May 25, 2026Monday, May 25, 2026

Just a thought… Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you. [Ovid]

Well, that was quite a weekend. Apart watching the Jays and Habs, deer and fawns, Rob and I did one of those things that can really test a relationship.

We’ve had them before: the earliest I can recall was wallpapering together. Boy, if that isn’t a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is. But we got through it way back in the day, and lived to face other way bigger couples’ challenges. How lucky we are that we’ve gotten through them all intact.

We’ve assembled a big gazebo, with me standing near the top of a ladder, resting the roof on my head while while Rob secured it. We’ve managed to put up a massively heavy nickel-and-glass hotel pendant light, me holding the globe aloft like Atlas with a colourful vocabulary, while Rob screwed a plate into the ceiling. And we moved that gorgeous behemoth to at least two homes.

All that said, we’re lucky to have survived this job on Friday night. It was about 10 pm when I said, “C’mon, let’s do this now.” Oh sure, we were smiling when we decided to tackle it, and no, there was no alcohol involved!

We had lucked into an apartment-sized washer/dryer pair from our condo neighbours. Rob managed (solo) to get them into the back of our smallish SUV and brought them over to our Pender Island cabin, and together we got them, via hand truck, bumping and rolling into the house.

A kind neighbour had “voluntold” her husband to help us to get them up these stairs and I gratefully accepted. But…

In truth, I don’t think they knew what Dan would’ve been in for. We sure didn’t! And in retrospect, asking anyone to help us move these would have been too big a request. When he came over on Saturday to see what we’d accomplished, he agreed it would have been awfully tough. And yes, my friend, it was.

As you can see from the first picture, there’s a tight turn at the bottom of the stairs, and another squeaker at the top. Obstacles included wooden uprights, a natural wood pole upstairs (too splintery for my exotic dances, I’m afraid, lol) and glass panels lining the stairs all the way up.

As I tugged up on the hand cart, Rob was crouched, a pillow on his back, under each appliance. Using his quads and his back, after every “one-two-THREE!” from me, he pushed it up the stairs. Aside from having to unscrew the handrail, our biggest hiccup was when the heavy washer bumped up to the tight top landing and I was pitched backward on my butt. I was extremely mindful of the glass panel that could potentially break my fall, and fortunately, everything – including all of me – ended up intact.

The pair fit into our walk-in closet, which is now, in addition to being a powder room (we had a small toilet/vanity combo plumbed in and installed) a place for tightly fitting laundry facilities.

We won’t be using them this week, as on Friday we start a 10-day visit to Ottawa. In that case, we’ll be able to take our stuff over to the kids’ place to wash, though, thank goodness.

Oh, and of course I will not miss any episodes with my Gracefully & Frankly partner Lisa Brandt. Talk to you Thursday.