Archive: April 2005

Paul dropped in today, looking good, and he says, feeling good. After five weeks off, he's looking forward to coming back to work in a week. Six weeks is sure different from 10+ months off work. My gut feeling is that six weeks would be too short. Just take it slow, my friend. Think of your health first.

Today I spotted the first robin. They have probably been around already, but working during the day has prevented me from seeing them. Crocuses and snowdrops have been blooming this past week, as I started to remove the straw from my garden. Did a little bit every day, as my back got better (week before this was a bad back week).

So all that straw was in one corner of the garden, and today I bagged it all. Ten bags took me two hours. Yeah, I'm a slow-poke, but it got all done. :-) I enjoyed being outside, doing spring-cleaning, but I suspect I'll pay for it. But that won't stop me! I'm done living my life expecting negative things and then avoiding the experience. If I like doing it, I'll do it. Carpe Diem!

Well, my colonoscopy was supposed to be done next month, but I got word today that it's scheduled for April 10th, 2006. I guess it's not critical enough...

When I came home this afternoon, I could not get into our home. Police cars all over the place. I tried parking at a "good" spot so I could see what was going on. Soon an officer came to tell all of us to move way back, "just in case."

So I parked on the south side of McDonalds, next to a police cruiser. These cruisers have a very nice computer screen displaying information. From it I learned that at 216 Abbottsfield Road (second row behind our condo) there was a man holding a woman and her son on the second floor. There was a report of a duffel bag full of swords and machetes, and a rifle.

After a while, tactical units showed up, and it looked like it was going to take a while. So we went for supper at our son's. At 7pm we came to check and all was quiet. I've been trying to find out what happened eventually, but I can't find any news updates...

After a day of rain and wet snow, today was beautiful. Sunny and about 12 degrees. I took today off, as Cecile and I have a retirement planning session all day tomorrow. I don't feel ready yet to do six full days in a row. So I mucked around a bit in the backyard. Quackgrass is always keeping me busy... A few martagon lilies are coming up. Puschkinias are looking lovely also.

I am trying to tie a calendar into my forum pages. It's going to be a bit of work to get it going and then fine-tune it. Check progress on the forum.

A cyber-friend has started his own blog, Pumps' Perplexities takes a look at what we consider "ordinary" things and gives his observations and opinions. Worth checking out.

Cecile and I attended an all-day retirement planning seminar, presented by Rein Selles.
While finances are a major part, lifestyle choices can make a big difference in how much money you need... Recommended.

I am now officially on vacation, and sooooo looking forward to it. We're going to Fairmont BC, using Brenda's timeshare. I just found out today that Brenda is getting a lung transplant this weekend. I had no idea. Just called to ask about some housekeeping things, and she shared what was happening. She mentioned that she had been praying for me during my cancer treatment, and again, I had no idea. Of course, I will be praying for you, Brenda.

With 23°C (73°F), today was the first day this year I went to work without a jacket. We'll likely get some snow before summer really starts, but I enjoy each nice day as it comes. Six martagon lilies are up now, tulips and daffodils are budding, so when we get back, I expect a sea of colour. Love it!

It's 9:15pm, and I am listening to the last song of a robin. These guys start at 5am, when it's barely light and go on till about now, when the daylight has just about faded.

First day of our vacation. Today is designated as packing day. I had a lot of paperwork to clean up, bills to pay, and chemo brain was taking his time. :)

Had my dad lived, he would have been 84 today...

Left the house at 8:45 to go pick up Vincent and his family. Around 9:45 we had everybody and everything loaded and we were off to Fairmont. I drove as far as Red Deer, where Cecile took over. After a near-miss going into the ditch, I took over in Cochrane for the duration to Fairmont. There was a forest fire near Radium with a fairly thick smoke. From Radium to Fairmont is only 40km, but Jayden was getting tired of sitting for so long and we stopped at Invermere to do some grocery shopping.
Arrived in Fairmont a little after 4pm. Dropped the girls and the luggage off so that Vincent and I could go back to Invermere. Vincent wanted to rent a vehicle so we're not always dependent on each other.
Temperature was 25°C.

Had a long sleep, even though the upstairs neighbours and a few down the road were very noisy. Objective 1: "find earplugs." Found these in Invermere, I'm happy.


Stopped off at a garden centre, the only one I've seen. Mind you, I haven't seen an abundance of gardens here. Sure, shrubs and trees, and containers for annuals. Either the winters are hard on perennials or the deer are. Perhaps a bit of both. Spring seems maybe one or two weeks earlier than in Edmonton. I had, wrongly, assumed that the "Warm side of the Rockies" was indeed a lot warmer.

Checked out the hot springs but I'm not ready to water-test my colostomy in a public place. So I just took some pictures. Tried to find the hiking trails I remember from 2 years ago, but all we could find was a new RV park. Drove up to the ski area, and there was still snow on the ground. Nice views from that height...
Today's high was 24°C.

Worshiped at the Valley Christian Assembly in Windermere. While lots of tourists must visit this church, I got the distinct feeling they're quite inward focused. Nice service, though. The pastor reminded me of Scott Daniels. ;-)

After lunch, Cecile and I tried to find a walking trail near the Columbia river, but you can only get there if you're a paying golfer. So we drove on, checked out Westside Road for some pictures of our vacation villa. Checked out the hoodoos, and drove south on Columbia Lake road. When we got back on the highway, we were almost in Canal Flats, so we drove the the provincial park, and on the way back bought some ice-cream at the local general store.
Today's high was also 24°C.

Slept until 10am, when Jayden was knocking on our door. I guess a 3-year old doesn't understand why people like to sleep late.

After brunch, Cecile and I went for a walk behind the Fairmont Hot Springs. We walked for over an hour uphill, downhill, in the baking sun. I'm glad I remembered my SPF60 sunscreen and my hat. Beside the gorgeous views, we found alpine flowers already in bloom, such as shooting stars, creeping phlox, prairie crocus and more.

Today's high was a whopping 28°C on our patio. Good for a barbecue and some Heineken.

While the day started cloudy, everybody except myself went swimming. I used that time to change my ostomy flange and shave the area where the flange adheres to the skin (so the flange sticks better...). Shaving is a tricky business because you don't want to nick the stoma.
Vincent and Angela treated us to lunch in Invermere, after which Vincent and I went to an internet cafe to check our mail. I could get my mail, but send nothing. Interbaun only allows sending email from approved IP addresses. I noticed that they still had not fixed their DNS servers, as forums.danen.org still did not come up...
A bit more cloudy today, but still 22°C, quickly dropping as the sun went down.
Lovely sunset, as you can see on the photo, "the Heavens declare the glory of the Lord."

Today Cecile and I went for a drive to Kimberley, Cranbrook, and Fort Steele. A rather cool day, only 12°C, perfect for driving around. Kimberley has a very quaint, German-style downtown area, called the Platzl. Walked around to take some pictures, do some shopping, and have some bratwurst and apple strudel.
Then we were off to Cranbrook, not because it is so exciting and picturesque, but because it's on the way to Fort Steele. I imagine that Cranbrook is kind of the shopping hub for that area. Great for shopping, but dull for sightseeing...

Just a few minutes north of Cranbrook, on the way back to Fairmont, is Fort Steele. They weren't completely open for the season yet, so the admission price was a donation. A lot of old buildings and farm implements. There's even a private residence in the style of a century ago. There were also some ancient hobby horses, real cute. Walked around for almost an hour. By the time we got back to Fairmont, we'd been on the road for 5 hours.

After Cecile took a nap, and I organized the photos we had taken, we went for dinner at the Black Forest restaurant in Invermere. Pricy, but excellent food and Jennifer was a perfect hostess. Cecile had the special, asparagus soup, grilled salmon filet, and a very light strawberry desert. I made do with a "filet Neptune", a succulent tenderloin steak, medium rare, topped with crab meat, asparagus, and a bearnaise sauce. Some barrel select white wine went down well with these dishes. Worth the splurge.

I thought today would warm up, but it got cooler instead. Only 8°C, and we could see fresh snow on the mountain tops around us. Good day to drive out to Panorama, a ski resort 18km west of Invermere. Of course there was no skiing left, but the runs were still covered. Snow was melting rapidly, and Toby Creek which runs from Panorama to Invermere was really moving fast.

Took Vincent's rental car back around 4pm, and then the five of us had supper together, after which Cecile and I went for a walk. This evening is time to pack, so we can check out tomorrow at 10am.

Woke up to snow this morning, even though it was 3C. By 9am we were ready to leave, and that was good as it turned out. Vincent took over and drove from hwy1/22 south of Cochrane to Red Deer. I'm glad he did because as soon as we hit hwy 2, the wind gusts from the west made driving tough. About 45 minutes from home we started getting snow, turning into blizzard episodes. Thank God we arrived home in one piece, although I was very tired.

I was hoping to come home to tulips blooming, and they were, but they were looking poorly. The snow and the frosts at night are not helping. Lots in bud, even my white lilac. I hope the night time freezing stops soon, and that we won't get anymore snow.

Early to bed!!!

It was another cold day. I noticed the leaves on the lilacs wilted, a fern turned to mush, tulips struggling. So different from a week ago.