Since our kitties are hairless (sphynx) cats, they need to be bathed regularly. Some more often than others. Mya doesn’t need one often which is good because she screams like a raging lunatic for the first thirty seconds or so. Then it’s just the odd louder than normal meow here and there. Each cat takes less than five minutes from first being put in the sink to being dried off. Short and sweet. Pinky lets out a few growls here and there but generally takes it well, for the adorable pink blob that she is. Boo goes into full rigor mortis mode, scrunching up and making almost every wrinkle and fold as inaccessible as the bellows on an accordion. She’s always the greasiest too. Then we have little Abby. She sits still and only does a few small mews during the process. Most baths, she gifts us with this most amusing face:

As if I don’t feel badly enough just having to bathe them, knowing they don’t like them. Then I have to look at this little pathetic expression:

Mike and I sauntered over to the Welland Canal recently. It was perfect timing as a tanker was just on it’s way through. Very interesting to see the bridge in action:

We didn’t admire the view too long at the beach as there were way too many flies buzzing about:

Those flies were certainly not welcomed guests. However, a guest whom is always welcome is our wee fury friend, Amber from next door. She has been over often to visit her naked neighbours:

We even get the odd night visit:

She’s so cute!

I don’t have a whole lot to report. I’m really looking forward to the end of the stay-at-home order so I can go flying again. Mike and I have been doing odd jobs and renos around the house on the weekends. And of course, visit with my little mother. That’s about the extent of everything for now.

Today’s symptoms: I had a bit of a rough week symptom-wise. I’m feeling a fair bit better today though. Still some weakness and a fairly bad headache, but everything else seems to be looking up. Woot!

What a great day – Mike and I were vaccinated! My little mother let me know on Monday morning that folks 40 and up could get their first dose. Thanks, Jan! I’m already part of Phase 2 due the MS and being on an immunosuppressant. But the age group is what got us the thumbs up to book the shot. I got through to a Fonthill pharmacy and booked before 9:00am. Our appointment was two days later. Sweet!

While we were waiting our mandatory 15 minutes after the injection, I asked Mike to stand next to the Jan-sized skeleton in the hall:

We are booked for our second dose in August. I phoned my neurologist’s office when I got home to add the vaccine to my file. He spoke with me and said that because I’m on an immunosuppressant (Gilenya), that I should have my second dose in one month rather than four. So, he is sending me a letter which I will bring to the pharmacist. I then phoned the pharmacy and they said they would gladly accommodate the different second dose date (if there is a dose available) with the letter. How nice!

Today’s symptoms: I’ve been feeling very drained physically and emotionally over the last few days. It’s causing my fatigue to worsen and just overall blah physically. I’m sure having the first vaccine dose today will perk up my spirits very soon. Not waking up to over half a foot of snow tomorrow will help, too! That was crazy today!

Mike mentioned a radio station he listens to which has an ongoing discussion on Old Fashion Plain donuts. I always called them Old Man donuts. They were probably my least favourite. I couldn’t believe people would desire something so boring over much yummier choices. Well, last year Mike brought over a Timmies order, which should have contained his usual Sour Cream Glazed donut. There was an Old Man donut instead. I decided to give it a try and was blown away! The subtle crunch of the top layer was unexpected and exquisite. Going down through the squishy and scrumptious donutty-goodness, my taste buds yearned for more. However, I reluctantly handed my new favourite donut back to Mike. This event was life-changing in ways I never thought possible. On days where I’m hankering for a donut, my usual order is now egg and cheese on an English muffin, medium coffee with three sweeteners and two milk, and the beloved Old Fashion Plain. So back to the radio station – Mike had me check them out on Facebook. This lead to the Plane Gang Video, which is posted to 102.1 The Edge page:

I decided to make our light and yummy donuts even lighter. We did a few instances of negative G’s, which left our donuts floating in front of us:

I still laugh every time I see this blooper from the making of the weightless Plane Gang video. “Mike, where did your donut go???”

Today’s symptoms: I had a really bad night. It wasn’t until after 2:30am that I finally fell asleep. Mya woke me up less than an hour later for food. About an hour after that, she barfed. Not long after, she jumped back into bed after pooping and had lingering stinkiness. I ended up taking a sick day today and mostly just chilled on the couch with the kitties. I did a fair bit of work over the weekend, as my energy was decent. I love days like that and try to take advantage of every active moment!

Mike and I have started walking along the ravine trails in Port Weller. It’s so nice to get out into nature. Here are some pics from our recent strolls:

This seemed to be in an odd location:

Strolling away from that topic, here is a flattering pic of Boo:

The girls are loving the solar heated floor in the kitchen, now that the weather is better:

It wasn’t long after this that little Mya came into the living room, begging for food with those beautiful eyes:

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend. As you can see, I went all out with the Easter decor this year:

Today’s Symptoms: I still seem to be on a bit of a roller coaster symptom-wise. One day will be pretty decent and the next will be a menagerie of blah, from bad headaches to nerve pain to overall feeling head to toe lousy. Mike and I plan on working on repainting the railings and banister tomorrow so I need to have a good symptom day. I’ll have a pep-talk with my brain and bod tonight.

Boo can be so photogenic at times, as she is here posing with some bananas:

And check out her rockin’ wrinkles:

Our little friend, Amber, has been visiting us daily again. She is our first sign of Spring:

Mike and I had a couple of really nice flights recently. We took a couple circuits around the CN Tower, while checking out the city below:

Always an interesting and fun flight over and around Toronto. Views are a little more serene back in Niagara, such as the Welland Canal. It is back operating after the winter break.

We headed over Niagara Falls too, as Mike had not been over it in quite a few months. We were the only aircraft in the circuit at that time. I hope things picked up for the helicopter tours later in the day:

I asked Mike to take a pic of the Casino on the US side, for my buddy Ken:

Those were a couple of really nice flights. I’m hoping to feel perky tomorrow so we can go for another one. Afterwards, we’ll go visit my little mother. Sunday will be another fun-filled day of painting! So far, we’ve painted the main floor, kitchen, basement, upstairs hall and two bedrooms. There are a few doors left to do, the banister and railing, spare bedroom and laundry room. Once we get the new bathroom counter and sink installed, that room will be painted. I’m still surprised at how much some paint can change the look and feel of a house.

Today’s symptoms: Things are a little up and down this week. One day I feel decent and the next is blah. I hope that means since today was a blah day that tomorrow will be great! I’m sure as with everyone else, the continued saga of stressing about COVID hasn’t helped things. Keeping hope alive and well for things improving “soon” is certainly a good motivator to get through the tougher times.

My flights during the first half of 2020 sure were a lot different from the last half.

A few summers ago, Mike’s family had photos done. For one set, we did shots of the couples. We were supposed to look at each other lovingly, but as natural as possible. I’m sure I was laughing or saying something goofy….naturally:

I had it printed on metal through Costco. It turned out great. Now we have another pic to hang on our soon newly painted wall. It will go well with the photos of our daughters:

We had another joyous flight on the weekend. It’s nice to be so free and only think about the flight – nothing else. Here is the PEN Centre in St. Catharines around 10:30 on Saturday:

After our brief (due to low ceiling and visibility) flight, we headed to Timmies for tasty noms and coffee. We spent the rest of the day painting. We’re both taking tomorrow off to hopefully finish.

The bamboo plant I gave my buddy at the Flying Club a few years ago became slightly root-bound and in need of a new pot. This is why I can’t have any plants in the house:

It was so tiny when I gave it to him, with chew marks in most of the leaves courtesy of Boo. It looks like it’s going back to him with a few more chew marks.

The other kitties continued to chill. Poor Pinky was yet again, Mya’s pillow for the day. It looks like she was half of the bed this time too:

Little (now far more rotund) Abby looked on non-nonchalantly, as usual:

I’m really looking forward to getting the next big phase of painting done tomorrow. It’s bath day for the grungy cats too!

Today’s symptoms: It was a mostly average day symptom-wise. Mild headache, nerve pain in mostly my hands and kinda blah energy level. I must hit the hay early tonight so I’m all charged up for tomorrow!

We just had a wonderful experience at work. We were invited to put together a five minute video, displaying our talent for Talent Show shown through Microsoft Teams. There were nine folks who put together a short clip on their own time and they were displayed to our colleagues over lunch. There are some seriously talented musicians at our office! I submitted a video of some aerobatic maneuvers I did a few weeks ago. You can check it out here: Lizzy McFly Aerobatics. Events like the talent show are nice little morale boosters, which we all need right now!

Our office also supported Pink Shirt Day again this year, but we sold pink masks instead of shirts. I believe this was our ninth year doing this, and we had a great turnout. Another donation to a worthy cause was made. Lucky me – I have a pink cat to support this event!

Mike and I have been using the curbside pickup service offered by the grocery store. We learned that when ordering bananas online, the quantity is “bunches” and not “singles”. I thought we would get four single banananananas. Oops:

As you can imagine, our potassium levels are quite good right now!

Our sad looking little visitor was back recently. I love looking at this face!

Mike and I went for a flight last weekend. It appeared to be nice and clear around St. Catharines and Niagara. It was a different story once we got up to about 3000′. I called the tower and filed a pilot report that the cloud layer was at about 2000′ and totally solid in all directions. Since we were confined to a rather small area to fly around, we decided to do some aerobatics.

COVID certainly has put a crimp on my joy of taking people up for such a fun experience. I have a list of folks looking to go up for either a purely scenic flight or some aerobatics. My favourite little copilot, Stella, is first on the list to go! She did aerobatics with me when she was seven and she handled them better than most of the adults I’ve taken up. I sure hope we can fly again before she turns nine!

Today’s symptoms: It’s going ok although I’ve been having lots of nerve pain the last couple of days. My energy has been fairly decent though, which is more than I can ask for! Although both really suck, I can usually get through the days better with less fatigue even when the pain levels are high. I’m hoping for good weather and decent symptom days on the weekend so we can go for another flight. Getting out for a flight during the pandemic has done wonders for my mental health.

I really can’t explain why I haven’t done a blog in so long. Maybe just been down a bit due to COVID plus not too much is new.

Mike and I are currently painting most of the house. We just finished the living room and next is the stairwell and upstairs hall. Like I’ve heard so many times before, just some paint can transform one’s abode. We work amazingly well together so it actually makes painting enjoyable.

We have a new visitor. Look at this adorable, sad little face:

Unfortunately, he’s looked in and seen the four naked ladies that live here, which sparked some interest and lead to some spraying on our deck door. Can’t really say I blame him.

Mike and I have been going on walks during the evenings. It’s been really nice and refreshing. My boots have been rubbing on the backs of my heels, which is a wee bit uncomfortable. I ordered Kinesiology Tape (three rolls for $17 on Amazon) and it has been the perfect solution. There’s my little product plug for anyone who has footwear or anything else that rubs.

Here are some of the views from our lovely walks:

It’s interesting to see the locks and canal from the ground, as I’ve typically seen them from the air. The water levels of the canal are considerably low right now:

Vyctor never disappoints with the views he provides.

The kitties have all been doing well. Mya had a bit of a rash on the back of her neck and kept licking it. I thought a sweater would be far more comfortable and stylish than the cone of shame:

No matter what she’s wearing, nothing will stop her from getting to her feeding sanctuary when she gets hungry. Not even Pinky:

I’m going to make a valiant effort to blog more often again. It’s bothered me quite a bit that I’ve been such a slacker. I can only imagine the grief I’ve caused people, not getting regular updates on our adorable daughters and flying adventures. Stay tuned!

Today’s symptoms: Well I guess I have a few months to cover. Things have been fairly stable with a few bumps here and there. Bouts of insomnia have paid me some visits, which always exacerbates my MS symptoms. For the last week or so, I’ve been experiencing some eye pain and worse than normal headaches. I see my eye doctor next week – I’m hoping to report back with a clean bill of eye health.

Whenever I walk by the washroom while Mike is shaving, I’ll make a grossly distorted face to imitate the one he is making. Everyone knows the mangled and contorted face men make while shaving, right? And the disfigurement continues on and manifests into almost scenes out of movies. The “For the love of everything holy, please get me out of here” scrinched face. The “I’m playing the flute out of the side of my face” look. And one of my favs, “The Leafs just won the Stanley Cup!” face.

I snapped a picture of him whilst doing this. He doesn’t want it shown, for an obvious reason. He looked unbelievably dorkish – like a cross-breed between a horse and a clown. So I promised I wouldn’t share them unless they were adequately blurred. Here is the result:

He just finished painting his bedroom and I decided to help decorate. How wonderful it would be to wake up every morning to a picture of you looking like a horse clown. A clowny horse. A clorse, of course! Thank you Wal-Mart for printing a poster-sized pic of my precious Michael. You should have seen his face when I opened the door to a life-sized pic of him on his beautiful green accent wall. Priceless, I tell you.

As to not mar this recently painted wall, he decided to move himself to his door:

Yup. Best $22 I have ever spent.

Today’s symptoms: I wasn’t able to sleep to well the last few nights. Last night was thankfully better so I felt decent today. I have been dealing with what seems like nerve pain in my legs lately. It’s getting kinda annoying. I’m hopeful it decides not to linger, because I don’t have time for that silliness. Other than the normal headaches, all seems good and stable. I’ll take that!

After doing some work on the gardens today, I came upon a rather pleasant symbol of being a happy and proud Canadian:

I reattached the limbs of my classy house number sign. I don’t think there will be any amputations during the upcoming skanky weather. I should get him a little hat and scarf….

Our neighbour’s kitty (caring for a stray), often comes to visit. I think her and Pinky are the best buds out of all of them:

Pinky and Mya are good buds too. Well, Mya’s main concern is soft, squishy warmth. Can’t get much softer, squishier or warmer than ol’ fat and adorable Pinky. However, I have no words for this:

I think I have everything pretty much ready for Fall. There’s really nothing out back, besides our deck. No shed, no Japanese Maple, no Rose of Sharons, no lilies. Everything was lost in the fire. Sad, but right now I’m just so thankful I had that flame thrower. I won’t be running face-first into this fella’s web again:

I went for a solo flight recently. It was a nice, warmish but bumpy day, which I love when flying alone. I did some aerobatics, flew over Niagara Falls, flew over a friend’s house, checked my mother’s gutters, checked out downtown St. Catharines then landed back at CYSN. It was interesting to see how far along the building and facilities are for the 2022 Canada Games at Brock University.

After my flight, I completed the arduous task of decorating the house for Halloween. It was quite a struggle to get every single decoration in one picture, but cameras these days can do some amazing things:

Halloween is my youngest daughter’s 12th birthday! Little Abigail McGillicutty Murphy really turned into an awesome cat with such a loving personality:

I came downstairs the other morning to Mike sitting on the couch with his now empty cereal bowl. He looked rather downtrodden. I asked him what was wrong and he said that his whole bowl of Loads of Raisins (President’s Choice brand) only had one raisin. This brand and also the Giant Tiger Raisin Bran, have around 40% raisins. I said that he must have forgotten to shake them, since it was a new bag. He said he did, which I’ve seen him do many times before and he’s very thorough! We figured he must have got a defective box. I then walked into the kitchen and grabbed the bag of raisins that I took out of the box a couple days before:

Tee hee! Poor Mike.

Today’s symptoms: I didn’t have the best weekend symptom-wise, but I expected that was going to happen. The last couple of weeks have been super busy at work and somewhat stressful. At least I had an extra day to recover, thanks to Thanksgiving. One more week for this project and things should be back to normal. It’s been totally worth it though, as I’ve been really enjoying it.

For the last few years, my New Year’s Resolution is to only swear a maximum of three times a day. While painting my room over the last week, I have sworn for the following reasons:

• The width of the paint tray was a few millimeters too small for the roller
• There were no pockets on my shorts for my phone
• The paint went on super bright and I freaked out for a few minutes
• Stubbed my toe multiple times
• Did not let the paint dry enough between coats
• Had to pee more often than I thought was necessary
• The part of the roller that screws into the extendo-reach is broken so I had to tape it together multiple times
• Sneezed:

• Ran out of Glad Press n’ Seal and I don’t even know if they make it anymore (It is perfect for sealing paint-soaked brushes and rollers overnight)
• I got a bran flake on the wall I just painted
• The ladder I was using was extremely unstable
• The second paint tray I tried when I switched colours was also a tad too small 
• Forgot the next day that the tray I used to previous day was too small
• Touched paint to the carpet (It was a tough lesson that appears to be ongoing)
• Dropped the brush
• Dropped the roller
• Dropped the foam thingies
• Dropped the paint stir stick
• Dropped the paint-soiled paper towel
• Imperfect lines
• Stepped on the paint can lid
• Almost ripped my toenail off
• Distracted by kitties (cuteness distraction)
• A fly landed in the paint (poor little fella)
• Poor lighting
• The sun in my eyes
• Paint splooshed onto the bed

I’m quite sure the list could continue but I’ll leave it at that. I feel bad about the slip ups, but I’ll go back to being less of a potty mouth when I’m finished painting.

Today’s symptoms: I’ve been feeling somewhat decent the last few days. I’ve been sleeping better than normal which always helps. However, the pains in my hands have been worse than usual and the headaches are still pounding away. Tomorrow is a new day and a chance for feeling better.

Since little Mya has less than half her teeth plus she’s very skinny, I feed her wet food 6-10 times a day. Apparently I’ve been taking too long to get her food ready and she decided to meow orders at me to speed things up:

The pressure’s on! After chowing down her noms, she grabbed my phone for selfies while I was cleaning up:

This silliness was followed by her snuggling up with her brother, Peanut:

I asked Abby if she was interested in snuggling with him, but this look said it all:

I had Wednesday off and my little mother came for a visit. I asked my neighbour if I could borrow their ladder. She kindly agreed and Jan and I brought it over to our shed. There was a pile of what looked like llama poop on the roof of our shed. I was really getting tired of looking at it. Also, the ivy was growing up onto the roof, so that had to go as well:

I came across this adorable praying mantis, trying to help me out with the ivy:

After doing this, returning the ladder and cleaning up a bit out back, we sauntered down to Sunset Beach. It wasn’t the clearest of days and fairly windy:

It was a good week. Mike and I took advantage of the Sherwin Williams 35% off sale and bought all of our paint to do most of the inside of the house. We’ll be busy this Fall.

Today’s symptoms: I’ve had a pretty bad headache for the last day and a half. There are things I would like to get done this weekend so it would be nice if said headache could bugger off! Although knowing me, I’ll still get things done, but it won’t be as enjoyable. Lots of pain in my hands as well, so that can join my headache when it goes elsewhere.

I had to take Vyctor to the airport in Welland today for his annual. I drove to the Niagara District Airport for just after 8:00 this morning. It was a very, nice calm flight. Here is what an empty PEN Centre looks like from above:

My landing in Welland was about thirteen minutes after take-off. My adorable, little mother met me at the airport so we could have a visit. We drove away as Vyctor was put in the stirrups for his inspection.

One of the goals for today was to chop her Janfro. Like the last time I cut her hair, I said “Oops” and “I have no clue what I’m doing” multiple times, but she I insisted I continue. I told her “It will grow back” and “You hardly go out anyway”. She was actually quite happy with how it came out! Cataracts, perhaps? Anyway, during the Janscaping, I got a text from my mechanic that my plane was good to go with a clean bill of health.

My mother (with her stylish new do) and I headed back to the Niagara Central Dorothy Rungeling Airport in Welland, to take a rather tired Vyctor (due to all the man-handling) back home. First step though was getting some fuel. Thanks for the pics, Frank!

• 

• 

The drive home was a far different story from the calm, peaceful and fun day I was having. I was about half way home, so roughly five minutes into the drive, when I was almost in a head-on collision. There was a long, steady string of vehicles coming in the opposite direction on the two lane road. Suddenly, a pick-up truck decided to pass the car in front of her, I guess to take about 2 seconds off of her drive. The problem was, I was far too close for her to safely make this idiotic and doltish maneuver. If I didn’t hit my brakes, we would have hit. Further up the road, the traffic in my direction came to a stop. I knew the bridge up ahead was up, but there was no way traffic could have been backed up that much. About fifteen minutes of creeping along and I could see why we were stopped. There was a police cruiser blocking the road and she was speaking to each driver.

Once I finally made it up to her, she asked me where I was going and then advised me to turn around at a parking lot up ahead. It was there where I saw the two car collision. The windshield was out of one of the vehicles. This was posted on NRP411:

This made me think of how many times I’ve heard people suggest how “unsafe flying is” and “my spouse won’t let me go up.” I have flown over 720 hours and have never had a close call, let alone an actual incident or accident. Meanwhile, I drive twelve minutes to the airport this morning and have the guy in front of me run a red light, roll through another and drive well over the speed limit. On the way home, I almost get hit head on and then pass a very serious two car collision. No, flying isn’t unsafe – the drive to the airport is!

Today’s symptoms: I slept well last night and actually had a really good day. My fatigue level was better than usual, but I did have a headache and bad nerve pain in my hands later on in the day. I’m sure after all the excitement today, plus know that Vyctor is healthy and fit to fly for another year, I will sleep well tonight.

I’m falling in love with gardening and have been searching for gardening tools. I needed something to weed between the paving stones out back. Found this hook knife at Home Depot and it works perfectly for this. It’s also great for general weeding as you can twist the knife to get the roots out. Thanks for joining me at Elizareviews!

I forgot to mention something in yesterday’s blog about our flight to Hanover on Sunday.  While we were nomming our amazing steak burgers, I noticed a cute little grasshopper hanging upside-down in a spider web.  I pulled him off and had to gently pick all of the web that was tangled around him.  Little Gomer was able to frolic around for another day!

Here is a link to some great pictures taken at the Hanover fly-in.

Today’s symptoms: I felt quite good and loved every minute of it! Paws crossed it lasts!

Due to the current situation, Mike and I have only been flying around locally.  We often like to fly to different airports for breakfast or pilot gatherings.  During the decent weather, there are many fly-ins we enjoy attending.  Today, we joined the Trillium Flyers up at the Hanover (Saugeen Municipal) Airport for a steak on a bun lunch and fundraiser for Hope Air.  Despite the clouds, it was a smooth ride there….ahhhhhh…..

When we were about thirty minutes away from the airport, we switched over to their frequency.  We couldn’t believe the amount of traffic landing there.  They wanted people there by 11:15 and at the rate I was going, we were going to be there around 11:05.  I slowed down a bit so we would arrive a bit closer to 11:15, and hopefully the traffic would die down by then.  It worked perfectly.  Once we were over Hanover, there were no other planes calling in.  It’s always fun to land with a bunch of planes in the circuit, but it was nice not to have to worry about a flock of planes ahead of and behind me.

We parked and got Vyctor all snuggly in a parking spot:

We ran into a few people we knew, which was really nice. Most folks were wearing masks and trying to stay safe.  Once food was ready, we sauntered over to the line, to claim a delicious steak on a bun.  It was cooked perfectly – tres delicious!

The weather was perfect, with a nice cool breeze.  This certainly helped with the amazing turnout for this event:

I’m so happy to have learned about this group of enthusiastic pilots, so hopefully we can attend more of their events soon.

The flight home was nice.  We passed over the rather busy IKEA and Mapleview Mall in Burlington:

Next, we were coming in over downtown St. Catharines, to land at the Niagara District Airport, which you can see just past the Welland Canal:

Once home, we decided to work on some house stuff.  I have a suggestion for anyone considering getting Sphynx cats – make sure you buy a good carpet cleaner!  Despite washing them at least once a week, they still manage to leave brown grease spots on the carpets.  Mya stayed close to the warm air, venting from the machine:

It felt good to be productive, as there is still so much we want to do with the house.  We were supposed to order our paint for the basement, but it seems everything else got in the way.  There’s always tomorrow.

Today’s symptoms:  This past week wasn’t the best.  I felt really run down, drained and just overall blah.  Things started to improve on Friday and I was so relieved to be feeling better today.  I’m glad we didn’t have to cancel our flight for today.  Now I just need it to stay this way!

Mike, me and a slew of other people decided to take advantage of the perfect weather this morning and go for a flight.  Perfect day for students due to the lack of wind:

When I fly by myself, I always like a nice windy, bumpy ride, but I prefer it as calm as possible when I have passengers.

We traveled along the Welland Canal as we headed south to Lake Erie:

The beaches were quite active along the Lake Erie shoreline.  Buffalo, NY was straight ahead of us, before we made a 90 degree turn to the north.  It’s still so weird to see the almost empty bridges between Canada and the US.  Here is customs at the Peace Bridge:

We did a low and over at my aviation mechanic’s private grass strip:

The Niagara Outlet Mall was fairly busy.  I won’t be going to a mall until everything is back to “normal” and I’m not sure what the rules are around them:

No aerobatics today.  As we were coming back to the Niagara District Airport (CYSN), I questioned Mike if I should land shiny side up or down?

Fortunately, I figured it out by the time I was on final.  Once landed, we gracefully taxied back to the apron to park.

Back home, I decided to do some gardening.  I met this little fella, whom I named Murray the Mantis:

Isn’t he cute?

I wanted to keep him as a pet, but decided he would be happier in his natural habitat.

I’m sure the kitties would have had no issue with him.  They are all so gentle with their little brother, Peanut:

They’re more interested in their treat dispensing mouse:

Today’s symptoms: I felt quite good.  I did too much gardening last weekend (in the heat, too) and paid the price for three days.  More fatigued, bad headaches and all the other MS symptoms were worse.  This typically happens when I push myself too much physically, but sometimes it’s worth it.  When I’m feeling good, I want to take advantage of every second, even if that means I’ll feel cruddy for the following few days.  This disease is so unpredictable – I can totally relax all day then have a good night but still wake up feeling horrible.  That’s why I’m so grateful for my decent days and try to utilize every drop of energy I have.

Stay safe and positive!

 

After almost a year of trying, I finally made it to Edenvale (just west of Collingwood)!  I was feeling quite good when I woke up, after a good night.  I couldn’t believe how clear the weather was – perfect!  Jan and I headed to the airport around 8:30.  During my walk-around, I had to remove something:

It was a really smooth flight, which is the only kind my little mother likes.  We arrived at the Edenvale Airport after an hour and ten minute flight:

Coming over the trees just ahead of the runway is always fun (not for Mike though)!

The hangar where I was to meet up with the Edenvale Classic Aircraft directors was easy to find and looked quite welcoming:

We had a really nice, relaxing chat with everyone.  I was so happy to see the framed print of the Tiger Moth I won last year.  I also perused their library and signed out a book.  It’s nice to have a reason to go back:

Someone came in while we were chatting and said that he booked a tour of the Avro Arrow.  I saw it previously in Downsview during a fly-in and also last year in Edenvale.  My little mother hadn’t yet seen this amazing piece of history.  We joined them on the tour – such great timing!

It’s so amazing to see in person.  Just when you thought my little mother couldn’t look any tinier.

Seeing the Avro Arrow is a must if you’re ever up that way.  You just need to call and book a tour.

Back at Vyctor, I posed like a dork with my nice new pic, then got him ready to rock home:

On the way up we took the Brampton route, so flew west of Toronto.  I decided on the way back, since there isn’t much air traffic right now, to pass right over the city.  The Air Traffic Controller was good with my idea and cleared me through.

The Island Airport, like Pearson, certainly wasn’t very busy today:

LifeFlight flew under us, about 1000′ lower:

If your’re wondering, I think the newish Costco out in Stoney Creek is just as busy as the St. Catharines one now.  Yikes!:

The flight was perfect and I’m so glad that wee Jan was able to join me.  Now I just have a book to read so we can return is to Edenvale.  It’s nice to have an excuse to go back.

Today’s symptoms:  I felt quite good this morning after a restful sleep.  As always after a flight, I’m quite drained and achy now.  Experiences like what I had today are worth every second of feeling cruddy afterwards.  I’ll chill tomorrow and hopefully feel good again on the weekend.  At least I’ll be going to bed tonight with a big smile on my face.

I won a Tiger Moth framed print at the Edenvale Gathering of Classics last year. Ironically it’s of a Tiger Moth, which I had the privilege to fly a couple weeks prior. Thanks again, Paul!

Either my health or weather has caused me not to be able to fly back and pick it up. We were so close last September when my mother and I participated in the 99’s Gold Cup Air Rally. Maybe a five minute flight away. Unfortunately it was a good time for the Edenvale Classic Aircraft folks. So, symptoms and weather permitting, Jan and I will fly there tomorrow to pick it up. Things are looking good so paws crossed it stays that way!

Mike and I had a nice local flight last weekend. We toured the beaches along Lakes Erie and Ontario. Then met up with the glorious Lancaster, as they circled around Niagara Falls. The Lanc pilot and I know each other, so he gave a nice greeting over the radio, then exited the circuit just before we entered it.

Always a nice sight.  We traveled around the Niagara Falls scenic circuit to check out how things are going with the current restrictions.  

It was nice to see the distancing on the Maid of the Mist.  During our previous flight over the Falls, the US boat was packed and ours was sparse.  Only six people allowed in the previous phase, but I think they’re limiting ours to around 50 people now. 

 

Certainly more people today then there were a few weeks ago:

As we have been doing for the last few flights, we checked out how packed the local beaches were:

And finally:

Great flight and I’m so grateful I’m able to safely get out while dealing with the current situation.

Fill him up!  Need to be all fueled and ready to rock tomorrow!

We came home to three of the four cats enjoying the weather as well:

Our little friend from next door (Amber), looking somewhat intrigued: 

I made sure I have my pitot static tube cover for tomorrow:

Keeping it classy, folks!

Today’s symptoms: I actually had a pretty good day symptom-wise, following two not so good ones.  I even took a little vacation this afternoon and did some work out in the gardens.  If I feel like this tomorrow and the weather is perfect, I’ll be over the moon!  Well, at least a little bit closer to it.  🙂