Sunflower Capital of the World

Though we were out at Christmas this last year, I hadn’t been to Manitoba during warm weather since early 2007…that’s ridiculous. I was happy to find the farm all surrounded by crops while being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Like, frick. Altona appeared much the same as when I last left it. At least no matter what happens in life, you can always count on Altona – the feeling is alive! Ah…yeah. You had to be there. Turns out, I had just missed the Sunflower Festival. Of all the bad luck one could possibly have…



Oh yes, and who could forget my Mother’s behemoth cactus plant that just gnarlier every time I pop into town?



So most of the time spent in Altona is a hodge-podge of doing the odd thing here and there. Like watching papa eat ice cream.



And going to the mall and finding my cousin Matthew at the grocery store.









And, the best of all (in my opinion), finding my backpack from kindergarten. I’m thinking about using it for my first day of my Masters program.


Yes, this is so totally a He-Man backpack from SAAN that my Mother sewed Snoopy over…made of jogging pants material. Isn’t it great?

So one afternoon my Mother decided that she was going to surprise me with something I had never seen before. In Altona? HAH!



Well, colour me knocked for six – an art gallery in Altona. The town of Mennonites. As you may know, Mennonites don’t usually place a high emphasis on culture – unless it’s their own. So I proceeded with caution.












Solidarity brotha.

So the art gallery and sculpture garden was actually super awesome. It was ridiculously hot out, so we peaced-out and headed for cooler quarters.







After dousing ourselves in ice cream, we headed to Gramps’ place for a bit of a ‘schpitzere’.


RIP Granny.


He’s just a little guy! What a cutie.

After visiting with Gramps for a while, we decided to go visit Granny…I hadn’t been to visit her yet since she got put there…




No, I don’t know this person…but I dig their headstone. Not literally. I’m not digging around here.

Back at the homestead, I toiled away on exploring and cleaning up some more of my goods.








Oh B-Hay.



Mid-week, my oldest of old-school buddies and I had organized a bit of a reunion of sorts. For some reason we didn’t have a high-school reunion (it’s your fault, Facebook), so we call up all of the old crew and organized a spa day in Winnipeg. Shannon offered to give me and my other half in the “ugly twins”, Jen, a ride up into the ‘Peg.


Thanks Shannon!

We congregated first at Cora’s – the yummiest of brunch establishments on this side of the perimeter.


This is Cora.


This is her food. Now, my food.











Where’s Sheila? Oh, I think I took these before she arrived…



And a group shot! YAY! (Thanks Jenna!)



Shannon unfortunately couldn’t join us for the spa, so we parted ways there…and continued on to the Urban Oasis, where we would spend HOURS just relaxing. SpAhhhhhh.





I got a peel and the girl who was my aesthetician was kind of a crank-a-bee in a TnA hoodie (of course) who told me about how awful Clinique products were. Awkward. Not worth the $$. I’ll just go for a mud bath next time, methinks. And there will be a next time, because we’ve promised to try for another spa day in 10 years. We’ll see how that goes – there might be, like, 15 kids running around by then (though none mine – ha ha?)

After the spa, we then broke off into yet a smaller group and some of us headed over to Kelseys for the longest wait for food in the history of the world, near a lady who kept farting ridiculously loud (not pictured, sorry).



Ah, what fun. Thanks for the good times guys…until 10 years form now…? Hopefully not.

That night, I went out for coffee with my parents and decided to transform my father into someone else…




HA HA HA HA HA this app kills me.

More MB adventures to come…