The drive is relatively uneventful except that we forget to hit Tim's before heading out of Dodge... little do I realize that there will be no more good coffee for DAYS. If I had known then.. I would have made Michelle turn around.... Beth + no coffee = cranky. Prior to leaving town I need to make a stop at a Shopper's to pick up some toothpaste and some acetaminophen. The kind with some codeine in it.. So I go up to the pharmacist and ask for some.. and he asks me for ID. ID? crazy! I give him my Ontario health card and feel like one of the people they are watching for on the METH WATCH.. except this time it's "Beth Watch".. ("hey, watch for that chick from Ontario... she likes the HARDCORE acetaminophen...") Buddy takes a while looking me up in their provincial computer system as I am a foreigner.. .I almost wonder if he's not going to serve me! Finally he comes back with the acetaminophen avec codeine and explains that in SK you are only allowed to buy a bottle of 50 every 30 days. Case closed - I will never live in Saskatchewan.
Regardless, headed north to Nipawin and I quickly discovered my fun new game "Let's Take Pictures of weird things on the way to Nipawin". Yeah, I have to work on the title. However, it's like this.. I see weird stuff. I make Michelle stop the car so I can take a picture of it as it amuses me. Then, I share with you.
Saskatchewan is as flat as they say. In case you were wondering. But they do have some "hilly" parts and "valleys". It's just to break up the monotony... Personally, I think some of them are man made.. I think the people of SK took offence at that "watching your dog run away for 2 days" joke. Lots of fun stuff to see.. a giant man made out of tires (at the Tireman Farmers Market...yeah, I don't get it either. But me and friends decided it looks like one of the Blockheads)...
there's a baby tire man too.. he's in another pic.Many interesting signs.. one advertising a town as the home of "Santa Claus Day" which I found oddly amusing as I always thought that that day was called CHRISTMAS and that Jesus invented it.
Then of course there was the Euthanasia sign... It says "Euthanasia - Killing the helpless for Convenience". Wow.
Like, I go through a drive thru for convenience. I'll get fast food for convenience.. or I'll buy that precooked bacon... but pulling the plug.. man, that doesn't really seem like a "convenience" issue. But I digress.Went through a town called "Star City" (I did not see any celebrities).. saw a bulldozer on a pole (is that where you are supposed to keep them?) and of course the famous "Welcome to Tisdale" sign.. Tisdale is "the land of RAPE and honey".
Yes, I was surprised to see that too. Mind you, it has another meaning..rape –noun
a plant, Brassica napus, of the mustard family, whose leaves are used for food for hogs, sheep, etc., and whose seeds yield rape oil.
OK I GET that it has another meaning.. but I still thought it odd that it's on the sign. Mind you, I'm betting a LOT of people stop to take pics of it.. maybe it's to get people to stop. I did. It's effective. It's the hometown of Brent Butt of Corner Gas. No wonder he's nuts. He grew up in the land of rape and honey (hopefully not together... that's a CSI episode.. yeah, I'm going to hell).. the best part is the little white CRIMESTOPPERS sign on the left.. see it? There ya go..
We eventually got to Nipawin and to my hotel room .. which of course is across town from where everything is happening. Which kinda bites because Michelle, my lovely friend and chauffeur, must drive me around. And of course she is staying across town. *sigh*
Get my room .. and it looks like an upgraded prison cell.. however they DID let me keep my belts and shoelaces.
It's not so bad. It's clean. That's all I ask. I'm not too fussy. Unless it's camping. I don't do that. The end.
So unpacked.. made some calls.. did some stuff online ... and got ready for the evening.. it was the kickoff party.
It was fun. They had liquor so you know I was happy. Met some people. Had a good time.
Finally met Brenda, who was was one of the Chairs of the host committee who brought me out and she wanted to introduce me to Blake Emmons. He was there to host the dinner on Saturday night.. he was a friend of hers (and many others) and she thought that we should do the seminar together since we appeared to be like minded.
Blake and I met and ended up spending about 2 hours talking. He's got a story for everything. He left home at a young age.. was in the military.. hosted a TV show (Funny Farm.. Canada's Hee Haw in the 70's).. he's been a country music artist, written books and has done many more things. LSS (that stands for Long story short.. which usually means I may ramble on for a while..) he's done it all. He's had a good life. He has made it happen. He holds the Order of Canada for chrissake.
Blake has written a "children's" book called "If You Think... YOU CAN DO IT!" It's very common sense, yet an inspiration. All about positive thinking... and not giving up. Something I've been trying to do for most of my life. He and I talked about why we were there this weekend. I think I was there.. to get some inspiration.
Life: Still figuring it out
Love: There will be no love connections this weekend.. LOL
Pants: They let me keep my belts. Good thing. My pants are all too big.
No comments:
Post a Comment