Time for a Critter Count

Well, I'm back, but I had to leave DH in Edmonton to spend a few more days working at Head Office - so had to deal with the 4.5 hour trip back myself. I sang really loudly and incredibly badly, just to keep myself awake. Just Call Me Angel in the Morning Baby never sounded so brutal!

To the critter count ... back home to two very relieved cats. Bean was thrilled to have me back, and rubbed me and loved me and purred all over the place, then promptly embellished a bit of carpet for me, and ran away to hide her embarrasment. I guess my homecoming after four days was more than she could take. Peanut, on the other hand, ignored me studiously, up until I consented to carpetate with her (which involves laying on the floor and wriggling around to get all of the itchy spots thoroughly scratched by the rug - she does with wriggling, I scratch the side that is not being tickled by the rug). She is now thinking about forgiving my absence, but may punish me further by not sleeping on the bed tonight - will have to wait and see.

For the non-domestic critter count, between the trip out and the trip back, I saw one coyote, one black bear, three live and one squashed moose, five elk (including two I had to stop for to allow them to stand in the center of the road until they were sure I knew who was in charge of traffic), and deer too numerous to count. Except for the coyote and two deer, all of the other critters were seen on Highway 40 north of Hinton. It's a great road for viewing wild things. And for hitting wild things. Not that I've done that. Yet. Crossed fingers that it never happens.

Additional critters included a room full of drunken wedding partiers, consisting mostly of mining engineers and teachers. Oh, and the groom. He's famous for his drunken escapades, especially at the weddings of others. At our wedding, he is the star of four completely separate and unrelated tales of alcohol induced disaster / idiocy. His own wedding was not really all that different - he was just dressed better! A fun time was had by all, and the happy couple had a day in which as well as getting married surrounded by friends and family, they had a hell of a good time. Rather than putting on a big show with lots of formality, they just acted like they always do - relaxed, happy, and enjoying each other's company. It was an ideal wedding, and bodes well for the marriage. Best of all, the drunken Ukranian dancing was spectacular! Oh, and the food was sublime! DH ate so much that he was snoring by 1:00am, much to the chagrin of a group of rowdy friends that had to party on without him.

Not critter related, but a big part of the trip ... I picked up some more great yarns, beads, and stones for embellishing small quilts. Some of these treasures may find their way into the QuiltArt List Quilt Swap 2005. So, no photos of the new treasures - although I may be persuaded to share something tomorrow. And, I got a lot of knitting done while travelling and hanging out in hotel rooms - a small evening bag to match my fancy wedding duds (boy, was I decked out in the girly finery - I even beaded my fancy schmancy new girly shoes, too!) and a good beginning on Clapotis, a knitted shawl / scarf / stole thingy from Knitty.com.

Now that I'm back, though, I'm ready to hit the quilting again, hard. Instead, I will be cleaning up Bean's additional embellished areas, unpacking the bizillion bags of stuff (DH decided to do his annual clothes, shoes, and fishing gear shopping), and finishing up the quilt for Chris and Rhea's wedding (in three weeks). Oh, and catching up with my blogging friends! Ummmmm, wasting time on the computer. Love it.

I'm so happy to be home!