Update after the summer.....

I know, I know....it's been a while....
Life is busy, and my mind is at times (more often than not) squirrelly.....
Quick update:

• We are new grandparents...again, a beautiful baby boy weighing in at 9lb14 oz on August 14.  Mother and son are now doing well and we will see them up here on Canadian Thanksgiving.
• Had a wonderful time in Osoyoos, BC, visiting wineries, having moonlight swims in the lake and thoroughly enjoying our yearly reconnect with friends who holiday at the same time every year.It was incredibly hot for September ....in the high 30's Celsius so I spent a lot of time in the air conditioned room catching up on my reading and snoozing....I don't do high temps very well!! We had our daughter and son in law staying as well for a few days,to get some well-deserved rest and relaxation!We came home with a fair bit of excellent wine from some new (to us) wineries, some new estate wineries and of course our favourite Desert Hills. We also made our yearly stop at Tickleberry's  for the best ice cream ever!....and ......the ladies went for a Spa Day followed by lunch...I had a pedi and my tootsies are quite colourful.  The pedicure included a foot massage....and really!!....I had no idea that a foot massage could feel soooo good!!  Bliss!!
• On our way home from Osoyoos, we picked up some tomatoes and apples and thus when we arrived home (after unpacking etc...) DH made 2 large batches of his "world famous" tomato sauce, and we made 3 large apple pies. Also, I managed to pick up the ingredients for my mothers recipe of Cucumber Relish and so we made about 18 pints of that....and in amongst all the chaos of preserving we had to clean up the garden, harvest tomatoes (still more to do) pick basil (still more to do) and in general try to make order out of the well watered (by helpful brothers) garden that had become quite overgrown in our absence of only a week!! Of course, after a mighty windstorm last night, further cleanup and repairs are necessary.....sigh!! 
• It is also the official start of the symphony season this coming weekend...and yes, I am still playing in the orchestra. (Note: on the Home Page of the orchestra...there is a slideshow of pics on the right....the one with the timpani player and the hornplayer behind him?....the hornplayer is me!) It's a great concert .....Nordic Sojourn with challenging music and a wonderful soloist. I have had my head down (no...not sleeping!!) listening to much of the music to get it into my head and know my part. Our rehearsals start on Thursday night, with two more on Friday, one on Saturday and the concert Saturday night.
• As for health issues....nothing new there...just the usual, arthritis, back, fibromyalgia.....etc..etc...and I am working on acceptance of me as I am, not as people want me to be. It's complicated and not something I really want to go into here....suffice to say, I don't want weight to be the focus in my life any more....I do want healthy living and happiness to be the focus. I may talk more about this at some point....just not now. 
• Our dear little pooch, Chauncey the Bichon, is suffering from knee problems and back pain. He will at some point have to have surgery to correct the knee problems and we are dealing with the back pain with an doggie anti-imflammatory. So.....he gets more lifting rather than jumping, but he still loves his walks with DH and he quite enjoyed Osoyoos, after all he got to walk at least 4 times a day!! 

I do believe that's all for now....I know I continually promise to keep this updated and I will try.....but then...I had a good nights sleep...I'll promise anything after a good night's sleep!!

Seriously though.....I will try to do better!!

Slainte!