Handicap Washroom

 I confess I used the handicapped washroom at the outlet mall but I thought I would be pushing it when I saw a handicapped sign at a table in the food court.  Still, it didn’t stop other people…

Saturday 5:51 AM

 The weather has been so unsettled recently.  I have thought that and so have a few who been here all the while.  The sky, which can be beautiful here, does have its moments when it ceases to be a pretty painting and becomes like a video lacking focus.  It’s a quality I can’t say I saw at all in China.

Yesterday, I was outside for the morning and it was cold.

I purchased a World Cup package from TSN.

I had a student cancel a class this morning. So, I have an extra hour. I am using it to journalize.  I will use it to read Trollope and Guardini and NGD and Escriva:

• El enemigo de una civilización es menos el adversario externo que el interno desgaste.
• The external adversary is less the enemy of civilization than is internal attrition.

           Bitterness has sharpened your tongue. Be quiet!

COLO-COLO Football Team

 This quilt on my bed bears the logo of a Chilean football club.  I had not known this was so until yesterday evening.  I was chatting with my student in Chile about the World Cup.  He mentioned a couple Chilean World Cup players and I decided to look at their career club stats.   One of them played for COLO-COLO for a few seasons.  My computer is not too far from the quilt.  Seeing the COLO-COLO, I wondered… I showed the quilt to my Chilean student and he was shocked to see the quilt’s logo: it was of a club team that was a rival of his favorite Chilean team.

My wife bought the quilt for us at an online shop in China.  

Car Wash

 I was in the lineup at Co-op to get the car washed when I got the call to drive to Crocus Plains.  After that gig, I went back to Co-op.

In Brandon, there is the car wash dilemma.  One has a dirty car but one wonders when the right time to clean it is.  If one cleans it now, it will almost certain become dirty in a few days because of the dirty roads.  But the car demands to be cleaned.  And I take solace in the fact that there was a line up at the car wash: many people dealing with the same dilemma.

Chuck Norris RIP

 I learned from my son that Chuck Norris had died.

I first had to confirm it was true because I remember being told he had died a year ago.

On WeChat, I loved making WeChat jokes in the Wuxi He Man group.

My favorite Chuck Norris joke?  When the cops pulled Chuck Norris over, he let them off with a warning.

Putting the Clock ahead an hour

 I wish they wouldn’t bother with this putting the clock back or ahead, as it were, during, the year. In China, they never did this, and I never was I homesick for it.

This morning, I forgot about the clock being put forward. My iPhone woke me up, I had an online class, and then I got ready to go to the 9:00 AM Mass.  I got into the car and saw that the car clock said it was 7:15 AM.  I had to think about this for a few seconds, and it dawned on me that clocks had been changed.  After still a few more seconds, I also realized that I wasn’t late for Mass because the clocks had been put ahead an hour.

Friday Morning Photos

That’s where I get the gas for the beast.

 I had to do that shoveling yesterday to get the eaves trough in place. 

That’s not a lake or pond.  That’s a puddle in the co-op parking lot.

Chipping away ice

 I have been proudly proclaiming that I have been shoveling snow for the first time in many a year. I now have another new-for-me sensation to report.

Last evening, I chipped away the ice that had formed on the sidewalks of the yard on account of the temps going above the freezing level of water.  My Mom found a metal chipper for me to do this chore, which I find very tiring for my arms.

Waiting for Wheat Kings Toques

I do want to buy a toque for winter.  And I would like to get a Wheat Kings Toque. A toque like the cap I have below but in a toquish form with the bright logo and all black.

I had intended to buy a toque earlier, but I ended up buying the cap because the only toques for sale had Pom-poms on them:  fluffy balls sort of thing.  A deal breaker. I guess the toques were left overs from last year’s stock.  

This year’s stock of Wheat Kings toques isn’t available yet.  The lady at the Wheat King clothes stores tells me that she has been inquiring with the supplier everyday about when they will come.  And many people in Brandon are waiting for them.

 The cap I was able to buy it at a Wheaties game.  I was able to get a discount later when a Wheat King player got a hat trick.  Thirty percent!

BTW, the video that the above pic was screen shot from now has had over 4.4 K views in China.

Any who.  Expect a look-at-me-in-a-Wheat-Kings-toque photo when I have purchased the toque!

Monday morning 6:33 AM: all in one entry

 

When I came home last night, my son Tony had a fever.  He was worried. I told him not to be.

I am not feeling so hot myself. I have a sore throat. I need to conserve my voice.

The weather:  

It will get colder.  Maybe, we’ll be shoveling snow.

Today, I’ll make a bank deposit.  I’ll have a noon hour online class.

Tomorrow will be busy.  Seven hours of teaching and a RCIA class.

This morning’s video upload is an NGD quote about love:

I’m fit to be tied

 I don’t know how my Mom does it.  She is 87 and worries a lot. She breaks the rules about a cloudy disposition shortening one’s life.  I lose my patience with her which is why I should be punished, or tied.  She has a lot of reasons to be unhappy.  But then so does everybody.  I do.  But I should be more patient.  I have to be.  I have a teenage son.

Any who.  Just have to accept that staying patient is of the essence of goodness.  And it ain’t easy. Just have to stay on that course after you veer.

Also, I have to heed all my mother says…

Grocery Shopping: The Horror!

I took my Mom grocery shopping.  I got the notion of recoding what I saw from my having been in China oh so long perspective.

Below you can see a whole lot of bread:

 There were lots of bakeries in China but none had bread as good as above.

Chinese mandarins for sale.

They are better in China.

It’s not pleasant to go grocery shopping in Canada these days.  Look at the price of a regular box of Cheerios:

Six dollars!!!!  And my mother passes on word she heard that food is going to be more expensive yet.  CBC tells her that this is because of super market gouging.  I knew at the time that inflation was in the cards because of the government’s stupid Covid policies.  And it won’t stop as long as we have a central banker PM who believes in fiat money and eschews the discipline of a gold standard and who also doesn’t suffer personally from the inflation that gets his finance buddies out of the trouble they caused.

Cottage Cheese

 I never was able to get cottage cheese in China.

Those white curds!  So delicious!

Thankfully, I can get it here!

But it is damn expensive!

Thanks a lot Jacinda and Mark Carnage!

TD Bank

 I now go here every Monday morning so I can deposit the donation cash.  Before doing this, I drop off Tony at school. I then have to wait ten minutes in the parking lot.  It is almost enough time to pray the Rosary.

I got to spend more time outside in the vicinity of thr house

 I try to be on my toes as I live with my mother.  As she says, when I see something that needs to be done, I should do it.

Keeping in spirit with that admonition, I took out the  garbage  and recycling.  Exiting the house the slap of cool fresh air on my body was invigorating.

I got to spend more time in the vicinity of the house.

Brandon University & Giant Tiger.

 During Mass, I got a message about my computer. I had to prepaid for the battery. I went to the shop to pay. Along the way, I took the above photo.

I then went to Giant Tiger to buy an area rug for my Mom.

Blasted sun had to be atop the store sign 

Using WeChat, I got my mom to select the color she wanted.

Rut or Pothole? The devil is a source of details

 My son sees this and says it makes Brandon seem poverty stricken,

Locals mutter to themselves about when The City will get around to dealing with it.

School Zone Ends

 I can increase my speed from 30 kmh to 50 kmh.

No such rules in China.

I saw dump trucks giving ‘er in roads in front of schools in China. Seeing this, I would think to myself that the authorities here would have a field day with such an occurrence.

The lawn

 A sight like above— which can be seen in China—did not raise any feelings in me.  Here in Canada, however, it does because it means yard work.

Tuesday 8:50 AM: TD Bank

 I’m waiting for the bank to open so I can make a deposit.

Funny, how I have never noticed this place before even though I have driven past it many a time. It is even across the street from this: