The Best of What's Around

I have been a loyal Google fan. I use their gmail, their gtalk and their search engine. I have also loved their mapping site (http://www.maps.google.com/) … until recently. I was going up to Meeting Lake Regional Park to visit the in-laws. In previous years, Google maps haven’t been able to supply a map for this park due to its location but I was pleasantly surprised when this year, there it was: a map to Meeting Lake. I excitedly print it off:




So I get off work on Saturday at 4:15 and start the 2.5 hour drive to the lake. I am following the directions…until the directions run out…and I am no where near Meeting Lake. Where am I you ask? I am in small town no-where, aka Marcelin. It maybe hard to tell by the above picture, but I was trying to get to the blue area northwest from the red dot. Not even the blue lake straight up from the red dot but 40 km to the west of it. I am confused…how could Google let me down?! I pull over a couple and ask them if they know how to get to Meeting. They don’t but they show me a provincial map…and I am way off mark. I must have looked very pathetic, standing there, on a gravel road staring at the map. They were a very a nice couple and let me keep their map in order to find my way to the cabin. I quote “We know where we are going…you need this more than we do!” Thank you nice couple!
So I start on my adventure; an adventure that is 2 hours of quality driving on some the back gravel roads of Saskatchewan. Sometimes I would be concerned about where exactly I was but then out of no where there would be a church…only a church…and I knew that at least I was still in Saskatchewan, the land of the random country church. For two hours, my poor Golf was no match for the giant ruts that were left in the road by huge trucks. Only when there was a body of water beside me would the ruts throw me around on the road…towards the body of water. It was if the back country roads of SK were testing the city girl. If it was a test, I think I passed with flying colours…or at least an 80%. I did finally make it to Meeting Lake at 9:30 and in the end it only took 4.5 hours to get there. A 2.5 hour trip was extended by 2 hours. Here is the trip that I ended up taking:



Thank you Google maps, thank you.

"Lost for you, I'm so lost for you" - DMB

Labels: 2006, roadtrip

I have lived my whole life in Saskatchewan and my family has lived here for almost 100 years and yet, I had never been on a real farm. Unheard of, I know. How can you live in Saskatchewan and never have been to a farm. This all changed though. Now that I am a Vanneste, I had the opportunity to visit the Vanneste farm; the very one that my father-in-law grew up on. This was an exciting and confusing time for me. I will document the experience in picture form...

Since I am now a Vanneste, I am taking part ownership of the farm. It has my name on it.

Here is a 3 day old cow. So cute. While out there looking at the cows, I saw one female cow mount another female cow. That was confusion #1. Since when are cows lesbians? They laughed at my confusion. My final conclusion is that the one was trying to dominate the other. If I were a cow, that is the way I would go about it.

Here is confusion picture #2. This is more of a nerd confusion though. Here I am amidst a field of Brassica. But what type of Brassica, I have no idea. Is it canola? Is it mustard? How is a city girl suppose to know???

Apparently the prairies are a violent place. I want to know what this sign did to deserve such a horrible fate. I call this one "Yield to my bullets, bitch".

Jeff tried for three days to get a picture of this bird. He knew he would be less of a man if he was unable to capture its soul with his camera. Congrats to my husband, the manly man.

This may be the most confusing thing of all. Here is a cows tail. That's right. Just hanging out. I think that the dog chews on it every now and then. Note the two vertebrae that are still attached to said tail. I like to think that it is for good luck. Why good luck you ask? Well...what else could it really be for?

I will end this with three women walking into the sunset. So serene, so perfect. We are the people of this land!!!

All in all, I had a good time on the farm. Man, they feed you a lot on a farm! I was like a cattle that they were trying to fatten up...and I loved it. Three cheers for Langenburg!!!

Rach


" What I want is what I've not got, but what I need is all around me" - DMB

Labels: 2006, roadtrip

Ya, that's right. As most of you are aware, I am now a Mrs. If you weren't aware....well...hey, I am married! The wedding day went really well. I am a super planner so I had managed to plan for myself to have a good time at my own party. I managed to dance it up and visit a lot of people. There were a lot of people who came a long way who I wish I could have visited with more (sorry Marla and Charles).
So here are some of the highlights of the wedding. As a note, getting wedding pictures taken isn't the most fun of the day but boy did we try to make it thrilling!

Here is my bridal party unable to lift their legs without falling apart. We are so coordinated.

Here I am as a tiger holding tiger lilies. Grrrrrr.....

Not even married for an hour and all ready looking to take a lover.

If these aren't the faces of love, I don't know what is.

This is a special moment. This is when my husband thanked my parents for having sex. No, I am not joking. My dad's response? "It was my pleasure"...nice.

And this is me trying to be America's Next Top Model. Is it just me or is one of the beautiful ladies in front of me going to have to go back to the loft, pack their belongings and go home. I think I have just been eliminated (thank God though, modeling is SO hard!).

And here is a shout out to all the mosquito's that decided to join in the festivities.
Here's to the one that bit my back during pictures.

And here's to the one who decided to eat my face. If you look carefully, you can see that I have about a dozen in my veil. So nice.

So, in a nut shell, that was my wedding day. If you want to see more pictures, good and bad, go to http://wedding.bunnyhug.net . Thanks to all of you who came to support, love, drink and dance with us. We had a great time!

Rach

“Hey, my love, you came to me like wine comes to the mouth grown tired of water all the time You quench my heart. And love, you quench my mind.” DMB

Labels: 2006, jeff, rachel

Well, I've done it. I have finally joined the masses and have created a blog. I had said that if I got into McGill, I would create a blog in order to keep my friends and family updated on what was new with my life and, also, in order to share the awesomeness which will be Montreal. I won't be posting everyday, but instead whenever anything interesting occurs in my life. I think that there will be many of interesting occurrences so I hope you enjoy. I think it will be fun to document the life of an Anglophone (Jeff) who looks like he should be Francophone; there are sure to be shenanigans!

So without further ado, I present to you my blog. I hope that my sarcasm will be adequately translated in this medium. If you know me, just assume that everything I write is with a sharp tongue....ah...sweet sarcasm.

Rach

“See you and me have a better time than most can dream of, better than the best, so we can pull on through, whatever tears at us, whatever holds us down, and if nothing can be done, we'll make the best of what's around.” -DMB

Labels: 2006