…thanks to Cee for hosting the Fun Foto Challenge https://ceenphotography.com/2024/02/27/cffc-cars-new-vintage-toy-etc/
Last summer, when we were in Calgary we dropped by an outdoor car show.
…thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting Weekly Prompts https://weeklyprompts.com/2024/02/14/weekly-prompts-wednesday-challenge-streets/
…with an unexpected trip to and extended stay in the hospital
After our road trip to Banff, I knew that my husband Kevin was not okay health wise. At first it we thought it was a bit of altitude sickness but after two days we knew it was more serious and on the third day my brother-in-law drove Kevin to urgent care. It didn’t take long for them to diagnose that we were looking at pneumonia and they transported Kevin to the hospital were he stayed for the next four nights. The day before we were to fly home he was finally released when his oxygen levels were closer to normal.
My sister and brother-in-law were wonderful and tried to make my stay as enjoyable as possible. Every day we made one trip to the hospital to visit with Kevin and a very close friend also made a couple of trips to keep him company. My sister and I did a lot of retail therapy over the next four days and on one day we drove out to the country where we explored the Leighton Art Centre. We also drove throughout the city and explored some of the more interesting neighbourhoods.
On Wednesday, I went to visit our friends that we’ve know since university. Lance and Kevin have actually known each other longer and went to grade school together. It was because of Lance, who was my neighbour at Guelph, that I met Kevin and the rest is history. Lois reminded me that I introduced Lance to her. That was almost 50 years ago.
Luckily Kevin was released the day before we were to fly back home. His oxygen levels were somewhat normalized and he was allowed to fly. The flight home was uneventful and Kevin continues to improve every day. In fact he started to do his walks again around the neighbourhood. Our next trip is a road trip in September to New Brunswick. Fingers crossed!!!!!
…..open topic? …hmmm!
I don’t often take black and white photos but while in Calgary I set my camera on the black and white setting by mistake. I think this magpie looks great in black and white.
….even though her actual birthday is in December we celebrated on Friday
Last Christmas my sister’s husband surprised her with a gift certificate for a dinner for three at the Chef’s Table. That was only half of her birthday gift. The other half included flying her two sisters from Ontario to Calgary to join her for the dinner. It was as much a gift for her as it was for her sisters.
We arrived in Calgary on Wednesday and the dinner took place on Friday. After a long afternoon of shopping at the outlet mall we returned to C’s home and showered and dressed for our special dinner.
I’m not really that short. I wore flats while my sisters had on heels. C’s husband drove us to the restaurant. We arrived at 7: 00 and were seated immediately. For the next four hours we were treated to a five course meal with a wine pairing for each course. The sommelier took extra care to explain each course and the reason for his wine selection. We were truly pampered.
We had a wonderful evening with great food and wine and we loved reminiscing about our childhood together. I started to photograph each course but at times I was so anxious to try each course that I forgot to take pictures of some of the plates. I truly savoured each dish and was surprised that I didn’t finish first. This is not something I’m proud of. I tend to eat too quickly but for some reason that didn’t happen on Friday. At the end of the meal C’s husband picked us up. It was nice not to have to worry about drinking and driving.
…watching old V8 movies of us as kids and meeting up with friends from university
Thursday was a laid back day. I couldn’t sleep past 6:00 am so I got up and wrote my first post about the flight to Calgary. I took my time getting showered and dressed and then I went downstairs to join my sisters for breakfast.
My middle sister had given each of us a DVD that she had transposed from VHS. Years ago our mom took all the old V8 movies that my Dad had taken of us as kids and had them put onto videotape. It’s pretty rough and of course there’s no soundtrack. We decided to watch the DVD together, not realizing that it was over two hours. It was great seeing all those clips again. It brought back great memories and we couldn’t help but notice how different life was 50 years ago.
The one thing that really struck us was how formally our parents dressed. Outings to the park, going on picnics and day trips to Niagara Falls involved dressing in your Sunday best. Mom wore heels, dresses, hats and gloves and Dad wore dress pants, jackets and ties and of course all the ‘sisters’ wore dresses and party shoes. The only time I saw us in trousers was when I went roller skating down the sidewalk by our house in the Junction. Good thing too, because I took a couple of nasty spills.
It was also interesting to see the transition from long hair to short hair and then back to long hair when we were teenagers. My Mom wore her hair in a bun for many years and her hair was actually quite dark. Sometime in the 60s she cut her hair short and became a blonde. I never saw her with long hair ever again.
I’m sure there’s some way of copying bits and pieces of the DVD to share with you but I just haven’t figured out how to do that. I’m thinking I need to go to Garage Band and cut and paste segments onto a Youtube video but I’ll have to investigate that a bit more. If any of you have any suggestions I’d be more than grateful.
After lunch, I arranged to meet two friends from university at the Learning Centre in Fish Creek Park. Melissa McKinnon who I follow on WordPress has an exhibition there and one of the things I wanted to do when I got to Calgary was check out her work. I’ve seen it on-line but there’s nothing like seeing it up close and personal. The staff at the centre were very friendly and told us how successful Melissa’s opening was. Her paintings are beautiful and it looks like half or more are already sold. You can check out her blog, here.
I haven’t been to Calgary in over 20 years but I have seen my sister and my friends, L & L, on numerous occasions in Toronto. It’s been great seeing them on their home turf, something that’s long overdue. My next trip will be with my husband. He hasn’t been to Calgary in 38 years.
Mama Cormier 