my heavens

Here I am, prompted into writing by the recent requests for 'more, please'. so here is 'more,' with hope that it won't prompt you to request 'that's enough, thanks'.

Life has been a slow whirlwind lately with loads happening but not much going on. If that makes sense... in short, I feel as if I'm doing lots but still waiting for my real life to begin (settle down with a job and maybe a little dog or something). I am forever jetting off somewhere and then coming home to chat the ears off my parents and recuperate. I graduated university, I went to London, I went to Scotland, I went to France, I came home for the grand opening of our new church building, and now my family is off on vacation for a Whole Month (can you believe it?) because we are all exhausted for various reasons. So at the moment, I have the best of both worlds: jetting off with my parents and everybody (that is, mom, dad, Joanna, Luke and I) chatting the ears off each other all at once. To illustrate:

Fifteen minutes after leaving home for Cape Breton....
Joanna: Mom, can I have a piece of gum?
Wendy: No gum until after lunch.
Luke: Lunch is in an hour!
Rachel: Heaven forbid we have a piece of gum BEFORE lunch!
Ross: Wendy, give the kids some gum. I. am. exhausted.
Wendy: Ross, I hate candy.
Everyone: WE KNOW.
Rachel: When I was in Paris I had pop and chocolate Every Night.
Luke: I'm not going to drink pop today because then I'm going to need to go to the bathroom every half hour.
Everyone: WE KNOW.
Rachel: Joanna, can I listen to your ipod?
Joanna: Rachel you took my ipod to Europe for three weeks without asking, and you're actually asking for it NOW...? Only if you promise to download this list of songs for me.
Rachel: Joanna there are 100+ songs on this list!
Joanna: I know.
Ross: Joanna are those CHRISTIAN songs?
Joanna: Dad, would you like a piece of gum?
Everyone chews contentedly (except for Wendy) for a few minutes.
Joanna: I just fell asleep and dreamed that there was a cow in the van. Luke brought a cow because you wouldn't let him bring Capt. Johnny. Dad you said Get That Cow out of the Van, I. Am. Exhausted. And then Luke needed to pee.
Ross: Let's get lunch now. At Wendy's.
Luke: I'm not going to get pop though because then I'll need to go to the bathroom.
Wendy: Ross! What about the good soup that I brought?
Rachel: Is it ok if I go to McDonalds? Please?
Wendy: Rachel, you've forgotten that the quality of McDonalds in PEI is not that of France.
Rachel: Well can I discover that for myself? Please?
Luke: I need to go to the bathroom!
Joanna: Can I please have a piece of gum?

Well seriously folks. There is nothing like a seven hour drive with your family. Two packs of gum and many memories later we arrived at home sweet home, because as I've repeated ad nauseum in previous posts, 'my heart's in the highlands...' we are all tremendously delighted to be here, comfortably ensconced in great-grandma's house which for some reason or another has mysteriously acquired highspeed internet and satellite tv over the winter. There is no need to ever leave the house, except... out the window are the trees and the mountains and two minutes across the field there's the river... excuse me I need to go for a quick dip.

Just kidding, it is freezing today. July should be scalding hot enough to swim morning, evening, and afternoon, and wake up in the middle of the night contemplating a midnight dunk as well, but instead it feels like October. But the river isn't the only source of entertainment. Yesterday my dear cousin Jordan biked over and we spent the evening eating chicken fingers and junk food from the take out, watching youtube videos and swapping university tall-tales. When my family came home we all watched Lassie on the satellite tv and laughed hysterically as that beautiful dog saved many grateful groundhogs from certain drowning death by damming a stream of water with a large rock.

I would be remiss in this post if I did not answer Mrs. Lindsay's question re: how did I get along cooking this year at school... let's say I enjoyed cooking when I cooked. Katie and Natalie and I made several delicious meals together (it's so much better to cook together than apart). One memorable night we invented several recipes such as apple-strawberry-berry pie with a coconut crust; another night Nat and I made a divine apricot chicken with parmesan toast; and Natalie and I also made good use out of a great garlic bread/grilled cheese sandwich combo. But to be completely honest, if you peeked into the kitchen on any given night... you would see Katie eating some sort of casserole from the freezer, Natalie serving up a lentil patty, and me toasting some sort of bread to eat with peanut butter. Either that or we all would be eating steak. We were all very good at steak by the end. Lots of soy sauce and garlic, five minutes under the broiler each side.

Food is so good! The French know exactly what they are doing when serving up a two hour, three course meal. Natalie and I experienced this when invited over to a couple's home in Paris for lunch. Dish after dish was placed in front of our large eyes and shrinking stomachs, drenched in cream, garnished with parsley, served with crusty bread, washed down with ice water. And finally, the coffee and chocolate conclusion, because otherwise we would all fall asleep in our seats from the immense amount of food consumed. Lovely. Everyone left with a big smile. Excellent conversation (even with the language barrier) and remarkable (for better or for worse) food. (But I am still bothered by the question....how on earth do they all stay so skinny?)

In many ways my grand European adventure was marked by the food. Fantastic pizza at a little Italian restaurant in London; the Inverness Thai food-serving Pub where we never actually ate because we could never get a table, but enjoyed many a good ceilidh there; the unbelievable Angus beef burgers on the Isle of Harris (More, Please!); baguettes and chocolate cake on my birthday in Paris. And at least one Chicken McNugget happy meal from a McDonald's at every location.

Oh... did I mention that I've learned that the quality of the McDonald's in PEI is not the quality of the McDonald's in France? That's enough for me, thanks.