GrannyRant

Granny calling….I woke this morning with a tongue like Ghandi’s flip flop! It was 10.00am and aunty was already pootling about in the kitchen, water, water, I need water! Martin was still snoring and Uncle wasn’t up yet either, we went to bed as the birds started singing, it could be a slow and easy morning of recovery I think. Aunty and I chatted on the deck and I came to life slowly.

Once everyone was up, we ate breakfast of vanilla yogurt, blueberries and toast with butter. Lots of tea and coffee flowed and we all felt a bit better. Aunty was sensible and had ‘left us to it’ with the vodka, therefore she was in much better shape than the rest of us. Kate was still in bed when we left for our visit to ‘The Western Development Museum’ a museum dedicated to the development of Saskatchewan from around 1910 and it holds lots of old farming equipment, cars and buildings set up as they were back in the day. They employ a lot of Senior Citizens who tell you all about how life was in the early years of Saskatchewan’s history and it was very interesting. We got loads of pictures including one of us sat at the Railway station in ‘Bootleg’ I wonder where that name came from?

Afterwards we went for our first fix of Tim Horton’s coffee and headed off to the ‘Taste of Saskatchewan Event in the grounds behind the “Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon. There a stalls from all the local restaurants and you buy tokens to sample the food, we had Pad Thai with chicken (veggie version for Martin), this consists on egg noodles, fried with bamboo shoots and bean sprouts, onions and chicken and topped with peanuts. We also had some ribs and topped it off with ‘Berry Barn’ Saskatoon Berry tart, pancakes and whipped cream. So much food, we failed to eat it all, we were all stuffed!

There was a live band playing a, called ‘September Long’ Kate knew the lead singer from high School and they were great, I will be watching out for an album which they promise is coming soon. We went to see the ‘Ultimate Man shed’ you could buy tickets to win it, what a shed! Inside there was a sauna, 3 TV’s DVD player, shower, bed, beer fridge, oven, dishwasher and a whole pile of tools that went with it, the only thing missing was a woman, I wonder why? It was huge and we all said we wouldn’t be able to fit it in our Garden’s. The atmosphere was lively and happy and we met some friends of Aunty and Uncle’s all nice people who wished us a happy holiday. There was one guy who was slightly odd though, he was called Wes, and wore huge biker boots, a bandana and looked like a throw back to 60’s USA. Nice guy but a bit of a fruit loop I think. Uncle is convinced that since he stopped boozing, he has gone a bit crazy!

From the Taste of Saskatchewan, we went to Kinsmen Park to watch Katy play ball, she played really well and hit a great strike that created a home run, threw a ball in that got a girl knocked of home base and did a great slide into 3rd base which resulted in grazed elbows and mud all over the front of her shirt, more washing for Aunty. It was great to watch, we plastered ourselves with Mozzie cream and weren’t bitten and Kate’s team won 7-5, a great time was had by all.

Back home, we ate toasted cheese and onion sandwiches, crisps and raw vegetables and dip. Drank lots of tea and water (we didn’t need any alcohol we were still recovering) and went to bed by 11.15 absolutely pooped!

Another great day, to be continued….Granny

Good morning, Granny calling….We got up late, around 09.30(we have been waking at 6am), the deck was hot from very early, we guessed at around 27 degrees and the weather forecast on the radio says there’s a huge storm coming in tonight, we have been looking forward to seeing one of the spectacular shows of lightening that everyone is telling us about. Saskatchewan is very flat and the sky just goes on forever, hence when there’s a storm brewing you can see it coming for hours before it actually hits. We have planned to meet Henry, Joan and a few other people tonight at Bugsy’s bar but before that we are going to get Uncle’s Sandals and take a walk along the river.
On the way to the river, we went to the Mendel Art Gallery where they have a great display of tropical plants and paintings and a whole room full of traditional Indian totem Poles. The colours were lovely and Martin and I got told off for taking pictures, although we didn’t see any notices telling us not to. Katy got told off for carrying her drink in, so we were all in hot water! I bought a Totem pole to bring home and was quite embarrassed as my card was declined, although we realised afterwards that it was because the Gallery did not have ‘chip and pin’. I paid with cash and the man who served us was very nice about it.
We went along the river and saw squirrels, chipmunks, fountains and Uncle told us stories about the oldest bridge in Saskatoon and how they have spent a lot of money on new walkways and generally modernising the waterside, Auntie’s Mum thinks this is a waste of taxpayers’ money and that the money could be better spent elsewhere! We walked past the Bessborough Hotel, a really famous Hotel that has been in Saskatoon for donkeys’ years, as long as anyone can remember Uncle says, this weekend Peter Frampton is playing live and they have lots of famous people playing there.
We came back home, after buying Uncle’s sandals and having coffee at Starbucks, Aunty has already got the ribs and vegetables on and the house smells of barbecue food, mmmm can’t wait to eat, the smell is making us all hungry. Aunty and I opened the Penfolds, Rawson’s Retreat Shiraz and Martin and Uncle settled for a Coors Light Beer. Katy’s Friend Rebecca (Reba) arrived, she was such a nice person and very friendly and bubbly, a really easy person to talk to. She joined us for ribs, salad, potatoes and veggie’s with dips, Katy introduced us to Extreme Dill Ranch dressing, nice and the ribs were extra special, I have requested these again before we leave Saskatoon! Martin had Bass fillet with his, I’m glad he doesn’t eat meat, all the more for us!
At the Pub, we met Henry and Joan, Dave and lots of other people to numerous to mention, Joan said “I guess you’re the person causing all the trouble” we all hugged and shook hands and it seemed like we had all been friends forever. Henry wanted to talk about coronation Street! They are about 6months behind us in the story lines here and I had to be careful not to let the cat out of the bag about Sophie Webster’s Lesbian Relationship, Aunty thought this was really funny and Henry and I had a real long “Corrie” chat, he loved it as no-one else in Canada seems to know what he’s talking about, apparently he’s an avid Corrie Fan and watches it for 3 hours every Sunday Morning – Strange?? Henry also has a tattoo of Andy Capp another very British thing which is surprising for a Canadian with Dutch heritage.