I hope you all had a chance to get out in the snow before it turns to slush! If you don't want to play and frolic, you could always go next door or across the street and ask if the people need their walks shovelled. Especially if it's an older person, or someone who's not physically capable of it. Daisy and I did our walk this morning and even for us (we're a bit "long in the tooth {that means "older"} but still pretty fit, as is evidenced by my amazing performance on Friday in "Duck, duck, goose") it was rough going. The roads and sidewalks were icy and slushy and really slippery and we actually cut our walk short, because it was so unpleasant. Daisy doesn't like to get her feet cold (she's a very elegant lady) and her paws were widely splayed to get traction and after a while, she starts to lift one up to save it the sensation, and then sometimes, she just sits down and says (with her eyes), "I don't want to do this anymore".
I guess we will have to put up our tree today. My youngest son is "champing at the bit for Christmas to arrive" (that's a line from "A Christmas Carol" which is a lovely story by the great Charles Dickens, who is credited with creating our modern Christmas traditions) and has been mentioning how many of our neighbours have their decorations up. I like the decorations, but I wish someone else would put them up. It's an enormous chore.
A friend of mine and I went to see "The Lady in the Van" on Friday night at the Port Moody Film Society. It stars Maggie Smith (a great actor, who you probably know as Professor McGonagall, but who has created many great characters in her long career on stage, screen and television) as a homeless woman who convinces a playwright to let her move her van into his driveway and then lives there for fifteen years. She is not a pleasant person and isn't grateful and they don't end up with one of these warm relationships, but he does care for her as she becomes more and more unable to care for herself. I didn't love it, but I thought it was interesting and I liked that they didn't make her cute or wise or really appealing in any way. She never said "thank you" even though the writer and his neighbours tried to help her in various ways. I think that when you help someone, you can't expect to be thanked. I feel like if I have the wherewithal to help, then it's because I'm lucky and the other person isn't and if I can give them something to make things easier, I should, and not with the expectation that they will give me something in return.
I mailed my packages to the people I send gifts to and that gives me a sense of accomplishment. They will arrive before Christmas Day. One of the people is my oldest friend in Calgary. We have been friends for over fifty years! We have had our ups and downs, of course, but it is an amazing relationship and I credit her with keeping it going. She has the gift of friendship, I think, and has always been there for me -- through childhood and school and marriage and child birth and deaths of loved ones and heartache and happiness. It is a gift in itself to think that we have shared so much together (that's a cliche, but true!) and I always feel comforted to think that she remembers my two dear little parents -- one of the few people who do, anymore.
Well, I didn't mean for this to get sad, and I'm not sad, but I might be moving in that direction so I will sign off, and get the salt out for the driveway and haul out the Christmas decorations and see what I can accomplish. Keep warm and see you all tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment