Home from Ottawa, preparing for Grasslands National Park. Strange vacation this summer; two weeks in a teeming capital city, two weeks on the vast plains of southern Saskatchewan, star gazing, hiking, and enjpying the peace and quiet. Vacation has to be early this year because granddaughter Emma is arriving at the end of June to spend the two off-school months with us, working at her first job - Tim Horton's. Exciting for her - first time away from home for an extended period - and for us - first time a grandchild has chosen to live with us for a time. All in all, an exciting summer for us.
While in Ottawa, I had the opportunity to visit with all four grandsns who live in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The younger boys, Danny and Nico, who live with their father, had dinner with me one evening, and shared time with me while I was being tattooed by another grandson, Diego. The younger boys spent two or three summer visits with us a few years ago. That ended when I wasn't able to bear the full cost of bringing them to us, and their father declined to assist in any way. It's unfortunate that relations between us are such that I am even unwelcome at their door. The boys, however, maintain a good relationship with us. Danny, 16, has expressed a desire to revisit Alberta in the future. I imagine when he is a bit more independent from his family.
Rapha and his partner Melissa had just moved into a new apartmemt in Ottawa, and I visited them there. Mel is lovely, but very shy and quiet. Their lives became complicated just after I saw them, as they have some major personal and financial decisions to make.
Time with Diego, the oldest grandson, was very pleasurable. He designed and applied a new tattoo for me. Time spent with him this way always produces deep conversation. It helps that he begins by telling me that he is "honoured" to be tattooing his grandfather. His brothers were interested spectators to this process. Later in the week, we had the exquisite pleasure of spening most of a day with Diego and his 3 year old daughter, Danyka. She is lively, verbal and a happy child. The day was spent at an animal park, where we actually got to feed animals in the open - young deer, ibexes, and elk. For the latter, we stayed in the car, and handed carrots out the window. My experience with elk in the past (in Banff), makes me highly leery of them. The wild pigs ate vitually anything handed to them or dropped on the road beside them. Bison came right up to the car, but there was an instruction sign which forbade feeding them, so we looked at their huge heads through the window.
I have decidedly mixed feelings about such a park. Animals live in a protected area, apart from one another - even coyotes! But they become total panhandlers. The elk line the roadway like young street people in Victoria, mooching food all day. They even get in front of cars, so no one can move. And we aren't supposed to honk at them and startle them. With elk and bison, I cncur totally. A ticked off bison would be no fun to deal with, even inside a car!
But these animals are wild, but no longer wild, no longer able to hunt or even forage. The young deer, for exaple, allowed children to paw it and hug it while it ate. The boundaries were gone. And children could easily get the idea that this is how these wild animals are when they are in their normal habitat! That seems highly unsafe to me!
Despite all this, we had a great day with Danyka, who is a charmer and and a cutie. I took lots of pictures. The drive was long, however, as the park is roughly halfway between Ottawa and Montreal. We were all tired out by the time we reached Diego's home. Danyka was whimpering and hungry, and despite that, her dad, Diego, remained the most patient and supportive parent! I am amazed over and over again at the way in which he has matured, and takes responsibility for his child on the weekends when she is with him.
The Ottawa time povided good times with Jose and Jennifer as well. I had a couple of long and deep conversations with Jennifer that helped me connect with her in a differet way than prevuiously. We had a "Clint Eastwood Movie Night" whenever American Idol or Dancing with the Stars was not on TV! I got in two lovely bike rides, the second being marred by a crash caused by a spteep drop in the path and two obese ladies who filed the path and were the cause of my veering off and crashing. Some cuts and bruises remain my share of the trouble, and a "shakeup" long enough for me to walk the bike for the next kilometre or so.
Ottaw also provided wonderful walks and great coffee houses! I put many km on my legs, back and forth to the Parliament Building and the Byward Market. Lots of reading in coffee shops with brews of varying strength and flavour. I had a visit with Marg Uhrich and caught up on old times with her about home (Transcona) and Ottawa, where we lived from 1988 until 1990.
A lovely vacation. Let's see how different the next one is, and what reflections it produces in me!
While in Ottawa, I had the opportunity to visit with all four grandsns who live in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The younger boys, Danny and Nico, who live with their father, had dinner with me one evening, and shared time with me while I was being tattooed by another grandson, Diego. The younger boys spent two or three summer visits with us a few years ago. That ended when I wasn't able to bear the full cost of bringing them to us, and their father declined to assist in any way. It's unfortunate that relations between us are such that I am even unwelcome at their door. The boys, however, maintain a good relationship with us. Danny, 16, has expressed a desire to revisit Alberta in the future. I imagine when he is a bit more independent from his family.
Rapha and his partner Melissa had just moved into a new apartmemt in Ottawa, and I visited them there. Mel is lovely, but very shy and quiet. Their lives became complicated just after I saw them, as they have some major personal and financial decisions to make.
Time with Diego, the oldest grandson, was very pleasurable. He designed and applied a new tattoo for me. Time spent with him this way always produces deep conversation. It helps that he begins by telling me that he is "honoured" to be tattooing his grandfather. His brothers were interested spectators to this process. Later in the week, we had the exquisite pleasure of spening most of a day with Diego and his 3 year old daughter, Danyka. She is lively, verbal and a happy child. The day was spent at an animal park, where we actually got to feed animals in the open - young deer, ibexes, and elk. For the latter, we stayed in the car, and handed carrots out the window. My experience with elk in the past (in Banff), makes me highly leery of them. The wild pigs ate vitually anything handed to them or dropped on the road beside them. Bison came right up to the car, but there was an instruction sign which forbade feeding them, so we looked at their huge heads through the window.
I have decidedly mixed feelings about such a park. Animals live in a protected area, apart from one another - even coyotes! But they become total panhandlers. The elk line the roadway like young street people in Victoria, mooching food all day. They even get in front of cars, so no one can move. And we aren't supposed to honk at them and startle them. With elk and bison, I cncur totally. A ticked off bison would be no fun to deal with, even inside a car!
But these animals are wild, but no longer wild, no longer able to hunt or even forage. The young deer, for exaple, allowed children to paw it and hug it while it ate. The boundaries were gone. And children could easily get the idea that this is how these wild animals are when they are in their normal habitat! That seems highly unsafe to me!
Despite all this, we had a great day with Danyka, who is a charmer and and a cutie. I took lots of pictures. The drive was long, however, as the park is roughly halfway between Ottawa and Montreal. We were all tired out by the time we reached Diego's home. Danyka was whimpering and hungry, and despite that, her dad, Diego, remained the most patient and supportive parent! I am amazed over and over again at the way in which he has matured, and takes responsibility for his child on the weekends when she is with him.
The Ottawa time povided good times with Jose and Jennifer as well. I had a couple of long and deep conversations with Jennifer that helped me connect with her in a differet way than prevuiously. We had a "Clint Eastwood Movie Night" whenever American Idol or Dancing with the Stars was not on TV! I got in two lovely bike rides, the second being marred by a crash caused by a spteep drop in the path and two obese ladies who filed the path and were the cause of my veering off and crashing. Some cuts and bruises remain my share of the trouble, and a "shakeup" long enough for me to walk the bike for the next kilometre or so.
Ottaw also provided wonderful walks and great coffee houses! I put many km on my legs, back and forth to the Parliament Building and the Byward Market. Lots of reading in coffee shops with brews of varying strength and flavour. I had a visit with Marg Uhrich and caught up on old times with her about home (Transcona) and Ottawa, where we lived from 1988 until 1990.
A lovely vacation. Let's see how different the next one is, and what reflections it produces in me!
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