When I was lost, I found a barn

Here in Canada, it was our Thanksgiving weekend, with today, Monday 13 October 2014, being the official Thanksgiving Day. I wanted to wish all Canadians a Happy Thanksgiving, no matter what part of the world you are living in or serving in. We have so much to be thankful for every day, in this country! A special thank you to those service people and their families, who make so many sacrifices for the rest of us, too often the ultimate sacrifice. I am very thankful for what you all do for the rest of us. Have a happy, safe time, everyone! Some people choose to celebrate on the Sunday (yesterday) and others on the Monday (today).

Yesterday, I had a lot to be thankful for, lol! For the first time in almost two years, I made myself drive east of the city on my own. Recently, I did drive all the way to Drumheller and the Badlands, but I had my youngest daughter with me. The weather was so beautiful again yesterday and, after six days of not going out with my camera, I was itching to go "somewhere". I had been worried all week, as my oldest daughter had developed a haematoma in her upper thigh and, though she had been to Emergency straight away, I wasn't sure if she was going to end up in the hospital at any time. A number of years ago, she had a massive, major blood vessel aneurysm in her leg, which left her bruised from her toes to the top of her thigh. It had meant a stay in the hospital that time and they weren't sure if it had damaged the main nerve in her leg (which would have meant she could no longer walk). It took her six months to recover from this. This time, thankfully, it was a smaller thing, though it will still take a few weeks for the haematoma to fully drain. I just didn't feel like going off anywhere, but yesterday, I thought it would do me good to get out in the sunshine and fresh air. Once my daughter's leg has healed, she can then go for new X-Rays in preparation for getting two knee replacement surgeries!

Along highway 22X going east from the city, they spent so many months on major road construction, building the eastern part of a huge ring road around the city. This was one of the main reasons I hadn't driven out that way for so long, as the roads were one huge confusion. After yesterday, I can't see myself going out that way ever again, lol!

Knowing that I had to concentrate really hard on all the endless, new road signs, I was fairly sure that, now that construction had more or less ended, all I would have to do was drive in a straight line. Well, somehow, I was in the wrong lane and, to my horror, I found myself heading north on the new ring road. All I could do was just keep driving, hoping I would eventually hit Glenmore Trail which would take me east of the city. Thankfully, that is exactly what happened. I did end up in a totally different area to the east, but ended up seeing two beautiful barns - this red one and a white one - because of it.

Later in the afternoon, I ended up in the rough area I had originally planned on, thinking that the drive back to Calgary would be just one straight line on 22X. Finding my way to 22X brought me to two lovely finds - an old grain elevator that I didn't know about, and a Great Horned Owl (48x zoom and well cropped). How wrong I was about the return drive! Somehow, I found myself on Deerfoot Trail, heading south towards the Canada/US border (well, Okotoks might be a little less of an exaggeration, lol!). Nothing I could do, but just keep driving south until I was able to turn off at some familiar place - which happened to be The Saskatoon Farm : ) Fancy that, their restaurant was pretty much empty and I was just in time to enjoy their Quiche meal : )) And so, I eventually arrived back home, feeling both relieved - anyone with a driving phobia will understand! - and so happy and thankful for my various finds.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, everyone!