9:48 a.m.

We were sitting down to supper at Jill’s last night when she told us that Suzanne and Biff’s friend died on the 29th. That was a shock, as I’d thought she was holding her own against the brain tumour she was diagnosed with last year about this time.

She’s left two little boys behind; my heart goes out to her. Not to the boys, because they’ll be okay. Not to their dad, because he’s still with them. But to her, because it must have hurt terribly to leave them.

I’ve emailed a letter of condolence to her husband c/o the funeral home, and will look for a card to send as soon as I get to town. Suzanne and Biff are flying into Saskatoon tomorrow for the funeral the next day.

I called Mom and Dad this morning to wish them a happy new year. They have got my niece, as Suzanne and Biff are on a long-planned and expensive ski trip at Big White for NY’s, and will keep her till her S and B get home again from Saskatoon.

On the way home from Jill’s, I said to Sweetiepie “Should we stop in at the Sheikh’s for a few minutes?”

He turned into the driveway and honked the horn to see if his cousin was home. The van was there and plugged in and the living room light was on, but the curtain did not get pulled aside. Sweetiepie honked a few more times, and no action, so we got out and knocked on the door. After a minute, the Sheikh opened it, looking disheveled. We visited for about an hour. I kept my fur coat and mitts on, as it was cold in there, and by the time we left the right side of my neck was starting to ache.

We got home around 9:30. I hated to miss the movies we rented and the treats we’d bought for ourselves — the antipasto, rice crackers, gouda cheese, chocolate, B&B — to share on NY’s Eve, but it was that or take a pill and I didn’t want to do that if I didn’t have to. So I crawled into bed and slept till 3 in the morning, while Sweetiepie stayed up and nibbled crackers and cheese by himself.

The neckache did go away without pharmaceutical interference, thankfully, but I missed our little private party. So maybe we’ll try again tonight.