Hotel life - Week 7

As of today, we finally heard that our immigration documents were approved. We don't have them in our hands yet, but at least we know they're done and on their way. It was supposed to be prioritised, but it doesn't seem like that happened. So we will be in Edmonton for approximately another 2.5-3 weeks as we won't be able to book our travel until we get those. But at least there's an end in sight!

This past week, I visited Lois Hole Provincial Park with my aunt, who had come in from Northern Alberta for a visit. And because she was here, my other aunt stopped by on her way home from an event she was at in Ponoka, so it was a nice visit. We were able to stay out in the open and physically distance ourselves, even with our dinner--we did takeout separately and found a nice, big picnic table where we could be out in the open and sit to visit and eat but also stay apart safely. It was wonderful to visit them before I move away for a while. You always hope family will come to visit you when you live overseas, but time and money often prevent those. No one except one friend from Europe visited me while I lived in Mexico for a couple of years. Many people wanted to come, but almost no one actually did, so you just never know. In any case, I didn't get any good photos from Lois Hole PP because there wasn't a whole lot going on, but I got a bunch from the U of A Botanic Garden, where we went a week later.

I've loved the U of A Botanic Garden for a long time. My brother had his wedding there, and as he doesn't live in Canada, I got to be the on-the-ground person organising it, which meant that I got to visit there as often as I liked for planning purposes. I don't think I actually abused that, but I did need to go there quite a bit, so I was not unhappy to take extra time to walk around and enjoy as I could get in for free--technically paid for by the cost of using it as a wedding venue, but I could make unlimited visits. It was wonderful. I should have mentioned, when I posted photos from the St. Albert Botanic Park that one of the reasons I love gardens so much is that I find them to be places of solace for me. There were certain family challenges growing up, and gardens were spaces of peace and solace for me. My grandmother had a gorgeous garden that was hidden behind a hedge of overgrown caragana and through a doorway that was a small, white-picket gate. There were lots of roses and delphiniums, particularly. That's mostly what I remember was because I was still young when it got razed accidentally when an arborist company came to tear down some trees that were very tall and in danger of destroying the house if they should every fall from being hit by lightning. And as I grew up, my mom's perennial garden grew and matured, and it also became a place of solace. So I can't wait for a home again where I can make my garden and build it and enjoy it as it matures when I'm back from England.