A good stopping point between Saskatoon and Edmonton is the campground near Innisfree, Alberta. It is next to an alkaline lake so that neither the beach nor the park ever seem to be overrun with people. The locals don't swim in the water. But there is a big grassy area where Emil could stretch his legs, and Everett and I made good use of the teeter-totter.

8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2004
Went to my first tap-dancing class last night. Whoa, it was a lot harder than I expected! I had a hell of a time keeping up on my toes AND relaxing -- almost impossible, since the two seem mutually exclusive. I was relieved when the hour was up. But I paid for next week’s class and borrowed the tap shoes I wore so that I can practise at home, and with luck I’ll be able to walk and chew gum at the same time by next Monday.

Am keeping Emil home a second day and will probably take him to a clinic today just to make sure there is no fluid in his lungs. Everett claims he’s getting sick too, but I’m sending him to school and he can call me if he gets feeling worse. Karen just phoned from Joan’s, where she’s babysitting, to invite me to go have coffee with her.

10:19 a.m.
The first time I came into this suite, I walked around and looked at all the pictures on the walls. A framed drawing in the dining room looked familiar, and I read beneath it: Church and Rectory, Legal, Alberta. Talk about coincidence. To me it was another little sign that I am meant to be here, that things are happening as they ought. After all, I lived in Legal for seven years up until moving to the farm with Scott two years ago.