Near Dalum, Alberta, July 2022

Time to cap off January with some colour.

Trying something different

I think black and white works well with winter photos.

I was out for a short bit yesterday and did not see much. I thought I would see how this looks.

The text post

Saturday I did some dog-sitting for a neighbour. My neighbour has a ten month old Shih Tzu / Yorkshire Terrier  cross black female puppy named Luna.

My sister was supposed to be at mom's condo days ago painting it. She wanted the job so I told her to come up with a budget and get it done. The budget is set, the work just needs to be done. There was a minor cold snap in Alberta and a snowy day where my sister lives. My sister is hesitant to travel in winter and tends to travel in absolute ideal conditions. I expected her to be there on Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday, now she might possibly be there Monday. Monday the weather continues to improve and gets warmer. There will be mild temperatures this coming week. Meanwhile it is taking longer to get the condo done and on the market.

A few things needed to be moved out of the condo, namely a dresser and a kitchen table with two chairs. So my canine companion joined me on a trip to mom's condo. I stopped in at the retirement home first to see mom. They allow dogs in to visit. 

Everybody loves a puppy. I got interrupted several times while signing in and getting to the elevator. I let any interested senior, and staff member, pet Luna. Mom was quite surprised when I entered her room with a puppy. Luna jumped onto mom's lap and mom loved it. I am sure mom was a little disappointed when she found out that Luna is not my dog. I plan on getting a dog sometime, I just do not have the time right now. It is easier to borrow the neighbour's dog for now and the dog is a good traveler. The remaining furniture got moved out and the condo is practically empty.

One a recent post about family photos one comment asked what my succession plans are. This sort of thought comes up whenever I visit the retirement home. I have joked to a few people when the topic came up that my retirement plan was Smith & Wesson. I got that from another blogger who died a few years ago and thought it was funny. A number of people I have mentioned it to apparently are not into dark humour.

I have a condo, two vehicles, and a motorcycle that I own outright and some money in the bank. I am not rich but I can live for a few years on what I have. My will is current and everything is left to my sister. The ideal plan would be to spend everything and die when there is nothing left.

I live somewhat frugally. I am stressed out, tired, and I am not in love with working but I really do not enjoy it lately. I am toying with the idea of packing it in for a few months over the summer and then looking for a job in the fall. It might be time to spend some of the funds I have been socking away and do a few things before I cannot do them.  

Leduc County, Alberta, January 28, 2023

 

Random thoughts

Tuesday night after work I drove out to visit mom. She seems to be doing well.

Mom had me dig out a container of photos that we looked through. When I was a kid my family was never big on taking photos. Some of the reasons may have been buying a camera and film and then getting the photos developed. Starting out my parents did not have much and owning a camera let alone taking the occasional photo was likely a bit of a luxury. My father definitely did not like having his picture taken so there are few photos of him.

The photos of days gone by are nowhere near as sharp and clear as the photos of today. The old photos are less sharp, a little blurry, like my memories. We were not good at labelling photos, there were quite a few where mom and I could not remember who a lot of the people were. I wish we would have made notes and comments on the back all those years ago. Mom is no help, her memory is markedly failing these days. 

No nostalgic stirrings for me. I am a solo act with no descendants and no one to pass anything on to. If anything, I think more about the present and the things I have to tackle in the future. I have no interest in taking possession of any of the photos. To me they belong to another time.

One thing that stuck with me after sifting through some memories of multiple places where I lived. We had a lot of God awful ugly furniture.