THE DOCTOR HAD 'VERY ENCOURAGING' NEWS FOR KELLY TODAY:))

 LOVELY OLD PINE TREES IN THE BAYFIELD CEMETERY

Looking out the window first thing in the morning and seeing no snow on the ground always works for me and with that, Pheebs and I headed for the Bayfield Cemetery for, as George always called it, a 'walkabout'.  A fine drizzle with a slight westerly breeze didn't bother us while walking under a thick canopy of tall pine trees and their spreading branches.

 UNDER THE TREES WE WERE PROTECTED FROM THE MORNING'S DRIZZLE 

 A STASH OF PINE CONES

 ONE OF OUR TWO PARKING SPOTS IN THE CEMETERY

All three of us in the Subaru rolling out our driveway at 12:35 heading for London.  Roads were bare but not dry and there was a threat of freezing rain predicted.  However, with intermittent wipers going we made it to the main entrance of University Hospital without any problems and dropped Kelly off at 1:45.

 IT WAS A WET 33F DRIVE TO LONDON AND BACK TODAY

 DROPPING KELLY OFF AT THE HOSPITAL ENTRANCE

Pheebs and I re-traced our steps back out of London and headed for our Medway Cemetery stop on Ten Mile Road.  A slight drizzle in the air didn't deter us from a short walk.

 A SLIGHTLY DRIZZLY WALK AT THE MEDWAY CEMETERY

I LIKED THE BACK OF THIS STONE

 AND THIS ON THE FRONT OF THE STONE

 THE FLOWERS ARE ARTIFICIAL BUT THE SNOW ISN'T

 ALTHOUGH CHRISTMAS IS OVER, MEMORIES OF PASSED LOVED ONES REMAIN FOREVER

From the Cemetery we drove around a big country block and then headed back into London and parked at the Masonville Mall's southern parking lot.  Hauled out my Kindle and read for a while before heading over to the Hospital in hopes of finding a parking spot out front.  Amazingly enough, I found one, and ten minutes later Kelly called to say she was ready to go.  Minutes after that at 3:40 she was in the car and we were headed for.......nope, not home.

 A DRIVE THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE

 AT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL'S MAIN ENTRANCE

After Kelly had returned her new recliner a week or so ago she had decided to go with the first one she had looked at.  In the meantime, we moved a lighter RV semi-recliner from our sunroom out into the living room for her to use.  She kinda took a liking to this chair but it wouldn't recline as far as she liked.  Kelly found a place in London called, Austin and Taylor that sold similar chairs so that is where we headed.  I think this was the biggest furniture store I had ever been in.  I thought to myself, 'wow' this would be a nice place to live and nobody would probably even know I was here.  Kelly tried out a number of chairs and decided on a chair model called a 'Consul' which is made in Norway.   This kind of chair is called a 'stressless' chair and it can fully recline if needed.  It will be delivered next Wednesday free of charge. .....Back on the road again we headed north on the Ilderton Road with a stop at Ilderton's Tim Hortons for a couple 'Farmer's Wraps' and coffees to go.  With daylight fading fast, we had a mixture of rain and drizzly snow in the air but no matter, we followed our flapping windshield wipers all the way home and pulled into our driveway at 5:30.  There's no place like home Toto:))

Soooo, Kelly's appointment with Doctor Hudson this afternoon went very well.  It was green lights all the way across the board....almost.  Doctor Hudson had very encouraging news for Kelly and told her he is reasonably confident she will be approved for the liver transplant but the decision has to be first passed by the liver transplant committee.  The transplant committee will be meeting this Monday morning.  He said Kelly will receive a phone call Monday afternoon about the committee's final decision.  We are very optimistic:)))))))))))   

 KELLY TRIED OUT SOME CHAIRS AND EVENTUALLY DECIDED ON THE FARTHERST ONE IN THE TOP LEFT OF THE PHOTO

 THIS CHAIR SHE IS SITTING IN IS THE ONE SHE FINALLY SETTLED ON....DESPITE IT LOOKING BEIGE IN THE PHOTO IT IS ACTUALLY A LIGHT GRAY

Al's Music Box:)) American Pie  is a song by American singer and songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released in 1971 on the album of the same name, the single was the number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972 starting January 15th.  The repeated phrase "the day the music died" refers to a plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, ending the era of early rock and roll. This became the popular nickname for that crash. The theme of the song goes beyond mourning McLean's childhood music heroes, reflecting the deep cultural changes and profound disillusion and loss of innocence of his generation – the early rock and roll generation – that took place between the 1959 plane crash and either late 1969 or 1970.  The meaning of the other lyrics, which cryptically allude to many of the jarring events and social changes experienced during that period, has been debated for decades. McLean repeatedly declined to explain the symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned; he eventually released his songwriting notes to accompany the original manuscript when it was sold in 2015, explaining many of these, and further elaborated on the lyrical meaning in a 2022 interview/documentary celebrating the song's 50th anniversary, in which he stated the song was driven by impressionism and debunked some of the more widely speculated symbols.  Don McLean drew inspiration for the song from his childhood experience delivering newspapers during the time of the plane crash.  I first found out about the plane crash because I was a 13-year-old newspaper delivery boy in New Rochelle, New York, and I was carrying the bundle of the local Standard-Star papers that were bound in twine, and when I cut it open with a knife, there it was on the front page.

 WORKING ON TONIGHT'S POST

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Heavens to Mergatroyds! The other day a not-so-elderly lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her and said, "What the heck is a Jalopy?" He had never heard of the word jalopy! She knew she was old ...But not that old. Well, I hope you are HunkyDory when you read this . A month ago, somebody illuminated some old expressions that have become obsolete because of the inexorable march of technology. These phrases included: Don't touch that dial; Carbon copy; You sound like a broken record; and Hung out to dry. Back in the olden days, we had a lot of moxie . We'd put on our best bib and tucker, to straighten up and fly right. Heavens to Betsy! Gee whillikers! Jumping Jehoshaphat! Holy Moley! We were in like Flynn and living the life of Riley ; and even a regular guy couldn't accuse us of being a knucklehead, a nincompoop, or a pill. Not for all the tea in China! Back in the olden days, life used to be swell, but when was the last time anything was swell? Swell has gone the way of beehives, pageboys, and the D.A.; of spats, knickers, fedoras, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and pedal pushers. Oh, my aching back! Kilroy was here, but he isn't anymore. We wake up from what surely has been just a short nap, and before we can say, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!" Or, "This is a fine kettle of fish!" We discover that the words we grew up with, the words that seemed omnipresent, as oxygen, have vanished with scarcely a notice from our tongues and our pens and our keyboards. Poof, go the words of our youth. Where have all those great phrases gone? Long gone: Pshaw, The milkman did it. Hey! It's your nickel. Don't forget to pull the chain. Knee-high to a grasshopper. Well, Fiddlesticks! Going like sixty. I'll see you in the funny papers. Don't take any wooden nickels. Wake up and smell the roses. It turns out there are more of these lost words and expressions than Carter has liver pills. This can be disturbing stuff! (Carter's Little Liver Pills are gone too!) This leaves us to wonder where Superman will find a phone booth. See ya later, alligator! After a while crocodile. Oki-Doki artichokey!

----------------------------------

=================================