Chapter Two, Episode 124 - For Gail - Situationally Theirs

For Gail 

They met around the long kitchen table. Cook had provided a large pot of tea, cookies and scones. Digby and Emelina were talking quietly while they waited for everyone to arrive. Dez sat silently beside Matt, his arm around her. A car pulled up outside. “That must be Giles and his family.” Digby went to the door to greet them. Martha and her daughter Joanie sat with Digby, her grandchildren were off in a corner doing homework. Giles sons joined them while the meeting began. Emelina nodded to Digby. He didn’t stand as he usually did at the staff meetings. “I suppose you’re all wondering why we’ve called this meeting so suddenly, so let me explain. Miss Emelina received a call today from the Storyteller with some sad news and a message for us all.” Quiet murmurings around the table stopped as Cook spoke up “We’ve not heard from her since last year. Is she coming out again?” Digby smiled. “No, Elizabeth she hasn’t said anything about that. She has already spoken with Miss Emelina and Miss Dez.” He turned at another car arriving. “So sorry I’m late. Couldn’t get here any faster” Dr. Jeremy came at a rush into the kitchen. Digby moved over so he could sit by his wife. Cook, Samuel and Brigitte were at the far end of the table. 

Digby stood up “Now I think everyone that could come are here. Those few that couldn’t have sent their condolences to the Storyteller. First let me say that everyone on the Estate and connected with the Estate are fine.” He had seen a few worried looks pass from one to another. “The loss is one of our readers. We go about our lives not considering those that may read our stories. They all make our lives rich with reality. One of those good people has left us.” He nodded to his employer and her sister. “Miss Dez, Miss Emelina…..” He gestured for them to continue and he sat by Martha. She gave him his tea.

Dez stood up. “It was the first day of the pandemic, or close to it. I don’t recall. I was alone in jail. That is where this whole story began and where many of our readers started to come with us. Like Digby said, we consider them and we don’t know their names. The message I received from the Storyteller was….” She looked at a the Storyteller’s note. “ ‘Gail was one of the first readers. Throughout the whole lockdown, she read your stories when it had been written daily. We mustn’t forget how important our readers are to keeping us all alive.’ ” A tear slowly crept from one eye. “Em….” She sat down, holding Matt’s hand. 

Standing Emelina said “My story came the next day when I was alone. Everyone had left on the televised advice of Public Health due to the virus. I am forever grateful for all the directions you left for me. In a deep dark place, I had to get my life in order in a hurry. A phone call from the city jail that my sister needed me.” There was a long pause while Miss Em gathered herself together. “We hadn’t seen each other for ten years. And I hadn’t driven for at least four years.” There were sniffles and tears around the table.

Samuel, the ‘man of few words’, had been listening intently. He spoke up. “I didn’t come into the picture ‘til much later. Don’t know much about this Gail or about readers but I’m guessing that she wouldn’t want us all to be snifflin’ and cryin’. She could be lookin’ for some music and a glass of wine. Don’t know but we’d better all cheer up and just be grateful to her and all them readers for making us real.” After Samuel’s long speech, the tissues were put away. Digby went to his office for the bottle of wine he kept for special occasions. Martha and Cook got out the wine glasses, made sure the dust was wiped off them and a toast was made to all readers and especially to Gail.

~~~~

Sarah, the Estate’s little ghost girl, sat up on the ceiling, listening. She whispered over the heads of the gathering. “And all the readers have made me real, too.” The children looked up at her and smiled.

“‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse, 

“It’s a thing that happens to you.”

~ Margery Williams Bianco

Calm ~ 1

waters ruffled the last few days. 

dirty black clouds build and threaten. thunder rumbles constant and loud.

wicked winds whip flags of anger and discontent.

and now I need a minute

to take a breath

to step back and know

what I believe, 

how I will find my calm.

waters can become settled again.

sky clear and blue, relieved and calm

thunder of discontent only a memory

and wind slowed only to a breath.

“There’s no point in reacting to a lack of calm

 in a way that makes you even less calm.”

~ Claudia Gray, Into the Dark

We All 'need a minute'.

It took us much more than a minute to walk through the Mackenzie Art Gallery today. We began with Miskwaabik Animiiki Power Lines The Works of Norval Morrisseau, paintings of Anishinaabe storytelling. We three longtime friends strolled through Saskatchewan’s impressive Art Gallery for the next two hours. My descriptions of the installations would not do them justice. Even though I knew I would be writing about them tonight I have still felt inadequate to describe them. I have taken short writings from the booklet At the Mackenzie, Fall/Winter 2021/2022 

Dawit L. Petros - Spazio Disponibile, living and working in Montreal and Chicago “….reflects his research into the complex layers of colonial and postcolonial histories connecting East Africa and Europe.”

The Community Watch

From local artists these works are a “….commentary on current challenges to community….” that includes  “….a hopeful image emerges of the possibilities of collective action…”

Beyond the Stone Angel

Twelve artists from various locations have their works exhibited in “…a poetic exploration that provides an entrance post to the grief that has affected so many of us, especially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Joi Arcand Nēhiyaw from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation

This is one that I missed! I did notice it but did not recognize it as an art installation: “….installed both on the interior and exterior of the window, overlapping to create overlapping readings from the perspective of those….” outside and in.

After a final stroll through the gift shop, we went to lunch. At the Roots restaurant. In the community.

The Mackenzie Art Gallery installations can be seen online at mackenzie.art

“Everything you can imagine is real.”

~ Pablo Picasso

**Last evening I ended by edging myself into a corner. At least that’s the way it felt when issues were raised by truckers’ convoy. But I do tend to be rather stubborn. Armed with our vaccine ‘passports’ and our government issued ID’s, we had a great day. Risk assessment showed that we were safe. We had a great day!

On a Whim

What to do with the chicken this time?

So I started to build a ‘recipe’ 

Chicken thighs - I’ll cook them in the oven but want something different.

Salt and Pepper - that’s usual, but a sprinkle of oregano sounds like a nice addition.

Hmmmmm……..sour cream! I’ll coat them with sour cream. 

Good. All in the baking dish but they do look lonely.

I know! Potato slices - looks too, I don’t know, boring.

A few slices of onion should help - flavour will be good. Just a quarter of one though. I’m not a big onion fan except for the flavour.

It really does need some colour!

Oh well, in the oven at 350 F for an hour.

~~~~~

Now for the colour - frozen broccoli over it all with little

chunks of orange bell pepper. Back in the oven so they can thaw and cook. That’s better.

Afterthought: finely grated parmesan cheese. Yes, that seems just right.

Final taste test  (my supper)

It was delicious! The chicken was moist and flavourful. I would do something different with the sour cream though. It curdled and the look of the dish wasn’t up to snuff. 

**Note:  I am incredibly grateful to all the truckers that brought me the groceries for my supper. I do not know all the personal reasons for the convoys and protests that each trucker and individuals brought to the Legislature today. I am, however, annoyed - no, I am angry - that some have chosen to disregard the very real danger of the viral spread we are living with. That includes our politicians. If any of it has to do with just a whim, I am even more angry.

“Are you going to cater to the whims and prejudices of people 

who have no intelligent knowledge of what they condemn?”

~ Susan B Anthony Collection

It's all in the Signs

When trees are dressed in gauzy green and birds are building nests,

spring will blossom before our eyes.

When grass is green and the weather warms, generous gardens offer food for our tables ~ summer sweeps us all away!

When rabbits turn from brown to white and red-gold leaves carpet the earth, 

autumn begins its long snooze.

When marshmallowed snowbanks change

from clean to dirty and ice floes slide to puddles

winter days recede with great sighs of relief!

“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier 

state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”

~ George Santayana

All About Me

There’s absolutely no humility in this photo. In July of 2020, I turned my life upside down with a big move from B.C. to Saskatchewan. Since then, I’ve felt disorganized, sometimes falling apart and have had too much time living with me. Getting to know myself more than I ever have. Last winter, I was invited to go snowshoeing with friends. I was unable to at that time. That’s where the debilitation interfered. That is also when I set myself a goal to go snowshoeing this winter. Until I actually walked in the snow, following the trail set by my two new friends, I wasn’t sure that I could actually do it. With each step, I knew that I could. 

Recovering from anything means a lot of things. For me today, it was deep snow and funny flat things strapped to my feet, laughter with friends and a still, calm winter day.

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

~ Ernest Hemingway, The Wild Years

Author's note: June 2024 - I have had to give snowshoeing a pass! Further tries at snowshoeing were unsuccessful. A long story, just suffice it to say I loved the experience I did have and will forever 

cherish the memory.

Chapter Two, Episode Sixty-Nine - A Devious Doctor - Situationally Theirs

A Devious Doctor

“Jeremy! What on earth are you doing here? Does Em know you would be here today?” Dez really had not heard a car. Her brother-in-law usually swept into the yard with a flourish to make certain everyone knew he had arrived. “Shhhh! Don’t be so loud. No, she thinks I’m working a week of nights. Is she home? I don’t want her to know I’m here.” He had let himself into the house thinking no one would be there. “Let me come in and I’ll tell you what’s going on.You’re sure she’s not home.” He looked so very nervous, Dez almost laughed out loud. “Let’s go downstairs and get something to eat and drink.” Jeremy almost jumped out of his skin. “No! No one is to know I’m here……unless they see my car.”

~~~~~

For the remainder of the morning and into afternoon, he told his story. Dez finally convinced him that they really needed to eat. “You’ll have to go down and get us something. If Cook, or anyone, asks who you’ve been talking to up here…..” 

“Jeremy they’ve probably seen your car! I’ll just tell them to warn us if Em shows up. While I’m getting our lunch go park your car behind the rose bushes. They’ll blooming early this year. If Em shows up suddenly you won’t want her to see your car. After all, she thinks you’re at work!” Dez laughed and went down to see Cook about lunch. 

He tore into the sandwiches like a man who’d never eaten before. “Slow down! When did you eat last?” Dez had no sooner set the hearty roast beef sandwiches down on the table than Jeremy started eating. “You’re not going to leave anything for me!” He finished his sandwich, sat back in his chair and groaned. “I haven’t eaten since five this morning. Then it was just cold cereal. I had one more short TV shift to do before I could leave.”

“TV? How many surprises do you have for me? Since you got here today you’ve told me you’ve been isolating for the last 10 days, that it’s your first anniversary and that you have plans to spirit Em away up island for a second honeymoon. Now you’re telling me about TV? How? Why?”

“I really didn’t know how I was going to pull it off, Dez. Do you watch the TV interviews with different docs about the Covid or Omicron status?” He turned his chair so he could face Dez. “I’ve seem some, but try to avoid any kind of news reporting. It makes me too upset. What does that have to do with you?” Jeremy refilled his water glass. “More? No? Well, at lunch one day I overheard a conversation between our medical director and one of the main reporters. The timing couldn’t have been better. I needed a way to get some time off the Covid wards so I could arrange all of this. What I overheard was that a replacement doc was needed to present the latest data on the TV slots. It was going to be for two weeks. The doctor working with the TV crews would be away from any active hospital floors for that time. I only needed ten days before I could take some vacation time. I approached the medical director, who hesitated and seemed about to turn me down. Then I’d really be in a fix. I already have a bed and breakfast booked for the from tomorrow for a week. Had to pay upfront.”

He stopped to take a breath. Dez was amazed. She didn’t think Jeremy could be this devious, but wasn’t really surprised. She’d known him long enough to have seen his mischievous side. This was a bit different though. She could see that he needed a break from it all. “Did you bring some luggage at least for tonight? Let’s go for a walk and get it. I’ll show you the work Samuel and I have done in the last while. Em could be back by the time we get back in the house. 

~~~~~

Emelina was on her way home from the city. She was troubled. Turning the radio on, she had heard Jeremy’s voice in an interview. The interview was cut off for more of the political news about the Ukraine. “Oh, heavens! It’s our anniversary and I’ve forgotten!”

~~~~~

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.”

~ Audrey Hepburn

Another Summer’s Day

Another summer’s day 

will settle on still waters

to rest in the heat.

“What good is the warmth of summer, 

without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”

~ John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Giving a Nod

 

A shy prairie flower ~ 

    petals all askew

gives a nod to warmer days.

“It was all glimmer and warm honey in the yellow light.”

~ Patrick Rothfuss, The Slow Regard of Silent Things

On a Winter Night's Walk

November 23, 2020

A whispered wind lifted my hair.

Crunching beneath my feet.

blue shadowed snow sparkled.

“Night is pleasing to us because, like memory, it erases idle details.

A New Refutation of Time”

~ Jorge Luis Borges,  Selected Non-Fictions

A Winter's Day

Snow

flaked down and

gentled by the wind

as morning opened.

Evening 

softened and still ~

snow rests on tree and land

til morning.

“When snow falls, nature listens.”

~ Antoinette Van Kleef

Quotation from countryliving.com

Stark and Cold

A bony, icy finger

slid into the crevice

between

fleece hood, wooly scarf,

thick turtled sweater to

thinly ice my neck.

Pulling my hood tight

against the wind

adjusting my backpack

I let the wind push me

forward as

took my groceries home.

“That’s what winter is: an exercise in remembering how

 to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again.”

~ Ali Smith,  Winter

Now

Stepping back from 

the brilliant whiteness

that is my future, 

I relax into the sunshine

that is now.

“Nothing ever becomes real ’til it is experienced.”

~ John Keats

Chapter Two, Episode Sixty-Eight - What Will Be - Situationally Theirs

What Will Be

“Dez, do you think we are taking this Covid thing seriously?” Emelina and her sister were upstairs in the living room after a good supper. Cook had made them a hearty chicken stew, Dez made a green salad and Em set the table for the three of them. Cook was going to go home, but they convinced her to stay. When they were finished they shooed Cook off home with a good portion of her chocolate cake. They tidied up themselves, took their tea and chocolate cake upstairs. “What do you mean Em? Of course we’ve taking it seriously. We all wear our masks, we wear our masks when we’re going to be around others and otherwise, social distancing. How much more can we do?”

Finishing the last crumb of cake and licking the fork, she paced to the window. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just worrying too much. After isolating with Jeremy for the two weeks, it did make me think. So much is going on at the hospitals and in clinics. Then there’s been the people picketing outside of them. It’s just so unfair and really makes me quite angry. I just want Jeremy to be safe and well and come home…….Oh, let’s not talk about it. You’re right. We are doing what we can do. It just gets so strange sometimes. Making sure I’ve got my keys and money with me, and a new mask. ”

Dez shook her head and smiled. “And it is getting so I want to just stay out here and away from everyone else. I haven’t seen Matt for ages, but just stay away to feel safe.” Her smile faded. “We really need to talk about something else.”

~~~~~

“Thanks for tidying up, girls. I have to get home. Good night!” 

“I don’t suppose they noticed how much cake I took. Samuel will be wondering where I am!” Elizabeth and Samuel, such good friends, were pretty shy about what some would call a relationship. One that had gone long past good friends. Some nights he would come to Elizabeth’s, they would sit and talk about cooking, or gardening, the weather ~ actually just about anything. Then he’d go home and they may not have such an evening for weeks. But Elizabeth always made sure he had meals and tea when he was out working the yard. Samuel always brought Elizabeth the best vegetables and made sure her little yard was tidy and weeded. On this night, Elizabeth was going to visit him. She had actually made the cake for him, with plans to take it all to him. When the sisters practically begged her to stay and eat, she did. She knew that they often just wanted someone with them. “I couldn’t say no. They are two such good people.” Outside into fresh rain drizzled air, she could talk to herself. She stood still for a moment, taking a deep breath of the clean air. “Best get on.” Slowing her normally busy stride, she walked toward Samuel’s home, enjoying the quiet of the evening. The darkness did not bother her, but she relished it’s calmness. “Elizabeth! It’s about time you got here. Coffee’s been ready for twenty minutes. Good thing you gave me that thermos for Christmas. Sure does come in handy.” He came down off the porch to relieve her of her burden. “Samuel Forrester! Don’t you start eating that cake until we sit down and have our coffee.” Her tone was sharp but the smile on her face did not match at all. The two friends went in the house, closing the door on the night. 

“A relationship isn’t about one person putting in their all 

into that one relationship. It’s about two people putting 

in their all no matter what happens.”

~ Diana Tellez, 

quotation from searchquotes.com