The Devil Called – And I Said HELL-O

My posting days have diminished somewhat with the more quiet days Nat and I have been experiencing. My doctor appointments have now become something of the past, except for the once/twice yearly check-ups between Hamilton and St. Catharines, The time has finally come in my life where I can live a half decent normal one. And I’m loving it!!!!!!! It’s only taken me well over 50 years to get here, but damn, I made it. This is all I’ve wanted my whole life is to be normal, as normal as anyone’s can be. No one will ever have any idea how this can feel unless you’ve lived a life of medical horror (for lack of a better word). Needless to say I’m enjoying every quiet, peaceful, unfullfilled moment I can grab onto.

The days since my last posting have, naturally, been unfulfilling except for the odd thing that Nat and I can manage to find. He’s been golfing 3 times a week and on those days without him I find some office work, baking, organizing or just watching the BBC’s iPlayer which I love. All things BBC England and most of my favourite cooking shows which I’ve now caught onto are on the iPlayer and I’m getting so many more ideas for baking breads, biscuits, cakes, etc.. I’ve been baking up a small storm of new goodies and it’s been great fun.

I’ve now started Christmas baking with several new items now in the freezer. As an added bonus, I’ve been organizing Gail’s recipe binder, and happened upon one of her recipes that looked pretty good, so I tried it. They’re small (1-1/2″) white cookies that you put together, like a sandwich, with a cream cheese, butter and icing sugar filling. It goes without saying I screwed up the filling and made it a little too watery. When I first made the filling it was so thick I could hardly mix it. Little Miss Big Idea decided to add a drop or two of warm water. Trust me, it didn’t work very well, but I did manage to fill the little suckers and stuck them in the freezer. We’ll see what happens around the holidays. I’ll have to remember to tell dear Sister, not to do what I did.

I’ve also tried a new recipe of  Christmas cookies with sprinkles. These are dead simple, and again with an icing sugar, butter and cream cheese frosting. There’s also sprinkle in the batter and on top which should make them look very festive. Another new one to add to the list.

This afternoon I finished a small finger cake recipe – 3 layers of cake (2 are coloured) with raspberry jam inbetween each layer and iced with melted chocolate chips. Found this easy bake in one of my America’s Test Kitchen magazines. Dead simple and easy!! Plus it looks very festive.

With all of the American election hoopla finally over, and the shock of Donald Trump being elected U.S. President still hanging around, the days have been somewhat odd. You have no idea how glad, happy, elated and gleeful I am to be Canadian with a young, intelligent and sane Prime Minister running our Country.

As the whole world knows this American election was a major shock and has everyone in a turmoil, including governments, trying to predict what this man is going to do. You could say it’s almost spooky, eerie and somewhat unsettling. Having said that, just shortly after the election and while Nat was golfing, I received a call from 666!!!!!! Seriously, this number showed up on the telephone screen and I, after taking a second look, decided to answer. No one actually answered but I could hear a woman’s voice as if she was in some sort of stunned state. Can’t explain it really, but this just added to the entire weirdness of the call. When Nat got home I literally had to show him the list of calls received, and he then believed me. This would have been doubly weird if that number had of disappeared from the screen. DooDooDooDooDooDoo!!!!!!!

Following along in the “unsettling” things that have been happening, Nat received a call from his niece. His sister, Jenny, had had a fall several weeks back, had gone through hip surgery and was in the throws of recovering. Nat had talked to his sister since her operation and he could tell she was depressed, wanted the hell out of there and was almost ready to have her family just “let her go”. It was devastating for Nat, to say the least, but he tried to cheer her up as best he could, but then Natalie called a week later to say Jenny had had a heart attack. Although it was a mild one, the Doctors are certain it was brought on from the stress she was going through. We had both come to that conclusion on our own.

Natalie advised that they had settled her down to recover and would then take her to the hospital in Newcastle, U.K. to have a couple of stents put in. Once that was done they would then transport her back to another local hospital closer to her home for recovery. We were again devastated. This poor woman was being transported all over the place, was still in major pain from the hip surgery and now had to go through another operation. At the age of 82 she was enduring more than her body was wanting. For the past couple of days Nat and I have been staying close to home in case of any updates and I can tell from Nat’s face he’s thinking of every scenario he can. In his mind, I truly believe he’s preparing himself. God, may only good news be at the other end of that telephone line next time it rings!!!!!!

On a happier note, we attended the 50th Wedding Anniversary of friends at the Scottish Club in St. Catharines on Saturday night. Nat has known this couple since he emmigrated to Canada with his first wife and they are best friends with Nat’s brother and sister-in-law. I get a huge kick out of this whole clan as they’re fun people to be around. Eat, drink and be merry and at all costs have a great time is their motto and that we did! There was shaved roast beef, pasta and meat balls, salads, rolls, 2 kinds of lasagna and more for the main meal, along with huge cream-filled meringues and anniversary cake for dessert. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren ran around the hall with festive balloons while the adults flitted from table to table mingling with each other. It was like musical chairs but great fun and a lot of getting caught up on family news.

As for the rest of the month, I’ve already got my Christmas shopping done and wrapped. I had found something unusual for 3 of my sisters earlier in the year and then decided screw it, I was going to buy for everyone. So I did. I found a couple more items for the other 2 sisters and then finished off my gift giving with something for a neice and nephew that are still in school. I really don’t want to offend my sisters, but this time of year really gets me depressed when it comes to Nat’s two girls and their children. The girls don’t want to exchange and we can only give money to our grandchildren. We don’t get to see them open their presents. One daughter has her own tradition on Christmas Eve because of her separation, with the two kids opening presents after everyone has gone home from her little Christmas Eve get-toghter. The other daughter’s family celebrate Christmas morning on their own and we can come for a visit in the afternoon after all is done.

I may be 67 but I’m still a huge kid at heart. Maybe I’m reminiscing too much of childhood days, but that’s where my heart is. I can’t control what the heart wants, except to deny it and settle for how things are. Life just gets harder and, at times, just bearable!