Thursday, August 10

After frantically ripping all the laths and plaster off the walls of the bedroom and pantry (in prep. for the drywaller coming and reconstructing our living area) and getting all the loose ends tied up at work, I nipped off to a 10 day vacation at our family's one-bedroom cabin at Kootenay Lake. I will also note here that people come from all over North America to ride the stretch of highway between Creston and Kootenay Bay, and I might also add at this point that our cabin is right smack in the middle of this stretch. Did I mention that I trailered Couchette for the holiday out there? All set for one helluva holiday.

The addition of my closest friend Jeff, his wife Marcia, and their cuuute daughter Gracie (who was born two months before our Finn) made the prospects even better, once we sorted out the sleeping arrangements.

On the first whole day, the Friday, it was spitting and raining out, so we did the only thing we knew how to do to ensure it didn't rain for the rest of the time: We bought a tarp. Jeff and I went to the legendary Gray Creek Store for 'supplies' (There you might find everything from a chainsaw to trashy novels, to Bac'n Puffs and more than enough 'vintage' outerwear to keep Sally Ann in business for a year). Needless to say, the moment we got home and erected our tarp over the deck, it stopped raining. I kid you not. And the rain did not return for the whole 10 days...at least not on our deck. With that out of the way, we maneuvered Couchette off her trailer and prepared her for the open road.

My friend Jeff, who speaks english and a smattering of Low German, inadvertently called my scooter 'Couchée', and I made the mistake of correcting him. "No", says I, "It's more like Babette, or Marionette". Jeff is known for is sense of humour, we met in college where he was known as 'The Funniest Guy in School'. He is what they call 'Sardonically Irreverent', which, he will point out to you, is different than 'Sarcastic' or simply 'Ironic'. Well, after his correction, he proceeded to call my beloved steed by every name BUT her proper given name.

"Let's go for a ride on Croquet" he would say. or:

"Are you going to bring Crumpet along?"

Sheesh. Learn the language, Jeff...it is a bilingual country after all, and Sardonically Irreverant is not the second offical language.

All that aside, we had a grand time. Jeff was there for Couchette's first words more than a year ago, and he helped nurse her to life. I was glad to see him take her for his first actual ride. And he did well, for a big man.