my paternal grandmother died yesterday

Woke up this morning to a voice mail from my dad from late last night telling me that his mom died yesterday afternoon at 2:40. The ringer's turned off in our bedroom, so we didn't hear his call.

I had last spoken with Granddad just last week, and she was failing enough that she was going to be moved to the hospice fairly soon. My dad's message said that she died at the hospice, so she certainly wasn't there for too long. She was about 76, and while she had metastatic uterine cancer, I believe that her final cause of death was related to a pneumonia she developed a couple weeks ago. She was too weak to clear the fluid from her lungs, so eventually she was bound to lose breathing control.

It's funny, because I thought of her several times yesterday afternoon and early evening. I now know that those were the hours leading up to her passing. I also wrote her a short letter to include with a batch of photos from my Vernon trip last month and mailed them all yesterday. Granddad should enjoy those, though.

Since I was there only a month ago, I don't expect that I'll go back for the funeral. My dad's in the middle of a golfing vacation with a friend of his in Victoria, but he's going to call me this morning -- probably to suggest that I stay here. He sounds fine; I think everyone was expecting this fairly soon. And clearly the timing of my visit to Vernon was ideal. I'm glad I got to make that trip and see her while she was still lucid.

some kind of heaven

Geez, in case anyone was wondering, I'm doing just great here right now. Absolutely everything I'm doing at this moment is exactly what I want it to be. Good music is playing the background, I've got active writing projects open and running, and the sun is starting to poke through the clouds onto the frozen lake outside my study window.

A screenshot of my current workspace follows for the nerdier-inclined among us:

Moving onto to painting prep for Z's room shortly. Some last sanding of filled cracks and holes to do, then taping and a first cutting with the primer this afternoon. We're changing her room from the nursery it once was to the little girl's bedroom it should be. The wall colour's changing from bright yellow to a lighter shade of same; the adult-level, wall-mounted bookshelves are gone in favour of a new bookcase I built yesterday; a hanging chair for reading will be installed; her clothes are moved from her diaper-changing table (which is gone) to shelves in her closet; there are new hooks she can hang her own clothes on; and I'm installing a cute blackboard on the wall as well as a new mirror at her height. I'll post pics later.

looking for a gig

(from e-mail to band)
Re: Niche Lounge Supperclub (Halifax, NS)

Thu-17-Mar

Mgr name is Jody. Assistant Tammy took my call and my message. Jody is off today, but Tammy says she'll be back tomorrow. I've scheduled a follow-up for next Tue-22-Mar if no reply.

In other news, my paternal grandmother passed away yesterday. She was about 76, and she went right peaceful like. I've just spent the morning speaking with my dad and other family members out there in Vernon, BC. I don't think I'll travel back for the funeral on Sunday, though. I'd rather not miss this week's rehearsal. :}

[e.j.union]