Yesterday...

Some days are better than others,
All we can do is put our best face forward and hope for the best...
yesterday was one of "those days."

Our four year old cat, Pepper is ill...
I spent a few hours at the hospital with her
and I left her there overnight for observation.
She has had X-Rays, tests and blood work...
it appears that something is amiss and so we wait...

If pets could talk and tell us what is wrong we'd be so much better able to diagnose their problem and start the correct treatment.
I wonder if she ate something that she should not have ingested...

She was throwing up...
I know it's gross and I won't mention it again,
except to say that our white coverlet on the bed has been laundered.
(I'm so grateful we own a heavy duty washing machine)

I left dinner in the oven for  MR. HB...
he coaxed Pepper into the kennel cab for me as I hastily wrote out the directions to the hospital from a google map...
I was stressed, scribbling the street names
I'm not proud of it but there was some screaming involved...

I got lost on the way to the hospital...
on a rainy dark night, country roads and unfamiliar territory...
our old Volvo wagon does not have a GPS.

I pulled over to the side of the road and "googled" maps, 

I got a message saying "Do you want to install the Google Map APP now?

NOOOOOO....

I want to get to the vet NOW...

I had to stop at a gas station and call the hospital for directions...
turns out I was two blocks short of their location.

Can you feel my tension
you shouldn't...
I'm just venting.

I had my first ever Kuerig coffee...which btw was delicious.

The "reception" at the hospital was warm and welcoming

the patient and caring staff took care of me as well as Pepper.

Let's take a break/diversion shall we?

Yes the red shoes walked with me to French Class...

they were accompanied by my favourite French made Union Jack tote.

Perhaps it is a weird "statement"

 to carry that tote to class 

but both the textbooks

the French English dictionary

  homework and papers

pencils and pens

and

a bottle of Perrier

fit 

perfectly.

C'est la vie.

I passed by a popular flower stall

brimming with colour...

a market with fresh produce...

I wore classic pearls and diamonds...

with my natural tinsel "highlights"

I'll be 60 in a few weeks so I think I have "earned the right to embrace the grey"

(have you noticed how many women "of a certain age" are blogging about going grey ?)

 Joni Mitchell and Joan Didion have been hired as representatives as the "new faces" for fashion houses.

Boomers, are quite possibly, becoming the IT generation!

I spied these gorgeous Hunter Boots in a shop window

and if I had not been running late for class

I would have rushed in 

and tried them on...

I did just buy some cute and comfy Harvest Tomato Lands' End Bianca ballet flats...

and it was not raining...

 look was hanging out in the same shop window as the Hunter Boots.

Last weekend I left this vest in "the Red Store"

(aka Target)

after conferring with my personal fashion advisor

who has never steered me wrong...

(thanks darling...it does add bulk and I am way too short to carry it off!)

so before I close...

Pepper's picture on her file at the vet clinic...

belly up!

I took it when she helped me "fold the laundry" Mr. HB's Socks!

Pepper was an adorable kitten ...

your little buddy Chester is waiting for you Pepper...

he was asleep when I took this...

Pepper snoozing onboard our Sea Ray last summer....

I'm going to phone the hospital soon and see what kind of night she had...

in the meantime...

I feel a wee bit better having written this all down and sharing it.

Who knows if anyone is out there reading these words?

there might just be an audience of empty chairs...

Craving Comfort Food.....a tonic for sleep deprivation.

Let me seek out comfort food without judgement......
let me feed my belly with something satiating.
I am in dire need of some "feel good sustenance"
sleeping sporadically...
listening to the neighbourhood sounds as most slumber....
thoughts running through my head refusing to be still.

Mother's health has become a factor, and it's affecting her daily routine and I am quite concerned.
She says that I am the worrier in the family...it's true.

She tires more often these days and it is difficult for me to accept that she is not as spry and energetic as she was even a few months ago. Changes that I see with our regular visits and shopping trips, lunches and teas.
I do not know why I am struggling except perhaps to come to grips with the fact that she will not be on this Earth forever.

She has also become very nostalgic and wants to talk of the past and has mentioned Father more and more in her conversations. She misses him so much.
It must be lonely living alone, the hours pass slowly and her voracious habit of reading must help fill the time and be of some comfort...but it's not the same as sharing a home with a spouse.

Happily she is surrounded by a lifetime of treasures and many family photos framed and hung on the walls remind her of happier times.
Her bright condo on the top floor of an older building has views to the ocean on one side and the treetops and roofs looking toward town on the other. It's a warm and spacious place which she loves and rarely does a day go by that she doesn't thank me for finding it. (The credit goes to the realtor that we hired but she thinks it was me)

Having Mother living so close makes it easy to see her often...she is just a hop skip and a jump away!
She is close in proximity and at home in my heart.

It's funny to think how far we've come.
From our struggles when I was a teenager wanting to stay out late, negotiating to wear to school what was then a new trend, "jeans" and our disagreements over the use of make up. Those days are long gone and they lasted only a few years and in the end Mother was right about being protective and her idea of proper attire does not go unheeded as she has set the bar very high.
Her "no make up look" has stood her in good stead and the skin care routines that she instilled upon me have influenced my regime to this day.
I owe her a lot...
Thanks MOM!


Sitting here somewhat sleep deprived, sipping on decaf tea...
(I have given up caffeine for health reasons)
I have thought enough and now I need to get on with things.

So I am succumbing to a little butter melted on apricot raisin bread.

a little indulgence is going a LONG way!

Let's have some fun and forget our troubles.....

"Keep Calm and Carry On"