In the afternoon Harry and I snorkeled at Mettams Pool, Trigg, before cooking Grammy some salmon for dinner. It was nice to see her and catch up, sharing stories.
I spent a few days catching my breath in Calgary. Saturday night I went out with Dad, Harry and Neal to the Calgary Flames NHL hockey match. Dean let me wear his jersey. We were lucky as Iggy scored his 500th goal – it was a fluke goal too. But the crowd went crazy for him.
It was really weird being back in the city after the week in the mountains with CMH. Walking with the crowds to the hockey match I felt out of place.
On Sunday morning we dropped Harry and Dad at the airport. Then I was by myself again.
For the next couple of days I didn’t do much. I worked on my movie and caught up with a friend of Dylans St Jacks that he met on exchange – Julia. She was at the uni of Calgary, which was across the main hwy, just a 10 min walk form the house. On Monday I caught up with her and had coffee before her lecture at 12.30om. It was on change mgmt. and I didn’t have anything to do so I sat in on it. I had to introduce myself as if I was actually taking the unit. Everyone turned when I opened my mouth- I had forgotten how strong my accent was!
We watched Sherlock Holmes number 2 later that evening. but not before dropping in on some friends at a pub close by. It was great chatting to strangers and meeting them for 20 mins.
On Tuesday night I went out for dinner with Julia and Lese. We ate mexian food. It was twice as expensive and the portions were half as big as what I’d been having in new mexico!
It was fun hanging out with two people that went on exchange. We shared stories and opinions on the world.
On Wednesday I caught up with Mike who happened to been in Calgary. He heard that I was in Calgary through facebook! That’s why I love the network…We went up the revolving tower and had a 360 deg view from our chairs over a coffee.
On thursday I went to a happiness lecture with Julia and Liss at 4pm. It was extremely funny and I had a good laugh.
Later that night we drove to Canmore and arrive just after 10.30pm. We picked Mike up along the way as Dean wanted to bring him out to the mountains!
I woke up at 8.30am… I had a super heavy sleep and a much needed one. I headed up stairs and had my regular morning cup of tea before cutting in half a grape fruit that was perfectly ripe. I had a small bowl of vanilla yogurt and some roasted oats.
I couldn’t get the internet to work so I relaxed for a while and worked on the puzzle. I finally nail the last piece in the boarder of the 1000 piece puzzle. That took me a while to crack out. I think it will be downhill from here now – I hope!
I shoveled all the fresh snow on the ground off the drive way and the footpath. I didn’t know what to do with all the snow so I started the foundations of a snow man, positioned thoughtfully in the middle of the driveway!
I did a quick abs session before having some turkey in a wrap for lunch. I headed out for a walk and stayed outside for a couple of hours. I had my walking pants, then ski pants over the top. Then I had my thermal top, t-shirt, polar fleece, and down jacket with neck warmer, beanie and ski gloves. I didn’t get cold, maybe except for my toes. My walking boots had great tread and I didn’t come across any ice thanks to the few centimeters of fresh snow on the ground.
After the walk I turned up the fire, made a cup of tea and started reading down stairs on the recliner. I feel asleep in the warmth and woke up an hour later.
I skyped Sammy who was now back in Abq. It was good to hear his wrist was almost back to normal although he didn’t think he’d be on the flight to florida in 2 weeks time for some matches. It ended when the internet dropped out.
I turned the TV on and the first channel was the golden globes. There were all the famous actors and actresses and they all looked seriously hot. Ricky Duvet was the host – just my luck. He started of really well dropping good jokes, but not as inappropriate as the year before – unfortunately!
For dinner I slow roasted a breast of chicken and ate it with hummus and pita bread - I wasn't all that hungry!
I eventually went to sleep after reading for some time.
We all slept in late. I didn’t rise till 9.30am. Dean was in the kitchen and had already cooked bacon and was eating his breakfast. I cracked some eggs and put toast in the toaster. In a few minutes I had a breakfast that would cost $10 back home. It was fun cooking again.
The other slowly rose mid morning. Mike gave Dean and Neal tips on traveling through Cambodia as they were heading to that part of the world in March.
We all headed to the town center as I needed to do some shopping for the week. It costs me $36 to buy everything I would need. (with a few items already in the freezer which I could use – like fish and steaks).
I said my good byes. Dean is a clever, witty and fun chap and I look forward to seeing him again in the future. He was flying to Toronto for business so I wouldn’t see him when I head back to Calgary later in the week.
I had the house to myself. It was quiet and peaceful. I skype Hannah, the family back home (Harry and Dad had walked in only an hour earlier). They were all in their bathers going for a swim in the pool!
I found the NHL channel on tv and watched the play offs between the Patriots and the Broncos. Brady’s patriots walked all over Denver. It was a once sided affair.
I caught up with Rosie over skype which was great to talk to her.
I cooked half a breast of chicken in the oven and had some hummus and a wrap for dinner. I wasn’t actually that hungry.
I headed off to bed around 10pm and read for 30 mins before falling asleep in a bed that swallowed me 3 times over – a big king size bed. It was glorious!
I woke up early and excited – so I thought. It turned out to actually be 7.40am. I headed upstairs and turned the lights on as it was still dark. I had a cup of tea and a peanut and banana sandwich on toast. It was actually rather filling and tasty.
Dean was up soon after. I started making everyone’s sandwiches for the ski day as I wanted to get moving as soon as possible. Neil and Michael soon woke up and we slowly got ready for the day of skiing.
We left the house at 8.40am. By now the sun had risen and it would promise to be another stunning day. Blue sky’s, a handful of clouds and warm sun slowly raisin the thermometer.
It took around 40 mins to drive to Sunshine Ski resort. It wasn’t clichéd or anything but it was sunny. There was no one around and the car parks were empty to the amazement of Neil and Dean. That made me excited. 
We organized Mikes snowboarding boots and board and bought the lift pass. It cost me $82 for the day of skiing. I really hope prices don’t increase any more over my life time – skiing is a darn expensive sport! We finally made it onto the slopes just after 10am. It was Mikes 4 turn snowboarding and he was doing really well. But the skiers had to split off and ski at a faster pace.
Neil took us under a rope – down a favorite run of his. It turned out to be a disaster and Dean ended up taking his skis off and sliding down through the tress for some of it. Neil also skied off ahead and we lost him. It was thick forest on a steep angle and wasn’t that enjoyable… especially on the skies I had borrowed! They were about half the width of the ones I had used heli skiing!
After that run we stay on piested runs and I enjoyed carving again on the edges. The snow was OK, they certainly needed another few inches of fresh snow to ease the tracks as it was ice in many sections.
We went in for lunch at 12.30 and I enjoyed my tuna+mayo +cheese san
dwich that I made for myself. Influenced by Sam and Jason from my ski in Taos, I copied their recipe. It tasted great at lunch.
Mike came in at 1ish (when we had agreed to meet) and he was still in one piece. We agreed on a meet up time and then the skiers headed out. We went to the top of the ridge, where the great divided separates BC and Alberta. It was an incredible view.
Dean went in soon after and had a hot drink but is ankle was really sore I believe.
Neil and I skied a number of runs and I enjoyed being out among the mountains. It was very inspiring.
We came in at 4pm and met the others. Mike took the gondola down to the car park as there were a number of flat parts on the run down he would have had to of un clipped and walked. It was a nice ski down with the mountains seeming to grow bigger and bigger as the sun set.

