#220 October 2019 Update

Ralph’s wrist/arm/shoulder has improved slowly during October. Some days he almost forgets about the injury and others his shoulder reminds him all day. Physio and exercises are helping with the pain and mobility but there is more healing needed. Strengthening will come next. We continue to hope to “test drive Ralph” in the spring.

We are catching up on RV/household chores during this quiet time. Fortunately Ralph had completed many of the big chores before he fell.

Thanksgiving was quiet with family for dinner on Sunday. 

Since moving into the RV we have not cooked a whole turkey. At the “Fall Snowbird RV Show” we watched Brian Misko from “House of Q” and learned how to cook a whole turkey on our small Weber 100 BBQ. We had the butcher split the bird in half down the breastbone. We then had 2 pieces of turkey flat enough to fit the small grill size and low overhead clearance. For the first time ever we brined the turkey. We cooked one piece on the BBQ and one piece in the oven. We finished the BBQ piece in the oven to brown it. It was a close call but the BBQ piece was declared the best tasting turkey ever!

24 years ago when Lindsay was 6 weeks old Kari and I took her to the October “Women’s Show” on my birthday. That was in Calgary and now we continue our tradition in Abbotsford. Lindsay doesn’t come with us but Kari and I have a great day together shopping, wandering the booths and talking. This year was another fun day to celebrate mothers and daughters! 

We have been good friends with Karen and Keith since we all lived in Canmore in the '70s. They have been our mentors into the full time RV lifestyle. We had two great days of visiting and showing them some of the sights in the Lower Mainland they haven’t experienced in years.

We had lunch on Marine Drive in White Rock then went looking for fall colours. We didn’t find any dramatic fall colours but we did drive along 0 Avenue “The World’s Longest Undefended Border”. It’s fascinating to know that the acreages and homes to the north of the two-lane road are in Canada. On the south side of the road there are boundary markers and dense bush with a few homes in the United States.

Another day we explored Steveston and viewed the fishing boats.

Mute swans are a favourite with the fishermen and visitors.

Garry Point Park is at the mouth of the Fraser River where it empties into the Strait of Georgia. Tugboats are dwarfed by the barges they move around the river and ocean.

 

A great blue heron fisher-bird watched for his next herring meal.

Fishermen were lucky and caught the herring quickly.

We enjoy decorating for fall and Halloween. However, there are no children in this park so we don’t see the costumes or get the leftover treats.

That's it for now in our quiet, at home life.

#219 Sept 2019 Coincidences!

We know that life has many coincidences. This story is about several of them!

In 1973 Ralph and I bought a mobile home in Edmonton. We were living in Jasper but the new mobile home park was not completed so our future home stayed in Edmonton. 

There were so many applications for mobile home lots that the town had a lottery. Our name was drawn and we picked the best lot in the park. We were excited to move into the first home that we owned.

Before the park was completed we accepted a transfer to Banff. Oh!  

Fortunately our new home was mobile. We arranged to have our home delivered to Canmore instead of Jasper. 

Life continued and we moved from Canmore to Papua New Guinea, Edmonton, Calgary then Surrey.

In 2013 we sold our townhouse in Surrey before moving into our motorhome. Our purchasers wanted to buy our dining room suite. The day before possession the purchaser’s realtor delivered a cheque for the furniture.

The realtor said that the purchasers had an unexpected detour in their plans. The husband worked for CPR and was transferred to Jasper. I was speechless! 

In 1973 we were able to have our home delivered to Canmore instead of Jasper. That switch was not possible with a townhouse!

We moved out of the townhouse Easter weekend. We knew the new owners had small children so we hid wrapped chocolate Easter eggs for the new children as we had done for many years for Lindsay.

Fast forward to June of that same year. Ralph and I and Lindsay met Dave and Danica in Jasper. We were at the top of the Sky Tram when I noticed a man teasing his 4 year old about the drop over the edge of the mountain. A man walked up beside me and said, “You know that’s the family who bought your home in Surrey?” Really!

Their realtor was visiting them in Jasper and recognized me. The new (very short time) owners were unable to find a suitable home in Jasper so bought in Hinton. They were very disappointed to be in our townhouse for such a short time. 

We chatted for a while and commented on the number of coincidences in the house transaction. 

Again, fast forward to September 2019. There are many impromptu Happy Hour gatherings of residents of this park and we often visit with people without exchanging much personal information.

We had met Steve previously but not chatted with him directly. He commented that he had just returned from visiting family in Hinton and it was only 5*C. We said we were familiar with the weather in the Jasper/Hinton area because we had lived there. 

Steve said that when his son and family moved from here they tried to find a house in Jasper but had to settle in Hinton. Our ears perked up when Steve said his son works for CPR. We started asking questions about the timing of their move.

Steve’s son’s family was the purchaser of our townhouse in Surrey!

We can’t even count the number of coincidences in this story!