Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Take me home...country road...

With summer coming, it was time to return to Calgary for a visit, and then on to Idaho -- a place we are still drawn to year after year for 18 years.

I had a dream (or maybe it was a nightmare) not long ago when I was frantically calling out "Where are we? Where are we?", and someone yelled out "Check the blog!"  The blog has been a way for not only friends and family to keep track of us and our adventures, but also for us to remember all the special people and experiences we've had since we started our globetrotting 4 years ago.


Before leaving Medellin, my friend Gloria, who I volunteer with at Clinica Infantil Santa Ana and the Volunteer Coordinator, Marta, took me out for a lovely lunch at Tesoro Mall.  Gloria speaks excellent English so helped me out when my Spanish failed me.
Gloria, me, Marta
Colombia defied all preconceptions (albeit I got mugged in Bogota -- but that could have happened anywhere).  We were amazed by the beauty of the country and warmly welcomed by the paisas of Antioquia.  Fingers and toes are crossed that we return to Colombia, and we will look forward to seeing...
Daniel, Diana and little Santiago
Standing on our balcony and seeing storms forming over the Aburra Valley
Buying beautiful flowers from Leonardo
Buying tropical flowers for next to nothing
Jessica is a beautiful, lovely young woman who is taking International Business at the university, and who did housekeeping for us every Saturday.  I was definitely spoiled, and we enjoyed talking with Jessica each week.
I left a few days before Roger, and had a great experience at the Bogota airport.  While waiting for the Continental check in counter to open, 2 police officers approached me saying they wanted to talk to me.  Turned out they wanted to practice their English in preparation for the U20 World Cup that is coming to Colombia.  We chatted for awhile, and our conversation turned to our families.

When I asked if they knew about the Transformers movies, they enthusiastically said, "Yes!"  I told them our son is an animator and worked on the Transformers 3 movie -- well, they went nuts.  Both officers said they wanted a picture taken with me and reached for their cameras (that were beside their guns) and called other policemen over to take our pictures while stating, "This is the mother of someone who worked on Transformers 3!"  Now I know how Tom Hanks' mother feels!

After a wonderful, whirlwind trip back to Calgary to see family and friends, we headed south to what seems like home - our acre on the water near Priest River, Idaho that we own with our good friends the Moe and Timm families.
Our "fleet" of watercraft!






















































Above:  This is the boat Roger bought last October after seeing it on the internet.  It is the exact model we had 10 years ago, and is in mint condition.  Our plans are to keep it here this summer so Roger can tinker on it, and then move it to the west coast so Brad and Anette can use it as well.  We still haven't christened it, but think we'll name it Tranquilo, because whenever Roger and I botched something up in Spanish, the patient and forgiving Colombians would always assure us by saying, "tranquilo"!
Hard to imagine the Aus trees were mere cuttings just a few summers ago

Roger isn't sure if he'll be here for 2 weeks or 3 months, so jumped right into one of the projects on his "to do" list -- a dock for the jet skis.  The Pend O'Reille River is running high and fast with the threat of flooding, so it proved to be more challenging for him --- which for Roger is just the way he likes it.
Roger loves designing and building -- this time it is a dock for the jet skis
 

Our clubhouse is ready for visitors!

Our deck is ready for visitors, too!

I resumed my dish washing duties at the Soup Kitchen where I volunteer each summer, and it was great to see familiar faces and welcoming hugs.

We look forward to seeing friends and family over the coming months.  If your travel plans include the Idaho Panhandle -- make sure you stop by!

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