Text 10334, 75 rader
Skriven 2014-02-26 21:58:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Recent Visitors
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Raine, Lyle, Lexi and Charlee just left for home after having
visited us for a week.

They came and went on an winter ice road that links Fort McKay,
Alberta, which is north of Fort McMurray and the end of the road,
with Fort Smith, NWT and runs through isolated Fort Chippewyan. This
shortcut takes several hours off the trip which would otherwise
meander through Peace River.

While out shopping to get ready for the visit I noticed yet another
new and fairly exotic item at the new and improved store: fresh
methi (fenugreek) leaves, right beside the more familiar parsley and
cilantro. That store has gotten so good I may drop out of the Co-Op
I have bragged about here for years.

As Yellowknife no longer has any noteworthy restaurants other than
Thornton's which is not at all child friendly we didn't go out to
eat at all the whole time they were here. The highlight of many good
home meals was on Sunday when I roasted the whole beef tenderloin
that I had picked up before Christmas. I coated it with a canola
oil, mustard, black pepper and thyme paste, popped it in 550 F oven
and turned the heat off. After 90 minutes it was still very rare and
still cold in the centre so I gave it another 30 minutes at 300
which brought it up a rosy pink medium, in deference to everyone
else's tastes. It was still fairly moist, extremely tender and
pronounced good by all. ("But could I have an end piece that's a
little less pink please?") Complementing it was garlicky sauteed
green beans (mine), hot tray buns and paprikash by Roslind and
raspberry lemon cheesecake by Lexi and Charlee. The wine pairing was
Bloody Caesars and Molson Canadian Lager (Lyle's contribution).

As well as the immediate family, we had Matthew and Sandra over
(it was a combination belated birthday dinner for Sandra) and Caleb
and Monica who I will introduce right after the next paragraph.

But the real highlight of the visit was getting introduced to three
new babies who are part of the extended family. Thanks to Chuck's
misspent adolescence Lexi has a half sister, Taneisha, in Inuvik, who
is in her 20s. She and her guy have a beautiful little daughter,
Farrah, who is about two, and are expecting a second child. Taneisha
and Farrah weren't here IRL but were frequent visitors via Facetime.

Lexi and Charlee also have a new little half brother (another one of
Chuck's shenanigans) here in Yellowknife named Caleb, age 4 months,
who I finally got to meet. Caleb's proud parents are Monica and
Gloria; Chuck is out of the picture completely.

As well Charlee's birth mother Priscilla and her new husband just
had a little girl earlier this month called Layla. Charlee got to
see Priscilla and her three older brothers for the first time in
three years. The reunion has a happy event for all. The oldest boy
is in high school now (grade 9) and the youngest is just 10 months
older than Charlee. Priscilla doesn't have a lot of money and wanted
to give Charlee a present to make up for all the missing Christmases
and birthdays, so she took off her favourite necklace and placed it
on Charlee, who was completely thrilled by the gesture. Truthfully
we were all touched by it.

Interestingly Raine, Lexi, Taneisha, Monica and Priscilla are all
Facebook friends with each other but not with Chuck who is now
apparently somewhere in Ontario with yet another new girlfriend.

And I have now FB friended Taneisha, Monica and Priscilla as I would
like to stay in touch with them now too.



YK Jim


... I am very glad to be married, because when I was single my life sucked

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