2001-08-08 - 0:59

When I get home

The long weekend at home was a good refresher, although I was a bit busier than I was expecting. Since almost all of my friends have also left the Halifax area, I didn't have much running around to do; but my brother kept me busy.

On Friday night, he picked me up at the airport and surprised me by having his old friend Sean, who I hadn't seen in years, along for the ride. I chilled at the house that night, and didn't do much other than provide a few laughs over my multicoloured hair.

On Saturday, my mother was working, so I went to the park with the old man. He had his new canoe and I had Jason's kayak. The intention was to plop down in Round Lake and work our way along the river. One problem . . . no river. Water levels were extremely low and, as we eventually discovered, the usual passageway was blocked solidly by plants. That plan foiled, I dropped the kayak in Lewis Lake instead and had fun paddling around and swimming.

After a classic barbecue steak dinner, I took off with Jason and Sean for a little party at Bayswater. As usual, Jason knows cool people; and it was great to relax along the beach with the moon rising over the water. Since we didn't exactly have the gear for camping overnight, we decided to split after a few hours. After narrowly avoiding smacking into a deer on the way back (phew), I made it home.

Sunday provided more beautiful weather and I took a lot of pictures of the amazing garden that now dominates our yard. I also took the kayak out for another spin, bringing the camera with me for part of the trip. I spent a long time chasing the loons; but only ended up with one picture to show for it. They're elusive creatures.

After another swim and another excellent supper (sweet and sour ribs--one of my favourites), the Chooch showed up again and invited me to an oceanfront cottage for the night. Sweet! The land belongs to his girlfriend's family; and although Adine wasn't around, I did get to meet her sister and the sketchy Enrique.

That was another relaxing place to be. It was foggy the whole time that we were there, but it was fun getting a fire going, cooking supper over it, and hauling out a couple of guitars. Oh yes--I even got to play guitar on my vacation . . . I was happy!

Near the end of the night, Enrique went into his car and proceeded to listen to crappy music by himself . . . at ridiculous volume . . . for the next couple of hours. Curious. Sometime after 2:00, we were winding down, so Adine's sister (I'm sketchy on the spelling of her name, so I'll stick with that handle) asked him to turn it down. Instead, he drove off . . . and promptly landed his car in somebody's front yard. Not so good.

My cough was getting a little better, and I slept decently well that night. In the morning, Jason took me to his place in the city. I had lunch with him and Dave, and then took off on my own. I had my camera and felt like playing pseudotourist. I walked along the waterfront and up Citadel Hill and through the Public Gardens. It was really the first time that I was walking around Halifax since I was living there and going to school in '99, so I enjoyed seeing it again.

Amazingly enough, while I was taking a picture along Spring Garden Road, who should drive by but Aaron, Nick, and Loralei (and Pete). They had decided to take a diversion from their PEI vacation. It was funny that we crossed paths. I stayed with them for a little while; but I already had plans to see the folks again for supper.

They picked me up and we had supper in the city and popped in to see my aunt and uncle. They're really nice, so it was enjoyable seeing them again. Typically, my cousins were busy elsewhere, so we didn't get to hook up; but I still got some laughs out of the visit. I toyed with the idea of heading back downtown with the crew, but my 7:20 AM flight was looming and I was crashing after a busy weekend.

Instead, I went back to the house, got what sleep I could, and barely caught my flight on time. Actually, I was there at an almost reasonable time, but the line was moving slowly. I think that everybody tried to get a little extra sleep after the long weekend, so we all arrived at the last reasonable minute.

One woman, who showed up even later than me, raised a stink from the minute she got in the door, squawking about the poor service. I don't understand how people can have such massive trouble dealing with such minor adversity. Maybe they needed more grief earlier in their lives, so they could have gotten used to it. In any event, we all made it, I was at work by my usual time, and all is back to normal.

Oh, and I decided to skip seeing Rollins Band this coming weekend. If they don't announce a Canadian date shortly, I'll see a later concert in the tour. I'll also plan a separate trip to see Stefan. Later. After having a normal week or two. The vacation was relaxing while it was happening, but I was still on the move enough that I feel like staying put for a while.

J.