Betty's Celebration of Life

Friday Betty's family held her Celebration of Life at Beecher Place right on Crescent Beach. What a beautiful venue right on the water. Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there so everyone was not able to access the beautiful deck. Steve, Kerri's husband had put together a beautiful slideshow with music for everyone to enjoy. Ray managed to snap a couple of pictures with his phone of our family table.

Dad and my cousin Gord

My Aunt Norma and Uncle Ken with Kendra and Pam beside them

On the left, Larny, Dad's caregiver, Deb, Ray's mom Irene, my son Garrett and his girlfriend Kat.

Kristi catching up with cousin Gord.

My cousin Pam with daughter Kendra.

We had all of the family back to Dad's for the afternoon and everyone cleared out at 5:30. It sure was a long day for Dad and myself. I was in bed at 8pm.

Saturday it poured all day so I got caught up on all my laundry, did last minute grocery shopping for myself and Dad. We stopped by Dad's for a short visit in preparation for our departure on Sunday morning. Looking forward to getting on the road again after 2 months in one spot.

Last days at Peace Arch RV Park

We are coming to the end of our stay at the Peace Arch RV Park in South Surrey. The past 2 weeks have been quieter with most of the stuff I needed to get in place for my Dad sorted out so we have been able to just visit Dad instead of me running here and there. Betty's Celebration of Life will be on Friday, where we will get to see all of her family and mine for several hours. It is sad that you see more of your family and friends at weddings or funerals and not the rest of the year but I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Last Wednesday we went to the island bright and early, the 5:15 ferry, for the day so Ray could see his doctor regarding pain medication.  We also stopped at our storage locker in Parksville to get out our First Up Tent and return some other things not needed anymore. Then it was off to Ryan and Paul's to pick up the mail and a fire poker.  What a treat when we got there, as coffee and fresh baked cookies were waiting for us!  Thanks guys!  Freya spent the day at Dad's with Larny, Dad's caregiver, who loves her and is always asking to take care of her. I think we will have to check the motorhome when we leave to make sure that Freya is with us!

We managed to get out last Sunday with our good friends Steve and Dianne Colibaba and introduced them to Dim Sum at the Empire Garden Restaurant in Walnut Grove. What a great meal ... we were all stuffed for the day. It turned out to be their anniversary which made it even better!

Fortunately Ray was able to eat as he had been feeling pretty tough the past 3 days due to trying some new pain medication.  He decided he had to stop these and go back to what he had been previously taking.

Sunday we start our summer trip to the Kootenays. Yeah! 3 more sleeps.

May 2016 - Now We're Back Here We Go White Rock Beautiful Sunny Days

Month of May

We're staying at the Peace Arch Park RV.  Their sites are large and the grounds include some great gardens including a nice patio and a swimming pool which of course isn't operating right now.

Another lovely day we took Dad out for fish and chips on the beach at White Rock. Even managed to get a parking spot right in front of the little restaurant. More special moments. Dad will be 87 in October.

Dad and I on the beach.

Some other world travelers managed to meet up with us from their busy schedule. We've not seen Derek and Laurel for several years and it's sure nice to catch up at Original Joe's here in South Surrey. Of course another warm sunny day. Their home is Australia.

Derek and Laurel

One of the areas that we walk the dog is Elgin Park in Crescent Beach. A beautiful park a short drive close by to our RV Park.

Elgin Park

Fields of wild lupines and a Barn Owl house.

May 2016 We are back!!!!

May 1 2016 - We're back!

After much thought we decided to share our life in a more open profile again. Ray's always concerned being on disability and publishing a blog. A full page Vancouver Sun article on Facebooking while on a disability, the individual is just giving "them" all the details of our life in a blog, thus saving "them" investigation fees as we were doing it for them. He is doing absolutely nothing wrong, but "they" can arbitrarily stop the disability and then reinstate it just before going to court.  "They" will twist anything to fit the narrative. He's concerned that by writing about the things we see and have done could be taken out of context without me commenting all the time about how bad Ray's pain is.  Blog readers don't want to read about how many hours he just laid on the bed, lots of time with ice on his back, or taken a strong pain killer, because he couldn't do anything after we had an unexpectedly longer drive, or went for a longer walk to see the scenery. His pain is acute and chronic.  If he doesn't say anything about the pain, he's in pain. If he says something, then he's in  %^&* pain.  Even spending three days doing nothing but lazing around he's still in pain. We even switched the primary driver on the car insurance as Ray gets too sore driving in heavy traffic. We knew his back (degenerative disc disease with 3 spinal fusions of 5 vertebrae) is getting worse as both of his legs now give out at times, requiring a cane when it happens.  He's been putting off getting a handicapped decal for the car, the pain level now indicated it is time. His neurologist told him walking is his best exercise and to do as much as he can for as long as he can, as the eventuality is probably a wheelchair.  Ray's nerve test with the specialist when we got back from the states, pretty much confirmed everything we knew. In two years, Ray lost 50% nerve function in his right leg and 30% in his left leg at the ripe age of 59. He also suffers from depression from the pain, as do 85% of chronic pain sufferers.