the great plains

So we made it safe and sound to Calgary... and the drive across the Prairies was as eventful as it could have been I suppose. It was the first time I'd made the trip West by veHICle, and I had been forewarned of the boredom offered up by the long straight shots across Saskatchewan (or, as Steve aptly puts it, Sascratchandyawn) and Alberta. Not that Manitoba had much going on - just torrential rains and mega-gusting winds - but thankfuly that died out just outside of the city. For the rest of the drive we had great weather - the skies were gorgeous: huge plumey clouds and deep blues, and despite the relative monotony of the landscape, I enjoyed the drive (and that's not because Steve drove the whole way....). We saw several trains along the way, and they were really pretty - maybe the juxtaposition of simple shapes and/or the length of the trains across long stretches of flat land... I'm sure this is a one shot deal - me enjoying this notoriously boring drive - but I'll take it. What else... the salt flats across Sask were interesting: they looked like crusty snow-swamps - but I learned a little bit about the area after investigating the salt and Palliser's Triange... vraiment interessant. The worst part of the trip? We saw a beautiful deer bounding alongside the road (that part was lovely), get hit by a semi behind us - it was horribly sad. I had a few moments of reflection on the almost irreversible effects human civilization has had on wildlife, displacement and habitat destruction; all for our own selfish sake. At this point in time I think the best we can do is try our best to manage and minimize the effects of our existence on others - wildlife and nature. I'm not going to delve in - this is an enormous thing to think about. SO! Moving on. We did the drive (Winnipeg - Calgary) in about 13 hours; we snacked non-stop, read magazines, did crosswords, played games... and the trip wasn't bad at all. I'm trying to think of other highlights -OH! We listened to a fantastic show on CBC's The Vinyl Cafe - a compilation of the best of Canadian rock music... it was amazing. I'm sure it can be dowloaded; at least I hope it can... I'd listen again for sure! So... this week should be busy: I'm coaching vball all week while the final frenzy of wedding preparations begins - and then on Saturday Steve's sister Erin and her fiance Fred tie the knot. It should be good. So... until next time! ")

er... really?

So I don't have too much to say - or too much time to say it, so I'm just going to make a quick comment on the world's most expensive life jacket... at least I hope it's the world's most expensive. Christie's auctioned off one of the six (known) life preservers still in tact from the Titanic FOR $68,500! Mamma mia. I know people pay crazy amounts of money for crazy things like these ridiculous diamond-studded wild red deer leather shorts (price tag = $114,000) but a $70,000 life jacket? The poor bloke (or blokette) that was wearing this thing (or... ummm, not wearing it) must be bobbing in their grave.



Capital U for UGLY
Does the dummy come with the life jacket?

We're on our way to Calgary on Saturday... to WORK! Or at least I get to work... FINALLY! I'm working a volleyball camp the week before Steve's sister and her lovely fiancee Fred tie the knot - on July 5th. Soooo there's lots to do tomorrow to get ourselves together and all ready to go. So I best be making myself useful!

the most amazing surprise EVER!!

So, my surprise? Instead of a Saturday afternoon trip-launch, the most amazing surprise/in-depth covert operation was sprung on me. I was totally fooled and completely surprised. We went out for a few drinks on Friday night, and got dropped off chez nous around 1:30. Soonafter, the doorbell rang - Steve: "Ooooh maybe Pascal forgot something" (Pascal = ride home); I, under a cloud of heavy confusion, walked to and opened the door to see a suitcase with a present propped on top of it - and milliseconds later, out jump three screaming sisters from behind the garage... AGGggghhh! Surprise!! Steve had orchestrated all three of my sisters to come to Winnipeg for the weekend - a sister reunion. The most amazing present EVER! I was in total shock - good shock mind you... but my eyes couldn't reallllly believe what they were seeing for, well, almost the entire weekend. Sarah came from Vancouver, Claire from Calgary and Karin from Denver ... and it was soooooooo so so so fun!!! It's been a while since we've been able to get together at all really (I was going to say on a regular basis) - we were together last summer when Karin got married but there was so much going on... so it was awesome for all four of us to be together, and for everyone to see our place and our life in Winnipeg. !!!! I am still on a bit of a high... it was great. It was/is the most thoughtful and amazing present ever.

So... Friday night we stayed up until all hours talking and drinking and opening presents... so so fun! Saturday we went to the fair - as Sarah said, interesting human experiment - so many different people, and different in so many ways. We went on some rides - the swings, a mini water rollercoaster, had icky fair food - you know, did the whole exhibition thing. The weather was amazing all weekend - we've had a great run of sun for the past week or so, so that was great too. What else... came back here Saturday, enjoyed some drinks and a yummy meal... then some more drinks and more yummy food THEN... took Winnipeg by storm - sister storm. Well, not really. But we drank and ate and danced and got home too late and you know the deal. On Sunday we went to The Forks, (which are way cooler than I thought they were) - Winnipeg's main tourist attraction, where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet. There's a market and restaurants and cafes and all sorts of neat park things... so that was cool. We also went to Assiniboine Park, had gelato on Corydon, did a little bit of shopping... It was one of those weekends that seemed to last forever - a five day weekend; full and long and fantastic. SO! Sneaky Steve - he came up with the idea in Russia, and has been planning it ever since. So so sososososososo sneaky. AND! He kept talking about the surprise that we were going on on Saturday - how he'd need my help packing, and that it took a while to get there... it was a bit of a drive - then he'd stop and say he didn't want to give anything away. AGH! So, it was great. Have I already said that a million times? Okay... here are some pics!


Right after my surprise arrived! Steve and his surprise...



Sissies at the fair...


At The Forks ")

On to Decade #3

What a place to be just as summer solstice comes and goes... on the computer - doh. It's also World Refugee Day and International Surfing Day - and my first full day as a thirty year-old. AGH! I had but one issue with turning the big 3-0... and it didn't have anything to do with getting older, feeling older, or being in my thirties (or with having zero responsibility and no job), but with the fact that certain stages of my life have come and gone... and are gone forever! Like going out to play - getting excited about being on swings, or jumping on a trampoline, or playing house (well, we're kind of doing that right now...) - you know? I mean, some of those things are still exciting... but the fervour and energy for swings and tramps (!?) has been replaced with an excitement for other, slightly less demanding things. Though of course I'm glad that some of the stages are dead and buried - high school awkardness, bad clothes, weird hair (wait I still have that), fighting with parents (I'm not the only one who's glad of that one) etc., but ... yup. Steve was so sweet - as soon as I expressed all of this to him, he asked me if I wanted to go out and play. Cute.

Anyways, summer solstice. It is so awesome having so much light late into the evening. And so much colour. Yay. I had a fantastic birthday - we had a super yummy breakfast that revolved around an exotic fruit salad (read: it included mango and melon, not just apples and oranges), played some frisbee golf, and then the most delicious dinner at a great restaurant in Osborne Village, Fude. Yes of course the day almost completely revolved around food - and here is a confession that has nothing to do with food - a frisbee confession: I am horrrrrrible at throwing a frisbee and it is super embarassing. This is the thing that I am least good at - at least that I've tried. BUT! I did have a few good throws and Steve even caught one on FILM! Documented. Yay. I got some lovely cards and presents and am awaiting a surprise present from Steve that arrives - or that we go on - tomorrow afternoon around 1:00. I have no idea what it is but am very excited! Hurrah hurray. We went swimming this afternoon and came home and made a deee-lish dinner: fancy grilled cheese sammers (cheddar, green onion and cilantro YUM) and a big green salad. Food is good. So, here are a few pics that have been taken over the course of the last fortnight of my twenties... I hear it only gets better! And I'm off to enjoy the evening sunshine....

My birthday flowers!!!

Friz-golf

I feel that I look like a mega dork in this picture BUT it is my action shot - a good throw and you can see the disc!

Finally!!!

Finally! Some good weather. And a blog! I really enjoyed writing on a daily basis in Russia but.... the bottom line is that here, I have other things to do! Yeee! Like weed! and mow! and prime and paint! And... clean the toilet on the front lawn. It was a glorious day for a glorious task. Explanation: Steve tiled the upstairs bathroom this past week and well... let's just say that the toilet was dirty. Ick. I will spare you the details involved with upside down inside out toilets. Anyways, so I gave it a thorough cleaning on the front lawn and am regretting not taking a picture of me (or Steve) reading the newspaper on it. SO! It has been productivity central around here - the bathroom is tiled and painted, a countertop is arriving on Friday; we've primed and painted almost all of the upstairs rooms - yay! And... there must be more - lots of yard work: trimming, mowing, clipping, chopping, sawing, hacking and spraying. Not that it's super noticable... but at least we can tell the difference.

So, as I was saying, we finally got a nice warm day here! Yesterday was FRRREEEEEzing... and then just like that, summmmmertime! I hope it stays. There have been super high winds here too - tornado-watch kind of gale force winds... so that has been interesting. I'm not even going to try to catch up with missed news and un-blogged thoughts, but I will say Happy Belated Father's Day to my dad, and to all dads that read this. YAY! Yay for dads. Okay, I will leave you with a link to a neat article about a family that had their house renovated at a ridiculously expensive price, and got a little more than they paid for...

AGH!

As always, I have an excuse for why I am not going to write anything (or much... or much of anything) and here it is. I have been sucked into a whirly and blinding computer vortex as a result of complete and total procrastination. Remember that course I'm taking? Oh, and remember the 20 page paper that is due... er... in two days? Yup, I am in that vortext and have been for the last six hours. It feels like waaaaay longer than that. Maybe I'm a computing wimp and need to build up a lack of muscle... or perhaps it's toleration? for sitting in front of a comp-machine at a desk for six hours. Yes I find that part a tad objectionable, but really it's the procrastination and the resulting cramming of what I'd like to be quality research and writing... into something, perhaps, a little short of my standards. ANYHOW, I think it will turn out okay. But now I'm realizing that I need to get out of here to catch my bus... so I must be off. I have so much to say about the ridiculous weather we're having here (as does everyone else across the country about their respective locations) - I am predicting another Ice Age... it has arrived! And if I get preserved in ice at this computer station, whoever finds me in several thousand years will have no understanding of what I'm really like, so I'm going to run to the bus! AGH!

a WEEK!?

It's been a week since I've blogged!? Crazy. I went to Vancouver this weekend for a bridal shower and surprise stagette... all wrapped into one crazy event - and it was SO fun. SO, since I have a ton of reading to do, this will be a photo essay style blog - it's how I'm getting out of writing something until tomorrow. All I will say is that it was a miracle that I made my 7:30 a.m. flight on Sunday....


the beautiful bride!!!!
Yes I'm holding a wine bottle

Okay... and a mega cute one of the family dog, Maggie... with her mini stuffed animal twin doggy! So cute!!!

Good Ads: need I say anything more?

Weeds and Reads

In yesterday's Winnipeg Free Press, there was a beautiful picture of an adorable couple who, on June 6th, will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary: June 6, 1938 - 2008! It's amazing, but 70 years isn't even close to the record set last year by an English couple: they set the world record by celebrating their 80th wedding anniversary in 2005. (The secret to their success? Never go to sleep on an argument.) If Steve and I were to celebrate our 80th wedding anniversary, we'd have to live until 2089, or have tied the knot er... 20 years ago. Or more. 2089! What will life be like then... I can't imagine. Wait! Of course I can: Jetsons electrono-world with Star Trek beam-me-up-Scotty technology for almost anything - travel, food, communication... you name it. Either that or a gloomsday doomsday struggle between polarized superpowers for money and power - of people, their minds, resources... I prefer the Jetsons cartoon version.

I have to admit that I am loving Winnipeg. I don't know if Russia did this to me or if I'm finally coming to appreciate this prairie town. Or if it's because I haven't been downtown yet or if it's because it's May/June and the weather is warm and sunny but not too hot, and the mosquitos and bugs are still in their bug pods. BUT! I am loving it. Our house is great, and progress is slowly being made. This weekend I attacked the overgrown-with-weeds garden: the retaining walls are rotting and need to be replaced, and the weeds.... ick. I can't say that I have ever done that much weeding in my life - the depth and breadth of the roots of some of these weeds was amazing. And shocking. So were all of the worms and grubs and creepies and crawlies that I pulled up. Though I'd like to say that I did more work around here today, I didn't. The weeds were a tough business, and after yesterday's all-day beach vball tournament (and the almost all night party that followed) weeding and errands were all I could muster the energy (and focus) for. I've been looking forward to starting Siri Hustvedt's The Sorrows of an American for quite some time - her book What I Loved is one of my all time favourites, so ... I'm off to read. Yum.