Flightless in St. Kitts

As I mentioned in my last blog, I was unable to fly this weekend due to the airspace restrictions for the G8/G20 summits.  Fortunately, the weather was poop-o-la, so I wouldn’t have flown anyway.  Instead, Jan, Chuck and I drove to St. Jacob’s on Saturday.  We had a great time!  We first hit the farmer’s market, then over to the outlet mall (across the street).  Next, we went to the Stone Crock for their lunch buffet.  As usual, it was amazing.  We all stuffed ourselves silly and had to waddle out of the restaurant.  We rolled down the street and hit the stores in the silo.  We didn’t make any purchases, but Jan purchased a straw broom from the broom shop across the street.  It was interesting to watch the dudes make them from scratch.  Probably a little better quality than one you would buy at Zellers….

We went into my favourite store – Angel Treasures.  I had purchased some really nice prints by the artist Elvira Amrhein, during my last couple of trips there:

And the one Chuck bought me yesterday:

Ugh, it’s hard to pick a favourite, but I think it would be either of the last two.  While there, I also purchased this one:

Totally different than the others, but something about it screamed “take me home!”….so I did.

It was a great day – we all really enjoyed the trip.

Today, Chuck and I just sat around, half out of it.  The humidity was a total energy zapper.  Now we’re experiencing a bad storm and the poopy cable keeps cutting out.  How rude!

Today’s symptoms:  Very weak and tired, due to the long day I had yesterday.  It was more than worth it though!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/27/2010 7:07 PM

Vyc Pics

I’m not sure what’s going on with the weather forecasters these days.  Last weekend they called for severe storms, which never happened.  Today was supposed to be the same, but we didn’t get anything more than a shower. 

Jan and I went for a brief flight on Sunday.  It was a little rough so we didn’t stay up too long.  After I got home, one of the nice folks from the tower sent me some pictures he took of us:

I hope to get out for another flight or two this week, since I won’t be flying this weekend.  The airspace in our area is affected by the G8/G20 summits, so I’m grounded.  I can fly if I file a flight plan, but I would be too nervous that something would go wrong and I would end up being intercepted.  It would look something like this:

How embarrassing would that be?  Little Vyctor is too cute to be intercepted and experience such trauma!

Symptoms for today:  I unfortunately had to leave work early due to fatigue and a fair bit of crushing pain in my right arm, hand and hip.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/22/2010 7:48 PM

Is It Friday Yet?

My friend from work and I went up for a night flight this past Friday.  I arrived at the airport rather early, so I ended up flying alone to do some aerobatics.  I think I was only up for about 25 minutes.  I was happy to see how smooth it was, which would be appreciated by my passenger.  Not long after I landed, my friend arrived.  We watched a large plane start up and take off before we climbed in Vyctor and set out around 9:30pm.  I told her we would climb to 3500 feet, which is the required altitude for planes in the Niagara Falls scenic circuit.  I hit 3500′ just before we were over Queenston.  I throttled down to cruise speed and my friend said “Oh, are we stopping?”  I said “Yes, we’re just going to pull over here, get out and take some pictures!”  We both had a good laugh.  We were over the Falls about 20 minutes before the fireworks started.  The view was amazing.  She was so impressed and couldn’t believe how different it was at night.  The coloured lights on the Falls were impressive:

A couple times, the spot lights hit Vyctor’s white wing and we thought the fireworks had started – it was so bright!  However, they didn’t start until 10:00pm.  It was nice that we were the only aircraft in the circuit.  There were tons of cars lined up on the road along the Falls, all watching the show.  Needless to say, we had the best seat in the house.  The show went on for almost 10 minutes!  It was amazing, especially when we were almost right over the pyrotechnics.

My friend was so happy with the flight.  That was the third time I’ve taken her up, but the first time at night.

Our landing was fun.  I showed her how I could turn on the runway lights by clicking my push-to-talk switch a few times.  I’m hoping I can go for another night flight again soon.

I was at the airport last night, with my Recreational Aircraft Association folks.  They are such a great bunch!  Our guest speaker last night builds and rides velomobiles .  They are aerodynamic, recumbent cycles.  Some of the ones they brought were also battery powered.  I wasn’t going to try one, thinking I would end up causing a scene (I was wearing a skirt and heels!)  However, since some of them were fully enclosed, I was pretty safe (as were the onlookers!).  It was a total blast to ride around the apron at the airport!  Everyone was having a good time.  I took some pictures with my phone’s camera, but haven’t sent them to my computer yet.  I’m also going to ask if anyone else there last night could email me some of the pics they took.

The meeting went very well.  Since the airport is under construction and totally torn up, I suggested everyone bring a flash light.  It wouldn’t be too safe walking back to their cars at night, considering the uneven and yucky ground.  I had two small flashlights, but was mostly pointing them behind me for the other people walking.  My shoes paid for this big-time.  Yucky is right!  My cats were quite shocked when I got home:

Instead of taking the time to clean them, I’m just waiting for the mud to dry, then I’m going to colour over it with a black marker.

Today’s symptoms: Feeling pretty good for most of the day.  My energy didn’t start to drop off until around 3:00 – surprising since my late night last night.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/15/2010 6:43 PM

Nothing Exciting…

Nothing fun and exciting has been going on with me lately.  Thus, the delay between the last few blogs. 

The weather last weekend was yucky, so I didn’t get to go flying.  Unfortunately, it looks like this weekend is going to be the same, if not worse.  I am, however, planning on taking up a friend from work tomorrow night.  We both want to fly over Niagara Falls to watch the fireworks show at 10:00 pm.  The clouds and rain are not supposed to roll in until after midnight – at least that was the last prediction.  I think it’s only fair that the weather stays nice enough to allow for my flight tomorrow night, since it will take away my joy and passion this weekend!  How rude!  I hope to have some nice pyrotechnic photos to show in my next blog.

Little Mya has become obsessed with running out into the hall whenever we open the door.  It wouldn’t be a big deal except for the fact that we live in an apartment and she meows constantly while she’s out there.  Fortunately, some of my neighbours are a little deaf…  Another thing they both do is run into my hoodie closet whenever I open it.  Yes, I have an entire closet dedicated to my hoodie collection.  Some women have purses and shoes, I have hoodies.  It’s all good:

At least I don’t have to worry about cat hair all over my clothes…

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling better today than I have all week.  My energy and mood have been down more than normal lately.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/10/2010 7:58 PM

Down to Downsview

Chuck and I took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend and flew down to the fly-in at the Downsview airport in Toronto.  Actually, I shouldn’t really say the weather was all that “nice” as it was quite hazy, then became windy once we got past Hamilton.  Here’s a shot of Toronto through the haze and smog:

 

The flight to the airport took less than 45 minutes, which was nice considering how bumpy and lumpy it was getting.

Once we touched down, there were many marshallers out to guide us to our parking spot:

Actually, we didn’t pull into the parking spot.  Instead, after I shut down, little Vyctor was escorted to his place.

I was actually surprised that there weren’t more planes there.

We wandered around to the vendors, then over to the museum.  Does this engine make my butt look big?

I was really happy to see the Silver Dart replica and a couple of its builders there.  Two are members of the

Recreational Aircraft Association (Niagara Chapter) .

Another nice treat was meeting hockey legend Johnny Bower:

My mother is a Maple Leafs fan, so I got her an autographed photo.

We were there for a couple of hours, then helped push Vyctor back to the taxiway:

I’m trying to pull Vyctor off a collision course with the other parked planes – it was really tight!

The flight back wasn’t quite as bumpy, which is typically nice for my passengers.  I don’t seem to mind so much.

Nothing too exciting planned for this week.  I’m hoping to go flying one day, but the weather doesn’t look too good for the next few days.

Today’s symptoms: I was really drained and weak by the time mid-afternoon rolled around.  It led to a boring evening and night of recovering in bed – blah!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/1/2010 8:23 PM