JoAnne's Blog

Home Again

Well, we are home and it feels good.  Five weeks is a long time to be away.  I found that living out of a suitcase for that length of time was not enjoyable.  But, I sure did have a great time visiting friends and relatives, especially our grandchildren, Kameelah and Keelan.

During the stopover at Calgary airport, I read an article entitled "Extra Sleep May Heighten Dementia Risk" in the Sept. 14th edition of the National Post.  A picture caption said, People who sleep nine hours or more per day have been shown to develop dementia twice as often as those who only get seven hours.  Really?  The study by Spanish researchers also noted that sleeping less than 7 hours was not linked to brain disease.  I guess that is good news for someone like my husband who only sleeps 4 or 5 hours a  day.  After reading the whole article, it became very clear to me that more research is indeed necessary.  At any rate, if one is sleeping more than 9 hours a night, it may be an indication of an underlying health problem.
On the same page was an article entitled "Eating meat could help the elderly sustain physical ability".  The thought is that eating meat helps the elderly better preserve muscle mass.  Interestingly enough, it does not apply to fish and eggs.  Another reason for my husband to enjoy his steak.

Ontario Trip

Well, it has now been approximately 4 weeks since we left Vancouver Island for Ontario.  We have visited many people this trip.  To begin with, we arrived at our daughter, Michelle's house, in London, only to find that she had some summer projects on the go and was looking forward to some of dad's expertise.  Together, Michelle, Jeff and Wynn tiled the wall behind the kitchen counter and painted the living room, dining room, kitchen, stairwell and hallway of their home.  And what did I do?  I looked after Kameelah and Keelan, my 3 year old grandchildren.  We took the bus and went to the mall; we visited my mom in St. Thomas and we played at playgrounds. 

The next couple of days we spent at my mom's cleaning her house.  She is 82 years old and has 3 cats who shed fur like crazy; so you can imagine.  The 16th of August is my mom's birthday and every year she hosts a family picnic on the Sunday closest to her birthday.  Everyone brings food; so their is no lack of things to eat.  This year, everyone was there, except for Tricia and her family out west, 47 people in total.  It was especially exciting, as we all got a chance to meet my sister, Rose's, daughter-in-law to be, Brittany.  Her son, Craig, is getting married Jan 16th in Cancun.  Several of us are going and will be barefoot on the beach along with the bride and groom.

The next week, Wynn and I decided that we should visit his sister, Carolyn, who has been in and out of hospital the last few months.  She is slowly getting her strength back and putting on a little weight.

In the last two weeks, we have had a barbecue with some of Wynn's old or should I say former working buddies.  We had lunch on Sunday with a group of friends that we haven't seen for over a year and one couple for 15 years.  We visited some other friends who have just had their first grandchild.  Wynn and I had lunch at the home of his best man when we were married.  I visited my old Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Matheson, who is now 90.

We are now back at Michelle's, looking after the grandchildren, again, while she and Jeff get ready for another year at school as Gr. 5/6 teachers.  What a blast we are having.  Yesterday, we took them on the bus to the mall and bought birthday "stuff" for Jeff.  We went out for dinner at "Milestone's" at night to celebrate.  Today, Wynn and I rode bicycles with Kameelah and Keelan in a trailer behind me.  We rode to a local market and had lunch.  What a great way to spend time with the grandkids and get exercise, too.

There are still 10 days left before we go home and I expect them to be busy.