5C's Que Pasa

The night before Colin left for Winnipeg he received an email of a video taken by the helicopter pilot that he flew with in Vancouver on Tuesday.  It seems that the pilot is now filming his day with short clips.  Colin is in it for a short segment but mentioned a few times.  It is an interesting seven minute video in that you will see some beautiful areas of BC from a helicopter.  I really like the colors of the helicopters.

Mischa, the pilot, just got back on August 7th from a 97 day trip around the world in his helicopter. This is what he wrote on the final day of their journey.

This was a comment on Mischa’s round the world blog.  It gives a brief description of the highlights of the trip.   Yes I know the type is small but I can’t change it.

Should you have the time and are interested in this fascinating journey please start below for Day 1 of the Epic World Tour. A true reality flying video.  I do know that Colin is in great hands flying with this guy.

I have only watched a tiny bit but it is fascinating.  Adventures galore.

Colin has had a great day with his Mom.  She always seems to perk up when he gets there.  She had told him last week that she did not want to go out, she had no energy, her arthritis was bothering her, etc.  When he got there she was dressed to the nines and ready to go out.  She always says that she has no appetite but so far she has eaten huge plates of food at each restaurant they have gone to.  Yup, nursing home food is boring, mostly it is on a three week rotation.   I think that just getting out and driving around the city and seeing new things is mentally stimulating and so good for her.

Taken just before they went out yesterday afternoon.

Before Colin left he bought a half size guitar which will now be his travel guitar when we fly somewhere.  It was hard on him having nothing to do on our last trip as I was on the computer doing blog posts and he had no computer nor an instrument.  So the plan is one checked bag, one carry on ( guitar ) and a personal item.  He is trying it out this trip and thinks that it will be just fine to keep his fingers in shape.  Westjet actually let him take both the guitar and his roll aboard carry on with no issues.  Should we have a problem in Europe he will simply leave the guitar there.

He was playing around with the guitar when Mommio started to sing in Polish.  He figured out the chords to her song and then they called me and played and sang for me.  Afterwards he did a video.  With his permission, here is the video.  What a wonderful memory for him.  About half way through she switches to English and is composing words in a poem to the music.  If you turn up the volume you will here her say not once but twice that she is still young 🙂   104 years young.

I had a wee bit of sunset last night.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a surprise regarding Colin and the helicopter flight he did this last Tuesday.

At the ungodly hour of 4:45AM I drove and dropped Colin off at YLW, the Kelowna airport.  He was in a helicopter in Vancouver on Tuesday and now on Thursday he is in a 737 flying to Winnipeg, with a connection in Calgary, to see Mommio ( as we call his Mom ).

I did not go back to bed and so when I heard a plane around 6:10AM I suspected that it might be his flight and fortunately was able grab this photo.  He told me that the plane did actually fly over our house.  Very cool that I got that shot.

Bonus for me, I got to see a sunrise, not a normal event in my life.

This is what it really looked like, no Photoshop, which I have no idea how to do.

Can you see the sun’s rays coming through?

So while Colin was spending time with Mommio I was partially working on getting lists ready for our trip to Mexico.  I realized that I can’t get our Mexican insurance until we fully insure the RV which won’t happen until a few days before we leave.  We have the Aviva storage insurance but not the ICBC ( provincial ) insurance and they need that information to complete the Mexican insurance.  Just another last minute item to add to that list.  I might have also taken a few hours off earlier this morning for me but please don’t tell you know who 😎   Actually Colin worked on both flights and in the lounge on editing all his photos from Tuesday.  Not completed but a good amount of work done.  Yes he spent his layover time in the lounge in Calgary where he got coffee, muffins and fruit, etc.  All part of our new Visa cards that have 0% foreign exchange.  We get six business lounge passes per year and we won’t be using any before June when he gets another six  ( it is an annual thing ) so I told him to just go and enjoy the relaxing ambiance.  Actually, we each have six passes per year so between us a total of twelve passes.  Colin’s card is our new personal Visa and the one in my name is being used as our company credit card.  Another perk is that we each get a supplemental card for each others card at no additional charge.  The cost of the lounge passes exceeds the annual Visa fee.  You all know how I have come to love business lounges so this is a perfect new credit card for us, not to mention that we are also accumulating points that we can use on any flight, hotel ( even Airbnb ) or car rental that we choose.  Definitely the perfect credit card for us.

Just now, I got a quick call from Colin, he was playing his guitar and Mommio ( who will be 104 in one month ) was singing a song in Polish.  What fun for them :-D.  This is the first time I have ever heard Mommio sing 😆

I was on my way into Kelowna to run a few errands and then end with a calming massage.  Trying to work the kinks out of my neck and shoulders after all those hours on the computer doing research.   I allowed double the time I needed to get to my 1PM appointment so that I could get those errands done,  such as buying batteries for  items in the RV and my Fitbit  as well as getting some extra ink for the printer.  I had already run five errands here in Lake Country ( including a wine stop ) 😛

Instead I sat in standstill traffic for over 30 minutes.  When I finally got to the intersection ( which was the  airport intersection ) there was no sign of an accident.  So when I saw this photo on the online news earlier I went oh yeah!!!  Wow that motorcycle is totally upside down.  No further details at this point but it does not look good.

So I did get to my appointment right on the dot of 1:00PM.  When I was asked how I was feeling, the answer was stressed 😯   Happy to say that I am no longer stressed.  Despite driving the Jeep today as Colin had taken my car in for an oil change and dealing with rain ( my umbrella was in the Lexus ) and the accident I managed quite well.  FYI I don’t like driving the Jeep but I expect that I will get used to it over the next six months.

Well it is official, it was announced today that 2018 is the worst fire season ever here in British Columbia.

The forecast tonight is for thundershowers.  Despite the ominous looking clouds, lets hope that it does not happen.  Enough is enough.

We had two herons visit the other morning.

So very fortunate to see them both here and on the Isla. Which is why a heron is the focus of our stained glass window in the bathroom here in our home.  Both of these heron photos were taken through the window.

I am sure that Dee will recall my closed toe shoe problem, as she tried so hard to come up with solutions for me and my claustraphobic feet, as did mi amiga Suzanne.  Well I took my Mephisto runners in for a second stretching and asked them to leave the shoes on the stretcher for a week.  I wore them for two hours before I brought them in so that I could show them exactly where the stretching needed to be done.  I am amazed that it has actually worked ( thus far ).  I have worn them for a good part of the day and I am not feeling like I have to tear my shoes off.  Oh and I also got a pair of very thin socks.  I’m happy, my feet not so much but they will survive :-D. I really need some closed toe shoes for a few outings in October.  If I survive those then I might consider bringing them on our European vacation next spring.

It took me much longer than expected ( I started in June ) but I finally went through my entire wardrobe.  I have lost so much weight in the last year that it was time to cull my closet.  Plus my style has changed in the last two years and it was time to move on.  This is 1/5th of what I have gathered to be donated to Good Will or wherever Colin drops them off to.  There are close to 50 extra hangers from this pile alone.  Yeah me!

Our mountain ash is slowly growing.  It was planted May 4th of 2017 and it really has grown.

We did research the type of Mountain Ash that we wanted.  Orange in not my favorite color which is the usual color of the Mountain Ash berry.  But we found one with red berries.  One day when we can no longer RV and are here for the winter,  I will be able to watch the birds on the snowy branches eating the colorful berries.  I anticipate that the tree will be much larger by then 🙂

Colin spent Sunday working at getting ready for us to leave September 27th.  He reorganized all of the RV basements and loaded some things into the RV and has the heaters ready to bring into the house.  The tow bar is sitting ready to be mounted on the Jeep.  If he is isn’t working, he is getting ready to leave.

About 4:15AM this morning Colin left to drive to Vancouver.  Based on forecasts and the helicopter being available he was finally going to do the aerial photography that we have waited weeks for a clear day.  For the most part it went well, but clouds came in plus air traffic control made them land and wait for an hour before being allowed into the air space for the much needed final photos.  Colin knows that he didn’t get the full job done but what can you do?

It was blue sky this morning but totally clouded in by 3PM.  He should be home by 10PM tonight.  A very long day for my hubby.

I awoke early ( difficult to fall asleep again after Colin left ) this morning to cool temperatures  ( I actually turned on a heater near my desk ) and clouds which persisted for most of the day.  By noon it had warmed up but it appeared to me that we were slowly being smoked in yet again.  The weather forecasters called it haze, nope, it was smoke.  The smell was not too bad but it was in the air.  He won’t be back until about 10PM.  Long day indeed.

I think that I am going to take a full glass of very nice vino into the tub for an hour or so and read a good book to pass the time.  Being as I am on my own I just might dine on Tostitos Rounds accompanied by a Trader Joe’s Spicy, Smoky ( appropriate I say ) Peach Salsa.  Totally yummy 😛

Okay, now I just have to rip the shoes off my feet, they are screaming at me.

Hasta manana.