….thanks to Sue Llewellyn for dipping into her dictionary for the word companion
A Word a Week Challenge: Companion
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Category Archives: Frances
Ready, Set, Done – Off To the Vets We Go
…..today’s Daily Prompt
Today, write about anything — but you must write for exactly ten minutes, no more, no less.
Three weeks ago we took our dog, Frances to the vet to have a couple of teeth removed. Two hours later and a bill for almost $800.00 we were informed that the x-ray showed a root floating around in her gums that our vet couldn’t remove so we were advised to see a vet that specialized in dental procedures.
The appointment was made, time off from work arranged and we drove to the hospital this morning. When we got there, in plenty of time for our appointment, we waited for almost an hour and a half before the vet could see us. She looked at the x-rays done by our vet and was a little concerned about the bone structure on the one side of Frances’ jaw but she couldn’t really tell what the problem was and could only make some educated guesses at this point.
When discussing our options, she said that if it were her dog she would probably wait and see and maybe start a course of antibiotics. She left us for a few minutes to write up the estimate if we chose to go the surgery route. When she returned she presented us with the estimate that ranged from $2000. to $2900. The option of going the medication route didn’t come up again.
We asked if we could have a few minutes to go over the numbers before making our decision. The dog wasn’t in any pain, there were no visible signs of stress or inflammation and she seemed content. What to do? $400. for meds or a possible $3000. for surgery?
The 10 minute buzzer just went off. I guess you’ll never know what we decided.
For more Daily Prompts check out Ready, Set, Done.
Update on my Ongoing Saga
…..thanks to all my concerned followers; here’s where things stand today
My son-in-law has just come out of surgery and the surgeon is 99.5% confident that all is well. My husband’s visit to the surgeon this morning confirmed that the thyroid has to come out and they set a date for October 9th. He just called me from the hospital and he’s waiting to see my aunt. Apparently they took her downstairs to put a tube into her chest to drain the liquid that’s been building up and she should be feeling somewhat better. He said that the Hagen Das ice-cream that he bought her was melting in his bag. I suggested that he take it to the kitchen across the hall and put it in the freezer until she is well enough to eat it.
I’ve just picked up our daughter’s dog, Lucy, so that they have one less thing to worry about. Now I’m worried because didn’t she grab a toadstool and swallow it before I could get it away from her. She seems okay but I’ll have to keep a close eye on her.
On my way home from picking up the dog I ran into a lot of construction and I ended up making a wrong turn. In hindsight it was probably a blessing because I ended up on the highway north of the city and it was moving quickly. Unfortunately I exited too soon and I came down the street that runs by the school. I decided to quickly stop by and check out the library situation. The good news is that someone has put all the shelves back on the wall. The bad news is that they didn’t return the books, the heavy wooden book cases haven’t been put back in place and my office is still jammed with boxes and furniture. I guess I should be thankful for small blessings and hopefully sometime this week the book cases will be returned to their rightful places. With lots of help I can deal with putting the books back on the shelves.
Lucy looks okay (basset) and Frances doesn’t seem concerned.
I’ve just checked the internet and vet sites recommend inducing vomiting. Great! I’ll call our vet and see what she says.
The fun never stops!
Two Different Ideas of a Good Time
…..this weekend my husband and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary
Last Friday we loaded up the car with our doped up little dog in the back and headed up north for a nice quiet weekend at the cottage. When we arrived it was slightly overcast but the rain held off until later in the evening. The next day (our anniversary) it poured rain for most of the day.
We decided to not let the weather interfere with our time together or prohibit us from doing things we enjoy. My husband was bound and determined to get out on his mountain bike this weekend and come rain or shine he did. As it turned out it rained on Saturday but he enjoyed his soggy trip through the woods anyway. He returned covered in mud and his clothes were drenched with rain water. Today it didn’t rain but when he returned he was still covered in mud from all the puddles he rode through and he came back with some new scratches from riding next to the thimbleberry bushes. This is my husband’s idea of a good time.
Look who’s wearing a helmet. Yeah!
Scratches from today’s ride.
Look how happy he is.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love to ride my bike as well but I’m more of a city rider.
My idea of a good time is baking in the rain. As you may or may not know, we don’t have electricity at the cottage so all my cooking is done on the BBQ. Every once in awhile I like to bake and seeing I had 5 very ripe bananas and it was our anniversary I decided to create a new recipe using what I had in my cottage kitchen. I really wanted the recipe to be gluten free because I wanted to share the banana bread with my neighbour (outhouse hole digger) who has a gluten intolerance problem. The final product turned out quite well and I will share the recipe with you later this week.
Baking in the Rain.
The finished product. Yummy, oatmeal banana bread.
As you can see our ideas of a good time don’t always go hand in hand but we both enjoyed the banana bread and after 39 years we’ve learned to let each other pursue our individual interests and hobbies. Later in the day my husband played his mandolin and then read his book while I sat down at the table and worked on some drawings of birds. I’ve never done this before but it was part of an assignment for the on-line summer art camp I’m taking. I really enjoyed the process and I think I will work on my drawing skills some more. I honestly didn’t think I could draw birds. The second assignment was one I’ve done with my own students and it’ll be nice to have a couple of samples to show them if I decide to do this with them again.
An Unusual Summer
….instead of lounging on the beach at the cottage I’ve been spending a lot of time in the city
I was really looking forward to my summer holiday this year. I opened the cottage later than I would normally and when I returned to the city I spent 3 days in school cleaning up my office and packing up books so that the new carpet could be laid down this summer.
In the second week of the summer I went to visit my aunt. She lives by herself about 20 minutes from my house. She never calls me but she is always happy to see me. Unfortunately, she stopped answering her door or picking up her phone. Two years ago her daughter found her very ill and admitted her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with congested heart failure.
The day I went to see her, my cousin was already there and she said she had a bad night and she was still in bed (3:00 in the afternoon). After a short conversation we went to check on her and she didn’t look good. To make a long story short we called 911 and she was admitted to emergency. At around midnight, after numerous tests, x-rays and blood work we were told that she has double pneumonia.
For the next six days I was back and forth to the hospital. Five weeks later she’s still in the hospital. Her pneumonia has cleared up but now she has a multitude of other problems. Every time I come back from the cottage I go to see her and when I’m not there my husband drops in.
Last week my husband’s car had to go into the shop so he’s without a car and I’ve been driving him everywhere his bike can’t take him. This week he went in for his routine CAT scan and next week he has two more appointments.
Our dog, Frances is presently at the vet clinic having her teeth fixed. Unfortunately the problem is more complicated than we thought and she has to see a specialist to fix the under lying problem. We pick her up this afternoon and will learn more details as to when her next procedure has to be done.
Next week my son-in-law is going into the hospital for surgery so I will be dog sitting Lucy and keeping my daughter company during the procedure.
I’ve also been helping my friend A organize her basement and garage so that she can get ready to sell her house in the near future. Last weekend I also cleaned out our garage but with lots of help from family and extended family members. Normally I like to be at the cottage but when people offer to help with big jobs you kind of have to work around their schedule.
I did go up to the cottage right after the clean-up and I took our youngest daughter and Lucy with me. We only stayed a couple of days because I had to get back into town to get Frances to the vet.
It turned out to be a beautiful weekend but again my cottage neighbour offered to help dig a new outhouse hole so I spent hours on Sunday digging and then hauling sand out of the hole. 
This week when I got back to the city I got a call from my friend G who called to warn me that my classroom was a bigger mess than we anticipated. I went in yesterday to check it out and was blown away by what I saw. Painters had come in July and it was decided that they would tackle one long wall. Of course, not knowing that this was happening, none of the books on that wall had been cleared. All the books were removed from the shelves and stacked on the tables and then the shelves were taken down. Were they put back? No! 
Upon arriving to school the caretaker tried to prepare me for what I was about to see. The shelves that were moved to lay down the carpet were not returned to their original space. More shelves behind my desk were emptied because they were too close to the floor and the shelves themselves were dumped in my office.
When I left in July I had cleaned out my office so that nothing was on the floor and the counters and the table were clear so that the surfaces could be properly washed. Yesterday I couldn’t even get into my office because everything was pushed into that room. I took pictures so that my principal could forward them to the powers that be and hopefully someone will come in in the next two weeks before school starts and try to clean up the mess.
I spent a few hours yesterday locating some of the shelves, washing them and putting them back on the wall. I also clean off my library desk moved it back up against the wall so that I at least have a place to sit without looking through a mountain of stuff.
Not everything about being in the city has been bad. I did enjoy spending time with my family and taking in some of the World Cup games, especially the final when Germany won.
I’ve spent more time in my garden and reaping the benefits of time well spent.
I also saw part of the Caribana parade and spent some quality time with my husband walking, running and riding our bikes.
This summer I have produced a lot of art thanks mostly to Carla Sonheim’s on-line Summer Camp. Some of it I worked on at the cottage and the rest here at home. I’ve got lots of great ideas to share with my students when I go back to work in September. I think I’m happiest when I’m creating art.
Acrylic paint on 8 x 18 inch cedar shim.
The Summer is Half Over
…..so much I wanted to do and can’t seem to get to
I’ve been to the cottage three times and the last time it was down right cold. I haven’t been swimming once this summer. Hopefully August will be warmer.
I’m back in the city at the moment. I’ve come home to visit my aunt in the hospital, catch up on my emails, start on my ‘Summer Camp’ art projects and do a little more gardening. This morning I started my day by going for a walk with my husband and the dog. I actually ran for the first time in about a year when we got to the rugby pitch. I only ran 1k but it’s a start. In total I walked and ran 4.9k.
This weekend is the long weekend in Ontario (civic holiday) and I’m going to avoid the rush to get back to the cottage. I will probably head back up on Sunday when some people start returning to the city. I actually like spending time in the city on weekends. There’s always a lot to see and do. This is the big Caribbean festival in the city that attracts over a million visitors. I’ve never attended this event because I’ve always been at the cottage. Maybe this year I’ll change that.
I can’t believe I forgot the main reason for coming back to the city when I did. I just got a call from a good friend of mine, reminding me that we were suppose to meet at her house so that I could help her clean out years of stuff. In the next year or so she wants to sell her house and move to a smaller place. In the meantime she has to start parting with some of her accumulated treasures.
Well I’ve loaded up my car with some of A’s things that she’s willing to part with. Tomorrow morning I will drop them off at the Goodwill and next week I’ll come back to the city and help her get rid of more things. We also checked out a couple of antique places today that may be interested in some of her belongings. I’ve promised A that I would take photographs of some of her more interesting pieces and send them off to these stores to see if they’re interested in purchasing them.
I didn’t get over to see my aunt today. After tomorrow’s walk I have to drive my husband to our daughter’s place to pick up his bicycle (we were there for dinner tonight) and on my way back I’ll stop off at the hospital to visit with my aunt. Hopefully I can start on some of the art projects that I’ve missed. I’ve read about 100 emails today but I still have 110 to go. As for the gardening maybe I can pull a few weeds tomorrow.
Till tomorrow, cheers!
Waiting in line to get on the ferry to go back to the city.
The Cottage – July 22, 2014
….the story of a lost dog
I went to the library yesterday to post my last article but lo and behold it wasn’t opened to the public because a private workshop was in session. The group was on a break so the librarian kindly let me go inside and I had just enough time to check my emails and I was able to copy my story to WordPress but I ran out of time before I could add my photos. So I’m afraid that many of my articles will all appear on the same day, either when I return home or sometime later this afternoon if I get back to the library.
My husband and the dog came up on Sunday and left about 30 minutes ago. We had a great few days together, despite losing the dog yesterday. K loves to run and walk through the woods with the dog on the logging trails. He usually does a loop that is about 9k long. Yesterday when he returned the dog wasn’t with him.
Somewhere between the 5 and 6k mark of the trail, Frances was distracted by something she heard in the woods and took off. K called and called her but continued to run figuring she would follow him further down the path. When she didn’t return to the cottage we both got into our cars and drove in different directions looking for her.
My husband drove into the village and I made my way along the logging path. Unfortunately I don’t have 4-wheel drive so I stopped when I came to a very large and deep puddle in the road. There was no way to get around it. I got back onto the main road and found another logging road further away. Again I was hampered by the deep ruts in the road and had to turn around.
Back at the cottage my husband decided to go back to the trail and and backtrack in case Frances followed his scent in the opposite direction. I drove him into the woods as far as my little car would let me, dropped him off and headed out via the main road to the exit at the other end of the trail. K exited without the dog so I drove him further east until we arrived at the next entrance to the trail which headed back to the cottage.
I drove back along the main roads and returned to the cottage. Before heading down our lane I checked out a couple of other lanes that she might have taken, spoke to a couple of women about our missing pooch and then started to head to the end of the trail where K would exit. For some reason I decided to go back to the cottage one more time before meeting my husband. There sitting in front of our door was Frances, completely exhausted and out of breath. I called her to get into the car and we drove off to meet K together.
You can imagine the relief and joy on K’s face when he saw Frances. He wanted to be mad at her but he was overcome with emotion. We figured that K had walked at least 15k that morning and who knows how far Frances ran. The two of them were pretty quiet for the rest of the day. In the late afternoon we all went down to the beach and both K and Frances played in the water. I think the cool water helped both of them recover from their sore and tired muscles.
I think the biggest lesson that we learned that day was that Frances knows her way home. Next time, heaven forbid, we won’t be so panicked looking for her.
Till the next time,
Cheers!
Share Your World – 2014 Week 25
…..almost half way into the year….yikes, where does the time go?
What is your favorite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal, drawing, cartoon or character in a movie or TV show)
As much as I love our current dog, Frances, I’d have to say that my favourite breed of dog is the Golden Retriever. Before adopting Frances we owned 2 Goldens over a 23 year period. Our first dog died way too soon, just before she turned eight and our second Golden lived to be 15 years and 40 days old. My husband says now that the Goldens were my dogs and that Frances is his.
This is Scully at the cottage when she was 15 years old. As you can see she only has one eye. She lost her eye when she was only two but it certainly didn’t slow her down. She hated having her picture taken and would usually run away when she saw the camera. I suspect in her last year or two her sight in her one eye was starting to fail.
Frances is a mixed breed of Dachshund and Australian Shepherd.
Name one thing not many people know about you.
It’s a weird thing to admit but I have a deathly fear of bears. I’ve never had an encounter with a bear or even seen one from a distance. My sister thinks it has to do with a book our Aunt gave us when we were kids about bear attacks. Last year a family of bears swam across the lake and now live on the island where our cottage is. I’m actually afraid to go for walks in the woods now.
Have you ever gone scuba diving? If you haven’t, would you want to?
I’ve never been scuba diving but if I went to a sunny island in the Caribbean I would probably like to try it.
What was the most important event in your life last week? (anything goes it can be a good nights sleep, finished a reading book,winning the lottery, or getting married)
Last week was extremely busy and I had a lot of late nights. For two nights in a row I didn’t get home until 9:30 and 10:30 and on one of those nights I couldn’t sleep right away so I stayed up and painted and didn’t get to bed until 2:00 in the morning. The following day I went to lie down right after dinner because I was feeling a little off and I didn’t wake up until after midnight. I changed out of my clothes and into my PJs and surprisingly fell asleep without any difficulty. I woke up shortly after six in the morning. Sleeping for over ten hours on a school night and finally getting the rest I needed was the most important event of last week.
One of the paintings I was working on.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I am grateful that my daughter went into school with me on the weekend and helped me clean up my art area and part of the library. She also helped me organize the children’s prizes from the Jump Rope for Heart activity and together we took down all the art work around the school and returned it to the different classrooms. I knew that if I didn’t get it done on the weekend I’d be in big trouble this week. There is so much going on at school this week that I needed to get those jobs done ahead of time.
I’m looking forward to the end of school on Friday and to our staff party on Thursday night. Normally the children are finished one day before the teachers are but this year both students and teachers work right till the end of the week.
For more Share Your World posts check out: http://ceenphotography.com/2014/06/23/share-your-world-2014-week-25/
A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Running
….our dog Frances and her buddy Lucy love to run
For more photographs check out Sue Llewellyn’s a Word a Week Photography Challenge
Spending Family Day With the Dogs
….and my daughter and son-in-law
Today was another sunny but cold day in Toronto and it is Family Day. It is an official holiday in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. As the name implies it is a day to celebrate families.
Yesterday my husband and I went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) with out oldest daughter, A and her partner, J and saw the show, The Great Upheaval: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection, 1910 – 1918. I loved it. It’s not a huge show but it featured some amazing artists from the past, such as, Picasso, Kandinsky, Matisse, Chagall, Franz Marc, Kupka and Miro. There must have been at least 30 different artists whose works were on display. It was fascinating to see how this era of new technologies ( film, photography, planes, telephones, electricity, etc.) and the presence of World War I affected the art world. If you’re in Toronto the show goes till March 6, 2014. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed at this show so I don’t have any original photos to show you. The Great Upheaval.
After seeing the show we browsed through some of the other galleries at the AGO, where you are allowed to take photographs. Here are a few highlights of our morning.
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- View from a small balcony above the gallery
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- Lauren Harris
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- Jean Riopelle
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- Peterson Ewen
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- New addition: The Italian Gallery
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- View of the upper beams
Today, my husband, Frances and I arranged to meet our youngest daughter and her husband and Lucy at High Park. We took both dogs to the off leash area. We’ve had so much snow that all the paths are packed solid with snow and ice. Luckily K brought his cleats for his boots and our walk was relatively uneventful, falling that is. We did see a few people wipe out but no serious injuries happened.
Frances and Lucy had a great time, running and wrestling with each other. We got a good walk, as well, probably close to 4k. The humans got tired just watching those two dogs darting back and forth.
After looking at all this snow it’s hard to imagine that another storm is approaching us tonight and we’re expecting another 10 cm to fall. Sigh!
Cheers! Hope everyone had a great Family Day!
Mama Cormier 