twofunkyhearts

There are so many good days when you travel. Even when things don’t really go your way, there are unexpected surprises and new discoveries each day when you’re in a new place.

Today, however, is not that kind of day. Perhaps because this place, this train I’m inching across Canada on, is moving at a caterpillar’s pace across the Prairies at the end of October. I’ve spent so much time on this train that the steel cross bar under my threadbare seat is imprinted with the shape of my derriere. This is not to say that the Prairies are not stunning – this trip has served to remind me of their astonishing beauty and I appreciate every sunset and moonrise. However, the leaves have fallen, the landscape is stark and if I hear another easterner tell me the joke about watching your dog run away for 3 days in Saskatchewan I’m not sure what I’ll do.

Via Rail isn’t exactly the most customer-friendly company in the world, but it’s not totally their fault. The rails are owned by CN (Canadian National Railway) and they often block commuter trains so the freight trains can do whatever they need to do. This means we’re consistently 6-12 hours behind schedule and often spend hours not moving for no clear reason. Kind of reminds me of this Julia Ward Howe quote:

Heavens knows what I have not been through with, since I saw you-dust, dirt, dyspepsia, hotels, railroads, prairies, tobacco juice.

Good thing I’ve got good books and wonderful parents who picked us up and dropped us off at 4am.

Aside from train-bashing, the last couple of weeks at home have been wonderful. It’s been a year since I saw my parents, and it was a great reset to be home and to introduce Sean to my parents (Dad didn’t bring any guns to the station – surely a good sign).

Here’s a photo journal from time at home:

1. Thanksgiving! (AKA: Sean Finds a New Love in Pumpkin Pie)
   

   Mom & Dad, Dave & Linda Caswell. Family ❤

   

   Sean’s muted reaction to pumpkin pie.
2. Sean had his First Thrilling Encounter with a Beaver:

Beaver.

Sean’s response to beaver.

2. Quad-picnicking at Shell Lake:

Saskatchewan version of Duck Dynasty

Sean’s response.

3. Rider Pride at Rider Nation

Riders vs. Ottawa in Regina

Smart fans bring bench cushions to -3 degree C games.

Sean’s reaction.

4. QT with a Few Favourite People & my BFF’s Birthday:

5. Appy-Day & Another Rider Game:

The pictures say more than I can type, but still aren’t the whole story. It was a wonderful time to be home – to reconnect with friends and loved ones, to be with Mom & Dad and to watch fall give way to the start of winter. We’ll be back for Christmas and are already looking forward to it. Sean made friends and has plans to go winter camping, ice skating, curling and dog-sledding. Whether I envy or pity him will depend on how much colder than -20 degrees C it is.

G’day twofunkyhearts Readers,

I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance and so happy to be the newest funkyheart that I’ve been at a loss for words this last week or so. As to where to begin, you guys are pretty smart and there’s far too much back story to delve into it all today. Suffice to say this, Daryl and I quite literally danced into each other’s lives in Sydney, Australia back in April. It was some cosmic soul connection through time and space or, you may say, good old-fashioned love at first sight. Whatever it is, we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since and here we are today, mid-way through a journey across Canada at Dazzler’s spiritual childhood summer home, Shell Lake, Saskatchewan. We’re on this trip together to take Daryl home to see her family and to introduce her parents and I. They are lovely. So far, I think it’s going super well.

This is my first time in Canada. What a stunning, vast country it is! So much water in this great Northern place it blows my Australian mind. I have never experienced a Northern Hemisphere autumn. We’re crossing the country by train, which deserves a blog post of its own. Such a beautiful time of year watching the gold, red-orange trees turn day by day. Makes sense they call it fall here.

In keeping with the theme, these are 5 facts as I see them at the time of writing:

1. Until last week I had never eaten pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving rocks, if only as a reason to eat extra helpings of this delicacy.
2.  I have seen and communicated with a moose and a beaver in the last week. Canada’s most famous fauna did not disappoint, they are both fascinating creatures. I’ve been dismayed to learn that beavers really are destructive pest when too close to civilisation.
3. Canadian Football is a sport I respect and enjoy watching yet have very little understanding of. Go Riders!
4. Potluck dinners are an excellent North American idea I hope the rest of the world picks up on.
5. Halloween is a great way to recycle Thanksgiving’s left over pumpkin shells.

Dear twofunkyhearts Readers,

As always, thank you for your patronage of my little blog. The fact that people actually read this and catch up on what’s happening in my life never stops surprising and delighting me. In the last few years I’ve had periods of silence in my posts, but regrettably my current absence has by far been the longest.

When I last posted, I’d moved to Australia and was working with a small company. I had many positive experiences and love Australia (and Australians!), but I was working in an exceedingly toxic environment which infiltrated to other parts of my life. I found it hard to write here without being honest about what was happening professionally, so I stopped posting altogether. In July my position with the company came to an end – a true blessing which took some time to accept. During and after my employment I wrote often, but I’ve not yet published any of those posts (perhaps I’ll catch up on the last several months – I’ll do my best but knowing me, I’m quite likely to be distracted by new events).

At the time of writing, these facts are true:

1. Bronte Beach in Sydney is where I call home.
2. I’ve finally taken the Universe’s unsubtle hints and exited the medical industry.
3. I have a wonderful man in my life, Sean, and our philosophy is to make each day a masterpiece.
4. I am currently writing from a cabin on a river close to Sioux Lookout, Ontario.
5. Last night Sean and I played checkers with salt & pepper packets during a 20 hour train journey from Sudbury.

Sean and I are taking a couple months and traveling by train across Canada. We’re heading home to Saskatchewan for his first ever Thanksgiving, and will continue west then south, then north again for Christmas. There will be a lot to tell and Sean is probably even more eager than I am to write about it and post photos from our adventures. And, seeing how this site is called twofunkyhearts, it seems to make sense to invite the funkiest heart I know to write here too. So, please welcome our new contributor to twofunkyhearts. I’m rather fond of him.

More to come soon.