Notes from a small town girl....

We are finally going to embark on some overdue home renovations. The primary reason for this task is to replace 15 year old carpets which have endured 3 puppies, a number of dogs, 2 grandchildren in progress, some food spills, some red wine spills - you get the picture. They have been cleaned many times but enough is enough. I have debated hardwood vs laminate vs carpet and have decided on hardwood. This decision has now led to the realization that by getting rid of carpet, the baseboards will no longer be at the right height. And if we are replacing baseboards, then why not interior doors? And why not open up the front entry by removing a closet and part of an adjoining closet?

This will all happen in the New Year but in anticipation of losing some closet space I am adjusting my other storage areas in order to absorb the ‘stuff’ I keep there. I have LOTS of storage which is good because I have LOTS of stuff. We have lived in the same house for over 20 years and so haven’t been forced by the chore of moving to get rid of stuff. Well, I have gotten rid of some things over the years but there is still an excess.

So, the past few days I have been purging – throwing out things that haven’t been looked at for years – some of it for over 20 years. I have this big wooden box that I emptied. It held quite an assortment of memorabilia – old knitting patterns, a stamp collection I started one summer 40 years ago that only lasted for one summer, gift enclosure cards from my wedding shower, cards celebrating the birth of our son, books of matches engraved with my husband’s and my name for our wedding reception, and a few special mementos from Sister San – letters she wrote me after I moved away from home and went to college. Maybe she’ll hate me for sharing an excerpt but probably it will just get a chuckle This was written Sept 22, 1972 when she was 10


"Mom decorated the bathroom. Next we're going to decorate my room. Twiggy is pregnant. The filter in the fish tank sure gets dirty fast. This pen that I'm using useing squeaks. I don't know why. (it blots too) Mini's purr is getting louder and louder and louder. Well I can't think of anything else to say. Love Sandy-Poo

P.S. I don't miss you yet
P.P.S I like having my own room

And a few pictures too

Mr. Spooksister and I headed to the coast last week for a long-deserved night away from home.



Our children had given Mr. S tickets to see the great and fantabulous
Sir Elton John in concert in Vancouver.




Note, these tickets were given when Mr S was seriously ill in hospital and I didn’t know if he would live, let alone attend a concert. Anyway, he did and we did and all’s good.











So, we are in our downtown Vancouver hotel room. It is an absolutely beautiful fall day, the kind of day that makes people want to move to Vancouver. Crisp blue skies, warm sunshine and gorgeous views from our balcony.




We are on said balcony and I look down, and there on the roof of an old 3 storey apartment building below us is a woman sweeping. She has 2 brooms, a pink-handled whisk, a dustpan and a paper bag. This is too intriguing – Why is she sweeping the roof? How will she get down? How will she get the accumulated trash down? Because it is such a beautiful day and we have nothing better to do with our short holiday we sit on the balcony and watch.





She wasn’t in a hurry. She’d sweep a little, scrape a little and see something that she’d missed and get that. The trash (not much that I could see – some leaves and pigeon poop) easily fit into the paper bag. When she was all done she stored her brooms in a horizontal tube on the roof, tossed her whisk and dustpan down the hole she must have come up in and get this… she took her paper bag filled with her sweepings and went to the edge of the roof and carefully poured it out between her building and the building next to it. The buildings almost touched so there must not have been much of a gap. Is her goal to eventually fill the space?


She then proceeded to the hole – climbed down but couldn’t pull the cover over herself and the hole. A while later a man came up the hole, looked around, retrieved the stored brooms and put them down the hole and then climbed down and pulled the cover over.

Only question left is why did the roof need cleaning? This was not a space for people to gather – no chairs, no gardens, just a roof...