I am grateful for my new great granddaughter.

I gave thanks to God for allowing me to live long enough to see this miracle and to see my granddaughter with a degree of happiness. They are a lovely couple and have been together for twelve years.

She has a lot to contend with because of her mother having so many illnesses and problems, but she is doing good and I am proud of her. I wish I had been able to be more involved in her life when she was young.

Now summer is over and all our visitors are gone. It was a lovely summer but now its back to "normal".

Today I Am Grateful For All My Friends And Family

It has been awhile since I have blogged here. I had a lovely birthday where we all went to the Mandarin restaurant. We had our niece Lorraine here for two weeks and she has just returned to England yesterday. We miss her so much and enjoyed her visit so much. It always feels empty and sad when she leaves. Now its back to normal.

Today I Am Grateful for A Beautiful Morning

I read The Nightingale and it was a very good read. I am feeling quite raw since finishing it. What horrific challenges our ancestors had in the recent war times. Its a beautiful day and looking forward to enjoying every minute of our summer.

Today I Am Grateful For Lovely Weather

Yes folks, its a lovely day here and I went for a beautiful long walk with Buddy all along the lake this morning. I finished reading The Nest and was quite happy to have that out of the way. So off I go to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day, just in case it changes quickly.

Today I Am Grateful For Cool Weather And Lack Of Mosquitoes.

Its been quite busy and I have read a few books lately. I did manage to go to the book group at BOAA. The jury is still out as to whether I will continue with it as its not quite what I had hoped for. The leader kept talking and there is only an hour in total so there really wasn't a discussion of the book like I would have liked. The new book for this month is called The Nest and I have the audio. Have had to listen and rewind a few times already. But we will see how it goes. I met a nice Spanish lady at the book group and I thought I could make a friend with her, otherwise I might not go back to the group. Have been quite involved in playing cards lately as well and really enjoying that.

Today I Am Grateful For A Nice Warm Day.

Yes, after such a very long and cold winter we are experiencing something very nice and warm. We have such a short season that we must try to enjoy and take advantage of every moment of the lovely weather and most of all to be thankful for it when it does happen. I have tried to finish The End Of Life Book Club for the second time. The in person book group at the BOAA is this morning and I really would like to join a book group. There is only one month until it takes a rest for the summer so this should give me a good idea of whether I would like to continue. Also, there is always the chance of meeting another person who would like to start a club of readers. So my goal is to get the doggie out for an early walk, and it might be too hot for him later anyway. Speaking of doggies, this little guy is such a joy. He just brightens up the day for me. Yes, he makes more work but what is life about if not to enjoy our furry friends.

Today I Am Grateful For My Good Health.

Finished the Banquet of Consequences and its a great story although truly a bit creepy when it all finally came together.

Today I am making soup for our neighbourse across the road. I say "the old couple" but in reality I think they are probably the age of my husband, or a bit younger. When I see other people and how they struggle, I truly realize how blessed we are for our ability to just be able to move around.

It has been absolutely pouring rain all night and this morning, a real deluge. Hope it stops soon so we can get our doggie out for a walk.

It was nice to walk with Maria yesterday and also to have a nice buffet dinner at the Chinese Restaurant on Sunday. 

Today I Am Grateful For The Ability To Read A Book.

I just finished The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne and what a fantastic book. I don't think that any review could give you the full impact of the story and only reading it for yourself would do it.

Our weather has been quite iffy with heavy rain this morning, but cleared up about noon. It makes you wonder if we will have any summer because everything is very behind at the moment.

Today I Am Grateful For My Little Dog Who Is Always With Me

What a beautiful morning. We are so blessed as in other parts the storms are so horrible and people having to leave their homes. Especially in Hawaii where a volcano is erupting and its like something out of a science fiction novel. Right here in Canada in New Brunswick there are floods so bad that people are worried that their houses will flip and float away.

The book I am deep into at the moment is something I had not bargained for. You know, there are writers and then there are WRITERS. This one, John Boyne, well, all I can say is WOW! I feel that I will be trying to get my hands on everything that he has ever written.

today I Am Grateful for the nicer weather.

Finally we have a break and a bit nicer weather. The down side is that we have gnats in swarms but they won't last too long.

Went to the wheelhouse last night for Dave's bowling banquet and had a nice dinner. Dave's team did get a recognition with a couple of high scores awards.

My reading is going smoothly at the moment and I am deep into The Heart's Invisible Furie's by John Boyne. Its much better than I had thought at first.

Also I have been listening to Station Eleven which was highly rated. The jury is still out on that as the dystopian novels are not one of the genres that I enjoy but keeping an open mind for the time being.

Today I Am Grateful For A Bit Of Warm Weather.

Yes, its getting there as far as the weather goes. It has been a long haul but as usual, being a Canadian, on the very first nice day we forget all about all the long, cold months we have been through.

Today we plan to take Buddy to his vet for his flea, tick and heartworm treatments plus a booster. As soon as the weather breaks like this, we will have ticks galore and lets not even get started about the fleas.

Today I am grateful for the sun.

Well, it was a bit warmer today and our walk was enjoyable.

Have been very busy this week and also have managed to do quite a bit of reading.

Buddy is running like the wind and now I am thinking its time to get him treated for fleas and ticks.

Should have more to say tomorrow because I will be going to a bid euchre tournament and I have been really looking forward to it.

Today I am grateful for a bit of respite from the rain.

This morning its a bit brighter and for the moment there is nothing coming down so hopefully Dave and I will be able to get Buddy out for a bit of a walk. Everyone is asking the question, when will it be spring?

The sump pump has been running continuously for days now and we hope that it is capable of doing its job. Last year there were a lot of houses that flooded. Also, the golf course here has lost a couple of holes that have fallen into the lake. This will not go over too big with the golfers this year.

I am reading Mother by S.E. Lynes. I did hear that it takes awhile to get into the book and for me it is taking awhile. But they say its great so I plan on sticking with it. I am listening to the audio of Flat Broke With Two Goats, which is a true memoir and its really good.

       

Today I am grateful for my warm house.

There has been such terrible weather for awhile now and today and yesterday we have experienced freezing rain and snow. Its impossible to take Buddy out for his walk and he is climbing the walls.
On the bright side I have managed to catch up on housework and laundry and get a headstart on the week.

I started a book, Mother by S.E. Lynes. At first I just couldn't quite understand what was happening. But soon it started to become clear and I think its going to be an amazing read.

I am also listening to an audio book, Flat Broke with Two Goats. Its a true memoir and another amazing read.

Today I am grateful that Lesley and Derek returned safely from Australia.

We had lunch with Lesley and heard about their holiday which was excellent. They are talking about going back in two years when Alex graduates.

We are considering changing our pictures in the livingroom and went out to have a look today. I think we are getting closer to making a decision.

My most recent book, Blink, was so good and almost impossible to put down. I will continue to read the rest of the books from this author. Dave is reading Blink also and seems to really like the author.

Today I am grateful for my friends and neighbours

Still cold and a bit of rain but all in all not a bad day. Went out with my neighbour Maria and we had a look through the Boutiques in town and had a nice lunch at Toasted Walnut. It was a nice time and we had a good visit.

Took Buddy for a condensed walk but he was happy with that as we went through the woods and he was able to have a good run.

The book I am reading by that same author, J.L. Slater, is called Blink and its starting to get very interesting. It is certainly different. This woman is on life support and can't move or breathe on her own etc. The doctors and staff believe that she is "gone" but little do they know that she is there but can't make them see it. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be in that situation. In her mind she is going over and over all the things that has happened in the last three years. Can't wait to get back to it.

Today I am grateful for my warm house.

I wish we didn't have to keep reporting this, but here goes again; its cold out, minus 3 again. the good thing at the moment is that it is bright so hopefully it can be a lovely day although chilly.

Buddy was so lovely this morning when I got him up. He was so happy to see me and was excited to have his breakfast and to play with his toys. That must have tired him out because now he is flaked out in "his" chair.

I am considering going to Oshawa today. Its time to change my phone and we did drive to Cobourg yesterday but the girl on the desk was busy and on the phone. We waited for ages but finally left. I think I might get better customer service in Oshawa. I can see my daughter while I am there.

I started reading another book by that author, K.L. Slater, Blink. It is starting off exciting as well. She does use the same formula for her writing, but I like it and it works well for the story she is telling.

Today I am grateful for my little doggie companion Buddy.

Ok, its not warm out and spring seems to have passed us by. Every day I hope that I can get outside and do some spring clean up, but not yet apparently. it is great weather for hiking in the woods though and we have been doing that daily for awhile now. You just have to bundle yourself up and get out there.

I finished the book, The Mistake by K.L. Slater and enjoyed it very much. The review is athttps://finallytimetoread.blogspot.ca/

Buddy has gone back to bed it seems. He was excited to have his breakfast and do a little outside visit, but it now snoring his little head off.

Today I am grateful for the gist of literacy.

One very good thing for me is that I do finally have some time to read. I have always loved reading but didn't have as much time as I would have liked and now I do. I have another blog to just keep track of the books I read. My mom was a fantastic reader who read everything everyday of her life. She actually passed away with her ereader in her hand.

My most current read is The Mistake by K.L. Slater. This is a good writer of psychological thrillers. Her writing basically is very down to earth and what I would call everyday quiet. I just goes on as if you are right there experiencing the day to day. This is the second book I have read by this author, the first one was The Liar and it was very good. After this book I have Blink by the same author which I intend to read right away.

The setting is in England, a very favourite of mine although this is in Nottinghamshire which I have not visited.

Today I am grateful that I had a lovely mom.

It has been years since I updated this blog. So many things happened and it was just all too much. My mom died August 3rd, 2015 and up until then I was so busy helping her. This was just an awful time for us. Two weeks after my mom passed away, my mother in law also died. So we were just living in a terrible fog for quite a long time.

Our lovely dog Rusty died last year and in the end we received a new family member, Buddy, a little border collie mix and he has just cheered us up so much.

We are living in Newcastle now. After our moms passed away we just had to do something or make a move of some kind. fortunately this move has proved to be a good one as it could have gone another way since we were in mourning when we made the decision to move.