Back to Normal

The weather has been rather frightful here this past week, but we seem to be back to our normal grey drizzle, sometimes turning to periods of sunshine. I must say it is a big relief to me 'cuz I always feel housebound when it snows. I have all-weather tires but they are no good in snow. I always keep track of the weather reports, so did manage to get out before the deluge and made sure I had plenty of soup and crackers, a few treats, and most especially toilet paper. A girl just cannot go without toilet paper, can she!

The snow is pretty at first, but here it doesn't last long and quickly turns to a mucky mush. That's because I live at sea level looking UP to the mountains. I love clear, cold sunny days when I can look north and see dustings of dry snow on the Lions. And I'm happy for those who enjoy sledding, skiing, and snowboarding - they can go up there or drive up to Whistler and have the time of their lives. Me? I prefer the mild days when I can go drive down to my beach and enjoy the views.

Back to normal also means realizing that Christmas is less than a month away, so I thought about what I am giving myself this year. Every year since I became widowed, I treat myself to something special. One year it was taking the girls to Hawaii for a week, sometimes it's clothes, a few years ago it was new chandeliers for the dining room and entrance hall. This year I decided it's going to be a new coffee table for the living room. So off I went today in search of just the right table. I drove into Richmond and looked around two furniture stores, one a mid-priced one and the other a high-priced one. I got so frustrated that I decided to just go home. However, I suddenly remembered a little shop in my village where I'd seen a coffee table I really liked several months ago. As luck would have it, that one was gone but an almost identical one had just come in yesterday. I actually liked it better because it was lighter in colour. At first, they said it would take about 12 weeks for it to arrive as it was the only one they had, but I said "Oh, but I wanted it for my Christmas present!" And since I'm such a great and loyal customer, they said I could have the floor model. So...they're bringing over my Christmas present this coming week and I know just how I'll adorn it for the festive season! I put out a few Christmas decorations when I got home this afternoon, but will need help dragging the tree out of the shed. Maybe I'll get it up next week when D2 comes over to give me a hand.

So a normal day - mild with a bit of sunshine and no rain - and a normal Saturday night of watching Midsommer Murders on TV.