| My fire this morning; the photo doesn't do its beauty justice |
| This is what my fire really looks like! |
Up at 8am, hearing Toad fumbling around trying to start the stove and unable to get the fire going. All he knows to do is stuff newspaper in repeatedly without getting the kindling and firewood out of the ashes that smother the fire. He used all of the bark and all of the newspapers and cardboard from the box and was looking through papers I've saved, ready to burn those. I stopped him and he swore at me many times and said, sneering, "You start the fire then!" So I did, with him watching and sulking. I did it without using newspaper, just a few bits of bark and a toilet paper roll for kindling and by rearranging the firewood to get it out of the ashes. I calmly told him that from now on I will take care of making the fire, he is just to bring in firewood. He seems okay with this.
He used to be able to take care of the fire but hasn't done it well at all this season and wasn't very good at it last season. He sleeps so much now that he doesn't wake and add firewood during the night, which is why I've been staying up until the wee hours of the morning, trusting him to take over when he gets up. That's not been working out very well lately. He sleeps later than usual so that the fire goes out, with just a few glowing coals, and then he smothers those with wood topped with wads of newspaper. Wrong way to coax the fire back to life. But he bristles if I say anything, and he swears and yells as well. My takeover this morning will hopefully put an end to his tampering with the woodstove and will relieve my worry about him unwittingly (literally) causing a house fire.
Il n'aime pas la critique. But then, who does?
The sun is shining and even though it is much colder than yesterday it promises to be a happy day due to the sunshine. Yesterday had a higher temperature but was cloudy and very damp due to the melting snow and ice. It felt like early Spring, rather raw. I had Toad let the chickens out to enjoy the sunshine.
The vision in my right eye is still a bit blurry but not as shaky as it was last night. If this continues or worsens I will get it checked. I'm past due for an eye exam anyway.
It's noon and so far I haven't accomplished anything in the house. I have done a bit of writing by writing up notes from my Skype visit with D and the boys yesterday evening, have eaten a PBJ sandwich and taken my meds, have tended the woodstove and taken a few pics of it, and have looked in vain for the box from my cell phone that contains the cord to connect it to the laptop so that I can transfer photos. I had to once again email photos to myself, though not all of them.
One photo from my cell phone is representative of our bilingual province. In Ontario signs are in English. In Quebec signs are in French. Here signs are in both English and French:
| I took this while in the Tim Horton's drive-through the other day |
It's 12:18pm and time to get busy off-line. Cooked for the chickens. Washed dishes, sink, counter and range top. Made some mashed potatoes for Toad, at his request, which he ate with egg rolls with chicken in them. Sat down to rest and do today's jigsaw puzzle at 1:40pm, tuckered out. Afterwards I practiced French via Duolingo. There were four more units to strengthen back to gold: Verbs:compound past, Directions, Passive Voice, and Arts. After re-golding them I went to look at my French tree and the bastards had un-golded a fifth unit--Prepositions 3! So I strengthened it back to gold as well. Finished at 5:20pm. I had wanted to read one of the new stories but spent so much time on the tree that I will have to postpone the story for now. I need to stretch!
C'est au-dessus de mes forces.
My stretching consisted of stacking some firewood in the house, in the wrought iron stand, after Toad obliged me and fetched several sticks of wood. I also stretched whilst putting away the heaping drainer full of clean dishes I'd washed earlier. It wasn't much, but better than nothing.
I've requested a new batch of books and DVDs from the library, now that I'm down to only five items checked out and three of them due the 26th of this month--just four days from now. Yikes! I need to watch a few episodes of As Time Goes By Season 3 tonight. I also have season 4 of this series to watch and return at the same time, along with the one of the books. I'm nearly finished with Hunger, so that won't be a problem. The other book and Columbo Season 2 (to watch with Toad) are due March 1st.
6:40pm My eye is doing the shaky thing, so I am going to try to rest with it closed it for a few minutes and listen to a podcast. This one, on Fresh Air: Russia's Troll Factory. "New York Times reporter Scott Shane discusses special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of 13 Russians who allegedly participated in a complex social media operation to undermine the 2016 election. And critic Ken Tucker reviews Brandi Carlile's new album 'By the Way, I Forgive You.'"
Every hour and a half to two hours I have to add wood to the woodstove. I'm thinking of setting an alarm so that the stove doesn't go cold, but then again, if it does I can start a fire. It's just easier to keep it going than it is to start over (and get cold).
This evening I spent some time writing a long Facebook post regarding the Florida school massacre and security for American school children. It will piss off most of my relatives and several friends if they bother to read it. I may post it here separately tomorrow.
I also ordered two items from Amazon.ca tonight. One is a book #BeccaToldMeTo: Spreading kindness, one hashtag at a time, by Jason Tremere. Riverview, New Brunswick, teenager Becca Schofield, dying of inoperable brain cancer, has left a remarkable legacy worldwide by requesting that people perform random acts of kindness and post them on social media with the hashtag #BeccaToldMeTo so that she could appreciate them and know that she had made a difference. She just passed on February 17th at age eighteen; her funeral was yesterday. I had hoped to buy the book at a bookstore in the city but finally decided to order it online.
The other item I ordered is a DVD titled Maudie (Maud), based on the life story of Maud Lewis, a Nova Scotia folk artist. I saw the first half of the movie on a flight from Washington DC to Montreal last Fall and have wanted to see it in its entirety, with Toad, ever since. I wrote to the library requesting that they buy the DVD, saying how much I wanted to see it, after discovering that it was not available in our provincial library system. I was shocked! I kept checking the library holdings until it appeared and, of course, put a hold on it. Unfortunately the library has only two copies of the DVD and there were nearly thirty holds ahead of mine. After all this time I see that there are still twenty-one holds ahead of me. Sigh. So I ordered it tonight. The library does have two books about Maud Lewis that I had almost ordered, so I requested them with no holds ahead of me.
Owl is sitting on my left arm, against my chest, which is normally where Tommy lies. He is snuggled down beside me on the sofa instead. Owl is so soft, and her purring so sweet to hear and feel against me. It's wonderful to receive the love of an animal, especially a cuddly one.
Bonne nuit. Goodnight.
I'm Reading:
- Hunger, by Roxane Gay
- A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
- Les choses que nous avons pensées et faites. Meaning: The things that we have thought of and done.
- Elle voit la fin de la route. Meaning: She sees the end of the road.
- Cette femme a été aimée par son mari. Meaning: That woman was loved by her husband.
- La femme est respectée par son mari. Meaning: The wife is respected by her husband.
- Il n'aime pas la critique. Meaning: He does not like criticism.
- Je dessine une voiture. Meaning: I am drawing a car.
- L'an dernier, j'ai lu pas moins de vingt livres. Meaning: Last year, I read no fewer than twenty books.
- C'est au-dessus de mes forces. Meaning: It is beyond my strength.
Photo(s)/Capture(s) of the Day:
| Today's jigsaw puzzle challenge: 240 piece squares |
| Owl sitting in front of the woodstove enjoying the warmth, watching me get ready to sweep up the ashes. |
