First week of the rest of my life.

I'm getting older. I admit it. I had planned on retiring near the end of 2014. Plans do not always go the way we want them to. Last Friday I was laid off. Winter can be a bad time for construction and the job in London is at a point where the furnishings have been approved and there are few changes expected. So my workload was down quite far so if someone had to go it was going to be me.
     So I started looking for a new job, but last time I was out of work it took six months to find a new one. I will keep applying until maybe August or September of next year, but I don't expect a great result.
     In the meantime, I am organizing my house, learning to do some backup co-ordination on Kiva and of course Postcrossing. These were my three favorite postcards from last week.



Nuns Having Fun is always a favorite topic.

Riga Latvia wants to protect the beavers that have taken up residence near the Opera House.

The caption says "Being the owner of a cock makes him so proud"

 

 

This hobby is so much fun!

 

   

I am posting a picture of my mailbox so I can show it on another web page.

My Postcard Wall

I forgot to tell you that you can see the cards I have received officially by clicking on this link. http://www.postcrossing.com/user/LyndaC/gallery

The ones I post here will be special ones I got through the forum or ones I really like.

I took this picture today looking out at the site. Several times I had to close the blinds because the sunshine was so bright - then this would happen and I would open them. Ten minutes later back to sunshine.

That is a snow squall folks. We couldn't see clearly across the parking lot.

I have discovered I have a health issue I have to look after. I'm very lucky though. We caught it early and a minor surgical procedure should fix me up. I am also lucky that I have a date for the pre-op and the procedure, so I can get on with my life and not sit around unable to make plans.

Frances and I are off to Port Stanley on Saturday. We are going to ride the Port Stanley Terminal Railway and see if the station has any of the great train postcards I showed in the last post. Everyone loves them and I've sent my last one. If the weather is nice we may come back via Port Burwell and see if we can see the Ojibwa class submarine that is going to be a museum this summer.

Holiday Weekend

I decided to semi-retire this year. I now work only 30 hours a week. six and a half from Monday to Thurday and four hours on Friday. Medically I need a little more time off. I have to see a heart specialist as I am short of breath and my doctor wants it checked out. I keep telling people I am getting old but none of them seem to believe me. I believe I will fully retire in 2014 when the hospital I am working on is completed but you never know, I could decide to go earlier. 

Because of my working hours I get Thursday afternoon off this week plus Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday afternoon I plan to help Frances get her photos from the iPod to the computer. We took loads of pictures in the last couple of weeks of the Orchid Show in London and Clara Boogerd's Birthday. Frances is Clara's Greatgrandmother. Friday morning we are going out to Sweaburg for pancakes and sausage at the annual 4H Maple syrup breakfast. I was quite surprised to see that Jakeman's maple products are sold in US Airports. I am hoping that the trilliums are blooming as there is a small Trillium Provincial Park across the road from Jakeman's. If things work out on Saturday I am going to a Mosque in London for an International Food and Shopping fair. I hope that Frances can come. I love to take a look at other cultures and this should be interesting.

I sent cards to the Ukraine, Estonia and Malaysia this week - I won't show you them until they either arrive or expire.
Cards that arrived at their destination this week were a whale , a bicycle and a very large train.

Large Train Card

Mouth Painted Bicycle

Whale card

A couple of cards expired this week. Too bad I liked them both and would like them on my wall.

Annandale House Tillsonburg

London Ont. Covant Garden Market



I will let you know how the weekend goes and if I got any Easter eggs.  I did buy Hot Cross Buns --- they are a must in my family for celebrating Easter weekend.

Week before Easter

We got a little silly on the Postcrossing forum last week. We mailed cards to each other with short addresses to test the pos office. All the address had was a) Unit or street number b) Postal code c) Country.
Well the Post Office is doing its job. Gran7 (Eileen) got hers today in England and I got 2 cards one from her and one from Nyassa



From Gran7



From Nyassa



A few weeks ago I entered a lottery asking for tips on how to study for exams. I wrote a paragraph about taking frequent breaks, getting enough rest, making point form notes etc. Well I didn't win but the organisers were so astonished that I had just finished University that they sent me a card anyway. It arrived today. Here is the front and back with the addresses removed.

The weekend began quietly crossword puzzles and coffee. A good laugh as we discovered that there is no such word as CAS and the answer to ______  in cat was C as in cat not CAS in cat.

On Sunday I went to a birthday party for one year old Clara Boogard, got my hair cut and colored and went to dinner with friends. Now that the hair was cut I got my passport pictures done.  Here is the beautiful results. Looks more like a mug shot.

Spring and new Postcards

Spring has arrived and so has the snow. Winter doesn't want to go away. We have had some snow everyday. Last weekend Frances and I went to the Orchid show in London. They were beautiful but there weren't enough of them.  They had some on sale but none of them really grabbed me so I came home empty handed.

I have been hanging out in Postcrossing Forum lately and I have won some Lotteries and done some swaps.  Some of the lotteries and swaps have come as signed cards. I can't remail these so they will never be on my postcard wall. I decided this was a good place to put them so others could see these neat postcards.




Swap - Cheeses of Italy



Lottery win: Diaoyutai State Guest House Beijing



Lottery win: Southeast Asia flags and Map

 



Coin Swap and the nice lady sent me a postcard as well



A little catch up

I haven't been here for awhile. Everytime I went to blog I either had writer's block or I was too busy to sit down and actually post something.
I had a great time in Portugal though I did fall down a hill and cut my nose and my knee. Strained my ankle but I drank losts of Port to make up for it.
Since then I went to California for Thanksgiving. Spent a quiet time there but I did get to walk across the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge. Kind of windy but the view was spectacular.  Next time I'm down I want to go to Alcatraz.
I went to Thunder Bay for Christmas. It is nice to spend time with family. Peggy and Mike (Sister and Brother-in-law) and I get along really well, so the visits to Thunder Bay are very relaxing.
Bill and Winnie came to visit in January. They are always interesting to have around. I think Bill can give a synopsis of every movie he has ever seen. He just has to remember the name of it. So he asks Winnie with the vaguest of clues and eventually they both remember. I sent him home with some Tim Horton's Latte T-Discs for his Tassimo.

I'm going to post some postcards that haven't made it to the sender. Some have expired and some are very late. I really like these postcards and feel bad that I can't share them on my postcard wall on www.postcrossing.com because they haven't been registered yet.



Art from the MOMA





A Roy Lichtenstein from the MOMA




Roadside Tourist Attraction




Cute Puppy




Middlesex County Courthouse




Thunder Bay Friendship Garden