Home sweet home

Four weeks. Ten flights. Six airlines.

But...back to the T-dot in the wee hours of tomorrow, and back to the salt mines on Monday. At last.

Before I get back, however, one more thing to ramble on about. I forgot really how much I love being in Calgary at this time of year. Now, I will probably elicit shrieks of laughter from some of my readers by mentioning all the pretty-smelling stuff coming up in our yard - the lilacs and peonies and roses (wild - the other kind has to wait till we're ready to pick out more annuals). And driving off to the hills and seeing all the baby animals by the side of the road.

But very little in the world (even what I've seen over the last month) compares to the foothills in early summer. Even if Elbow Falls was closed, and Allen Bill Pond isn't much of a pond anymore.

I forgot what it's like around here when everything's green.

And even if I was mostly asleep at home during the day this week, I did take the opportunity to grab lunch on a patio on Stephen Ave. Mall with Laurie. It was a gorgeous, hot, sunny (yet comfortable) afternoon, and wow, could you ever people-watch. Downtown might not be dead after 5 PM anymore, but it's lunchtime when it springs alive.

I used to assume I loved this time of year because that's when I started to get time off from school, but I can see now it's more than that. Early summer here is different than early summer, anywhere else I've been. It almost defines why this is home for me, and nowhere else.

That might sound a bit weird, especially as I've spent most of this year challenging myself on a number of fronts where I've been rather complacent. But I guess I'm getting tired of uprooting everything and leaving it all in doubt. It's nice to see at least some dust settling. Finally.