Looking After Granny

I’ve been at my mom’s now for a couple of weeks as she is recovering from her total hip replacement.  She is now officially our bionic mom as she has had both knees done and now both hips. Just like any major surgery there are ups and downs and here’s hoping there are more ups then downs in her future.  This past week was a bit of a down as her leg was very swollen and red and her family doc sent her for an ultrasound to rule out any blood clots, thankfully there was none detected.  I take her on Tuesday to get her staples out and to get the final results of her ultrasound, the following week she starts her physiotherapy.  She has been doing her daily exercises and daily walks using her walker.  

Molly flew down with me and the boys are staying home in Cambridge Bay holding down the fort. Molly had a couple of vet appointments while we have been here as she was refusing to eat again. Her vet changed up her medications and she seems to be doing better.  She had an ultrasound done and a couple of x-rays which showed changes in her lungs (she has chronic bronchitis) and there is a narrowing between her T12 -T13 and her T13 and L1.  I decided to bring her to Dr. Linda Hamilton for some acupuncture and laser therapy, Molly did ok during her treatments and we will return again mid-July for another session. 

While mom was at the hospital I thought I’d fix her flower beds since she couldn’t work on them this year - instead of bringing her flowers at the hospital I added more to her beds so she can enjoy them through the season.  One of her beds I made a Happy 150th Birthday Canada theme with red and white petunias and her other ones I added more perennials and some beach rocks where nothing seemed to grow.  She was happy with her newly revamped beds and I had so much fun shopping for plants and getting some Manitoba dirt under my nails.  I still have work to do but glad the flower beds are weed free and some flowers are in. 

Before

After - Canada 150 Theme

Before

After with new perennials

Another after with new perennials planted

Not much happening here in Carman for Canada Day Celebrations but the small village of Roseisle is having some activities and fireworks so depending on how mom feels we may take the short drive there later today.  Other than that it will be a quiet Canada Day for us. 

I usual have both Molly and Blitz in the picture but this 

year it's Molly among some flowers

I have taken the opportunity to seek away while mom rests to take Molly out for some Prairie Romps and of course to take some short drives to take some pictures of some wild flowers and visit some community flower gardens. 

Our favourite place for prairie romps - along the diversion

Here's 3 different landscape shots that I took this past week and it shows the variety of weather we've been getting.  First was a very foggy morning and drive, the next pic is of a storm that rolled in and the last one is of the canola in full bloom.

Foggy morning in the Pembina Valley

Bright orange railway car against the stormy skies

(in HDR)

Beautiful yellow canola field

The next few pictures were taken from community gardens in and around Carman.

Roses

More of roses

Pretty yellow roses

Pretty rose

Love peonies 

This one was interesting with a white centre

One of my favourite flowers

The next few pictures are of wild flowers that I took during one of my drives out to the countryside.

Came across a bunch of these tiger lollies

Love daisies

Wild rose

Even a dandelion can be beautiful 

This little guy kept a close eye on me while I

was taking pictures

This lonely goose has been back to my mom's backyard

for the last 4ish years.  We noticed that he has a sore leg this year

and keeps close to the house. 

June was a busy month for me as I was hired to do a RCMP family pictures, pre-school pre graduation pictures and the grade 12 graduates. We had to change some dates for the family and grade 12 pictures due to the weather. I ended up doing the RCMP family in two days and the grade 12 the same day.  The high school girls were amazing and great sports as we ended up doing some fun pictures at the bridge on a Friday night where the temps were +4’c and the wind was wicked.  I had tons of fun doing their pictures at both the ceremony and at the bridge the following week.  The pre-school kids were great and really enjoyed having their picture taken - some couldn’t contain their excitement as you will see in the pictures below.

Tonya, Chris, Miah, Caiden and little Avery

Avery at the bridge

So much cuteness with the pre-school kids!

Here's some of my favourite pictures from the Grade 12 graduating class.  We had 2 locations on 2 different days - one was at the ceremony and the other was at Freshwater Creek Bridge. What a great bunch of people to work with! 

Graduating Class of 2017

Missing 3 graduates

Love this mother-daughter moment

Sassy! 

Love!

Gorgeous Pearl

Lovely Zoe

Pretty in Red

Proud papa moment

Our future graduates 

Molly & I will be in Manitoba until end of July and when we head back to Cambridge Bay I will be busy with the vet clinic during August long weekend.  Mom does not have internet access so I am limited using a personal hotspot from my IPad but will try to get another done before we leave. 

Talk soon!