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Freedom… well, for RobO

Today marks the official day 14 of quarantine for us, which gives us our ‘get out of jail free’ card. Except that it doesn’t for me. Last weekend when I had a mild runny nose I called my work health nurse and my time in self isolation was extended to 16 days. I can just picture tomorrow… RobO driving down the road with all of the windows open and the wind blowing his hair while I sit in our tiny house. At least he’ll be able to buy us some chocolate, which has been sorely lacking from our pantry.

We had a good past few days of isolation, as the selfies will show:

Day 10. I can’t even remember anything specific as the days are running together. I’m sure that we went for a walk and were flabbergasted by Tiger King on the TV.
Day 11: Another date night which included Skip the Dishes Indian food and virtual games night with friends. It is important to note that the girls won the best of 5 of poker dice!

Day 12’s ‘selfie’ is a special one. We were challenged by Richelle and Doug Thomas to a dance competition. And we delivered. It was a fun activity to break up the morning. Click on the link to check it out.

Day 13: It was a beautiful day for a walk outside, until there were ten billion people out on the path. Look at these amazing food commercial burgers!
Bonus Day 13: Family video chat!
Day 14: Freedom for RobO, continued jail time for me.

I’ve also had a chance to do some online art classes through the website Skillshare. One that I highly recommend is called Drawing as Self Discovery: 5 Ways to Start.

Might get one more blog out of this time… the DawnO self isolation alone selfies. Get ready for the single tear shot.

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Mid-way

This is the next installation of our quarantine blog. There have definitely been some ups and downs in the past 5 days, but for the most part we’ve stayed pretty positive. Here are our daily selfies:

Day 4: Continued deep cleaning of our condo. A special treat was a Honeyco coffee delivery from Doug.
Day 5: RobO planned date night – thanks to Leah for the sushi delivery! 108 Sun Salutations to bring in spring, RobO started organizing the school bus drivers to do Food Bank deliveries.
Day 6: Weekend days were harder for me as we didn’t have our ‘normal’ routine. A bit more sleep, a bit more tv time, a few more Reese’s pieces.
Day 7: Olson Wii challenge. Great news – RobO’s swab was negative, and we reached the halfway point!
Day 8: back to ‘work’ for RobO, another grocery delivery (thanks Mom and Dad), I started online art classes, a nightcap before bed.

I can definitely vouch for keeping up a daily routine, as when we let it slide on the weekend the days were definitely longer. It’s been great to continue with our outside walk per day and special choice of which record to listen to.

We’ve seen some positives from all of this chaos – a lot of re-connecting with friends, daily mindfulness and meditation, simplification of life and slowing down.

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Isolation

This is definitely not a normal blog for us. We are on a 14 day self isolation following our return to Canada, but we have decided to document our experience both for our own memories and for entertainment for others.

We have decided to do a ‘daily selfie’ to document our experience.

Day 1 – dusting off the crib board. There were a lot of hours in that first day. Many things on the list were checked off, including cleaning out the fridge.
Day 2 – excited for grocery delivery. I had a Skype CHAT news interview for the Quaran-team group I started.
Day 3 – RobO was swabbed as he has a sore throat (no other symptoms though). Highlights: Honeyco coffee delivery by a tennis friend, first online yoga class, a group video chat.

So far so good in the Olson house, but we’ll see how the daily selfies progress.

Some OT friends and I have developed a ‘Guide to Wellness While on Self Isolation’. The purpose is to help those in self isolation, so share it with your friends and contacts.

Wellness-While-on-Self-IsolationDownload

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It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

This trip was planned about 8 months ago when we decided to watch the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament. On the evening of March 8 we found out that the tournament was cancelled due to outbreak of Covid-19. We agonized over the decision of whether to go on the trip or not. Based on advice from our amazing doctor, info from our AirBnB host, and current travel advisories we decided to go. What could go wrong with plans to play daily tennis and sit by the pool?

When we arrived on March 11 we were feeling pretty good as we made our way to a local taqueria for dinner.

Yum!
Still able to make a joke about Covid-19 at this point…

It was when we got back to our AirBnB that we realized that perhaps we had made a mistake with our travel plans. It was announced that Trump was shutting down all flights from Europe as of March 13.

The next day was torrentially rainy, which didn’t do much for our moods. Unfortunately we were inside most of the day, glued to updates about the virus. The Canadian government instituted a 14 day self isolation for those returning home from all international travel. We tried to change our flights to go home early, but jammed phone lines and chaos prevented this. Thankfully friends hooked us up with back up plans of people who were driving home from the area that we could connect with if flights were cancelled.

Buoyed with a back up plan to get home, we spent the next day exploring Joshua Tree National Park. It was a beautiful setting to help us to relax and clear our heads.

View of the San Andreas fault.
New ‘do
My favourite area: The Cholla Cactus garden

The next day was clear skies and beautiful sunshine. We enjoyed playing tennis and sitting by the pool, punctuated with making plans for our upcoming quarantine.

In the end our flights were smooth sailing. When we arrived to the nearly empty YYC we were never so happy to have landed on Canadian soil. One day, when the world has healed, we’d like to see Palm Springs again.

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We came from away

For the September long weekend, DawnO surprised me with a trip to Ottawa!  She picked a nice little AirBnB in the heart of downtown Ottawa which was only a few blocks away from the Parliament buildings.  Naturally we took to the streets and found DawnO some food truck poutine before heading to Parliament Hill.

Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We discovered that they had set up a state-of-the-art show that was projected on to the buildings every night during the summer.  It was called the “Northern Lights” and was running the final show that evening.  We returned to watch and were blown away by the show all about Canada’s history and diverse culture.  At the end they played the national anthem while everyone stood sang along.

The next day we explored more of the city, checked out the market, and prepared for the main event, Come From Away!

Fairmont Château Laurier
Glamour Shot
GF Choclate Eclair

Both of us were blown away by this musical!  It expertly told the many true stories of when thousands of stranded passengers spent time in a small town in Newfoundland during 9/11.  It got us both in the feels and perfectly captured what it means to be Canadian.

Afterwards we met up with Jason, a friend from Medicine Hat who just happens to be the regional manager in charge of ticketing for Broadway Across Canada and now lives in Ottawa.

On our last day we were picked up early in the morning by one of my cousins and were taken an hour north into Quebec to the family cabin on a lake.  We spent the day visiting with family and enjoying their company before our flight home.

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Bucket List Blitz

This weekend felt very blog-worthy!

On Friday night I drove to Calgary for a catch up with my long time friend Cheryl. Both of us wanted to try ‘The Dark Table’ restaurant. This is a spot where you eat your meal in pitch black so it encourages use of your other senses. All of the servers are visually impaired.

We were both feeling adventurous enough to have the surprise 3 course meal. It was fun to try to figure our what we were eating and navigate the eating process without vision. We both had a few ‘air bites’ and I ate my main course with my hand. We noticed that the restaurant was very loud. Without the eye contact and cues that someone is listening, I think people get louder! There were also many clangs of dropped cutlery and smashes of broken glass.

Here’s what my meal looked like:

LOL.

All in all it was a novel and fun experience, but not something that we would do over and over.

Saturday we did a few fun activities, which included a visit to the amazing new Central Calgary Library. Anyone who believes that libraries are a thing of the past needs to take a visit here. There are so many amazing activities and learning opportunities, all under amazing architecture.

On Saturday night we completed the final bucket list check with a zamboni ride at the Flames-Oilers game. Can you believe that the 2nd zamboni seat was free so RobO got to ride too?! What a cool experience! The only thing that would have made it better would have been a win for my Oil!

Who looks more excited?

We finished off the weekend with a great visit with the Bristow’s.

Livin’ the dream!

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In our own backyard

We spent this long weekend only about 4 hours from home. Maybe some of these sights will tempt some of our international friends to come visit us and our beautiful Rocky Mountains!

The Baker parents had a condo in Banff for the week, so we spent our first 2 nights with them, waking up in the fresh mountain air. I’ve been wanting to cycle the Legacy Trail from Banff to Canmore, so we set off, pedalling about 25kms to Canmore, stopping for a mocha, then 25kms back. I was riding my mom’s Canadian Tire cheapy tank of a bike, but my dad’s bike had broken down earlier in the week so Rob had to rent one. He was obviously very disappointed in his road bike, which he aptly named ‘Flash’.  I’m pretty sure he pedalled 1 revolution to my 20!
On Sunday we drove to Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park to start a backcountry camping trip. According to RobO’s Rules of Order he will do 1 ‘sleep on the ground’ trip per year, so I cashed in. We hiked up to Yoho Lake, stayed the night in the on and off rain, then packed up and went the loooong way down. We were too lazy to bring our camp stove and fancy gear, opting to bring pizza for supper instead. I think our BP’s bag hanging amongst the nylon, bear proof bags stuffed with dehydrated camping food was the subject of envy from the other campers. Or maybe laughter!
Smiling before we set out!
Not quite so smiley.
Now we’re resting up our tired legs in the airport lounge in Calgary, waiting to board our (of course, delayed Air Canada) flight to Portland, Oregon. We’re looking forward to a couple of days of biking, brew pubs, and food trucks!

 

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La Belle Ville

The past few days we have been doing what we do best: imagining that we live here.  For the week we rented a small studio apartment right in the heart of old town.  We shop at the markets, have a drink in the neighbourhood cafes, and picnic in the parks.  Most mornings have been spent sleeping in then doing some form of exercise (me) or catching up on computer/tv time (robO).  We have filled our afternoons with a variety of activities: exploring the city, tennis, reading on the boardwalk, and people watching.  Our major decision each day revolves around where we’re going to eat dinner (and, of course, if we’re going to have gelato).  It has been the perfect blend of down time and excitement, which I’ve coined ‘relaction’!

Friday night we decided to follow the old rule of “fool me once…” and bought VIP tickets to ensure our entry into the ‘free’ Cirque de Soleil show.  It definitely helped that we also weren’t standing in the family-only line.  What a show.  I’ve seen Cirques in a few different places, but there was something really special about watching the outdoor show amongst the silhouettes of the old town.
Today is my 35th birthday, and I’ve spent the day doing all the things that make my heart smile: waking up in a Murphy bed with robO, a morning yoga practice, rollerblading on the Plains of Abraham (currently vying for my favorite activity of this lifetime), poutine, an ass-kicking tennis game (guess my husband doesn’t let me win because it’s my birthday), and dinner at a ‘bring your own wine’ Indian restaurant.  We closed out the night with live music in the park and fireworks over the St. Lawrence.  I don’t think it can get much better than this!
We’re on our way home tomorrow.  This fall we have a few trips in the queue, so stay tuned for more updates…

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Québlog

   Hello all three of you and welcome to the second instalment of our Québec City vacation blog.  I guess it is my turn to fill you in on what we have been up to since DawnO’s last post.  First of all I feel a burning desire to explain something to you.  I am NOT a Celine Dion fan.  My love for her could not move mountains.  If she decides to call it quits tomorrow I am quite certain that my heart will go on.  However, I do appreciate the fact that she is a world class talent and respect her enough to sit on the side of a grassy hill and listen to her sing a tune for free.  Consider the matter clarified.

  The day after the concert we decided to find a tennis court to play on.  If you can believe it we actually brought luggage that we had to check (roller blades, tennis rackets, books).  We thought it would be a good idea to walk to Laval University, play tennis, and then take the bus back home.  It didn’t look too unreasonable on the map… we need to smarten up.  After DawnO kicked my tired ass all over the court we headed out for crépes.
  Yesterday DawnO planned a superdate which involved a trip to the Île d’Orléans.  It’s an island located in the mouth of the St. Lawrence river that is connected by a bridge to Québec City.  We rented bikes and rode around the island stopping at cool shops and fruit stands along the way.  Afterwards we headed back to town for some pretty good Nachos.  
  Last night we tried to get into the “free” Cirque du Soleil performance but we were foiled because we were standing in the family line.  Also, most people had tickets that were given to them by the hotels they were staying at.  Once they let the ticket holders in you have a small chance of getting any leftover seats.  Since we did not have any children with us in the family line, we were hooped.  We ended up going to the waterfront to watch the image mill.  It’s a film the city projects on to the mill across the water.  They have speakers set up all along the docks where people can sit and watch the show.  It was pretty amazing how they used the entire mill to tell their story.
  Anyway, on to the pictures.  We’ll blog again soon!

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It’s All Coming Back To Me Now

I love Quebec City this time just as much as I loved it 11 years ago.  Since my first visit here I have been struggling to put into words the magical feeling that this city evokes.  It’s the same feeling that I encountered when I visited Prague, London, and Edinburg.
Finally today I think I put my finger on it.  I was running on the Plains of Abraham this morning and noticed banners on all of the lamp posts.  Each post had 2 messages: one historical, and a related modern message.  The one that caught my attention had, on the left, a drawing of a cannon and the word ‘Battles’, while on the right, a depiction of the bandstand where they play live outdoor concerts with the message ‘Harmony’.
I think that the magic comes from this contrast of old and new.  This city (like the ones listed above and many others) is a canvas of centuries old architecture with a modern overlay.  It is a place where we see a McDonalds housed in a stone building, a busker stand in front of the Chateau Frontenac, and a light show broadcast on the face of an old mill.  It is not unusual to hear the tolling of church bells and the base beat from a club on the same block.  Cars patiently wait behind horse drawn carriages at stoplights hung on the archways of the old city wall.  We can feel the ghosts of where we came from as we create our futures.

Don’t let the stereotypes sway you; Quebec City is an easy place to travel.  It is a ‘walking city’, with much of the tourist draw in an area that can be manoeuvred on foot.  Moreover, the tourism industry of Quebec knows how to woo a visiter.  The old town area is packed with art galleries, artesian booths, gelato stands, street performers, benches with views, and essentially anything else one may desire. There are free events abound: outdoor concerts, Cirque de Soleil shows, and fireworks.

The language ‘barrier’ is a misnomer.  RobO and I have been speaking an awkward kind of Spanglish – too much ‘si’ in place of ‘oui’.  We’re like parents who holler out the name of every child before finding the right one.  “Hello… Hola… Bonjour”.  The people we’ve met have been accepting and accommodating, replying in whatever language we offer.

Yesterday was our first full day to explore.  We explored the oldtown around our condo (a wonderful studio suite right beside the Chateau Frontenac with (drumroll please) a Murphy bed!!), then made our way to the Plains of Abraham, rollerblades in tow.  This was the catalyst for this whole trip; I ‘bucket listed’ for Rob to experience this setting.  Under the proud and watchful eye of this old battleground, the city has laid a large track only for rollerbladers.  After working up an appetite, we headed for fresh poutine, followed by refreshing gelato.  Our evening included more city exploration and finished with an exclamation point: listening to Celine Dion’s outdoor concert from a grassy hill beside the Citadel.  (Note: the concert was not free for those in attendance, just for the thousand-odd group of us who sat one hill over!)

I’ll let RobO fill you in on today’s events in the next blog as this is getting rather long. So here’s some pictures!!