Quick Calgary Visit

It was funny that after we parted ways with Paula and Albert we met up with them accidentally three times! First time at the gas station, second time in ‘Rocky’, and third time in the exact same antique store in Rocky Mountain House.

I was able to find a few treasures there and after that meet up we finally did part ways with us heading south to Calgary and them north to home in Edmonton.

Around lunch time we made a stop in Caroline to eat at an old Burger Baron restaurant. We chose it because we had recently watched an interesting documentary about the franchise and the craziness of the independent chain.

“In tracking the history of the chain, the documentary looks at the demise of the original Burger Baron in the 1950s, which led to its intellectual property becoming a free-for-all. "No one was really interested in it except for this, like, wave of Lebanese immigrants," Mouallem said.” The movie is called “The Last Baron” and it’s really interesting.

Continuing on our journey to Calgary we made a U-Turn when Terry noticed a hilarious sign proclaiming we were passing by the “Rednek Booteek”. We couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see what that was all about!

We pulled into the property, passing the skull on the fence, and ended up having a twenty minute chat with the “Rednek” owners who were very nice if a little rough around the edges. But they are also very talented wood workers who make all kinds of gorgeous things from birdhouses to high end furniture. It was a fun little stop and I purchased a couple of wee zipper pulls made out of licence plate letters.

Then it was off past the fields of cows and ‘hoodoos’ to our old home of 20 years to have Terry check out the golf course for his upcoming Super Seniors tourney and to reconnect with old friends.

I met Lynn back in 1984 I think ….in Weight Watchers….ha ha. We became fast friends after the first week. I lost five pounds and she gained five because she ate a whole box of chocolates. I thought she was hilarious and soon we saw each other on a regular basis during our time in Calgary. We love her husband, Ross, as well and we even travelled to Scotland with them once!

On Sunday we met our dear friend, Claudia, after Terry’s practice golf round (we’d been to mass the night before) at one of my favourite restaurants in Kensington called Vendome. It doesn’t matter how much time goes by with old friends. Being with them again is an instant reconnection of love and laughter and Claudia is no exception to that unspoken rule. We met each other in our very first musical after arriving in Calgary from Windsor….”The Second Shepherd’s Play”. Our fondest memories though came from working with her in the musical, “Dames at Sea”. We all had lead roles and Claudia gave Terry an early birthday card on Sunday with a photo of them from that show!

And our lunches were yummy too. (Claudia showed a lot of grace as well when I accidentally knocked my glass of Prosecco all over our table with my exuberance in story-telling.). Next, we drove over to see her new(ish) apartment for an afternoon of more catching up …..and a mini concert for her. (Terry suggested this as we happened to have a guitar with us in the car.)

Then it was off to dinner with MORE dear friends from our Calgary days : the Ardells.
We met them when Caroline and I used to volunteer at the St. Philip’s School near our homes. I remember our oldest son asking if we would invite them over for dinner one day and us saying,“But we don’t even know them.” His response? “GET to know them!” (From the mouths of babes.) So we did and the rest is history as they say.

Caroline made a wonderful dinner for us. We sat outside in their lovely backyard enjoying a charcuterie board filled with delights and drinking a lavender lemonade drink made from lavender from their garden.

Then we enjoyed the chicken and vegetables dinner before diving into her homemade strawberry/rhubarb pie! We talked for hours, catching up on all the stories about family and personal adventures before it was time we made our way back to the hotel.

The next day we had one last visit with our close friend, Marie.

I also met Marie in theatre and we performed many times together in “M & M For Kids”. She looked AMAZING and you would never believe that recently she was bent over and using a walker before she had a miracle back operation.

We drove downtown to meet her at a Montreal smoked meat place called “Mhyre’s”. We all had a great time and the food was great there too.

That was a LOT of visiting in a short space of time but no regrets. It’s been WAY too long since we’ve seen all of these friends…at least 4 or 5 years for most and we figured out it had been 10 years since we’d seen Lynn and Ross!

A very hot and sunny day met us for our travels home and before we knew it we were home and unpacking our week’s worth of cabin supplies.

Good-bye to Calgary and hello Edmonton!