staring at my cat

we're home!

by home, i mean alberta. we spent two days with the queen's parents on their farm. i had a great bath there, and the queen's mom fussed over my not eating enough. we hunted for a place to rent in rural alberta, and found one. a small town, a cute house, decent rent, and enough rooms for us not to kill each other in. also, the era of cute built-in shelving. i love it. the only thing it doesn't have is a gas stove. ah well. it is only a rental. i have an address now! we move in on the 27th.

now i'm sitting on the floor of the living room at the gnome home. wifey is putting batdog to bed, the queen is out having a pint with a friend of his down from the northwest territories, and i am eating ice cream and gluten-free shortbread and watching my cat sleep on the chair nearby and blogging. life is good. hank is out to pasture on the farm.

the next ten days are a medley of visits; my folks are heading to germany for the holidays (this makes them sound richer and more exciting than they are; my stepbrother is spending his first year university there, so they decided to go spend time with him) so i am seeing them in the next two days; visiting with the (step)sis; the queen's family for christmas and new years; the midwives; the bookstore crowd; and all the folks here who want to see my belly. then, uhauling it up (or down, as the vernacular states) with all of our stuff. some of my stuff has been packed for over a year now. i'm curious if it still means anything to me.

and then i will be a small-town girl. must renew walrus subscription and get library card and then go to the grocery store and panic.

one thing i forgot about winter in alberta - it's all grey, white, blue. the cool colours of lifelessness. the snow queen. and i in my new, still-fitting-for-now winter coat (gift from the queen in newfoundland; i have always wanted one and it's SO warm). i feel lucky.