Albertans have finally reached the 70% vaccination mark so on Jul 1 (Canada Day), Alberta removed all restrictions on the COVID issue. Alberta is the first Province in Canada to fully open up after a year and a half long wait. There's no doubt, we have been through a bit of a tempest lately, especially with the vicious return of the third and for some, the fourth wave of the COVID virus.
The number of new cases of COVID has diminished incredibly. I believe we can see the light at the end of the tunnel but, even then, the Premier of Alberta is in a very tenuous position politically. There are many who don't agree with his policies. I hear it through the chat shows on the radio every day so I wonder what will happen if people have to hold their noses to vote in the next Provincial Election which I think is not far away. Jason Kenney, may want to try to gamble on the fact that he's seen as the good guy, opening up the Province, but that remains to be seen
Maybe we have acquired a herd immunity now. Only time will tell, once people have been to the long anticipated Calgary Stampede and mixed again. I hope for everyone's sake that this works out.
The age where people can get vaccinations has now been lowered in Alberta to allow younger kids down to 12 years of age to be immunized. It's been too long for most people but, on the other side of the coin, employers are starting to scramble, looking for employees once again.
Many former employees are quite happy to continue on the Canada Employee Response Benefit (CERB) payments until they run out in September but then, watch the job applications mount as the competition for jobs increases dramatically.
On another note, Donna broke her left foot while walking towards our home one day about a month ago. Her foot swelled up, so I took her to the South Health Campus and after a six-hour triage wait, she was finally seen, x-rayed a couple of times and discharged from Emergency with a boot and a pair of crutches. She's recovering but it's going to take time for her to get back to normal as she has torn the ligaments in her ankle as well as breaking a bone in her foot. She's happily on the mend though and has discarded the crutches and the boot.
Early in September, provided our Prime Minister opens up the border between the US and Canada, we are going to take a slow three-day drive south to Las Vegas, Nevada. We know the US President Biden wants to open up but, our Prime Minister is not convinced. I heard on the radio yesterday that Biden might just take the decision out of Trudeau's hands and open the border himself.
Talking about getting away. Recently Donna and I took off and decided to get out and about to break the boredom of this confinement prior to the lifting of restrictions. We drove north up to Lloydminster which sits on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, half of the city is in Alberta and the other half is in Saskatchewan. We had never been to Lloydminster. We overnighted there and then headed to Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan. Boy was the Province of Saskatchewan ever flat. I couldn't believe how flat it was, and the roads were dead straight for miles and miles.
Arriving in Saskatoon we met up with a niece's sister-in-law at a pub she and her husband own then headed back to our hotel room which Donna had the good sense to reserve the day before. The desk clerk explained that all the hotels around were fully booked. So it looks as if lots of people are on the move and getting out and about too.
Then came the bad news. Donna's sister and brother-in-law Carol and Ib were in the process of moving to their new home, just five doors away from us. Well, while we were away, we were told that Ib had contracted Shingles....... Not nice!
We were due to drive to Regina the following morning and spend three days there, but we thought about it and decided we should probably drive back home and help Carol and Ib out if we could which we did. They were up to their eyes in boxes. We helped them straighten out the main floor then left the rest up to them.
Then, we had a spontaneous "cook-in" with our neighbours across the way. It was a friendly competition. Between us all, we decided to make Indian food..... My favourite.
This is the Nepalese Chicken dish being prepared for Marinating for 24 hours
Donna and I cooked Nepalese Chicken Curry, Aloo Gobi (cauliflower and potato curry) samosas, pappadams, basmati rice and naan bread. Our neighbours decided to cook butter chicken, aloo gobi (he wanted to try out my recipe), basmati rice and their own naan bread.
The Nepalese chicken curry and the butter chicken, both aloo gobi dishes and both sets of naan bread were made from scratch. I would have to admit, the butter chicken tasted every bit as good as any you will find in any Indian restaurant we have ever visited. It was delicious.
Both houses gave off the aroma often percolating from the Indian restaurants around here. Windows and doors were opened up largely for most of the day the following day to get rid of those nice but imposing aromas but, was it fun nevertheless.
This is the same dish with the Added Greek Yoghurt just prior to me mixing it all together
We are patiently waiting for the Feds to announce the opening of the borders between Canada and the USA. The Americans want it open but Trudeau hasn't acquiesced yet.
We hope it will open mid-July so we can drive South into the US or we will have to cancel the Las Vegas hotels and the one's Donna has reserved for us on the way south.
Of course, along with Stampede comes the normal thunder and lightning storms and lots of rain and hail which is typical here for this time of year. Our garage door looks as if it has been peppered with machine-gun bullets as the hail took off some of the stain, but we don't have to worry as the damage is considered a common property issue and it will be covered under our reserve fund condo fees.
We are thinking that maybe we would like to go away for a couple of months during the winter but when we look around, it seems that all the accommodations are sky-high in terms of prices. We have considered Hawaii, (Maui and Kaua'i), Arizona, Nevada and California, or even another visit to the Dominican Republic, but it seems everyone has increased their prices to recover some of the losses they have experienced through COVID. That, coupled with the anticipation of pent-up demand has restricted our choices somewhat. We will have to wait and see if prices come down. One thing is for sure. There's no way we would even consider going on a cruise ship so, we will have to wait and see.
Well, that's about it for now. That's our update. If any of you know of a place to lease for a month or two that is comfortable and not too expensive, please let me know by emailing me at kgcarter@.me.com. We are always receptive to suggestions.
No comments:
Post a Comment