September 28 - Virtual Walking

Finally! At last I have crossed the Scottish border on my virtual walk in the United Kingdom. Back in February, I remember being quite excited as I began this walk at Land’s End on the Cornwall coast. These days I am dragging my feet a little as the real walking time seems to go on...and on...and on!

The walk itself is 1,083 miles or 1,805 kilometers. To date I have covered 75% of that distance and have just a tad over 300 miles to go. When we checked out my location on Google maps, Lyle tells me that for the past couple of weeks I have been walking mainly through fields, forest and now hills. In fact, apart from the towns and cities we visited on our actual holiday in2019, this is mostly what I remember about the Scottish landscape.

Our trip to Scotland was one of the last we were fortunate to take before the onset of COVID and I look back on it with very fond memories. We began in Glasgow, staying at a chain hotel, but one that was situated almost beside the River Clyde. The setting was perfect – within easy reach of some amazing walking trails but also close enough to the action of downtown and the hop on hop off bus stop.

One spot I remember particularly was a stop at the Art Gallery and Science Museum. The exterior of the building was amazing in its own right, but inside we came across a display featuring a life size albatross. Some years ago now, I remember being very disappointed when we visited an albatross sanctuary in New Zealand. The birds were too far distant for me to see anything, but here in the museum the bird was close enough and large enough for me to see it. It was huge! The taxidermist must have had quite a job with this one!

We were only in Glasgow for four days – not nearly long enough. The city has a vivid historical past and had our time permitted, I would have stayed even longer. I wonder if my virtual walk will take me near the city as I make my way north. Only three hundred miles to go!

 

 

 

 

September 12 - Nose on the Screen

In my younger sighted days, I liked to play tennis. In my current only partially sighted days, I find that I can sometimes hit a serve and rarely hit a ball when it comes back to me. This hasn’t diminished my love of the sport and so when the big tennis Open matches come on TV, I push my chair up close to the screen to see whatever I can see.

As I crane forward, this posture doesn’t do too much for my back and neck, but I am glad that I can still see enough to follow the play. Often times when Lyle and I “watch” television, I will sit back in a more comfortable chair and just listen to the audio. I like to watch sit comes where I know the characters and can recognize their voices. I like certain news commentators more than others. This also holds true for the commentators on the tennis matches.

I feel very fortunate that I am living in present times when my vision loss is compensated by so many advances in technology. As I am typing this, although I see nothing on my computer screen, my JAWS program is reading back to me every word that I type.

Still, there are some activities where my nose to the screen is the best option. Watching the US tennis Open has been one of these. Congratulations to Leylah Fernandez, Canada’s rising young star of the tennis world as she reached The Women’s Finals in this event. This young tennis player is going to be one to watch in the future, and I think will cause more nose prints on my TV screen!

September 4 - More Wood Carvings

Lyle and I have just returned from a family camping trip to Manitoba. It has been just over a year since we had seen family there so the mini holiday was just great. I wonder how long it will be before we can all travel safely again without thinking of restrictions imposed by the COVID virus. Even this summer, out of province travellers to Manitoba campgrounds were required to be fully vaccinated – a safety ruling to which I whole heartedly subscribe.

However, I digress. After my last post re Denis Chabot’s wood carvings, I really want to write a little more about this art form. With my limited sight, I am unable to fully appreciate 2-D art. It’s a shame, but that is the way it is. However, sculptures are a different story. Sometimes I am able to see the outline if I am up close enough, but mostly I like it when I am able to touch the sculptures or carvings themselves.

This happened when we were at a small Farmers Market in Arnes, pronounced R-nez. The village is just north of Gimli and if you are in the area on a Saturday morning, it is a pleasant way to spend a few hours. Our grandson had fun feeding the goats before we strolled around the semi permanent vendor stalls. Then we came to what I liked the most.

To one side there was a substantial play area of wood carvings. There was an old fashioned swing, a bowling lane, a teeter-totter, a zip line and more. Some one had gone to a lot of work. My favourites were the mini statues of Disney and other cartoon characters lined up facing the road.  I was able to touch and see each one.

I remember the first time that I had this hands on experience at a public exhibit. We were in San Diego at an aviation museum. Of course I was using my white cane. I was jolted out of my relative boredom of not seeing much, when a museum official approached me with a pair of white gloves. He handed them to me and encouraged me to explore the various exhibits using a hands-on approach. I was thrilled and the museum suddenly became a place of intense interest.

I have come across this invitation to accessibility on only a few occasions but when offered it has been much appreciated. I am sure that it is difficult to strike a balance between protecting valuable exhibits and ensuring that those same exhibits are accessible to those of us with limited or no vision.

There is a picture with this post. It shows our grandson standing between two carved Minions at the Arnes Farmers Market. Our grandson is around the same height as the two Minions, but of course from our viewpoint, he is ever so much cuter.

 

A grandson between two minions!