Music Is The Food of Love

The winter months are now starting to take their toll. Poor Nat can’t get his sciatica to ease up. The pain killers are not working at all. We’re now both beginning to think that he’s had such a good run these past several years that the sciatica has decided to take a turn for the worst. Night time is a real struggle to get any sleep at all while the days are long, boring, irritating, frustrating and just plain miserable.

Between the two of us we’ve managed to maintain certain of our regular chores – groceries, exercises, errands and even the odd walk-about in a Mall. As things have gotten worse, Nat even decided to go to his Doctor’s clinic on Friday evening. I hopped in the car to keep him company on the 40 minute drive into the City. Naturally, once we got there the Clinic was closed on Friday nights. We had written down the hours previously, but Nat had assumed Friday was included, but alas not. Thus we decided to at least make some sense out of this useless trip and went for supper at Swiss Chalet . Another bit of miscalculation – that place is bloody busy on Friday nights!!!! At least the drive wasn’t a complete waste.

As Nat and I had decided to clear out all of our old record albums and as I knew my niece, Zoe, was now getting into those golden oldies, we invited the Irwin and Pierson families over for pizza and wings on Saturday. We figured we should give Zoe a chance to browse through what she wanted before we disposed of the rest.  Once she discovered her Mom and Dad’s collection, she really got into the swing of things. Her parents gave her a turntable one Christmas and now she’s on a roll. I had previously given her my 45 record collection and she was thrilled.

We couldn’t believe the excitement between each family member as they gathered around the dining room table flipping over record album by record album, checking out lyrics, asking the older sisters what some singers were like. Zoe relied on her Mom for a lot of advice and once Zoe passed over one, my other two sisters (Michele and Claudia) would check them out. In the end they all made out like bandits and each walked away with a carton full. The girls even managed to clean out the balance of 45 records we had left.

Sunday morning Nat and I woke up exhausted – as to why, we have no idea. Cleaning up the night before was a breeze – recycle the pizza and wing containers, put away left over cookies and that was it. We then watched the rest of the hockey game and went to bed. I can only guess we had such a good time the night before that we weren’t use to that much excitement in our lives. It was such fun listening to the bantering back and forth between Darby, Zoe, Zach and Michele, along with laughing at their stories and adventures. There hasn’t been such laughter and fun in this house for years and it made Nat and I feel really good. I can hear Darby now – “You old folks have to get out more often!!!”

Along came Monday morning with reminders that it was also my birthday. The cards received and good wishes on Facebook were appreciated and nice. I’m determined not to have any more, but I’m sure someone somewhere will remind me. The snow man arrived in spades for a nice birthday present – NOT. The back patio was knee deep and Nat wasn’t too sure how to even begin to plough or shovel it away. The little snow plough we use for the patio was so snowed in, he had no choice but to use the shovel. Once he cleared the driveway he could only manage a pathway between the patio door and steps. As Nat cleared a pathway for any quick escapes, I cleared the accumulated snow that managed to blow its way in between the screen and glass doors to the kitchen.

View from the kitchen:

The guilt continues to rush over me every time Nat clears away the snow as I watch from the warmth of inside the house. My stamina and strength have gone by the wayside but I was at least inside baking bread for the freezer and Nat would have some warm buns for his supper. With his task completed Nat headed for his recliner for some well earned warmth and relaxation with the aroma of bread emanating from the oven. The advantage of being retired, neither one of us had to drive in that stuff!!