June 9, 2017. Harper, Texas. Home #2.

When Ken was going to be an Intern,  he was to be working every other weekend and every other week, where he was required to stay in residence at the hospital.   Our neighborhood was not perfect for a lady living alone so we rented a flat in North Toronto.  An older Polish couple owned the house which was a typical Toronto home, brick with 2 floors.  The second floor had been made into an apartment, which was lovely.  The neighborhood was safe and the apartment was spacious.

We hired a mover which Ken looked after while I was teaching.  The first night we slept in the place we received a call from the police asking if we owned the blue Volkswagen across the street, because if we were, it no longer had any tail lights.  The police spotted someone just leaving the car.  When they investigated they realized we had no lights.  Evidently the rear lights can easily be removed.  Ken and I laughed because for 5 years we lived in a so called bad neighborhood with no problems but the first time we move to a safe place, we are robbed.

Ken had major surgery just as he started his internship.  When he came home from the hospital he weighed 120 pounds and was white as a sheet.  I was teaching during the day and our kind landlord brought him nourishing soups every day, chicken soup, borsht, goulash.  Anything to get him healthy.  It was a true act of kindness.  And they encouraged Ken to sit in the backyard in the sun, which he did regularly.  And the landlady often sent us up desserts,just setting them outside our door in the little vestibule.

We enjoyed our year in our lovely flat but we decided to move to Texas, because the lung surgeon recommened to Ken to do his Residency someplace warm.  We selected Texas.   The choice was excellent but we were sorry to leave our kind landlords.  They made our flat a special place to live.