05:32 - 03.03.08
Travel vs Time
Sorry I'm late dear diary. It was, unintentionally, a long day. Nothing bad, just more than I expected. My Dad had called last week to see if I would attend a presentation about a tour he wants to take in the autumn. It sounded like a good opportunity to spend some time with him. He warned me that the attendees would mostly be his age, so that I would find myself the youngest in the room. Bonus. I guess he was worried I would feel out of place. Given some of the other odd configurations I've found myself in over the years, with respect to group gatherings, I doubt I would have even noticed if he hadn't mentioned it. I did fuss a bit over what to wear so that I felt comfortable within the group, without dressing to look like a part of his generation either. Settled on black pants and blouse with a long red silk tunic top for colour. It was one of the items of clothing that the one friend had given me and I had been eager to try it out, you see. In the time when it was in fashion, it was likely worn with black leggings or capri pants, neither of which I own. Given the whims of fashion, it could, at some times in it's history, also have been worn as a shirt dress, a nightgown or a maternity top. The last one was something I chose not to think about, thank you kindly. Originally, I had intended to just wear a camisole underneath the tunic instead of a blouse. However, since it was short-sleeved and this is still winter I decided to err on the side of caution. Good thing, since later in the afternoon I glanced down and realized that all the buttons on the tunic had come undone. Oi. My cami is see-through black sheer material and so is ... well never mind. Somehow I don't think that style would fit in with a group of my Dad's travelling companions.
My Dad picked me up in the early afternoon. He had given me a reversible red/black wool cape last time we were visiting. I chose to use that instead of a coat since I really liked it and wanted to try it out for weather readiness, as well. The session was located in my part of town. Normally his neighbour - who would be his travelling companion - would have gone with him, but she had to work. It was in one of the conference rooms at one of the hotels that serves bus tours. During the next two hours there were presentations by various tour guides about bus trips to Alaska - the one my Dad took a couple of years ago, over to Moose Jaw - one of Al Capone's hideouts, across Canada, down to Nashville, over to Reno, into Mexico's Copper Canyon and teaching tours overseas in Europe and Asia as well. Who'd a thunk it.
Some of the statistics really surprised me. For example, in China there are two cities whose populations, when added together, exceed the entire population of the whole of the country of Canada. I don't know how many cities China actually has, but I found it hard to contemplate seeing half of our population gathered together in one spot. The stories made my feet itch for certain. The tour my Dad and his neighbour are wanting to take is a cross-Canada ramble that would be fascinating to be on, I think. Gorging on fresh seafood for a good part of it wouldn't be hard to take either. Fish is good for you after all. Month-long in length though. I still need to work for a while just to catch up my bills, as well as earn the price of any tour - after I get that magic job offer - so not something I could plan for in the next bit. I really do need to get some basic work done on the house too or I'm going to find myself freezing in the dark by next winter. The house will be coming up to 30 years old by then you see.
The other tour my Dad was interested in was one that would take in the British Isles - England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Since they've had their earthquake for this decade, that seemed like a good choice too. That is one he wouldn't book for another couple of years, so it is one I would be happy to go on - if I was invited. A lot can happen in two years though .... Just before the session began, I noticed one of the attendees was one of the women I did a great deal of volunteer work with for that couple of decades I was an at-home-mom. She is retired now and on her own. She is the one who went to Egypt a couple of years back and is quite adventurous into the bargain. She had come to hear about the tour that goes to see Danny O'Donnell somewhere down in the western US. She's of Irish heritage you see. She has also toured in Ireland and the British Isles, so after I introduced them, she and my Dad chatted a bit about some of the things she thought he should consider when planning that trip.
My Dad treated me to dinner after that. He wanted liver and onions while I settled for an omelette. Both really tasty, but not distracting. We chewed over some of the information that we'd heard, then went on to discuss things family. I picked his brains a bit about the genealogy project I have on the go which led to some great stories... Chatted about another potential adventure closer to home in one of the bedroom communities nearby. There had an article by one of my favortie columnists about a specialty bookstore in that town. All focussed on the history of the Canadian prairies, as well as art. My kind of setting. The columnist had mentioned that a lot of the stock was the hard-to-come-by publications written by the residents of specific areas about themselves and the history of their communities. That one book about the farming community where my Dad grew up for a few years is the key resource that I have been using for my genealogy project, you see. I was hoping to find additional resources there. I think the columnist had mentioned it carried a lot of material about our local First Nations as well and there are specific bits I would like to find on their social history as well. Most of what I have pertains to the Hopi and Navaho cultures further south or that of the Sioux Nation.
It was late when my Dad dropped me back home. The next couple of hours were spent looking after housework and fussy cats. Just as I was finally settling in to work on the computer, my youngest arrived back home. He had spent the night over at one of his brothers homes visiting and returned with number of DVDs he had borrowed when he left. There had been a bitterly cold wind blowing throughout the day and he hadn't been dressed for it - especially not when travelling by transit where waits in between connector busses can be long, standing in spots exposed to the elements. He was worried he might have developed frostbite on his hands, so that had to be dealt with first.
One of the movies he had with him was the last of the Pirates of the Caribbean - "At World's End". I had really missed not being able to see it last year so we sat down to watch it together. My youngest looked rather startled when I started to laugh during the pirates' convocation. It was Keith Richard's fault. My son didn't realize it was him, but I was quite taken by his acting. He actually has quite a strong screen presence; something I wouldn't have expected. Maybe he has a second career as an actor in the works. Who knows. I really liked the storyline and the acting in this episode, but somehow as the story progressed I found that something in the tale retriggered that dream sequence I wrote about a few posts back. By the end of the movie I wasn't fully in this reality anymore. Sort of moving back and forth between the two, making it difficult to write anything. Decided to catch a nap so that the mind could sort itself out before I tried posting to you. And that's why this post is so late dear diary. That's my story for the day. Good night for now.
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