Reading break has been pretty damned good so far.

Loren and I took very short day trip up to Edmonton. I was hoping we'd meet up with Anna and Chris for coffee, but we ended up running out of time. It sucked, but c'est la vie.

But the day trip was nice. We tried to catch the last show of West Side Story, but it was sold out (like I was expecting). We ended up just wandering around the West Ed mall for a while (like, five hours a while) and that was fun. I also dragged Loren along the length and breadth of Whyte Av, to find tea for Judy and Janette (it was their birthday). I took him to the tea house, and Wee Inn Books (which is open 'til midnight!), and the Sanctuary, but I limited my time in all these places and just did a quick browse. It was nice, tho.

We went into some guitar store (very crowded!) and I just folloed Loren around while he drooled on guitars. There was a closed off acoustic section, which I went into with him. There were two guys there, already, testing a guitar and a madolin, playing together.

Even before I saw the instruments, I guessed by their look they were in the SCA.

Then the guy playing guitar looks over at the other and asks:

"What key to you play Queen of Argyle in?"

"C."

And they proceeded to play it.

Now, The Queen of Argyle isn't necessarily an SCA song. It's a traditional, but it's a favorite of SCAdians.

Then,

"What country is this?"

"Spain?"

They traded instruments and continued to play.

Okay. Guys who already look the part of SCAdians (you gain a knack after a while), can both play the mandolin (a period instrument), can play a SCAdian favorite song (Queen of Argyle) and talk about what country their instruments are from.

Sounds like SCA to me.

After Whyte Av, we blundered our way over to the West Ed Mall, and tottered around there.

When we stopped in the ginormous food court for lunch, I finished first (mmmmm, cheap chinese!) and decided to head over to the Love Boutique, which was right nearby.

"Hang on, I'm just about finished!" So I waited for Loren to finish, and we both went.

Oh, *my!* What toys. It was lovely, to talk without blushing about toys with my significant other. I mean, not that I'm prone to blushing, but he wasn't uncomfortable at all (except maybe when I pointed out a double ended dildo of significant proportions; then he squirmed a bit).

Oh, there were these restraints! I want a pair. Loren would have so much fun with them. They were wrist to upper thigh restraints, but probably not very good construction. I'd make a pair, or get the leatherworker Pol of the Blackfist to make me a pair. They would be so much fun.

Anyway, it was a good time. We ended up getting back to Red Deer in time to catch a movie, Ong-Bak. I like it, just because I like bad martial arts movies, but he thought it was kind of dumb. What ever. I feel kind of bad, because I didn't want to see the movie he wanted to see, and he agreed to see the movie I wanted to see, and then didn't like it.

Oh well. It was still fun.

Then we slept.

Okay, there was more done than sleeping, but this isn't a porn diary. It might be, if people I knew didn't read it. ;P

Anyway, we slept.

Then woke.

Then left for Lethbridge.

Oi. Vey.

Lethbridge isn't much better than Red Deer, but it was nice not to have to navogate (Loren's from Lethbridge). We visited his parents place (which was terrifying! So clean! His parents were in Mexico), and visited with some of his friends, and ended up staying at his friend Ashley's place. That was nice. She's nice. And has a cat named Tech, which matted fur all over it's bum. Very friendly, though.

Bad sleep. I hadn't been sleeping well for the past few nights.

Then we petered around Lethbridge for a bit, and left at about 6pm for home.

Home!

Oh, thank GOD.

I was so sick of Alberta.

Have I ever mentioned Loren's the best?

"How long are we staying in Lethbridge, Loren?"

"Oh, I was thinking 'til, like, Wednesday."

".....can we leave before then?"

"Don't like Alberta, huh?"

"No. Not so much."

He laughed and kissed me and told me we could leave on Tuesday, instead of Wednesday.

It was a nice, albeit dark ride back, but it was such a relief to get back to the mountains.

The closed, constraining mountains. Aaaaah...

We rolled in about eleven, and I popped by my place (no one was awake) and then collapsed at Loren's place. Had a WONDERFUL sleep.

Unfortunately for both of us, I got my period somewher in there, so I bled all over the place and it was just sleeping.

Bah.

Oh well. I'm still very happy to be home, if just until tomorrow. It feels like it's been forever.

Whoo!

.

Rosie.

Before&After