My Travel Blog
I wish I had something interesting to say. I've intended to write for a few days but with the hubub of life and the end of school chaos it's slipped by me. With 7 more school days left I can't decide if I'm glad or sad - on one hand the seemingly endless task of 'make the lunches - sign the forms - check the homework - hurry hurry we'll be late!' will be over and that part I will definitely not miss. On the other hand, all of the structureless days spread out before us is a little disconcerting, if not downright terrifying. Anyone with children knows how the loveliest day of happy, contented playing can change in an instant. I'm just not cut out for that - if it was the 1800's I'd simply send the kids off with the governess and lay out on the shaded porch sipping on a tonic for frayed nerves. Granted, I'd be wearing a corset and a bonnet (or something equally ridiculous) so I suppose there's always a trade-off.
And the weather…. am I allowed to talk about it? Why the entire city hasn't packed up and moved is beyond me; the past year has been horrible, and the crazy thing is that we're in a little bubble of awfulness that doesn't seem to have gone farther than an hour radius around us! When you look at one of those maps of North America that have the color gradients (dark blue is freezing, bright red is super hot) it, more often than not, has a little circle in southern Alberta that is completely different than everything around it. When Iqaluit is consistently warmer than you it messes with your psyche! Last summer was much cooler than usual, the winter was absolutely freezing with above average snowfall, and spring isn't even worth mentioning. For an arid climate we certainly have a lot of rain this year, and if the sun would just shine a little perhaps the flowers could actually grow! My petunias look so sad and pathetic… sob.
Okay, ranting isn't attractive so I'll wrap it up. The dangling carrot of Italy in August definitely helps - and in the grand scheme of things life is pretty darn good. When all you have to complain about is incessant rain and your kids fighting over a Barbie purse, then you really can't complain at all.
Proverbial slap on the cheek, shake of the head, and off I go.
I'm feeling antsy today. It poured - really poured - all day long. Instead of getting a bunch of gardening done we spent the day holed up sipping tea and eating soup, which is very different from yesterday's gorgeously warm tan-line inducing temperatures. I read some travel guides and surfed the net working on some travel plans and answering some online questions which succeeded in making me even more antsy! Why torture yourself with visions of sun-filled piazzas and sandy beaches when it's gloomy and grey out your window? I temporarily switched to spider solitaire which hurt my brain, induced upper back tension, and caused me to question my own mental ability.
A family pow-wow occurred around 4:30 when we realized we were all a little stir-crazy and hungry. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say our pantry is full to the ceiling and our freezer is stuffed, yet somehow we have nothing to eat? We discussed getting out of the house but every idea we came up with was vetoed by someone; a movie seemed inticing but none of us could agree on which one to see. We considered dinner but we all felt like different things… we were in a state of confused agitism (not sure if that is a word but it seems appropriate). In the end we scavenged and came up with a box of cornmeal muffin mix, some mediocre frozen low fat chicken smokies (won't be buying those again), and some romaine lettuce. All together it served it's purpose without winning any awards, but we did get the majority of the Canadian Food Guide covered (did I mention the frozen yogurt for dessert?).
And now suddenly, at 8 pm, the sun in shining and it's gorgeous outside! Of course by now the kids are getting ready to head to bed and I'm way too comfortable in my old sweatpants to leave the house. The purpose of this post? Nothing, just a rainy day in the life of me…. and a reminder to get some groceries.
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