Must be time

It must be time to write something.  I write a lot and lose track of what I've written for what or to whom.  I write a letter to my mother every week, I write a Friday email to a bunch of relatives and friends, I write to my friend in Illinois who had a stroke (or something close enough to that to debilitate her), and I write in my journal every day.  Pretty much every day.  I make sure there's an entry for each day, even if I have to back peddle and fill in the days.  Like last night, when I had to recreate 3 days worth of activities.  Entries like that are brief and not particularly noteworthy.  Of course, not much in my journal is noteworthy--my family and I use it as a reference tool sometimes.  Which Christmas was it that ...?  Check my journal.  I used to use it to settle arguments with my ex-husband, which gives you an idea of what kind of marriage we had.  Being right was very important to him.  Probably  still is.

I had a fairly quiet week.  Went to Burlington last week, nice trip to see my friend in the hospital there.  Very pretty ferry ride, full moon in daylight.  Called a children's moon, because (supposedly) it's the only kind of moon children can see before they go to bed.  Or so.

I had a quiet weekend, didn't accomplish a whole lot but felt ok about it.  On Sunday I joined the neighbors for the weekly gathering at noon and ended up staying for lunch.  That was nice.  It was a light meal, nothing like the Sunday dinners I always shared with Ken.  I still managed to gain 3 pounds this week, but it's the same three pounds I lost last week so it's not a big deal.

Wednesday night I met Fred and Bill for dinner here in Plattsburgh and we had a good time.  Good food, good company.  Poor Bill is having terrible back problems but he showed up in spite of it.  I ate like a pig and still had plenty to take home.  burp.

The dogs are doing all right.  I can't really tell if Chances is getting better, the improvements would be slight and slow to show up.  She still can't walk more than a couple of steps, and sometimes just gives up and sits down.  She sort of hops with her hind legs sometimes.  I think she's at least as frustrated as I am but at least she's learned to bark when she needs help coming up the stairs to come inside.  Clever girl.

I walked the bog on Saturday, when it was chilly and there was a bit of snow.  We got more snow last night, not more than half an inch by morning.  Heavy snow on the way home from work in the dark--just to remind me of what's to come.

I worked 10-5 today, which was really nice.  I have to use up a little time so decided to stay home an extra hour this morning.  Very peaceful, and it gave me a chance to build a good fire to warm up the living room.  I stoked the fire, a good habit to get into now that it's colder.  I've been having fires but have been lazy about keeping them going, which means the electric heat is on more.  $$$$

Tomorrow I'm planning to go Christmas shopping with my friend Lin.  We'll come to Plattsburgh, shop, visit, have lunch, shop--she never buys much, but I always spend plenty of money.  Sunday is our book group Thanksgiving dinner.  I finally figured out what I'll take (rice and mushrooms) but don't have the energy or drive to buy supplies tonight so I'll make poor Lin go to the grocery store tomorrow.  I've been buying odds & ends of presents for a while, but have nothing much for anyone.  Nor do I have ideas.  I'll talk to Liza and Mark next week about what we'll do for Christmas.  Not much I'm hoping.

I'm off to Rhode Island on Weds., will stay there until Sunday.  I'm looking forward to the trip--Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday, since it's straightforward and mostly about a meal.  And of course we'll have lobsters one night.  Jenica will be there, which makes it more special.  I'll be interested to hear what everyone there has to say about Chances and her situation.  I'm so uncertain about it.  Sometimes I think I can last a long time with her struggling like this, other times I don't see how much longer I can stand to deal with it.  A normal response, I think.