Photo ops and other matters

Here is Wendy last Friday with Sharon Morrison, her 'Personal Care Worker' -- a lovely young lady who really cares for and about her. We are very fortunate to have such a splendid helper to take the load off my shoulders. We also have various other professionally qualified staff, nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, from the Community Care Access Centre who see her here at home, and a large team of dedicated experts at the ALS Clinic. Between all of them and an array of assistive devices, our lives are manageable. It is just as well we have abundant help because Wendy's condition is progressing, slowly but relentlessly.


This weekend has been rather special. David came from Kingston, and he and Desre, who flew over from Toronto, took Wendy and me to the Museum of Nature which recently reopened after extensive (and expensive) renovations. David pushed Wendy around in a wheelchair. We were all tremendously impressed by the sparkling new look of exhibits and dioramas, which I recall were in some instances looking rather moth-eaten before the renovations; some of them dated from the original opening of the museum more than 100 years ago, so they had good reason to look a little the worse for wear. After a two-hour tour of the Dinosaur Hall (very impressive), the Bird Hall (also impressive), and a passing glance at the Minerals, we came home, and David and Desre made an excellent meal for us all. That was our Saturday treat. Our Sunday morning treat was a visit from all three of our kids plus Richard and Desre, the partners respectively of Rebecca and David. David and Desre will be getting married at her sister's home in Irvine, California, on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles, in early July. Today's visit was primarily a photo op, arranged at Jonathan's request, and in my next installment I will post one or two of the photos he took.


We have become so preoccupied with our own affairs recently that we have hardlybeen aware of momentous events like the G8 and G20 meetings that were held near and in Toronto in the past three or four days. There were some clashes between police and demonstrators yesterday and a few more today, and some property damage resulting from the stupid choice of downtown Toronto for the G20. Our fearless leader prime minister Harpo (sorry, Harper) chose the location, presumably knowing there would be damage to property, presumably not caring, because the tolerant, broad-minded folk of Toronto elected none of his mean-spirited far-right team, nor ever will, absent some cataclysmic political upheaval. Further off in the distant background the battle for the World Cup has been going on in South Africa. Under different circumstances I'd have been glued to the TV nonstop to see as much of this as I could, but in the present circumstances I've hardly been aware of it. Both Australia and the USA were eliminated in the opening round, and today Germany convincingly beat England. The quarter finals may be mainly a Latin American affair with a sprinkling of European nations and perhaps the one remaining African nation, Ghana. That has yet to be determined. With a bit of luck and good management I might be able to catch at least a glimpse of a few of the remaining matches and the finals at the end of the coming week.