I used to write a generic letter every other month or so but that was before I started writing a daily blog. But I do have friends who either don’t have a computer or prefer not to tune in and who I still want to keep in touch with. As you know, the generic letter grew out of the annual Christmas letter when it became tedious to write the same old news in card after card and so much easier to write it once and print it out in sufficient numbers to satisfy all – hence generic. And as you also know, we keep writing Christmas cards, however brief, just to assure others that we are still here and hope they are the same.

So here is a generic letter, which will be posted as well as disseminated via e-mail, a mid-year catch-up to a peculiar year, so far. As many of you know, I was 85 in February. After careful consideration I chose to celebrate with two gifts to myself. One was a weeklong theatre tour to London under the care of the Stratford Festival. That was in January and it was divine, not the least of it being the warm, dry, spring-like weather.

The second was a plan for the year, not yet fully executed, the intention being to visit some of my long-time friends who cannot come to me, if I had a party, which I had originally booked for February, my birth month.

Who wants to come to Toronto in February? Even my hale and hearty friends, and I still have a few, do not choose to come here in the shank of winter. So I decided to give myself the gift of friends. You know that expression, “A friend is a gift you give yourself”? That’s what I did, am doing.

In March I flew to Sault Ste. Marie to see Phyllis, a former neighbour from Stratford. At the beginning of May, I flew from Lima, Peru, at the end of my pre-planned cruise, to Vancouver to see two friends, Agnes, in the city, and Virginia, in Gibson’s on Howe Sound. There were three and I had arranged to stay longest with her and go with her to see our friend a ferry ride away. But Jo died just before Easter. You see? Best to see people while we’re still around.

As if that were the only glitch. I had a serious accident the beginning of February, with complications, involving four different courses of antibiotics and four trips to ER to see a Wound Specialist, plus a Community Care nurse who came to change the dressing every other day. He gave me clearance to go on my cruise just two days before the departure date, and I needed a wheelchair for the airports.

Three months of enforced idleness without exercise have taken their toll. I’m taking some physiotherapy now and trying to get back to my pre-fall level of activity. A Fitbit is helping.

In the meantime, I was slowed in my progress on my latest project, a screenplay based on a non-fiction book a friend of mine has written, and with whom I am collaborating. And for various technical reasons I got bogged down in my blogging, just recently back online. So here I am, with a generic letter – and a generic blog.

A summer summary. Warm wishes.

People are telling me I should talk about packing for a trip. I have gone carry-on for years now but my latest trip was a challenge because it was so varied. I had to think carefully, starting at the end, and assessing how much I could handle.

My trip: It began with an 18-day luxury cruise of French Polynesia (most of which I had done just last May and June, repeating this time deliberately because the trip promised a conclusion with stops at Pitcairn Island without a landing, and at Easter Island, with two days of excursions, unfulfilled); landing at Lima, Peru (with an extra unplanned excursion because of an emergency, already described); a flight to Dallas and a flight to Vancouver (using a wheelchair because of my vulnerable leg which required easy luggage for the sake of my pusher and me both); then four days visiting a dear friend in Vancouver (good for more laundry, too); then a cross-city bus to Horseshoe Bay to catch a ferry ride to Gibson’s for another four days with another dear friend; followed by another ferry ride back to Horseshoe Bay and a cab ride back across the city to the train station to board VIA Rail for a 4-night, 4-day journey to Toronto. I did it on one carry-on and a small backpack, mainly to carry my laptop computer and my iPad mini (and tickets and passport and cash). (And a lipstick.)

How?

Well, as I’ve said before, you have to brace yourself: do not mind that you look like Ll'l Orphan Annie, same outfit day after day - but not entirely. I had to dress (sort of) for dinner every night on the ship, not formally but what they call golf club casual. I had one long, black, embroidered Guatemalan dress and a long black skirt with different tops some of which doubled with cropped (black) pants or long (black) pants. I won’t go on. You’ll notice my colour scheme: black and white. Everything went with everything else, including shoes (three pairs) and my security blanket: a big, warm shawl, black and white, of course. I didn’t pack it, not only because it was too bulky to pack but also because I needed it, always, (I don’t like air conditioning.)

I had a black, foldable raincoat (nice design, looks like a theatre coat) which as it turned out, I never wore until I needed a housecoat on the train. (They provide terry robes on the ship.) I had a cabin with a sink and a toilet but I had to go down the corridor for my shower and didn’t have a bathrobe, so I wore my raincoat. The only thing I didn’t wear was my bathing suit; my leg wasn’t quite ready for the pool.

That’s all.

I think, though, that I need a lighter-weight carry-on bag.