Today I...September 25th

Today I...

...am admitting that I just can't blog right now. As you may all have surmised from my silence since the eve of my father's birthday supper, things did not go well. My father is suffering a severe relapse and the outlook is not very god right now. I spent the better part of last week at my Sweetheart's and when I wasn't at his place, he was at mine trying to help me keep it together. Thank God for him, I don't know what I would do without him.

The bottom line is, I do not have the time or energy to blog right now and I apologize for this. I will pop into your blogs now and then and leave a comment when I have a chance, but I really feel like I need to focus on myself and my family first. I'll come back to blogging eventually and until then I hope you will keep my family and I in your thoughts and prayers.

Today I...September 15th

Closeup of a giant Hibiscus that was growing in the Botanical Gardens when I was there a few weeks ago 

(it was seriously about the size of my face!!!).

Today I...

...slept in, thank the Good Lord! My first week working mornings again was pretty darn rough, I really need to try to discipline myself to get to bed earlier!

...went out in a car from the car sharing program I joined for the first time. The program is called Communauto and it has been around for a few years now. I was quite pleased with the experience, although I did end up in a little Toyota Echo that was becoming a bit of a clunker! It ran well enough though and got me through my 118 kilometer trek from my place to an appointment in the West Island and then out to my mom's in Hudson and back. I'm taking another car out tomorrow, a newer one this time, to get my Sweetheart and I out to my aunt and uncle's and back for my father's birthday dinner.

...enjoyed my visit with my mom and her canine crew. I got lots of kisses from one of her dogs, was drooled on and stepped on my muddy feet and laughed it all off. I'm washable, so are my clothes and a visit with my mom is more than worth a little extra scrubbing. Plus, I love how her dogs love me :o)

...am happy to report that my date with my Sweetheart the other day was lovely. Stash Café is a great place with very yummy traditional Polish food and is very affordable for Old Montreal. Usually when you go and eat down there you get skinned alive, because if you do not end up in a high-end place, you end up in a tourist trap, but Stash is a little off the beaten track and therefore affordable, quiet and very, very quaint. We both loved it and will be going back again :o)

...am looking forward to my evening with my family tomorrow, even though I know that my father has not been doing so well this week. If you would all please continue praying for him and sending positive vibes his way, it would be much appreciated. 

...am looking forward to driving again tomorrow. I love to drive, am good at it and I will admit that I also like to drive fast. Not too fast, I go with the flow, but it is always the flow in the left-hand lane of the highway :o) Plus, tomorrow I am driving with my Sweetheart. I love driving with him. He is a great navigator, loves being the passenger and is never a backseat driver. He actually is not entitled to be, because I taught him how to drive! But yeah, he doesn't actually enjoy driving, so he's more than happy to just sit and navigate and let himself be chauffeured around town (whether Montreal or Toronto back in the day) by me :o)

Skywatch Friday

A beautiful sky full of fair weather clouds above Montreal's Botanical Gardens. This is their 'edible stuff' garden...

...where you aren't allowed to eat anything. I warned off a few tourists who wanted to eat some nice, big juicy blackberries while I was there!

I'm so happy to finally be back to Skywatching! Sorry for the long break, but with everything that has been going on in my life, it was very hard to fit any blogging at all in! 

To see more skies from around the world, stop by the Skywatch Friday blog.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Today I...September 12th

Today I...

...am wishing more and more that we got ITV in Canada. They are getting season 3 of 'Downton Abbey' as of this weekend and in Canada we aren't getting it until January and I'm going to have to switch one of my TV channel selections to get it on PBS from the States...unless I can get the season on iTunes as soon as it starts! I'm afraid that if I wait for it someone will end up spoiling it for me before I can see it lol

...am taking a break from compiling the statistics of our Summer season to post this. I've been doing statistics pretty much non-stop except for answering a few e-mails since yesterday afternoon and it's starting to get to me!

...have been pretty busy as you can probably tell from my lack of posts! I spent a good bit of time with some friends on the weekend and on Sunday I went Downtown to run some errands and then walked all the way home! It took me a bit over an hour and a half and then I was only home for a bit over an hour before going back out for coffee with my friend G and then I got home, had some dinner, did some yoga (I had bought myself a DVD that afternoon!) and got myself to bed.

...am happy to be back on my daytime schedule, even though I am tired! I have as yet been unable to get myself to bed before 12:30, but that will come as I get more tired.

...am very, very much looking forward to going out on a date with my Sweetheart tonight, he is taking me to a Polish restaurant in Old Montreal! Here is the website:http://stashcafe.com/, I will be sure to let you know how it was!

...am pleased to report that my father is still doing well, all things considered. He has up days and down days, but at least they are not all down and he has been eating and getting out and about as well as going to his doctor's appointments religiously and following all of the doctor's instructions. I'm looking forward to seeing him on the weekend :o)

Today I...September 8th

A woman enjoying a walk in Montreal's Botanical Gardens a few weeks ago

Today I...

...am back again! Thursday evening I was off to my Sweetheart's and yesterday I spent the evening doing laundry and fuming about how the entire bottom end of one of my pillow cases tore off when I went to pull the pillow case off my pillow for laundering. I only have one set of sheets that I actively use on my bed because my other set of sheets, for some reason, is too small for my bed despite saying they are Queen Sized. Luckily this does not apply to the pillow cases though, so I am now using mismatched pillow cases. 

...am looking forward to meeting a friend at Juliette & Chocolat for an afternoon treat!

...spoke with my Sweetheart for a bit. We will not be getting together this week, but we are planning on going out to dinner on Tuesday to celebrate the fact that I am done working evenings and we can now go out to restaurants on weeknights again! After spending all Summer working evenings, I've decided that next year I will do a few evenings in the summer, but certainly not all of them. Sleeping in every day is nice, but not being able to spend evenings with my Sweetheart or go out with friends as often as I would like was not very fun.

...spoke with my aunt to plan my father's birthday party next week. He is still improving and has taken some important steps towards working his way out of his depression and anxiety problems this week, so we are all very happy about that and are looking forward to celebrating a birthday we were afraid he might not have with him next weekend.

Today I...September 4th

One of Montreal's Metro trains entering Pie-IX Metro station a few weeks ago

Today I...

...went out to vote, we had provincial elections here today.

...couldn't believe how long it took to get one of our tour guides set up to use our headset system with a tour group and was even more stunned by how long it took to get all the earpieces and receivers put away again. We're definitely going to have to try and find a solution to the problem.

...was good entertainment for a few European tourists when I had to chase a very gutsy squirrel out of the information booth three times!

...am quite relieved that the Parti Québecois (very annoying political party who do not believe Anglophones have any place in the province of Quebec, do not take kindly to immigrants unless they learn French within five minutes of arriving in the province and would like Quebec to be an independent country and won't drop the issue even though it was voted down in a province-wide referendum twice 15 years apart)  was only elected as a minority. They will more than likely not last very long as they are known for their in-fighting. They'll more than likely end up either self-destructing (again) or being booted out by a non-confidence vote in a year at the most.

...was shocked to find one of my two blue and white female platys dead when I got home from work. All my fish looked perfectly healthy when I left this afternoon, so maybe it was old age?

Today I...September 3rd

Another lovely area of Montreal's Botanical Gardens

Today I...

...am feeling better.

...spent the afternoon with my Sweetheart, which got me feeling better.

...baked a cake with my Sweetheart.

...went for a 10 km bike ride with my Sweetheart.

...watched more Downton Abbey, I am almost through with the 2nd season now and will then have to wait until January for the 3rd season.

...got to go for a spin in my brother's new car.

...sipped Grand Marnier on a terrace with my brother after dinner while we munched on Jalapeno Poppers and watched tennis.

...am happy with my long weekend, despite yesterday being a not so fun day.

... spoke with my father for a bit. He was a bit chattier and in a better mood, but still not overly cheerful.  I really hope he gets back to sounding as cheery as he did when he first got home last week.

Today I...September 2nd

Flower bed at the Botanical Gardens a few weeks ago

Today I...

...didn't have a as good a day as yesterday.

...woke up at 10:00 A.M. when I had an appointment at 10:45 a 15 minute walk from my place. Not the ideal way to start a Sunday. 

...was disappointed to find out in an e-mail from my Sweetheart that I would not be seeing him today. We will get a few hours together tomorrow afternoon (if my mood has improved). I was hoping that we would finally get at least 24 hours together for the first time in longer than I care to remember, but no such luck.

...spent two hours at V's place with her cat and most of it was spent sitting by the balcony door watching Downton Abbey on my iPod while the cat was lying on the balcony in the shade.

...stopped by the aquarium supply store to buy four new fish, cardinal tetras to be precise, and two new artificial plants for my tank.

...spoke with my father for a bit and he sounded rather down. A major contrast from yesterday. I think I will take a day off from calling him tomorrow and see how he's doing on Monday. He may be feeling a bit badgered I think, so he will more than likely appreciate my call more if he hasn't had to repeat the same information about how he's doing to three or more other people before I get to him.

...went out for a long walk to try and improve my mood. I'm not too sure it has done any good, but I more than likely would be feeling worse right now if I had done nothing but sit around and stare at my living room wall for the 45 minutes I was outside.

Today I...September 1st

Our friends' E and J's almost two month old son in my Sweetheart's arms last night

Size comparison and enough cuteness to turn anyone into mush, especially me :o)

Today I...

...am sharing these two photos of baby A in my Sweetheart's arms last night. My Sweetheart and I both won the 'Get A to Sleep' trophy yesterday evening. He fell asleep in both of our arms, mine for a solid half hour at the beginning of the evening and my Sweetheart's for closer to 45 minutes at the end of the evening. At one point they were actually both asleep together on the couch, it was pretty darn adorable. Anyhow, I can confirm that seeing one's other half with a baby in his arms, will turn you to mush and make you want a baby, if even you know perfectly well that you are not ready for a baby right in that moment. It is a very dangerous thing, ladies, very dangerous indeed.

...was very happy when my Sweetheart finally took A in his arms. I could tell he wanted to, but he is quite cautious about taking babies in his arms before they can hold their heads up on their own. Our friend L and I got him set up though with the baby and a cushion and he was as happy as I clam to hold A and I was as happy as a clam to take pictures of the event. Aside from holding A myself, my Sweetheart holding him was the highlight of my evening :o)

...had a nice, laid back day today. No need to go to the hospital to visit my father or go to clean his house for the firs time in nearly a month. I therefore slept in until 10:15 A.M., watched two episodes of Downton Abbey (I am now onto Season 2 and will begin watching it later on this evening) while having a leisurely brunch. I then got my cleaning done, went for a 3 km jog, showered and then headed out to visit V's cat and fish as V and her boyfriend have gone off to a wedding for the weekend. I fed the cat and the fish, gave the cat a healthy amount of attention and then hopped on the bus and went to get some ice cream at Kem CoBa, which I have blogged about previously. I had their flavor of the month, 72% dark chocolate and raspberry soft ice cream. It was insanely good, and I just might go back for more soon. Maybe tomorrow? I may not be able to help myself. 

...spoke with my father when I got home. He is doing well, but still gets tired quite easily, especially when he has a rather busy day, as he did today. I more than likely won't be seeing him this weekend, but I'm hoping for next week. I may try and get him to come out to my neck of the woods to the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal with my Sweetheart and I.

...had a nice plate of spaghetti with my mom's meat sauce on it and a glass of white wine for dinner, a great way to cap off the day!

...am wishing my grandparents a nice trip! They are heading off to Ireland and Scotland for two weeks tomorrow, the lucky ducks!