Springing along

The Nanking cherry blossoms in our yard are making a gorgeous display here! Here's a close up that the professor took. Everything is "greening up" nicely and we are having some gorgeous sunny weather after a week of clouds and rain.

Normally a little spring rain is "good for the flowers" but we have very serious flooding in our province right now. This happened because of a combination of factors--a lot of precipitation in the fall and winter, for one thing. However, so far, here in Winnipeg, we have very high water in both rivers but are doing fine with the help of some sandbags here in there. In other parts of the province, folks aren't so lucky. (over 3,000 people evacuated so far)

I mention this because some of those close to us read our local news on occasion and it does sound like Armageddon if you read or listen to the news. To reassure you, we are pretty darn sure we can still cross the bridges necessary to get to a hospital in time. :)

I am now at 36.5 weeks pregnant and doing a lot of resting. The doctor has indicated that it could be "any time now" and that most women with twins who give birth to healthy babies at this point do not have to worry about prematurity issues too much...usually they can go home from the hospital with the babies at the same time. That is good news!

However, the fetuses inside me seem perfectly comfortable (I am not!) so I am being patient for now.

The other big news of the week is that for now, our big fix-it projects in the house seem to be complete. The professor put on a last coat of paint on a wall on the 3rd floor last weekend--and we think that is the end of the ice dam/roofing/insulation mess that started in January. (Finally complete!)

The other big fix-it was our front door lock. You see, one of the charming parts of having old house is that sometimes, everything in it is, well, OLD. Our front door lock was roughly as old as our house. Just shy of 100 years old. Last year, we had a problem where the temperature shifted abruptly from very cold temperatures to warmer ones--and the lock wouldn't work. We found the locksmith in town who could help. They came out, reconditioned our old lock, and put it back together for us. It worked again.

The fix came with a warning...this lock lasted a good long time. Don't expect it to last forever.

This winter, we had the same problem and the professor suggested I just wait for spring and it would work again...who needs two exits from a house? (Uhh, our house is wood...in case of fire? I do.) The difference? I was now pregnant with twins and trying to imagine getting out of this house with my lumbering pace, only one dependably working door lock and two dogs in a dangerous situation worried me.

We again called the locksmith. This time, they did a temporary fix and recommended getting a replacement lock. We ordered one from the USA and discovered when it arrived that every measurement would fit in our (original) door but one crucial measurement. Since replacing the door as well didn't sound good, we decided to return the lock.

Guess what got damaged in the post? $400 plus dollars later, we're waiting for that claim to be settled. In the meanwhile, the locksmith helped us find a perfect solution, and the new (but old looking) lock was installed on Friday. It looks beautiful. This is the photo of the new lock so you can see it too!

Should I mention that everyone has admired the old lock? It had been repaired at one point and it was a beautiful welding job. It was worn, but it served us very well. It has been hard to part with that old lock.

How long did that repair project take? Well, I think I last wrote about it in March...about two months total, perhaps.

We're hoping that in the next few weeks, the only thing likely to shift, change, fall apart or re-structure itself might be me! We'll keep you updated on the baby front as best we can.

Thanks for all the lovely emails and check-ins--I'm mostly resting (and eating) these days. We'll tell you when something changes!

Sometimes it rains

...and you don't realize you're in the middle of something bigger than a rain storm. When I wrote my last post, I was saying ...ok, we had a little rain here. I was maybe understating the situation. Winnipeg was on the national--and then international-- news. I know this because my sister-in-law in Virginia emailed to ask if we'd been flooded out.

So far? No problems at our house, and we have a lovely sunny day right now. That's good, because over 500 homes in the area (and many more unreported ones) are busy taking all the ruined stuff out their basements. HERE is a photo of what things looked like.

It's supposed to rain again starting tomorrow. Uh Oh.

The student that is visiting here has been exploring our connections. In April of 2007, we both went to hear the Yarn Harlot speak in Lexington, Kentucky. Last night, our resident student looked up the Yarn Harlot's blog post from that day. Take a wander over there...and you'll see, first, a photo of a woman in a bright blue v-neck top, holding up stripey socks. Our Resident Student is the red head to her left in the photo. (No, we didn't know each other yet.)

Keep scrolling down, and you'll see a photo of me in a bright red wool sweater. It made sense when leaving my home in the cool early morning to make the 2 hour drive. It was darn warm when I arrived in Lexington. Here's what Stephanie aka Yarn Harlot said:
(Joanne)
Who I know in from the internet and was trying her best to look like a Canadian (that was the plan...right Joanne?) wearing her very best woolies. Fabulous socks...yes? (It was hot in Kentucky. Joanne looked - besides fantastic, like I always do...warm.)

Note: the Fabulous Socks are available here in case they distracted you.

Anyhow, at the time of that event, I had no idea that I was yearning to live in Canada. Now I do live here! I also had no idea that Resident Student would become one of the Professor's research students, and eventually live on the third floor of my house while visiting Canada.

Connections are sometimes a long time in the making, huh? It took years (and a persistent undergrad) to see the long strands of yarn that connect all these events!

Here's the kicker. Back when I was undergraduate at Cornell, I often thought they'd made a mistake in accepting me. It was sometimes such a struggle--I felt stretched sometimes academically. One cold and dark Saturday evening, I promised myself that if I studied at the library for a couple of hours, I'd let myself go out afterwards. As I trudged to the library, I looked up. In every single window, at each library desk, I saw a student studying. It turned out sometimes everyone else felt the way I did. I wasn't alone in feeling like maybe I wasn't good enough to be there...and that I needed to study on Saturday nights.

Today I got an email from a student intern at the Cornell Alumni News. She asked if she could interview me for the magazine. I was so excited and surprised! Good thing I was sitting down. Apparently, 15 years after graduation, I am worth interviewing. Wow.

If I had to rate all this? Living in Canada, not having a flood at my house, or this interview? I'd be hard pressed to say which connection is best.

Nah. Just thought about it. Probably not having a flood is best.

Too bad it's going to rain again soon. I am just hoping to avoid a flood...