frozen apples

We haven’t been home for a week yet and already we are back to a routine and feel like we’ve never been away. My trip into the bag of cotton ball reality seems distant and hazy. The pets have settled down and seem to have forgotten that we were gone. 

We’ve both got colds so we’ve been laying mostly low, but did go to Trudie’s for supper last night. Wait a minute! How can I say this? We got home Sunday night, went into the city to a funeral and shopping on Monday, went to Kirsten’s Tuesday, took her to town Wednesday, I stayed with her Wednesday night, came home Thursday, went for supper on Friday, and today I went out to get my nails done and to look for a blanket to put in Adia’s crate… I guess that’s hardly laying low at all!!!

After I got my nails done this morning I stuck my head into Dollarama - there was no way in he$$ that I was going in - there were a million people milling about with carts everywhere. Some of the carts were driven by little kids who had no idea that they kept trapping me in an aisle and bumping into me… I’ll pop in on Monday when the hellions are in school to do my shopping.

There are a few sunspots today - I tried to resist curling up in one on the futon, but failed. With Spike up against my back, I quickly fell asleep.

I’d have company over tonight, but a thick layer of dust would hamper their footsteps. I don’t seem to have the energy to grab a cloth to wipe more than a few surfaces, perhaps I’m hampered by the virus. 

… almost bedtime…

Adia has been outside several times this evening, vigorously ringing her bell get us to open the door. The reason - apples. Frozen apples. And then when she comes in she rockets around the house, sending furniture flying and infuriating Spike. So much for a peaceful pre-bed bit of tv watching. Oh, there she is ringing it again - this time I’m ignoring her.

“The question is not how to get cured, but how to live.”

~Joseph Conrad

furry cousins meet

We’d only been home for one full day when we packed up the dogs and a bunch of dog beds to drive to Kirsten’s house! A mix of excitement and trepidation kept me jumping in my seat for the hour long drive. We’d be mixing 2 packs of dogs together for a total of 6 canines, add to that 2 cats and my worry about Adia’s prey drive - there was bound to be chaos.

With their leashes attached I let the dogs out of the car and walked towards the back yard. Kirsten appeared with Atlas - a giant, black Great Dane. So far so good. Then Tilly, the Jack Russell, and Murphy, the cocker spaniel came out, also on leash. We walked around for a couple of minutes without any issue so decided it was time to ‘release the hounds’. 

Everyone got on well (mostly). Spike was very excited and ran around happily. I think he was happy to have some cousins that were his size (not counting Atlas of course). Thankfully he wasn’t worried about Atlas as he has gentle body language (well, mostly, more about that later).

Adia was excited but not overly crazy. 

The next hurdle was bringing them all into the house. First Kirsten made sure that Twinkie the tiniest Chi and the 2 cats were carefully secured away. Then they all charged into the house in a scramble. My pups sniffed around curiously. Time to introduce Twinkie. No problem. Adia didn’t see her as anything other than a curiously small dog. 

As we settled in with tea some of the dogs settled down (Spike was quick to find a bed out of the frey), while Adia walked and walked. There was a scuffle between Tilly and Spike over a bone (note to self, keep bones and toys away for now). Atlas was attracted to Adia and tried to hump her.

Overall I’d say that it went rather well. They’ll need a few more times together before they all settle down, especially Adia - she didn’t settle down until the next morning.

In all of this chaos, I had time to give Kirsten and Nissa a quick hug, welcoming them to Canada!

After supper we introduced the cats. Adia was curious but thankfully not in a ‘must kill’ sort of way. In fact, after a few swats by a tiny kitty paw, she was a bit scared. I kept the muzzle on her for a few minutes and then she dragged a leash for a short while. We kept an eye on her all night but she was good.

It’s so wonderful to have Kirsten’s family here! 😍 

We took Kirsten into the city to pick up their new car and then I went back with Kirsten to their place. We met Carm this morning for breakfast at the ½ way point. 

I’ve got a cold... I made it through the cruise so I guess that's good, but tonight I'll break out the brandy to mix with a hot lemon & honey drink.

veni, vini, amavi

I can’t honestly say that I was thrilled to see land when I opened the curtains early Sunday morning. There was just the slightest bit of red on the horizon before we headed upstairs to the buffet for my last gorge of smoked salmon.

We had an early flight so chose to ‘walk off’ our own luggage which meant hefting 2 big suitcases, 2 carry on bags, 1 knapsack, and 1 pacsafe over the shoulder man bag, down a few flights of stairs. We’d planned an especially early departure so that the elevators wouldn’t be totally bogged down and were off the ship winding our way to customs with no problems. Customs was a breeze with our trusted traveller cards and soon so we were flagging down a cab to the airport.

Printed our boarding passes and got in line to check our bags. After a wait for the agents to get there we were on our way through security (again a breeze), and settled down for the long wait for our flight, which was longer than expected due to a delay. Cue the stress… with only a scant 2 hours in Montreal to make our flight home, we wondered if we’d make the connection. Finally, only 50 minutes late (yikes) we were in the air.

The Montreal airport is reasonably compact, unlike Toronto, so we were soon walking through the baggage claim area. We’d been told that our bags were checked through to Ottawa, but an announcement kept saying that travellers to Ottawa, etc. had to collect their bags before leaving the customs area. WTH. It was hard to find someone to ask but eventually we found an Air Canada agent who confirmed that our bags would indeed end up in Ottawa.

As it turns out, we had plenty of time to make our connection, especially considering that it was ½ hour late also...geesh. It seemed like we might never get home.

When we rolled to a stop at the gate in Ottawa I breathed a sigh of relief, just one more hurdle and we’d be home. Got our luggage - all of it! Carm got the car - it started! And had no snow on it! A good thing since we hadn’t prepared the car with scrapers and all that winter stuff.

We were home. Pat stood by as we gushed over the pets. We hadn’t eaten since 6:30 in the morning so were starving - a loaf of bread and a stack of cheese slices whipped up into the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever. We visited for ages, exchanging tales of adventure.

We were back to reality.

Adia woke us up at 7am which started another busy day. Unfortunately our first order of business was to attend Carm’s Aunt’s funeral, so we bustled into the city for 10am. A stop at Costco to stock up on food was next, and then the mundane really started. Stop for gas, to the drugstore… 

And now here I sit, on the sofa in my place in the sunspot. The house is strewn with the contents of our bags, a heap of laundry sits on the floor, the dogs are snoozing beside me, Carm is on his computer updating our records, there is no dining room to serve supper. We are home, the fantasia faded into a dim memory.

“Veni, Vini, Amavi. We came, we saw, we loved.”

~unknown