My journey began some weeks ago for my education break and sabbatical. I had certainly intended to blog more regularly for those that wanted to follow along so now it is catch up time and then hopefully keep it more current to near the end of the sabbatical.
I began with a wedding! I had promised a young person last year that if I was around Manitoba this summer I would be honored to do the wedding for her and her partner. As luck should have it the wedding was scheduled for the day before I hit the road to join my DH in Ontario. The wedding was a beautiful celebration of their love surrounded by family and friends and I was pleased to be able to be a part of their day. (Sorry no pictures, I didn't get permission to include them here although I do have a few from the lovely couple)
The following morning, the car was already packed, I walked my boys and got them in the car and we were off for our first day of driving. I had planned for an approximately eight hour driving day, plus or minus the breaks. Now for those who do not know, my boys are Golden Retrievers. I knew they liked to go in the car as it is a fairly regular occurrence for them but what I did not know was how the two of them would do for eight hours or how well they would share the back seat for that length of time and if it remained incredibly hot how we would manage the car temperature. I also had the added variable that I would have to walk, water and feed them on the road in areas that would have lots of new smells and people and that would be incredibly exciting for them. Let me say these two were superstars! They shared the backseat, sometimes lying side by side, other times with one or the other hogging the space and the other had to sit up in a smaller area. The weather on the drive remained cool, never above 12 degrees outside and like an ice house in my car (yes I constantly wore a sweater and occasionally wished for a warm jacket). The temperatures in Winnipeg had been very hot before I was going on the road so the heat was a big concern. I also had a portable car fan for the boys just in case it was unbearably hot. Yes, I had planned for many contingencies!
The other piece of these travels was how well these two would do in the hotel room. New smells, new noises a completely different environment and all that was required were their commands, leave it may well have been overused along with enough. The first night was in a hotel with super thin walls so that not only did these goldens hear every noise but so did my human hearing! The second hotel was much more successful! And these two appreciated the king sized bed that we could all share! All in all we had no issues and with Barak Obama in the passenger seat reading his book Promised Land to me as we drove the days and the kilometers just slipped by and before we knew it I was in multiple lanes of traffic heading to Mississauga and with the help of the GPS I only made two incorrect detours in rush hour traffic. Let me say the drivers here are crazy, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. My DH was happy to greet us and we were all happy to get out of the car at the end of that third day.
The boys soon settled into apartment living and when they were settled I packed up again, caught a flight and headed east to Newfoundland to enjoy the time and space as well as smell the North Atlantic and enjoy the seasonal cuisine - aka lobster. While the weather was a little less than desirable with lots of fog -- did I say there was fog -- it did not prevent a few visits as well as a trip to walk along the local beach. Now I thought it was chilly but there were two young people up to their necks in the ocean and I can assure you that it was neither a hot day nor warm water. And as I admired their courage or foolishness depending on how you took it, all I could remember was when my friends and I had been equally fool hardy and out in that same freezing cold water, up to our necks and somehow did not feel the cold.
The time and space to wander, reconnect with some friends (and my apologies to those that I missed) to see family and meet one new member and spend time with my great niece and her mom were treasured moments and a lovely way to begin my sabbatical of time and space
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