A Thankless Thanksgiving Sleep but a Good but Messy Thanksgiving Nevertheless

Let us begin by considering why it came to be that I was puzzling over my finger whilst I was abluting in my Thanksgiving Day shower.

I was cogitating on my finger because I had just checked Sleepwatch, and it confirmed that my night wasn't the best when it reported that I had experienced only 4.2 hours of sleep. 

I know that I do go on and on about sleep or rather lack of same, but that was an unusual night, which I shall now explicate by telling you what my flippin finger has to do my sleeplessness, for on this occasion, it is my finger which is to blame.

Finger? you ask. How does that work AC?

Well . . . I was just settling in for the my Thanksgiving Eve repose when my ring finger decided that  would be a fine time to assert itself and wreck my night. I know it sounds stupid, but oh brother! how that finger attacked me. The sudden pain was quite fierce, and just when it it would abate for a few seconds and I would begin to relax, it would return with a vengeance. The sharpness and irregularity made sleep impossible for hours. 

Who can say why my own finger would decide to attack sweet, innocent me out of the blue like that, but attack me it defiantly did. I don't understand, for I think I've always been as nice to it as possible. I mean, we really do need each other. In point of fact, it needs me more than I need it. Are you listening, finger? So why it decided to attack me at bedtime must remain a deep mystery.

It's difficult to sleep when pain erupts like that, especially when you feel that you are getting some momentary respite but the pain then returns strongly and at length. I know that it is just a finger and that it sounds silly, but man-oh-man, it was so sharp and painful.

I actually handled the next day pretty well. I helped Sue with our Thanksgiving preparation by chopping the stuffing ingredients and stirring the gravy. We then ported our half of the meal over to the kids'. We would normally have it here but Sha was expecting a repair guy (who never showed), so off we went.

Sue did the turkey and stuffing and I brought the pies that I had purchased from the Ashton Church ladies' group. Meanwhile Sha and the kids had cooked the creamy, cheesy potatoes and roasted carrots. Everyone did a fine job, and the meal was quite superb.

The only hitch, and it wasn't a hitch for others, was that rather that sitting at a table as we would have done here, we ate from our laps because space is tight over there. At my advanced age and dodderiness, I think I am the only one who currently has a gravy-stained shirt in the wash.

Hoo boy! This post went in unexpected directions. I will have to see if there are any snaps worth sharing with you. I will look later today.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is here. It may not be quite as huge of an event as it is down south, but it is a very fine and appreciated event, timed to occur when autumn is just about at its peak and when the weather is still usually moderate.

We'll head over to the kids' this afternoon to feast on turkey and pie and more, but for now I leave you with a few more autumn photos from the Wheeler's sugar bush.

Around the Sugar Bush

It is time to look around the Sugar Bush. Sugar maples tend to turn earlier than some trees, so the bush was a bit past peak in places, but it was still looking pretty darn good on such a fine day. Sugar  Maples turn yellow and not into the saturated oranges and reds that we all love. I still love it, though, and I can find those other colours elsewhere.

Here is one of your truly by truly her. I switch the hat backwards when I am taking pictures, but I sure don't wear it like that . . . unless I forget, of course.

I am not quite done. Tomorrow is our actual Thanksgiving Day, and I will post more in my effort to make the most of the season.

Our Annual Autumn Trip to the Sugar Bush

Go figure. On Thursday I posted about my awful night. That night I reverted to my old pill, and Sleepwatch reported that I slept for exactly 8 hours — my best sleep in years.

Sometimes, Sleepwatch and I disagree, but that report concurs with my own sense. I think I have been using the app for almost four years, but I believe that is the first time I have seen it report eight hours. 

Well anyway, it worked out well, for Friday was our chosen day to drive to the maple sugar camp for our autumn outing, and I was feeling pretty darn fine. We had picked Friday because the weather was predicted to be good, and so it was. For the most part, the weather hasn't been great, but it was pretty doggone grand yesterday.

The colours were pretty good on the drive, so Sue took various phone photos from the moving car, but this one will give you the idea of what it was like in places.

We've been to Wheelers and posted about it so many times that I didn't bother to take pictures of the buildings. However, some of you are new, so I'll post this one that Sue took of me because it shows some of the restaurant.

I think it is time to trim the beard.

And . . . here's Susie . . .  no doubt looking out of the window and admiring the colour.

This is pretty well the entire menu, except for baked beans, which we don't bother with: pancakes, French toast, maple sausages, and all of the maple syrup one's little heart could desire. That was my first dousing of the syrup; it was fine for the French toast, but it soaks right into the pancakes, so two more applications were required. By the way, these are the only sausages on the planet that Sue will eat. Yum.

I know that it is quite a plateful, but that was our breakfast and lunch combined, and we didn't have big suppers either.

I was taking pictures of maple syrup bottles here and there around the restaurant, but Sue mentioned the display in the boiler room of all sorts of grades of maple syrup. It was in a window, so it was backlit nicely.

There was a new display in the boiler room, depicting the maple syrup story from pre-colonization until present. It even stretched farther left on the other side of the door.

It is a remarkable piece, put together by local graphics artist, but I forget her name. This is one small section from just one of the ten (I think) panels. 

Of course, I took outdoor photos after the meal . . .

Nighttime Treat

At 7:25 we received this message from granddaughter, Danica.

Get outside now

Northern lights

So we poked our heads out the front door. Sue had her phone at the ready and began to click.

Of course, you all know by now that the camera sees the colour better than the eyes, but it was quite an unexpected treat, regardless.

As you can see, we weren't in the very best spot for photos, but a passing neighbour told us that the views were good at the neighbouring park. It was darn cold, close to freezing, so we took a few minutes to bundle up, and we drove over.

I got out my beastie camera too, but Alas!, the show was over.

A Ridiculous Night

5:00

I’ve had my breakfast and I am currently brewing my second cup of coffee after catching up with the News on the computer,

Sue popped her head in awhile ago to ask what in tarnation is going on.

She was aware of my having been in bed, and out of bed, and back in bed, and back out and making toast at midnight, and there I was, up again and sitting at the computer at 4:00 with the lights on.

Such is life. I was given a new sleeping pill, and, to put it mildly, it has disappointed.

On the first night, it helped me get 6 hours of sleep. That was nothing to write home about or blog about, so I didn’t. I mean, I do sometimes get 6 hours anyway.

Last night, however, I gave it up as a lost cause at 3:50. Not to worry, I might have had two grand hours of sleep, so I should be good for . . .  for maybe as long as it takes to finish wiring the ode to pain. Okay, not an ode, and most certainly not an ode to joy.

I was not only restless but also in pain or at least in enough discomfort that I decided that it was prudent to get up since the aches and pains were keeping me awake anyway.

About this new pill: it turns out to not be the hoped-for magic potion. I really thought that it might be just what the doctor ordered. Well, she did order it, actually, and I was hopeful.

You see, it, supposedly, so strong that I had to promise not to drive for 12 hours after taking it.

So, if I want to drive say at 7:00 in the morning, I must take it by 7 at night. But one doesn’t want to sleep at 7, so one takes it and stays up. And then it doesn’t seem to be working at 10 or 11. Go figure.

Today, I wanted to be driving by shortly after 9am, so I took the pill at 9pm. I then stayed up for two more hours before endeavouring, rather fruitlessly, to go to sleep. I mean, really, if the effects endure for twelve hours, surely I could stay up for two of those measly hours!

Surely not, as it eventuated.

Needless to say, I am going to give up on the new, lousy  pill and go back to the old, lousy pill. At the very least, I can take it a half hour before bed and just get up and go in the morning.

"AC, you should give up on pills entirely," you say.

But I say, "If I could I would." 

I was put on them for a reason and not because I was desirous of wrecking my life with a habit-forming drug.

Last time I inadvertently did that – not take my pill – I didn't sleep a wink all night. I am not exaggerating. 

What happened that night was I thought that I had taken it, but then after hours of fitfulness, I felt like I hadn't. So, I got up to check the container, and that day was empty. So I thought that I must have taken it.

I must tell you that as I roamed all night I continued to feel so awake that I was feeling that surely I must have forgotten to take it, but of course, every time I checked the container was still empty.

The next night at bedtime, I discovered that I had been checking the wrong day all the previous night. What a sap am I! It is a terrible thing to lose one's mind.

So you see, in my case, the sleeping pill is a necessity and not a placebo, for I had thought that I had taken it, and I still didn’t sleep at all. Crazy, eh?

So yeah, no more of the 12 hour pill for me. Back to the old one. It will generally give me close to five hours and sometimes six and on very very very very rare nights, seven.

It’s 5:23 now. I have typed this on the tablet. Of course, it’s a mess, so I will keep it in draft mode until I sit at the computer end edit.

Now to finish that coffee.

It's 6:40, and I've showered and tried to make the above as coherent as possible, but I do request that retired English teachers put their red pens away.

Newsy Bits

We were in Riverside Park on the weekend. There were just touches of autumn here and there, including this photo looking across the river.

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I visited the doctor yesterday. It seems that I have a UTI, I assume from the self-catheterization that I do daily, despite going to great lengths to do it as cleanly as possible. It may not be a bad infection, but I have some meds, and they sent a sample for further testing.

It has left me very tired and even a little bit down. When I have met with friends recently, I could hardly be bothered to converse with them. I do feel better getting the partial diagnosis; somehow, it helps to identify and name things, and my doctor was very supportive. She did not want me to get into the same predicament as last year when it took multiple rounds of medication to finally clear that infection.

She did say that such infections are just about an unavoidable a concomitant of catheterization. Hopefully, my need to do this will be rectified in the near future, but the procedure does help my daily life in the meantime.

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When we moved here 19 years ago, the garage door was dented, but it was such an expensive move (across province)  that we ran out of funds. All of these years later, the door was close to falling apart, so we bit the bullet and had a new one installed. The old one had gaps; this will be better sealed and should be service us well for a long time.

The white door is the new door.