Today was the allocated day for seeing relatives. The day after Canada, it was a bank holiday so all of Ros's relatives (and by extension my own distant relatives) would be coming over in the evening for a meal. Much of the day was spent preparing food and laying out chairs and tables but we did find time to visit the one relative that wouldn't be coming.
Joyce, my Grandma's sister, is now in her nineties (I forget the exact age) and sadly she's pretty much confined to her bed in a local retirement home. It isn't far from Ros's house so she gets visitors regularly but it was still a shame she couldn't be there to see everyone in the evening.
We stayed at the home for half an hour or so before running out of things so say. It's hard to understand much of what Joyce says so the conversation turns into a monologue before long. She smiles and laughs at all the jokes though and you can see in her eyes that she understands you still. It must be frustrating to live like that but I guess it's something you learn to live with.
After visiting Joyce we went to have a look at the church where Ros's family are buried (see, I said it was a day of visiting relatives). The church is in a slightly surreal location - it's a small white wooden structure, built around 100 years ago when the population of Calgary was just a few thousand, and would originally have stood in grassland, surrounded by expansive ranches. Today Calgary's population has exploded to over a million and expanded out for miles beyond the church so the graveyard is fenced in and surrounded by modern developments with a multi-lane freeway running along one side. Not exactly the peaceful setting of yesteryear.
The evening was a bit more upbeat. Around 20 people came along (I won't bore you by listing them) and we spent the evening chatting and trying to figure out who was related who, and how. One great advantage of Ros's dual level house is that the children all disappeared off to the downstairs lounge where they could be neither seen nor heard.
Luckily the party didn't go on too late and we were able to get an early night, ready for the long drive tomorrow.
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