Shelley, Bride of Frankendecken ~ Journal

NorthernTigress

Shelley's Trip to Edmonton, Day 2

http://s1059.photobucket.com/albums/t422/northtigress/Shelley Day 2/

Today is my workout day, and because a Lady needs to watch her figure, I invited Shelley to come with. She wanted to explore all the machines, sometimes a little bit too closely. She too suspects that “Number 5 is alive” and that's why it went missing. She loved my choice of workout music, and joined in when I sang along. “Hit me with your best shot....”

I remembered that I'm going to one last Fringe play tonight. The most popular plays get “held over” for extra performances after the festival. So Shelley will be joining me tonight. I just hope she's not shy, because it's a burlesque show... “A Bronte Burlesque: the sexiest ghost story ever.” She probably would have enjoyed “The Last Man on Earth” from a couple of days ago. It was in the style of the old Silent Movies.

After that, there was a bit of a fubar. I was supposed to meet with a friend of my husband, who wanted to make an investment. We were scheduled to be at the Office by 3:00, but at 3:30, he still wasn't ready. We were still on the freeway when the office manager had to leave at 3:45, and we had to reschedule. Meanwhile, Shelley was in my totebag, whispering, “Are we having fun yet? When do I get to have some fun?” I helped him with a couple of errands, and then got a ride home. Then, when I got home, I dropped off a few things, and turned around and went to my Reiki Teacher's home, where I had forgotten a jug of milk the last time we went grocery shopping. Before I left, I introduced Shelley.

She immediately suggested that we do a reading, and although shuffling was awkward to say the least, the resulting spread accurately described the day she'd had. R-T's reaction to meeting Shelley? “That is one funky deck!” Shelley tried to make friends with R-T's cat, but Sox was not feeling very friendly. On the way home, I paused long enough to introduce Shelley to my Tree Gnome. Next I took a ridiculously huge jug of milk home, grabbed a quick supper, and then left to go to the theatre. “A Bronte Burlesque” was quite impressive, and educational. I learned things that I had never known about the Bronte sisters, starting with the fact that there were three of them (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) and the fact that they had a brother, Branwell. Shelley and I both really enjoyed ourselves, and in the end Shelley begged to have her photo taken in front of an advertising display. She really would have loved to have met the cast, but they were rather busy dealing with their costumes, or lack thereof. Before we left, I showed Shelley the spot on the Fringe Theatre Mural that Hubby and I had bought by donation the year we got married. Shelley must have been good luck, for we arrived at the bus stop at the exact same moment as the once-an-hour bus. A long and busy day.
 

NorthernTigress

Shelley's Trip to Edmonton, Day 3.

Well, it's September 1st, and the Saturday of the Labor Day long weekend. Traditionally, in Canada, that means the symbolic end of Summer. So a group of us decided to go to Fort Edmonton, the historical park, one more time. And Shelley was thrilled to join us. Things weren't perfect, I new that my camera battery wasn't fully charged, but I couldn't find the charging cord last night. In the morning, just before I was ready to leave, I found it. Just my luck. I left home a little bit later than I wanted to, which means that I got to R-T's home a bit late too. (Yes, it was R-T and another friend I was going with.) We got to the shuttle bus just barely on time, and then we forgot that, even if it was a shuttle, we still needed to ding the bell. So we took the long way, past the Fort, to the Zoo, and then back to the Fort. Good thing this was the first run of the day, so the delay didn't matter too much.

Despite the long weekend, it wasn't too busy. That was because of the borderline-icky weather: cool and cloudy. When we got there, we discovered one other thing that explained the lack of people. The steam train was out of commission. Since R-T's wheelchair couldn't fit on either the cablecar or the stagecoach, we did a lot of walking.

We had a lot of fun, and took lots of pictures, until one by one we lost power in our cameras. Finally, R-T's camera phone was the only one still working. Because of the weather, they chose to have a lot fewer volunteer re-enactors on duty. So there were fewer "people" to visit, but still lots of places to see. The last two or three times I visited, I've been unable to find the blacksmith. I mean, I could find the smithy, but not the actual smith. I'm beginning to suspect the Fort is looking for a new one. Sigh. Whatever shall I do without a Handsome Blacksmith?

Another surprise was when we came close to walk right into a wedding. I've seen weddings at the Fort before. I've been a guest at a wedding at the Fort. But usually they are after hours. This was in the middle of the afternoon. Shelley begged me to get her picture taken with the bride, but I said it wasn't proper, since we hadn't been invited.

It's almost impossible to have a trip to the Fort without buying something, and today was no exception. R-T picked up two bottles of Lavender essential oils, for a very good price. I bought a little fur keychain, and a wolf pendant. All three of us had a ride on the carousel, a lovely thing all hand-carved. And we even spent little money on midway games, one of those "a winner every time" things. In the end, we had seen everything to be seen, spent all our cash, and were waiting for the last shuttle of the day. And as soon as the door closed on the bus... it started raining. What a day.

http://s1059.photobucket.com/albums/t422/northtigress/Shelley at the Fort/
 

NorthernTigress

Shelley's Trip to Edmonton, Day 4

Today I wasn't sure what we'd be doing. I had thoughts of attending the 100th Anniversary of our province's Legislature Building, which was going to be a free all day party. But then my Husband reminded me that it was also the day of an annual Corn Roast and BBQ, at a friend's acreage. This has been going on for quite a few years, but I never seem to be able to attend, mostly because of it being out of town. But today, I was able to get a ride, and so Shelley and I were off!

These types of affairs are always a BYOM (bring your own meat) combined with a pot-luck of side dishes. On the way out of town, we stopped at the grocery store, where in addition to finding Key Lime Pie for ten dollars, we also discovered 1 litre bottles of pop on sale for an insanely low price. So we left for the corn roast with 10 assorted bottles. The road trip was a bit of an adventure, with the GPS unit we were using literally leading us to the middle of nowhere. It wasn't the machine's fault though, considering we had been given the wrong intersection of roads. We finally arrived safely, and unloaded our "stuff".

The party was already underway when we arrived, with a lovely fire and lots of folding chairs. What was no lovely was the smoke and ashes from said fire, which kept trying to attack me. It wasn't long before I had to say to my neighbor "It's not that I don't like you, I just can't stay here." She laughed and said, "You're the third person to try to sit their, and fail."

There was food, visiting, games and lots of talking. It was in a pause during a game of Scrabble (while a participant was grabbing more food) that I introduced Shelley to the woman we call Captain, who just happens to also be a Shelley. She looked through the cards, very much enjoying the different themes. She was especially drawn to the two cards from the Baroque Bohemian Cats. Next to be introduced was Alayna, who enjoyed the extra sparkly "Ace of Gems" and thought that Igor was adorable. She may in fact be joining us at AT sometime in the near future.

Given our love of costumes, there are many people in our groups who sew. But we only have one Quilter, and that's Hilda. I knew Hilda needed to meet Shelley, if only to admire the bag. She approved of a patchwork bag for a patchwork deck, and even allowed a picture to be taken. This is a great honor, since Hilda hates being photographed.

I had to leave a bit early, since our ride (which included Alayna) had to be at work back in town that evening. I left with some of my meat still uneaten and 7 of the 10 bottles of beverage. In the spirit of barter, I traded 3 of those bottles for an unopened DVD of the first season of Xena. This wasn't as unusual as it sounds, since I had already agreed to buy it from Alayna's husband, I just didn't have any "cashy money" with me at the time.

Sadly, this may or may not be the last Shelley Journal entry, as when I got home, I learned of a very serious Family Emergency out of province. This emergency had been taking place for several weeks now (which was part of the reason for my previous AT disappearance) but things have just leaped to a whole new level. In less than 8 hours from this posting, my Husband and I will be on a plane traveling to Cranbrook, British Columbia. Shelley has stowed away in one of my bags, but really she may end up being completely ignored. Normally, I find shuffling a deck to be relaxing, but since Shelley is unshuffle-able, well....
 

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NorthernTigress

Shelley's Unexpected Trip to Vancouver and Cranbrook, British Columbia

After only a few hours of sleep, Hubby and I awoke at 3am, grabbed all of our bags (including the one that Shelley had stowed away in, and rushed downstairs to meet our ride. I should say that Hubby rushed downstairs, I had to return upstairs twice, once to get my pendant watch, and the second time to grab a jacket. The trip to the airport was uneventful, other than the fact that we accidentally used the "taxis and limos only" lane to get to the doors. Then we tagged our bags, picked up our online tickets, and waited patiently for the Security Checks. Shelley endured being X-rayed, without complaint, and I went through fairly easily too. But Hubby had to deal with a hands on inspection, because his pants could convert to shorts... using metal zippers. Once through, I enjoyed a Starbucks latte and Hubby enjoyed a sandwich, while Shelley continued to hide.

The flight to Vancouver was smooth and pleasant, and might not have been worth mentioning at all, except for one thing. Despite being a military paratrooper with over a hundred Jumps, Hubby is still deathly afraid of heights. The result being that, although he had flown in a plane 125 times, this would officially the first time he would still be in the plane when it landed. This was an entirely new experience for him, but he survived.

There was a short delay in Vancouver, during which I was able to take a couple of pictures, and Shelley was able to stretch her legs after being in that cramped carry-on. In fact, a nice lady working at the terminal was willing to take a photo of Shelley and I in front of the "Destination: Cranbrook" sign. The second half of our flight was more adventurous for two reasons. First, it was a smaller, prop engine plane and, second, Hubby was now sitting at the window. He was able to soothe his anxiety by taking photos with his camera. You really do look at things differently through the lens of a camera.

Arriving at the tiny Rocky Mountain International Airport, I was hoping to get a photo of Shelley in front of a bear-themed statue, but Hubby's brother had arrived sooner than we expected, and we didn't have time. Speaking of time, we quickly learned that Hubby's father had already passed on, ironically, just before we had taken off from Edmonton. So our focus shifted from seeing Father to consoling Mother and helping to plan arrangements for the final resting method of the body (cremation), Father's final wishes (to be spread across the Rocky Mountains) and the memorial ceremony (a small memorial in Calgary, instead of something expensive here in Cran). This will likely take a full week to finish, although Sunday is the latest Hubby can return to work without being in trouble.

I took quite a few photos throughout the day, but Shelley wasn't in any of them. A Lady knows when to make an appearance, and when to stay in the shadows. Cranbrook is a very interesting place, being a small town in the middle of the mountains. As a result, wild animals often wander through town without a care. I was happy to be able to get a couple half-decent shots of a group of deer across the street from Mother's home.

In the evening we decided that we would stay the first night, at least, at a local motel called the Model A Inn. The Model A has an actual fully restored Ford Model A outside the building, and Shelley absolutely begged to have her picture taken in front of it. She had been so good all day, how could we say no?

(Photos to be added later)
 

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NorthernTigress

I didn't have much time with Shelley while we were in Cranbrook. I wanted to make up for it by letting her join me looking out the window on our bus ride home. You can always recognize an Albertan in BC. She's the one with a few dozen photos of mountains in her camera. I took photos with my camera until my battery ran out. Then I took photos with Hubby's camera. For a well-travelled Lady, Shelley really seemed to enjoy the Rockies.

We all made it home safely, Shelley included. My "official" week with her is now over. Now we just wait until her new home is announced.

Edit: I should add that, even though she didn't get to see much of it, Cranbrook is just the type of place Shelley would enjoy. There are a surprising number of spas, health food stores, health centers, etc. I even found a place offering Reiki. In the back yard of one local church, I saw a walking-maze. Not in the best condition, I'll admit, but still recognizable. I didn't try to walk the path, but I did photograph it.
 

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NorthernTigress

I haven't had much opportunity to do anything special with Shelley. She's mostly just hanging out with my other decks in my Treasure Chest. She likes to chat with my Gaian, and she and Paulina get positively giggly together. And Shadowscapes likes to have long conversations in the middle of the night. They think I don't know....

Shelley is a little bit sad. I've had to inform her that, in all the confusion, I have lost the little white feather we found together, the one that was supposed to join her little black feather. I have apologized, and told her that she may take one small item from my home with her, to make up for it.

Before she leaves, I must remember to do one last reading with her, perhaps a deck interview. And of course, I must remember to sign the autograph card...

Edit: It seems that some things are meant to be. Soon after I realized that I had lost the Little White Feather, I went out to do my daily routine, and on the way to the subway station, I found a new little white feather lying squarely in my path.
 

PathWalker

And the winner is.....

With many thanks to Solandia for drawing the winning number for the randomised name list - the winner who will get to keep Shelley forever is


BLUEDRAGONFLY!!!


Many congratulations Blue, and many thanks to everyone who helped this wonderful project, and especial love and thanks to Cardlady22 who did all the hard work to get the ball rolling.


With very best wishes to BlueDragonfly and Shelley, Bride of Frankendecken