"Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered."
Ah audience, what a lovely lyric. It is is one of my favorite songs to listen to, especially when sung by Frankie. Something about the annotation and notes. Hmmm.
Besides being lovely, the lyric is also a great reference to my past week. When last I left you audience, I was talking about my shenanigans in Montreal as well as my G+ chat with Paula and Kate. Those were good times. Time for some more to roll. Let us begin with Halloween.
So this year I spent Halloween with my family in Brockville, namely my cousin Ember and her daughters Keira and Chloe. Rogue and I made the trip out Friday night without too much trouble, though there was more traffic than anticipated. I spent the evening chatting with my uncle Lou and my grandma, over tea of course.
The next day, I woke up late and dressed myself in costume. This year I decided to be Red Riding hood because I already own a red cloak from when I was fifteen, vampire costume. I even had a "basket of goodies" assembled; it was a little plastic cauldron that acted as my purse. Em and her family were in costume too. Adam, her husband, was an 80's rocker; Ember was a Dia de Muertos sugar skull skeleton; Chloe was Minnie Mouse; Keira was Zombie-locks. We made a colorful group for sure.
While Adam and Em set up the house for their Halloween party, I took Keira trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. A few times, I had to wrap the little zombie in my cloak to keep her from shivering. In Canada, Halloween night can be quite chilly, though I was prepared with my long red hood; this is such irony for events later on. Anyways, it was great fun going door to door with Keira though people kept trying to give me candy too. I appreciate it, but honestly I'm alright.
Once we returned to Em's place, the girls took their place at the door and I helped as best I could in the kitchen. Thank goodness for waterproof eyeliner and mascara; I don't do too well with onions. Not long after, guests began to arrive and the party began. It was such fun being a part of another holiday celebration with my family. I was even able to spend time with my cousin Victor and his two adorable monsters Vincent and Zachary. Plus, Keira awarded me the best costume medal; it now hangs proudly in my room. The only snag, well I hate the Mets and KC won that night; this was the night before the World Series win...everyone else was for New York. Sorry Easterners, this Chicagoan is not about to cheer for New York any time soon. Kill me if I do audience. I would be a traitor to the feathers, claws, and horns.
The next morning I left early on for Montreal; this was not by choice. Enterprise closes early on Sundays and I needed to return the car that day. I wasn't even able to have a cup a tea before I took off. I packed up the white bundle and away we went. Besides, we had some cleaning to do.
Moving on to my second adventure of the week, it was a very bewitching one. I was playing host for a friend, even though he told me not to worry about hosting. Oh yes, I said he. From Monday to early Friday morning my beloved friend Blaise paid me a visit in Montreal. He drove from Michigan to Montreal in one day and managed to arrive in one piece, phew; there was a slight issue with the border patrol but Blaise managed to be allowed through, again phew. I spent the previous night and the day of running around cleaning and trying to make my apartment appropriate for guests. Around the time of his arrival, I heard a knock and there was Blaise. It's a good thing he's a lot taller than I am because I almost toppled him with a jump hug. Best surprise ever.
The next four days were amazing; we went out to the movies, grabbed some first class La Banquise poutine, went to the grocery store (as requested), and even walked around the hockey stadium grounds. Basically, we explored Montreal hand in hand.
Besides running around, we relaxed in the apartment with the great white buffalo (Rogue) as well as watched Galavant, South Park, even played a bit of Skyrim. Mostly though, we spent our time talking while listening to various playlists on my computer. Well, there was a night when Blaise insisted on playing Spooky's House of Jumpscares; he did it and I'm still surprised. He even made it to level 200. Still Blaise, why?
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| Something silly we came across near La Banquise |
He left around 4:30 AM on Friday; rental companies, please make your hours later cause you're killing me here. That was hard. Really hard to let him go but was worth it. Completely, utterly, worth it to have him here for those four days.
For those of you who don't know who Blaise is, he's one of my favorite people in this world. My best friend Kristin introduced us back in April and pretty much ever since we've been close. He's kind, honest, loyal, funny and puny, intelligent, and the best hug giver in the history of always. I love him to pieces and always want him to happy. Yeah, for once I want a guy to happy with or without me audience. So strange for this salted individual; at least I'm well seasoned because there's nothing worse than food that is too bland to taste. Haha. Alright, I know if I keep gushing about him that I'll hear about it later. I'll stop, ok?
The last bit of my week was yesterday in fact. Suitable, covers just a little over a week of time. So yesterday, I went to the park. This park was not nearby either. I managed to successfully on my own, via bus timetables and the metro map, navigate the Montreal public transport system. I was and am quite proud.
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| A beautiful afternoon |
So why was I going to this park? Well, I have mentioned that Kileen and my dad were childhood bestfriends. As you know, my dad is not an only child; Kileen isn't either. Kileen's sister Mary is also, obviously, a close family friend to the Scales (this is the only time my name is plural). Mary has a large family of her own, four kids, and two of them live in Montreal, Caro and Michael. Caro is my age and Michael is a few years older, around my brother's age. I was meeting the two of them and some of their work friends at the park for a picnic. And who says you can't enjoy a picnic lunch in a city? For the record, as a child and to this day I will have picnics indoors on a blanket. Yes, I'm that kind of chick.
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| This technique works so well |
This picnic, anyhow, was fantastic and very "grown-up". In other words, there was wine. Apparently, in Montreal, you are allowed to drink in public so long as you have food accompanying the alcohol. Works for me. There was a generous spread of food and drink to go around. I was able to learn more about Michael and share more about myself as well. Caro showed up a bit belated but we were able to spend time together too. It's funny, we all have just met and yet I do feel a strong bond with the two of them. I really hold on to the notion that we'll become great friends. There was just one small problem...
I love winter. Like, really love winter. It's one of the reasons behind my move; I want more. That being said, I occasionally underestimate my tolerance for the cold. I wore a sweater, jeans, and a summer sweatshirt to the picnic. That ended up biting me. Now, I didn't complain about the cold, no way, rather my body started doing that thing everyone else does when it's mild out...what's the word...oh yeah, shivering. That thing. I started doing that, bleh. Well, Michael and everyone started to huddle around me to keep me warm though I insisted it would be alright. Then Michael wrapped a blanket around me; in that moment, I could only think of how I had wrapped my cloak around Keira. Ah, shoe's on the other foot.
That was the snag, just that. The picnic, socializing, making new friends, all of that was wonderful. Hell, this week has been wonderful. I do hope that I can discover more in this city to love soon; that's almost a 100% guarantee. Though I am still searching for a job, probably will be for awhile too, but don't worry audience. As always, good things come to those who wait. And, well, they are always worth the wait too.
Until later audience.
