June 5, 2010. Western Head, N.S. Not a year.

It isn't even a whole year, yet several of our friends here in Liverpool had difficulties this Winter. We left at the beginning of October, just after Mary had fallen and broken her leg. Little did I know that a host of maladies would occur in my absence which I only discovered on my return. Gary had a heart attack in October, followed by quad bypass surgery. This all occurred when he was working in Calgary. By March he was back at work. We saw him today in Milton and he looks well but a bit frail. Barbara his wife hopes he will slow down his work schedule. Loretta, who I met at the grocery store, had a broken hand, still in a cast. As she is right handed, she is very frustrated not being able to do much of anything. For the first four weeks she was trying to complete normal tasks, all using the fingers only, but the Doctor instructed he to do nothing, because her hand was still swollen. Now she is following orders and wanting her cast off. Ross, the bagpiper, had surgery in March to remove one -third of his kidney to get rid of a cancerous tumor. The surgeons forgot to tie together two of his arteries after the operation and he almost bled to death resting in his hospital bed. Finally they paid attention to his complaints and now he is well and even back to playing his bagpipe. Ross is a retired Doctor and typically they get the complications.

Finally, Bryan, another retired doctor, came down with stenosis. It got worse so two rods were inserted in his spine, which promptly got infected. He was back to the hospital to remove the rods and start a rigorous regimen of medications. He is my age but has had really bad arthritis all his adult life. But his spirit is strong and he still plays trombone in the band plus makes the most beautiful walking sticks. I can not imagine how he is able to make these objects with his hands so twisted up, but he does, and he does it all with not a complaint. He is still not up and about but I hope to see him in July.

It is all to do with the aging process. All these folks are younger than me but they are not as young as my children. Fortunately all these friends are getting better. This winter was hard on people here in Nova Scotia. I was grateful to have spent my time in Mexico this winter.