The future, the present and a look at the past

Thank you all for your kind words regarding my back pain. I've had a follow-up with my chiropractor and we both agree I'm back to 80% or more. Every day I'm seeing improvement. Moving from a sitting or lying position is still somewhat painful but I'm getting there and once I'm up and mobile I'm good to go. I'm also continuing to take an anti-inflammatory every morning and use the RubA535 ointment for pain relief. I didn't do a whole of lot of anything this week, but did continue to stay active by walking frequently during the day. 

On Monday I went out to Walmart to pick up a few needed grocery items, milk and fruit. While I was there I also got the goodies for the Halloween trick or treaters. The box of mini chocolate bars and box of chips are tucked away in the garage for now. I couldn't find one of the items I wanted so stopped at the Co-op on the way home where I picked up a few more items. We should be good for the next ten days or so.

Tuesday was an exciting day, not for anything I actively did but because it was time to make final payment on my next cruise. The photo from Wednesday was taken from the cruise company website of the Island Princess navigating through the Panama Canal. I booked this cruise in April 2021, hoping against hope that the pandemic would be over and life be back to semi-normal. I guess I was almost right.

The cruise I'll be on is a 14 day cruise sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles with a full transit through the canal. We also have stops in Columbia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Huatulco, and Puerto Vallarta. It is the first leg of the world cruise (111 days) leaving from Fort Lauderdale. I can't imagine a cruise of that length, and reading about passengers dealing with Visa's and the like in various countries makes me content to be on the shorter cruise. Just about 90 days to sail-away!

When we reach Los Angeles, I expect there won't be a whole of passengers disembarking. It should make for an easy transfer to the airport for my flight home. The other thing that will be quite different for me is the size of the ship. The Island Princess has capacity for just around 2200 passengers and 900 crew. In comparison, the smallest ship I've been on previously had over 3000 passengers and 1200 crew. (Basically the size of the town when I was growing up). The larger ships are too big to go through the old locks. 

Back to the mundane, on Wednesday I managed to get some floors mopped before I settled in to watch the first of a Jays baseball double header. When I left for my stitch and chat group the Jays were leading but the Orioles rallied and one for the first game. Stitch and chat was good, with six of us there working on various projects. D was back this week and we had a great chat about the Panama cruise. She's done the route twice before so had a few ideas for me. 

Thursday morning dawned cold with a temperature of -5C (23F). It never got warmer than 8C (46F) and while I should have gone out to pull the remaining annuals I left them for one more night. It was chilly out there and I was procrastinating. Most the plants looked fine on Thursday morning but after an even colder night into Friday morning, the geraniums and ivy that I meant to bring indoors are done, and my impatience is finished too. The marigolds and petunias were still looking decent, but I had to pull them before the soil in the pots froze solid.

The other activity that has been keeping me busy is a return to Ancestry website. I had paused my membership and re-started it late last week. I signed on and found over 600 hints waiting for me. This doesn't include the 400-500 hints I had identified through Newspapers.com while I was able to view Ancestry but not update. It's going to take some time to complete the revisions and add new information. 

One of the new individuals, was the great niece of my 3X great grandfather. Alice May was born in Quebec in 1885. She married sometime between 1901 and 1905 when her oldest child was born. Five more children were born between 1907 and 1914 including a set of twins; sadly none of her children lived to see their first birthday. At some point, her husband remarried and had two surviving children and he passed away in 1949. No 1921 census records are available for Alice May or her husband, though I did find a voter's list for 1940 and discovered she was living with her mother and sister in Montreal.  The last document I've accessed was a border crossing from 1945, when at the age of 60, Alice May went to visit a male friend in Detroit, Michigan. I've had no luck in finding this friend, as his name is very common, and she seems to have disappeared after this point in time. 

One can't happen but wonder what happened to Alice May. She suffered many losses, her children and her husband when she was a young adult. She clearly supported herself as she is listed as a servant in 1940, and a cook in 1945 on the border crossing declaration. Whether she returned to Canada or remained in the U.S. is a mystery with no conclusion. Perhaps as more records are made available, the end of her story will be revealed. 

I won't end this post on that solemn note, so will drop in a couple of photos from this week.

I've finished two scarves in the past ten days or so, both crocheted, and a pair of knitted mitts. I have a toque/beanie started in the same color of brown, and a baby dress from skein of yarn that's been in my stash for a long time. There aren't too many more bits and pieces of yarn left in the tub.

This is photo of the trees in my back yard on Friday morning. As I mentioned we had frost overnight in Thursday and Friday. I was doing dishes on Thursday afternoon, and noticed the trees were dropping their leaves, even without a wind. It seems they just changed colour over the weekend and they've both lost most of the leaves in just a 24 hour period. 

I did get the containers cleared out on Friday afternoon, after the curling and baseball game, and before the football started. The patio furniture was put away, and all the containers stored in various places in the yard or small shed for the winter, along with the garden hoses. It all looks so bare now with the exception of the perennials in the front flower bed. I'll cut those back in the spring. 

Today is going to be quiet day. A little baseball, a little football, and some knitting. To my Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving!