The background: Bozenka, my very good friend, is married to Brian. Brian has 3 children from a previous relationship. This last week end, his youngest daughter was married in Carstairs. Where is Carstairs, you ask? It is 30 minutes out of Airdrie. Where is Airdrie you ask? It is 30 minutes out of Calgary on the way towards Red Deer. Bozenka, who owned several restaurants once upon a time a looong time ago, contributed to the wedding by doing the catering. And Bozenka doesn't do anything in a small way. Everything she does, she does with everything she has. So I went a long to help. Here are the highlights of my trip.
- Brian rented a vehicle for us all to travel in. (I brought Rhiannon and Drew with me to visit my friend Ronni in Calgary while I worked.) We were supposed to have a mini van like a Ford Freestar or some such thing. But there was no mini van when I went to pick it up on Thursday morning. So I got my choice between 2 huge SUV's - a Ford Expedition or a Lincoln Navigator. The Lincoln was fancier but I took the Expedition because it had a built in DVD player. Now those may be huge, gas guzzling, resource hogging, polluting machines. But I tell you, it was really fun to drive. I did all the driving - there and back and many, many errands (like I know the road between Carstairs and Calgary really, really well, now. I can tell the difference between one Canola field and another...). I kept on discovering new features. It was so comfortable and the seats were so adjustable. Everyone had their own individual air conditioning controls. The kids watched movies (on head phones). It was a very comfortable trip. I wouldn't want to own one and I can't understand how people can justify driving one with only one person inside... and I can't imagine driving something so huge around the city. But it was fun - I have to admit...
- There is only 1 motel in Carstairs - the Golden West Motor Inn. I discovered this. That when a place ADVERTISES that it received the housekeeping award in .... 1994, you might be in trouble... Maybe they figured they were doing so well then, they would keep everything exactly the same. The phone was one of the original push button phones - where the buttons just replaced the dial on the face of the phone. The towels were chocolate brown and they warned us that if you leave the air conditioning on too long, it would seize.... But it was a bed to sleep in and a shower to use. And it has been fun to make fun of...
- I spent more than $1,200 on groceries alone in my many trips to many stores. (not my money, of course...) Unfortunately I came home to an almost empty fridge...
- This is why people in BC make fun of Albertans. Is this a red-necked moment or what? On Friday night, while we all worked in preparation for the wedding the next day, us in the kitchen and the decorating crew (friends of the bride and groom) worked in the hall, the 'groomsmen' made dinner. Do you know what they did? They set up a propane burner in the alley behind the hall, sat on the back of a pick-up truck while music played in the truck stereo, beers in hand, and deep fried 3 turkeys. Yup, that's right. They deep fried them...
- The wedding was beautiful. Brian was dashing, his daughter was gorgeous. Her dress was perfect. The food was wonderful and exactly on time. I had a great time visiting with Bozenka and her sister, Goranka and Jackie and the other 'kitchen staff'. And I came home with a huge hunk of prime rib...
Ultimately it was an honour and priviledge to be included in this family event. I was glad to be of service to my friend, Bozenka who does so much for me. I'd do it again in a second.
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