Boxes, boxes, boxes...

The moving truck didn't show up until Thursday, so we had a glorious box-free week before all of our stuff arrived. It really made me consider how much of our things that I really want and need. But, the "I don't need stuff lifestyle" lasted exactly the amount of time that it took for the moving truck to arrive. Once that monolithic sucker beep beeped his way up our street, I dove into unpacking the boxes like an Olympic swimmer on a sweltering day - fast, furious, and filled with purpose. I was happy to see that all our items made it across two and a half provinces intact. And I was thrilled to have my stuff back.

Stuff! Put away in the hutch. We used those dishes to cook with as. soon. as. we. got. them.

So, in the before times of having our stuff, what was it exactly that we did? We explored Saskatoon! The only dampener was the rain. And what a rain! We felt like the weather gods were trying extra hard to make us feel completely at home, sending cloud after soggy cloud to burst immediately above our fair city. But, I digress. We are from the West Coast, so we are used to the rain. We put on our MEC raincoats so that we didn't have to worry about dodging rain drops, then zipped downtown for a fancy birthday dinner. 

(One awesome thing about Saskatoon? The city is ringed by "Circle Road", a highway, which zings you from one side of the city to the other in 15 minutes or less. This could prove to be different in the winter, however, it's working well for the summer.)

For J's birthday, we made a reservation at Truffles. One of my very good friends gave us a gift certificate to Truffles as a wedding present and both of us eagerly anticipated trying out the restaurant. After a few tense minutes spent searching for parking (JazzFest is going on in Saskatoon right now too, so the whole downtown core area is crawling with people) we found a spot right next to the Bessborough Hotel and dashed two blocks to Truffles to make our 6 pm reservation. 

Like any good expensive girlfriend, I had the duck. 

Our supper did not disappoint. The only trouble with Truffles is that I can't eat there every weekend! I suppose that I'll have to make a serious study of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, so that we can enjoy delicious French food at home.

We'd been told by J's cousin that it was imperative that we go to Calories for birthday cake. And so, off we trundled to Calories where they were doing a roaring Saturday night trade. After a cursory glance at the display cabinet, I knew that I would be having Hazelnut Torte and J had absolutely decided upon Oreo Cheesecake. We got our dessert to go and headed home to enjoy our calorific creations.

On Sunday, I took myself off to explore the Saskatoon Farmer's Market. They have local vegetables, Okanagan fruit, meat, eggs, jams, bakery items, and all sorts of food vendors. Its like a mini Granville Island, if you will. The local food scene is emerging here - for instance, if you want local, organic, free run eggs, then you have to get them at the Farmer's Market. The regular grocery stores just don't carry them. And that's OK, not everyone wants them! But nonetheless, it was fun to go poke about and talk to some food producers, buy fresh veggies and eggs, and take full advantage of free parking on Sundays.

Notice the grey sky. 

That evening we were invited for supper at the home of one of the PGY4 (soon to be PGY5) residents. She and her husband generously fed us and answered as many questions as they could about Saskatoon and about the residency program. (Question: "Are there always this many mosquitoes?" Answer: "Yes. Last year the city had to bring dragonflies in to eat them up. Wear your bug spray, the mosquitoes bite through jeans!") They took us out for a walk with their dogs (two of their own and one they were pet-sitting) after we finished supper. The rain had cleared and they live very close to the river valley, so we went along a trail high above the river, enjoying the view. (Grandma W, you are right! Saskatoon is a very pretty city. It doesn't have the drama of Vancouver or the postcard perfect harbour of Victoria, but it has a quiet charm of its own. Something about those bridges and that sky.)

Beautiful. And the good thing about the rain is that everything is very green!

The rest of last week we spent getting organized for the moving truck and going shopping for more of the core essentials. We also spent a significant part of our time weeding the back yard. It was seriously over grown. The weeds were close to a metre high. The bright side to our weeding situation was that because it had been so wet, the weeds just popped out of the ground very easily! Now that we have fought a significant portion of the weeds, we planted some veggies and flowers. We've got peas, zucchini, peppers, cucumber, strawberries and tomatoes, as well as a colourful assortment of flowers around the property. Hopefully I don't kill them! 

Then once the truck arrived, we unpacked. And unpacked. And unpacked. Then broke down boxes, carted them downstairs, and built two brand new bookcases. I'm sure that all of you know how that goes. But now it is done and it is Sunday, so I can off to the Farmer's Market once more. We need more veggies, as our little plot isn't producing anything yet. 

Love to you all. 

S + J and J + S