August 25 - Big Sky Country

This past week, Lyle and I have been in Montana, the state affectionately and also appropriately known as Big Sky Country. Montana lives up to the description. On the drive south of the Alberta border to Great Falls, the high flat prairie grassland reveals a one hundred eighty degree vista of blue above. I can’t actually see the distant horizon, but I can tell that there is a distinction between land and sky.

Lyle and I went shopping in Great Falls. This is not my favourite activity. The goods on the shelves are a blur and I need to rely on Lyle to find any items I have on my list. I remember when my sight first changed that Lyle was quite hesitant about checking prices and sizes in the women’s lingerie departments. These days, he shows not a flicker of embarrassment, and turns over labels of the most delicate items in order to get the shopping done as quickly as possible.

It was while we were in Great Falls that a fellow shopper stopped with a friendly hello. It was obvious that he knew us and I heard Lyle greet the man in return. Because I can’t see faces, recognition on my part was non-existent. I was just trying to figure out whom we might possibly know in the city, when our friend identified himself as Theo’s father. Do you remember Theo from last week’s walk in Hanna? The meeting was unexpected and so it was really helpful when Theo’s father identified himself. I am always pleased when anyone begins a conversation with me by saying who they are. Really, it’s almost a matter of courtesy to do this when you know that the other person can’t see the face and is relying on the sound of the voice alone to figure out who they might be talking to. Theo’s father understood this.

From Great Falls Lyle and I continued on to Helena, Montana’s capital city.   We wanted to take the tourist trolley ride which began near the State Capitol Building. However, we were in the motor home and needed to park several blocks away. This was when I noticed the audible traffic signals at the three different intersections. When I first pressed the pedestrian button, I was instructed to “Wait. Wait.”  When the traffic stopped, the signal then announced the number of the avenue before telling me that I could cross. The only other difference I noticed was the colour of the bubbled patches that led from the sidewalk to the road itself. Instead of the bright yellow which I find relatively easy to spot, the few that I noticed in Helena were rose. I thought it was an interesting choice of colour.

The drive between Great Falls and Helena was very picturesque. We took the Old US 91 secondary highway for part of the way and stopped by the Missouri River for a picnic lunch. Although the following photo has nothing to do with white canes, I am including it here because it was such a lovely area.  In the picture, I am standing beside the river and the Tower Rock Mountain is in the background. 

Sue beside the Missouri River with Tower Rock Mountain in the background

August 16 - Cross Canada Walks Revisited

Yesterday was a great day. Lyle and I were in Hanna to join their annual Walk Towards Independence. My friend, Janet has organized and promoted this fund raising walk for the last number of years and this year’s walk was another success. Janet is a faithful and dedicated advocate for CNIB and for people with visual challenges. It has been just over a year since Lyle and I walked in Hanna as part of the White Cane Connections project and it was fun to meet some of the people who had walked with me then and also to find new acquaintances.

One of my special memories of walking in Hanna was meeting Florence.  She was the oldest person who walked with me on my cross Canada walks in 2012.  At the time, I remember her asking me if I intended to repeat the walks in the following year.  I laughed a little at her question, but wanted to know why she had asked. She said that in 2013, she would be 100 years old, and that would really be something to write home about!

Last year I was astounded that Florence was 99, and this year I was even more astounded when she walked again, raising awareness for people who are either blind or partially sighted. Florence, you are amazing and I feel privileged to have walked with you.

On yesterday’s walk, I also met Theo. Theo is a young man with very low vision. As well as participating in the walk, Theo had been active beforehand in gathering sponsors.  In fact, Theo won the prize for raising the most funds for CNIB that day.

I really enjoyed visiting with Theo and his family.  At one point in the conversation, Theo’s grandmother told me what a big help Theo was around the Blue Sky Colony.  As well as attending to his usual chores in the barn, Theo often assisted in the community kitchen fetching items that were needed for meal preparation. Then Grandma added a proviso to this comment saying that it worked well for Theo and the cooks as long as everyone remembered to put things back in their usual and proper place.

I really had to smile at this comment. I have enough trouble in my own small household when things aren’t where they should be.  It is not only a matter of training Lyle and anyone else who happens to be in the house, but one of reminding myself to always adhere to the motto of a place for everything and everything in its place. When you don’t see or don’t see well, it is very difficult, if not well-nigh impossible, to begin a successful search for a misplaced item.

So, as you can see, yesterday was a great day with many reminders of last year’s project, and I haven’t even written about one of the bonuses from this year – there were no mosquitoes!  Last year in July the mosquitoes had just hatched and they were especially vicious and plentiful. Yesterday was hot and instead of insect repellant we were able to use sunscreen.

There are two pictures with this post:

The first picture shows the group of Hanna walkers.  Janet is on the far left, holding her white cane.  Theo is second from the right, standing beside me.  We both have our white canes in front of us.  The CNIB banner was brought by Susan (CNIB staff person from Medicine Hat) who is standing fourth from the left.

Walk Towards Independence participants

The second picture shows me standing beside Florence.

 

Sue and Florence

August 9 - You never know!

You never know, or at least that is the way it seems to me, when I will next meet a fellow white cane user. Certainly the unexpected happened again the other day when Lyle and I were indulging in some wine tasting at one of the many South Okanagan wineries. There were only a very few of us in the tasting room when Lyle noticed  someone with a white cane come in and sit in the chair right next to me.  Naturally, I began a conversation with her.

Tammy and her husband were from Oregon and were in British Columbia for a short holiday. Tammy was completely without sight with two prosthetic eyes. I would have liked to chat with Tammy more about this, but in the limited time we had for this chance meeting, we talked instead about her white cane.

Tammy’s cane, which she had bought in the US, was both long and light weight.  Also, it folded into itself much like a telescope.  When it was stretched out to its full length, each segment needed a slight twist to lock it into place.

Tammy said that she really liked the cane for travelling. The light weight made it so easy to hold when she wasn’t using it.  Also, the long length gave her good warning of objects in front of her stride. Judging from what Tammy said, I think that she liked to walk quite quickly. It was in that context that she told me of one of the disadvantages of the cane.  She told me of crossing a street and when her cane hit the opposite curb, it twisted into the unlock position and the segment in question folded immediately back into itself. 

I am sorry that I didn’t have our camera with us at the time of this out of the blue meeting.  I liked talking with Tammy and I think that our meeting simply reinforces the idea that people who are blind or partially sighted are part and parcel of everyday life in all sets of circumstances.

August 6 - Using a White Cane

Those of you who have been following this blog from the beginning will know that I tend to write mostly about vision loss and the use of white canes.  I thought that today might be a good time to focus again on the use of the cane and what it means.

In the past couple of weeks I have come across people who have varying perceptions of the practical value of a white cane.  Some of these people are fully sighted, some are partially sighted, and others have no sight at all. 

I think that my recent thought process about all this started with an email from my sister.  Jill wrote about the conversation she had had with a visually impaired friend.  Her friend had been travelling but while travelling had not used his white cane at all, saying that the people of the country he visited simply did not recognize its significance. Instead he relied on the arm of a sighted friend. Then, just a few days ago I encountered another partially sighted person.  This person had her cane folded up and tucked into her backpack.  She said that she had no intention of ever using her cane until she had absolutely not a single speck of sight left.  She said that she was just too stubborn and too independent to use a white cane. 

On the other side of the equation, I have met people with varying degrees of sight who would not venture anywhere without using their cane.  I suppose that I fall somewhere in the middle of all this. There are times when I use my cane and times when I feel that it isn’t quite necessary.  When I am walking in a familiar place with Lyle by my side, I will tend to leave my cane behind.  However, when I am alone or when Lyle and I are walking in places that aren’t part of our regular routine, I will definitely use my cane.  For the most part I think that the use of a cane depends on how the user perceives its function. Partly, I see my white cane as something that will give other people some indication that I am not fully sighted. This would hopefully give them some forewarning that they could move out of my way, or perhaps offer me some assistance. However, I also use my cane as a safety measure for myself.  When I move my cane in front of me, it gives me information about what lies in my path. The tip of the cane will tell me when there is a step or curb in front of me. My cane will be first to touch any obstacle - fire hydrant, a child’s bike or scooter left on the path, construction fence or other random object -  before I stumble into these myself. 

I know that it would be far easier for friends to know how to react to me if I either consistently used my cane or consistently didn’t use my cane.  Nevertheless, I see my white cane as a tool and so use it accordingly. I use my white cane when I think that I need to do so and just hope that other people won’t be too judgmental of my inconsistencies.