Day at The Museum

     While my daughter was looking for work, now that she had graduated, I got to be selfish and spend the whole day with her.  She lives in the south end and I in the west so we decided to meet at a junction and travel the rest together.  We decided to visit the Museum of Nature.   

      I must admit, I was a little nervous as my condition was getting worse and I was becoming more limited, but I tried not to let this show. I would definitely have my walking stick and would need to be assisted with walking so as I did not want appear drunk or crash into people. My daughter, however, was pretty keen and conscientious of her mom.

     The Canadian Museum of Nature is home to one of the world's largest and finest natural history collections dating back over 150 years, with more than 10 million specimens covering a four billion history. The museum attracts visitors from around the world, even those coming from Ottawa, like us.The museum is a massive 100-year-old heritage building fondly known as "the castle." It's more than just a landmark; it's a piece of our collective history. 

    

   

   There are five areas we were interested in, the dinosaurs, the mammals, the water, of course, growing up on the Atlantic, the birds and fossils, there is something for everyone here. It’s worth a visit for the architecture alone! They had 3D models of the dinaosurs which looked very real. I would not want to be anyone's dinner.

     These polar bears are the largest living bears, thankfully for me they were not real, as I was looking at it from a seals perspective. I would have been plucked from this hole and made a snack.

     We never found these in the Atlantic. No doubt it was too cold.

    This is not a Yellow Submarine but hey red one will do.

     Fossils are a record that the a creature, plant or fish visited us. At the Museum of Nature there are lots of these preserved remains to see. More photos.

                                                                         

     Our final stop was the "Queen's Lattern". The orginal tower was intended to be the focal point but because of unstable soil the tower was sinking so it had to be removed. Last year, the museum annoucned this new tower as the "Queen's Lattern". It was presented on a plauqe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh.

    We had a faboulous day and my daughter took good care of me. I was worried for nothing! I am excited because we have a special visitor coming for Canada  Day. The evidence was all over town, and we could see it going home on the bus. 

     They were rolling out the red carpet every where. Tim's Shoe was in town, oh, and Kate Middleton and Prince William, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were arriving also.

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Father's Day 2011

Hunny & Me

     It was hard to believe we were in the month of June already.  In the past, I would be enjoying getting up before work and going for a run. It was always so peaceful early in the morning with just my thoughts to entertain me.  Now a days, I have to be satisfied going for walks while using a walking stick and holding who ever was with me for support.      

I am still going to aqua fitness and the gym and walking but it is not without serious adjustment.  I know the safety belt I wear at aqua fitness works, this I found out the hard way...  While swimming, my legs  just stopped for no reason, I started sinking before I realized the belt was pushing me up. Walking is not as easy as it use to be either, when I am walking, I will start to go off balance and continue walking to the right over and over trying to regain balance. It is as if the body gets stuck, like a glitch in the program. This gets over whelming sometimes. I try not to think of it, but I am remined daily of something I cannot do anymore, that only one short year ago was possible.

But, I must dry my tears for my family and friends sake and focus on the good…like Father’s Day. 

    This is special day for my Hunny! It was his day and he got to choose what he wanted to do and how he wanted to celebrate it.  We got up had breakfast with a latte. We relaxed while reading the paper and then went to the gym.  After the gym, we went to have lunch at Scores and a coffee at Café Latte Cino, our famous stomping grounds.

 The kids were bringing dinner, Hunny requested pizza and we we played board games.  The kids arrived with a feast from Gabriel’s and a cake.  We ate, had lots of laughs, then opened presents and 

played games.

My kids are proud to call him their dad. He has been a great provider, and most importantly a great father to our children!

New Vehicle

     We were trying to be as proactive as possible, this meant selling the car and getting an SUV. I know most people would be very excited to get a new vehicle especially the one we are getting, but it was bitter sweet for me. We already have a great car, but it will not be good for me in the future, and it is much better to get one now than when we are forced into it.

      I now have trouble getting in and out of the car. Getting into the passenger seat, I usually fall in and getting out my Hunny helps me. I don't have enough strength in my legs to push myself up when I am sitting low in a car.  

So, we not only need something that I am almost standing when I get out, we needed something in which the seat is higher . I also knew I needed something that can accommodate a walker and potentially even a wheelchair in the future.  So, getting the vehicle was exciting, but the reason why is not good.  Although my Hunny suggested getting the new car, I cannot help but think we are making all these changes because of me. Another change because of MSA. A person would not be so bothered if it were one or two aspects of your life but, when these changes affects every aspect and having to make these changes every couple of months it is hard to stay positive, however, I know for family and friends that is what must be done. So, after much discussion, we decided on a Mercedes ML Blue Tec with the running boards. Another thing I had to apply for was handdicap parking because I need to be able to open the door as wide as possible to  get out. We have decided to call this "privileged parking".  It is a very nice looking SUV and we were looking forward to taking it on a couple of trips last summer. It is be so much easier to get in and out of this vehicle.

     

  We realized last summer that it would be so different for us. Usually, we do lots of walking and hiking. In the past, it would be nothing for us to walk 10 km have a coffee and walk home. We have hiked mountains in the past or biked 30 or 40 km. All that is gone now. It would be more driving and site seeing from a car, not the side of a mountain. The following weekend, we decided to drive to Perth, Ontario. It is only 60 minutes from Ottawa. There are lots of little shops and the architecture is gorgeous.

We stopped and had lunch at

Mexicali Rosa's. A great Mexican restaurant which sits on a canal. We had a nice lunch and then we walked around the town.

      I have to be careful because I can easily overheat. One of the many symptoms of MSA is that I rarely sweat, therefore, it being so hot, I had to be cautious.  But my Hunny took care of me like he always does.

                                                                    

We had a great day the first of many car drives!

My Daughter Graduates

Grad & Me

   

    After my daughter's wedding, I had been waiting for some mother and daughter time to give her the speech I had written for her. I knew we had to be alone to give her this letter because it would be very emotional for me. It started off a short letter but turned into a short novel because I started remembering all the  little things she said or done over the years. I decided to write about each place we had lived with the military, which came to a total of 7 different cities. It was very therapeutic writing this letter, not only was I remembering the places we had lived, but, I also got to remember the things my little girl had done and said during these special moments. I was glad when I could finally share it with her. It became a very special moment, just like I had imagined.

The Grad

Grad & Brother

      Not only do we get to share these past moments with our children, we get to share many present moments, like watching our daughter receive her diploma from the University of Ottawa. We were at the National Arts Centre with all the other proud parents. This event made me realize that in the future I would have to start considering seating arrangements. It all started when I was getting ready... I moved a plant, which was on wheels, and previously had been fairly simple to move. When I pushed it out of my way and that is all it took for me to lose my balance. It was as if I was falling in slow motion, and when I fall now it is not like a sack of potatoes, it is more like a tree, “timber”. So as I was falling, I bent all the nails back on my right hand trying to stop the fall. I landed on my chin but, luckily I was not seriously hurt. I was pretty shaken up inside. I continued getting ready to watch our daughter receive her diploma which she had working so hard to receive.

Grad & Husband

Grad's Family

       We arrive at the NAC and there were so many people.    We found out for this event our seats were on the third level because of assigned seating. I was so afraid getting to it and thinking I was going to fall off the balcony and not to mention I was thinking if I had to go to the bathroom I would have serious issues. We found our seats but there were so many students graduating it took a long time to get to the our daughter's. Of course, I had to make a pit stop and had crawl over the people to get to the end. I was so embarrassed I even had to grab on to someone’s knee as I was attempting not to fall over the edge.  I went to the facilities and came back but decided to sit on the end of the isle behind us. This was much better! From here, I watched my daughter receive her diploma of an Honours Degree in Psychology and a Minor in Asian Studies. Just think, her future can really begin now. After the ceremony, we had a small celebration at the condo with just family.

Friend's Family

     It seems we were in celebration mode. Another dear friend of mine was celebrating her 50^th. This friend and I have known for 17 years. It is funny how life is. We were together in Alaska for four years and during this time we spent a lot of time together. My family helped her through a major event and now she is helping me. 

My Friend

      It turns out that after our move to the condo, we are only 3km from each other and this was not even planned. She comes and takes me for walks, shopping, and appointments and just to visit. I know I can count on her even when times get rough and we know there are rough roads ahead, but luckily for me I have lots of support to travel these rough roads and hard journey.