Over the River and Through the Woods

   Reading week was so wonderful. I spent it with my grandma on her ranch. The first thing we did was leave the city. Living in Edmonton I forget why all my life I've wanted to come to Alberta. But when I drive just out of the city limits I remember; Alberta is beautiful. It doesn't matter where you're from or where you're going, the open arms of the land embrace you, no questions asked. It just feels like home.

  After a few hours of driving we came to a little dirt road. Where it stops, wonderful things begin. At the end of that dirt road is the sweetest log house tucked in amongst the trees. Grandma literally lives over the river and through the woods.

Out here there's no such thing as cell reception and WiFi. Just rivers and mountains and forest. When you listen you can't hear cars or people. Most of the time you hear nothing. Think about the last time you really heard the sound of nothing. It's rare. When something does make it's way to your ears it's the sound of wind and birds and leaves. And it's lovely. You don't smell exhaust or the nasty smell in Edmonton that makes it way up from dark and dingy places. It smells like earth and water and trees. When we did laundry we hung our clothes in the open air. There's a reason they have a market for detergents that claim 'country fresh'. Nothing smells quite like wind dried clothes.

      At night there's no smog or lights to cloud your view. A full sky stretches above you and stars you didn't even know existed. And each one of them twinkle. Actually twinkle. It felt like getting a new prescription for glasses and seeing the world with sharper sight. The moon reflects off the snow and scatters blue light that dusts the wintry scene until it glows. When the sun goes down here even adults believe in magic.

    Grandma makes good old fashioned, hearty meals that feed your body. In the morning I wake up to Bacon, eggs, pancakes and toast. Sunday dinners are amazing. And her home made bread is a cure for pretty well anything. And I love it. But something about living out here nourishes your soul. It cleans the cobwebbed corners and airs the musty rooms. It makes you realize how amazing it is just to live. You're reminded that existence itself is a miracle. I wish I could bottle it up and take it home with me. But because I can't I guess I'll have to just keep going back for more :)

This Isn't My First Rodeo

This past week was the CFR (Canadian Finals Rodeo) It's been a family tradition to go for almost 40 years now. It's such a fun time for all the family to get together for a few days, eat your weight in food and cheer for your favorite event. Personally I love Al bouchard (tie down roping) and Scott Schiffner (bull riding).  You know after a week of watching at least 2 hours of rodeo a day things tend to all look the same. But there are a few things that I've noticed that I never get tired of and love.

-After calf roping. which takes like 8 seconds while the cowboys jump off their horses and run along the roping, turning the calf on their side and madly tying 3 of their legs together they toss their hands. They just look so stinking cool everything.
- I also love the ugly grimace the guys have when they are about to leave the bucking shoot

-The concentration on their face and head nod they give before they start their event. I swear gansters got it from the cowboys
-The closer you get to the stadium the number of cowboy hats rapidly increase. I think I'd trust anyone in a cowboy hat (a real one though, none of those nasty fake ones)

- The kissing cam
- When in eagerness the audience is all leaning forward waiting for the gates to open and then the stinking horse won't budge, let alone buck.
- When there's just been a really good ride and the crowd is going wild, but you look over at the old cowboys and they just give a good nod of the head for the approval

- PLUS this year they had some awesome talent come and give us a couple mini concerts (Dean Brody and Chris Young)

A Series of Unfortunate Events

The past week has been SO BAD. Exaggerating a little. I mean in a global sense I have nothing to complain about. I'm not starving, dying or worse. But would you please indulge me and hear the whining and complaining of my little world for just a few minutes?

 
     It all started with paying bills (doesn't it all?) So there I am trying to get all new bills for my house under my name because my roommate got married, moved out and no longer wants to pay them, imagine that. So after what seemed like hours of tedium on the phone with gas, electricity, waste, water and internet I was almost done. Until they came to the part where they told me that my power might be shut off during the switch of account holders. And wouldn't come back on until somebody called them. Which didn't bode well. No one was living at the house to know if the power went off, which meant no one would call, which then meant there would be 3 freezers full of thawed, rotten food when I went back to Edmonton. 

        

     After that it was a series of unfortunate events. Do taxes. Print off 100 useless pages of paper before I figure it out. Receive Student loan. Insufficient to cover rent alone. Not eating this year. Frustration. Siblings double book flight. Drive to Abbotsford airport without Mom. Saddness. Land in Edmonton. No one is waiting for me. Take 2 buses, a train and 2 hours to get home. Arrive at home. Lawn not been cut for weeks. Mower will not chop. Home alone, many spiders. Go to bed. Dark and lonely. Wake up, arrangements for my clothes, cookware and textbooks to be delivered from Vancouver fell through. School starts in 3 days. Hysteria. Mom won't answer phone. Alone. Shop for groceries, forget rice for stir-fry I'm making for company. Run to isle and back, angry line up. Come home, but forgot olives for greek salad. Roommates wedding tomorrow, not going. Alone. Spill salt, bad omen. Make cookies, phone rings, cookies burn. Check mail, letter returned because insufficient postage (even though I waited in a line for half an hour, right before my turn the whole system crashes but they tell me how much postage they need. Stamp fell off.) No roommates to tell my woes to. Alone.

  But I know this can't all be because of karma, because I haven't done anything bad! So it must mean that something very big and exciting, fantastic, terrific, grand and wonderful is going to happen to me very soon. I just don't know what it is. But it better be soon the way things are going.