Photojourney: Fort Edmonton Park with Keerti

This isn't how I meant to start off this post, but HOW HILARIOUS IS THIS PICTURE??? This child would stop at nothing, even if it meant climbing over a pile of cow pies, to get this chicken. And the chicken was so blah about it; it didn't squawk or peck or anything. Funniest thing I've seen in weeks. Her mother was laughing so hard she couldn't do anything about it. Then her cousin joined in and all hell broke loose.
These kids from the YMCA camp were harassing some turkeys in the street. I knew their counsellor, so I went over and gave them a hard time about it. The turkeys could have cared less. They're so stupid, it's almost sad.
Okay, now that I've thoroughly confused you, I went to Fort Edmonton Park with my friend Keerti Takhar today. She's from Punjab in India, and even though she's been living in Edmonton for 11 months now, she hadn't been to the Fort yet. We had an amazing time, and these pictures are photographic evidence of said good times.

Keerti on an accidental bridge we found outside of the park.
Me on the accidental bridge.
Deer antlers over the doorway in the 1846 Fort.
Kegs of Jamaican rum. Those settlers really knew how to throw a party.
Keerti touching some gorgeous Clydesdale horses with much trepidation.

Good times.

-Laur

Photojourney: Erica Kay Bell

Festival City

Last Wednesday we were lucky enough to receive a phone call from my mom's cousin Linda Adam and her husband Bill. Linda is from the Kidd family, my Grampa's sister's lot. She's a riot and so is Bill, so it was nice to have them come and see everyone while they were here. They were visiting from Calgary, kind of roaming around the Edmonton-Mayerthorpe area and chilling with friends and such. When I go to Calgary on the 30th, hopefully I'll get to see them again. They have a 12-year-old daughter named C/Katherine who was at camp when they came to visit, and I would like to see her again.

On Friday night we headed down to Churchill Square for the Taste of Edmonton festival. Restaurants from all over the city set up booths and serve 2 selections from their restaurant for a set number of tickets. Among the deliciousness we sampled: bacon-wrapped scallops, seafood paella, beef curry, salmon teryaki, garlic dry ribs, lobster and crab rotini, Vietnamese spring rolls, chocoloate peanut butter chunk, and the MacDonald Hotel's scones with saskatoon berry compote, shown above.

We also had a bit to drink, illustrated above.

On Sunday we had Dale, Syrell, Carson, Amanda and Erica over for brunch. Erica is getting big so fast and she's TOO CUTE.

-Laur

Just another Saturday

Mom asked me to update my blog because she was getting sick of the Peter Pan reference. Sorry for the delay! Here are some pictures from my adventure of last Saturday. I can't believe it's almost Thursday already! Bryna reminded me on the phone yesterday that I'll be home really soon. Pretty amazing.
The picture above is of Edmonton's University LRT station. I was SO EXCITED to take Edmonton's subway! It's way cleaner than the TTC, but lacks the certain "je ne sais quoi" (AKA character) of the Yonge/University line.

On Saturday morning I jumped on the 30 bus and took it to Southgate, transferred onto the 6 and took it to the U of A campus, then got on the LRT at University station and rode to Churchill Station. The above picture is basically the sight that met me when I came up the stairs from underground. I was at the annual Edmonton Street Performer's Festival, 10 days of fabulous performances, great food, games and fun in the heart of Edmonton's downtown. There's no admission; in true "pass the hat" tradition, you donate what you can to the performers you like. I came armed with a bunch on toonies, and wound up giving them all away.

Two words: YUMM and O! Contortionists and strongmen. GOOD GOD!

These guys were the bomb. They practice a form of performance art, kind of setting up tableaux scenes wherever the mood strikes them, and that day they decided to go fishing in the wading pool/fountain. All the kids in the pool thought they were a riot. So did I.

After the festival I wandered around downtown, got myself fantastically lost in the basement of a mall, and then found my way to the biggest, most gorgeous library I've ever seen besides the Toronto Reference Library. Then I hopped back on the LRT and went to the University again to wander around their campus. All I can say is in terms of gorgeous buildings, green spaces and student community centres, York's got NOTHING on U of A. Neither does U of T or Rye High for that matter. Amazing.

Upon returning to Southgate Terminal I kind of flipped a mental coin and decided to wander down Whyte Ave instead of going home; there was an art walk on, and I wanted to see it. I wound up powering past everyone instead, and walked from 109th street to 99th street before turning back and catching the bus back to Southgate. I mosied in the door at around 7 pm, and using Google Pedometer figured that I'd walked about 11 km, give or take.

My calf muscles screamed for the next 2 days. Totally worth it.

-Laur

Peter Pan and 2 Months

I'm sorry, faithful readers, that I haven't posted in quite a while. Things have not been so good here in E-town lately and I haven't had the heart to write anything.
After the La Senza debacle I fell into a slump that I'm still having trouble pulling out of. I've been here 2 months officially and you know what? I really miss you guys. I miss you so much. If I was living on my own, answering to no one but myself and keeping the hours and pastimes that I wish to keep, I think I would be going out with new friends a lot more than I am. As it is, I have a few friends and only one that I socialize with outside of work (NICOLE, I ADORE YOU, nearest and dearest to my heart <3 ) and the isolation I'm experiencing as a result is not something I'm used to.
I've been getting a lot more hours at the flower shop, and while I'm tired at the end of the day, my bank account likes the attention and I'll continue to work hard as to keep it fat and happy. 40 hours a week is a stability that I enjoy some aspects of, and I'll keep doing it right up until I leave for BC (more on that as details emerge).
I had a scare a few days ago, though, when I got home from work and my Gran told me she had fallen off her bed onto her left hip. She was walking, but I wanted to take her to the hospital immediately. She didn't, and I don't think does yet, have any idea how horrible last October was when we got that fateful email from her neighbour telling us she had fallen in her condo park and shattered her right elbow, and was in the hospital awaiting major orthopedic surgery. I took her to the doctor the next morning and x-rays showed that her hip wasn't broken, but she's in quite a bit of pain and is using a cane her neighbour gave to her to get around the house.
Now that the situation has leveled out a bit, I've come to two realizations: one is that my gramma won't be able to live by herself for much longer. I give it 2, maybe 3 years tops. Driving is uncomfortable for her because of her newly repaired elbow, and her arthritis bothers her a lot too. Soon the two levels of her house will be too much for her. That makes me sad, because unless she comes to Toronto, I don't know where she'd go.
The second realization is that I never want to get old. I'm Peter Pan. I never want to grow up.

It's raining right now, a blessed relief from the pressing dry heat we've been having for almost a week now. I'm going to bed. Tomorrow, hopefully, will be a better day. I might even be persuaded to review the movie Wall-E, which I saw a few days ago.

-Laur

My deepening love of nature...

I manage to accomplish a lot on my days off. I guess it comes from having so many things to do and so little time to do them in. This morning I slept in (whoops, sorry YMCA) and woke when I heard the telephone ring. A little later the doorbell rang and who walked in other than my cousin Joanne and her dad, my fantastic, wonderful Uncle Bob. They were here from Mayerthorpe County for a few doctor's appointments for Uncle Bob and between injections and bone scans they came for a cup of coffee and a cookie. That was the beginning of my day.
When Joanne and Bob left, Gramma and I got organized and headed out to Fort Edmonton Park to spend the afternoon. When we got there, however, there were 21 different school groups screaming and running around the park, and we were pretty turned off. So we walked down the path to the Jon Janzen Nature Reserve, where we wandered around for a few minutes before setting off down one of their fabulous hiking trails.
We did the short loop, thinking that once the school groups started heading out around 2 we'd go into the park and explore until it closed. The short loop was pretty great, and we had a great time exploring it.
This was one of the biggest birch trees I had ever seen.
Until we saw this one, which was thicker than Gramma!

This is the marker for 1905 street; for those of you who don't know how Fort Edmonton Park works, the basic idea is that the actual Fort structure is the real thing, relocated from its original resting place as the beginning of the city of Edmonton. Then there are 3 historical "streets": 1885 street, 1905 street and 1920 street, all constructed with real and simulated buildings from each of those time periods to illustrate what Edmonton was like in its pioneer stages.
This is the train you can take all the way around the park. We usually take it to the fort and then walk the rest of the streets back to the entrance in a big loop.
1905 street in all it's pre-war glory.
The horse stables on 1905 street. The park probably has more than 25 horses and a collection of cows, pigs, sheep, goats and fowl. The horses and ponies are used for rides, pulling wagons, and other such things. And they're cared for very well, which Gramma and I always appreciate.
The entrance to Fort Edmonton Park. The Fort is definitely in my top 5 places in Edmonton, right up there with Scona Market, West Edmonton Mall, Sproule Farm and the river valley. Gramma was saying to me this evening that other women may think she's crazy and ask her why we don't just go shopping together instead of hiking around in the heat and mosquitos, but she wouldn't have it any other way. I agree whole-heartedly.

On an unrelated note, La Senza is fine, but only just. I like Safeway, I like Penningtons, but I'll merely tolerate La Senza until it's time for me to quit. Just another name to add to my resume, I guess.

-Laur

Developments...

Last night Gramma and I went on an adventure after dinner. We drove to Snow Valley ski hill and headed down the Whitemud Ravine Nature Reserve trail to hike around and check out the sights. There were wild roses everywhere, and to tell you the truth, they made me even more confident in my decision to tattoo one on my shoulder. Look at how gorgeous that is! And not scary or brash at all.

We came to this bridge first after passing the maitnence shed and a HUGE mulch mountain (what do you say to that, Mom? I have a mulch mountain too!) and on either side of this bridge there was a small river or creek or whatever and it was SO GORGEOUS.

See the gorgeousness?

We came to another bridge later on, but it wasn't to cross the creek. This landslide had happened a while back and the parks people built a tremendous bridge and retaining wall to shield runners and hikers from danger. Look at the sky. It was such a gorgeous day.

Today Gramma and I have some shopping to do. I would say it's my day off, but I picked up another job yesterday at La Senza Southgate. Never, EVER thought I'd work at La Senza. It should be an interesting experience. I probably won't have any free time from now on, but the green must come, so work I shall.
Ta ta for now,

-Laur

Photo Journey #2: Whyte Ave and Scona Market

They're not in order, but they'll do.

-Laur

SUMMER!!!!!!!!!

For your enjoyment, the updated babies album!

BABIES!

I've had a crazy couple of days, that's for sure. On tuesday last week I went to Whyte Ave with my friend Nicole and we had an awesome time. It reminded me of Queen West in Toronto, complete with goth shops, vintage clothing stores, tattoo parlours and crazy pubs and restaurants. We explored, got awesome tea at a special tea shop, saw some swords and daggers at a weird upstairs shop, ogled baubles, and ate lunch/dinner at an Irish pub.

I worked pretty much the rest of the week and had a two interviews for second jobs, one at the Movie Gallery up Rabbit Hill Road from us (geographically desirable) and one at Southgate La Senza (not so much). Hopefully I'll hear from one or both tomorrow or the next day. I would prefer the movie store job because it's a lot closer and I can wear what I want, and it pays better than La Senza.

I had my first Saturday in weeks off today and went to Old Strathcona Market as a treat. It's the markets 25th anniversary this year, so there were a lot more people and street artists there than usual. I had a good look around and wound up buying pita and tsatziki for tomorrow night's Greek dinner, and some spinach and feta cream cheese because I do so miss good Toronto cream cheese. I also had pork on a stick and a mint chip ice cream cone. WOOHOO!

It was 31 degrees in the sun in Edmonton today, the perfect day for walking around and exploring, but after a few hours I had had enough of the heat and headed home for a shower and a cold drink. At around 5 Gramma and I headed for U of A Michener Park, where the Rob Bell Memorial Tournament was in full swing, just in time to have some dinner and watch Carson play wonderfully in a doubles match. He and his partner Bryce won two out of three games against Marvin and Lane, who also played well. I got to coo and cuddle with Erica while they played, so I was happy.

All in all it has been a great week; if I hear from Movie Gallery tomorrow with a yes, it will have been a near-perfect one.

More news and pictures to come!

-Laur

P.S. On Thursday night I went out with the ladies from the floral department for a farewell dinner (two of our ladies have left us for greener pastures :( ) and we went for Indian food. I ate Indian food. My horizons are expanding!

So lucky

Today was the first gorgeous day we've had in more than a week, and though I was inside at Safeway for most of it, I got to enjoy the last bits of sun on my drive to and from the gym this evening.
I was driving west on the Anthony Henday, past Sproule's farm, when I came around a bend and there was the sun, hanging above the horizon in the form of a fiery orb. It was so gorgeous that I couldn't even blink, I was so transfixed.
That sun isn't something I would ever have seen in Toronto, and I'm so grateful I'm here to experience that particular facet of nature's grandeur. I have to do something to commemorate my time here, especially now that I've purchased my ticket home (NOT TELLING WHEN! IT'S GOING TO BE A BIG SURPRISE!). I've been thinking about how I'm going to do that, and a few ideas have come to me. They're permanant ideas, reminders of this summer that will stay with me forever, and I'm hoping I can choose an image that will be truly worthy.

Any ideas? For those of you who have managed to wade through the cryptic nature of this post, email me your thoughts.

-Laur