Canada

Maybe I'll just skip over the airport fiasco involved in getting me back here to my old digs. Suffice it to say,

"When booking a flight online, always, (I repeat) always make sure to use the exact same name as the name in your passport."

Otherwise, you may be refused your boarding pass and then have to cancel your flight losing most of your money on the refund. And then, you may have to book another flight and spend the night sleeping at the airport on two hard chairs.

On a more positive note, the first thing I noticed about landing at the Seattle airport was the delightful smell all around. Just lovely. I can't put my finger on it, but it was a lovely smell.

Then, of course, there was the smell of coffee. And something cooking. (Western food.) And there were the tall, tall people who could speak very quickly in perfect English.

By the time I landed in Calgary, I was happy that I hadn't actually thrown up in the "sick bag" provided on the back of the seat in front of us while the plane went into a roller coaster turbulence that threw us around like bucking broncos.

Safe on the ground again with my suitcase and (thank God) my guitar, I discovered my cell phone worked enough to send a text to my son who showed up soon after.

Driving to the mall, I was overcome with that "reverse culture shock" they tell you about. There was that feeling that everything is just too clean and organised and perfect. But, I reasoned that that was really not going to pose any problem or threat to my survival. Just a little hard to adjust to at first.

My son's house in Calgary was like many others. It was just big enough for his little family.

 

One fine week-end we headed off for the Rockies in Banff. The mountains were magnificent, just as I remembered them. Although the trees did seem even greener than before.

Then, off to Jasper and the Athabasca Icefields!

That's ice-cold glacier water. And, although the glacier is lightly covered in silt, there's a huge, thick bed of ice underneath that is receding little by little every year.