Let's try this again

Conditions at 7:00 am: overcast, a little fog and 16*
Expected high: 17* with sunny periods, and a chance of showers


Friday's post was all over the place (in terms of formatting) so much so that when I went in to try to fix it, it was a mess, so I just deleted it.
This morning seems to be better again. I think it's the site and not something I'm doing. Just every once in a while, it doesn't work.

Friday was a really fun night. Brenda and I went into town to Fishbones and had dinner, then we headed over to the Confed Centre to watch the kids arrive for the prom. This was a totally new experience for me. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were milling about outside the back entrance to the centre. Various vehicles arrived from horse drawn carriages, to harbour hippos, to busses, dropping off hordes of kids dressed in their very best. Eventually everyone files into the hall, via a red carpet and an arbour of balloons, and as they arrive, their names are announced and they stop and pose for a photo before going in. Along the sides of the entrance way, are cement steps that the families of the kids crowd onto to get a better view. Thomas, from the store graduated this year and was there with a friend, as was Devon, from the Rec Centre. Brenda and I sat with Susan and her husband for a while, and watched the festivities. It was quite the event.

Earlier in the evening, when we were sitting outside at Fishbones, I happened to overhear a fellow at the table next to us talking about this motorcycle club called Blue Knights, and that they were having an event on the island. It turns out he was in the band that was playing at their banquet on Saturday night. So early Saturday morning I got up early and checked the Blue Knights website. Lloyd and I used to be very active members of the Ontario XI chapter. I found out they were at the Rodd Royalty and since I was planning to go into town anyway to get groceries, this seemed like a good time. So off I went to the Royalty, and was greeted by a parking lot full of Blue Knight bikes. It immediately brought back fond memories of so many bike trips we had taken with the group so many years ago. I went inside and met a member of the PEI chapter who was directing members to the buffet breakfast. After chatting for a while, he suggested that I go inside and see if there was anyone that I knew. So in I went, and as soon as I entered the room I saw a familiar face. One of the members from our old chapter, Ralph, was there. What a nice surprise. So I went in and said hello, and at first he looked at me, wondering who I was and in a flash he realized it and asked if I was there with Lloyd. You can imagine his surprise when I told him no, I live here. So we sat for about an hour and chatted and he filled me in on where the other members are now and what's happening in their lives. It was a great morning. But eventually it was time to go, as they were all headed out to tour the island for the day. So we said goodbye, and off I went to get groceries. I told him to say Hi to everyone in the chapter for us on his return.

After getting groceries, and poking around town, my sore knee was really bothering me. So when I got home I soaked it in a hot bath then had a nap. When I woke up, it was the worst it's been so far. I was meant to help at the rec centre with a wedding on Saturday night but I just couldn't do it and it finally got the best of me. Sometimes when something is painful for a while, it just wears you down, and I think that's where I was with it that day. So I made the decision to get it looked at, and at least get some kind of prescription for pain. It wasn't such a successful trip. I got to emergency a little after 4:00 and was checked in right away. There were about 5 people ahead of me so I thought it shouldn't take too long. By 10:30 I was still sitting there. More people had come in and when I asked, I was told I was on the non-urgent list so I had 7 or 8 people ahead of me. That was pretty much everyone in the room. So basically everytime someone new arrived, they were put on the list ahead of me. By this time I was in a lot of pain, I was cold (from the air conditioning), I was hungry (cafeteria closed at 8:00) and I was just plain cranky. So I told the nurse to take me off the list, I was going home. They suggested I could go to the walk in clinic on Sunday at noon, and sent me on my way. I was just so frustrated when I left that I was in tears on my way home. The worst part of the knee pain is sleeping. It is the most painful at night and it wakes me up 5 or 6 times a night, and I have trouble getting back to sleep.

On Sunday morning, Brenda came over to see how I was. It was so thoughtful and kind of her. Later in the afternoon, she dropped over again with a movie and some drugs that the kids had for various reasons. One was very good. I was going to try to sleep without it, but at 11:00 I gave in and took one pill. I slept right through till 5:00. What a welcome relief. I think that was part of my problem over the weekend, just too many nights without enough sleep finally caught up with me. It's still quite painful this morning but at least I had a good night's sleep and it's made all the difference.

So I didn't get as much done on the weekend as I'd hoped but not to worry. These things have a way of working themselves out. Last night after I'd gone to bed, the phone rang. It was Linda, my friend from Ontario who has a cottage here. She sounded like she was right next door. I asked if she was here and she said no, but she will be arriving on Friday afternoon. I told her I was going away for the weekend but would be back on Sunday so she's going to call me on Monday night. We have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't talked to her since she was here last summer and there have been some MAJOR changes in her life. There may be wine involved.