Recovery…decrepitude

The weather has turned foul, suddenly. Close to the freezing point, snow all morning…on September 8! Welcome to the prairies of Canada. It was warm on Saturday, will be warm again by Saturday, but in between, winter roars in for a spell. Let’s hope it’s just a spell, not  long stay.

However, it fits with my current predicament. My joints ache, specifically my knees. The weather is part of it, but they have been aching for some days after I finish my 5 km walk. This situation prompted my lugubrious thought that ‘recovery’ is being challenged by decrepitude! My experience underscored this thought after I rode my bicycle yesterday, for the first time in two years, into a strong north wind. Afterward, my back ached, and still does. Muscles that haven’t been used in a long time tend to protest, as mine did and are still doing. Decrepit: “worn out or ruined because of age or neglect….” Decrepitude…the ageing of an organism in such a way that it refuses to function as it once did…or perhaps never did!

This experience has forced me to consider the possibility that the day will come when my necessary activity, as regards my heart health, may not be possible because of the state of my aging body. A sobering thought, indeed. For the moment, however, it’s simply a matter of endurance and pain management. And patience…a state of mind in short supply, so far as I’m concerned.

Last evening, we watch a documentary movie about Elaine Stritch, an 87- year- old actress who still does club dares, singing all the songs from her lengthy career on Broadway. Watching her slowly succumb to the memory loss, and stiff legs that I know so well was painful. The bright spot was that she continues to perform, with all her limitations, as best she can. Audience approval is just too important to her to stop until she is unable to go on. She plans to retire, the on-screen words say in 2012, “in 2014…or 15.” Gutsy lady. A long-time AA member, she has decided that, at her age, she will allow herself one drink a day. Come hell or high water!

I’m not quite so gutsy, but I do think of that future as pretty dismal indeed. So I set my alarm and plan to walk in the morning, even if there us snow on the ground. Period.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig…

Home from vacation for over a week. I have been busy with re-orientation and catching up, while Beatrix has hit the ground running, and is flat-out busy already! For me, the big things were: a mountain of laundry to wash and hang to dry, and cutting the 6 inch grass on a lawn that seems to have expanded in my absence!

The other re-orientation was to a regular exercise program. We left that aside on vacation, because we were hiking uphill so regularly that I didn’t bother with a second walk each day. I’m back at street walking – now in the semi dark every morning. The difference is that Beatrix joins me for at least part of the walk, a big change for her. Up at 5:30 AM, to bed by 9 PM each night. It’s nice to have company, and I hope it continues into the winter.

I started back at the pool as well, with length swimming three mornings a week. The pool manager suggested I try swimming with flippers, to increase my speed, and allow me to get to the end of the pool with some breath still in me. It’s been a great help. I had no idea that this addition could make such a difference! One morning, I managed 12 lengths in the time I had. Of course, I have yet to swim two lengths consecutively. That will take some more time.

Only a week after we got home, our pool closed for three weeks for is annual cleaning and repair time. The end of September will see me starting all over again. I’ve also been hemming and hawing about restarting the upper body strengthening exercises my therapist gave me. Maybe today…

A nurse friend from the Centennial Centre (Psych hospital and brain injury program) has offered me the chance to have a special brain assessment from a whiz-bang neuro-psychiatrist at the centre. Preparing for this involves a long form filled with questions and required information. I still have information to gather from the Speech Pathology clinic I attended last year. Trying to get them to answer phone messages is tedious.

Had a spot of “excitement” yesterday. I was involved in a slight fender bender in the hospital parking lot. My fault. I was backing out of a slot, and bumped into a car that suddenly appeared behind me. Not a lot of damage, but it shook me. I haven’t been in an accident for decades, so it was a surprise. I had checked the rear-view mirror, but she arrived a split second later. She was likely going faster than really slow, as she was bringing her husband to the ER with a nosebleed. Lots of phone calls and talking with insurance companies. Assessment to be done sometime later this week. My $100 deductible will pay. And I’m sure my insurance rate will rise next year!

Discouraging weather…autumn weather. Rain, wind, and very cool temperatures. I suppose a good thing to mark the transition, but I was just getting used to 30° in Saskatchewan.

My afternoon chores loom: grocery shopping and cooking. I am a truly complete houseboy, apparently doing a satisfactory job…so far. Enough for today. Perhaps something more interesting the next time.

Adventure day!

Adventure!

Today was rainy and chilly day, not good for hiking on potentially muddy hill trails, so we decided to visit one of our old haunts, a favourite town named Eastend, on the east end of the Cypress Hills. A few years ago, while there, we hiked on Old-Man-On-His-Back, named by the First Nations people who lived there for thousands of years. The owners of the land had given it to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, because it was land that had never been “broken,” or plowed. It as all native grass and cactus. A weird experience to be walking on land that has never been subject to the depredations of white society.

We struck out across country, driving into heavier and heavier rain as we went. We drew near our destination after about 90 minutes o driving. We had left the paved road, and were driving on a good gravel road. Suddenly, the car began to slew right and left, and the “Slide” light flashed from the dashboard. I realized –not quickly enough – that the road had ceased to be “good gravel” and was now mud, with a few pebbles on top! The mud displayed two characteristics: it was slick and slippery, and it rolled up on our wheels.

I managed to get turned around in order to get off the two hundred yard stretch of mud on which we sat. As we started back, a pickup truck came up the rise, slewing right and left, and racing past us. The Prius, either by design or malfunction (we’ll find out on Monday) would not pick up speed, but moved very slowly, no mater what I did with the gas pedal. I suspect it was a design feature, because the car moved over the mud very slowly, virtually inch by inch, until we were finally back on gravel.

To add to the tension, we discovered that the meadow to the south (our left) contained a herd of about 100 bison, who began running this was and that, in circles. They ran toward us, turned and ran past, about 20 yards away. They crossed the road 50 yards behind us! Imagine, being on the edge, almost in the middle, of a bison stampede! It was…tense.

We had a 20-kilometer drive on gravel before we reached the highway, and it was raining hard enough that the road was two water-filled ruts in the gravel. I haven’t driven on a road like that since I was a student, and that was 60 years ago! At last we reached the highway, and started for Eastend. The car, however, was shuddering as we drove, quite noticeably above 80 km per hour. I had noticed, while checking after the mud episode, that our wheel wells were packed with mud, touching the tires at the rear. I suspected the buildup of gooey crap was the cause of the problem…but I wasn’t sure.

In Shaunavon, we stopped for lunch at a bar that ripped us off for $45 for a lunch of soup and a small salad. Then to a car wash to get the gunk off the car, and out of the wheels as much as I could. The car was considerably better after that. However, tomorrow, I will attack the buildup of mud inside the wheels. Once home on the weekend, Beatrix will have the whole thing checked out with Toyota.

The gravel and mud drive was exhausting. I had to literally wrestle with the steering wheel to keep the car in the ruts, and not off the road. Plowing through the water filled ruts washed the bulk of the sticky and slimy gunk out of the wheel wells. The mud was like that from the oil fields: brown yellow, with oil in it. It sticks like glue and stains every fabric it touches. I managed to keep it off my clothes.

So…we had an adventure, but not the kind we planned. And we missed spending any time in Eastend, and visiting the grave the soldier whose body was repatriated from a German military cemetery, where he was mistakenly interred 70 years ago. He “came home” to Eastend, after his grandson’s exhaustive search for him in archives and records. The re-burial was last week, with full military honours, a color guard, and a cadre of veterans groups and US military. He had joined the US army, and died in their uniform. The confusion came because he had wrapped himself in a German raincoat or cape, taken from a copse, because the US troops were ill equipped for the early onset of winter in the fall of 1944 in the Ardennes.

By eight thirty tonight, I was ready for bed, but decided to record the day before turning in. Hopefully, tomorrow – our last day here – will be quieter!

Yum, yum!

Addendum To my last blog: Food in Val Marie. This town is in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. That name is a Cree word for “swiftly flowing river.’ Ironically, there is a small city in Saskatchewan named “Swift Current!” Talk about redundancy!

But this is about food. Tonight in the Harvest Moon Cafe, the Special was “Cheese Chili Dogs, one or two.” Where else in the world would a hot dog, with bean and chili sauce, covered with cheddar, be a “special.” Only in Saskatchewan…and it was delicious! To top it off, the super duper dessert for the night was “Fried Saskatoon berry perogies, with rhubarb ice cream.”

I never expect to see that item on another menu as long as I live! Pure Saskatchewan…and it, too, was delicious. We each had this, knowing that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Can you imagine the fun we had poring over the menu, and tucking into these ridiculous items…which were both wonderful!

Think about some of the unique and weird menu items that appear in your part of the world, and appreciate the weirdness and wonderfulness of them! And have them the next time you eat out!

Vacation highlights…

Nearing the end of formal vacation. It has been a wonderful two and one half weeks, so far. The birthday celebration in Winnipeg was very special, over the top, wonderful. My children went all out to fete me. Party, dinner out, trips to the newly reorganized Zoo, and the Fort Whyte nature centre. We had a lovely visit with Joe and Caley, Angus and Emma in Brandon on our way to Moose Jaw.

Never having been to Moose Jaw before, I was surprised by it all. There are some magnificent turn-of-the-twentieth-century homes in the city. I keep wondering where they found the money to build them. I’d love to read an economic history of Moose Jaw to unravel that mystery.

Our B&B was an old mansion, built at the top the escarpment, overlooking the Wakamow Valley and River. Great views, wonderful walk through a series of seven parks along the river. Each walking bridge over the Wakamow River is named for a First Nations tribe. I discovered the Assiniboine, the Cree, and the Blackfoot. I believe there were two others I didn’t find.

The Al Capone tunnels under the city were a good show. The story: Al Capone used Moose Jaw as his headquarters for running booze into the Us in the 20’s of the last century. The Soo line ran from Moose Jaw to Minneapolis and then Chicago, where his stuff was off-loaded. He made, reportedly, some millions of dollars weekly. There are some who doubt the total veracity of the story in its full-blown form, but the young actors portraying the characters in the story do a great job of conveying the message.

The second tunnel tour was less “fun” and more sobering. It told the story of the host of despised Chinese immigrants who arrived in Moose Jaw, and who worked in an elaborate underground laundry. Whether fully truthful or partly, the tunnel story made very clear the blatant racism and hatred that was heaped on the Chinese in those early years. They were paid pennies a day, and only paid back their passage after five years or more! Some Saskatchewan residents on the tour were quite vehement in their denial of the factuality of the story, There is, apparently, no archival evidence to support it. And there seems to be a relatively small Chinese community remaining in Moose Jaw. My thought was, “Why would they document this story? It is a shameful blight on Canada, and on Moose Jaw specifically?” It makes sense to me that they portray it this way, to strangers, rather then trotting out documentary proof for the whole country to see.

In Moose Jaw, we spent a delightful lunch hour with Lynnette Miller, who is completing a two-year Interim Ministry project there. She had some very helpful hints for Beatrix in her current situation. It was good to see her after such a long time. The last time I saw here was when Joe and Caley moved to Ochre River, nearly twenty years ago!

Friday last we arrived in Val Marie, Saskatchewan at last. This little town of 100 souls is one of my favourite places on the planet. Val Marie is the gateway to Canada’s newest National Park, the Grasslands Park. It sprawls along the Frenchman River close to the US border. There are hills and buttes and grass and trails, and nary a tree. But there is silence, and a constant wind. Grasslands contains the largest trove of pre-contact archaeological artifacts in Canada, along with 12000 Tipi rings, some dating back 5000 years. A herd of bison roams the hills; there is a huge prairie dog town… and rattlesnakes! If it sounds like an old western movie, it is…minus the cowboys. Only the ghosts of the Aboriginal people inhabit the land.

Val Marie boasts a superb art gallery – 24 southern Saskatchewan artists display their wares there! We always drop cash on the way out. The old brick schoolhouse is home to Prairie Winds and Silver Sage, a combination museum, art gallery, and bookstore and espresso bar! We drop in virtually every day for a latte and a look.

This morning we hiked seventy-mile butte, climbing to the highest point in the park. I was winded a few times, but thoroughly enjoyed the 5 kilometer grunt. Our first day here, we thought we should warm up for hiking, so we struck out across country to the Two Trees trail head. It turned out to be almost a three-hour return trip! We must have logged over 10 km without realizing it.

We have three more wonderful days here, including a four hour guided walk tomorrow, with a Park naturalist! This is a whole other kind of recovery and renewal. More another day.