Erin's Journals

Just a thought…

Goodbyes are not forever,

Goodbyes are not the end.

They simply mean I’ll miss you

Until we meet again.

[author unknown]

Well hello! I’m taking an hour away from these last precious days with my friend Lisa Brandt visiting here in Palm Desert to catch you up with this week’s journal. We’ve done lots and done nothing: the best kind of time spent together. I lost track of how often I thanked her for being with me.

I think, other than hours and hours of plotting our podcast plans for the year ahead and talking about our lives and challenges in general, I most enjoyed watching her taking in the sights from the slowly rotating car of the Palm Springs Tramway.

I’d been up a few years ago, but I still had butterflies as we ascended to 10,000 feet, although that was mostly because Lisa was unsure about being in the cylindrical car (the largest tram car model in the world) that had about 50 people standing in it.

It was then that I realized I had only my tiny wallet-sized purse and no mask. (Luckily, so far, so good, but I must say I would happily nurse Lisa back to health if she couldn’t go home tomorrow!) Lisa if you’re reading this – I miss you already.

We spent last week just floating (literally and figuratively) from the success of our Facebook Live video event. We had hoped for a few hundred views and got over 3000 (it’s still up at Facebook.com/gracefullyandfrankly if you want to spend an hour – just you, Lisa and me). The comments numbered over 800 and we’ve done our best to respond in some way; this Thursday’s Gracefully and Frankly Episode 57 will address a few of the questions we didn’t get to during the live show.

If you don’t know where or how to listen to a podcast, let me tell you that one of the winners of our $100 gift certificate from enVypillow.com is 85 years old and could not have been more grateful: she’s visiting long-term care to see her husband who had a major health setback last year and always wanted one of our sponsor’s pillows but never felt she could afford it. Well, now she says she can and could not have been happier. Nor could we, Liz, nor could we. Lisa and I were both so touched by her email to us, we could have cried. Anyway, if Liz can do it, you most certainly can, too!

During Lisa’s 9 days here, we ate out a few times, and spent short spurts in the warm swimming pool (here’s Lisa living her best life despite chilly temps outside).

We caught up on cable movies we felt our spouses wouldn’t mind us watching without them, and shopped a bit. Having trod the aisles a lot when our son- and daughter-in-law were here the week before, I was done with it, but Lisa did find a few bargains she couldn’t get at home.

That’s where she heads tomorrow. My heart will be heavy as I pull away from the airport, trying desperately: a) not to cry, and b) to follow the GPS instructions back to the house.

I’ll make my final solo trip to Palm Springs International on Feb. 8 in hopes of getting home smoothly to Rob. Oh, and of course to Dottie, whose maternity leave will be ending at the same time as my getaway. I hope by then Rob’s water woes are over: unusually cold temperatures meant frozen pipes and we actually need scaffolding to get up to them to fix one that burst. That’s being handled tomorrow (we hope) although it may be a few days yet until Rob gets running water throughout the whole house. I wish I could say I’m sorry to be missing it all, but he’s handling it as he does all things: with grace, calm and ingenuity.

And now, one more picture for the road, and what Lisa’s view will be as her flight leaves tomorrow, hopefully on time and with her suitcase – two things we sure don’t take for granted anymore.

Talk to you again soon here and thank you for stopping by. It’s always nice to be surrounded by friends – even if they’re virtual for now.

Just a thought… Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch you’re never going to get the best fruit. [Sarah Parish]

Well, another week, another pair of huge travel debacle stories. This one isn’t about an engine that wasn’t behaving; that was last week for our family trip down here to Palm Springs International in California. (Hear all about it here on last week’s Gracefully and Frankly podcast.) This time, it’s weather and WestJet and every foul-up you can possibly imagine.

Okay – so to put things in order. The great news is: Brooke, Phil, Jane, Colin and Rob got on their delayed flight out of here on Saturday and, since their connecting flight from Vancouver to Victoria was also delayed, they actually made it. That was a star on the day.

The good news is: my friend and pod-partner Lisa Brandt, after changing airlines entirely and biting a huge and wallet-whallopping bullet, arrived at PSP just before midnight last night.

The bad news is: after one cancellation following another, our friend and FB Live would-be producer Anita MacArthur did NOT make it. She was maybe going to arrive by noon today, three hours before our live event, and then WestJet cancelled her again. That’s after she booked a Vancouver hotel room to wait out the 12 hours between her first re-booked flight and the next. So we are down a woman and flying today, Lisa and I, by the seat of our big girl pants for the FB Live. On what cycle those undies will be washed after today’s event will depend entirely upon how it goes.

Details above and, no, you won’t be on camera; it’s come as you are, and it’s free! Watch us (hopefully) laugh our way through our first one. We’re all in this together and even if it fails – which Lisa assures me IT WILL NOT – nobody dies. Let’s have fun. Anita is going to join us via WhatsApp and send us your questions. Or send them to us early and we’ll get to them first: write them now to gracefullyfrankly@gmail.com.

So, on with today’s journal….

Part one of my winter trip has now ended. Meantime, Rob awoke yesterday in North Saanich (near Victoria, BC) to no running water in the house. Pipes had frozen, which has never happened.

Here in Palm Desert, it’s also been unseasonably cold, just as it has been through much of the mainland lower 48 states. It costs a ton to heat our rental house pool daily, but seeing pictures like this makes it all worthwhile.

As you can see, the kids had a great time on their trip and we made lots of memories. For Rob and me, the touristy highlight was the Universal Studios tour. Oh, and hamming it up at the entrance, of course.

Well, off to have adventures of a whole different kind today: trying something we’ve never done before. Last week, I recorded my side of the Gracefully & Frankly podcast in a minivan in the garage here. Today we’ll be doing a live show, from where, in or out of the house I don’t know. It won’t be the van! Be patient with us if you’re joining (or tuning in just for the fear factor LOL) and fingers crossed. I mean, what’s the point in never trying something that terrifies you, right? Like Sarah says above, that’s where the best fruit is.

Just a thought… People must understand that science is inherently neither a potential for good nor for evil. It is a potential to be harnessed by man to do his bidding. [Glenn T. Seaborg]

It used to be, one week into a new year, I would have just finished putting the correct digits on the date line of every page in my cheque book. Nowadays, cheques aren’t something that are even in my annual life, never mind daily. I think I wrote all of one in 2023 (and yes, I got the year right).

Every day I marvel at the technology at our fingertips. Rob spent a day of our current family trip away learning (thanks in part to a 4000-page online manual) a new way to edit video to the high specifications needed for an upcoming visual podcast that we’re stepping into this year. While he toiled in a bedroom, the rest of our family used a QR code on the family room TV through our son-in-law’s phone to get onto his home Netflix account instead of typing in an endless string of numbers to do so. Amazing.

While stranded at our home airport for several hours on Thursday, we were notified by text of the delays to our flight which – thanks to a failing engine – never did take off. But we knew before announcements were made. We were put on another flight that night, and had a 3-hour stay in an Edmonton hotel instead of our earlier plans to connect in Calgary and head on to California.

So we lost a day of our trip, but this time our luggage stayed with us – a miracle in itself, as we’d been told it’d be going straight on to our final destination. And how did we know where they were? Apple AirTags in our suitcases. Incredible.

As we settle into 2024, many of us feel a sense of dread about the technological wizardry (and in some cases, sorcery) that abounds: AI is producing videos that aren’t real and are meant to dupe and infuriate the unsuspecting, incurious and biased. A huge American election looms later this year that will have worldwide effects if it goes in one particular direction. Those forces looking to strengthen ties with, say, Russia will be doing all they can to muddy the waters and create dangerous undertows. So, yes, it’s scary.

But can we tip our hats to the science that means waste water testing (go, poo!) shows where and by how much Covid numbers are up, hopefully encouraging even just a few more people to mask up in public? Anecdotally, in an overcrowded US department store Saturday, I could count the number of people wearing masks (who were not employees) on one overly-sanitized hand. But that science is there to help us, if we choose to pay attention.

I guess what it all comes down to is not just what gifts the gods and demons of science have created, but how we use them – for the betterment of humankind through protective and security measures, or the darker forces of subterfuge and deception.

I’ll always be a glass-half-full kind of person, and while we can dread and lament what the future holds, we can also take responsibility to be cautious – not overly afraid and paranoid, just cautious – and to make sure that, as individuals, we use those powers for good. As much as we can, anyway!

On that note, I’ll remind you that my friend and Gracefully and Frankly podcast partner Lisa Brandt and I are finally getting together in as close to an in-person setting as we can with you next Monday. It’s a free Facebook Live event happening at 6 pm Eastern Standard Time, 3 pm where we’ll be together here in California.

You’re invited to sign up right away and join us for an open forum on whatever you want to discuss or just to spend time with two people we hope feel like old friends to you. Just not that old; Queenagers is more like it. And we’re happy to say that our also-young friends Kim and Kathy from enVyPillow are giving us gift certificates to reward some of our visitors next Monday as well. See the details on our Facebook page and we are so excited to talk to you then.

See? Told you technology could be used for good. And even for fun!

Just a thought… If the kindest souls were rewarded with the longest lives, dogs would outlive us all. [Betsy Farrell]

You can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or here on YouTube.

Well, well. My last journal of 2023 – except a video message I’ll post, perhaps for this Friday or so, and oh, a reminder on Drift with Erin Davis that we’re bringing you two special Christmas stories this week. Tomorrow it’s Yes, Virginia – a Reason to Believe, and then, so you can share it with family, A Visit from St. Nick returns this Thursday. Just so you know.

And I want to thank you if you are part of our gentle sleep community: last week we surpassed a quarter MILLION downloads. Talk about dreams coming true. Thank you again.

Today I’m feeling even more grateful than ever. Not only because we took Colin and Jane to a hockey game Saturday night and had a marvellous time…

But during an exciting tie game (’til the shoot-out) I was in constant text contact with our dog breeder Bev who was telling me that our girl’s contractions were now five minutes apart.

You see, we took Dottie to the vet last Tuesday and discovered that she had six – not swans a-swimming – but pups a-growing inside her. She went straight to Bev’s warm and welcoming lair up at Misty Trails in Cobble Hill, BC and the babies made their debut into this world on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Three girls, three boys. And if I may, let me proudly share some pictures with you.

Momma and pups are doing well and we’re going to resist the temptation to go and visit our special Dottie and upsetting her when we leave. Lucky for us, Bev kept me abreast, sending photos during the births, and even a few videos of these little sweeties coming out in little pooch pouches, getting cleaned off, and laid down on a warm soft bed before they started to search for their first breakfast in bed.

I want to say again here, if you’re new to our story, that Dottie is part of a breeding program, where we’re contracted to bring her back to have her litters with Bev. When we announced that Dottie was expecting, I received an email from a woman quite upset that we were bringing pups into the world intentionally, and, of course, that’s what stays in my mind!

I explained that these are purebred Havanese dogs and it’s a business that we agreed to be part of, in order to have the dog that was perfect for us. Bev has the highest accreditations and has a peerless reputation. Yes, of course, I recognize that rescuing dogs should be a person’s first choice, and my sister Leslie, with her three, can certainly attest to that. But Rob and I had not had good experiences. At this time in our lives, Dottie is the perfect fit. And if someone doesn’t get that, well, I don’t wish to justify our decisions to a stranger. I did that for long enough in my life.

Rob and I miss Dottie like crazy but we “tailored” a stocking we had for our late pup Pepper, adding Dottie’s eyebrows to make it hers. She’s with us in spirit…

…as are you. For all of the Christmas Eve at Erin’s shows we shared, for all of the good memories and the times I’ll always cherish. Thank you. What a weekend it was!

Just a thought… Giving is not just about making a donation, it’s about making a difference. [Kathy Calvin]

And, oh, what a different way to get folks to give!

Two weeks today until Christmas, and we are now officially home for the holidays. Yes, there was a spur-of-the-moment trip to visit my younger sister Leslie, her family and my dad; the trip itself was, I hope, a success in lifting my sister’s spirits. Her family-run business is seeing the effects of a belt-tightening economy, bringing with it the angst that befalls a household where family and business completely overlap.

We had a lovely and productive four days together, but in this season of lights, one particular evening of red ones stands out. It was Monday, my first night there. We were sitting watching TV in the living room when suddenly the front windows of Leslie’s house lit up in flashing fashion. There was an emergency vehicle very close by and we wondered who was in peril. Perhaps the neighbour who’d just had surgery?

Leslie ran to peer out through the blinds to see who was being visited by police or ambulance, only to shout in alarm (no pun intended) that a firetruck was in front of our house! Was there a blaze in the apartment downstairs that no one had reported? Had someone called a SWAT team on them? Were they finally coming to take Leslie away?

When she ran to the door – and I’ll resist the Visit from St. Nick line “to see what was the matter” – she was startled even further to see a firefighter standing right there on her front steps.

“What’s going on?” she laughed/shrieked uneasily as the young man stood there.

“We’re collecting for the food drive!” he said cheerily.

(Cue raucous, relieved laughter from Leslie and the rest of us at the absurdity of what had just transpired in the last minute within the house.)

As her husband and I scurried to the cupboards to pull out any number of nonperishable and unexpired food items to give to him, Leslie chatted with the man at the door. Yes, it had been a brutal summer for West Kelowna’s firefighters and first responders: “Yeah, I saw a few hours of overtime,” he chuckled in understatement. How could we not give?

I’m only grateful the fellow most likely also knew CPR, because a parked firetruck with flashing red lights is a pretty sure way to bring on some kind of cardiac event.

Oh, and of course with each stop, neighbours would be as curious as Les was to see “what’s going on at that house now???” (a question I often ask myself when I get a text from Leslie LOL). It was a truly effective way to collect, but I’m sure they got some complaints. After all, people bitch about Amber Alerts, so….

So let this be a gentle reminder, please, if you can, to give to your local food bank. It is a four-alarm emergency: the shelves are bare and if you have a bit of money you can spare, the food bank folks can stretch your dollars far, and in the best ways. I always just donate via credit card; it takes but one minute and can make a huge difference in many families’ lives, now and year-round. And thank you. Especially to the firefighters who have put in a lot of overtime this year.

Take good care and thank you for joining me for Drift with Erin Davis: we’re focussing on Christmas and holiday stories now and you have more than 100 others to choose from. It’s all free, thanks to our friends at enVy Pillow and SierraSil. Sweet sugar plum dreams, my friend.