so, last week, we learned that our project was wrapping up for the summer, two months earlier than planned. the immediate impact of this news was that instead of spending the remainder of the summer here in calgary, i've got to pack up our little base of operations and move back to toronto in short order and abort a lot of my plans for travelling around western canada to visit family and friends. last weekend, i flew the cats back to toronto. saturday morning, i flew out of calgary airport and then sunday afternoon, i turned right around and took my return flight. it was incredibly disorienting to not be sure whether i was coming or going - i felt like i was spending more time in airports and airplanes than doing anything else.

there are almost too many things to write about considering i've spent so long from my blog, so i've decided to try and capture the highlights of my trip - the good and the bad - while i spend this last week moving back into my familiar and comfortable life back in toronto:

the good:

• brunch with my parents at the urban diner on father's day
  
• seeing my darling emma and meeting her husband for the first time
  
• charming and being charmed by kaitlyn, carla, cassandra, yolanda, and all the rest of the ridiculously good looking servers at joey tomatoes at barlow and 32nd
  
• making new friends with the ThoughtWorks contractors and having a blast doing some of the most intense programming of my career
  
• seeing tammy and ms. kittie at suburbs
  
• driving up and down highway 2 at 160km/h in rental cars
  
• seeing my parents again (i know this is sort of repeating the first point - but it's worth it)
  
• finding my old portfolio of artwork from university
  

the less-than-good:

• the cold in the basement that made my cats sneeze and snuggle next to me to stay warm
  
• the two weeks of rain that kept me huddling next to my cats to stay warm in the basement
  
• prairie mosquitoes
  
• the streets and streets of humvees, oversized trucks, and SUVs that define transportation in alberta
  
• feeling like i wasted my time here setting up and breaking down our temporary homestead and never really having a chance to explore
  
• not having the kick-ass internet connections that i rely upon all the time
  
• not getting to see everyone i wanted to see in edmonton, vancouver, victoria, and even calgary