<H1>Back in the Saddle Again........"Deliver thunder, God, If you choose not to talk"</H1>.

Mother nature was in an ornery mood and thunder and lightning were her weapons of choice which she used on me, as I described in my last entry. To inspire awe in us, her majestic display of bad temper is beautiful and disturbing at the same time. She touches everyone in some way at one time or another, but She seems to have a particular beef with the Canadian prairies. Here storms can arise suddenly, last for 10- 20 minutes producing a battlefield of destruction. Thus, on my walk, when I heard the thunder getting closer and the sky began to light up with flashes of lightning, I decided to head for shelter - home. Trekking poles do offer you the ability to move fast. I was half way finished with my walk when the storm was only minutes away. Should I continue and finish my walk? No thank you sir, just please Thor, do not throw that lightning bolt at me. I have no need to be fried electrically. There it was; my mind was made up. I was going to go home using my poles to help me with speed. I got going and the poles propelled me at greater speeds than I have ever reached and I got careless....twice. Uncontrollable festination(twice) sending my face skidding across the pavement. Festiation, an unwelcome symptom, is common in PD.

There are ways to stop festinating but it was too late for me and I fell twice just to make sure both sides of my face would scare children.

BUT! I am back in the saddle again. Yesterday, two days after my fall(s), I was trekking again, albeit a little slower.

The festinating gait, as it is commonly called, is not inevitable. You have to understand its cause. If you are moving so that your body is bent forward, your center of gravity moves out in front of your body and you body simply tries to catch up to it. You fall into that alien run, rapid, short steps causing the body to lean more and more forward until you fall. It has been my experience that once it starts, there is nothing you can do but try to head for grassy areas (almost impossible to change directions as you have lost control), or hope for a friendly snow bank to cushion the inevitable.

But, there are hints that this parkie phenomenon is going to happen. These hints cannot be described, you have to see for yourself. Your own body's hints may be peculiar to you alone. But you will feel an odd sensation that signals the possibility that it is going to take over. Stop walking. Hold on to something or some one. If you feel it coming on, try one or all of these suggested preventative measures that have been told to me by experienced members of our tribe:

• my personal favorite is to just sit down for 20 minutes and the feeling will pass
• Take big steps, thinking "heel, toe, heal, toe" over and over
• turn your body 360 degrees and make your first step a big one
• walk backward.

I have tried them all but sitting down is the best.

On another note, A couple of you have suggested I am starting to feel depressed as I continue on my journey. I am happy to say, I am not depressed and still fully in command of my forces striving to keep the disease at bay.

Want to see a prairie storm in all its glory, go to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN0K4f_8-wg)