Travel

The interesting and the bizarre

/ edebock / 3 Comments

We spent most of the past two days on the road driving 1169 kilometres across the Canadian prairie from our home in Alberta to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Originally, we’d planned on doing the entire trip in one very long day but we decided that that would be foolish. After all, we’re retired. We have plenty of time and besides, there are geocaches to be found… lots of them!

We’ve discovered that geocaching gives us reason to stop and look at things that we might otherwise cruise right by. Some are interesting, others quite bizarre.

As many of you know, I love bits from the past. This wagon was no exception. A geocache was hidden nearby.

I love farm machinery too, especially combines, but what about one perched high in the sky? Yes, that’s a full sized combine way up there! It kind of reminded me of a giant insect!

The world’s largest bunnock had to be the most bizarre, however! What’s a bunnock, you ask?

Apparently Bunnock, also known as Glockenspiel or the Game of Bones, was created by Russian soldiers to pass the time while they were stationed in Siberia during the early 19th century. Bunnock was brought to Canada sometime in the early 20th century by Russian and German immigrants, many of whom settled in the province of Saskatchewan. The game pieces were made of horses’ anklebones, something the soldiers apparently had an abundance of! Players set up two parallel rows of bones, each row consisting of two guards and twenty bones. Two teams of four throwers each face off against one another. The object of the game is to knock down the other team’s bones beginning with the guards. The team that knocks down the opposition’s bones first, with the least number of throws, is declared the winner. Apparently the game became highly popular in and around the small town of Macklin, Saskatchewan, now the location of the world’s largest Bunnock. At 32 feet (9.8 m) high, the  giant anklebone constructed of steel pipes, chicken wire and fibreglass also acts as the town’s tourist information booth and yes, there is a geocache hidden close by.

As we crossed the prairies, stopping to view these and other unusual sights along the way, we found 20 geocaches. There are many more waiting to be found on our homeward journey next week!

The job jar

/ edebock / 4 Comments

I’ve taken on the daunting task of cleaning and reorganizing our basement storage room this week. It doesn’t happen very often and when it does, I’m always reminded how abundantly blessed we are. There are so many families in this world who live in less space than that 180 square foot storage room and who, even in their wildest dreams, couldn’t imagine owning enough stuff to fill it!

While I was down there this evening sorting through everything from gift wrap to sleeping bags and luggage, I was thinking that it was time to write another blog post and wondering what it should be about. Suddenly, there it was… the job jar! Why in the world had I ever kept that thing? Obviously, it must have been so that I could blog about it! My kids are definitely going to roll their eyes when they see this one!

The job jar came into existence in 1992. That spring, Matthew was 12, Melaina 8 and Nathan 7. Though being a mom was always my first priority, I’d been back in the classroom teaching approximately half time for the three years since Nathan had entered kindergarten. As plans were being made for the following school year, I was offered a significant increase in teaching time. If I accepted, I’d be working almost full time. When I thought about all the lesson planning, marking and reporting that would be involved, I wasn’t sure how I’d balance that with the demands of a busy family. Richard and I talked it over, decided that I should accept the position and then called a family meeting.

Family meetings weren’t part of our normal routine so the kids knew that something big was up. We gave them a choice. Since I wasn’t going to have time to do everything that I’d been doing around the house, we could either spend some of the extra money that I’d be earning to hire a housekeeper or we could all chip in and do the housework together, save the money and spend it on a trip to Disneyland the following summer. The vote was unanimous; Disneyland, of course!

We decided that we’d clean house every Saturday morning. The next question was how to divide the labour to ensure that everything got done reasonably well and that no one got stuck doing the same mundane tasks week after week. The job jar was Nathan’s idea. Even at seven, he was a creative thinker and a problem solver. Put the jobs you want us to do in a jar, he suggested, and we’ll do whichever ones we pull out.

That’s exactly what we did. Since there were five of us, ten jobs went into the jar; five easier ones and five more challenging ones. Every Saturday morning, everyone pulled one from each category out of the jar and got to work. The only rule was that the chores had to be completed by noon. Of course there were times when we had to make exceptions because someone had hockey or another activity that morning.

For the system to work, Richard and I also had to be willing to adjust our standards. We didn’t put up with sloppy work but obviously we couldn’t expect a 7 or 8 year old to do the same job we might do. If the bathroom didn’t get cleaned quite as thoroughly when it was a child’s turn, that was okay. The next time one of us might pull that job. An added benefit was the fact that all three of our children learned how to keep house at an early age!

So what were the jobs that went into the old Mason jar? The easier jobs included

  • Dust the livingroom
  • Clean the small bathroom (actually a half bathroom)
  • Tidy the basement playroom and empty the garbage cans
  • Wipe the walls in the porch, kitchen, livingroom, hall and bathrooms (just fingerprints and scuff marks)
  • Wash the breakfast dishes
The more difficult tasks were
  • Vacuum the livingroom, hall and bedrooms
  • Clean the main bathroom
  • Tidy the porch and sweep the kitchen, porch and stairs
  • Wash the kitchen floor, the porch and the stairs
  • Sweep and wash the bathroom floors

Things went smoothly and there were very few complaints until one point when we all began to notice that Melaina, an early riser, was doing the same jobs every Saturday. At first, we were proud of her for getting up and getting starting on her chores while the rest of us were still rubbing the sleep out of our eyes but we weren’t quite so happy when we realized that she was going through the job jar and picking out the chores she liked best!  All in all, though, the venture was a huge success.

The summer of 1993 became much more than just a trip to Disneyland. We started by driving out to Vancouver for my brother’s wedding on the 3rd of July. Following that, a six week road trip with the tent trailer in tow took us down the Pacific coast all the way to San Diego where we made a day trip across the Mexican border to Tijuana, then across the desert to Pheonix, Arizona, north to the Grand Canyon, and eventually all the way back to Alberta. In addition to Disneyland, we toured Universal Studios and the San Diego zoo, walked the streets of Hollywood and the beaches of the Oregon Coast, hiked the red rock canyons of Utah and experienced so much more!

And what happened to the job jar when the journey was done? By that time, it had become such a part of our family routine that regardless of how many hours I taught it continued in use until the kids left home! Only then did it find it’s way to the storage room shelf!

Cross Canada tractor trek

/ edebock / 1 Comment

photo credit

The source of information for western Canadian farmers for the past 89 years has been the weekly farm paper, The Western Producer. Every now and then, our farmer friend, Louis, passes his copy of the paper on to us when he finishes with it. Often there’s a specific article that he wants us to read, usually related to some topic that has come up when we’ve been working for him. Occasionally, however, he simply tells me “I think there’s something in this one that you’ll enjoy.” He knows me well and he’s usually right. Most of the time, I can figure out which article he’s referring to but this time I’m not quite sure. The latest issue has several possibilities but if he thought that the one entitled Immigrant farmer takes long way to farm would catch my fancy, he was absolutely right! It might be the gypsy in me but the story of Eduard Bomers has definitely captivated me.

Several years ago, Bomers, a Dutch dairy farmer, decided that he wanted to leave that profession and try his hand at grain farming. Dairy farming is a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year commitment. He wanted more out of life than that and so began the transition. He put his dairy farm in the Netherlands up for sale and set his sights on buying land on the Canadian prairie. He visited Alberta in 2008 then spent last year working on a Saskatchewan grain farm to gain experience. Last month, he took possession of his new farm near Sheho in southeastern Saskatchewan.

A century ago, western Canada was populated by European farmers looking for new beginnings. What makes this one any different? The adventure of a lifetime, that’s what!

Last month Bomers returned to his home at Eesveen in the Netherlands, packed his household belongings into a trailer, hitched it to his Fendt 936 tractor and set off for the port city of Antwerp, Belgium a long day’s journey away. There the tractor and trailer were loaded onto a ship destined for Halifax, Nova Scotia. After some delay, the ship docked in Halifax the day before yesterday. In the meantime, Eduard had flown back to Saskatchewan and driven his pick-up truck over 4000 km to Halifax picking up his friend, Jakob, on the way.

Early yesterday afternoon, the tractor and trailer were released from customs and an amazing cross Canada trek began! Yes, while Jakob drives the pick-up back to Saskatchewan, Eduard will make the trip behind the wheel of his Fendt tractor! What an audacious undertaking! Some might think he’s crazy but I think the world needs a few more people like Eduard Bomers! Why not join me as I follow the Boer on Toer here!

The worst and the best

/ edebock / 6 Comments

I’ve experienced the worst and the best of Alberta winter in less than 24 hours!

😦  The Worst

Winter travel in this part of the world is always unpredictable and yes, whether we like it or not, March is still winter here in Alberta! This year we’ve had so little snow that we haven’t had to worry about the roads the way we usually do but last night made up for that.

Richard had a medical appointment in Edmonton yesterday. The drive up to the city in the morning was uneventful and after his appointment, we spent the afternoon shopping at West Edmonton Mall. We were totally oblivious to what was happening outside. It wasn’t until we left the mall to meet Nathan for supper that we realized that the weather had become, to use Nathan’s word, stinky!

The trip home, which would normally take two hours, took over three and it was white knuckles all the way! I’m so glad that Richard was driving, not me. I don’t think he ever went more than 70 km/hour (for my American friend’s, that’s about 44 miles/hour) and much of the time we were going slower than that. The highway was a sheet of ice and for the last 50 km we were also driving through blowing snow. I’m amazed that we didn’t see any vehicles in the ditch along the way. I guess everyone else was being just as careful as we were. When we finally made it home, the driveway was full of drifts but we were never happier to be here!

🙂  The Best

Back in November when I blogged about the things I like best about winter, one of the things I mentioned was cross country skiing. This year, because of the lack of snow, my skis hadn’t been out of the shed all season. It was beginning to look like it they weren’t going to make it out at all but the snow kept falling after we went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning I knew that this was the day! I wasn’t sure how my still recovering toe would feel about being stuffed into a ski boot and put to work but it didn’t complain at all! That bodes well for hiking when spring finally comes.

As long as I can remember, I’ve loved being the first one to leave my footprints on fresh fallen snow. Imagine my delight at having an entire golf course of new snow laid out before me this afternoon! With the bright sun shining overhead as I set out to break a trail, the snow sparkled before me like a million diamonds. The temperature was just a few degrees below zero (celsius); cold enough to keep the snow crisp and dry but very comfortable for skiing. I’d love to get out on my skis a few more times before the snow melts away but if I don’t, at least I’ve had this one perfect afternoon!

Before

and after!

Costa Rica postscript

/ edebock / 4 Comments

Can it possibly be over a month since we returned from Costa Rica? Granted, even with its extra day, February was the shortest month of the year but still, where did it go?

Back in November when we booked our vacation, I noticed an optional $10 per person “help fix our school” charge on the invoice. Considering the amount that we were spending for a fairly luxurious holiday, that seemed little enough to give back to the people of our host country so I paid the amount in full. I couldn’t help wondering about that school though. I emailed our travel agent and asked her if it was located in or near one of the communities that we’d be visiting and if so, whether it would be possible or appropriate for us to take some school supplies with us that we could donate.

“It is absolutely possible and appropriate — and so refreshing, you’d be surprised by the number of people who complain about that $10 and don’t want to donate even that,” she told us. She went on to tell us that the school is located just a few minutes off the main road in La Fortuna and that if we wanted, someone from the tour company that would be providing our zipline and waterfall tours would take us there. We decided that that would be a good idea since we don’t speak Spanish and might have a difficult time explaining why we were there if we went on our own.

We always travel light. In fact, we didn’t even take the full allowable amount of baggage when we flew to Japan to teach for a year. Taking an extra backpack on this trip would be no problem at all. I found a bright red almost new one at our local thrift store. I think it cost me a dollar!

Then began the fun of filling it. I didn’t keep track of how much we spent but most of our purchases were made at bargain stores like Dollarama so it really wasn’t a lot. First we bought the basics: pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, pencil crayons and glue sticks. Schools always need paper so in went a package of plain white photocopier paper and a couple of packages of multi-coloured construction paper. There was still space so we started to think of some of the fun things that teachers and children might use. A big bag of colourful balloons didn’t take up much room. Neither did a couple of packages of brightly coloured pipe cleaners. Little nooks and crannies were filled with packages of paper clips, elastic bands and post it notes. Last but not least, in went a small foam ball painted to look like a world globe. I even checked to make sure that Costa Rica and Canada were both clearly marked!

The red backpack flew as one of our carry-ons and travelled around the country with us until we reached La Fortuna. That’s when we learned that we wouldn’t be able to visit the school after all! We had arrived at vacation time. The children wouldn’t be back in school until late February but Ericka from Sunset Tours met us at our hotel, took custody of the backpack and promised to deliver it for us. Today an email arrived with these pictures!

   

Education is valued in Costa Rica and the literacy rate is high but like much of the infrastructure, the school system has been in a slow and steady state of decay for decades. Poverty isn’t as rampant as it is in many parts of the world but the gap between the rich and the poor has been widening for years. Tourism has become one of the country’s major sources of income and we were more than happy to be able to share with the school children of La Fortuna just a bit of what we’ve been blessed with.

Photos by Ericka Chavarria

We’ve been to Houston!

/ edebock / 6 Comments

If you’ve only been to a city’s airport, can you really say that you’ve been to that city? I don’t think so but if you’ve stayed overnight, then I think you can. Though it was unexpected, we can now legitimately say that we’ve been to Houston, Texas!

On our recent trip to Costa Rica we were reminded of yet another advantage to being retired. When our homeward journey took 24 hours longer than planned, there was no reason to panic, no boss to call, and no substitute teacher plans to make and email or dictate over the telephone! An unexpected night in a Houston hotel wasn’t the big deal that it might have been if we’d still been working.

The delay was also a reminder of how dependant we are on computers to do the things that were once done manually. Our problems began at the Liberia airport where the entire system was down and every passenger had to be processed the old-fashioned way with boarding passes and luggage tags all being written out by hand. They were only able to process us as far as Houston where we’d all have to check in again before boarding our next flight. We were still standing in line when the plane was supposed take off and once we were all onboard, we sat on the tarmac for another hour. No idea what that was about!

Since we had a quick connection to make in Houston, we were pretty sure before we left the ground that we wouldn’t make it. Almost everyone onboard was in the same predicament but the stewardesses told us not to worry. Apparently, there’d been a major storm in Houston that morning with downed trees and power lines all over the place. Numerous flights had been delayed or rerouted. Though the storm had passed by, your planes might still be there when you arrive, they told us.

By this time, we were very hungry. We’d eaten breakfast at 6:30 a.m. before driving three hours to get to the airport. We’d left ourselves plenty of time to buy lunch before boarding the plane but that time had been eaten up standing in line. By now, it was well past lunch time. Gone are the days when airlines actually served meals at no additional cost but we can buy lunch on the plane, we thought. Not so! There were no meals onboard! We had to make do with a snack box. Trail mix and chocolate covered pretzels weren’t quite what we had in mind but they were better than nothing.

Sure enough, when we arrived in Houston, though it was already over an hour past it’s departure time, our flight to Edmonton was still on the ground. We had 25 minutes to catch it! 25 minutes to go through US immigration, claim our luggage, check in, go through security and make our way through the enormous airport to the right gate! Could it be done? We tried! We spoke up and were ushered to the head of the check-in line but there was no way to get through security quickly. When we finally reached the gate, the plane had just pulled away!

That led to another long slow line up as we waited to find out what the airline was going to do with us. Due to the storm, the airport was full of disgruntled, delayed passengers and many of them were in line with us! Though we were hungry, tired and disgruntled ourselves, we were determined to be pleasant. After all, the poor women behind the counter facing angry traveller after angry traveller weren’t at fault. When our turn finally came, Belinda treated us very well. We soon had vouchers for a hotel room and three meals each in hand. She even called to find out when the hotel shuttle would pick us up.

Park Inn on the northern outskirts of Houston was a lovely place to spend the night. Though it was almost 10:00 p.m. by the time we finally checked in, we were soon sitting down to a delicious and much appreciated buffet dinner in the hotel dining room.

In spite of the delay, the trip might have ended quite happily had it not been for baggage problems. Our suitcase spent the night at the airport as it would have taken 3 or 4 hours to get it back and, having had a premonition that such a delay might occur, I’d packed all we’d need for an overnight stay in our carry-on. The next day, when we boarded the plane, I sat down in my window seat, looked out and saw our suitcase sitting on the tarmac waiting to be loaded. Nice! Imagine my dismay, however, when I watched the baggage handlers reject it, load it onto a baggage cart and drive away with it! Alerting the stewardess and the captain did no good and we never did receive an explanation.

The suitcase arrived home three days after we did and somewhere along the line, it must have been used as a punching bag. My toiletries bag was a mess! The handle was broken off my hairbrush and a tube of lotion had been squished all over everything! I always pack a tiny container of powdered laundry soap so that I can wash things out by hand if necessary and that too had been broken open. Fortunately, it had been packed in one of the suitcase’s smallest compartments so the mess was somewhat contained.

Oh well, when I think of our trip to Costa Rica, these aren’t the things I’ll remember. No, I’ll remember beautiful beaches, zip-lining over the rainforest and swimming below a waterfall! And I’ll remember that we’ve been to Houston!

          

Driving in Costa Rica

/ edebock / 2 Comments

After reading our guidebook and talking with others who’d travelled to Costa Rica, we were a little nervous about picking up our cute little Hyundai Accent and setting off on our own.

“Renting a car in Costa Rica is no idle proposition. The roads are riddled with potholes, most rural intersections are unmarked, and for some reason, sitting behind the wheel of a car seems to turn peaceful Ticos into homicidal maniacs.” and “The awful road conditions throughout Costa Rica are legendary and deservedly so.” left us wondering what we might be up against but we decided to take our chances.

As it turns out, we had nothing to worry about. Granted, we chose well travelled routes. There are probably back roads that would have swallowed up our little sedan but all of the pavement that we travelled was in excellent condition and for the most part, well marked. It’s not quite like driving at home though. The roads are very narrow and lack the shoulders that we’re used to here in Alberta. For example, this is a typical section of the Interamerican or Pan-American highway that runs the entire length of Central America from Mexico to Panama.

Travel was slow compared to what we’re accustomed to with the maximum speed limit in Costa Rica being 80 km/hour. Whenever we reached a populated area which happened quite frequently, we had to slow to 60 or even 40 km/hour. Though the locals seemed to ignore these limits, we’d been warned that fines are steep and since tourists and rental cars are easy to spot, Richard was cautious and stayed within the legal limits.

Travel was even slower as we skirted the northern shore of Lake Arenal on our way to the volcano. Here the narrow road dipped and wound though the rainforest. Every once in awhile we came upon a little one lane bridge. Fortunately, right of way was always very clearly indicated and drivers were good about waiting their turn. It was on this highway that we saw what the guidebook meant when it talked about the Ticos’ homicidal tendencies. They seemed to think nothing of pulling out to pass on a blind curve! David, our guide on the La Fortuna waterfall hike, explained that until recently very few Costa Ricans owned a vehicle. There are lots of new, young drivers on the roads and in David’s words, many of them think that they’re Superman! Education is the key, he told us. In his opinion, present driver education is extremely lacking.

Coming from Alberta where highway signs clearly identify every little town, we found it odd to drive through many little communities that had no signs telling us where we were. Finding our way wasn’t particularly difficult, though. The kinds of places that we were looking for were fairly well marked and we only missed a turn and had to backtrack a couple of times.

Driving was definitely a good way to see the countryside and having the car made it easy to leave our hotels in search of interesting things to see and places to eat. We certainly wouldn’t hesitate to rent a car if we were to visit again nor would we, like the guidebook, discourage anyone else from doing so.

  

Rainforest!

/ edebock / 8 Comments

We explored the Costa Rican rainforest from every angle! The views from the back balcony of our little cabin were spectacular.

  

By far the most fun, however, was flying through the treetops on our zip-line canopy tour! I can now say with absolute certainty that I have overcome my fear of heights! It was an absolute blast and there wasn’t a moment of fear!  Securely fastened into our harnesses and attached to the cable by pulley, we wore thickly padded leather gloves on one hand to use as a brake as we approached each platform. Eleven cables ranging in length from 50 to 500 metres in length took us from platform to platform high in the treetops. Totally exhilarating! The only negative thing I can say is that it was over way too soon! If you haven’t tried zip-lining, I definitely suggest adding it to your bucket list! I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

We did our zip-lining at Hotel Los Lagos which was just down the road from where we were staying. Though the views from the cable were spectacular there really wasn’t time to pick out any wildlife hiding in the canopy. After the tour, however, we had full use of the Los Lagos grounds for the rest of the afternoon. That included soaking in their many hillside hotspring pools and exploring their gardens complete with a few rainforest animals. I wouldn’t have minded meeting this one in the wild

but I’m glad we didn’t come across this one on our next adventure!

The hike to La Fortuna waterfall was an easy one, one that we could have done on our own with no difficulty but a guided hike was part of our package. It was supposed to be a group hike but as it turned out, Richard and I were the group! No one else had signed up for that particular excursion so we had David all to ourselves and what a delight that was! Not only was he a very pleasant hiking companion but he was incredibly knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the rainforest as well as his country in general. With the aid of his sharp eye and ear, we saw all sorts of things that we might have walked right past without noticing… howler monkeys resting on a branch high above us, a mother sloth with her baby moving ever so slowly through the canopy, and a wide variety of birds including a brightly coloured toucan. All of these were too far away for me to capture them with my point and shoot camera but we enjoyed close-up views through David’s binoculars and though they’re not be recorded on film they’re definitely etched in memory.

  

   

The waterfall itself is a 70 metre ribbon of water plunging into an emerald pool below. We expected the water to be icy cold and while it was a bit chilly getting in, it really wasn’t unpleasant at all. Many swimmers have lost their lives by venturing too close to the cascading water and being pulled under by its force. I can certainly see why. Once we were in the water, the sheer magnitude and power of the falling water seemed to beckon us to draw closer but we wisely chose not to! Instead, after a short swim below the falls, we moved downstream to a quieter pool for a more leisurely swim.

Volcano!

/ edebock / 2 Comments

When we left the gorgeous beach of Playa Flamingo, our destination was Montana de Fuego resort at the foot of Costa Rica’s most active volcano. After laying dormant for hundreds of years, Mount Arenal suddenly erupted in July of 1968 wiping out the nearby village of Tabacon and killing nearly all of it’s 80 inhabitants. Since that time, frequent powerful explosions have continued to send cascades of red-hot lava down the volcano’s steep slopes.

Our guidebook warned us that Arenal borders a region of cloud forests and rainforests and that the volcano’s cone is often socked in by clouds and fog. We were prepared for the fact that we, like many visitors, might not actually get to see it. Imagine our delight when we spotted it from afar long before we actually reached our destination!

We continued to enjoy amazing views of the mountain as we rounded Lake Arenal, Costa Rica’s largest lake and the second largest in Central America. Though it may not be clear in the photo, from this viewpoint we could actually see smoke rising from the lava flows.

  

When we reached our destination, we settled into our cute little cabin where we enjoyed views of the volcano from our glass enclosed front porch. Every morning when we got up, it was shrouded in cloud but as the morning wore on, the mist rose and left most of the cone exposed. Unfortunately, cloud settled over it again each evening so we didn’t see it at night when it would have been most spectacular. Apparently on a clear night, the sky over Arenal turns red as glowing lava spews from the crater and red-hot rocks tumble down it’s flanks.

Arenal stands like a sentry over the small town of La Fortuna. Once only a tiny farming community, it has become a magnet for volcano watchers, adventure tourists and travellers from around the world. We enjoyed trying out a few of the town’s many restaurants and relaxing in it’s central plaza, a wonderful spot for people watching as well as volcano viewing!

  

 

 

It would take more than a broken toe to stop me!

/ edebock / 2 Comments

Our time by the ocean was over way too soon! I took the second photo just before my final plunge into the surf. Unfortunately, my left foot hasn’t looked the same since. Instead, it’s been an ever-changing kaleidoscope of black, blue and purple!

The tide was out further than it had been during our previous swims and unbeknownst to us, there were rocky outcroppings lurking beneath the water’s surface. While battling the waves on my way into the water, I jammed the toes of my left foot on one of them injuring again the same toe that I’d broken many years earlier. Thankfully, I’d packed some extra strength Ibuprofen gel caps in case I ended up with a migraine while we were away. I took one of those, prayed over my foot and determined that it wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying the more strenuous activities of hiking and zip lining that we had planned for the next few days. After all, I’d hiked to Delicate Arch in Utah’s Arches National Park on the same toe the last time I’d broken it!

Sometimes God must look down on my foolishness and decide to bless me anyway! In spite of the nasty colours that my foot was turning, I did indeed have three active days with nothing more than minor discomfort and I accomplished all that we had planned. It wasn’t until the trip home that the foot started to swell and became much more painful. I’m sure that the many hours we spent standing in line ups at airports and sitting on airplanes didn’t help. As I’ve mentioned before, the trip home was a long and grueling one including a 24 hour delay at Houston. By the time we returned to the enormous airport the second day, I’d had all the walking I could handle. We borrowed a wheelchair and Richard wheeled me around. When it was time to board the plane, an agent wheeled me down the ramp and we were the first onboard!

I spent our first morning home at the hospital waiting to see my doctor and having x-rays taken. He’s pretty sure that there’s a hairline crack in one of the tiny bones but we’re waiting for the radiologist’s report to confirm that. In any case, there’s not a lot to be done except to wait for healing to take place. In the meantime, I’m supposed to wear hard soled shoes all the time (I hate wearing shoes in the house!) and I’ll have to adapt my exercise program to accommodate. I guess there won’t be any long walks or time spent on the treadmill for awhile!