The Wedding

My oldest son, at age 33, got married in Lloydminster, Alberta on July 11, 2009. He couldn't have found a better soulmate and I wish them all the best in life.

Sandy, (sons wife), had everything organised well and the wedding went off without a hitch, and a good time was had by all.

Saying their vows.

Signing the register.

My niece as flower girl.

Oldest son, a friend and youngest son.

Friend, youngest son and grandson.

I think this was the first time we had ever danced together.

Grandson, youngest son, oldest son, me.

The cake.

Oldest son and his wife enjoy camping and fishing. The caketop elicited lots of comments.

One down, one to go. Youngest son is now 28 and appears to be in no hurry to tie the knot, so it may be awhile before the next wedding.

Finding My Groove

I have been away from the blog for so long that I am finding it hard to get back into the groove. Since I have been home I have been busy doing errands and things and just being lazy basically. A couple of days before I returned home to Mexico I broke off part of a tooth, fortunately it didn't hurt so I waited until I got home before going to the dentist for repair. So I got that done one day. My computer had crashed while I was away, so that needed to be taken in for repairs, I now have a spanish OS and the repair man also put in a new cd/dvd player/burner to replace the old one that had quit working a long time ago. All of the repairs ended up costing me under $70.00 so that didn't hurt too much. I had also purchased a new laptop while I was in Canada so we are now a 3 computer family.

This morning I went uptown and paid the cable/internet bill, went to the bank and also to a nursery to purchase some soil as the landlady gave me 2 new plants that need to be planted.

I haven't posted any pictures of my trip yet and other than the wedding I don't actually have too many. I was spending the majority of my time at the various hospitals/care facilities that my mom was in so wasn't taking too many photos.

The photo below was taken in the Yorkton, Saskatchewan hospital where my mom was for several weeks. My sisters birthday is the 20th of June so we got a cake and had a small birthday party for her in moms room.

The next 2 pictures below were taken in moms room at the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. My sister used to make a living as a hair stylist, before moving on to other employment, so when mom needed a haircut it was sis to the rescue.

This is my youngest son with mom in her room at Wascana.

Below is the small countryside cemetary where my dad is buried and a lot of my moms relatives as well. It is a pretty, tranquil setting in a farming community.

Some of the countryside out of the bus window in Saskatchewan. I took a bus from Lloydminster, Alberta to Regina, Saskatchewan to see mom again for a couple of days after my sons wedding, I had to change bus companies in Saskatoon and on the last half of the trip the bus had wireless internet connection, so I chatted on MSN with my sister and Roy for that part of the trip. There was even a plug in at my seat so that I didn't have to run off of the battery. I thought that was pretty good.

The yellow in the fields is Canola, which is grown a lot in that area. This is where your Canola oil comes from.

Wedding pictures forthcoming.

Heading Home Soon

I left home on June 1st and flew to Phoenix. The lines at the security check were really long and I would have missed my connecting flight if a security person that was going through the lines hadn't seen my passport. Seeing that I was Canadian she sent me to a different line which was much shorter. I have no idea why she did that as there were no signs saying that I should be in a different line; but at that point I didn't care and gladly went into the shorter one. After then going through an Agriculture check point I took off almost running to get to my boarding area for the next flight. Almost there and guess what another security check point. This one took almost another hour but I made it to my boarding area with about 20 minutes to spare.
Got on the flight to Edmonton, Alberta and arrived there about 12:30 AM, going through security took almost an hour and then I was free to roam. I couldn't get a flght to Regina, Saskatchewan until the next morning so I hung out at the airport until the ticket offices opened around 5 AM. As I wasn't sure until I got to Edmonton that I would need a flight to Regina I hadn't bought a ticket ahead of time, as it turned out I had to fly, so of course the airlines took advantage of that and soaked me good for that ticket. What are you going to do when you have to get there in a hurry?
My sister picked me up at the airport in Regina and we headed straight to the hospital in Yorkton where my mom was still in the ICU. We hadn't told her that I was coming so she was surprised to say the least when I walked in the room. She was unable to talk but vocalised sounds so loudly that the nurses all came running.
I spent the next few weeks at the hospital with her from about 8 AM until 8 PM and then drove the 1/2 hr. or so to the next town where her house is, which is where I was staying. Needless to say there was not much time or energy left at the end of the day for blogging.
On the 22nd of June I drove mom to Regina to have an ultrasound done of her carotid arteries and then took her to the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre where she was to recieve some therapy for the stroke.
She was lucky as she never lost her ability to walk after the stroke, her right arm/hand were weak and she was unable to talk, which was devastating for her. She was able to write a bit so we tried to communicate like that. At first she was on a feeding tube and then progressed to pureed foods and later on to regular foods.
While mom was in Wascana I stayed with moms husbands son and daughter in law who live in Regina and again spent many hours with her at the rehab. centre.
I left Regina on the 5 th of July and headed for Lloydminster, Sask./Alberta where my oldest son was to be married on the 11th. I spent some time with him and his fiance and also with my sister and her family who live there. It was nice to relax and enjoy family.
The wedding went off without a hitch and was great.
I took the bus to Regina again on the 16th of July and spent a few more hours with mom before flying from Regina to Edmonton on the 18 th.. My youngest son picked me up and we came to his place in Spruce Grove, Alberta which is just outside of Edmonton. I have been here for the last few days and will then fly out for home early tomorrow morning.
When I took the bus from Lloydminster to Regina I had to switch from Greyhound in Saskatoon to STC (Saskatchewan Transportation Company). The bus had internet connection so I spent that part of the trip chatting with my sister and Roy and surfing the net, sure made the trip go faster.
I will upload some photos of the wedding and other things later on today or after I get settled in a home.
In many ways it has been a good trip. I got to see lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, friends that I have not seen in many years. It was good to be able to spend lots of time with my mom while she was good enough to visit and know that I was there. Who knows what the future holds and this has been a time that I will always be able to remember.