When I opened the curtains on Monday I said a not very elegant word, but it came out from the deep of my heart ! The sun was shining and the hot weather continued ! When I think that I complained in my posts about the cold and rainy weather at least to 80 % now it's the opposite.
Fortunately on my terrace it seems to be cooler, because there is always a bit of wind because my terrace goes around the corner of the building. I asked Nicole if she doesn't want to come, because in her apartment it's quite hot and she doesn't support the heat very well with her brain cancer. She agreed immediately and I picked her up, as she is not allowed to drive anymore and also she couldn't. She became very very slow when she walks or in doing something, but her brain still works probably better then mine !
We spent the whole afternoon sitting under the two parasols and chatted. She still can't understand that from our scrabble group or even from the painting class nobody calls her or answered her calls, it's really disgusting that the so called friends, once she is so ill dropped her like a hot potato ! I have to say it's the same with me, they must be afraid of widows ! No support at all ! I learned a lot about friendship ! Two of them met a man and forgot the girlfriends. I hope it will last and the men stay and if, then it is because there is money behind. Women that age should not be so naive as teenagers !
As the weatherman announced even higher temperatures, I went to my deep freeze shop and took my neighbor with me as she can't drive. I bought my daily plates for at least 3 weeks and also ice cream and fruits. Now it can stay warm I don't have to go out.
While I was sitting behind my computer suddenly the sun shined on my head, one of the parasols had flown away ! I looked around me but couldn't see it at all, not even on the lawn beneath.
I went to the girls on the first floor and asked if I could have a look from their garden on the balconies, and we did ! Finally we found my parasol on the balcony of the second floor ! It looked so funny that we had to laugh ! It was only the upper part which had flown away ! The only man of our building lives in this apartment, he was not there and I left a note. In the evening before I went to bed I just checked the entrance and there on the floor lay the parasol !
The next day I fixed it with a tape and a cord and now I hope that not even a storm can blow it away !
That's what I thought but in the afternoon while I was on the phone, the wind again lifted the parasol, this time the whole thing but couldn't fly away it only made it over the barrier and was hanging there on the cord. I interrupted my phone call, pulled the thing inside and in it's place. Then I took a very strong tape and fixed the other side too. Now I hope that even a hurricane can't blow it away !
The heat continued and will continue until past the weekend which paralyzes a lot of outside jobs.
My two neighbors and I decided to escape the heat and go to the Lunch Garden where it was nice and cool and where they also had mussels ! As it is the same restaurant chain the mussels were as good as the once we had a few weeks ago and after lunch we stayed there for two hours, I had a coffee and one went shopping it's in the same building.
At 3 pm we returned home and the rest of the day I spent on my windy terrace so I didn't feel the heat that much.
Another week is over and I wonder when we can finally disperse Rick's ashes. It's complicated because my son has just finished his Covid and feels quite tired and Toby has school holidays and is in a summer camp. I think we have to wait until the holidays are over in September.
It is strange how friends disappear when someone gets a chronic illness or becomes a widow. I remember when my Dad died, a group of us had gone out to dinner and my Mom said to her favorite of the friends "Don't forget me!" and the friend promised they were going to call every week! Well, it has been 11 years and the friend has not called once. She told ME it is too upsetting to see my mom sad and lonely. Oooookay but wouldn't she become LESS sad and lonely with her friends around her? LOL
ReplyDeleteYah, I don't get it but it seems to happen all the time. I'm glad you and your friend / neighbor still have each other.
That crazy parasol!!! I hope it is staying put now that you've taped it down.
Our heat FINALLY let up after weeks and weeks of it and I had to put a blanket on the chair that my cat likes to sleep in on the screened porch! Yay!
It is strange how friends disappear when someone gets a chronic illness or becomes a widow. I remember when my Dad died, a group of us had gone out to dinner and my Mom said to her favorite of the friends "Don't forget me!" and the friend promised they were going to call every week! Well, it has been 11 years and the friend has not called once. She told ME it is too upsetting to see my mom sad and lonely. Oooookay but wouldn't she become LESS sad and lonely with her friends around her? LOL
ReplyDeleteYah, I don't get it but it seems to happen all the time. I'm glad you and your friend / neighbor still have each other.
That crazy parasol!!! I hope it is staying put now that you've taped it down.
Our heat FINALLY let up after weeks and weeks of it and I had to put a blanket on the chair that my cat likes to sleep in on the screened porch! Yay!
Yes, people we call friends can sometimes be disgusting.
ReplyDeletePity you live far from your son and grandson! Distance can also be a 'killer' of relationship even within the family.
I think sometimes friends feel awkward and feel like they don't know what to say when someone is seriously ill or has lost someone, so they stay away. Which is too bad, when people need their friendship the most. I'm glad you have Nicole and your neighbors to do things with. I hope the parasol stays put!
ReplyDeleteOur most recent heat wave ended with a violent rainstorm on Sunday and the passage of a cold front.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that our worst heat and humidity is over now although since it is still August, we may get a few more rounds of it.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh at the parasol story. Those things have a wild heart and just love to take off at the whiff of a breeze. I'm glad your neighbor returned it.
Yes, when something happens, you find out who your real friends are.
Sometimes I think people don't really plan on not being there but just don't know how to be supportive and feel awkward not knowing what to say to they default to pulling away. Unfortunately so. I laughed about your escaping parasol.
ReplyDelete