KatieTheKat

Usually I would just be returning from camping around this time of year.  And, as usual, it was a beautiful weekend - it has been gorgeous and sunny all weekend here.  Like summer, but not quite, because the leaves everywhere are turning yellow and red and drifting from their tree homes on the breeze.  I didn't go camping this year though - there have just been too many other things going on to get a trip organized.  The Arcade Fire concert last night, for instance (it was great, especially the fact that we went there and back in a big bike posse organized by our friends Duane and Jess.

So instead of camping, this morning Johnny and I went for a beautiful mini-adventure: first a delicious breakfast at Poached Breakfast Bistro downtown Saskatoon then a trip to Blackstrap Provincial Park.  Now, Blackstrap is kinda known for its monster of a 45m high "mountain"... there are even two ski lifts there, which I believe do operate in the winter time.  Unsurprisingly, said mountain was not even close to an antidote for my mountain-sickness.  However, by persevering in our quest for adventure, and trekking into the closed portion of the park, a lovely day was still to be found.  We started off down the road, but quickly detoured into a plowed hayfield beside it.  The seeds and tufts of cut hay were pokey on the feet and legs since we were wearing sandals, but then we came to an area that had not been cut and rolled into bales.  There the wind coming across the lake blew the grasses around and made them dance.  The hay was golden yellow, the sky was blue and gray, the trees in all the little valleys were bright and colourful, and we were on our own.  Down on the road again, we found grasshoppers and butterflies and caterpillars a-plenty.  The tracks of a deer dotted the beach, though we saw no animals larger than the pelican that soared overhead. 

This afternoon another sort of expedition was required, as we're going to a wedding next weekend and I really had no suitable attire.  So Johnny very kindly assisted me in a shopping venture in which I tried on just about every dress in the store, but finally settled upon one.  Perhaps I can post a few pics after the wedding. 

I haven't had any birthday cake yet, though I did start putting together some raisin bread yesterday and it's now in the oven smelling absotively delicious!  mmm


- kat

Wow, what a hectic week!  I have been teaching math full time since Tuesday, and I'm back at the same school again for a final day tomorrow.  Plus tutoring two evenings a week.  It is a shock to my system after a month of twiddling my thumbs and a month before that of traipsing around the prairies and listening to folk(ish) music!  I suppose it doesn't help that my body is battling giardia, nasty antibiotics to get rid of the giardia, and a cold at the same time.  I couldn't give up the work though - I've had enough of digging myself deeper and deeper into a financial pit and feeling like a caged bird because I can't afford to even imagine future travels and adventures.  But the cage door is opening... and faster than I expected.  Seems that Saskatoon was indeed a good move, career-wise.  Maybe I will even become a regular math teacher before the year is up!

kat

So Johnny and I have committed ourselves more fully to avoiding meat, particularly meat of factory farmed origins, except on rare occasions.  I don't know if we'll necessarily follow strictly the idea of weekday vegetarianism - as in, I don't know if those rare occasions will always fall on weekends - but something like that.  In preparation for those rare occasions, we have been looking into local sources of grass-fed, ethically produced meat, of which there are plenty.  Amy Jo Ehman, a local writer, has a great blog that provides info on many of these: http://homefordinner.blogspot.com/.  Anyhow, I was thinking that, like so many others who have become more conscientious about their diets, perhaps we should start a blog to keep us motivated and accountable and to keep track of what new meals we are discovering.  And I think that it might inspire us to keep our meals interesting too.  Perhaps it will also help in the quest to find some new staples, new comfort foods, and also new more exotic dinners.

Without further ado, here it is: http://jkeat.blogspot.com.

kat

So the sad news is that we're not currently camped in the middle of grasslands national park, watching cute little black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs scamper about on the plains, a herd of majestic bison grazing in the distance. That was, after all, the plan.

Unfortunately, my ongoing battle with possible giardia (I will be taking some, er, samples to the lab on tuesday for analysis) meant that I just wasn't quite feeling up to it (plus it would have unnecessarily complicated the collection of said samples to be in a backcountry where you have to pack in all your water). So it was determined that Grasslands would be best saved for another day. I'm sure looking forward to that day though, as I think it will be an incredible place to visit!

Instead, we are spending the long weekend in town. We watched the show at the Saskatoon Fireworks Festival - including a reggae concert with Oral Fuentes last night. Visited a specialty salt shop where we picked up some Green Chili Salt, which we have yet to try. Went to Dad's Organic Mart for some delicious pears and some local natural meat among other goodies. Various other errands/etc.

Today we biked (almost entirely on separate bike/walking paths) out to the Saskatoon Zoo and Forestry Farm. There we met some cute goats and a pair of lions (the current feature exhibit.. I'm not sure where they go in the wintertime?), some bison, ungulates of all varieties, curious poison dart frogs (though apparently not quite so poisonous in captivity due to a changed diet), and a bunch of other creatures. I haven't been to a zoo since I was little - oh wait, there was that one in Malaysia. Anyhow, the 'habitats' do seem rather cramped... and it can't have been all that restful for the bear we saw laying in a little dirt nest while a little girl repeated about 10 times in a row in a loud voice "Look daddy, that one's sleeping!". A sign titled "Why People Should Visit Zoos", or something to that effect claimed that for some city dwellers, zoos are their only access to 'wild' animals - if that is the case, I don't think zoos are the answer to the problem. On the other hand, another point made on the sign was that it is a site for captive breeding programs of animals that face extinction in the wild, and that I do think holds some merit. Plus many of the animals are orphans or for various reasons would not survive in the wild so perhaps a zoo is as good a place as any to put them? In any case, I saw a few creatures I had never seen before, and it was certainly a nice bike ride to get there!

The good news is that my Saskatchewan teaching certificate arrived in the mail on friday, so on Tuesday morning I will be able to finish my paperwork at the school board and get myself on the sub list! Hooray for income!

Oh, looks like it's time for Mint Chocoloate Frozen Yogourt dessert - YUM (I never saw this before I moved here!). Time to say goodbye!

kat