And we’re off……we have spent the past 3 months in Calgary and it is with anticipation, and some trepidation of the unknown, we begin our travels to unfamiliar places. It has been an easy start to our home-free life spending 2 months in Florida and 3 months in Calgary surrounded by friends and family in both places. It has felt like one long holiday so far however the next phase will present challenges as we immerse ourselves in new cultures and struggle with new languages, thank you Google Translate for all the help to come 🙂
Since our last post, we spent most of our remaining time in Calgary staying with friends and family, enjoying our time together because it will be a while before we are back. In early May Blair took a 4 day trip to Mara Lake, British Columbia with his brother while I stayed with my sister East of Calgary. The weather was great and the lake looks as pretty as ever. We spent many years water skiing on this lake in the early mornings and remember how cold the water can be.
The month of May is busy with a few birthdays in addition to Mothers Day. We had a family dinner on May 13th for Blair’s Mom and the day before, my sister and I drove to Kananaskis Country, West of Calgary, to visit our Mum whose ashes were scattered there in 2007. Every time we come to Calgary I make a trip to Barrier Lake to enjoy the breathtaking beauty and calm of the mountains.
We also took the opportunity of being “home” to take care of the usual and necessary medical checkups. My knee had been sore since January and not improving so an MRI was done in April. We were told there is a torn meniscus and early-stage osteoarthritis 🙁 The initial suggestion was surgery to fix the tear however there was no time to get the procedure done (in Vancouver) and recover before flying to London, so alternatives were looked at. This turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. I was referred to a Sports Medicine doctor and he was insistent that surgery would be bad for my knee, very possibly make it worse and speed up the need for an artificial knee……..what?????? I was elated that surgery is off the table so we went back the next day to have Durolane injected into the knee joint. Given the meniscal tear is minimal this injection will address the bigger concern of arthritis in the knee joint……sounds good to me!! Well, sounds good is a relative term, I am terrified of needles so this was still a big challenge, but with a lot of hand-holding by Blair we got it done 🙂 Fingers crossed this will get me through the next 15 months of travel and we can follow up with the Dr when we pass through Calgary next year.
Despite being in Calgary since February 23rd, the time has passed surprisingly quickly and here we are ready to depart. A big thank you to all our friends and family who gave us vehicles and a place to call home during the past 3 months, it was wonderful to spend time with every one of you. We look forward to sharing our upcoming experiences and hope you enjoy following along with us. First stop Guildford then on to Paris. Who doesn’t love Paris in springtime….