February 26 - Great News!

Great news! Lyle and I are grandparents. Our beautiful little granddaughter was born on January 29 and she is just perfect. In fact, that is what we understand the Chinese part of her name to mean – Ga Yun – perfect or precious grace.

Lexi was three weeks early and so was quite tiny. Her birth weight was only three pounds eleven ounces, but now, nearly four weeks later she continues to put on weight and is doing well.

Needless to say that Lyle and I are thrilled with our first grandchild and so happy for our daughter and son-in-law. We were at the hospital on the day Lexi was born. When we went around to see her in the NIC Unit when she was just over an hour old, Jen was able to hold her. I couldn’t quite see her clearly from where I was standing but then someone, I’m not sure who, took my hand and placed my fingers on Lexi’s little head. It was so soft and delicate. She was definitely living up to the precious part of her name.

Since then, I have been able to hold Lexi in my arms several times. It is wonderful to be so close to this little newborn. I can tell when she opens and closes her eyes. I can feel her little fingers and toes and I can hear the volume of her cry as she grows in strength and lung capacity.

Probably I just sound like most new grandparents but I have been so very excited. Jen and Andrew have given me permission to share the following photo with you. It is of me and Lexi when she was about two weeks old. 

Sue holding Lexi

February 20 - Mountain Sheep

Radium is a small town in BC and probably best known for the thermal hot springs on its outskirts. I like the pools here. They are clean and in the off-season, relatively uncrowded. However, I also like the idea that we can usually come across some of the mountain wildlife. This past week, Lyle and I stayed in Radium for two nights and on our late afternoon walks we saw deer and big horned mountain sheep.

I’m not sure how I would begin to describe these animals to someone with no sight at all, but I am fortunate in that I have partial sight. Lyle spotted the deer as we were walking past the fenced garden area of a private home. Two deer were contentedly munching the grass and winter shrubbery. We stood quite close to the fence so that I could see and I was quite surprised when the nearer of the two animals gracefully bounded over the fence almost next to me. He was so fast that I nearly missed the movement. It’s a good thing that I have fair peripheral vision!

We saw the mountain sheep as a small herd made their way along what seemed to be a regular route through town. I wasn’t able to get as close to the sheep as I had done with the deer. Lyle led me to one spot at an intersection where he took the picture that is posted with this text. It was so interesting. The leader of the herd took the initiative in checking out the road crossing while the rest of the animals waited on the corner. The lead sheep almost seemed to be taking the part of a school crossing guard! Strangely this all happened right at a pedestrian crosswalk.  It was great to be so close to these animals.

I hope that those of you who live in Alberta are also enjoying the unusually warm February weather. 

Mountain Sheep

February 15 - Sun and Snow

While I love the bright blue sky of a winter day, I find that those kinds of days are hard on my eyes. The brilliance and glare of sun on snow shrinks the pupils of my eyes to tiny pinpoints. Obviously this decreases what I am able to see. Even sunglasses can’t seem to counteract the effect.

It was a day like this when Lyle and I drove to the mountain top of Panorama in BC. Because the light was so bright, we chose to walk along the more shaded trail by Toby Creek rather than being out in the open.  The trail started near the chair lift and meandered a couple of kilometers to a little bridge. It was so pleasant and for winter, quite warm. Every so often a clump of melting snow would thump down from one of the trees which bordered the trail. I could hear the ripple of water as it broke through the ice on the creek. Even though it was February I could hear the chirping of the forest birds.

On the following day we were made aware of how quickly the weather can change. The sky was overcast and as we began our drive back to Alberta there was a light snowfall. Although I find an overcast sky a bit depressing, it was much easier for me to see. We stopped at Simpson River on the way back from Radium to Banff and Lyle took the following picture. Simpson River is one of our favourite spots. In days gone by we would often stop there and put on our cross country skis. 

Sue at Simpson River