Can I be an elf when I grow up? I've got the room.

I’m not sure what to do first – the greatness of Victoria, or the really cool thing that happened when I got back? I guess chronological would be best. I mean, it even has the word logical in it. Must be the right choice.

No wait – my life never seems to progress in the most logical fashion, so I’m doing it backwards. Yes, I went to Victoria and it was great. More later. So, coming home:

It took longer than the original plan, so it was quite late when I got home. And not only had it been raining for days when I left, including the day I actually left, but it was pouring when I got back. Were there any sunny days in my absence? I got home cold, wet and muddy. I took the dogs for a walk and then (wetter, colder and muddier) I returned home. Brushed my teeth, and opened the door to my bedroom…but it was no longer my room. It was a piece of paradise!

My house sitters, La famille Hingston, had given me a bedroom makeover. It desperately needed a paint job – the three yellow walls that went with the yellow and blue wall paper hadn’t been painted since I moved in in 1995. They had asked about this at last year's birthday (I went to Victoria to meet my sister’s intended and to celebrate our mutual birthday). I thought they meant, well, paint. It needed paint. They had three prints that are the same genre as (but not this specific one) this:

(Bugger. Can't make the picture work. Suffice it to say it is elf/fairy/fantasy all in blues).

They wanted my opinion of the blues in them. Yup, I love blues. We’ll work out the time sometime. Except I never went anywhere until May, when I went to Edmonton. But they were away that weekend too. Apart from which, it was really a job that perhaps they shouldn’t do. Painting is not something I’d volunteer for. But let me tell you, as well as being wonderful and kind and funny (in three entirely different ways, oddly enough), they are also tall, beautiful (again, in three different ways) and TALENTED! Who knew?

So my room: gone was the flowered wall paper, which I liked at first but had in the past years been feeling as though I had a nursery for a bedroom. Instead all four walls are now this amazing blue. The furniture is moved around, quite effectively. They made blue drapes which not only look great but also (did you three do it on purpose?) make the room really dark – a huge benefit if you get migraines.

There is a new night table. To be honest, thanks to my TOTALLY LACKING housekeeping skills, my previous night table was actually a stool. This is an true table, with a cover. A cover made with the same material as the runner on the dresser. A runner which cleverly hides the flaws that are inevitably found when the dresser is a hand me down of a hand me down of a hand me down. Now it looks all new and pretty.

The three prints are all framed and hanging, and the night table – and dresser – have really nice candles in blue and green glass dishes. I’ve never actually had a light in the room (other than the overhead one) so I’ve always only used candles. The old candle holders let the wax drip, making of mess of the table, er, stool. The candles in the dishes won’t do that. And in the corner where, for two years I’ve had a dead plant hanging from the ceiling, they hung this neat metal lantern thing (yes, for candles). It is a totally cool fairly medieval looking bedroom. Did they look at how many fantasy books are in my bookshelves? (Also clean, organized and moved to a new spot in the room), or perhaps the type of movies I like? The dreams that I have where I’m a warrior elf…they know about those, maybe that was the inspiration for the fairy/elf/fantasy room? Maybe though, just maybe, they know me that well.

I thought – initially – there was one thing missing. Why wasn’t Naveen Andrews, or HIM, or the Rock, or Oded Fehr or even Mark Harmon not part of the décor? And then I realized it wasn’t that the room was missing a guy, it was that I needed a totally cool medieval gown thingy to wear in it. Something like the one I had just bought in Victoria. Perfect timing. I even wondered if they were in cahoots with my sister, but she was as surprised as I was when I phoned her to tell her about the room.

All I can say in conclusion, is that A) I’m going to need Ky’s mailing address and B) those Hingstons better be prepared for being cooked for on a regular basis. ‘Cause they’re AWESOME. I’d put the whole thing on a level with how wonderful it was to go on Safari in Africa. And let me tell you, going on safari is an absolutely amazing experience. Merci, Al, Bronwyn, Ky and Lyn.