It’s a rather chilly and windy day.  I was home with the kitties, who certainly keep my spirits up when I get down.  I’ve been feeling so lousy with this cold for the last fifteen days.  My usual MS symptoms have been worse as well, but hopefully things will be at least a bit better tomorrow.  On a bright note, I always smile when I see my little goobers:

Abby is often very googly and it’s exhausting:

These types of kitties obviously get cold rather easily and I think we’re entering sweater season.  We’ll start out with Mya:

Even when she’s all cuddled in her sweater, she still attaches her little heat-absorbing body to her ham-like sister Pinky:

Three of them had the dreaded experience of a bath tonight.  Boo always scrinches up into a little wrinkly ball, like it’s going to keep her from getting a bath.

She pretty much stays that way throughout the entire bath, which makes the process quite a bit longer.  I can’t seem to get that into her adorable head though.

She only hates me for a little bit during and afterwards.  Same story with sister Pinky:

All seems to be forgiven and it looks like we’re going to have a peaceful night.  At least I’ll have grease-free cats to snuggle with.

Today’s symptoms: Felt very weak and fatigued with tons of nerve pain all over.  It was one of those day where by 2:00, I had absolutely no idea how I was going to make it through the rest of the day.  Clean paws crossed for tomorrow being a better day.

I left off in my last blog that my mother and I were heading home from Killarney.  Continuing our flight along the east side of Georgian Bay, we stopped in Orillia for fuel.  This was my first time landing here.  They accommodate land and water landings here.

It was fun to come over the water on final, then a patch of trees just before the runway:

We taxied over to the fuel tanks, and tried to figure out how to get the pumps started.  Every airport seems to have a slightly (or majorly, in some cases) self service station.  Fortunately, my mother and I must have looked really clueless, as a nice young man came over to see if we needed help.  In all fairness, my mother had started crying and I was repeatedly banging my head against the pump, so that may have tipped him off.  Hehe.  Anyway, he kindly walked me through the process as I got Vyctor all fueled up for our final leg home.

We walked over to the terminal to use their facilities.  We went in the wrong door and noticed this cutie nearby:

They had a nice gift shop in the terminal and we managed to pick out a few items. We also chatted with a couple of guys that worked there while paying for our loot.  Everyone we spoke to was so friendly and helpful.  I also hear their restaurant is amazing and is very busy (due to it’s awesomeness).  We’re going to have to go back and try it out!

On the way back the plane, I noticed this one parked.  Mike and I see him all the time at various fly-ins and airports around Southern Ontario.  I wonder if he notices my Aerobat?

One thing we did notice was the abundance of goose poop.  Here is some flinging off of my wheel or prop on landing:

So we trudged back out into the great poo abyss, and made it back to the runway:

It was a really nice, smooth flight home.  The entire flight, all three days was very smooth, or as I like to call it, Jan weather.  My little mother does not like flying in even the slightest turbulence.

Mike came to pick us up at the St. Catharines Airport.  We were all smiles as we unpacked the plane and loaded up Mike’s car.  Despite not being able to complete the Gold Cup Air Rally, I have nothing but positive thoughts about the entire experience.  Both my mother and I had such a great time.  It was a wonderful trip and I’m so glad I had such an awesome copilot!

Today’s symptoms:  I’m still getting through a cold that I got back almost two weeks ago.  I still felt congested this morning but no earache anymore.  Woot!  Started off with a pretty bad headache, but still had a decent and productive morning.  It wasn’t until around 3:00 where everything took a sharp dive and I felt like a big blond turd.  Paws crossed for a good sleep tonight and waking up all bright eyed and bushy haired tomorrow!  🙂

The last mention I made of the Air Rally was being grounded in Killarney due to weather over our next leg to Wawa.  As everyone else was doing, I checked all the weather forecasts and related info for the trip north east.  It was really looking iffy and people had all different potential routes they were going to take.  I was thinking of sleeping on it and checking everything again in the morning before making the decision.  However, I decided to….decide, that night.  I made the decision that we were going to head back home the next day.  It was a real bummer, as we weren’t even half way to the final destination of Thunder Bay.  But my mother and I had such a great time.  Up until that point alone, we had memories we’d likely never forget.

We just chilled for the rest of the night.  Made some new friends:

We checked out the schnazy wine cellar they have at the Killarney Mountain Lodge:

I was actually relieved I made the decision that night on what we were doing the next day.  It eliminated the stress I would have experienced, thinking about it all night.

The next day, we packed everything up and got ready to leave the lodge.  It was a nice stay:

The Lodge folks were kind enough to tote our loot and selves back to the Airport, on a rather dreary morning.  Fortunately, all the planes seemed to still be there.  People started getting everything checked and packed for the next part of their journey.  Then a nice surprise – my mother and I were presented with our certificates and patches:

It was certainly sad to say goodbye to everyone.  What a great group of gals!  Some asked for Jan and I to pose for farewell shots:

Some flying mascots gathered on my elevator for a final parting pic:

Just before starting up, the folks next to us huddled under their wing to wait out the rain:

Certainly an advantage of a high wing.  Except for my little mother, who fits under both low and high wings with no problems….hehe!  (I’m so going to get a backhander for this one.)

With no issues with weather for our planned route home, we headed southeast along the shoreline of Georgian Bay.  It was recommended we head this way as opposed to back west through Manitoulin, for change of scenery.  Also, to make a fuel stop at the Orillia Airport.  I’ve never been to this one before.

Farewell Killarney Airport (CPT2):

Here are some photos from our trip heading home:

I’ll give you something to look forward to – seeing the conclusion of this wonderful trip!  Stay tuned!

Today’s symptoms: I’m recovering from a cold so I’ve been feeling much more lousy and MS’y than usual.  I think I picked it up at an event I helped out with recently.  It only makes sense that someone with a depleted immune system is going to pick something up being inside with over 180 people for the day.  No complaints though because while it was annoying and made my other symptoms worse, it certainly wasn’t the worst cold in the world.

 

I have only been to Starbucks twice in my life.  The second time was a couple weeks ago.  Knowing that they often get names wrong, I made sure I used the shortest name I go by (Liz) and focused on my annunciation.  Hmmmmm……

Today’s symptoms: I was able to help out at a wonderful annual event today.  I had to take some pain meds and a couple wake-up pills (prescription) but made it through the day.  And what a great day it was.  I’m still smiling but my body is making sure I know that I may have overdone it – again.  Oops!  (Totally worth it though!!!)  Experiences like this certainly make it a bit easier to get through the rough MS bouts.