they're designed, and how they drain.  All good information that I managed to make it this far without knowing.

The damaged part of the basement has been cleaned out and I let the contractor know that he can come at anytime to do the repairs.  He told me after the long weekend.  Yesterday I bought the flooring and I've decided not to replace the nasty old utility sink in the basement, I just removed it.  I don't need it and it leaves more room in the furnace room.

I'll order a bin and I'll get rid of all the garbage that is now sitting in the garage and after the drywall is up, I can install shelving and organize the utility room so that we can find stuff, instead of buying another__________ (fill in the blank with any tool imaginable).

Jack has only a morning camp this week so I think I'm bummed out about that too.  I like it when I have the whole day to myself.  I think I'll make him go dog walking with me this afternoon and I'll keep the morning for myself.  I'll also be happier when my house is put back together.  

Europe is on fire, we're drowning, the US government has lost their collective mind, and the children of the world continue to die or be traumatized because old men who are afraid to die fight wars that nobody needed and nobody wanted (I suppose the argument could be made that war is never needed or wanted).  Climate change is real, it's not new but it has been sped up exponentially and the poorest among us will be the ones to suffer the most, as usual.  We're supposed to do better when we learn and yet it appears that human beings have learned nothing.  It breaks my heart.

 A basement flood can be a gift of sorts.  I had to empty out a closet downstairs and came across a box labeled Mum's stuff.  Obviously it was packed up after mum died in 2013 and I hadn't looked at it since.  The newspaper used to wrap stuff was also labeled 2013 so I know I haven't looked at those things for thirteen years.  It's hard to believe that she's been gone that long and I miss her still.  

So what was in the box?  This Hummel figurine for one, which I didn't realize I had kept.  Mum had a few Hummel figurines that she had bought in Germany while we lived there.  Mum had quite a few knick-knacks and they were part of my life growing up; each one had to be moved to dust underneath it on a regular basis.  I have no memory of what happened to them when mum died but I kept one which I'm glad of.  Mum kept a clean house.  When I was growing up she cleaned the bathroom daily, something which just boggles my mind now.

There were also pay booklets that belonged to my dad when he was in the army during WW2 which will be 100 years old in just a few more years.  There were letters and a few other things.  Jack was with me when I opened the box and started pulling things out.  I ugly cried and he gave me a hug.  He's so very gentle and kind with me, sometimes.  I didn't know what to do with the stuff, don't know who might want it, so I packed it up and moved it to an upstairs closet. 

Everything that was damaged has been removed from the basement except for the utility sink which wasn't damaged but which was a piece of crap.  I can't disconnect the sink by myself so my husband will do that.  A bin will be ordered to put all the garbage in and have it hauled away.  The new flooring has been picked out and once I get that our contractor will come back and fix everything up for us.  Then I will put lots of shelving into the utility room and organize the room so we can find things.  The bedroom will be set up once more and hopefully things return to normal.

Jack spent last night at the lake with his grandma and mom.  His mom appears to be medicated, with what I don't know but her affect is blunted.  Grandma will be with them supervising, I hope.  Because we had the night off, my husband and I went out for supper and I ran into a nurse I worked with for years.  She actually doesn't live far from us but we rarely see each other.  It was nice to catch up with her and meet her baby grandson.

I don't feel 100% this morning, coughing and congested, so I called and cancelled my outing with Katie.  I feel guilty because I know Katie will be upset but I also don't want to make her sick.  Last night I thought it was just the smoke making me feel congested and making me cough, but it's a cold (not a man cold thankfully) so I will survive.