Happy Canada Day...and a wee catch up of sorts!

I know!  It has been more than a week since my last update...and I have so much to tell you!  I'm discovering that "normalizing" means getting busy and learning how to juggle more than one activity in a day!!  Let me tell you what I've been up to!!

I started a gradual return to work two weeks ago.  I'm truly blessed to be able to start slow and work my way up from there.  It turns out I have some MAJOR cobwebs in my brain to clean out...and it sure makes me tired!  I'm still trying to figure out what I remember and what I have to relearn, and it's frustrating that my brain doesn't work the way I remember.  I'm not sure if it's chemo, or a bad memory on my part and I was always this way!  I am glad at this point to be doing half days (I move up to three half days this week)...so far I've been using the afternoons to chill!!  Thank goodness my employer and coworkers are so understanding!!

Last weekend, Matt & I joined our friends Brock & Kelly on a wine tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We stayed in Niagara Falls and a wee bus picked us up and took us to four wineries.  I was a little worried...I'm not a big wine drinker and I wasn't sure I'd love it.  It turns out I had nothing to worry about!!  It was super fun!!  We even found nine bottles of wine we just had to bring home with us!!  Here are a few pics of our wine adventure...

A little lunch down by the falls (under shelter from the rain) before heading off on our tour!

mmmm....wine....I can't believe I found a red (and a rose) that I liked!

Hiding in the grapevines...

We only bought a few bottles...well, what can you do when they all taste so good?  Between the four of us, we found a lot we liked!!

This past weekend we had our annual Canada  Day celebration with Matt's neighbours.  We didn't actually have it on Canada Day - too many conflicts with other bbqs and fireworks!!  We hosted the party on  Saturday and it was fantastic!   It was definitely a little on the warm side (ok, I was sweating my butt off), thank goodness I had a few cold ones ready!!  I'm not sure what our final count was...I think around 43.  Matt was the official barbequer and we had the ceremonial changing of the flag (each year for Canada Day Matt buys a new Canada flag for the house), while everyone sang the national anthem.  It was really good!  Here's a few pics of our celebration:

The chef hard at (smoky) work!!  Man, so glad I didn't have that hot job!

Gathered on the front lawn and the driveway, just enjoying being neighbours!

The changing of the flag...so nice to put up a brand new bright flag!!

I finished another novel!  I am so very very happy to have my joy of reading back!  I'm still not as quick a reader as I used to be...I'm sure that will come back eventually!  I just finished "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.

It came recommended to me by my friend, Sharon, and I really enjoyed it!  It was an easy read with a great story and I would definitely give it two thumbs up!  The story is about African American maids working for white families in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s.  Hard to imagine a world like that depicted in this book. Thank goodness for change!

I have a mammogram scheduled on Thursday morning.  This is now an annual occurrence for me (obviously).  I'm not sure how one mammograms something that is no longer there (ouch comes to mind), but after all I've been through I figure a few minutes of pain and discomfort is more then worth it!!  But maybe send some comfort vibes my way on  Thursday morning if you think of it!!

Well...I'm off to bed.  I work tomorrow morning...man it still sounds strange to say that!!  Hope you all had a wonderful long Canada Day weekend!!  It sure makes me proud to live in the best country in the world!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo