Successful Surgery

For those of you who have been wondering, Maggie's surgery went very well. No cancer, phew, and a neat and tidy scar. It may be a while before the fur all grows in but she is doing well.

She is also adjusting to being on Thyroid medication. She is hungry a lot but otherwise seems a little perkier.

Paul took close-ups of the stitches (which were purple!) but I will post a less graphic one!

Groceries

I have written about grocery shopping here before and should more in the future because it is kind of interesting - I wonder what you can learn about people simply from the food in the grocery stores. There are aisles and aisles of frozen prepared foods here...hmmm.

Anyway, there are a few grocery stores that are a little different - Whole Foods, Fresh Market and EarthFare.

Dawn took these pictures at Whole Foods when she was here. The salmon is fresh from Scotland flown into Atlanta and then driven to Greenville - nothing like eating local!

A friend in West Hants used to supply us with eggs from her farm - wonder if she will put the prices up now?

A Visit from Dawn

Several years ago, I worked with Dawn at West Hants. We got to know each other over the lunch table - both our grandparents lived in Wolville; her mother grew up in Sydney, like my parents; she was involved in Guiding and the Duke of Edinburgh award program, so were Stephanie and I. After connecting all the dots, Dawn received her gold D of E award with Stephanie and my mother remembered her mother from Sydney - a lasting friendship was struck. So, since Paul was supposed to be away for my birthday and Dawn has another friend living about three hours from here, Dawn proposed a visit.

Well, in the end, Paul was home for my birthday and Dawn and I had a great visit. We didn't stray too far from Greenville except for an afternoon drive west from Asheville, NC along the Blue Ridge Parkway and a shopping trip to Gaffney. Dawn took these great photos on the Parkway - thanks for letting me post them!

We did visit the Girl Scout shops in Mauldin and Spartanburg and scored a suitcase of cookies for Dawn to take home. Did you know Girl Scouts offer eight different kinds of cookies each year? Not sure when sales start in 2009 but I hope there is a Girl Scout in my neighbourhood!

The only hiccup in Dawn trip was leaving - we had fog the night before and there was a snowstorm in New England the Saturday she was leaving so there was no way she could make her connection. It meant a long day for her the next day but Isabelle and I really enjoyed having her an extra night since Paul left for Ireland on Saturday - no problems with his flights.