Elevation

'Resting' - day 3. If cleanliness is next to Godliness, which of course it is, Schloss Schneewittchen is getting closer all the time.

Another elevation is that of my strawberries. Having been impressed by Sleepy's strawbs - which look like the ones that you might buy, and by her friend's comment that his, grown on the roof, do too, I have hoisted ours up to a level where they might get shone upon more.

Giddy up! Auntie Beeb is going to be doing a one-off programme showing Del-boy Trotter as a teenager. They won't get it in Britain until this time next year, but I'll be waiting.....

The last couple of days have been windy, making it too cool to sit out on the balcony in the evening, but tonight, after a blistering day, the balcony is the place to be. And...I can sit here with the laptop and watch the wizard's ball changing colour. I think it reminds me of the coloured lights in the rock gardens on the front in Southsea. Sometimes our parents would take us there as a treat of a summer's evening. Not much of a treat really, to pre-adolescent girls, but a lasting memory nonetheless.

Unemployment is a challenge.
The first challenge is to keep busy, but then, I don't have much of a problem there. I have more of a problem fitting in everything I want to do in a day. Might be different had I been laid off in the winter of course, not so much gardening to be done then - even for those of us who garden mainly in pots.

I can see that it could also be a strain on relationships. It's important to be aware of each others' feelings, acknowledge and be sensitive to them.
When I first arrived in Canada, I went from a job that was full-on and took 60 hours a week of my time, to being becalmed, like a ship with no wind in her sails. Plenty of the other kind of course, but not in me sails. It was easy to get depressed.

Now, I've gone from a job that was a little over half of those hours, and a third of the pay, but it gave me a feeling of worth. So whilst Kevin goes to a job with long hours and which is horrendously stressful at times, I get to stay home.
Normally, by evening, the last thing I want to do is to go out, yesterday, we had arranged to go to a friend's, and I was quite up for going out for once, Kev could probably have done with getting home and relaxing.

But however much I feel undervalued and let down by my former employers, I never feel that way in my own home. Even, in fact, when my extreme cleaning causes Kevin extra stress because he comes home and I've broken the bug screen and he has to fix it.
But then, this is only day three.
I know I can rely on him, but will I crack?