Lee-Anne's Grandma Passed

I should mention that Lee-Anne's grandmother passed away. She was 97 years old. She was in the hospital with her daughters as it happened. Lee-Anne and one of her brothers were able to talk to her before she moved on.

She'd lived on a farm until she was 93. She outlived her husband by a good length of time and was able to rely on her network for support as she aged. Eventually, she moved into a retirement facility.

She was sort of the centre of the family that kept everyone connected. Christmases, Thanksgivings, and the like were done knowing that it should be done as long as she was with us. This kind of reminds me of my great-grammy, who hosted family reunions until she passed. When that happened, it hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. I wasnt super connected with that side of the family, she was over 100 years old, and passed in a very peaceful way.

But there was a feeling of stability in that, while the world changed, she always seemed the same. And while I wasn't too attached to the people at family reunions, as long as Great-Grammy was around, there was always the option to reconnect with my roots. Sometimes, even when the world is gracious and fair, a loss can still hit hard.

I wasn't as close with Lee-Anne's grandmother, but I was at many of the family gatherings hosted in her honour. She was bright until the end. I remember showing her some of our wedding photos, and she recalled having taken one with us and requested a copy.

She was the inspiration for one of her grandsons going into farming.

She passed almost exactly one month after my granddad. I find that funerals usually happen shockingly quick, but hers was postponed until the minister that oversaw mine and Lee-Anne's wedding could host it. We went to it a couple weeks ago. I'm late in making this post.

In other news, I'd mentioned that me and Lee-Anne were going to talk to a neurosurgeon. We did, and this time it actually yielded what felt like a more substantive path forward. We were told what our options were, we chose one, and now we're waiting to have it scheduled. Still an annoying wait period, but based on previous experience I was worried that we'd be told to consult someone else, and then need to have some time allocated to making a decision. She could begin her treatment in two months, at earliest.

I'm not going to talk on the treatment right now, because all the options are icky and I'm just not ready for a public discussion. But I will likely talk about it as it gets closer to happening.

Now I will show more images of this absurd amount of snow that we've had

Buried fire hydrants actually seems like a safety issues. Yes, for that first photo to be possible, I have to be standing above it. There are paths of tamped down snow made by people traveling over unplowed sidewalks.

Romantic Shawarma

Last year on Valentine's Day, Relish Shawarma opened in Belmont Village. It was the successor of Bossman Shawarma, and Sam's Shawarma before that. Despite Kitchener having a plethora of options for the cuisine, both of those locations closed exactly a year out from their opening day. When Relish opened, we were skeptical that such a franchise could be successful in the neighbourhood. It appeared we were living in a shawarma dry zone. Which is too bad, as it is full-stop my favourite food.

As we made our first order, the owner was very friendly and shared that their opening day had been strategically placed for the Valentine's Day rush. This made us further pessimistic about their business sense, as it didn't seem intuitive that this would be a draw for shawarma.

It wouldn't be their only peculiar decision. For the past year, they've persistently kept their open hours far beyond the time everything else in Belmont Village closes. They've asked us for our opinions on their food and service, and if they should make any changes. They added a Philly cheesesteak to their menu, which felt like a move of desperation. 

Since moving into the neighbourhood, my mother's fallen in love with the place. I've told her not to get attached.

Me and Lee-Anne decided that, if they were still open, we would go there for Valentine's Day. I told someone from the neighbourhood this, and he made a light jab at the obsurdity of getting Middle Eastern food for such an occasion.

Not only were they open, they had a one year anniversary Valentine's Day special! Mom went before us and said she asked them how business wass. They said things were going well. When we went, the place had a good amount of traffic. I overheard someone mention to one of the workers that they seemed busy. He responded "Of course! It's Valentine's Day!"

Well. It appears that some of their unorthodox moves were wise beyond my understanding. While it doesn't seem obvious to me that shawarma is a romantic food, I'm ready to lean into it.

We had a more traditional celebration the day before. There's an Italian grocery near us called Vincenzo's. I've eaten food from there many times, but rarely have I been in. My coworkers sometimes go on sandwich runs, and because I don't drive, I'm not usually doing pick up. Once during the Summer Program, I helped take an order, and one time when I was a Direct Support Worker, me and someone I supported poked our heads in.

But I'd never been in since moving into the neighbourhood. Apparently Lee-Anne had once, and even Mom has at this point. During our wedding shower, one of the things we received was a Vincenzo's gift card. So we finally took the opportunity to use it.

We got a baguette, some camembert, chorizo, a few dips and spreads, and cannolis for dessert. We made a little charcuterie board. 

Also, they had marmite and vegemite. I always hear about how repulsive those are to people that don't grow up with it, so we got some of the latter since a quick Google said that it was the more intense of the two. We tried it, and it was fine. Just a savoury spread, kind of pleasant even. Don't know why people make such as fuss.

This doesn't fit in with the theme of the rest of the post, but I feel like I have to mention how much it's been snowing here.

Here's a picket fence

Here's a bench