Across Canada

So the conference in Toronto was extremely interesting and informative. I really enjoyed face-to-face meeting the people I've been teleconferencing with for several months now, as well as learning what each of them did with their pilot projects. The travelling, however, did not thrill me quite so much! I know people who travel for their work all the time, and spend many many nights in hotel rooms. While my accomodations in Toronto were quite satisfactory ...... two nights was more than enough and I was longing for my own comfy bed at home! I haven't sat down and calculated exactly how many hours I spent either in an airport waiting for an airplane, or sitting in an airplane, but I'm pretty sure the total is about double the amount of hours actually spent in the conference. I saw a lot of this ...... and a lot of this ...On the way to Toronto, the weather was sunny and bright all the way across Canada, so the window view was quite clear and nice. Naturally, my camera was stowed in my bag, so no photos of the good views ... only the cloudy views from the return trip.

When I arrived at the Toronto airport on Saturday morning, I learned my flight had been cancelled due to a bad snowstorm in the Maritimes. There was NO WAY I was going to spend another night in Toronto, so I spent the better part of the day in the airport waiting for a connection to Vancouver. That did happen eventually ... but when I got to Vancouver, I couldn't get on a flight for the trip north and home! "Darn! I'll just have to phone a friend and bum a meal and a bed for the night!" she thought ... and promptly did so. Then I flew from Vancouver to home Sunday.
This picture was taken on the Vancouver to PG lag of the trip, and we encountered clouds and a snow storm shortly after that, and I arrived home to this ...From Vancouver blossoms and bare legs to PG snow in the space of an hour. My oh my how aerotechnology can boggle the mind! Thankfully, the snow is gone again. However, I'm still not a firm believer that spring has arrived. I don't even want to say the word out loud yet!

Now the time has come to introduce Boots!She's a four year old brown tabby with white paws, and a spayed female. Miss Boots came to live with me on Sunday as soon as I got back from my trip across Canada. Her human had a serious stroke a couple of months ago, was hospitalized long-term, and Bootsy was left alone in an empty house with just a brief visit from a neighbour who put out food and water every day. Very difficult for a sociable missy! (And she is a very sociable and vocal missy!)Subsequently, her human was sent to residential care and Boots was sent to a foster home. Unfortunately, that foster home also housed three rambunctious little boys, another (territorial) cat, and an aggressive little terrier, and Boots spent all her time hiding from her various tormentors. She even refused to eat.Her appetite is returning now (in fact, all that loose skin on her suggests she is prone to being a bit of a piggy). She's still investigating everything and is quite nervous, especially at strange sounds in the hallway outside our apartment. When I get my keys out, she hides fast. I guess that's her way of saying "nuh uh, you're NOT moving me AGAIN!" She is all over me when I come home from work, and so far it has taken me nearly 45 minutes to pet her and brush her and reassure her when I come in and before I can stand up to do anything else.She is also starting to play, pouncing on her toys and even pouncing on my toes a time or two! It certainly is nice to have a critter in the place again. I used to have fish (they're at work in our front office now). Fish just aren't as cuddly as furry critters. Now I just have to convince Bootsy that cuddling is not a human requirement at 5:00 am! So I have a good excuse to NOT travel now ... I have to stay home with Miss Boots!

Have a great week, y'all!