Welcome home, we missed you!

Two 10 hr days of driving. That's what it took to get us from Florida to home. Plus an hour's wait at the border to get back into Canada. We literally picked the one lane that wasn't moving. Once in Canada, we had another 2.5 hr drive to get home.

I was eager to see our cats again. 10 days is a long time to be away from the little fuzzy guys (girls, really). We knew we wouldn't see our dog until Sunday so it was the cat and our beds we wanted.

Apparently the cats missed us too. Especially Monkey, the 7 month old kitten we adopted in November.

Monkey apparently missed me so much that she tried to learn how to knit while I was away. We could see the evidence of this as soon as we walked in the door.

The hallway, leading to kitchen and living room.

 The note from our cat sitters reported at least 4 separate "yarn incidents".

Around the chair legs in multiple directions and heading for the dining room.

The living room - yarn around 2 sofas and around the coffee table back there.

Dining room. Can you see the 2 strands of silver yarn going from the chair to the front right corner?

Me, holding about 8 strands of yarn that lead into the dining room and hallway.
Wondering where and how to begin. Pardon the luggage behind me.

The culprits: Chewy (in front), Monkey (behind). "We had fun Mom!"

The victims included leftovers of Wollmeise, Candy Skein and other quality yarns. I stopped trying to identify the victims. It's better that way.

Southern Comfort

We're taking comfort in the warmer temps of coastal Florida. Today, our last day, the temperature is 25C (77F) feeling like 33C (91F). Back home it's -19C (-2F) and feels like -30C (-22F).

If there were a way we could prolong our stay here, we would. Believe me!

Here's a small sampler of what we've been up to the past few days:

Hamming it up on Flagler Ave, New Smyrna Beach.

View north from our hotel balcony. Best weather we had all week.

Thursday - it hasn't been all sunshine. But it's still warm!

Somewhere in the Mountains

Early morning mist rising from the lake. Somewhere west of Revelstoke, BC.

Lake Louise, Alberta

Lake Louise, Alberta. The lake is 70m deep and gets its blue color from the "rock flour" (fine rock dust from the glacier runoff) in the water. The silty water absorbs all the colors except the lovely turquoise and vivid blue.

The iconic (at least in Canada) Fairmont Hotel at Lake Louise. The Fairmont faces the mountains & glacier.

Obligatory sock knitting photo!

Close up of the mountains from the first photo. It looks like someone went up there and etched a figure 8 in the snow.

I like this photo. That is all.

There is a path along the lake which makes for a nice morning's walk. I like the dots of color (hikers) and the reflection in the water in this photo.

The air was so crisp and fresh, with the most amazing subtle pine smell. It almost hurt to breathe the air, it was so fresh and clean. Wonderful. My Toronto-fed lungs didn't quite know what to make of it.

Good morning, Mountains

View from our motel in Canmore, AB.

Approaching the Rocky Mountains

Trans Canada Hwy 1: Leaving Calgary and heading to Canmore, Alberta
The mountains are getting closer!

Knitting count: A couple inches of a sock done in the airport/airplane. 1 face cloth completed on the plane and in the car. New sock toe begun!  I'm suiting the knitting to the situation, alternating between mindless knitting and pattern-required knitting depending on the circumstances.

Interesting fact: On the plane I was sitting in the sitting with another knitter! Told her all about Ravelry. She was headed to Calgary for a knitting class.

Westward Bound

Monday I fly out to Calgary to meet my Mom for a bittersweet road trip. We'll be driving through the Rocky Mountains and ending up on Vancouver Island to visit my brother. Then I'll fly home from the island.

I'm very excited to see the mountains. Living here in Ontario we have hills, not mountains. According to Wikipedia, the highest parts of the province are some of the escarpments in the Grey-Bruce regions where you can reach the dizzying heights of 1,400-1750 feet above sea level.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing real mountains. And the car knitting time! No work, no children, no husband. Just me & my Mom who's made this trip a few times before. No doubt I'll be spending the rest of today going through my stash and planning what yarns to pack and what I'll be knitting.

That's the sweet part.

The bitter of the bittersweet? This trip is a bit of a memorial to my Dad who passed away last September 28th. Mom & Dad used to drive their trailer from coast to coast after they retired. They've been to each coast several times and even driven up to Alaska, the NWT, and the Yukon. This is my Mom's first road trip without my Dad. And we'll be arriving at my brother's home in time for the anniversary of Dad's passing - which also happens to be my brother's birthday.

This will be a fantastic trip and a difficult one. I'll be missing my husband and daughter but I'm glad to be able to be there for my Mom as we mark this difficult anniversary.

My Dad and I are very much alike. So for the next week, I'll be there sitting beside Mom as we drive through the Rockies, listening to her chatter away. I'll be the strong, silent type to her outgoing personality. And I'll try to be a tiny portion of the emotional "rock" that my Dad was to her over the course of their 49 year marriage.