Good End to the Week

My awesome week last week continued.  I took Thursday off and Jan and I went to Walden Galleria in Buffalo.  On the way to Timmies for a coffee, we passed the biggest bags of popcorn I’ve ever seen:

As tempted as we were to buy one, we decided against it.  After visiting Tim Hortons, we headed to a slew of stores.  Jan browsed one of her favourite stores while I took a pic of this sign:

So I guess I can no longer make fun of Jan’s “size.”  I’ll now have to switch over to making fun of her “Proportion.”

We had a very successful shopping session!

That evening, I drove over to my friend’s house and we then headed to the Niagara Passions event I won tickets for from 105.7 EZ Rock.  We arrived soon after it started at 6:30.  There were already a ton of people there.  We grabbed some wine and noms from a few vendors and sat down:

Everything was great.  We met up with someone from work, who told us which other vendors we needed to visit – essentially all of them:

The restaurants at the venue were all amazing – I don’t think there is one I wouldn’t go to after trying their food.

I met up with one of our Recreational Aircraft Association folks, who is the Town Crier for Port Colborne:

Nice of him to let me wear his hat!

I also ran into a huge coffee bean, which many people thought was a naked M&M:

We wandered around for a couple hours, then headed out.  At the exit, there was some beaded items for sale.  Laura bought a really neat ring and I found this awesome key chain that looks just like the pitot static cover I use on my plane:

Since I’ve got it home, I can’t find it.  One of my kittahs must have hid it.

I haven’t been feeling too well this week and actually went home about three and a half hours early today.  After a long nap, I got up and gave three of my four kitties a bath.  My friend, her god daughter, her son and his girlfriend are coming over tomorrow to meet them.  As usual, little Mya didn’t need to be cleaned (she’s so posh!).  I didn’t get a pic of Pinky, who was first, but here’s number two – little Boo:

And clean little Abby:

Don’t they look ever so amused!

The weather isn’t looking good at all for the next two days.  This really sucks because I have two aerobatic flights planned.  Paws crossed the forecasters are wrong (as they often are!)

Today’s symptoms: Felt really weak and fatigued.  Tons of pain all over.  I tried to last at work as long as I could, but soon after 1:00, I wasn’t even functional anymore.  Tomorrow will be much better, which I’m really looking forward to.

 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/31/2013 7:53 PM

Very Busy Week

I can’t believe how busy this week has been – totally awesome though.  On Monday, Mike and I went on a ghost tour around downtown St. Catharines.  Kinda neat to hear about some of the buildings I see almost every day, knowing that spooks may be looming about!  Our tour guide was really great – he showed up in a hearse.  His name was Wayne:

 

 

 

We started and ended the tour (which was almost two hours long) at market square.  Really cool to hear all of the history and potential hauntings around the area.  For the most part, Mike and I were pretty serious and mature, although we did need to take a break for a few seconds:

 

Besides learning about old buildings within the block of my office, one of the last stops was at the 105.7 EZ Rock building.  I have done a few interviews with them and 97.7, and was also just there to pick up the tickets I won….stay tuned for details:

The tour was finished around 11:00.  Lucky for us, it was less than a 10 minute walk home.  The tour was really neat and I would totally recommend it.

The next day I left work around noon and headed to the airport.  It was the annual MS golf tournament at the Whisky Run Golf Course in Port Colborne.  I do some aerobatics and a fly over each year.  The clouds cleared literally within fifteen minutes of the tournament starting:

I think this is the car that would go to someone who got a hole in one at this particular hole.  A couple friends from work are volunteering to watch for a winner:

After my fly-over, I headed back home.  Mike came over after work and we drove out to Whisky Run to enjoy an amazing steak dinner:

My awesome week continued on Wednesday.  Back to the airport I went and headed out at 9:00 for Edenvale.  I was asked by a member of the 99’s (women aviation group) to give a presentation at their high tea fly/drive in.  Edenvale is up near Collingwood, just south of Georgian Bay.  It took me about an hour and a half to get there.  Looking down at the traffic, I was so glad I didn’t have to drive:

I flew through Toronto at around 1700′, truly admiring the awesome view.  Further up north, I passed Canadian Forces Base Borden, which I had spent many weekends and a summer, when I served in the Army Reserve:

Rather neat to see it from that perspective.

Not long after, I arrived at Edenvale Airport:

The Tiger Moth was taking off on the grass strip as I was coming in overhead the field.  I actually said over the radio that he looked really cute from up here:

I came in to land then had to taxi to an open hangar, shut down my plane and ask some folks where I was supposed to go!  Turns out I was on the wrong side of the apron so had to fire Vyctor back up and head over to the right hangar.

I arrived just a tad early, but that was actually kinda good.  It gave me time to set up my laptop, projector and speakers.  I also helped set up the tables and chairs.  People soon started coming in – some drove and some flew:

It was a good turn out of folks – I think they enjoyed the presentation.  As it was high tea plus we were celebrating Amelia Earhart’s birthday, some pretty sassy hats and summer outfits were worn:

Here was Amelia’s birthday cake:

It was an awesome time and I really enjoyed speaking to and with everyone.  Sometime I would love to attend again!

Heading back home, I had a tail wind and the trip was only a little over an hour.

Passing through Toronto:

Visibility was great, although it was rather bumpy (which I enjoy!)

Needless to say, I was completely drained when I got home, but it was worth it.  I relaxed the rest of the day and was still able to get up bright and early to start work at 7:15.  I had to leave work early today to get my Tysabri infusion.  I was happy that it only took one poke with the IV needle!  After my infusion was done (an hour), I headed back to my apartment and picked up a friend who also lives there.  We then drove to Niagara Falls and went to an amazing restaurant, Bravo Grill.  We met up with a couple other friends from work, one who retired about five years ago.  We all had great noms.  I had carrot soup and salad:

I would certainly go back there.

I have more great food to look forward to tomorrow.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I won two tickets from 105.7 EZ R

ock.  They are to the Passion of Hope event in Niagara-On-The-Lake tomorrow night.  The tickets are $75 each, so it was a nice win!  My friend Laura and I are going.  There are about fourteen restaurants and the same number of wineries participating.  We get to sample food and drink for all of them.  Also, Tanya Memme and Charlie Frattini of Sell This House on A&E will be there.  Going to be fun! 

Today’s symptoms: Felt rather weary this morning, not surprising considering everything I’ve done this week.  This Tysabri has hit me harder than the last few.  I have tons of crushing pains all over my body.  Quite a bad headache too.  I’m sure it will be somewhat better after a sleep!

 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/25/2013 7:55 PM

Pearson Airport

Had an amazing experience yesterday.  A friend from work has a cousin who works as a controller at Pearson Airport.  We drove up to the airport for around 7:00pm.

We met up with her cousin and we started our amazing tour, first of the terminal.

Seeing all the screens was amazing – hard to compute the enormous amount of information.

As I usually do, I made fudge for the tower folks:

I was happy to see it didn’t last very long!

After chatting with the amazing folks in the terminal, we were taken over to the tower:

Before going upstairs, we took a piddle break.  The view from the bathroom was amazing:

Each bathroom was for one person only.  Since two of us REALLY needed to go, I decided to discretely go in the mens:

When I walked out, a guy gave me a rather strange look, as he walked in.  Oops!

Needless to say, the view from the tower was awesome:

It was so great to chat with the controllers – what a great group.  They too got a batch of fudge.  I believe I mentioned a few times on the way down “LYZ – clear me through the zone!”  I guess we’ll find out if it worked out or not the next time I fly through Toronto.

We were also given a tour of the gym downstairs:

Then it was back to the terminal.  Here’s my photobomb:

Absolute blast.  We are so appreciative of the time taken to give us the amazing tour.  Thank you!!!

Today’s symptoms:  Needless to say, my fatigue level was quite high after all of the excitement yesterday.  Totally worth it though!  Had tons of MS-related pains in my arms, plus the MS hug hit a few times too.  I’m pretty sure tomorrow will be much better, after a good sleep.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/19/2013 8:54 PM

Joyous Monday

For most of the summer, the weekends have seemed to go by rather slowly (which, of course is great!)  This past weekend went by fairly quickly though.  How did it get to be Monday already?

Last Thursday I was off on compressed.  The weather was decent so I decided to go for a flight.  Still trying to teach myself a barrel roll.  I’m really not sure if I’m doing it right – it just seems too easy so I think I’m missing something.  I even radioed the tower and asked them to compare my loop to my attempt at a barrel roll.  He replied they both look crazy!  Perhaps I can go up again this week and try it in front of another set of eyes.  Regardless, I had an amazing flight.  I did aerobatics for over 45 minutes.  Eventually, my stomach started to hint that it had enough so I left the area of the airport and headed toward the south.  I flew along the Lake Erie shoreline and passed by all of the beach goers and boaters:

I had quite a few people wave at me, so of course I tipped my wings back at them.  It was great fun.  After, I headed over to my aviation mechanic’s place (he has his own grass strip).  I just wanted him to look at something minor.  I was greeted by one of his dogs once I landed:

We checked out my plane and chatted for a bit.  Then it was time to head back to the airport:

Perfect day for a nice long flight.

Later that night, Abby decided to  show me her high beams:

Mike, his mother, my mother and I all decided to go out for dinner again.  We had a typical great meal at Kelsey’s – one of my favourite restaurants.  Once back home, we noticed this convenient little table in the elevator.  How nice:

Perhaps there will be a sofa and/or mini fridge next.

Back in my apartment, I opened the balcony door to let the kittahs enjoy what was left of the sun.  Does the weirdness ever cease around here?

Friday was quite fun – they had a back bacon night at the St. Catharines Flying Club.  The food was so good.  As usual, so was the company.  Here I am with my good friend and boyfriend.  Stereo Mikes:

This weekend I was having some issues with my iPhone, so I brought it into Future Shop to have them look at it.  They brought up my warranty information on their system.  It showed that there was an issue.  I ended up having to phone the insurance company (third party, not actually Future Shop).  The call didn’t go all that well.  The next day I phoned Future Shop back and explained the situation.  A customer service personage ended up calling the insurance company back for me and had a lengthy conversation with them.  I went back to the store today and he called them back and had yet another long conversation.  I felt so bad for how long he was on the phone.  He went above and beyond what he needed to do to help me – I’m so appreciative.  One of the many reasons Future Shop is one of my favourite stores!

Today’s symptoms:  I actually had a decent day today.  Had some severe MS pains in my forearms – some actually made me jump!  Other than that, had a decent day symptom-wise.  Yea!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/15/2013 7:54 PM

Perfect Weekend

I had the most perfect weekend.  Mike and I were planning on participating in the 99’s BINGO run.  It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years.  The bad news was that it was on the same day (Saturday) as a Transport Canada Safety Seminar in Welland.  On a bright note, the weather pooped out Saturday so the BINGO run was moved to Sunday.  Mike and I drove out to Welland and joined about thirty other piloty folks for the seminar, which was presented by Transport Canada’s Brenda Frame.  I must say, it was the most enjoyable TC seminar I’ve ever been to.  Brenda made a topic that could have been very dry, quite enjoyable to listen too!  So glad we were able to go.  After the seminar, they did a draw for door prizes.  A few years ago when I went to a fly-in at the Welland Airport, one of the door prizes was a nice big case of aviation oil.  A friend of mine who is also on the executive of our Recreational Aircraft Association, said that the case of oil was HIS!  He was just so sure that they were going to draw his name.  I’ll never forget the look on his face when they drew mine instead!  Tee hee!  I’ve never seen such a cute pout before though.  I took off soon after him to fly back to St. Catharines.  As I was entering the circuit, I said over the radio “Sorry, I would have been here sooner but this case of oil is really weighing my plane down!”  We’ve been laughing about the incident for years – the whole RAA group knows about it.  Well, at the Transport Canada seminar this past weekend, there were three door prizes – half cases of oil.  I actually said to him that I wanted him to win (so he would quit pouting).  They called the first ticket – not one of ours.  The second one was his – yea!  I was happy for him.  Mind you, I was even happier for myself when my ticket was called third!  Tee hee!

What a great day!

Mike and I were both thrilled to see the weather was perfect on Sunday, which was the rain date for the BINGO run.  We took off from St. Catharines in Vyctor around 8:20.  Our first stop was Burlington to purchase our BINGO cards and draw balls for the “B” column.  You could purchase three additional balls at each airport, to increase your chances for winning – we decided to do so.  We had a nice, quick flight into Burlington:

Another plane from St. Catharines wasn’t far behind us.  It wasn’t a race – you just had to visit five of nine airports on the list in order to get your card stamped.  We all had to meet at the final airport, Lake Simcoe, by 2:30 for the draw.  We had tons of time.

We met up with a joint owner of the plane that came in after us, at the Burlington Airport.  We purchased our cards then headed back to Vyctor to head to airport #2, which was Brampton.  Here, we would get our “I” column stamped.

This airport was much more busy.

We were actually here last month for an RAA event we arranged.  Once we purchased our additional balls and got our cards stamped, we headed out to the plane.

Part way there, I mentioned that we had about four and a half hours before the draw in Lake Simcoe.  We decided to head back into the Brampton terminal and have breakfast to kill some time.  Kinda glad we did as I was getting a tad hungry.

After noms, we hit the skies again and flew to Oshawa (another airport we were at recently).  On the way there, we passed Canada’s Wonderland.  I haven’t been there in many years:

The Oshawa Airport was in our sights shortly after:

We chatted with the folks who were working the BINGO table.  The one woman mentioned how she owned a Pitts for over twenty years and participated in aerobatic competitions.  It’s something I’ve considered doing, but haven’t got up the courage.  She mentioned the one for this year is in Chatham.  I’m certainly going to look into it!

While we were in Oshawa, I decided to check my fuel.  I was shocked at how much I still had left – about 90 litres.  We did the conversion of gallons (as I knew my plane carried 26 gallons) and it worked out to 98 litres.  Hello!  We did not fly all that way with three take-offs, and only used 8 litres!  That was really weird, but rather comforting!  I knew I still had over half full tanks, but that was really surprising!  We decided we would fuel up during our next stop, which was Greenbank Airport – a grass strip.  I love landing on grass, so I was really looking forward to this one.  On the way there, we flew directly over Buttonville Airport, which will be closing soon (I really don’t get why.  I just found out this morning, they are opening an airport in Pickering because Toronto needs another one.  Hello – then leave Buttonville open!  Whatever):

We were able to spot the grass strip at Greenbank, and came in for a landing:

We couldn’t find a sign to get a pic, so Mike found the name of the airport on the gas pumps:

As I walked toward the BINGO table, a woman approached me and asked if I was Elizabeth.  She said she saw my picture in the COPA magazine, when I won an award the other year:

Kinda neat!  She introduced me to her husband and we stood and chatted for a bit.  I then asked if I could get fuel there and they said yes.  Problem – I’ve never had to pump my own fuel for my plane before.  Jeff was so nice and offered to show me how.  He said the pumps and credit card machines were comparable at most airports.  This was going to be a good lesson for me:

Success!  Thanks again, Jeff!

After giving Vyctor a drinky-poo, we headed to our final destination, the Lake Simcoe Airport.  The flight over Lake Simcoe was very picturesque:

I was really surprised to see this, and soon realized it was the Barrie Flea Market, which we used to go to when I was a kid:

And the airport was just up ahead:

The terminal building was very nice:

It lacked signage though:

We were a little early for the draw, so we decided to sit and have a coffee and butter tarts.

Of course, Donkay joined us on the trip.  You can see little Vyctor in the upper right corner:

They were a little behind with the draw, so we were worried that we would have to leave much later than expected to head home.  On a bright note, we won a few of the first twelve prizes, as we had quite a few numbers on our cards.  I was so excited that Mike won the air to air photography.  He said I could have it to get some sassy pictures of my plane.  I’m so excited – thanks again!  We also won $100 worth of personalized business cards and two Emergency Locator Transmitter recertification certificates (needs to be done once a year and costs about $80).  Yea!  The most we could win was four prizes, so there was no point in sticking around.  It was really nice to chat with the fellow pilots though, some of whom we met at previous airports.

It was a nice clear flight back to St. Catharines.  Here we are heading by Toronto:

Within about an hour and fifteen minutes, we were home:

It was an absolutely perfect weekend!  I still can’t believe how well I did energy-wise.  We left at 8:20 and got back to St. Catharines after 5:00 – total of six airports.  Wow!

Today’s symptoms:  Needless to say, I’ve been very pooped the last couple of days, after my busy weekend.  Worth every second though.  Today was a bit worse than yesterday – had a really bad headache (although I think is mostly sinus related) and tons of MS aches and pains all over, including the dreaded MS hug.  Tomorrow will be better!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 6/11/2013 8:25 PM

Poopy Weather

We are having another awful weather week.  I guess we really can’t complain though considering what Toronto just went through.  The rain was so unrelenting yesterday that major highways and the transit system totally flooded.  People were stuck on the subways and street cars for hours, waiting to be rescued.  Ugh!  Nothing like that here, just hot, muggy and showery conditions.  I think we’re supposed to get another day of rain tomorrow then it’s supposed to be nice for the next few and into the weekend. 

Last weekend Mike and I went to the classic car display in downtown St. Catharines.  They closed some of the streets off for the event:

Kinda weird that there were also non-classic cars like this one, but still neat to see:

We went into The British Boutique on St. Paul Street.  This is where I mistakenly thought that my little mother would be thrilled with a Coronation Street gnome for Mother’s Day.

This is when I found out Jan is anti-gnome.  She’s a gnomist!  Needless to say, I had to return it to the store.  Thought I would take a picture of the little fella to show her what she missed out on.  What else she missed out on were the amazing free cuppy-cakes they were giving out that day:

Speaking of gnomes, I picked up a box of her vitamins the other day.  I decided to select the box that had the free gnome:

Ok, she didn’t quite buy it.  Poor little guy probably got tossed after I left her house.  *** sniff, whimper ***

Not too much going on right now.  Hoping to actually crawl into bed before 11:00 tonight so I can relax with a book.  Got out of reading for months now – I seem to go through reading phases.

Today’s symptoms:  Quite fatigued today.  I’m still having pretty brutal headaches, but I think they’re mostly from my jaw issues.  On a bright note, it is slowly getting better (day by day).  Right on!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/9/2013 9:26 PM

Family BBQ Fly In

Mike and I flew into Tottenham Air Field on Sunday (north of Toronto).  His aunt lives in Beeton, and we were invited to their BBQ.  The weather was iffy in the morning but thankfully cleared up by the time we left soon after noon.  The drive would have been almost two hours, but we made it there in about 45 minutes.  A few jets flew over us as we passed by Pearson Airport:

The traffic on the highway heading toward Niagara was pretty bad:

Glad we weren’t in it!

It was a little hard to find the small grass runway at Tottenham, but we found it without having to circle around.  We did a pass by the runway to check out the conditions.  Looked good!

The landing went great, on the uphill grass strip:

I posed next to Vyctor while waiting for Mike’s uncle to get us (about a fifteen minute drive):

I was taking a pic of Mike, when he shrieked “Hark, a plane over yonder!” (or something like that….

Incoming:

Once we got to his aunt and uncle’s home, we noticed the little tent in the back yard.  We figured my mother was invited, but apparently it was for Mike’s little nephews:

Mike and I assembled a few small airplanes we got the kids while we were at Sun N Fun a few months ago.  I was given the honour of sending one on a test flight.  Errrrr…..I swear I fly real planes much better:

At least it’s now good at flying around corners!

We had a really great time.  I met a bunch more family members, which was really nice.  We played a bit of badminton, ran around with the kids and chatted with everyone.  Around 5:30, noms were served and everything was amazing:

Mike and I decided to leave just before 7:00, as we wanted to do a little aerobatic air show for everyone (there was a large field and another grass strip right across from their house, so no issues there!).  Just before we left, the youngest nephew was brought inside by his father.  Apparently grandma gave him the container of chocolate sauce I brought with the fruit tray, and she turned away from him for a little too long:

Tee hee!  Bath time!!!

Mike’s dad drove us back to the airport, we climbed in Vyctor and took off.  It was only a couple minutes to fly over to the house, where we did the air show.  It was neat to see everyone waving at us.  We received texts that they really enjoyed it.  After that, it was the flight back to St. Catharines.  What a perfect day!

Received an amusing picture in an email today.  It was a pic of me at the MS volunteer appreciation banquet, where I was surprisingly awarded the Volunteer of the Year award.  This is the pic right after they called my name – yes, I was a tad shocked:

Today’s symptoms:  Had a really bad day pain-wise.  I actually had to go home just before 1:00.  I’m still dealing with horrific jaw pain, which has also caused an equally bad headache.  Lots of MS aches and pains too, plus my balance was pretty bad.  While walking home, I probably looked like I was drunk!  Oh well, tomorrow I’ve decided to feel much better.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 7/2/2013 8:09 PM