Are you having a good summer? What has been your special moment to date? Have you been waiting for August to arrive before you take off to visit distant family members, travel to a destination that is still on your ‘bucket list’, or enjoy your home garden with a tall glass of iced tea?

I’ve been a bit scarce on The Hill, and I miss the stories shared by friends, meeting new members to our favorite cyber community, and using a bunch of words myself. We haven’t done much travelling this summer, except for the occasional visit with friends who live in a distant community of our province. There has been a variety of activities at our spot in the valley to keep us on our toes, and for the most part, has been a lot of fun.

We have a boarder this summer; a doctor from South America who is trying to recover from serious medical, family and financial problems. His children live with their mother for now, but his 16-year-old son comes to our home on weekends, to be with his dad. We are being reintroduced to dealing with a teenager, who thinks that the most important things in life are sleeping until early afternoon, his iPhone, and baseball games. When it comes to doing anything that looks like work, he pleads inability to tackle anything like that. He is learning that his Canadian grandma (‘me’) can be tough when it comes to her ‘house rules’. We have enjoyed their miniature schnauzer, who has been with us since last November, and thinks that I am his new owner. We haven’t learned to speak Spanish, but have learned to appreciate customs of a country that we have never visited. We are also learning to enjoy new foods (as long as it’s not too spicy), and that I must remember to always have a dish of mayonnaise on the table with every meal. Mayo is enjoyed much more than butter, even on bread.

I have been challenged to be “content in my situation”, learning to appreciate the help of a walker and the protection of an air boot on my fractured foot. No exciting circumstances… just flipped my ankle in my living room. I sit on the patio in the sun when it’s not raining, laptop on my lap, learning as much as I can about Windows 10, and marketing vintage telephones on the Internet. It has also given me more time to read books that have been piling up in our den; books that I purchased at Book Fairs and Garage Sales.

This week, we have been experiencing weather moods; so much hail and rain that the city looked like the middle of winter with 8 inches of hail on the ground and flooded streets. We had another storm today. Yet another example of a well-known quote in our area, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes!”

So… if you have been wondering where I’ve been, I have been doing a bit of lurking late at night or early in the morning before my day begins, but I haven’t given up on NOTH. I’ll be back when life slows down.

Tags: Summer Stories Fun

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We all seem to like to talk about the weather, perhaps thinking that it will do some good! We don't have severe weather conditions where we live (except perhaps the occasional blizzard in the winter), as some of the events that I hear about in other areas, but we still talk about it. Being from a farming background, the common complaints I grew up with were...  

• too hot
• too cold
• too dry
• too wet
• too windy
• not enough breeze
• too much rain
• not enough rain
• we need more snow
• we're sick of all the snow

Question? Did any of those complaints help to make us happier and/or more content?

I got to thinking about this after the MAIN news item on our local radio station this morning. Heavy rains during the night and early morning had flooded a substation downtown and the rapid transit was not working. People stood in the rain for more than two hours, waiting for public bus transportation to pick them up and get them to within walking distance of their work. It was all the fault of the city... why weren't they quicker with the buses. I can only imagine the challenge the city of over a million people were dealing with that major power outage. In my books, getting wet would not be high on their priority list... there were emergency situations to deal with! And... if the work force was late to their downtown jobs, their workplace was also without power. 

We are so dependant on electricity, that when the weather interrupts our power supply, the rants begin. We expect instant remedies. What happens to people in areas of the world where they don't have electrical power, cause by weather, flooding, war, isolation? How do they survive? I've experienced a wee taste of it when I was growing up on the farm. No electricity, no running water, no telephone. That's when ingenuity kicks in!

In my "never-to-be-humble" opinion (thanks Dr. Laura), we are spoiled rotten!!!!

Tags: Talking Rants Electricity

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Here I am again... Can you tell that I am having a lot more time for the computer? 

The Hill is still one of my favorite sites on the computer, and I am a STRONG supporter of Administration here, and I've been thinking! (That could be dangerous!)

There has been a lot of talk about getting some new groups going, and I know there are a lot of people who really enjoy them. I would also like to encourage people who used to write blogs to come back and get going again, now that the "blog police" has taken on "new challenges" elsewhere. There certainly are rules, but very easy to follow. I have read some very interesting items from friends who have shared with me in private messages. 

Some of you have been reading blogs longer than I have, and if you can think of someone who used to write them but have quit for various reasons, why not invite them to come by and tell us some of their stories. That's my challenge to you for this day.

As for me, I wish that Storyboat would share some of her writings. I may be mistaken, but I think she writes for another site. I'll talk to her!

Tags: Blogs Writers Writings Stories

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What a fun day we've had today. If you have read my previous blogs, you may remember that we have added to our family, a father and son from South America. Father lives with us this summer, and his son comes for the weekends, if his dad is not working. We learned that in Venezuela, mayonnaise is much preferred over butter. They spread mayo on food that I had never thought about. I recently found the recipe that I baked many times when our children were growing up... Mayonnaise Cake. It is the best chocolate cake we've ever enjoyed (a bit of self-praise), and it has no milk, no butter and no eggs, just a cup of mayo and a cup of water. They guys loved it but kept asking me to show them the recipe, to prove it had mayo in it.

If you would like to try this Mayo Cake, here is the recipe:

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup cold water
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix ingredients together well, and bake at 350 degrees F until done. 
(A recipe from my mother)

Tags: Baking Recipe Visitors Chocolate

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I suppose I should have appeared sooner than today, but I've been a bit pre-occupied by weekend travels, guests from near and far, and "happenings"! No point in telling you about our guests (you won't know them anyway), and you've heard about the annual car show that we love to attend (same old cars, but more of them this year. So... that leaves 'happenings! 

Here is my outline for my latest "happening:

1. Early Wednesday morning... sleepless in the Valley.

2. Enjoying my favorite chair and a good book at 4 a.m.

3. Sun up, so I decided to catch a bit of sleep; I had done enough reading and my eyes were having trouble staying open.

4. One step, ankle twisted, I landed on the floor. Ouch, ouch, ouch! NOT AGAIN! I've already had three broken ankles.

5. Didn't want to wake up my hubby, so I hopped back to bed. The Tylanol is in the kitchen, and I'm not about to hop all the way there. 

6. I woke up at 8 a.m., and I knew that I had a problem. Please, no weight on my left foot, it hurts too much. Broke the news to hubby (he knows that I'm a klutz) but it still upsets him. 

7. Got a chair with wheels from our office, and rolled out the front door to the van. Off we go to the Medical Emergency Clinic about 15 miles from our home. A much better choice than travelling to the city.

8. Results: Two broken bones in my left foot. Now my bad right ankle, with the steel plate and screws, has become my 'good' ankle. Go figure!

9. Treatment of choice: An air cast (for at least a month), and a bottle of Tylonol. Surgery won't help. Now I'm a "two-boot" lady; no fancy shoes for this chick!

Extra gifts:

1. My dear friend who delivered a walker to our house.

2. My much-loved hubby who spends an extraordinary amount of time, trying to figure out what he can do to help me. I told him to stop fretting; in a few days I'll be up and rolling again; my right foot can still push the gas peddle and the brake!!! He's heard that before!

3. Our present house guest from South American, has appointed himself to be my kitchen help when he comes home from work. Take-home pizza and pasta seem to be the menu choices.

This is my story... and I'm sticking to it!

Tags: Experience Pain Friends

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This past weekend was like "old home week". We travelled to the town where my husband and I met 53 years ago. It is a small prairie town in central Alberta, and whenever we have the opportunity to visit friends there or attend a special event, it feels like we've gone back home. We both had jobs in that town that we enjoyed; Ed was the telephone guy and I was a newly graduated registered nurse in the 19-bed hospital.

This past weekend, we attended the annual Show and Shine Car Show, which has become the largest such show in Western Canada. We heard that there were about 700 vehicles registered. Main Street is eight blocks long, and both sides of the street was filled with angled parked entrants, and a third row down the middle of the street, parked bumper to bumper. At the west end of Main Street, the vehicles were parked on one side of the street for three blocks in either direction from Main Street. That is a "bunch" of cars and trucks in one town, not to mention the myriad of riders in leathers who arrived on their motorcycles. 

Here is a tiny "taste" of the show...

Three Hills Show & Shine Car Show - 2015

This could be another of my weekend Armchair Travel episodes.    

Mona

Tags: Events Car Show Hometown Friends

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I'm finally here... after another wonderful road trip. When we arrived home on Tuesday, we had no telephone landline service and no Internet. Ugh! Hubby had the name of subcontractor with the phone company who had been doing work out here, so contacted him to find out what happened to our "high-speed" service. He couldn't understand what happened because he installed a new piece of cable by our house a week ago and all was working well. He couldn't come out to check until Wednesday morning, but would be there at 9 a.m.  Wednesday morning, Ed went to find the guy, and sure enough he was there ... and with a 'weird' story for Ed. Because he couldn't book a trencher for a month to bury the new cable, he strung the new cable on top of the ground between two pedistles. He discovered that some animal (probably a gopher or mole) had chewed through the cable and disconnected our service again. Yikes! The joys of country living!

It's now working well, and I have my Armchair Travels segment up and running. I have also posted this in a Bulletin for my friends to see it. I've received numerous messages from friends, reminding me that I had promised to post pictures when we got home. Here they are...

To watch my latest Armchair Travel segment, visit my website, at

 http://yourchoicetoo.wix.com/valleynotes , 

then click on Travelling West 2015 under the ARMCHAIR TRAVELS link.

To see larger photos and captions, click on the slideshow photo below the text.

I haven't yet had time to catch up on other blogs, but now that I have the "service", I'll be back.

Mona

Tags: Travel Friends Technology

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I had great intentions to try to write a blog every week. Words are my 'thing' here on The Hill, and I have had very kind responses to my blogs and in private messages! But life got in the way of me having fun on The Hill, so I had to 'disappear' for a bit. My health is good, both of my hands are working well, but I had to be reminded AGAIN, that not all of my activities are somehow connected to my computer. Sigh! The details are boring but I'm going to try again. 

Today, I'm not going to tell you a "nursing" story, even though this is medically related. I may have mentioned to some here on The Hill that we now have a boarder ... a doctor from South America, who has been in very difficult circumstances since arriving in Canada just over five years ago. His wife was transferred to the oil sands in northern Alberta by her company in South America, so they came as a family, with two young children. Sadly, she met someone through her work that she liked better and who had much more money, and she left the family and filed for a divorce.  

It is very difficult for foreign medical professionals to receive accreditation in Canada, and even though he has two ophthalmology specialties, the best he has been able to do is work as a technician in an ophthalmology clinic, part time and at minimum wage. Any promises to sponsor him when he was hired were soon forgotten; he was just cheap foreign labor!  It is disgusting... it's all about the money. 

When I worked at a surgical plastic surgeon's clinic, as a medical transcriber, I saw the same jealousy among doctors in that specialty. The doctor that I worked for had been in practice for many years and had his own surgical suite that was not associated with any hospital in our city. His specialty was cosmetic surgery, and when his son was about to graduate in the same field, with the specialty of reconstructive surgery, the plan was for him to join his father in practice. As I was privy to communications in the clinic, I had many occasions to read and respond (with instructions from the doctor who had no idea about computers), to emails arriving at our office. I had no idea how vicious doctors can be; they did all in their power to block the doctor's son from practicing in the same city as his father, because the name was recognizable. They didn't want any "new upstart", especially with his credentials and the perks from his father, to infringe on their "market"! 

As for our present situation, we have added to our family; we are now their 'Canadian' family. Encouraging, instructing, and cheering them on... it has been a huge delight for my husband and I.

Tags: Medical Foreign Education

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It didn't take long for our class to come up with any excuse to have a celebration. We didn't have much money but we sure could have a lot of fun. We would celebrate the end of exam week, the end of a night shift, the end of a happy date, and not to mention anyone's birthday (no cake available, but we had a great supply of cinnamon toast decked with at least one wooden match). Any of us could expect to come home after a day off and find a note taped on our door, asking, "Did you bring back anything to eat?"

Then there were the more significant events to celebrate ... one-sixth, one-third, one-half of the way through training were milestones that we couldn't ignore. We also celebrated when we receiving our colored class band to pin on our cap, pale blue for year two, navy for year three, and black for the graduate. There would be a "not-at-home" Christmas party (people still got sick and needed hospital care) for those who were scheduled to work Christmas week and not able to travel home to their family. The celebrations were not fancy, but there was always lots of laughter and silliness, and the friendships became more and more solid.

Following graduation, we made a special effort to come back every five years for the Alumnae Banquet, and special events that were planned for our class. Friday evening was always the Alumnae Banquet in a posh downtown hotel, then Saturday Brunch, usually at a classmate's home, and a Class Banquet (including husbands) on Saturday evening. Sunday was the farewell day, to those who had some travelling to do to return home. On the 15th year Reunion, we made a lot of husbands very happy by telling them that they were no longer invited and/or requested to attend these Reunions.

We celebrated our 50th year in 2011, and 72 of our 91 classmates came from many parts of North America and Europe. Who knows if we'll be together for our 55th year! There are a lot of circumstances that could make such an even almost impossible.

Tags: Parties Food Nurses Classes

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