Wedding Bells

Wedding bells were ringing yesterday as Natasha made her way down the aisle (above) on the arm of her dad Dale. It was a very traditional wedding, something you do not see much of these days, held in a catholic church.

As to be expected, the bride was beautiful and glowing. The dinner celebration was held in the tent at Mountain View Golf Course and was decorated all in black and white. Ron made the main decorations, the dinner was bar-b-que'd ribs and chicken along with Angie's famous cabbage rolls and Heinz and his wife (from Dawson City) made the delicious pastries. Everything was very tastefully done.


And tradition continued at the cutting of the wedding cake, removing the garter from her leg with his teeth then throwing it to all bachelors and the throwing of the bouquet to all the waiting single women.

Cindy "manned" the bar and Monica looked wonderful in her "mother of the bride" dress.

All the old bunch Shaun and I used to hang with were ready for the party. It is great to see the young and old together during a celebration. Congratulations Natasha!

Canada eh?

What is more Canadian than to talk weather. Well here goes ... Global Warming ???? It's difficult to believe in that when you live where I do. Yesterday mid-afternoon it was 8 degrees celcius! Lovely. We didn't even hit double digits and this should be the hottest time of the year! Went to Natasha's wedding and her mom grabbed a winter coat on the way to the church. There was a little rain too and lots and lots of wind - strong strong wind. I do have to admit that by 5:00 the sun did come out and shone hot, but the wind continued and coooled things down. Right now Edmonton is 24 degrees and sunny. Whitehorse is 7 degrees and overcast. It looks like the wind has died down though and I soon have to go out and set up my newly painted deck so I can enjoy a tastey bevererage and enjoy the outdoors during the summer season - I hope.

Up the Alaska Highway

With Deb following me in her car, I always checked my rear view mirrow to ensure her two headlights were there! And they were until Teslin where we parted company.

Our lunch stop was at Dora's Cafe in Fireside. She makes the best home-made pies I have ever tasted. Her egg salad sandwiches ($7.95) were large enough to fill us up though. And her prices are very reasonable. Deb said that she stopped at the large log hotel on the way south (in my photo on my drive south with Sue standing in front the log building). They had soup and salad for a whopping $17.95 and her Dad was sure it was canned Primo soup. Apparently Dora and her husband built this hotel in 1982 after the large forest fire ("Fireside") burnt everything in the area. Apparently they don't move too quickly as you can see they haven't finished the siding on the outside of their motel yet.

Gas prices of course rose in the two month period since I drove south. Ft. St John was $1.229 per litre going south, and $1.339 two month later. Ft Nelson was $1.389 going south and $1.449 going north. And finally Liard Hot Springs raised their price from $1.409 going south to $1.589 when I drove north. To be expected though.

Arrived home and my lawn was mowed and mail (lots of it!) sitting on my table. The weather is hot and sunny. Now I have to unpack, wash all the bugs off my truck, and start my summer chores of painting decks, fertilizing lawns, planting flowers ....

Back to my northern home once again. I think because I wasn't quite ready to leave my southern home, the 12 hour drive from Edmonton to Fort Nelson seemed to take forever. I have to say that after driving for about 8 hours, we saw a bear with three cubs at the side of the road. In a split second, I thought I should stop then decided that reaching my destination was a priority as I was tired of driving already, so I didn't stop. But I have to admit I have never seen 3 small ones with their mother. I have many times seen one or two, but never three.
Lots of motor homes on the highway. I thought with gas prices the way they are, we might be lucky and not see many but not true. The 40 footers were there pulling their cars behind them, which means you need a lot of space to pass them. Not too much construction along the road which was nice. And the construction there was was just for short sections of road. Above is the one site where we had to wait before proceeding through a very very dusty road, just south of Liard Hot Springs. But the wait was worth it as a bear crossed the road just then.

It stopped to munch some vegetation before carrying on to disappear in the trees. It was well worth the stop.

Body Worlds

Went to see the Body Worlds I exhibit today. One word - AMAZING. And to imagine these are real people's bodies (and horse body). Got to hold a lung (feels like a sponge and very light weight) and a liver. Saw a foetuses from 4 weeks to 33 week and saw a mother who died with her baby in womb (very sad when you think about it), but interesting to look at. Saw muscles, organs, tendons, nerves, brains, bones, blood vessels ... you name it. Saw healthy ones, cancerous ones, hernias, and on and on. The exhibit is huge - in fact I found it too large to see at one time. By the end, which was just as interesting as the beginning, I was tired of looking. So if you are going to see it, I would suggest at least two visits - just don't miss it. As I said, it was amazing!

Guess who arrived in YEG? My ol' travelling bud. Soon we will be driving up the highway but in the meantime we've already tasted Brewster's micro-brewery raspberry and blueberry ale with calamari appetizers and walked in the HOT Edmonton weather. This seems to be the first hot day of summer here. Although temperatures have been in the low 20's the wind had necessitated at sweater. I think summer's finally here now that I plan to leave. Tonight we will dine Greek (oh to be in Greece again!!!) and tomorrow we're off to see BodyWorlds I, an exhibit of real human bodies. If you've not heard of this exhibit please click here. I read in Popular Science that so many people wished to donate their bodies to this exhibit that they have had to turn many away. Should be interesting.

Weather Report

Just heard that they are having SNOW for the second day in Whitehorse. This morning saw white-out conditions. Sunday saw a HIGH of 1 degree Celsius! It is June 10th!!! And at the same time Ontario is having record high weather conditions advising the elderly to stay indoors in air conditioned rooms. Here in Alberta we are in between the two - mid teens and a few showers every so often - very livable. What a big country we live in.

Day Trippin'

Went for lunch with my friend Lori. She suggested Vi's for Pies - This bistro is one of west Edmonton’s hidden treasures and luckily Lori, an Edmontonian, knew about it. We had a lovely lunch and spent time catching up. Was tempted by the huge selection of desserts but refrained. May take a stroll one day from the apartment though for coffee and a treat.

Since I still haven't been to WEM (West Edmonton Mall) thought a trip there would round out my day. Unfortunately (or fortunately!?!) I didn't make one purchase! That's a first for me.

The seal show was on as I passed, so I watched the trained seals do their thing. And found my favourite luggage shop - Mandarina Duck, but they didn't have the luggage I have dreamed about since seeing it in Italy, so I'll have to wait a bit longer to get their light weight suitcase.

WEM is, as you know, HUGE. I walked and walked and looked and looked (and tried on many pairs of shoes) before it all started looking the same to me. It was then time to go home.
Had a thunder storm last night. Wonderful. We rarely get those storms up north, so enjoyed it. Should be more today/tonight as well.

Beckham again

Having a tough day. I phone people and they are on the phone, the computer is down, they are out ... so I thought of David Beckham again and thought I'd add a few more photos of him rather than struggling with fate.

The photo above shows what it is like being David Beckham. All cameras were focused on his every move from the time he stepped out onto the field to the time he left.


As said previously, he took all the dead balls - and he took them very well. Now his passing needed some work (but who am I to comment??)

With an injured man down, he was there to lend support.

Being off the field for the last 15 minutes of the game, he did come back on the field at the end to clap to the fans. You can see from this picture that he was having his foot tended to so apparently he still has problems which may once again nag him this season.

To end, I have to appologize for the quality of these photos. I was deathly ill watching the game and pretending to be well so I wouldn't miss it.

Sherwood Park day

Went to visit Jenn in her new condo today. It's about a 40 minute drive from my house in Sherwood Park. I've never been there before, so it was interesting. Really it's just a small city attached to Edmonton. This is where they will stay until they get their bearings and decide what part of town to buy a house.


Both Jenn and Dawson are looking good. We shopped for curtains for her windows and partially put up the living room curtains (until the electric screw driver ran out of power - then stopped). Brent can do the rest.
Got home in the late afternoon, ate some dinner then had a call from Jenn saying their car broke down and they needed a lift to the car rental agency. So, I hopped in the car again, drove the half hour to South Edmonton Commons, then drove them to the airport to pick up their rental, then drove home again ... all in all about one and one half hours of driving. This city is BIG ! ! And BUSY ! ! Although I'm am starting to get used to it, I sometimes long for the easy roads of my small town - albeit a capital city as well.