June 23, 2015

I’ve just got home from a wonderful Tuesday Ramble along part of the High Rim Trail to Wrinkly Park.  Sunday’s hike up to and along Ravine Edge was also very good.  Now we are all bracing ourselves for a week of serious heat in the Okanagan, so I might be staying out of the sun for a while.  Up to now the old system of windows open at night and blinds and windows shut all day has worked well, but I might have to try the air conditioning soon. 

Time is flying by.  I have had two good bike rides in the last while, one on the Galloping Goose in Victoria before I left and one on my birthday over the Myra Canyon and down the Kettle Valley Railway from Kelowna to Penticton.  The latter ride was approx. 80km.  The good news is that it’s a downhill run, but the bad news is that the mid section was on a trail that was dry and sandy, no work for the legs and lungs, but exhausting on the arms.  I had to grip the handlebars like grim death to keep my hybrid bike from tipping over.  The tension this created gave me a mildly painful cramp between the shoulder blades.  However, the first section on the trestles over the Myra Canyon was spectacular and the last approx. 20 km. down through vineyards into Penticton made it all worthwhile doing, ONCE.  The shoulder cramps were gone before we rode into Penticton.  The next morning at 8:00am I was in the Vernon Hospital to be fitted with a Holter Monitor to check my heart for 24 hours.  This had been arranged months ago but came as a coincidence right after such a long, by my standards, bike ride.  It’s the last in a series of tests I have had in connection with the mild angina I may or may not have.  I’m not going to submit to any more tests if the doctor suggests them.  Things seem to have settled down, and I think I’m learning how to handle stress and exercise.  I’m doing a simple T’ai Chi program almost every morning, trying to learn how to “balance the heart.” 

Mom had 5 consecutive days of radiation last week and does not feel well.  I call her every day, but there’s little I can do to help her and she knows that.  I think she regrets making the choice to have radiation but can’t do anything about it now.

Jay is feeling the stress as their big plan nears its moment of realization.  It’s hard on all of them as they spin faster and faster toward July 6 but have less and less real control.  All the preparation of papers, ending of school and jobs and packing is finished.  Now it’s just waiting, and that’s always difficult.  I’m making some changes in the house and getting very excited about going to the airport to pick them up.  Bert is going to come with me because they will have easily enough baggage for 2 cars.

Mom on a bench at Willows Beach on the Sunday before I left Victoria

My trusty Trek on the Galloping Goose