Life's a Stitch

The colours of spring

Pink cherry blossom snow:

Blue sky:

Lavender wisteria:

Spring green:

Orange - Low carb sweet potato waffles:

Grey storm clouds and mountains:

The rainbow after the storm:

We’re all hoping for one these days.

Who would have thought? An all inclusive pandemic opportunity.

Despite the lack of travel opportunities, I spent a few days this week at a destination resort, aka Peace Arch Hospital, which included:

1. Meals, as long as they were liquid in nature
2. Entertainment thanks to Alex, the Ukranian Robin Williams-esque nurse, who would bound enthusiastically into the room carrying a tray of meds announcing "Hello Ladies, I've come with chemical cocktails!"
3. Photos as in x-rays and a CT
4. The chance to meet new people - you know it's a pandemic when...the most socializing you've done in over a year is during a hospital stay. I wonder what people thought with all the laughter emanating from our end of hall.
5. Souvenir jewelry - a personalized bracelet.

It was a replay of my hospital visit seven years prior - an inconvenient obstruction just below my stomach. But all appears to be well and I'm on the mend. A bit too much excitement in these more subdued times if you ask me. 

A covid casualty of another kind

I’ve written about what we call the Covid tax, the premium you pay when prices are higher due to the pandemic. Think shopping at a smaller grocery store to avoid crowds. I’m paying twice what I should for a couple of everyday items shipped from the US.

Aside from the tax, the cost of Covid manifests itself in other ways. Last Christmas’s gathering was cancelled on a moment’s notice. alternative plans were put in place, where over Zoom the family met to open each other’s gifts. The expectation was we’d be together in a matter of months, gifts in hand.

This is a little complicated, so stick with the story. Daughter E, ordered a very special gift for her sister, M, who’s a fan of certain things gnome. This very delicate handmade Christmas gnome featured a dark and white chocolate figurine that was filled with milk chocolate macadamia dragee.

Isn’t he irresistibly cute - that button nose, the bell and snowflake on his hat? And all made of chocolate!

I was tasked with the Christmas Eve pickup from Chez Christophe, a fancy French patisserie up the street from our house aka a carb laden heaven. On the counter was a petite army of holiday delicacies, in their elegant clear houses tied with satin. I spotted him, “Gnome for the holidays” standing next to his white chocolate friend, a snowman in a compromised position.

Little did I appreciate what I now know was a real life example of dramatic foreshadowing.

Oh so carefully we made our way home, ready for his Zoom unveiling the following morning. He was a very popular little dude, indeed.

Mailing something so delicate was out of the question, so over the months I took care of him, awaiting his eventual handover to M. I suggested we freeze him, but you know what happens to chocolate in the freezer - he’d be decorated with a coat of white condensation dust - not all that inappropriate for a winter loving guy. But the decision was made to leave him in hibernation in the dining room cupboard.

Five months hence a Covid opportunity presented itself - little gnome was invited on a trip to Alberta, his ultimate destination. E’s MIL was shipping her empty car to them and invited us to use the space. Off went the two river tables lovingly made by C, the crokinole board for the boys, and our little hitchhiker, the chocolate gnome, packed in a larger box cushioned with rolls of soft foam.

For reasons beyond our control, what should have been a 12 hour trip stretched to two weeks. Happily the car was delivered in one piece. The gnome as well. One piece resembling the Wicked Witch of the West at the end of the Wizard of Oz.

He had a literal meltdown, but I’m embarrassed to admit there was actual laughing at his expense. When E shared his picture I was in a Zoom meeting where laughter would be the height of impropriety, but I successfully stifled it.

Epilogue: Gnome for the Holidays will again be placed in hibernation until M can enjoy him, whatever ever his shape, which resembles a worse version of his melting snowman friend. The moral of this story: For this gnome, there’s no place like home.