Another morning of momentary confusion about where I am. It's not a long moment but a disconcerting one. An inoperable air conditioner and closed window does nothing to disguise the heavy traffic noise from the highway running practically through our hotel, where semi trailers are competing with the wailing infant in a room down the hall for my early morning listening pleasure.
Ahhhhh, the life of a flight attendant. If you have us (flight attendants in general) categorized into glamorous, cocktail sipping party girls, revise! For example, I am enjoying my breakfast while I write this, Red River cereal cooked overnight in my mini crock pot wearing my bathing suit in case the urge to workout becomes unbearable. I've been flying for four years and although I love it, sometimes it is even less glamorous than we expect. Last night for example, we took over a plane in YYC(that's Calgary) where someone had been having a very bad day vomiting all the way up the aisle to the lav. Ahhhh, the life......
One night when I first started, I was hoarding (meaning: saving for later) a piece of filet mignon I had barbequed at home before the pairing began to savor with some roasted veggies I had planned to heat up in the microwave the hotel provided for our comfort. As it happened, and sometimes still happens, our day went sideways and turned into a fourteen, maybe fifteen hour work day. Thank God for memory loss. To top things off the hotel shuttle was not there when we arrived or any time soon. Ask anyone who knows me and they will quickly tell you how they are aware that there is a point where food must go into my body or serious grouchiness is going to happen. This day, being a newbie at my job, I was self regulating and realized I had reached the grumpiness pinnacle, and didn't wish to step over so rather than enjoying my well planned treat in the comfort and privacy of my hotel room, here I was standing on the curb at the Edmonton airport at 11:30 at night eating cold filet mignon out of a baggie. Ahhhh, the life.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
teenagers
Wow, I just hung up from conversation with my newly fourteen year old grandson. Since he was away for his birthday and I work away from home lots so we have been trying to figure out an appropriate celebration. Barry and I wanted to offer him a day to do something with us that would be fun and memorable, a day we would all cherish. He suggested rock climbing. Barry is in line for a new knee soon and my backside is not conducive to hauling it up a wall with a bunch of people below viewing at an angle I have been careful to hide.
We had day trips in our thoughts and I mentioned that. My grandson mentioned his mother, my football playing daughter, told him we had suggested the gopher museum. Laughing, he said it sounded like a museum about gophers. Teenagers, you just can't get anything past them. The thing is that once he sees the museum he will wish he had invented it. It really is gophers and if you haven't been to Torrington, Alberta to see it you cannot say you have been to all the great museums of the world.
We had day trips in our thoughts and I mentioned that. My grandson mentioned his mother, my football playing daughter, told him we had suggested the gopher museum. Laughing, he said it sounded like a museum about gophers. Teenagers, you just can't get anything past them. The thing is that once he sees the museum he will wish he had invented it. It really is gophers and if you haven't been to Torrington, Alberta to see it you cannot say you have been to all the great museums of the world.
my kids a late bloomer
My thirty six year old daughter had her first football practise today. She tells me she is pretty good, solid on her feet and hard to push over. I could have told her that. She is playing full contact tackle football. Somehow I am more worried about her than I am about my grandsons playing. Is this her mid life crisis? Or has the fact that she has lost more than 50 pounds made her want to feel her body move in a way that was not possible before? As a very physical person myself, I believe the second reason. Besides as mid life crisis's go playing football would be fairly tame.
Maybe she will want to join her nephew and me in our challenge race on his fourteenth birthday. She claims to have run 60 yards in 9.something seconds......she too would have to give me a large headstart. My grandson has already agreed to give me 26 yards in a 56 yard race. He is so going to get crushed. I sincerely hope he won't be psychologically damaged from being annihilated by his grandmother.
There's a word for what I'm doing right now....bravado, I think, trying to convince someone....mostly myself.
This blogging is great. I get to dump all my thoughts out there without trying to figure them out. In a diary I would be concerned about privacy, here there is no such possibility. What fun.
Maybe she will want to join her nephew and me in our challenge race on his fourteenth birthday. She claims to have run 60 yards in 9.something seconds......she too would have to give me a large headstart. My grandson has already agreed to give me 26 yards in a 56 yard race. He is so going to get crushed. I sincerely hope he won't be psychologically damaged from being annihilated by his grandmother.
There's a word for what I'm doing right now....bravado, I think, trying to convince someone....mostly myself.
This blogging is great. I get to dump all my thoughts out there without trying to figure them out. In a diary I would be concerned about privacy, here there is no such possibility. What fun.
First blog ever
I'm sitting in a lovely but dull (thanks to cloudy skies and rain) hotel room in Courtney B.C. Sunday morning, Easter Sunday morning actually, with a whole day of hanging around in my future until 6:oo when I fly away. Not quite as exciting as it all sounds since my "fly away"is work for me and I'm headed to Calgary to head to Abbottsford where I can do this all again tomorrow.
I have just said goodbye to my friend Rose who drove up here along with her lovely newish husband from Gabriola Island to visit me. We only had a few hours together but that is enough to remind us both of why we are friends. We had a lovely time teasing Darcy about his dressing habits. Even though he is the one that grew up on a farm on Gabriola, (one of the gulf islands off the coast of B.C.) he never bought into the whole hippy style life that so many islanders adopt. Rose accuses him of being a city boy, high criticism indeed. This is because he wears nice clothes that he bought in Vancouver, not at the GIRO. GIRO stands for the Gabriola Island Recycle Organization (I think).
Everyone should try a shopping trip to GIRO. Besides being practically free, you can find some great stuff there. One time I purchased a brand new riding helmet for $5.00. I thought it could inspire me to write a story about finding a riding helmet in a recycle shop but so far no luck! I was however, able to give it to a co-worker who had started taking riding lessons. She loved it and although we no longer work together or see each other since she moved away, I still sometimes do a circuitous memory route that lets me experience both the fun memories of buying the helmet and of giving it to Kim, allowing me to imagine her riding off into a variety of landscapes thanks to my saving her head......Yes,I do realize she would have gotten the helmet somewhere else, thanks for mentioning that~!
I visited Rose for a month once, mid winter. I was planning to escape a cold Alberta January and a relationship that was winding down somewhat painfully. I left Calgary on the date I had determined and nothing was going to hold me back. I packed up my convertible and my dog, Izzy, and off we went despite weather warnings. Calgary to Gabriola is a long way. I had made arrangements to stay in Kamloops that first night since hotel that accepted dogs, especially bigger dogs like Iz, were hard to find. My second day would take me all the way to Gabe (affectionate term for Gabriola) All was well until I was about twenty miles out of Calgary. A optimist at heart I figured the blowing snow and driving winds would settle down as I approached the Rockies. It didn't, in fact continued to get progressively worse. One day soon, I will download the whole story and you can see how it went, suffice to say right now that it was eventful.
All of this train of thought started because of Rose and because of the people on the flight yesterday both going to and returning from Puerto Vallarta, or as we say it in the travel biz Puerto VaLLarta. I was talking to Barry, (the lovely man in my life) about the unusual attire and bathing practises of some of the west coasters. No offense to those of you who bathe regularly, but what is with the.... I will not use deoderant, I will use public transportation and I will foul your airspace with my odors. This same person had a row all to himself, coincidence? Maybe this is a west coast way of upgrading to first class. (Our airline has no first class or as we say, you are all first class).
to be continued.....
I have just said goodbye to my friend Rose who drove up here along with her lovely newish husband from Gabriola Island to visit me. We only had a few hours together but that is enough to remind us both of why we are friends. We had a lovely time teasing Darcy about his dressing habits. Even though he is the one that grew up on a farm on Gabriola, (one of the gulf islands off the coast of B.C.) he never bought into the whole hippy style life that so many islanders adopt. Rose accuses him of being a city boy, high criticism indeed. This is because he wears nice clothes that he bought in Vancouver, not at the GIRO. GIRO stands for the Gabriola Island Recycle Organization (I think).
Everyone should try a shopping trip to GIRO. Besides being practically free, you can find some great stuff there. One time I purchased a brand new riding helmet for $5.00. I thought it could inspire me to write a story about finding a riding helmet in a recycle shop but so far no luck! I was however, able to give it to a co-worker who had started taking riding lessons. She loved it and although we no longer work together or see each other since she moved away, I still sometimes do a circuitous memory route that lets me experience both the fun memories of buying the helmet and of giving it to Kim, allowing me to imagine her riding off into a variety of landscapes thanks to my saving her head......Yes,I do realize she would have gotten the helmet somewhere else, thanks for mentioning that~!
I visited Rose for a month once, mid winter. I was planning to escape a cold Alberta January and a relationship that was winding down somewhat painfully. I left Calgary on the date I had determined and nothing was going to hold me back. I packed up my convertible and my dog, Izzy, and off we went despite weather warnings. Calgary to Gabriola is a long way. I had made arrangements to stay in Kamloops that first night since hotel that accepted dogs, especially bigger dogs like Iz, were hard to find. My second day would take me all the way to Gabe (affectionate term for Gabriola) All was well until I was about twenty miles out of Calgary. A optimist at heart I figured the blowing snow and driving winds would settle down as I approached the Rockies. It didn't, in fact continued to get progressively worse. One day soon, I will download the whole story and you can see how it went, suffice to say right now that it was eventful.
All of this train of thought started because of Rose and because of the people on the flight yesterday both going to and returning from Puerto Vallarta, or as we say it in the travel biz Puerto VaLLarta. I was talking to Barry, (the lovely man in my life) about the unusual attire and bathing practises of some of the west coasters. No offense to those of you who bathe regularly, but what is with the.... I will not use deoderant, I will use public transportation and I will foul your airspace with my odors. This same person had a row all to himself, coincidence? Maybe this is a west coast way of upgrading to first class. (Our airline has no first class or as we say, you are all first class).
to be continued.....
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