{Virtual Coffee}

It's Tuesday and time for Virtual Coffee and let me tell you I am savouring every mouthful today because on my road trip last week I barely had a drop.

Riley and I took the train to Toronto to spend some quality time with my sister. And she runs on pure adrenaline. She is unable to drink coffee because of the caffeine rush. Basically she doesn't need it. I will admit I sort of envy that.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you awwwwllll about that trip, starting with finding a hubcap in a strange place

and the nature trail we walked the first day

which had some classic Canadian art along the way.

A funky pair of cheaters I picked up at Michael's because a trip outside my province isn't complete without a side-step to Michael's

Some of the Rock Fairy's rocks we left behind

and another that my sister hasn't found yet in her house (I'm safe saying that here because she almost never stops by this place).

I would show you this turtle that was wandering not far from the creek further down the nature trail

and yeah, he really is as big and scary as he looks.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you about a trip deeper into the country which was all about extra large dogs in compact cars

tadpoles

adventures at the pond

bug suits and willow seats

hawks

bird nests in odd places

super sized footprints

pale pink trillium

and smaller bouquet wildflowers

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that new and deep friendships were made and on Sunday morning quite a few tears were shed at the good-byes. I would wonder if crying at good-byes can be carried through the DNA because with us it is definitely a family trait.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that the trip home on the train wasn't nearly as much fun as the trip there. We ended up sharing a foursome seat with an older couple who I at first thought were Italian. As their conversation went on though, I realized it wasn't Italian but more likely one of the Slavic languages. I would tell you they had an endless bag of food and continually tried to feed us big juicy blackberries, Chinese pears and Pringles from a can. I would tell you that Riley and I really just wanted to settle in and immerse ourselves in reading but the woman of the couple decided she was going to talk to us for the 5 hour ride instead. I would tell you about these little sucking-tsking noises she would make after eating a few blackberries, trying to get the seeds out of her teeth which I tried really hard to NOT find annoying and how she would put her hand up to shield her face from us then flash her teeth at her husband to get him to look for more seeds. Then I would laugh because if you get the same kind of visual that I have burned into my memory it would really be funny after all.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that when we got home Sunday night our dog had ended up once again in the cone of shame over her glandular issues.

I would also tell you that I had to call an emergency bra day last week. Heading off to work on Wednesday I realized that with all the time spent over my conjunctivitis and blepharitis, I had neglected to do the wash and neither of my two standards were going to cut it for a day at the office so I had to call into service my emergency bra. Every woman has at least one and it can be recognized by these characteristics:

- the colour or pattern is often unconventional for underwear

- there is very little functional elastic left in it

- in spite of its inability to offer any support, it still manages to both ride up and pinch at the same time

- it refuses to be thrown out

I would definitely want to know what your emergency bra looks like.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would eventually let you get a word in edgewise then I would suggest we head over to Amy's at Lucky Number 13 to look at the photos from her antiquing weekend.