Reminiscing My Childhood From The Air

I was expecting a package this weekend; so someone always had to be home. Mike was out Saturday and I went out today. I wanted to do some new aerobatic combos, and won’t try anything new with a passenger. Therefore, I had a solo flight. After looping and rolling around above the airport, I headed west over our house:

Yup, it’s one of those! I flew over Sunset Beach and there was a fair number of folks there, but seemed to be spaced out well:

I then decided to see some places of interest from my childhood. I always loved looking at these pipes while driving up or down the Niagara Escarpment on my father’s motorcycle. It is the Decew Power Station:

Glenn A Green school, which I went to from grades 5-8:

E.L. Crossley Secondary School, my high school.

The giant mural out front:

My childhood home, where my mother resides:

And Merrittville Speedway, I frequented from a very young age and through my teens:

It was such a relaxing, fun and peaceful flight.  Afterwards, I had a really nice visit with my awesome mother.  Back home, Mike and I watched The Bird Cage.  So funny and it was nice to see Robin Williams.

Today’s symptoms:  I slept very well last night, I think because I did so much physical work during the day.  Since there was a fair amount of activity today, I’m hoping tonight will be sleeptacular as well!  I’ll certainly be crawling into bed with a smile on my face.  🙂

Buy a House, They Said. It Will Be Fun, They Said

So I just planned on tidying up a bit out front today.  Nothing major and not for too long.  Well, I got on a bit of a roll.  I can’t believe how different the driveway looks:

A few hours later:

A couple people commented on how it looked and it really felt nice!  Now I just have to keep it this way.

This was Pinky while I was out de-lawning the driveway:

She’s not very lady-like but she’s awesome.

I hope to go for a short local flight (maybe some aerobatics) tomorrow morning and then visit with my little mother. I believe she’s having a bit of an issue with her lawnmower.  The wheel flew off last time she cut the lawn.

We were asked at work to share pictures of the things in our life that make us happy and positive.  This is the pic I submitted:

Which was probably a better choice than this one:

Tee hee!

Today’s symptoms: After a fairly rough week symptom-wise, I was feeling much better today.  I think I may have overdone things a little last weekend and paid the price.  I love these good days!

Vyctor’s Twin

I was recently contacted by someone who created a Vyctor look alike on X-Plane (flight simulator).  I cannot believe how perfect it is!  I got goosebumps the first time I saw these amazing pics:

And one of my more favourite orientations to be in:

Thanks again, Stephen!  Amazing job!

I was able to go up in the actual Vyctor today.  Mike and I went for a short flight around St. Catharines and Niagara-On-The-Lake this morning.  The weather was great, with decent winds (I like flying on windy days) and cool temps.  I hear it’s going back up in the 30’s this week.  Yuck.

We came home to Pinky (the ham) glazing in the sun.

I spent most of the weekend working in the yard.  My little mother helped me out on Saturday while Mike did projects inside.  Jan, who hates gnomes, was thrilled to see this adorable gnome statue (in Vyctor colours) I bought for my flower box.  She also wasn’t impressed when I told her it’s me holding her up on my shoulder.  She called me some choice names.

We all got quite a bit done so it was a very productive and fun weekend.

I just went upstairs to refill Peanut’s water fountain and he immediately jumped onto the bottle.  It looks like the little fella wants to come out and socialize a bit:

Today’s symptoms: I actually felt quite good this week.  My energy was decent but I had a bad headache both days.  Nothing to complain about through – it’s all good.

Fernguson and Fernando

What a great weekend we had!  Yesterday, we got tons of projects done around the house.  It was super productive.  One thing is we got our awesome new airplane light up, which Mike’s sister and bro-in-law gave us:

Love it!  I continued to work on the back yard, and am happy with how things are coming along.  I wasn’t sure what some of the flowers would look until they bloomed.  This one sure turned out nice….does anyone know what it’s called?

The kitties enjoyed sun bathing in the kitchen.  I don’t know why Abby is licking Pinky since they don’t like each other:

Later I attempted to get through my emails but Mya had other ideas:

Today, Mike and I took advantage of the amazing weather and went for a flight.  I did some aerobatics then we flew south along the Welland Canal then east along the Fort Erie shoreline.  As you can see sticking out of my door handle, Donkay enjoyed the flight as well:

Then a landing back at the Niagara District Airport:

After the flight, we went to visit my little mother.  We nommed on the Tim Hortons we picked up on the way, and had a great chat with plenty of laughs.  I cleaned out her eavestrough and then we went out back to dig up more ferns for my place and also for my friend.  I planted Fernguson and Fernando next to Lefern and Shirley as soon as I got home:

The small garden near our shed has become ferntastic!

Today’s symptoms: After a week of not feeling too good (I know I physically overdid things with the gardening the previous weekend, which always leads to days of much worse symptoms), I had a good day!  I slept well last night which usually helps the severity of my symptoms the next day.  Hopefully I have another day of waking up bright eyed and bushy haired tomorrow!

Lefern and Shirley

I’m still absolutely loving the new house.  I stare at our petite back yard from my bedroom window every morning.  I think the view tomorrow morning is going to be the best yet as we cleaned all of the bedroom windows today.  I hate cleaning windows but love the result.  The backyard looks much different from when we first moved in.  There were some rather invasive plants that needed to be removed.  The one hole I dug to get as many roots as I could was almost three feet deep and quite wide.  It was a ton of work but I can’t wait to look out and see the end result.

In case more shoots spring up, I will likely be unable to plant much in the back this year.  I’ve read that this plant may take years to eradicate.  I did, however, plant a couple ferns in the back corner.  I named them Lefern and Shirley.  Tee hee:

Ferns have been one of my favourites plants since I was a kid.  My mother has a wooded area behind her house, where tons of ferns popped up recently.  She was kind enough to pluck a couple out for me.

I love sitting out on the back deck, the Japanese maple peering down on me, birds chirping and critters running about:

Our neighbour was kind enough to lend us their ladder so I could climb up and cover the vent to the bathroom fan.  Soon after we moved in, we heard chirping and rustling.  A couple starlings made a nest and had some babies.  One of the neighbours behind us let me know that he saw the two babies fly the coop, so it was safe to cover the vent.  I graciously (not!) climbed up the ladder and used a hockey stick to try and recover the nest.  It’s clearly in very deep as I wasn’t able to reach it.  I taped aluminum mesh over the vent until we get a proper cover from Home Depot.  Mike’s picking it up tomorrow so I’ll be able to meander back up and install it.

We have tons of projects in the works.  We ordered carpeting to be installed on the basement stairs today.  We went to Alexanian, which my mother and I have both used twice in the past with great results.  Then we’re going to have a floating floor installed in the basement and the upstairs bathroom retiled.  Then we’ll start the painting (I really don’t like painting so I’m not looking forward to it at all!)

I have much more to share but I’ll continue in the next blog.  It’s getting close to gathering up a bunch of kitties and getting ready for bed.  I’m pooped!

Today’s symptoms: I apparently did a tad too much physical work over the weekend and really paid for it yesterday and again today.  Yesterday was far worse though.  I can hear my mother going “Hmmmm….told you so” with an eye roll.