(August 10)
Dear Folks,
Greetings from Saskatoon. Our hotel is right on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan, who are the huskies. One of the interesting things about this hotel is that the rooms have very little furniture. There is a kitchen, but no table or chairs or desks. There is a Comfy chair that we put our suitcase in since there is no luggage rack.
If the room was hosting the typical two people, they would have to take turns with the chair.
More tomorrow.
Wags and Hugs.
The Lowman Family
(August 11)
Dear Folks,
Here is a bit more. We will include some odds and ends.
We noted that this hotel is on the university campus. It is right next to the stadium complex. They also get many guests who have come to the hospital.
We have remarked on the ethnic diversity we have encountered. Many of the people along the Dempster and Arctic highways are First Nation–it IS their land. The pilots of the ferries know the water like we know a bath tub.
In Whitehorse, many of the workers are from India. In Ft. Nelson, which is in a truly remote area, they have many workers from Bangladesh. In Grande Prairie, Jennifer, the young person who registered us, is from the Philippines. She has some family in Grande Prairie, but most of her family is in the Philippines. She has not seen them since she left. She hopes to go back to visit maybe next year.
Accessibility in Canada is a mixed bag. Most of the hotels have been good. There are always some hiccups: where they put the towels, where the thermostat is, where kitchen supplies are for a suite. But with some ingenuity–and a willingness to ask for help–there are usually workarounds.
Parking is a continual problem. Often–as at the supermarket here–they designate spaces as accessible, but they are just regular spaces with the wheelchair logo. So there is no extra room for a ramp or even to get a manual wheelchair or walker out. So sometimes we have to use the nifty device Al made for us. You can see it in the picture. It is the sticks for two driveway reflectors, which have a join and hook at the end of one so that you can hang it on your door handle and extend it outward. It gets people’s attention and usually raises awareness.
We wind up going to a grocery store every few days for carrots and yogurt for the Girls. If you’re going to be stopping at groceries across Canada, get the rewards card right away. It can really save you money.
If you’re going to travel with one dog, why not make it two? Of course, I had no choice. I could not get up and function without them. Having the two of them–Dusty still being so playful–they accomplish good, healing play every day.
This is a long trip for the Girls. We have already gone more than 8,000 miles. We wonder if they wonder if we are ever going home. They will love the freedom of being off leash.
This time around with service dogs is taking more time than in 2022, our last big trip. Then, Saint was pretty feeble. So we didn’t have to take a walk/run every morning. We didn’t have medication every day (Mari does not have meds, but has to have some peanut butter.). We didn’t have daily coat brushing, nail grinding, and tooth brushing.
This all takes time, but is very grounding for all of us. It is good for all of us to have some semblance of routine.
At the end of this Journey, we will have a long list of people to thank, including all of you (sort of like the Oscars). Today we took a few moments to give ECAD a call. We can never thank them enough for the excellent job that they did with Mari. They taught her so much. And they tried to teach me so much. We continually hear Lu’s voice in our ear saying, “Now, what should you have done in that situation?” Special shoutouts to Lu, Jess, Kathleen, Charlie, Geyser, and the kennel staff and dogs. And we hope that Dale is happy to have that ECAD vest going very far afield. Either way a service dog, truly, there are no limits.
Saskatoon is on the prairie. So it is windy. And it is flat. Jill will understand that better than most. You get great gas mileage: it is like driving across a table. We miss the mountains.
Saskatoon is a very pretty city. It has tree-lined streets, some side streets even have grassy medians.
A few things that we already knew and that this trip has affirmed. We have challenges backing up and parking. Those who know us are smiling and nodding. That’s because we have very poor depth perception. So we do not do it fast. But we do it. Persistence is key.
We send you huge wags and hugs and thanks for your support. We could not do this without you.
The Lowman Family
(August 12)
Dear Folks,
Several stories from today.
I rolled into the breakfast area )on the ninth floor) this morning to see what they had. They have an amazing assortment: cut up fresh fruit; dried fruit; yogurt; eggs; meat; hash browns; pancakes; nuts; oatmeal; cereal; bagels; several types of bread, etc. I am always challenged by breakfast, so I thought I would just grab some whole wheat bread and peanut butter and take it back to the room. Tom came up and introduced himself. He and his wife Maria, who took the photo of Tom with Mari and Mummy, are in Saskatoon to drop their daughter off to begin her studies in veterinary science. They are very proud of her. They have at least two other children–boys. One has left home. The other is still in university and still lives at home.
Tom is what we might call a public health nurse. He works out in the community. He lives right outside of Winnipeg.
Tom had studied Miracle. When he approached, after asking if he could help us, he said, I see from your license plate that you’re from Maine. We agreed. He then said, you have a sticker on the car from a university. Are you a professor? We explained that we had recently retired and now worked full time for BEYOND LIMITS. He had noticed our decals. We told him a bit about BEYOND LIMITS. We asked if we could take a photo of him for our blog. That’s where Maria came in. We gave Tom a business card so that he could check out our Journey.
Then we went up to the university to visit the Museum of Antiquities. We had reached out in June for information on where to accessibly park. Someone in parking had gotten right back to us with information, a map, and a photo. The University of Saskatchewan uses an app called Pay by Phone. It is really efficient. So we got parked all right. Then it was a matter of finding an accessible route to the Peter MacKinnon Building. As we got out of the van, Sean happened by. We asked for help finding the accessible access to the MacKinnon Building and the museum. Sean did not know where the museum was, but went to find out. He returned and led us to it. He said to call when we had finished our visit and he would escort us out.
At the museum, we met Tracene Harvey, who has a Ph.D. In classical archaeology. She is the director and curator of the museum and also teaches art history, runs a summer art camp, collaborates with others across disciplines, such as in history.
Tracene got her bachelor’s and master’s from the University of Saskatchewan. She went further away for her Ph.D. When her current job opened up, she jumped at it.
The museum makes an excellent case for replicas. Many places of former empire–such as the Louvre–now have workshops to make the replicas, the moulds of which are a hundred years old. So now the replicas may be in much better shape than the originals.
The museum talks eloquently about replicas. A replica costs the same, no matter how famous . The statue pictured is of the sleeping hermaphrodite. She comes from the Louvre and is their first replica produced from a 3D printer. So rather than of resin or plaster, it is plastic.
The museum does have some original material: coins, glass, pottery, and a trap door from an ancient Egyptian tomb. They are supported by generous donors.
The museum started out in 1974, as the vision of two professors at the U Saskatchewan, ancient history professor Michael Swan and art history professor Nicholas Gyenes. They started with a dozen replicas displayed across campus. They consolidated into one space on 1981. In 2005, they moved to their present location.
Tracene is from about three hours away. Being the director/curator is like coming home.
Sean grew up on a farm about 1.5 hours away. He and his wife moved to the area in 2022.
The big news of the day is Dusty. Yesterday afternoon she was a bit fussy when we got back to the hotel. That sometimes happens, so we told her that we would go out pretty soon. Mari was also agitated, trying to get Mummy to respond. Dumb Mummy. Dusty had explosive diarrhea. Mummy had a time cleaning that up.
Lucinda had given us some small containers of instant Minute Rice when we saw her. So we gave the Girls (Mari was fine, but we try to give them both a treat, such as the rice) rice, yogurt, and a small amount of kibble for dinner. Dusty’s appetite was fine and she acted as always, except for the diarrhea. She ate eagerly. I took the Girls out. We went to bed. At about 1:30, Dusty woke me. We rushed outside. More of the same problem.
I have to say that if you are going to experience this, it is a great place to do so. The outside lighting is so good that it is like daylight. The front doors appear to always be open. The music in the lobby and entry drifts outside. The Stones sang about Wild Horses to us.
After that, Dusty slept through until morning.
I hoped that things looked a little better this morning. But when we were at the museum, we had to cut our visit short because she was so uncomfortable.
As we got outside, Dusty had another episode. We said to Sean that we needed to take Dusty to a vet. Although he has no pets, he recommended the U Sask Veterinary Medical Centre. Great choice! We had to wait several hours, but what a splendid facility! And they went way above and beyond. For example, the accessible parking there was not adequate. We had tried to straddle the line for two spaces, but did not do it well enough. A Jeep Renegade pickup parked up against us, making it so that we could not open Miracle to access anything. You have to register your license plate with reception. So they tracked down the driver and asked him to move. Then they guided us so that we were parked better. They held Dusty and Mari so that Mummy could use the bathroom.
Finally, Dr. Lee saw Dusty. She examined Dusty and she is in wonderful shape –except for the diarrhea. So we have a few prescriptions and a bit of Rx food to help her turn the corner.
All in all, it was an exciting day. We are just so lucky that this happened here.
Wags and Hugs
The Lowman Family
(August 13)
Dear Folks,
The big news for today is that Dusty is much, much better. We left the vet yesterday with three days worth of prescription food and five days of meds. We didn’t need to go out through the night last night. Everyone rested better.
Dusty was well enough that we could pay a visit to the Ukrainian Museum of Canada today. That’s why we had decided to stay here another day–it is open Wednesday-Sunday. We had missed it on our last trip through in 2022. We were not here on the right days. And, given Dusty’s health scare, how good that we have had another day.
The museum is the child of the Ukrainian Women’s group. It was established in the 1980s. It is built of brick but looks like a traditional Ukrainian structure of logs and mud/clay. It is a treasure dedicated to preserving Ukrainian culture, language, history–memory. There are three galleries with rotating exhibits. The exhibits, in English and Ukrainian, are thoughtfully done. There are so many parallels between Ukrainians and other oppressed peoples, such as those of First Nations and the Métis. There are also parallels between the artwork of the groups. The desire to make even mundane objects of daily living beautiful is so touching.
The photo of the young woman with Mari and Dusty is Marta. Marta is of Ukrainian heritage. Her close family is here. She has extended family in Ukraine. We asked her how they were doing. She said OK. They had chosen to stay in Ukraine. Even if that had not been their choice, they work in the medical field, so they would not have been allowed to leave.
Marta worked at the museum part time while she was in school, including some internships. Now she works there full time.
The museum is open year round. They get many more visitors in the summer. We said that we had lived in North Dakota and talked about winters on the prairie: -50 Celsius–not counting the wind. She said that the most important item of clothing in people’s closets was coats. Nobody had only one. Her grandfather used to say that there was no such thing as bad weather–only bad clothing.
Marta does make pysanky eggs. She says that she is not so accomplished as the creators of the pysanky eggs that they sell at the museum. Artists use a variety of eggs–from hen to goose and larger. They spend hours decorating an egg, using wax and dyes. They don’t blow out the egg’s interior until after it is decorated, since they want the dye absorbed evenly. And since blowing out the content afterward can lead to cracking, people often leave the content in, since it will dry up.
While we were there, a summer camp of children left the building for some time outdoors. They were mostly new arrivals from Ukraine. Their leader was a fair-haired young woman (white blond hair in braids) of about 30 who had come to Canada with her teenage brother at the start of the Russian invasion into Ukraine. Her brother was 16 then. He could have been drafted at age 18. Their mother did not come to resettle, but has come to visit. They do have other family here. They recently attained permanent residency status. Do the brother is safe.
The young woman had met her special someone here. He is of Ukrainian descent. She is teaching him Ukrainian. They will be married this winter.
Before we close, we wanted to circle back around to our hotel, the Staybridge Suites. Yes, the room furnishings are a bit odd. It is a terrific facility, though. It consists of two towers. One is the Staybridge Suites. The other is the Holiday Inn Express. Whenever we can, we opt for a suite–they work better for us. There are LOTS of dogs here. We have a lovely room on the first floor, at the end of the corridor. We have attached a photo of the lobby. We had mentioned that breakfast is provided on the ninth floor. We think that this is, at least in part, because the elevators are glassed in and you get splendid views of the surrounding area.
Tomorrow we move on to Winnipeg. We are sure that the Holiday Inn there will not be so nice. But we will make it work.
Wags and Hugs.
The Lowman Family.
Dear Folks,
This is a PS: we feel so blessed and lucky that we left the veterinary medical centre with someone who will soon be all well and strong again. As an animal hospital, they take emergencies, giving them priority. Some are too sick or injured to help. That hit us hard as we were leaving the centre. We were blocked in by a fire truck. Next to it was an ambulance. Not for the animals, surely.
While Dusty was being treated, we heard a woman sobbing hysterically. We think that the ambulance may have been for her–or someone else with uncontrollable grief. We are very, very lucky. 🙏
