Time exists but just on your wrists
So don't panic
Moments last and lifetimes are lost in a day
So wind your watches down, please
Cos there is no time to lose

There's part a Travis song for you (Indefinitely). I don't quote songs very often, but this one just feels so fitting lately that I couldn't resist. Although it's not really that accurate, as time exists in a lot of things. Like..grey hair, the break down of appliances, back pain, the size of kids, when they aren't kids anymore, the amount of pipe leaks in the house, the nonchalantness of present and future birthdays (at least until you get beyond the realm of secret or indifferent ages.) and yes, time tells on us in a billion different ways, with or without the watch (if anyone cares to, feel free to add to the list).

So, Edmonton. Not sure how many people in Edmonton read this, but thanks to ya'll for the wonderful hospitality you showed to us out of towners. :) Now for a little run down of the visit, if I can manage that. I know a lot has already been said by others, so I will fill in my family and my spaces in the..places..and on that basis, here we go (yes, having a lame moment). We managed to leave Thursday afternoon, after Mark got off of a half shift. The drive was good, I was in the middle row and thus didn't want to puke. :D I got to drive part of the way because Mark had been up since 5 or 6 am. And the last but not least part of the trip details, we didn't hit anything, and didn't breakdown woohoo. Upon arriving at Dor and Jord's we didn't stay up too late, as we all realized we had better save our energy.

Energy saved, and on to Friday. Friday we did something half the day (don't you love all that detail?) While we did the something, Mark ventured out for specialty beer. After the half a day was gone, Mark was still not back. That's right, Mark had a breakdown (not mental, just the van). We learned that run of the mill auto shops have no clue when it comes to dodge wiring, and that it can take them 3 times as much time to get it back together as it took to take it apart. We learned how wonderful traveling on long a weekend is, and that Dodge mechanics don't like to work on them. We learned that 8 people do not fit in a 5 seater car (Mark wasn't back yet). We learned that two trips were worth it, as Mark got back in time for the second run. We went to the Church dinner deal. I mused around, trying to find someone, and then something to talk about. It worked and I had a good time of it. I thought about attempting to play in the gym, but was already overly boiling, and not willing to break my leg or nose in a real effort. The gym was noisy, and the rain outside inviting. Listened to the wonderful music, played by several talented wonders. Got a ride with Leah, with some others to a coffee shop. Ordered a hot drink when I was already "overly boiling" and learned that although I may have been boiling, I was not bright. All that, and I burnt my tongue. :D Went to the B's, got to visit some more, and got a ride back to Dor and Jord's. Expected to find people up (Shawn and Tam were to be picked up at 10:32 pm), lights were out, and I assumed everyone must have been dreadfully bored to have retired at 12:00 am. I learned that you can hear the door from the garage into the house open, from the upstairs bedroom, and that the same is true for the other bedroom cuz out came Mark and Belinda. I then learned that they only just got back, because Tam's bag was lost and bags of 15 other people. We stayed up late talking.

Okay, that was waay too long, sorry about that. Saturday, everyone slept in or tried to; I wasn't that fortunate. At a quarter to 12:00 Mark decided to rent a van (as ours was sitting outside, undriveable until the Dodge shop reopened on Tuesday)After a couple minutes of surfing the net for rentals, Mark makes the phone call. Lessons for that moment.. on long weekends rental places close at noon, the rental place is 10 minutes away and Mark and Jord can go get out of the house really fast when there's a reason. Woohoo, a running rental van. Picnic-ho, and here we go. We came, we went, we saw, we ate, we talked, we played, we sang, we were interviewed, we packed it up, we drove it to the D's for diapers then the B's for.. for.. beer? Us women talked in the family room about fashion of course, clothing, and lots of..thought provoking..stuff. The guys in the living room talked about hard drives, now who got the better end of that stick? :P Then the C's and myself packed it up early (12:00 am or so) and went back to the D's for sleep, while the others stayed another hour and Dor or Tam fell asleep on a couch, poor gril.

The Lord's day, dahdaah. We talked all morning, went to worship, witnessed 5 baptisms, took communion, had a fellowship meal, talked, took family pictures, took random pictures, and had a Psalm sing. It was truly a splendid day, just thinking of it makes me happy. Then I got a ride with Martin and Amy to the B's, for Amy to get something..I can't remember what. :D There I got to talk a bit with Beka and Donna W. and I got to poke Stace. From there Martin, Amy and myself went back to the D's, where the D's, A's, C's and Leah were and visited till some late hour on various enjoyable topics.

Monday was a lovely day. We slept in, and then arranged for us girls to go shopping on White Ave. while the guys were to go over to the B's to visit and go hard drive shopping. We got dropped of at Lush, and worked our way down the ave, visiting the eye catching stores, and learned that some nice looking stores are run by losers who don't want to open on a long weekend, haha. We stopped for lunch at Opa! (Greek food place),B and Dor had Lamb shish kabobs, with salad and pita bread while Tam and I had awesome gyros. From there we walked up the other side of the street, and came across a guy offering gelato (Italian ice cream) samples. We fell for it, and ended up by having to buy some, which we didn't regret in the least. After that side of the ave, we went to Chapters to call Mark and wait for him to pick us up, but they were out hard drive shopping and forgot to take the cell. So we waited for them to get the message from Fran, it worked, only took over an hour. Yes, it was lovely time in the sun, although we were missing Manda, then it would have been perfect. Went to the B's again, had pizza and visited, and dled on Greg's hard drive. Leah and Irene joined us, and brought some girly drinks, which the guys then proceeded to drink, haha.

Tuesday was a nice kick-back day. The van got into the shop, and was fixed in no time. The guys and Belinda went out book hunting, while Tam, Dor and I went out hairstylist hunting. We learned that on the Tuesday after a long weekend most hair places only have 1 person working, 2 customers in line, and at least 1 hour for waiting. But after checking at 5 or so places, we found 2 people on staff and one idle. :D Snip, snip, there goes the hair. My hairdresser was a hag and believe me, that's putting it nicely, but at least she was able to use a pair of scissors. :D Tam and Dor's hairdresser was a pregnant smoker, poor baby. Cleaned, packed, had an early birthday party for Dorry, ate ice-cream cake, watched a movie, talked, and then slept.

Wednesday we traveled home, all was smooth. I drove from Edmonton to Jasper, stopped by a gorge, went to a lake, can't remember the name of either of them but they were really nice. I have a pic of the lake, but I forgot to take the cam at the gorge..pity as it was very cool. Tam was drove from Jasper, while I slept for a couple hours and all was smooth, that is until a couple miles outside of Mackenzie.
Tam saw it, but didn't know what to do, "do I honk, will that scare it into the road" etc. obviously there wasn't a lot of time for thought or speech. In the van Tam said She said "A deer, Shawn a.." (there for something else too, but it happened so fast. In the car Mark said, "a deer!" We saw this stupid creature leap onto the road, right in front of Shawn's car, Shawn braked and swerved. The car hit, the deer flipped and Calvin who noticed something must have happened was wondering why they were stopping "who what where, why?". We pulled over as fast as we safely could, pulled out and went to see if everyone was alright. They were safe, we were relieved, the car was..wrecked. After Shawn had hit it, he had the presence of mind to pull the car over to the side of the road before it died. And a good thing, cuz it wouldn't restart. Mark and Shawn got a ride back to Mackenzie with a nice passerby, while we girls + Calvin drop back in the van. We learned that Mackenzie cops go home early, but that they have a phone outside their building that will connect you to them at home. I believe I already related what happened with the G's, so we all got home at 12:00 or there abouts.

The rest of the visit summed up. Thursday I woke up with a jerk, I ran around like nut..Shawn was wondering what cracked. I had slept through my alarm and was late to pick up milk. Shawn who was armed, or rather eyed with a good prescription drop me to pick it up, as my glasses aren't up to date. Friday Mark was pulled back into work a day early, Tam and I took on 4 sewing projects, we sewed, Uncle Steven and Aunt Lovella and crew stopped in for the night. They left in the morning, there was a BBQ at Cheryl G's, I sewed, Tam and I sewed, we went and played pool with the G boys, and we sewed. Lord's day we had worship and a fellowship meal, stayed up late, packed, cut fabric and slept, Monday they were off to breakfast at the S's and then to Edmonton.

That is where my tale ends off and it's back to the Saturday grind. Sorry about the length of this book, but there was a lot that happened, even in the short version form.

Have a blessed Lord's day ya'll. :)

Jode

The Lake