Shredder, Take The Wheel

[shreddertakethewheel]

jerusalem artichokes

this is the back garden bed we have inherited from the previous tenants. we have damn near no idea what most of this stuff is.  we decided that we would have to reclaim the bed altogether. 

we went and bought a shovel for the task - i enjoyed carrying it around so much i had to take an intense selfie about it.  i kept saying "oh look! look!!i look so employable and like-i-have-skills when i carry this shovel around! don't i look not-useless???"  i was getting a big kick out of it. ultimately dave did most of the digging..

  most of the stuff we couldn't even identify, save for a lot of big weeds! t recognized one thing for certain - parsley. we dug up that little plant to save in a smaller container, hopefully it will survive it's transplantation. 

when we pulled up the dried out old flower sticks in the back right of the bed, there were a million little tubers attached to them - they looked like red ginger, all nubbly and gross, not like anything i'd ever seen before... poison? 

i send kelly a photo and she said probably not poison, probably JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES. i did some research and decided that that was almost definitely what they were; apparently they grow quite readily in vegetable gardens, to the extent that they are difficult to get rid of!

apparently their flowers look lil this, but it being november and all, they were pretty far past that point.  (photo from ubanartichoke.com ) 

people said they were delicious, but people also said they give them a lot of GAS and sometimes even worse symptoms.   like so much so that they call them "fartichokes!"  some people said they absolutely would not eat them because of their ill-effects, others said they eat them with no trouble, or that tooting is a small price to pay to enjoy such a snack.

http://www.bonappetit.com/columns/the-foodist/article/do-jerusalem-artichokes-cause-diarrhea

http://www.gourmetgardening.co.uk/2013/03/the-joy-of-fartichokes.html

So I did what anyone would do - i prepared some for eating! Some articles said peeling the skin and cooking them for a long time would make them more digestable so i decided to make a gratin.

it looked like that but that's a photo from food.com of someone else's.  i didn't have all the right ingredients so i had to improvise - honestly it didn't turn out very good or delicious - with the missing ingredients and my own fear of the weirdness of the fartichokes, i did not enjoy it at all.  i don't think dave really did either.  our gratin was watery and thin - some had recommended this recipe, but perhaps we should have tried the chokes in a different way - some ate them raw, mandolin-sliced in salad?

we were not sick or unhappy in bed that night, but we were pretty gassy! it took about four hours before we felt any ill-effects but when they came on we had a few laughs.

we are not dying to eat them again now so i gave a bag to james and nichola and alex! we told them what they were all about so we'll see if they rise to the challenge.  

apparently they are terrifically difficult to remove completely from your garden, so we'll see if we end up with more next year maybe? if so, we will try again! 

[shreddertakethewheel]

general update - not much to report!

victoria is beautiful, but we still don't have jobs. we're sending out our resumes but no more interviews yet.  tomorrow i will start pounding all the pavement around our neighbourhood.

one good thing in our neighbourhood is the polish deli at cook & pan.  they sell pierogi which, although they have zero food value, they are really delicious.  when we get tired of wandering around in the rain, not getting jobs, some pierogi cheer us right up!

another nice thing about our neighbourhood - it has a ton of character and a ton of colour.  i will try to get more neighbourhood photos to show y'all.

also a ton of cats! we try to make friends with them everywhere we go.

here's the outfit i wear every single day.  this jacket is not exactly a raincoat but it protects against the drizzle and it blends in with what everybody else seems to be wearing! 

this is our front garden - we are in charge of the front and the back. i have no idea what i am supposed to do.. i need bronwyn to come and help me clean it all up! i don't even know how to start!! 

here's nice lil davey baby washing the new towels and folding them up nice nice! we have most of the stuff we need at our house, just still missing furniture! my kind aunt judy is sending us a bunch of random stuff from my grandfather's old place in west vancouver.  we are kind of waiting to buy any furniture until we know what's coming! 

one thing we bought right away was a bed. we got a used king sized bed from an older couple who were upgrading to a fancier king-sized bed. we only paid 250 bucks for the box spring, mattress, and pillow top thingy but we had to drive all the way up to the most northern part of the peninsula in a big u-haul and then wrangle the thing into it in the rain and then wrangle the thing into the house.  a bit of swearing and sweating but totally %100 worth it.  

don't let this photo fool you, shredder is adjusting very well to the new house.

here's a bonus photo because i like the way i look! i wanted to do something kind of like a costume for halloween but really didn't have the time or the energy to do anything good! we stayed in and handed out candy to the kids like we usually do - we got about 50 kids we estimate! 

[shreddertakethewheel]

do you like the ocean? i do.

[shreddertakethewheel]

deer, thrift stores, blue skies.

did you know that there are deer all over the place here? the other day we saw a big buck with his doe and two fawns while we were walking the dog! apparently they are actually a nuisance and the city is quietly culling them but they are pretty magical! 

we've been doing a lot of thrift store shopping to get the stuff we need for the new place. there are a million thrift stores in victoria and we have been to almost all of them.  we've tried to buy whatever we could secondhand, but we did not buy this little sharpei figurine.

we also didn't buy this set of lovely kitties. i would have but we are trying to save money since we both don't have jobs yet (we're looking though!!) and i'm pretty sure dave found them scary as hell.

i showed dave fan tan alley but it really wasn't very exciting -  yes the alley is very small but the stores inside are all weird hippy shops full of employees that are starved for human contact.

while looking for furniture at a local pawnshop i came across this singing/dancing homer and had to spend a few moments with him.

it does seem like it rains a little bit every day out here, but there are also periods of serious sunshine and blue skies.  i haven't got a real raincoat yet but once i have one, i think i will be just fine.

[shreddertakethewheel]

we are moving in!

we found a place to live! we got the keys! we are in the process of finding furniture for it! 

it has a kitchen. the kitchen is big and bright and clean.

the kitchen has a window. 

there is a big basement with washer & dryer. if we had any stuff, we could store it down here but we don't.  the garage is converted into a workshop and dave has already picked up some secondhand tools so he can get to work!

here is the bathroom! it's pretty big and also bright. above the toilet there is a surprisingly deep set of shelves.  big enough that little kelly could curl up in it and have a little nap if she wanted to! the shower is in front of the toilet. 

the house has THREE bedrooms! they are not huge but we have three of them so whatever. one will have our bed, one will be our dressing room and one will be a den / guest room.  honestly i feel spoiled having so many bedrooms but we couldn't find anything smaller with all the other stuff we wanted.

whoa another empty room! this one is the living room.  i guess the point i'm trying to make is that the floors are nice, there are plenty of windows and i think we are going to be very happy here!

oh yeah, did i mention this huge backyard? that is an apple tree and there is so much space for us to make an amazing garden in the spring.  there is a lot of cleanup to be done first but i'm confident we can make it work.

we have no furniture or anything really to put in it but this week we are tracking down all the shit we need. can't wait to have our friends from ottawa visit! 

[shreddertakethewheel]

Food, Cats, Plants

We've been in Victoria a little over a week now.  We've gone to see 10 apartments so far, and emailed countless others.  I don't think our list of requirements is too rigid, but we really aren't willing to compromise on any of the following:

1. pet-friendly: obviously. this has never been a problem for me before in ottawa but here only about a third of rental units are pet-friendly. 

2. some outdoor space for at least a bbq and some tomato plants:  we came here to enjoy a better climate, being trapped indoors is not an option.

3. not in a basement: mental health/wellness concerns that drove us from ottawa's winters also prohibit us from living underground in our new city.

4. location: i need to be near coffee shops and grocery stores and other signs of life.  we looked at places in the country but it quickly became clear to both of us that i wasn't ready to deal with isolation or brew my own coffee. 

most of the other amenities we can take or leave.  we looked at a place today which might have everything we need but is at the very very tippy tippy top of our price range.  we'll tell you more if it happens - fingers crossed.

now my mother asked for an update, preferably one with photos so here is what is on my now-cracked iPhone with regards to photographs.

charcuteries - aunt jennifer has set us up with some really nice meats and cheeses on more than one occasion.  she's taken us shopping at The Whole Beast, full of fancy / very hip meats and butchers, a habit we won't be able to sustain outside of her home but have really enjoyed. i liked eating the aged cheddar with pickle the best. 

here is a white cat we saw while looking at a place way out in the country.  you can't tell but this cat looked like it had a gnome beard and we thought fondly of our friend kelly, who we miss very much.  when we look at apartments we often say "kelly can sleep in this little corner here." 

i don't even know what kind of plant this is (i will find out for you all eventually) but look how lush and bright and lovely it is. i wish you could see the texture of these red balls; they are like sparkly beads but with delicious colours. we are happy in all the greenery here, even the hedges that smell like cat pee when it rains (i will find out this one too).  dave found a little tree at the local nursery that said "winter-blooming" and his mind damn near exploded and his whole soul expanded with happiness.

this is fisherman's wharf which is a little neighbourhood of houseboats and float homes. it's pretty incredible although they put up with lots of looky-loos like us gawking at their lifestyle. i thought it looked like a pretty romantic setup but james reminded me of a long list of cons to living on water and i quickly changed my tune. i will still try to get a better photo next time - i was too excited to remember to take photos when i was there! 

yahtzee - we've been getting pretty serious about our yahtzee playing, even getting james on board with it. i like to think it's "exactly like poker but with dice" but dave says it is "not exactly like poker at all, really." whatever - it's fun and i'm pretty lucky so i throw lots of good dice.

here's a crookedy cat we saw when we tried to walk to Red Fish Blue Fish but i misjudged the distance and we had to turn back and get the car.  she had scary yellow eyes with flecks that looked like blood in them and old-lady posture but she came when called and let dave pet her.

 the ocean on our ill-fated walk. i hope i never get used its salty sea-stink.

we did finally get to Red Fish Blue Fish and after waiting in line 30 minutes with the lunch crowd we had a feast.  fried halibut & chips, a seared tuna tacone, a tempura cod tacone and their "half" salad. tons of food - i generally "don't like seafood" but this stuff was so fresh and awesome it wasn't fishy at all!

dixie has a new raincoat. in ottawa she hated going out in the rain, but she's going to have to get used to it here in victoria! to be fair though, the "rain" is most often just a refreshing dewy mist, certainly nothing to worry about. 

while we haven't found an apartment yet, we have no complaints about victoria. we are cozy at my aunt & uncle's house and they have been very welcoming to us and our animals.  i think shredder thinks this is finally her home - she even jumped out the bathroom window to go exploring and didn't try to bolt back to ontario as i had feared she might. james has made us feel at home as well, inviting us over and introducing us to his super-nice roommate and girlfriend.  tonight mark & rance had us over for lasagna and introduced us to a bunch of their friends too.  i still miss my girlfriends but having people being so welcoming here is really comforting. 

[shreddertakethewheel]

no apartment yet, but feast your eyeballs on these babies.

[shreddertakethewheel]

Househunting, Homesickness & Sea Lions!

Well we're really here now. We've been in Victoria 3 nights and 3 days and now the real work of finding a place to live begins.  We've looked at one place which was a no-go and emailed 15 different other places. It's thanksgiving weekend so people are not replying as quickly as I would like them to, and having the two animals definitely decreases the number of places available to us.  It's very comfortable at my aunt and uncle's house but my anxiety runs much higher when I'm in other people's spaces (which is why i was so bad at having roommates even though I liked having people around me!) 

Today is a grey rainy day (although the sun looks like it's starting to peek out) and I am feeling a little nervous! It's to be expected of course so I am just letting it run its course.  I miss my girlfriends so badly and want to get into a routine with a place to live and a job to go to, but I know I can't rush that stuff, just keep looking! 

Victoria is beautiful - Dave is having zero regrets, which is reassuring, and i wouldn't say that I have regrets either! Just missing having a home and having my buddies close by.  Can't wait until we're all set up so people can come and visit! Anna, Camille, Kelly, Bronwyn, Alyssa, i'm looking at you all! 

BUT 

at least I can feed fish to sea lions whenever i want to!

AND

Dixie and Austin are getting along just fine.

AND

my auntie Jennifer doesn't mind if Shredder makes herself comfortable wherever she likes! 

to conclude - i am a little bit nervous but animals are awesome!

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 13 - Vernon, BC to Victoria, BC!

Last day on the road! I felt kind of sad to leave the last hotel room - I had certainly grown accustomed to having clean sheets on a freshly-made bed every night, but i GUESS it's time to start our new life.

The drive through the Rockies was pretty wild! When we got up high in the mountains Maggie was really starting to feel the pressure.  With hundreds of pounds of stuff weighing her down combined with the altitude and climbing up the hills, Maggie was getting a little hesitant.  Once we hit the downslopes though,  all was smooth-sailing.  Dave was white-knuckling it the whole way, however, extreme were some of the slopes! 

Have you guys ever seen these "Runaway Lanes" before? I never had! We figured out that they are in place in case your brakes fail while you are barrelling down the mountains - they are little lanes to the right that go uphill a bit to slow you down if you're out of control.  They were everywhere! Kind of scary to imagine..

We drove all day but managed to miss the 5pm ferry! We were pleasantly surprised to find that there was a 6pm ferry as well, however, and we made it safely on board.  When we got to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and got out of the car - the smell was the first thing that hit me.  All seaweed and fish and ocean air and soooooo lovely.  It started to feel more real when i finally smelled that delicious salty stink! 

Dave's first ferry ride! It was kind of a surreal experience for me - I've taken this ferry many many times before but always to visit my grandparents.  I kept feeling like that was where I was headed, but of course all my grandparents are gone now.  

We are safely installed at my aunt and uncle's house on Richmond now, with their ancient dog Austin and our stinky little fur-babies.  Now we must find somewhere to live! 

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 12 - Banff, AB to Vernon, BC.

Last morning in Banff - started to realize that a big part of Dave's illness was allergies from the dusty old Inns of Banff! Big drapes and carpets holding all kinds of sneeze-fodder for Dave! Luckily i'm perfect and not allergic to anything, which is why i'd been feeling so much better! Once we left the motel behind Dave felt much better.

Here is the Gap window display, "the art of dressing normal" starring the once-fabulous Anjelica Houston. I can't decide if it's brilliant or insulting.  i guess it's both?  We had a last walk up Banff avenue, getting teas and letting Dixie get a few more pets before we left (again, lots of people stopped to say hello).  We said bye to Tiff and we were outta there! 

Just another day of enjoying the natural splendour of our countryside.  Finally crossed the Alberta/British Columbia border! We were shocked to find that the end was coming so near.  I was a little sad, wanting the road trip to last forever but also wanting to start our new life!

I am writing this entry a day late so it's hard to remember the details of the drive.  We read Sula, listened to Drake and drank a lot of tea. We arrived at the Pacific Inn in Vernon, BC not too late! We ate a really good dinner from their on-site restaurant and continued watching the Walking Dead marathon on AMC.  I no longer have any idea what is happening in the show.  

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 11 - Banff, AB

A full day off the road spent walking around Banff. What a surreal / tacky / beautiful city - a weird mix.  The place is so tourist-oriented it feels like a Disneyland version of a real mountain town.  On the other hand, having all the amenities of a big town but being only a few blocks away from incredible nature is really convenient! 

Dixie was just soooo popular and we were so proud of how well she behaved. People on vacation miss their pets and want to snuggle other people's. 

This is the heartwarming scene I came across coming out of the tea shop - this man was kissing and loving Dixie and she was kissing and loving him right back. 

Magpies are everywhere! I was informed that they are nuisance-birds but they look so fancy and exotic to me! Their calls sound like shrieking children though.

We took a nice long walk with the dog and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  We saw a few guys fly-fishing and Dave was super-envious! At least James and Tiff will go fishing with him once we're settled.

Soaking it all up.  Like I said, Banff was weird but being able to buy a David's Tea and then walk two blocks away and find this is really incredible. 

All the streets are named in this adorable but contrived manner.

At least my selfies are resplendent in Banff.

After our big walk, Dave and I headed to Red Earth Spa in the Caribou Hotel.  Celebrating Dave's birthday (34 on October 8th!) we went for a couples' massage (ooh la la!)

The place had a hot pool with jets and a steam room to use before our massages.  The rest of the place was also beautifully appointed all the amenities you could possibly need.  Great massages too! 

Afterward we were like jello - especially with the big walk we took in the morning.  We meant to go out for dinner that night but we were just too exhausted! We had chinese food delivered to our hotel room and watched Walking Dead instead! 

Can you even believe that this was Dave's fortune? We were suspicious but mine was totally as generic as you'd expect so who knows?!

Banff was lovely but we will have to come back again when we are not sick! 

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 10 - Banff, AB

We had a weird last morning in Calgary: we woke up and the water was shut off in the building with no warning, Brianna got sick at work with a stomach bug, Dave and I got in a stupid fight, Dixie freaked out and hurt her ears trying to scratch them! We managed to get packed up though and hit the road! Look at these skinny-legged hunks giving each other a nice goodbye-hug!

The drive to Banff was a short one though! Only an hour and half in the car from start to finish.  It's Dave's birthday wednesday so we decided to take a couple of days off in Banff to celebrate! Dixie likes it here - she gets lots of attention and pats! 

We are staying at a joint called Inns of Banff, one of the few nice pet-friendly places.  It's A-OK by us although a little bit old / in need of some repairs (see the sign?) I told them it was Dave's birthday so they gave us a room with a better view and because there're not that many people here in October, they moved our check-out time from 11am to 1pm which is awesome.

We ran into a friend from Ottawa! Tiff and I used to work together at David's Tea (where she is moving up the ranks!) and she moved to Whistler a year ago.  The company brought her to Banff for two weeks to work at their Banff Avenue location.  She had only been in town for two days so she was happy to run into friendly faces too!

She joined us for dinner at Block Kitchen & Bar for really yummy small plates.  Dave and I had black quinoa salad with beets, thai beef lettuce wraps, vegetable samosas, and fried chicken - we are splashing out a little bit her in Banff since it's a special occasion, but our bill was not very high since we didn't have any alcohol! 

Do you like a pink and blue sunset?

Shredder is happy here in our room; she is such a well-adjusted cat.  The only time she hides is when she thinks we might be getting ready to leave and the rest of the time she sprawls out.  When she sprawls, she really really sprawls - I guess she's making up for being confined in the carrier, even though at this point she chooses to ride in it!

Look at this - it's almost obscene!

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 9 - Lake Minnewanka, AB

After serving us an awesome breakfast with both bacon and chocolate chip pancakes, Ryan & Brianna took us on a drive to Lake Minnewanka, near Banff.  We rode in the back of Ryan's Dodge Ram - I felt like I was riding in a shiny, white tank!  Dixie sucks at balancing in the car, especially without her condo to curl up in so I insisted that she needed to be seat-belted.  (I am probably %100 right, except that she needs a proper dog-belt!) It helped keep her from falling off the seat though for sure!

On this drive we got our first glimpse of the Rockies! What a treat for our eyes after the prairies.  The mountains look like paintings! Dave and I are just feasting our eyes and souls on them!  This entry is about to get really picture-heavy!!

Like a painting, didn't I tell you? Look at that one puff of cotton candy clouds in the front!

As soon as we got there I felt so happy! I wasn't waiting for the mountains but once I saw them, I felt like I had been without knowing it! Look how beautiful! 

I SAID LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL!!

I SAY LOOK HOW CLEAR THE WATER!!

Ryan & Brianna, our lovely hosts! They put us up for two nights and fed us home cooked meals and shared lots of giggles. Ryan & Dave have been friends for over 10 years but hadn't seen each other since Ryan moved out to Calgary to make his fortune.

Goofy guys being goofy guys together.

Happy babies on the beach.

We're cute-ish!

So romantic.

Gratuitous photo of yours truly.

So tuckered out! 

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 8 - Swift Current, SK to Calgary, AB

This one was a fairly easy day! We were pretty sad to leave our cool futuristic orange Motel 6 room in the morning but with the help of their free coffee and tea we managed to get on the road.  The free muffins did not satisfy me for long though because that ain't really breakfast..

It was a big day for Shredder. After crying and crying all morning, we finally decided it was time to try opening her carrier and seeing how she would behave.  She explored for a little bit while meowing but then she settled right in again and then even went back into her carrier and slept! No more crying!

When Dixie realized that shredder's door was open she stuck her head right out of her crate to snooze closer to her little buddy. I like to think sometimes they keep each other calm - dixie helps shredder in the car and shredder helps dixie when we have to leave them alone for a minute in a hotel.

The drive was pretty easy although boring throughout the prairies - at least no serious wind or rain throwing us around the highways.  I really wanted eggs after crappy muffin breakfast and Bronwyn told us to look for Husky restaurants but man there was NOTHING. we ended up eating lunch at McDonalds! Which actually wasn't that bad because they are playing monopoly - the only time it's worth eating there!

I also ate some of these! I just liked the name and packaging, I'm not gonna lie. 

We arrived in Calgary in the late afternoon to stay with Dave's old friend Ryan and his lovely girlfriend Brianna.  They are really good hosts, cooking us food and letting us do laundry and letting our animals run amok.  Here is Shredder enjoying a nice stretch, happy to be out of the car. 

Brianna drove us around town and showed us some cool sights.  Unfortunately Dave and I are still not actually %100 recovered from our flus and I felt pretty tired and carsick so I didn't enjoy the tour as much as I wanted to!

We did get some cool views of the city though - I like the way the clouds looked here!

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 7 - Winnipeg, MB to Swift Current, SK

If i'm being honest with everybody, today started out rough.  Dave was sick and we couldn't decide whether to stay another day in Winnipeg, risking wearing out our welcome and falling behind on our "schedule," or push on to our next destination, risking Dave getting even worse.  I took Dixie out by myself while Dave rested and the morning was cold and grey.  I started to have scared feelings about what we were doing and what I was leaving behind, namely my girlfriends and my work...   i tried to shake off my anxiety before it got out of hand and I managed fairly well.

After bickering indecisively and unproductively for a while, Dave and I finally opted to leave Winnipeg and push on - the mood was tense! Cathy saw us off in the grey cold, loading us up with lots of fruit and other snacks for the drive (thanks Cathy!) and we tried to make the best of it.  Getting in the car, there was a new error message we'd never seen before - check gas cap? Dave checked with frigid fingers and found our gas cap was completely unscrewed and even screwing it back on properly would not turn off the error light.  Maybe someone needed to borrow some gas? We still had some so that was ok, but the light did not go out and that left us perturbed. 

On the highway one of our straps came undone and Dave had to pull over to tie it down - in Regina we got all tangled up trying to get to a Tim Horton's and then back onto the highway.  Dave was at his wit's end - feeling awful, getting frustrated with bad drivers, the GPS incessantly bleating directions in a robot voice... 

Can we just take a quick moment please to recognize how hard-working Dave is? He drove from noon to 10pm to get us safely to the Motel 6 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, battling massive wind and rain and a productive chest-cold. Listen, he got a little testy at some points, but he got the job done and I was really impressed.  Thank you to Dave for everything he has done and continues to do to keep this trip on track (which is everything because all I've done is blog, order snacks, and check in and out of motels).

It wasn't all grey and dark though, and after Regina things definitely picked up.  The open highway is not a bad place to be at all, but going in and out of some cities can be a total nightmare - people are not attentive or predictable drivers, the car is loaded to the max, the rack scrapes if we go over a speed bump too quickly, the dog gets out of her crate if we go below 70 and the cat starts meowing! On the open highway everyone is settled in, we can listen to music and chit chat, we can get on and off easily for pit stops... all that to say: the open road is cool and cities are largely uncool.

Outside of Regina we started reading Sula by Toni Morrison - i read aloud to Dave and surprisingly it did not make me at all carsick! Before you ask, I do not do voices for the characters; i do not do accents either unless the pronunciation is written unavoidably into the dialogue, at which point i dutifully recite the text as written, not wanting to deceive the listener or misrepresent the text but feeling foolish nonetheless.  Despite the neuroses that informed my decisions not to allow each character a distinct voice, Dave still seemed to enjoy it- we read the first half of the slim book in an hour and a half! Now that we know i can read aloud without feeling awful, maybe we will read more books! 

By the end of the ten hours of driving, Shredder was crying and crying! She did not make a peep all afternoon but she was restless as heck during the last 30 km, as if she knew we were close to stopping for the night and she could not stand to go any farther!

We finally arrived at the Motel 6 in Swift Current, SK and we are happy and cozy!  Dave is sick but he is resting, the cat is out and wandering around, using her litterbox and then climbing on top of the tiny refrigerator and then meowing about how she can't figure out how to get down, Dixie is snoring on her little mat, no doubt missing the cat bed she inhabited in Winnipeg! (Sorry for the crappy photos, the room here is terrific - orange and grey modular ikea style, clean and a good use of space, but the cat is impossible to photograph!)

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 6 - Winnipeg, MB

Greetings from Winnipeg! Day 6 was another rest day in Winnipeg. I was finally feeling better but Dave was starting to succumb, although you can't tell from this handsome photo! 

We had another relaxed morning- teas and cornmeal muffins from the Frenchway on Lilac, walking Dixie in Munson Park.  

Walking around we saw this sign for a black kitty named Bebe, missing since the end of July.  It reminded us of when young Shredder skipped out for three nights this summer; this was the only sign we saw so it is our hope that Bebe is now safely at home and this is just the vestige of sadder times. Shredder is a trooper, by the way - she cries in the car a little bit and she hides when the suitcases start getting packed up, but honestly she is really hanging in there! She only peed in the car on that first day!

Here is something nicer stuck to a post than a missing kitty poster- just a little red heart.  Some friendly street art, the likes of which Judi Tedlie might admire.  The neighbourhood that Cathy and Rick live in is called Crescentwood and it is a lovely place to walk around - Dave and I particularly liked its little alleyways.

In the afternoon Dave went home to rest as he was starting to feel yucky - I went to get my nails done to make me feel happy! I accidentally booked at a salon way farther away than i thought and ended up walking 2.5 km away - i had to hop on this 18 bus to get back in time to pick up the flowers I had ordered from Beyond Flowers on Lilac and make it back for dinner with all the gang! 

Picked up these arrangements to say thank you to Cathy & Rick and Penny & Allan for being so welcoming to us! I asked the woman just to do something fall-inspired and everyone seemed to like them.  The six of us all had an awesome Chinese dinner together for our last night! 

The gang's all here! Dixie was making everybody laugh all night by sleeping in a cat bed and snoring like a trucker! 

We really had a lovely time in Winnipeg and we are so grateful to Cathy & Rick for being so friendly and welcoming and giving us the break we needed so badly! 

[shreddertakethewheel]

DAY 5 - Winnipeg, MB

Being sick is supremely uncool, of course, but having the chance to rest and take a break from the road here in Winnipeg has been terrific.  I pretty much slept all of day 5, waking up only to get coffee and walk dixie.  

This photo is just so you all can get an idea of the kind of character and splendour of the house we are staying in. I know it doesn't show you much, but use your imaginations, ok? Dave and I can not get enough of this house and its details.  It is also  beautifully appointed with all kinds of antique furniture so we are feeling pretty blessed to be here.  We're not seeing much of Winnipeg but just having the opportunity to do some laundry and cook food for ourselves is heavenly! 

I managed to get up and go out in the evening.  Penny and Allan, our friend Adam's parents, took us to an improv show at the Gas Station and then out for bread pudding at Stella.  It was fun hanging out with them and watching their relationship dynamic after 40+ years together was really interesting and heartwarming.  

Sorry not much else to report! Like I said, a lot of sleeping and vitamin-taking!