Farm Girl

Having a wicked time on my brief holiday. Many mishaps getting here but finally managed it 11 hours late. But everything else has been ideal.

Woke early at D's and sat on the front lawn (which nobody ever does) reading her Nigella Lawson cookbook. Went for a walk and found a swing in a park. Decided since it was so early, i'd chance the raised eyebrows and swing on it. Of course, the Garbage Truck turned up right away and i had to stare off into the clouds, pretending it was perfectly normal for a woman to be swinging away by herself at 8am on a tuesday morning. Then got slightly lost trying to find my way back (the dreaded suburbs) and kept crossing paths with the same garbage truck. We had coffee on the lawn when i finally found my way back and the garbage truck passed two more times.

Gorgeous and sunny back in Innisfail too. Mom and i went paddle boating at Bower Ponds in Red Deer and stopped by Warren and Michelle's with Tim Horton's Donuts and Starbucks Frappoccinnos. I think you could call us 'enablers' as those two seem to have a chemical dependency issue with the white stuff (ice, milk and sugar). Still Michelle was already stoned from all the muscle relaxants she was on, poor girl. So what's a little more?

Drinks around the fire at Heather's backyard that night. Very nice drinking homemade wine under the big dipper and shouting over the sound of the train whistle as it rumbles throught the front yard. Really fun actually.

And yesterday Mom and I went to the Farmer's Market where we saw lots of cool stuff made out of old barns, bison meat raised by someone i went to kindergarten with, trout caught in Great Slave Lake, Hutterites selling vegetables, stained glass grain elevators, leather Harley Davidson pillows, moccassins handmade by a schoolfriend's mom, BC peaches, pickled Asparagus from Innisfail Growers, tea towels pinned into the shapes of angels...really all the good stuff in life. Oh, and all to the background of two guys with guitars singing 'Take this job and shove it.' LOVE it.

Spent afternoon picking yellow beans, suntanning while reading Chatelaine, and doing topless yoga for the cattle on the other side of the electric fence until the thunderstorm rolled in.

Warren and Michelle came for dinner. She's a little better now, thankfully. I made lime and basil trout (from Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories), salmon (from Co-op) with lemon slices. Warren did the BBQing, Mom made the corn and fresh-picked beans, Michelle confirmed the cooking was done correctly and Dad told us all about his favourite recipes for trout from his fishing days. ('Throw it in the pan still wriggling with a little butter, salt and pepper and the bones lift right out.' Yum)

And now after days and days of heat, it's the day of the camping trip. Constant rain and only 10 degrees. So typical it's too typical to say so. Oh well, maybe i can fit three seasons into my week home.