Exhaustion and a bit of a trip report

[c9]

Point by point, with Easter weekend pictures interspersed...

• Just moments after my last post, the Bell Internet Kiosk Of Doom announced that I had reached the maximum amount for my type of transaction (Visa purchase of internet time, is the only transaction I was participating in). The amount? $5.35. Very odd. It rudely kicked me out without allowing any logging out or so forth, and those kiosks have no option to clear memory or anything. So I accidentally unplugged it, after I accidentally pried the protective cover off the plug.

My parents attached a hockey stick to a leash and threw it in the lake. They caught a dog! Not really.

• The flight to New Brunswick was fine, but the final 200km approach was horrid. Huge amounts of turbulence, almost Cape Breton style, with three-axes shears. My mom was pretty white-knuckled, and I was not really impressed either.
• Got our rental car and started the drive to Alberton, PEI. Big nasty storm, so it took three hours. The bridge to PEI should have been shut down, that's how bad. I was exhausted when we arrived, and my elbows hurt from gripping the steering wheel. I got to bed five hours before I had to wake up for the funeral.

leapfish does not look impressed at the situation.Bonus points if you can read the message we found in the sand.

• I was asked to be a pallbearer, which I of course agreed to instantly, and was quite honoured. Turns out I was the backup pallbearer, and the main ones all showed up, so I got to be flower girl instead. My family is such that this joke, by me, was not frowned upon even though we were in the presence of the deceased at the funeral home: "Are you certain all the pallbearers arrived? If I'm going to be the flower girl, I just need a minute to go change into my dress..." Uncle Cec would have laughed hardest.
• I didn't recognize his face in the casket. Cec had liver cancer, and it quite literally ate half his body. I'm sure he weighed only 75 pounds when he died. He looked, seriously, like a mummy or something. Scary shit.
• Funeral was a full Catholic mass (Cec was quite religious), which was... well... it just was. I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools from age six to nineteen, so I could recite the mass myself if need be. Not inspiring, even in a secular kinda way, but Tuesday-morning-in-a-tiny-town masses probably usually aren't.
• The storm of the previous night was still raging, so at the grave site we all huddled in a big mass (think March of the Penguins), They found room for Cec in the family plot with his parents, which was nice. He was single, and also I am told was part of the 10% of our family, not the 90%, so to speak. He lost jobs after being discovered though, and would never consider himself gay I don't think. Perhaps religion was a safe space for him, I'm not sure.
• Funeral processions in PEI are a bit different from what you may have experienced where you live. I'm not sure how common this is, but in PEI when the hearse and family cars appear, you pull over and stop -- even on a four-lane highway -- and wait for them to pass, as a show of respect.
• Bonus point: find the joke in that last bullet.

After checking out the fields filled -- filled! -- with boulders my parents were considering buying (they bought the cheaper one), we hit the Tim's near Penetanguishene. I think I spelled that correctly first try! Nobody looks happy, but I swear we had a good time. I think.

• After the funeral, it was off to the conventHeritage Inn for Catholic Women's League-style sandwiches and baked goods. All provided by one person, likely Catholic, definitely a women, but perhaps not in a league.
• Next, visit my rich old Aunt Edie (we always call her that) in hospital, where she was just a couple doors down from her dying brother, but apparently hadn't seen him in six weeks. Not sure if that was by choice or what. Sad, regardless. She was unable to attend the funeral, but was sure to specify her choice of hymns. :-)
  
• Dinner with Aunt Norma (the one who wouldn't attend our wedding, but wished us well, writes us wishing well, and now has instructed me to visit and bring Vinny with me and she has rooms to spare you know. We better get to Ottawa soon or I'll be in trouble) and a couple others in the family. Nice breather, and primarily an opportunity to cheer her, since as the baby of the family she's had to bury her seven older brothers and most of her sisters too. Nobody left to take care of these sorts of events except her, which weighs heavily I'm sure.
• Finally, a drive to Moncton to get a hotel, then catch our 7am flight out. Tailwinds, so this flight was 39 minutes early! Not bad. Went into Toronto to work for the day (mistake!), but ran out of steam mid-afternoon. Sadly, my meeting which required actual thinking and communication from me lasted another hour. Train home, practising lines, and then collapse at home where the temperature is way too warm for indoors, but the AC doesn't get turned on for another 2-3 weeks. Ugh.

By popular request, here's leapfish avec son chapeau.

Comments

[jdhorner.livejournal.com]

glad that things still worked out for the trip.

--

he's actually wearing a white, turtlenetck, sweater.
is that the joke in the bullet?

--

:: glad to have you two back ::

[c9.livejournal.com]

The joke's in the previous bullet, not the photo.

Glad to be back too, but god I'm so tired. I woke up this morning after tossing and turning all night (between funeral and death dreams the previous night and don't know my lines dreams last night, I'm freakin tired). The bags under my eyes have bags of their own.

[jpman.livejournal.com]

Four-lane highway in PEI? Wouldn't that take half the island? :)

[c9.livejournal.com]

You got it! Not actually true, there are four lane segments in a few spots. But anybody who's spent time in PEI catches the humour quite quickly.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

I'm betting the "four lane highway" is the joke. Since it would be wider than long. ;-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

You got it! Not actually true, there are four lane segments in a few spots. But anybody who's spent time in PEI catches the humour quite quickly.

[-kissyfur-.livejournal.com]

The message in the sand says "Kristen" I believe.

I enjoy Vin's hat....immensely :)

[primary-suspect.livejournal.com]

Yeah looks like Kristen to me as well.

[rostin79.livejournal.com]

serious exhaustion after all that.

go grab peter pan over there and snuggle ;)

can you not

[benjidacruick.livejournal.com]

automatically control your AC, or is that a personal decision?

Re: can you not

[c9.livejournal.com]

We control the fan and temperature, but the building has only one AC system so until they turn it on we just get plain air. It costs megabucks to run it, so they delay turning it on until it's needed by most of the building, not just our corner.

Re: can you not

[benjidacruick.livejournal.com]

what a bunch of jerks! ;) you can come bask in our ac if you like?

Re: can you not

[c9.livejournal.com]

If they turned it on in mid-April, then the old bats living on the opposite corner would freeze and complain, and our condo fees would go up. No thanks.

But yes please on the basking!

Re: can you not

[benjidacruick.livejournal.com]

are you allowed to stick a sleek and stylish air conditioner in your window?

;) of course you're always welcome.

btw - I saw you walking to work this morning. I waved but I supposed you didn't see me. (eek - hopefully). lol

Re: can you not

[c9.livejournal.com]

I did not see you. I did see Ashif, and said hello. I was working on my lines while walking, in case you're wondering why I was mumbling to myself. :)

Re: can you not

[c9.livejournal.com]

Sleek and stylish air conditioner in window is not an option. :)