Friday May 29, 2009

This morning was 17C (62F) cloudy and somewhat humid as I headed out for my walk. Since the skies looked like it may rain any minute, I went three different ways and only a short ways each way but I didn't get wet.

I had decided that I wanted to go to Brockville, Ontario to see my Aunt Ruth today. Last Fall, her family felt that since she had fallen so many times at her apartment that being on her own was no longer something they could live with. Due to her fall she wound up in the hospital until they could place her at a Long Term Care Home. It's a beautiful, new, very clean facility.

We stopped for diesel and filled up at 78.5/litre.

On our way, we stopped at our favourite restaurant in Smiths Falls, The Roosterant for breakfast and met a couple there that we know so we sat with them and caught up on what's happened since the last time we saw them.

Inside the Roosterant


From there we stopped at a little RV park right on the river in the town and had a look at it. It's quite expensive but apparently a monthly price can be 'negotiated'. It's another park where you have to be pumped out. These parks close to the water don't have sewer.

On to see Aunt Ruth. Her Long Term Care Home overlooks the St. Lawrence River so she's back where she started life as her father, my grandfather, ran the waterworks in Morrisburg (east of Brockville about 45 min) and the family lived on the canal bank there. She enjoys looking at the boats on the river.

Myself and my Aunt Ruth

It's always difficult seeing a person that you love get older with the inevitable loss of short term memory as well as health problems and she has indeed succumbed. When we arrived, she knew who we were but not our names and suffice it to say that she is no longer the Aunt Ruth that I've known all my life. There were still traces of her humour but it was a difficult visit (difficult in that it was hard to see her like this).

I had stopped to buy her a plant and selected a little red rose plant in a pot as I know how she loves flowers. I also took her the necklace I made yesterday which she liked and some photos taken during the winter so she has those to look at.

We had some rain driving both ways but it wasn't too bad today and the temperature remained pretty much at 17C (62F) for the day. We even had a couple of showing of snn, brief though they were.

We got home around 3:30 p.m. and Gordon went to make a cup of coffee and the microwave wouldn't work, you push the start button and nothing happens but everything else on it seems to work so we called our dealer and I dug out the paperwork for when we replaced the microwave two years ago in Texas and hopefully it will be under some sort of warranty. It's a Dometic product and each microwave has lasted two years although it's been a different problem both times. Bummer! How do I cook without a microwave?