Another Good-bye

Another good-bye this morning. Trish and Joe left this morning for Oshawa. Here they are standing in front of their U-Haul ready to pull out about 1/2 hour ago. It was pouring rain but I am sure that they will run out of that once they get out of N.S.

It is so difficult for me to say good-bye to my kids even though I know that I will see her at least once between now and Christmas and that they will be home for Christmas. I'm going to miss them...the year and a half that they were home went by so fast.

Bob, Irene, San, Ralph and I went to the apartment yesterday and helped them load and clean. It won't be so easy for them on the other end as it will be just the two of them. They are young and strong though so they should be okay. Ralph has just left for fishing in the Branch...yes, in the rain. That man loves his fishing, I must say. Next weekend Ralph, Jake and I are going to spend the long weekend in Beaver Dam at the cottage we rented last summer. Hope the weather is nice. I had some beautiful weather for this last week of my holidays. Back to work tomorrow after three weeks. Oh well, it makes the days go by and doesn't give me time to think.

Final Farewell to "Mama"

It is a week ago today that Mama left us. We had the burial yesterday at the Ponds cemetery where Daddy is. Just the family was there. Nobody from the funeral home. Marty, Mom's grandson placed her urn in the grave and Ralph lovingly covered her. It was very intimate and very touching. It was a beautiful sunny day and the birds were singing and you could hear the ocean waves up behind the cemetery. Mama will like it there. It is peaceful and she can hear the ocean.

Life goes on. Ralph went fishing up at the Branch today but we have had so much rain the brook was really high so they didn't get anything. Trish, Joe, Ralph and I are going up to the Branch on Wednesday evening to see Jean and Louise and to give Trish the opportunity for one last visit before she leaves for Ontario.

Forecast is for another sunny day tomorrow. Hope so. There have been enough gloomy days here in N.S. to last for a long time.

Saturday morning, July 21st

Hi Everybody,
It hardly seems possible that last Saturday I was in Liverpool England, running to get through the doors of the Beatles museum before they closed. Now here it is just one short week later and so much has changed.

Mama's service took place on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. The funeral hall was full of her family, neighbours and friends. Just what she would have loved, Mama liked lots of people around. The pastor spoke of her fondly and honestly and gave us a wonderful picture of the kind of woman she was. The songs were meaningful and lovely and I did my best to give a eulogy that honored her. We are going down again tomorrow for the committment at the gravesite.

I am off all of next week from work which was originally part of my plans anyways, before all of this happened. I think that most of you know that Trish and Joe will be leaving us again. Joe has a job in Oshawa, Ontario so they will be driving the U-Haul out of here next Sunday, the 29th. So many losses....all a part of life I know, but always hard to deal with.

I thank God for my large family at a time like this. With five brothers and sisters, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, friends and neighbours, there was never a time over the last few days that I could not find a hug when I needed one. Take care everybody. I will try and stay in touch as I get back to myself over the next little while.

Wednesday, July 18 2007

Thank you everyone for contacting us either here on the blog or by phone. It is wonderful to know that so many people care. I am still in a bit of a fog I think. Ralph and I arrived back in Nova Scotia at about 3:00 p.m. yesterday. We had been up for about 24 hours by that point so we did not dare to try and drive 2 1/2 hours down to Barrington. We are going this morning as soon as Ralph wakes up.

I don't know what to say. It was such a shock to get the call, I know that it was going to happen sooner or later but it was just so sudden and I was so far away. It still seems so unreal.

I have to go, I will eventually put our trip up here but for now I just wanted to let you all know that we are safely home and to thank you for your kind words of comfort.

Goodbye Nannie

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that at sunrise this morning Faye Chetwynd passed away in Shelburne surrounded by family. She had a great day yesterday with bright eyes, lots of visitors, she was laughing and listening to stories.

That night when the nurse tucked her in for the night Faye said "I'm ready", she passed away quietly hours later.

Please send your thoughts, prayers and good wishes to all of the Chetwynd family.

Mom and Dad will be flying into Halifax Airport Tuesday afternoon (the earliest flight from Dublin) you can give them a call then.

We love you all

Sandra

Please leave a comment, I am sure Mom will find your thoughts a great comfort

Dublin, Ireland

We are now in Dublin. Arrived this afternoon after a 3 and 1/2 hour ferry ride. The ride was really smooth, you could not even tell that you were on the water but it was a huge ferry. The skies here are grey and have been so all day. It is very cool for July. Even colder than home was when we left. Everyone sang Happy Birthday to Ralph today on the bus. We just finished supper at an Italian Restaurant and now after this we are going to go back to the hotel and go to the bar to have a birthday drink with friends we have made on the bus from Louisiana and Australia.

Hope everyone is doing well. I check my email but one of my kids(Trish) never emails me so we are assuming that everything is fine on the home front. Tomorrow morning is a tour of the city and then we have the afternoon free for shopping. Will try to make contact here at least once more.

Wednesday, somewhere near Scotland

Hello there everyone, We are in Scotch Corner, England, just below the border of Scotland. We spent the day in York. I was pretty ignorant of York I must confess. It is a beautiful, walled city with a lot of history. The weather was not great today, no rain but the sun has come out now that we are here at the hotel for the night. It is 6:oo p.m. Ralph has gone for a jog, and then supper at 7:00 and early to bed tonight I think. Tomorrow night when we get to Edinburgh we are going to have a dinner and Scottish entertainment evening. Sounds like fun. I am going to go to see Mary Poppins when we get back to London next Saturday. Haven't bought much yet. Saving my money for shopping in Ireland and Scotland. Check in again when I can.

Lunchtime Monday. Ralph and I took the underground to Covent Garden and Picadilly Circus. Ralph said No flowers in Covent Garden and no clowns at Picadilly :-( Off now to Tower of London. Cannot get on to gmail so please communicate through comments on this page Trish, I just pre-ordered two British editions of Harry Potter, will pick up when we come back to London on 21st.

P.S. Ralph says Feed Jake.

Well we are sitting in a MacDonald's in London trying to find the right keys on this keyboard. 1/2 hour for a pound. What a deal. It is 11:20 here but for us 7:20 a.m. Ralph slept a little on plane. I did not. We are waiting for our room to be ready. We are in the Kensington area of London, today and tomorrow. Very near Hyde Park. We re going to the Tower of London tomorrow and a dinner and Thames river cruise tomorrow night. I did not get sick on plane, the bracelets worked great.

I can see why u get so much time for a pound. The keys are not in same places as in Canada.

Bon Voyage!!

So, I guess this will be my last post in Nova Scotia for a while. Our flight to London, England leaves tomorrow night at 10:45 p.m. It is a six hour flight and with the time change we land in England at around 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning. There is a 4 hour time difference between England and Nova Scotia. England is four hours ahead.

I am going to try and keep everyone up to date every few days through email or even posting on this page. My email that I will be using and checking is doris.murphy@gmail.com. Please everyone stay safe and healthly while we are gone. My family....look after Mama. I will try and not worry about her while I am away.

We have the suitcases up on the bedroom floor with some stuff in them. I have been checking the British weather and have had to change my mind about what to take in my suitcase. Average temp there is only around 15 degrees so guess that I will have to take longer pants.

Trish and Joe will be here at the house the entire time we are gone, dog sitting and house sitting. Joe has accepted a job teaching at a university in Oshawa, Ontario so they will be leaving the end of July. I will really miss them again but they need to get on with their careers and for Joe that is not possible here in N.S. At least I had them close for almost a year longer than I thought I would. Okay, so goodbye everyone. Will have a lot to say I am sure when we get back on the 22nd. Bye for now.

Three more days

It is starting to feel unreal now that in three days I will be on another continent. After reading about the bomb scares and snow in London yesterday, you may think that I should be having second thoughts about flying to England- but I'm not. Que sera, sera, what will be, will be. I could get hit by a tractor trailor going to work tomorrow. Nothing in this world is guaranteed.

Mom is doing better tonight. I was really worried last night as the nurse at the hospital told me they thought it might be a blockage in her bowel that was causing all her problems. Tonight though, they are saying that it is pretty certain that it is a urinary tract infection and that once she gets on a round of antibiotics she will be fine. Whew!! I was really worried about going so far away when I didn't know what was wrong.

Ralph and I just finished wrapping a baby gift and a wedding gift for a shower and a wedding that we will miss while we are away. Ralph will be celebrating his 55th birthday in Dublin on July 15th. What a treat! A Murphy celebrating their birthday in Ireland. I'm sure that we will have a good time.

I am going to try and update this blog while I am away. If you see an update on here after Saturday you will know that I have found an Internet connection in the UK. If not, just imagine that I am having a wonderful time and thinking of you all.

Happy Holiday Monday

Happy holiday Monday... for those who get it off I should add. The picture was taken yesterday on our back deck. The red on Trish's cheek is a Maple Leaf tattoo. She is very patriotic that kid:)

San, Joe, and Trish were out for the whole day yesterday. They all went home after supper and I'm sure were treated to listening to the concert on the hill from their apartments. They both live very near Citadel Hill and hearing the Canada Day concert from there would have been no problem.

I have been trying to catch up with shopping and cleaning and getting ready for the "trip" ever since I got back from Truro on Friday. Ralph was away a few days last week also. Trish and Joe came out and spent a couple of days "dogsitting".

Got a call last night that Mom was admitted to Shelburne hospital. She got sick last weekend when she was here with me and stayed not feeling very good all week. They took her in last night...we will hear more today but the symptoms sound like what she gets when she gets an infection so we are hoping that that is what it is and once they get the medication in her and rehydrate her, she will be fine. I'll keep you posted.

Jake is limping again also...on the leg he had the operation on. We are letting him take it easy, hoping it will just need a few days of rest.

On top of all that Ralph and I are getting together all of the last minute details needed to get ready for England. We leave this Saturday at 10:45 p.m. I am going to try to find internet service while there and update this site when I can. Okay, I must go do some last minute shopping and finish up what I have to do around here. Enjoy today everyone.