Goodbye Mrs O

A block away from my clients house I was accosted by the VON nurse who let me know that my client had died (She recognized me from previous visits). Me and the nurse exchanged pleasantries for a moment and I continued toward the house. A moment later my cell rang. It was the hospice calling they had gotten an urgent message from the family the night before, but it was left in the wrong mail box so they where just getting to it at noon. Could I please call back and tell them what had happened.?

I got to the house and Mrs. O’s Husband greeted me. Mrs O, was still in her hospital bed in the living room. Someone had tucked her in with a lovely quilt and she looked restful and at peace.

With red welling eyes, Mr O thanked me profusely for my help and promised to send the arrangement details to the hospice.

I felt almost guilty accepting his thanks. Mrs O was a very quiet, easy to care for client. She had been struck with melanoma that had metastasized to her brain. She demanded nothing and was very grateful for the very few things she would let me do for her. Most of the time I sat by her bed side and knitted while the two of us watched TV.

Goodbye Mrs O
Rest In Peace

I Stand Corrected.

Roben gave me a call yesterday after reading my blog to clarify that she had not, in fact invited me to crash Pete and Victoria’s Post wedding brunch. And truth be known the word “crash” never crossed her lips.

Roben did mean something quite different. (You didn’t do a bad job in communicating it Roben, I just get squirrelly about weddings.)

In my head anything to do with any wedding is FORMAL, and so not receiving an invitation (spoken sufficed, but engraved wax sealed envelopes would have been much better) –I’m kidding- directly from the Host/ess felt like crashing.

And we know how I feel about crashing ….

A Wedding, an Anniversary, and Good News

My friends Pete and Victoria got married yesterday morning (and they’ll get married again next week – But more on that later). They had a very small elegant Catholic Church wedding, Pete’s mother came in from England to attend and Victoria’s father was present. Pete and Victoria walked together down the aisle. It was a lovely ceremony and I cried the whole way though it.

God I’m a suck.

There were moments of humour thrown in as the minister fudged Victoria’s name and called her Veronica.

Several times.

I joked with Pete that he had married me as well.

Pete and Victoria very graciously invited Igal and I to join the wedding party for the post wedding brunch at Joy Bistro.

Later that night Ross and Roben celebrated there 10th Anniversary at the Salle.

It was lovely to get caught up on some friends that I haven’t seen in quite a while. Kim and Rick made it out, Matt and Sukie and there brood of Fingal, Luna, Melia (Sp?) and “yet to be named Bun-in-the-oven” The kids look wonderfull and Sukie as usual is radiant in her pregnancy.

Also in attendance was the Lovely Angel and Greg, Ian Sinclair and His new Wife. (Who’s name has run away from my head) Even Pete and Victoria took a brief break from there wedding night to join us.

The odd point of the evening came when some kids who were a part of the Martial arts collective (and not invited to the party) slunk out of the back room and helped them selves to a heaping plate full of the chilli and some Beer.

They where under aged so the beer freebee was quickly squwashed but I think they ate more of the chilli than the invited guests did. At one point I warned Igal that if he wanted to taste our chilli he better get some quick. (It was a good thing too, because the next time I saw the pot it looked as if it had been licked clean.)

I couldn’t believe the nerve.

Earlier on in the day after the Pete and Victoria’s Wedding Roben suggested that Igal and I “crash” the post wedding brunch. I wouldn’t do it. (Pete wound up chasing Igal and I down the street to tell us to come) I don’t believe in inviting your self to events. I never assume that I am included unless it is explicitly expressed and I have a real pet peeve against people who do, or who simply show up to an event uninvited.
ARRRGH!

And the good news. T and S’s little girl seems to be doing just fine. Best of all test have confirmed that the spectre of the big “C” is not present.

Hearing that last night was the best part of my day.

Thank you to every one who sent positive vibes.

Prayers for a little girl

My very good Friends S and T are very worried about there Little Girl. She has been complaining about a pain in her hip. As of yesterday a battery of tests had still not revealed a definitive cause.

The Doctors have said it could be something very minor, like a localized viral infection. They have also said it could be something very serious, and the ugly “C” word has been mentioned. Igal spoke to T yesterday and he described T as “Shaken” by what the doctors have had to say.

So if you have a moment today say a prayer, light a candle, send some positive vibes, That S and T’s little girl has a minor bug that will go away quickly, and send some positive energy to S and T too that they can have some comfort.

No Sex Please, We’re Zombies

This month has been unbelievably busy. This weekend has been the only weekend that the haggis and I have had to our selves. Next weekend is Jam-Packed and I don’t think that we will fit every thing in that we want to do.

On Friday night there is the rehearsal for Pete and Victoria’s Wedding, Saturday morning is the wedding, Saturday night is Ross and Roben’s anniversary party.

On top of that, This weekend is the annual “Everything to do with Sex Show” and On Sunday is the Annual Toronto “Zombie Walk”

What are these odd sounding events? The “Everything to do with Sex Show” is held about this time every year at the Automotive building at the CNE grounds.

Yes, That’s right, the Automotive building. Yes indeed folks, a roughly football field sized building jam packed with people selling, discussing and occasionally demo-ing all things naughty. There are three stages featuring (among other things) fashion shows, pole dancing demos and some one called “Rubberella”. The entire building is licensed so you can wander from both to booth with your beer or wine in hand.

A few years back they had Ron Jeremy (AKA – The hedgehog)

*SHUDDER* (and not in a good way)

Of course I am a creative individual and I certainly don’t need a football field full of toys, condoms, lube, lingerie, rubber, leather, restraints, silk bed sheets, porn, whips, and so on to turn my crank.

But it is terribly entertaining.

Then there is the Zombie Walk
This usually happens on the last Sunday before Halloween, but this year the date had changed to coincide with the “Toronto after Dark Film Festival”

At about 3pm hundreds of people dressed as Zombies will descend upon Nathan Phillips Square and shuffle there way to the Bloor Cinema for a special screening of (what else?) a Zombie movie. *With discounts for the undead!*

Of course I am such a terribly sick puppy that shuffling down a busy down town Toronto street muttering “Braaaaaaains” sounds like waaaaaaaay to much fun!

Of course, I want to do it all. But Sunday we will just have time for Zombies or Sex, Not both.

Hummmm. Decisions.Decisions…..

Testing

Test Test

In which Veronica rambles endlessly

I haven’t written in a long time I cant focus on one thing so here is a bunch of things.

Happy Belated Birthday to the Haggis, and congrats on the big Four – Oh !

Congratulations Yarn Harlot on your recent nuptials! I am glad you liked the Wedding gift.

Congratulations on your up coming nuptials Pete and Victoria! And thank you Victoria for inviting me to the Shower and the lovely Martinis and manicures party. Apologies that I had to run right afterwards, but … well the rest is on your answering machine.

Thank you, to Pete for understanding why I had to back out of being your Photographer.

Running has run in to the ground. My training has completely gone to pot and I have started pretty much from scratch this week. Ugh. The current running plan is as follows: 5K resolution run on Jan 1st
10K sporting life run in may
15K Bread and Honey run in June
21 K waterfront life half marathon in September.
Lets see if this happens.

Igals parents went home to Victoria about two weeks ago. This was by far the easiest visit that we have had with them. And bonus points to me for not landing in the hospital with chest pains brought on by stress. GO ME ! Igal and I even talked about going to Victoria and visiting.

Starbucks is good. Thus far they have been giving me early shifts and I like that. I am however incapable of going to bed before 11pm, which make 5am shifts most entertaining. Particularly because I have to take the “Blue Line” Buses (three of them) to get to work. Even with having my shower before I go to bed and laying out my clothing in the bathroom the night before my shift, I still have to roll out of bed at 3:40 am to make it to work by 5am. LOADS OF FUN! The most entertaining part of all of this is I can’t stand the coffee. *Snicker*

My Mother will be turning 60 in October. 60. Which is a perfectly reasonable age for my mother to be, seeing as I will be 39 this Christmas. Its just… in my head my mom is stuck at about 45. And despite the fact that my mothers idea of a “balanced meal” is having some milk with her bag of “Chips Ahoy” Cookies, She really does not look any where near 60.

My Mother turning 60 means that my Father will be 68 in March. WTF? I swear, he just was 50 last year….

Igal and I have been toying with the idea for a really big 10th anniversary bash. Lately we have been re-thinking that idea. (Mostly, it’s been me thinking out loud and Igal agreeing.) We have no money right now, because I have no real job. – It is four months till march and I am not holding my breath on the “real job” thing happening “real soon”. Do I really want to get even more in the hole financially than I already am? Perhaps we will have an 11th anniversary party. Perhaps we will just go to Cuba. Who knows?

On the real job front, I had a rather good interview with the Ontario Hospice Association. They wont be giving me that job however because it comes with a one hundred thousand dollar budget. I have never worked with a budget, never mind a hundred grand budget. It was, however a good experience and I am pleased with the way I handled my self, and hey…. I got an interview for a job with a hundred thousand dollar budget. How fucking cool is that?

I had a profoundly bizarre dream last night, in which my good friend Timothy was being harassed by an evil neighbour, but his wife and I would be fighting the evil neighbour with an army of Zombies… which we could produce at will with the help of a Vampire. And then things got weird.
Timothy turned in to a werewolf, and the only way to turn him back was to for me to shave sacred symbols in his back while he slept. (The Timothy-werewolf looked a lot like the Timothy-friend… only hairier)

What the fuck did I eat last night before going to bed?

The haggis is off at Pete’s Stag party. It sounds fun. There will be drinking and shooting and eating. I would have like to be there…but alas I am a girl, and not a stripper, so much to my chagrin I have not been invited.

Bummer.