those march days

March was a busy month dealing with a long drawn out spring cold/flu/fever and addressing contract issues on top of a pile of work projects. As such, this post has sat in the queue for almost an entire month. So let's take another trip in the not so way back machine.

Thursday, early March...

Lisa and I were set to meet at D'Lish Urban Kitchen and Wine Bar for the Yeg Girl Geek dinner. I had a migraine earlier in the day and was feeling kind of lousy, but I had been looking forward to the guest speaker of the evening, Dr. Anny Sauvageau, Edmonton’s Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, who was scheduled to speak about Forensic Pathology. Part of me wanted to just stay home and sleep, but I convinced myself to go knowing that in addition to the interesting speaker there would be delicious food and dim lights waiting for me at the venue.

I really enjoyed the Dr. Sauvageau's presentation. She had originally planned to pursue a career in academia, but when she as she was completing her studies more career options were available to work in Forensic Pathology so she changed her direction. It was very clear as she was giving her presentation that she would have made an excellent lecturer. Dr. Sauvageau started her presentation by providing a little insight about the differences between the forensic labs on television and cinema versus the real-life processes of a police lab as well as the misconceptions that forensic pathology is a glamorous job. She then gave us a brief overview of some of the bizarre cases she had worked on and how science and meticulous attention to detail helped to reveal how the individuals in these cases had perished. And then we had dessert. And then Lisa and I ran for the bus to go home. Sounds a bit abrupt, but that's more or less how the evening ended. Bus service gets a little infrequent late at night and with a migraine hangover remaining I wasn't much in the mood for smalltalk. However, once I was home I felt like prolonging the experience and read this article from McGill News about Scientific Sleuths. All together it was an evening more entertaining and educational than a CSI marathon.

Friday...

After dinner with the gentleman's parents, we rushed off to the Royal Alberta Museum for Pecha Kucha 9. We arrived late, missing all the pre-presentation mingling. I don't know what it was about the evening but everything seemed to go by really quickly. Maybe it was the limited introductions or the similarity in presentations... whatever the reason, time seemed to fly by.





During the break it was a bit cramped in the lobby, which lessened my desire to mingle (it doesn't take much to lessen my desire to mingle). The key in this sort of situation is to position yourself in a high-visibility, high-traffic area, where people are likely to be passing by and thereby limiting the degree that you have to move. In this case it was standing by the water fountain, which meant not only was I likely to run into people I knew, but that I also had easy access to water when my throat became too parched from all my clever conversation.

In the case that you might still be parched following the close of the event, I might suggest bubble tea with friends.

Saturday...

Having finished painting the kitchen two weeks prior I had planned on moving on to the bathroom the following weekend. Alas, something came up (flu!) and painting was delayed until Saturday. Painting the bathroom marks the final step of transforming the apartment from a palette of peach, orange, brown and pea green to something a bit more Scandinavian and modern. Not everyone can live with white walls but I really like the gallery aesthetic. Plus I can add whatever colour I feel like as an accessory. The same is not true for pea green walls.

There's still a bit more work to complete in the bathroom, like installing a few more hooks here and there and sorting out the new storage below the vanity. 





Painting and plumbing took us till nearly midnight. While we were both exhausted we walked downtown to a place called Hawkeye's, where we joined up with some friends mid-karaoke. I asked the gentleman for a serenade but he did not deliver.

Sunday...

The plan was to meet the ladies for tea at Rutherford House at half past noon. It was a beautiful day and I considered walking across the bridge to the University Grounds rather than take the LRT. However, just as I was nearing the edge of the parking lot, I slipped and crashed hard on the concrete, landing on both my knees and right wrist. This is easily the fourth or fifth time I have taken a tumble this winter. The fall was painful. I turned around and hobbled back inside to lie down, since my knees were smarting and my wrist was sore. I lay with legs elevated and whined and whimpered enough that the gentleman dropped me off before he went to the office for a couple hours, but not before teasing me about being a baby.  I refuse to admit to any dramatics. My left knee was swollen and large bruises covered both knees.



     

It's a shame I didn't walk to tea. The sun was shining, making up for winter's reluctance to end her run. But I still had a chance to enjoy the sun in the tea room, chatting with Elize, Lisa and Sarah while photographing the shadows cast by the low sun. The play of light and shadow mixed with the wintry scene out of doors and the warmth and comfort inside reminded me of this line from Great Expectations,

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

But as March wore on, the days got progressively longer while the wind blew a little less cold. Most of the snow is disappearing, just in time too, since over the weekend the zipper on my winter boots finally gave up out of sheer exhaustion.