Before I even moved in, I wanted this chaise longue dragged out of the large master bedroom and into the dining room. Karen and I manoeuvred the kitchen table out of the carpeted dining-room corner and into the lino-floored kitchen, and Joan and her husband Gary carried the chaise longue out of the bedroom, and voila, a cosy bright corner where I lounge and read.

Yesterday we went out and bought Everett a couple little fishies, so the fishbowl now sits on the unused woodstove in the living room. There is water, reflection, and movement! Good feng shui.

He was buying the fish himself, but didn't have his money with him so I paid the $16 and instead of taking his cash, said, "You didn't collect your allowance on the past two Sundays, so why don't I just keep it and we'll call it square?"

"I would still owe you $4," he said.

"Oh; I'm giving you a raise to $7 a week and I'll throw in the extra $2."

"Another raise! You're giving us a raise every year?"

"Yep."

It is so easy to thrill that child.

I have driven him to his bus stop this morning, come home, got a message from Karen, driven the seven minutes to Joan's to deliver Karen's cookie sheets — she's over there baking buns, apple crisp, and cinnamon buns today while babysitting our niece — and now am waiting for Emil to finish brushing his teeth so we can go over to Mom and Dad's.

They've been to the hospital for tests already and are waiting at home for the results. Mom called and said her cousin and his wife are arriving tomorrow from Saskatchewan, so it would be nice to see me today. I kind of figured that anyway so in the back of my mind I was waiting for her request.

Hard to get to sleep last night. Last time I was tearful over what seemed to be a molehill, and was scolding myself for overreacting, it turned out that things were much more serious than we knew. That's what I am afraid of, I guess — that my unconscious knows more this time, too.

Fingers crossed.

Another beautiful day here in the Okanagan. While Edmonton has had a dump of snow that has broken branches and split trees around the city ("It was like driving through a war zone when I went to work this morning," Gord said), and Saskatchewan has had snow and hail and freezing during the night, here in Kelowna it is warm with a slight breeze.

I hope Mom and Dad's condo is not too warm; maybe I can whip up a few meals for freezing while I'm there.

Well, Emil's got his braces and shoes on and is on the way across the deck to the van. "Are you coming right away, Mom?" he asks, making sure he won't be sitting too long, waiting.

"I'll be out there as soon as you're in the van," I promised.

And so away I must go.