Found.

St. Partrick's Day has come and gone, and still the snow remains. It snowed all weekend here. I am getting a hearty welcome back, a scolding for leaving prairie soil for greener and rainier pastures for so long (please don't tell everyone that this extra long winter may be my fault). I do have two howevers though:

1. Winter is cold and icy and annoying (especially for those who have to shovel), but it is also beautiful.
2. I fly back Abbotsford today for six days. Not as much to the warmth of sunny skies, but to the beaming faces I miss so much.

As evidence, of 1. I offer the pictures below. The first two are from my walks to and from school. Sunny days are my favorite, and when clear skies reign, I take the most pictures. However, lest those from BC get too jealous, we do have grey/snowy days too.

Heading over the university bridge.

My street.

This next set is form Kinsmen Park. It is at the end of my street and I finally trekked across it to roost at my favorite coffee spot here, Museo coffee at the Mendel Art Gallery. I was delighted to find these metal sculptures all over! Tug-of-warring, bridging, hanging out. Kids/people in the park. In the last two pictures, not the sparkle factor in the snow. That day was so bright and the snow so fresh that I thought I was looking at Edward Cullen caught in the sunshine (yes, that is a Twilight reference. If you don't get it, you are are getting your comeuppance for being too cool to partake in the vampire, werewolf, over-dramatic, shirtless saga that it is). Cross-country paths are all over the park and while I was taking pictures, one speedy skier passed me twice.

This stencilled graffiti is for everyone to enjoy, but especially you, Meg Kroeker. When I spotted these at the end of my alley a month and half ago I thought of you immediately. Stencilled and weathered men with stories! Fishermen or steel workers, or farmers that have worked the same land for 40 years. Or maybe they live around here, making these streets their beds, immortalized on metal. 

Ed.

Rocky.

Have a lovely week everyone,
Elizabeth

Closer to Home.

Every week, and consequently every month, that passes, I feel more at home here in Saskatoon. Perhaps one of the things that makes "home" so precious is that it takes time to build (and feel) it. When you do possess that heart warming thing called home, it is never more delicious than when you return to it after some spending time away. This did not quite happen when we returned from Calgary, but I was more than content to return to my burrow, my bed. My quiet home.

The quiet that comes with living alone is something I am becoming comfortable with. At first (and still sometimes) I have podcasts on constantly to fill the air with voices. As I cook, putter and do dishes I feel like I am a part of their conversations. Thank goodness for Jian Ghomeshi (Q), am I right? Honorable mentions to Ira Glass (This American Life), and Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics).

My parents gift of (their) old couches made my place feel much more like a home. Lounging is a lovely thing to be able to do at home and this is considerably harder to do sans furniture. 

We had a wonderful time in Calgary, although in a sense it was bittersweet. It brought home the fact that my (living at) Atangard era is truly over. To see Beth and Mark's home in Calgary, unmistakably theirs, so far from Abbotsford was strange and exciting. It is exciting that we are making our way out into the world, pursuing careers and leaving home.

It sounds like we are leaving home for the first time. But Atangard really did become a second home, a second family to me. Since I am someone who gets VERY attached, I will mourn it just a little bit, even as I am thrilled for the marriages and house making and buying and all of those incredible stages we are entering into. La vie! It is always happening. I think it is possible to hold fast to things (friends, meaningful experiences/lessons) and still set them free as well. And that, my dear friends, is what I will try my very best to do. 

Here are a few pictures from Calgary.

Beth took us to a really cool spice store. I was in heaven.

Beth and Mark's kitchen.

Beth and Mark's windowsill.

Classic Beth. Cardigan ad stripes.

Friends.