Full circle

Well the trip has finally come full circle. It started off with visiting the family 12 months ago...and it has ended the same way.

On my sister Yvonne's farm right now hanging out with my sis, brother in law and my nephew Harley. Playing hockey, riding quads, card games, etc. All good fun. But for some reason my sister Yvonne is determined to torture Debbie and I. I put it down to jealousy. She is envious of the fact that we just spent 12 months in the sunshine...so she is making us pay by freezing our asses off.
She heats her house with a wood burning stove...and refuses to turn the furnace on. While Deb and I walk around in longjohns with pants over top, 2 or 3 sweaters and a blanket wrapped around us, she sits there with a slightly evil grin on her face. I even have to bring a pillow to the dinner table as the chair is too cold for my butt. I thought she loved me, but now I am beginning to wonder.

Sat in BC at my nona's watching the deer eat the trees in her yard, drove through some treacherous conditions on the Rogers pass, bottle fed a baby calf, visited some old friends from high school, etc. It has been good.

On Monday or Tuesday I am going to Harley's school and doing a presentation to the grade 3 glasses on India. Should be fun...like I said full circle. I was his show and share before I went on the trip and will end it doing the same.

Deb got a job...everyone give her a round of applause. She starts on Tuesday. Not sure she is happy about that...but it sounds like a good job, so I am happy for her.

Alberta photos

Oh my tender tootsies

There are just some things that you don't consider when you come home after a year in the sun.
I know my tan would fade. I knew my skin would turn all flaky and dry. I knew I would be cold. I knew I would get my appetite back.

What I didn't know was that after a year of being in sandals, that when I finally put my feet back into shoes, they would bark as loud as they are now. Yep...I have at least 5 blisters on each foot...some of them between my toes. Every step I take is accentuated by a blinding pain. Who knew!

So as of this moment, my feet are officially in boot camp. I have to toughen them up to be back in the real world...after all I don't think my chacos would look good with a pair of dress pants, a summer dress...or much of anything actually.

Oh Canada

Ok...so I am frozen. That much is official. I can't seem to get warm and I can't seem to sleep through the night.
Arrived in Calgary and mom was supposed to pick us up at the airport. She says she was there, but I don't believe her. We waited at the international arrivals area for 2 hours. After the first hour I started calling the hospitals to make sure she hadn't been in an accident. After that I just started to get angry. I paged her, walked up and down the airport...no mom. Finally, called her and she answered her phone at home. Yah sure, she was at the airport.

All this time she is complaining about how we have been gone for too long...then we get here and she sits on her duff probably watching reruns of "House" instead of getting us at the airport. We ended up taking a taxi home. Good thing she had home made spaghetti, red wine and cookies waiting for us or I would have turned around and high-tailed it back to Bangkok!

Now we are in Sparwood at my nona's house. Like I said, I am frozen. But really, it is very beautiful here. We sit at her kitchen table drinking tea and cappuccino and watch the deer walk through her yard. Gorgeous views of the snow covered mountains in every direction. A very different kind of beauty to what we have experienced this past year.

Just finished sanding and varnishing her hard wood floors...I guess we are her cheap labour. She says the cheque is in the mail, but seeing as she doesn't have a chequing account I have a hard time believing her.