MRB's Talking Fingers

 I’m sure everyone has a story to tell to sum up the past two years. Some stories will be unbelievably sad, some will tell of overcoming personal circumstances, and some stories will be just plain boring. This may be one of them, but I’m going to tell it the best that I can. Some of you may have already heard that we had come to the conclusion that our days of travel, nationally and internationally, have come to an end. We have a mountain of photographs that were taken on various vacations when we clocked thousands of road miles on our vehicles. Some other travels were done as we sat on a bus or train and left the driving to someone else, or when we walked, slept, and ate on several cruise ships. This past month, we experienced a new (for us) mode of travel that involved a bunch of wheels. It all started with the truck that pulled up to our front door, and our son came to load our luggage and drive us to the airport. He and his sister, and their spouses, had planned a ‘nostalgi...

  We had just finished our breakfast on Friday morning when the doorbell announced a visitor. We were looking forward to the moment, hoping that the plans hadn’t been unexpectedly changed. I opened the door and came face-to-face with a beautiful tall lady who looked familiar but we had not seen her for over two years. Who could forget that smile … and the hugs were wonderful. She lives a bit over a thousand kilometers from us and a combination of circumstances has deleted any past opportunities to come over the Rockies for a visit. I had one of those “how did that happen” moments that I talked about in my last blog. It doesn’t seem to be that long ago when she was a little girl, graduating from kindergarten, enjoying ballet lessons, and attending Sunday school. We had been invited to several presentations by her high school drama class, and even one play that she created. Following those memories, she studied in Britain for a year, did some travel in Europe, and graduated from un...

 It seems as though there was a time when if we were to retire, we would have lots of free time. Wrong! In our situation, the days don’t seem to be long enough, and a ‘short afternoon nap’ takes a big chuck out of my day. I still have morning chores to complete and it’s now almost 3 p.m. How did that happen? For those of you who have followed me in the past, I’m here to report that my husband and I are still on the top side of the grass, and ever so grateful for each day that we are able to enjoy. We are on a ‘first-name basis’ with many of the medical community who have been involved in our senior stage of life ‘overhaul’. The neighbors have been informed that they are stuck with us as long as we have our driver’s license. It’s hard to leave the neighborhood where our 50+ year old children grew up. How did that happen? You may be wondering if my computer still works and I’m happy to say that it works better than me some days. I now spend more time looking for directions and he...

For me, last week was quite a week of celebration. It wasn’t a personal celebration, but a global recognition of Elizabeth, the reigning queen of Britain and the Commonwealth. Can you imagine that it is seventy years of commitment to a life of service that began at a very young age when her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth—then 25 years old—became queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon., as well as Head of the Commonwealth. To try and write any facts to introduce her dedication, I have turned to Wikipedia for the following sentences... "Significant events have included Elizabeth's coronation in 1953, and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012, and 2022, respectively. Elizabeth is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, the longest-serving female head of state, the oldest living and longest-reigning ...

  Some of us had been planning and anticipating in the 61 st anniversary of our graduation from nursing school. The second weekend of May, 2022 finally arrived and it was even better than what we were expecting. Whoever thought we were getting too old to have a party, just don’t know any nurses! We’ve had a lot of practice! We were able to check into the hotel on Friday afternoon, and Marj., one of our classmates, did a wonderful job of booking the suite on the 12 th floor with a view of the city and the mountains, and staying in contact with the hotel until the day of we were to arrive, making sure there were no ‘glitches’. Other classmates were arriving during the afternoon, some who were waiting for the classmate who is sharing a room, and others who were not planning to stay after the banquet, but came to help start the ‘party’. Enjoying a glass of wine (donated by Maureen and Jack D), and snacking on bagged peanuts, pretzels, and chocolates (donated by Carole and Morris S)...

It was 1958 when a group of almost one hundred young girls, most having just completed high school, met for the first time. It was the beginning of a three-year adventure… living and working together. They often socialized together, shared some tears together, and enjoyed daily fun times. In 1961, they graduated as Registered Nurses, and the ‘Sisterhood’ was well established. Many moved to far and near destinations, some to further their education, some to new employment opportunities, and some were finally able to marry the love of their life. The tradition of celebrating a Homecoming Reunion every five years with the ‘Sisterhood’ became an event that was fondly anticipated. Letters were written in cursive handwriting to stay connected, giving updates on life and family, and shared with other classmates. A weekend of activities, starting with the Homecoming (Alumnae) Banquet at the Palliser Hotel, followed by a Coffee Party in the Sunken Lounge of the Residence and a tour of the hospi...

The news is filled with stories about people who have been scammed by a phone call, an email, and even in person. The temptation is to think that it will never happen to us. Why would any decent person want to hit on anyone, young or old, to make them miserable or even destitute. Maybe we are even tempted to wonder if the persons who were scammed were just too gullible and hope they have learned their lesson. As of last week, I have a story to tell; (watch for the ' red ' flags. For a lot of years, since the beginning of the Internet, I have done consignment selling for customers who didn't know how, or have the time, to post items for sale on the Internet. I started by selling on Ebay, researching the value and/or reasonable asking price, then packing and shipping the 'sold' item to the Buyer. Things have changed over the years, more opportunities, more technology, more customers, but there are also many opportunities for the ruthless and unethical people who are...

While watching the news this evening, it gave me an idea for a new blog from me. I do enjoy writing but the last couple of months have been filled with ‘other things’, and my list of ‘no-no’ topics that won’t be entertained by me is getting longer. I try not to be a ‘negative’ person. There is too much of that these days. Back to the news this evening… a town in the northern part of our province has announced that the last pay telephone in town will be retired, because it had only been used about ten times the past year. Following that announcement, the news broadcast stated that there are still 700 payphones in use in our province. I guess this is an important and newsworthy item for this second week in February! We even got to hear the sound of coins dropping in the coin box. Wow! That was exciting! OK… I didn’t promise not to be sarcastic! Payphones were important in my younger days. There were many reasons that we needed to make a phone call when away from home. We had no idea ...

 It’s been quite a year, and I wish you all a Happy and Wonderful New Year! I’m sure that the past year has been similar for most of us… some ‘hav- to’ jobs, some happy moments, and lots of spare hours. As I wrote in our year-end newsletter, I did a bit of cooking, a bit of cleaning, a bit of napping, and spent many hours refreshing memories through boxes and albums of photos, writing letters, sending emails and text messages, and talking on the phone. I use my computer every day, but I’ve been reminded about the progress of the telephone in my lifetime. The first eight years of my life were on a farm, and there was no phone to be had. There was no power and no running water, and the evening light in the room was an oil-burning lamp. When we moved to the city, our first telephone was attached to the wall in the hallway, and when we finally had a ‘curly’ cord, I could sit on the floor when talking on the phone. There was no area code, just a number like 75945, and we dialed ‘0’ to...