back to the middle of ...

Soooo I'm back in Winnipeg! I had an awesome time in Vancouver, though it really did fly by. I left mid-July and, when I was booking my ticket, thought that I would be itching to get back here, back home and back to Steve by the end of my stay in Vancouver. And, I was; but, like I said, the time seriously zoomed by, and voila! Here I am. I had a great last week of camps at Capilano U. and a great gong show of a final weekend in town. The week was full of catch-ups: I hung out with a few friends that I thought that I would have been able to see several times instead of a semi last minute planned/rushed fit-each-other-in thing; and then the weekend was... do I remember? Super fun! Saturday night involved going to a West Van party (didn't know the hosts - OH WELL!) and seeing my sister Karin who was in town from Denver, having dinner with my best friend Lindsay at a bit of an upscale place in Gastown - Boneta (food was GREAT but small portions - I recommend the salmon tartar and arriving sober) , and meeting friends for a drink and some Olympic volleyball viewing at a bar in Kits. It was super fun; first, the party. Karin's friends are renting a place on the water in West Van, and threw a birthday party for another friend (maybe she lived there, I don't know and it doesn't matter); there was a ton of food, booze and music, and the place was outfitted with a makeshift DJ booth in the living room and a portable sauna in the back of a semi in the driveway. For real. This was fun until I was joined by a crew of nakeds - I left not knowing any of them (not wanting to know them so well either) and not knowing what they wanted to know of each other. Anyhoo.. so the partay was a good time. And great to hang out with my sisterpants. Dinner: good food, good wine and good company. Yum and yum. The bar: the USA won GOLD! That was crazy to watch, as we (Steve and I) had gotten to know several of the guys on the American team. Steve played with and against a few of them in Greece, Italy and Russia so it was really incredible to see them do so well and win an Olympic gold medal. Pretty crazy. The bar was also a fun send off - from there I headed back to the party and then home at much too early of an hour. Oops. Sunday I compensated by staying in bed all day and plowing through a fabulous book... and by trying to stave off the repercussions of the previous night's, er, booze. In any case, Sunday included, the weekend was fabulous.

So Sunday's book: Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox. What an amazing story, written (and lived) by an amazing woman. She's a long distance (and may I add, cold water) swimmer who, by the age of 15 had not only made it across the English Channel, but swam it in world record time - beating all previous women's and men's times. Other incredible feats that seem contrary to reason - physiologically and mentally - include swimming around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, swimming New Zealand's Magellan Strait and making it across the Bering Strait from the USA's Little Diomede to the USSR's Big Diomede . Not only was she the first person to complete some of these swims (in just a bathing suit nonetheless) but she helped melt some of the tension and icy relations of the Cold War, bringing about some resolution and cooperation between the USSR and the USA. An amazing book written by an amazingly accomplished woman - read it! Other books that I've made it through this summer that I can recommend are Brick Lane by Monica Ali and The Gathering by Anne Enright.

Little Diomede Island (USA, left) and Big Diomede Island (USSR); also from Wikipedia:
"During the Cold War, that gap constituted the border between the USA and the USSR, and became known as the "Ice Curtain". In 1987, however, Lynne Cox swam from one island to the other, and was congratulated jointly by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev."

Between flying in from Alaska and flying out to Wyoming, Sarah and I got to hang out a bit last week - walking, talking, drinking coffee and perusing the fabulous second hand book store in Ambleside, The Book Stall. The place is absolutely sardined with books: the stacks and piles and boxes are a bit overwhelming, but it's almost impossible to leave without a gem or two. Both of us are book lovers so we had to exercise some self control ... but as I expressed my anxiety for the growing list of books on my to-read list and the pile of tomes in my arms, she gave me a sly but smiley sisterly look that she is so good at giving and smartly said, "it's best to not... overbook oneself." Fabulous. So we didn't, and left with about ten between the two of us.

So, Winnipeg. What to do here? There is a ton to do around the house, and the job and work ideas are flying every which way. It looks like we might be staying here until January, or until the second half of the pro-season, as Steve (and/or his agent) hasn't procured a job yet. This is all up in the air, but we're hoping to have a plan within the next couple of weeks, at least for the next couple of months. Steve tiled the bathroom upstairs and it looks GREAT! I'll have to get some pics up ... though not right now. Well, the sun is shining and there's work to be done inside and out, so I best be off this machine and get to work.