Northern Saskatchewan

A cold hello from snowy Stony Rapids. I'm here at the Water Front Lodge, beautiful, lake front lodge. Unfortunately, the weather forcast called for decent weather, no snow and thus I have no winter boots. I did go on Cabellas last week and ordered some insulated hunting boots. I think I'll wear them next time. I hope they fit! Sorels are wonderful, but a bit heavy, though I bet I'll be wearing them next time I fly. Too big to pack. I fit right in with the crew men they have working up here =D

I'm about to go for a taxi ride - one of those airborne vans that only touch the lops. Maybe I should go eat now... wait! Is that my blood pressure rising??? The road is snowy though so the sailing may be clear.

Martin and I are still seeing each other. I think I'm still happy. So I guess that's good. He's really nice still. I think he's frustrated with my travelling though, and that has put a bit of a damper on things this week. As well, I'm stressed/overwelmed at work right now so it's easy to want to turn into myself for strength and want to hermit a bit, too. I haven't been hermitting mind you, but I think I might this weekend a bit. I set up this dresser to finish stripping and restain, and I'm very eager to get back to it. I've let it sit for weeks now.

Shall I tell you more about my travels?? Flying north at this time of the year is risky. We flew no problem from Edmonton to Saskatoon to Prince Albert. Then at Prince Albert we heard rumors of bad weather in the north... if the weather's out no on flies. What does that mean when the weather is out? Either there is a storm or the air and water are similar temperature and the fog is too thick. But on we went, a little late. Landed in La Ronge... and waited... and waited... and then waited some more for a window in the weather. Then one flight was cancelled!! Thankfuly, it wasn't mine. Then we heard our flight was going!! Thank goodness.

We made it safely, changed our exit ticket to give us time for our meeting. And though we were two hours late, our meeting went ahead, successfully! Unfortunately some members couldn't come because they were stranded in other communities or had to drive the grader to clear the runway. =D Such is life.

So we arrived at the airport after our meeting and just missed the early flight, which actually left an hour early, so we were in time for the "early" late flight, which 20 minutes later was cancelled... my dinner was waiting in Stony Rapids... my bed was waiting in Stony Rapids... I wanted to be in Stony Rapids. Instead we improvised, we found accommodation, one lady complained to the right person and early this morning we received a call to hop on a freight flight =) And here I sit, curled up on my bay window seat looking over the Fond du Lac River leading to the Athabasca thinking I should go eat lunch. Too bad I left my camera cable in the car, I could show you the view out my window. I think it would be peaceful to live up here.

Broken Pride

Surprise! Surprise! Another dating blog!

But first this breaking news! A HUGE thank you to everyone who sponsored me in the MS bike tour this year. I raised $1,500 and our team raised over $16,000!! THANKS!!! The MS Society also sends out a big thanks! It was fairly cold biking, but we had a fabulous time. The second day of the tour was mostly downhill and gorgeous. They have these erosion dykes across the trail and all their words of caution for the day centred on not taking the dykes at high speeds. I can see why – they have terrific launching capabilities! An amazing quality until you land on the following dyke and wipe out. =)

So Martin bought a bike last Thursday se we could go biking together. Out we headed on Sunday. We biked for about an hour and he bikes at about the same level as our MS team “A Few Spokes Short”. We’re bombing along some single track and it starts downhill. Now I thought I was doing an okay clip, not dangerously fast. But then I spotted a bit of a dip I the trail and it looked a bit dark. Well in my distraction I hit a large root, put myself a bit off course, hit the “dark spot” aka mud hole and my front tire stopped dead. Well you can imagine with my momentum what happened to the rest of my bike and my body. So next thing I know I’m laying there and all I can think is “Don’t cry! Don’t cry!” Don’t’ cry!” Well I didn’t cry and Martin was a true gentleman. I wish I had it on video, but he assured me he would go buy a helmet-cam for our next ride. =) What a sweety.

And I should mention we are enriching our cultural side, too. Friday he took me to The Comic Strip at WEM and they were so funny! Now we use the jokes on each other - keeps me on my toes. Sunday (yes, after biking) we dressed up and went to live theatre Noises Off at the Citadel. God it was hilarious!! Martin enoyed it, but missed some of the puns and plays on words. I think I may look for a french play next, but his english is loads better than my french. This Friday will be "date" 6 and I'm looking forward to it. =)