December 14, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. New Roof.

The crew started work at 7:30 Sunday morning. A host of people were on my roof, ripping up the old cedar shingles. They were noisy. I feel sure that there is a noise ordinance on Sundays but no one said anything to me, but I was surprised. This house was built in the early 80s. Most houses have already replaced the roofs even though cedar shake roofs are supposed to last the life of the house. My garage was already leaking and a tree took down the peak of the garage. I decided to put on another roof. Sunday morning they started. Chantes was the contractor and he arrived with a lot of people, including two women in the crew. They worked until 6:30, already in the pitch dark. Monday was the same. All day with lots of people. By the time they left, the area around the house was clean, which pleased me. Monday the crew was smaller but they still worked a long day. Today they hoped to be finished but half the garage needs to be done. Reroofing a house is a big job. And expensive. But if it lasts another 40 years I will be happy. They need to be finished before I leave tomorrow at 11:30 so I can pay them. All the houses in this area were built with cedar shake roofs. And the rules require it. But when the insurance companies no longer insure houses with cedar shake roofs, the home owners association agreed to use an engineered shingle roof. All the new roofs use that material. Now I am one of those with a new roof. No leaking garage for me. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for roofing. Sunny and 65 degrees. I just got it done in the nick of time before I leave town. Hurrah for Chantes.

December 13, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Papers.

In order to get into Canada you must have papers. Multiple papers. The same with Mexico. On Sunday I took a Covid test. Christina made an appointment at a private site just for Covid tests. So first we made the appointment which was for 1:05 on Sunday. First I registered and paid my money. $165. They guarantee results within 24 hours, which I could get on their portal or pick up a hard copy after they call with the results. This morning, when doing errands with Kashina, we stopped in to get the hard copy. They were efficient and I was pleased. You must also be sure to carry your vacination paper when entereing Canada. If you have not been vacinated you must isolate for 14 days. I carry my vacination card with me in my purse so I am set with that. And you must receive permission from the givernment of Canada. Christina ordered on line to receive the official papers authorizing me to visit Canada. She looked up ArriveCan and filled out the form with ALL the necessary information. I was told that they only issue the papers three days prior to the travel day. For that we paid some money. I did not receive any papers so today I started looking and discovered that we had been scammed. The Canadian government does not charge for the papers. Some company pretending to be the government takes all the information, takes your $65. but never provides the papers because they are not part of the government. It is a scam. This evening, Wonderful Wendy was able to input my information to the real government web site and now my paper is on the printer downstairs. I will retrieve it tomorrow. Christina is upset that she fell for a scam. But there was nothing to tell you anything that seemed suspicious. Neither of us knew about the charges. I am disputing the charge with my credit card. Now I think I have my papers in order. I watched a bit of a show about police states, showing all the papers required for everything. Pictures could be seen from movies taken in East Germany, Russia and other iron curtain contries. Interesting how similar we all look.

December 12, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Our Christmas Party.

For almost all our married life, Ken and I hosted a party closest to my birthday. So in some ways, it was my own birthday party, but in other ways, it was the start of the Christmas season. For years, we hired the Wheaton Ice Rink, and invited our friends and their children to skate and drink hot chocolate and eat donuts. Then our closest friends came back to our house for soup. When we moved to Mississippi, we hosted a party because we wanted to say thank you to the friends who had been kind. For the first couple of years we had the party at a Mexican restaurant. Then we started to use the Yacht Club. We have always invited our friends and their children. Last evening I hosted the party at the Yacht Club. Last year I was not able to have the party due to Covid so many of the children I have not seen for those two years. In the past, I have asked the children where they prefer to have the party and they always vote for The Yacht Club so from now on, I will stay there. For me, it is close to my home and Christina just stops to pick me up, so it is easy. And the facilities are excellent. Every year I select a different menu, usually better than the last, Definately, the food last night was the best. Wonderful appitizers and carving stations of beef tenderloin and ham for dinner along with vegetables and a Greek salad. Little squares for dessert. The party was lovely. And I was pleased. The Christmas celebrations have begun.

December 11, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. My Shower.

I love showers. I was not brought up with showers. We had one bathtub in our house. When I was swimming at pools, I always took very long showers growing up. In fact, my friend Joyce and I swam every week at the swimming pool of the residence for single women the WCTU, we spent so much time in the hot shower that the little old lady in charge would come and admonish us to get out of the shower. I did love those showers. Now of course, I have been showering for many years but I still appreciate showering. Most especially I like the shower I use at my Mississippi home. When we first moved in, the shower was terrible. The water pressure was weak and there were no hand holds. The plumber fixed the pressure and Chantes our handyman installed the bars for holding on. Ken kept insisting yet another bar to hold on. Now it is perfect for me. One bar is outside the shower so I can hold on while getting in. All four sides of the shower have a bar to grab. So whereever I am facing, there is a bar for me to grab. It is perfect. This Mississippi shower is my best shower so I will miss it when I am gone. Not having bars to grab becomes increasingly important. The Mexican shower has no hand holds at all so I just use the wall to steady myself. But here in my Mississippi home, my shower is perfect, thanks to Ken, who kept adding more and more bars. I appreciate every one.

December 10, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Neighborhood Christmas Party.

Every year in Roses Bluff Subdivision a Christmas party is held. Last year of course, it was cancelled due to Covid, but this year the party was held in the house next door. The folks who organize the party keep it simple. and inexpensive. This year the odd numbered people were asked to bring a dish. Next year the even numbered folks bring food. And everyone brings something to drink. They always have good parties, I am told. And it is easy to organize. I was unable to attend. In fact I have never been able to attend the Christmas party. Since we moved in, in 2015, Ken has been diagnosed with Parkinsons which made it difficult to get to the parties in the dark. And most years, I have been taking chemo, which messes with my immune system so my solution is to stay away from groups of people. Even though the party was held right next door and my neighbor would have escorted me there, I could not mingle with all the people. So I stayed home by myself. On their way home, Donna, my across the street neighbor brought me a plate of food and left it at my front door. When she got home she texted me and I put the plate of food in the fridge. Today I ate the left over food for both lunch and dinner. There was so much food, which fortunately was very good. I enjoyed every bite. In addition Donna brought a plate of desserts. For breakfast this morning I ate a piece of home made pecan pie. Actually, I only ate half. I do not eat sugar, and there I was eating the pie which certainly had sugar. I caught myself in time. I was sorry to miss meeting people but I certainly enjoyed the food. Maybe next year I will be able to attend. Lets hope so. They had a good time.

december 9, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Celtic Woman.

PBS is back raising money so they show special programs to get people to send money. Many of them I enjoy but mostly I am irritated because I miss their regular program. The other evening they showed Celtic Woman. The program was lovely. Three young ladies with beautiful voices singing Irish songs. Plus one violinist with red hair. All four ladies were beautiful and they sing like angels and wore lovely long gowns. And they sang out of doors in beautiful settings.. The best part might have been the pictures from around Ireland. The program was called Postcards From Ireland so as the postcards were read aloud, the scenery could be seen from the same area as the postcard. Then the ladies sang a song about that place. It was a wonderful reminder of our visits to Ireland. The ladies sing with that clear sound which is beautiful. But after a few songs, I felt that they all sounded the same. Eventually they included a few men and other ladies to acompany. And then came the bagpipes and finally the dancers, which made the program more interesting. I enjoyed Celtic Woman. They sang and played like angels.

December 8, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Lists.

December must be the mother lode for lists. Starting on December 1 and ending on January 1, the lists seem endless. Just when the first list has been completed, another one is just behind. And with a trip in the middle, the lists are doubled. Both the Christians and Jews confront a daunting list of things to do in December. I have finished my list for Christmas. My cards are ready to mail. The bags and gifts for the grandchildren are ready. I took the gifts to the Texas family to Packmail and they are gone. I have given nuts to my friends and the gifts to my neighbors are ready to be delivered. Kashina will deliver them on Monday. I order food for both families and they have been ordered with some things already delivered. When Wendy and Ken visited me this summer, I sent birthday and christmas gifts back with them in their car to Ontario for my family. The Christmas gifts need to be put into bags. No Christmas bags could be found this summer in Liverpool. But my Christmas lists are complete. Now I must work on getting ready to go to Ontario. I leave in a week, on December 15, so I have time to complete my lists. I do better if I collect my belongings early. The day before travel is difficult for me. So far I have set out my small case plus backpack. And I am trying to decide whether or not to take a case for books and magazines. I set it out. I have clothes in Ontario and I have clothes in Mexico so all I need to take with me will be medications, and necessary items while in Ontario. I have a beaver coat in Ontario. And Wendy has ordered me boots. My list is not too long. I already set out the Canadian and Mexicam money. Tomorrow I will have a pedicure, which is on my list. And today Kashina picked up my prescriptions. I am coming along nicely. I still must have a covid test, which will be done on Sunday. At the beginning of December, thinking of wht needs to be done can be overwhelming but only if you look at all the lists. My solution is to only look at what needs to be done today. Then bit by bit, I peck away at my tasks. So far this month I am doing well. Now I must put out my bathing suit because I just realized they were not on my list. Oops.