I published yesterday's post soon after my wife arrived home unexpectedly either very late in the afternoon, or very early in the evening. She usually remains in Vancouver on the weekends. and often does not come home again until late Monday evening or even very early in the a.m. of Tuesday.
Such is my sorry marriage.
She was soon busy cooking, and I just presumed that she was here because her youngest son ─ the 22-year-old ─ was leaving today on a flight to his birth country Thailand where he would be holidaying for a month with two friends.
You sure can't beat that ─ making such a trip with two of one's closest friends.
I set about watching some T.V. while my wife bustled about the kitchen, often interacting with her two sons. At one point I even poured myself a few ounces of Captain Morgan spiced rum to help me enjoy my shows.
Eventually, I became aware that something was afoot ─ everyone seemed to be making as if to leave the house.
It was only then that I was informed that my youngest stepson was about to head off for the Vancouver International Airport with his two friends ─ the mother of one of them was driving the lads to the airport, and the vehicle was waiting outside.
I had been told days ago that the flight was scheduled for January 12, but I did not realize that it was leaving in the earliest hours of that day.
In a rush, I leapt into action and caught these three photos of the lad posed with his mother at 8:04 p.m. last evening:
And then she had me also pose with him while she took these two photos:
And then he was gone.
My eldest stepson (25 years old) joked that he would now not likely be eating his mother's cooking for a week, for she would likely not be back within that time now that her little boy was no longer here.
Indeed, she did not hang around too very much longer that evening, leaving us so that she could return to Vancouver, and saying to me that she would be back sometime on Sunday ─ i.e., today.
Perhaps that will prove true. We were getting some rain at the time, but at some point overnight it turned to snow and left us with close to an inch of it. My wife works at a Thai restaurant, and the drive from here is more than half of the distance that she would face if she was driving from Vancouver for her 11:00 a.m. start on Monday.
I wanted to get out early this morning to do some shopping ─ specifically, at the store about 2¾ miles from here. I do not drive, so I would be walking. And since I would only make the hike if I could arrive at the store soon after its 7:00 a.m. opening, I needed to get to bed early.
I quit T.V. at 9:00 a.m., but instead of retiring for the night, I spent 1½ hours indulging in some iniquitous squandering of time here at my computer. It was 10:30 p.m. ere I was to bed.
That was still early enough, of course.
And in fact, I rose around 4:00 a.m. ─ hugely surprised to find that my younger brother must have come home instead of spending the night at the home of his girlfriend Bev as he usually does at this point in his week. And I was soon at work on the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites. First, however, I had wetted my beard with some hot water and a little soap, and sought to neaten it by more or less binding it close to my face with a meshed cloth designed to hold a head bandage or compress in place.
I had not been anywhere in a week, and I had not last soaked my beard since Wednesday ─ in that time, it had become unkempt from the hours spent in my bed since then.
I hoped to be on my way very soon after 6:00 a.m., but it was not to be ─ I should have checked on the state of my beard well before then.
I had failed to properly set it, and I found it in a state of disarray that no amount of brushing was going to change, try as I did. And before I knew it, the time was beyond 6:30 a.m. and nothing had changed.
It was after 6:40 a.m. when I gave up the fight. The trip was off for this week, for I would not likely be making the hike during the busy workweek.
Sorely disappointed with myself, I found a few things to do here at my computer and did not return to bed until just after 8:00 a.m.
By the way, it was lightly raining all the while I had been up. If we are lucky, the snow will be gone before the deep-freeze sets in that is due to arrive this week, bringing low temperatures uncommonly achieved around here in the Wintertime.
I managed to remain in bed until after 10:30 a.m., and rose to find that my brother was downstairs reading the Sunday morning edition of The Province that I subscribe to.
I never enquired as to why he was here last night. The usual reason tends to be that he and his girlfriend got too drunk to be able to get along.
Anyway, it is only 11:37 a.m. at this moment as I type these words, and I have caught up to the present. I will now take a break and conclude my post later in the day. I think the light rain stopped with the arrival of day.
oooooooooooooo
Well, I had myself a bath late this afternoon, and got my beard all nicely set in the hopes that I might yet get out and make that shopping trip ─ or at least go someplace a little closer to home.
But then I bagged right out, and actually started to feel as if I was courting serious eyestrain and might need to lie down.
It is now after 7:30 p.m., and I think that I will just have a little supper in awhile, and see about getting to bed early.
We should have shovelled the little amount of wet snow that we had around here early today. The freeze set in during the latter afternoon. I read in the morning newspaper that we'll be seeing temperatures drop to -7º C. (19.4º F.) overnight, and tomorrow will not warm up any higher than a degree over that.
Then tomorrow night, we can expect to hit -15º C. (5º F.). This is just about unheard of hereabouts for cold, for we are truly pampered where the weather is concerned.
Anyway, I noticed that it's actually somehow snowing despite the cold ─ very tiny flakes, but thickly falling.
This is all rather discouraging.
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