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Tuesday ~ August 3rd

We just got home from a mini vacation to Saskatchewan. 

Yes, I used the words "vacation" & "Saskatchewan" in the same sentence. 

See, we've wanted to go to tunnels of Moose Jaw since we heard about them a few years back.   

There's two tours offered that take you through the tunnels under Moose Jaw's downtown area. 

One tour leads you through to the dark, dank quarters of the Chinese immigrants who lived in the tunnels at the turn of the 20th century, working for the local laundry shop.  The conditions for them were unbearable!  The places they showed us & the stories they told were horrific, and yet, fascinating.  It's really amazing what the human spirit can endure for a chance at a better life.

The other tour involved the illegal bootlegging during Prohibition.  It's rumored that Al Capone visited Moose Jaw during that time, using the tunnels to hide away when the heat was on in Chicago.  We were lead through a different series of tunnels by a character actor named Gus, one of Al Capone's goons, with a thick Chicago accent. 

I enjoyed both tours very much.  I think the production level was surprisingly impressive & the tours were both entertaining & informative. 

We stayed at Capone's Hideaway Motel, across the street from the tunnels, which was the convenient choice for us as we arrived 15 minutes before our tour was about to begin & wanted to get a room before it was too late in the evening.

Now, if you're ever passing through Moose Jaw & decide you want to go to the tunnels & think, 'hey, there's a little place across the street.  We should just stay there tonight', I strongly suggest you don't.  Seriously, I think this is one of the worst places I've ever stayed.  The rooms smell of stale smoke; the air conditioner in our room, though it made a lot of noise, didn't work & the bed was almost as bad as what the Chinese immigrants slept on back in 1901.  Actually, knowing what they went through was the only thing that got me through the night. 

In the morning, Chris & I got up early to get some fresh air & to explore a bit. 

I noticed a lot of murals in town.  I particularly liked these two on the Casino building:

It sort of fit with the Al Capone theme.

And I loved the containers outside the Temple Gardens Spa Resort Hotel:

Too bad they were booked up the previous night.  I would have loved to have stayed there.

We went for a little walk through Crescent Park, which was so charming

with it's meandering creek

& ducks. 

It should have been called Crescent MOON Park for all the duck butts we saw. 

Get it, they were mooning us... 

*groan*

After our nice walk about town, we headed on our way to Saskatoon, but when we reached a gas station at the fork in the road, we noticed a bunch of people in Saskatchewan Roughrider shirts filling up with gas.  That's when Chris remembered there was a game in Regina (about an hour away) that day.  We both agreed it would be something else to go to a Roughriders game, because Saskatchewan fans are the craziest, most intense fans in all of Canada. 

So we headed to Regina.  We got there & went to the stadium ticket office to see if we could get tickets, but it was completely sold out.  We then tried online to find tickets but everything was snatched up.  Finally, we headed to the tailgate party outside the stadium before the game to seek out a scalper. 

With just minutes to spare before the game started, we found someone that had 2 extra tickets ~ awesome, we were in!

Okay, so we've seen Roughrider fans at the games in Edmonton.  They are usually in large packs, often wearing silly hats & always covered in green paint.  They take their fan status very seriously.  Heck, it's embarrassing to say, but they've been known to out cheer us on our home turf.  But, it's really another thing entirely to be amongst 20,000 of them at their own stadium during a game in which their team is winning. 

They are loud, boisterous & everyone of them dresses in green.  Every dang one of them.  We were like, 2 of maybe 10 people there, not wearing green.  I kid you not. 

It was a wild ride.  I don't know if I would go back & do it again.  I am after all, an Edmonton Eskimo fan, but it was worth the experience.

The next day we drove to Saskatoon & booked in at the Delta Bessborough Hotel

which they call, "the castle by the river".  It was our way of balancing the scales after the Capone motel experience. 

It was simply lovely to sit by the window & stare out at this scene.

In Saskatoon, we walked to the weir to check out the pelicans (thanks for the tip Pat!). 

The water spills from a ridge down into a lower section of the river.  It's shallow where the ridge drops off so it makes for an ideal place for the birds to spot & catch fish as they tumble over the edge.

We watched as a pelican flew in:

Dove down:

And caught a fish in it's bill:

The Fringe was on while we were there so we took in a couple of plays.  One of them is coming to Edmonton for our Fringe next weekend.  It's excellent!  It's called Wanderlust, written & performed by Martin Dockery.  If you're going to the Edmonton fringe, I really recommend going to this one, if you get the chance.   

We drove back yesterday, unpacked, cuddled the cats & checked through the garden, which has become completely unruly within the 4 days that we were gone.  I'm telling you, it's a jungle out there!  Weeds up to the knees by the bird feeder & the pumpkin has locked its tendrils onto the poor branches of a lilac tree.  It's practically swallowed it up. 

I have lots of work ahead of me, but Chris doesn't go back to work until next week so we will be knocking activities off the "vacation list" for a few more days yet. 

I think we're going to check out the Art Gallery later today.  We haven't been there since the big renovation so we're both anxious to check it out & since it's so close to the Hotel MacDonald, I'm sure we'll be stopping in for cosmopolitans on the patio. 

The weeds can wait one more day.

Thursday ~ August 5th

I have some exciting news!

My friend, Tamye earned the only spot in a Nationwide Stampin' Up! incentive to invite Co-Founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!, Shelli Gardiner, to Edmonton.

This means that Shelli Gardiner is flying in to conduct a 20-person stamping workshop at Tamye's!  The event is for those new to Stampin' Up! so if you've never stamped before, but would like to learn, this is a very, very special opportunity. 

The workshop is on Saturday, August 21st from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.  Just email me if you're interested & I will connect you with Tamye to save you a spot, 1 of only 20! 

Thursday ~ August 19th

Wow, have I really been MIA for 2 weeks?  I don't even have a good excuse! 

What on earth have I been doing?

Okay, that is DEFINITELY not me & I DEFINITELY didn't just go skydiving.

Actually, I haven't left town & there's not much to report around here either.  I haven't been swamped with beadwork or done any major projects around the house or yard. 

What have I done? 

Hmm... 

Well, we did just go & see Cirque du Soliel's, Alegria, which is really wonderful by the way ~ the millions of tiny, white tissue papers flying at us during the blizzard scene was the absolute best!  (Thanks Ken & Pat for the gift.) 

Oh & I've been to the farmer's market to buy new potatoes, fresh dill, baby cucumbers & nectarines.  I've worked with my brother on some pruning & weeding jobs, visited with friends that were in town visiting.  Saw a gig & went out for dinner to my favorite place, the Hotel Mac. 

Checked out the art gallery, finally after the big renovation.  By the way, they have an excellent exhibit of M.C. Escher's work on right now, worth going to see. 

I've had friends over for brunch, gone swimming, drank cosmos in the hot tub & played croquet in the yard.  I've eaten lots of barbeque & munched on fresh berries for breakfast almost every day.

I've sat out on the front porch & watched the traffic go by.  Counted the morning glory flowers on the trellis each morning:

That's 3 today!

Watched caterpillars metamorphosis into beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies.  I've deadheaded & weeded & mowed my heart out.  I've gone out to smell the air after so many rain showers this summer that proceeded so much drought. 

The smell is glorious! 

I've had moments in real time, with my mind present ~ in the present, not off in other time realms.   It has been delightful & dreamy, these last few weeks.  After so many summers of hard work, we've finally gotten to a new place, where we're not thinking about the next thing on our to do list (though there is still so much to do). 

I think what I've been doing, is enjoying the summer, like really taking my time to enjoy it, not rushing from one thing to the next.  And I've loved every second of it, but now, I can tell that the season is winding down.  There's something different in the air.  And I am starting to get the itch to create, so I must come out of this revelry. 

I will be starting back to work next week.  I have orders to fill, I have beads to make, experiments with new glass & techniques to try.  I will be updating the website more frequently & I will catch up with emails, so if you've been waiting to hear from me, I will be in touch soon.

Have you been enjoying your summer?

Tuesday ~ August 24th

I woke up in the middle of the night & couldn't sleep.  Dang, I hate when that happens!  Does that ever happen to you?  All of a sudden I was thinking about the million things that I have to do & I was wondering why I didn't get them all done this summer? 

Oh right, I was busy watching butterflies, counting morning glory flowers & drinking martinis in the hot tub. 

Well, anyway, this waking up at 3 a.m. & remembering my mile long to-do list resulted in a full 2 hour session of organizing bookshelves, mudding, sanding & painting, rearranging furniture, fluffing pillows, tossing clothes, cleaning out closets & drawers... all within the confines of my weary head.   

Finally, I fell back to sleep & when I woke up this morning, I marched into the bathroom & started cleaning. 

(In real life, it is the room that needs the most attention at the moment.) 

It was too quiet though so I dashed into the den to turn on some music & when I looked at the computer, I remembered that I was going to update my website more frequently. 

That was 5 days ago.

*Sigh*

It's going to be one of those days, err, weeks, me thinks.

So, here I am, paused in the middle of my cleaning & organizing rampage, thinking about what to write here.

tick tock tick tock tick tock

~ 10 minutes later ~

*Ding*

I haven't shown you the new door yet, have I?  Yeah, who doesn't want to see before & after shots, right? 

The before:

A very old & drafty door with crumbling wood underneath.  I won't even get into the screen door issues.  I have to say, I did like the color of the door, but when our neighbor painted her door red, we decided it was time for a change.

And now:

The new door!  I love it.  It's unfussy, but still so pretty & purple!  And there's so much window.  For the first little while, when I walked through the hallway, I would double check to make sure that I hadn't left the door wide open because it's so much brighter than before.   Oh, and the light from inside looks wonderful through the obscured glass:

Okay, I just took this photo & it's daytime, so it's hard to really get the sense of the glow that shows up, especially at night, but trust me, it's a really warm & cozy glow. 

The glass we choice is called cross-reed.  We fell in love with it immediately.  I think it reminds both Chris & I of old schoolroom door glass so it has a nostalgic quality, yet it still seems quite modern, if that's possible?  Everything old is new again, I guess.

We also like that the small glass squares match our small glass tiles in the bathroom & since that's the first thing you see when you walk in the door, there's a nice repeating flow to it (albeit subtle):

Our bathroom, when it was clean...

The glass squares also match the trellis Chris put up to the side of the door:

We like repeating shapes, yeah!

So here's what the front of the house looked like the day we bought it:

And here's what it looks like today:

This concludes my blog update.  It's time to clean that bathroom.

Wednesday ~ August 25th

*Whistling*

"Just standing here, minding my own business."

"Yep, just stretching my legs, no funny business going on here."

*Whistling continues*

'Hmm, I think the coast is clear.'

'Ah, that's better!'

Tuesday ~ August 31st

My friend Tamye's daughter, McRae has been raising money for the Cure for the last several months with the help of her family & friends.  She's gone door to door canvassing, she's sold chocolate bars, they've raised funds through special lunches at school, Tamye has thrown stamping parties & you might remember the garden tour fundraiser as well. 

All of this was spurred on after hearing the devastating news that a close family friend, Sue, was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.  McRae instantly wanted to do something to help. 

Then, when McRae saw that Sue had lost her hair from chemo therapy, she said to her mom, "I would like to give her some of my own hair."  Touched by this gesture, Tamye explained to McRae that she couldn't literally give her hair to Sue, but she could donate her hair to a cancer organization that would be able to make wigs for patients.  

In her eight years, McRae has never cut her hair until two weekends ago, in front of a room of 100 people, including myself. 

I brought my camera: 

This is McRae's lovely hair before the cut. 

That's a lot of hair!  Her grandmother, Gwen & her mom, Tamye are looking on & telling the story. 

Shortly after, Gwen read a beautiful poem about what cancer cannot do ~

Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot quench the Spirit. 

                    ~ Author Unknown

Needless to say, the whole room was in tears. 

And then, just moments before McRae's haircut, her mom looks over at her & you can see the pride in her glance.  I just love this photo. 

Here it goes!

Look at Tamye's reaction, prompted by McRae's reaction to seeing her hair in front of her. 

I love this photo too! 

And a wonderfully sweet moment right after.

The next day, we were invited to a barbeque at Gwen's (Tamye's Mom's), where Sue would be coming over as well, not knowing a thing about what had happened the day before.  When Sue came in she saw McRae & said, "Wow!  You cut your hair, it looks great!", but it didn't dawn on her as to why. 

Once everyone was settled, we were asked to all go into the living room for something important.  There, Sue sat down & McRae walked over to her with a gift.  Sue

was confused because it wasn't her birthday:

As Sue opened up a box with a long lock of hair in it, it dawned on her that McRae cut her hair for her...

And then McRae gave Sue the biggest hug...

And the whole room was in tears... again.

It was a weekend I'll never forget.

And here's the special girl with her new haircut.  I think it looks amazing!

* McRae is involved in the CIBC Run for the Cure, which takes place October 3rd.  If you would like to donate, you can find her link here. *